Question

[landscaper]

In my daily Bible reading the last several days I've been in the books of Kings, Solomon, and Chronicles. I catch my self just skimming through much of it because it seems a little irrelevant, but I know there has to be something in there that I'm missing. Why is it so important that we read and study about weights, and measurements, and building materials, and so forth that it is recorded in the Bible in multiplicity?

[cwink]

In my daily Bible reading the last several days I've been in the books of Kings, Solomon, and Chronicles. I catch my self just skimming through much of it because it seems a little irrelevant, but I know there has to be something in there that I'm missing. Why is it so important that we read and study about weights, and measurements, and building materials, and so forth that it is recorded in the Bible in multiplicity?

I have been reading through those also and had the same questions..

[landscaper]

I posed the same question to my pastor in an email this morning, and here is his response.


It does seem a little frustrating to read through lists of names, genealogy, and materials in parts of the OT that don't seem to directly apply to our lives today. However, it does have value in several ways. I think the carefully recorded details of people, places, and things in the Old Testament is an enormous testimony to the historical authenticity of the OT. Some critics of the Bible say that many of the events and people never happened in the OT, but when I look at the carefully detailed lists of construction materials and measurements used to build the temple, or the long lists of family lines that is in Chronicles, I find it really hard to believe that someone just made up all of that detailed information. I especially think of Noah's Ark that was created with careful dimensions and materials that seemed very impressive and advanced for a time period thousands of years before Abraham. It also shows that God cares about all those people mentioned, even briefly, that they mattered to God. God cares about details, and all the details of creation and our lives we take for granted but are important to God. I think it also shows we can appreciate God as a master craftsman artist who appreciates diversity and creativity and exercises creation and creativity himself in many ways and on many levels.

God's concern for little things as well as for big things is also reflected in his character as the Bible describes God as orderly and Holy. When God commands things to be a very specific length or height, or made of a certain material, it shows that God is to be obeyed and honored in the little things, and his sovereign kingship extends to all things. There are times in the OT when someone will disobey God in a seemingly small way, and there will be disastrous consequences, like when Uzzah touches the ark, against God's specified manner of handling the ark, and Uzzah dies. Also Nadab and Abidhu offer unauthorized sacrifices to God, and they die too. Cain offered wrong sacrifices to God, and it had bad consequences. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and they fell from the garden. Eating a piece of fruit or offering wrong sacrifices to God don't seem so important, but it really brings out the holiness of God and his sovereignty to see God is concerned about details too, and as our omniscient and righteous God, He cannot turn a blind eye to them.

There may be other applications of these passages as well, so remember to pray that God would help you to see whatever message He might have when you read any part of the Word, but especially those difficult passages. Often times I will feel like you, wondering at the relevancy of a difficult passage, and pray that God would show me something almost not believing He will, but then He does bring something to mind. One thing I did not like about seminary is that we would often read the Bible like a textbook, and that was troubling - it's not an ordinary book!

I totally agree with his thoughts on this, and I hadn't considered that this really validates the Bibles accuracy and legitimacy as a historical work. I do believe that there is still more, though. I'll have to work harder at committing to thoroughly reading these passages and listening for the Lord's teaching.

Other thoughts?

[cwink]

That does help.. But when I read through all the laws for sacrifices and burnt offerings I was like "How can anyone keep this straight".. It does get hard to read especially when those things do not fit in today's world.

[Gordon]

Along the same lines of your pastor, I would say that the minute, intricate (and yes, sometimes excruciating) details of historic events are important to God and that teaches us that even the most minute details of our walk before men is important to God.

Jesus said that none of the "jots or tittles" from the law will be ignored. He also said that Abraham told the rich man that if his brother believed not "Moses and the Prophets" (which is to say the Old Testament) then neither would they believe the "one who rose from the dead. These two important facts put together show that the Christian knowing the details of the Old Testament is important to God.

I think we all could do well by studying the Old Testament.

[skywalker]

I 'hear' you on reading through some of the OT and not finding it very captivating. However, keep in mind that it is God's word and as a child we should want to hear/read everything he has given us, even the mundane. By reading through the OT sacrificial system and all of the requirements, it gives me a greater appreciation for Christ and the work on the cross. As stated, it also gives credibility to the written word by the details that it gives.

Enjoy your study time!

[DukGrl]

"How can anyone keep this straight"..

To me, that's a lesson right there. It taught me how MUCH Jesus came to replace, how MUCH these people had to do and how hard it must have been to keep straight, and how tedious it was to obtain forgiveness and how serious God was about cleaning up sin that he gave them such detailed instructions... and it makes the importance, the weight, of Christ's death more meaningful. Without his death and resurrection we would STILL be doing all of that...

Also, when you read all the details and then read a verse in a different book that just says something about "the time of sacrifices" or "the season of..." whatever, you can remember back and realize that one verse really involves a whole 10 chapters worth of description and I've had that bring more "weight" and "seriousness" on a passage that I would have just glossed over.

And, God didn't have them do this stuff just for kicks and giggles, or to be a jerk, or to create a market for faultless calves - each step had a purpose...and if you can relate whatever action they are doing to get forgiveness for whatever sin they committed to something in your own life, then that has brought me to seriously consider some of my actions that I have justified or excused and what it would have taken to receive forgiveness for them... and has brought me to repentance on some things.

But I will say, while I have read through some of those passages ONCE, They are not in the ones I go to on a regular basis

[ajg169]

"How can anyone keep this straight"..

To me, that's a lesson right there. It taught me how MUCH Jesus came to replace, how MUCH these people had to do and how hard it must have been to keep straight, and how tedious it was to obtain forgiveness and how serious God was about cleaning up sin that he gave them such detailed instructions... and it makes the importance, the weight, of Christ's death more meaningful. Without his death and resurrection we would STILL be doing all of that...

DukGrl, I totally agree. The simplest way I've heard this subject summed up is this: All those "do's" and "dont's" are meant to show how much we do, OR DON'T, ever make it, and how screwed we are without grace.

[dukmisr2005]

That does help.. But when I read through all the laws for sacrifices and burnt offerings I was like "How can anyone keep this straight".. It does get hard to read especially when those things do not fit in today's world.

Its point is to show that you cant keep all points of the law... Jesus Christ the Son of God was the only one who could and did... All the sacrifices in the OT are pictures of what Christ was going to do on the Cross... (i know you knew that...)

which harder to have Faith in: Faith that Christ was going to come and go the the Cross and die for your sins or that Christ did go to the Cross and die for your sins??? to me it would have been harder in the OT that it was going to happen and now and being able to read and study about it happening...

i have read through the Bible twice; once following the guide in Ryrie's Study Bible and once chronologically... i had trouble keeping up and staying focused reading all the genealogies and measurements also... it was easier for the genealogy because it was showing how Christ was the Heir to the Kingdom both in Heaven and on earth..

[cwink]

Yeah the Geneolgy is pretty interesting.

[landscaper]

i have read through the Bible twice; once following the guide in Ryrie's Study Bible and once chronologically... i had trouble keeping up and staying focused reading all the genealogies and measurements also... it was easier for the genealogy because it was showing how Christ was the Heir to the Kingdom both in Heaven and on earth..

I'm working through it for the second time, myself, and this time I'm following a chronological reading plan. I was fairly thorough the first time through, but this time it is much harder to make my self read how many tons of cedar David stored for Solomon's temple.

Said to self :"Focus, focus! There's some good stuff in here somewhere!"