1 Chronicles 10-16/1 Corinthians 8-12

1 Chron. 10-16
You will notice that Chronicles is short on history and long on names. Chronicles in some ways supplements what is in Kings with the names of the secondary and tertiary characters. There are times where it contradicts or puts a very different spin on the same stories.

Chapter 10 is the short version of Saul's life and kingship - basically it begins with his ignominious ending.

Chapter 11-12 starts the tale of David, and it would be an understatement to call it glowing. Gone are the ugly tales of Bathsheba and Urriah and the internal problems of David's family. What we get here are the military stories of David's conquests and the prowess of his warriors.

Chapter 13-16 picks up David's work to unite the religious life of Israel as well as the political. It is interrupted by invading Philistines, but David quickly returns, brings the ark to Jerusalem (without the intervening story of how it was missing in the first place), and throws a gigantic party.

1 Cor. 8-12
8: This chapter needs some explaining, b/c everything after relies on understanding it. The thing you have to understand is that if you were eating meat in Corinth (or just about any Greco-Roman town or city) you were eating meat sacrificed to an idol.

See - that was were all the butchering happened, b/c the important thing was that the deity (or deities) got their cut, and got it first. So if you went to a food stall to buy meat a part of it had already been used in some kind of worship ritual of a god other than the Christian God. Think of it as a kind of sales tax that supported the temples of the gods. By the way - the same thing was true in the Hebrew world before the temple in Jerusalem. There are sections of the law prohibiting the slaying of any animal outside the tabernacle.

So the dilemma was - do I eat meat, knowing that idols are false, and therefore irrelevant - or do I stay away from meat altogether rather than risk supporting (or even technically engaging in) the worship of false gods.

Paul gives a good answer: first, it's no big deal - you know the gods are false and are powerless, and you want meat in your diet, we are "free" to do so. However, second, if my brother or sister does not and is offended, then don't do it for the sake of that brother or sister. We have rights and are free to not exercise them. Love trumps knowledge (8.1-3)

Chapter 10 continues the discussion - Paul does not want them to think devotion and ritual are empty. The sacramental aspects of the Jewish people and the sacraments of the church are important and have real consequences in the real world. Meat sacrificed to idols does as well...bear with me through the contradictions. Notice at the end of chapter 10 - if someone gives you meat and tells you it was sacrificed - ie wishes to include you in that ritual don't do it. On the other hand - don't fret about every cutlet that floats onto your plate. People are more important to God.

11: Well this starts off with a bang (no pun intended) all about hairstyles. For whatever reason, people at different times have taken Paul more seriously than he did himself. v. 13 says, "Judge for yourselves." I don't think this is simply rhetorical. Paul was concerned that the assembly wasn't being deviant for the sake of being deviant. The radicalness of Jesus Gospel was about faith and community, not hairstyles - it was about how life was lived and what was important - not challenging social norms - today Paul would probably say, "Leave that to the teenagers."

The second half of 11 is pointing to the celebration of the Lord's supper. In the very early church, this celebration was more like an actual meal. This changed very quickly into the kind of meal we have today, and some people think Corinthians points to why. Rich people (who owned houses and didn't have to work as long) got there first and ate and drank, leaving nothing for the poor (who worked much longer). Paul admonishes them to cease this practice, and that the meal was a special meal that was not just about filling bellies. This issue probably led to the transition of Holy Communion to that little bread and little wine - the excess of which was then distributed to the poor.

12: is the well known discussion on spiritual gifts. The point here is not to give a listing of gifts or even their definitions, but to point out that each assembly, or congregation, is an assembly of these gifts that form a whole body, a body that fits together and cannot operate on its own. There are no parts more important than others. It is of note that the chapter immediately following this one is all about love.