1 Chronicles 17 - 2 Chronicles 6; 1 Corinthians 13 - 16

1 Chronicles
17: A retelling of 2 Samuel 7. David wants to build Yahweh a house. Yahweh never asked for a house, but because of David's thought, David's line will rule Judah forever. It is also promised that his son will build the temple.

18-20: David expands his kingdom in a variety of wars and battles. The Ammonites are discussed in detail. Remember, we are not dealing with nation-states. Promises made between kings are between kings, not the nations they represent. When a king died, it was important to reassert treaties, or take advantage to break them.

21: A retelling of 2 Sam. 24. Counting the people, or taking a census, was done for two reasons: taxes and mustering an army. Kings were not permitted to do this without express permission.

22-29: The end of David's reign. David picks the place for the temple and appoints Solomon as the next king. The way this is told leaves out much of the back story of the struggle for power that took place in David's dotage. One would think that Solomon came into power without conflict. You will also notice that the civil war of Absalom's revolt is skipped. David is presented in a very different, more propagandist light: the perfect king, who prepares the building of the temple that his son would complete.

We also find here list after list of the names of important leaders in the administration of the kingdom and temple. Again, don't wear yourself out over these.

2 Chronicles
1-6: Solomon's reign begins with his establishing his kingdom and beginning the building of the temple. The account here is much shorter than the one in Kings, but conveys the same message. With the help of other nations the temple is built and consecrated in grand fashion. It is proclaimed as the supreme religious center where Yahweh is worshiped. Both political and religious power are now rooted in Jerusalem.

1 Corinthians
13: The centrality and supremacy of love. Notice it is context with the previous chapter on the importance of all spiritual gifts and the following chapter on why tongues is not the end-all-be-all of gifts.

14: It is clear from the previous few chapters that there were more problems in Corinth. Apparently there were some snooty people who thought that if you spoke in tongues you were better than everyone else. Further, apparently every one wanted to speak at the same time, likely felt their message is the one everyone needed to hear. Paul calls for order and points to the importance of prophecy as the better gift since typically no one understood what was being said in tongues.

Now a word of definition: Tongues is likely not what is talked about in Acts, when visitors and observers understood what was being said. Here Paul is likely talking about glossolalia, which is a kind of spontaneous utterance, which is usually "nonsense" words spoken when in an ecstatic state. Likely people thought they were speaking in "the tongues of angels" or some mysterious human language.

Prophecy on the other hand was not telling the future. It was "speaking the truth," or "speaking for God." Prophecy is the bold pronouncement, often with a discernment of the real issues.

On women being silent. It is likely this is a later gloss, since different ancient versions have it in different places and it breaks the flow of meaning. It is quite clear that women were doing a lot of the talking in the previous part of the chapter. Secondarily it likely addressed not women speaking at all, but women speaking in the midst of someone else's speaking. Women and men didn't sit together at that time, and women often sat in the back (or in a balcony). Apparently some of them were shouting at their husbands, "What was that?" Paul is telling them to ask their husbands after the service. Still a bit offensive to our modern culture, but also a bit more understandable.

15: The resurrection and it's importance. Vss 4-5 are likely one of the earliest forms of the creed we now speak. It covers the basics as we do in our Apostles Creed. Paul's point here is that bodily resurrection is not some tertiary part of the Gospel. It is central. Without it nothing else makes sense. He then goes on to describe that resurrection is, if I can summarize, both a continuity and a discontinuity with the present state. Where as now we are a seed, then we will be a full blown tree.

16: Conclusion and loose ends. Paul often wraps up his letters with miscellaneous business and greetings. Notice the mention of the church in Jerusalem. We know from other letters that this church, the first one, the Pentecost church, suffered constant money woes. They received donations from pretty much all the other churches.