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1 Chronicles 13 Bible study: We didn't seek it
In Hebrew David's "we didn’t seek it in the days of Saul" (13:3) and his "we didn’t seek him according to the ordinance" (15:13) are the same word, and it is the verb the book used of Saul, who "didn’t inquire of the LORD" (10:14).
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“God’s ark remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months; and the LORD blessed Obed-Edom’s house and all that he had.”
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“1 Chronicles 13 says all Israel played before God "with all their might" on the journey when Uzza died.”
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What's really going on
Right in the eyes of all the people
The ark has been away a long time. The men of Kiriath Jearim had "brought it into Abinadab’s house on the hill" (1 Samuel 7:1). Now "David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader" (13:1), and he said to "all the assembly of Israel" (13:2), "let’s bring the ark of our God back to us again, for we didn’t seek it in the days of Saul" (13:3) (tap seek). It is the verb the book used three chapters before of Saul, who "didn’t inquire of the LORD" (1 Chronicles 10:14). "All the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people" (13:4) (tap right). "So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor River of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath" (13:5), and "David went up with all Israel to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath Jearim, which belonged to Judah" (13:6). Joshua gives the town both names: "Baalah (also called Kiriath Jearim)" (Joshua 15:9). They went "to bring up from there God the LORD’s ark that sits above the cherubim, that is called by the Name" (13:6) (tap cherubim).
Where it leads to Jesus
We will come to him
1 Chronicles 13:14leads toJohn 14:23
David didn't take the ark into David's city "but carried it aside into Obed-Edom the Gittite’s house" (13:13), and it "remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months; and the LORD blessed Obed-Edom’s house and all that he had" (13:14). When Judas (not Iscariot) asked Jesus, "Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?" (John 14:22), Jesus answered, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23). No New Testament passage cites 1 Chronicles 13, and no link between the Hebrew and Greek words is claimed, so setting the two side by side is a reading. Some see in Jesus' words what the chapter shows at Obed-Edom's house: God's ark, "called by the Name" (13:6), staying in a household, and the LORD's blessing on that house. Others read each on its own terms: in 1 Chronicles 13 the ark is carried aside into a house and the chapter says nothing of what Obed-Edom did, while in John 14 Jesus speaks of the Father and himself coming to the one who loves him and keeps his word.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 1 Chronicles 13
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The rest of 1 Chronicles 13 is waiting in Favor
- A new cart, and a hand
- Three months, and what comes next
- The same day, told twice
- Seek, and strength
- 7 questions as you read
- 10 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
דָּרַשׁdarashsay da-RASH
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "resort to, seek", and among its uses, "seek, consult, inquire of". Strong's: "to seek or ask". "Let’s bring the ark of our God back to us again, for we didn’t seek it in the days of Saul" (13:3). Three chapters before, the book used this verb twice of Saul: he "asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire" (1 Chronicles 10:13), "and didn’t inquire of the LORD" (1 Chronicles 10:14). When David brings the ark up again, he uses it once more: "we didn’t seek him according to the ordinance" (1 Chronicles 15:13). In Hebrew the word in 13:3 and the word in 15:13 are the same form, derashnuhu; the WEB gives its ending as it in 13:3 and as him in 15:13. It comes again in the psalm of thanks: "Seek the LORD and his strength" (1 Chronicles 16:11).
For your group
1 Chronicles 13 Bible study questions
- 1"The thing was right in the eyes of all the people" (13:4), yet David later says they "didn’t seek him according to the ordinance" (15:13). When have you gone ahead with something good because everyone agreed, before asking how God wanted it done?
- 2All Israel played before God with all their might (13:8), and the day still ended with Uzza's death (13:10). How do you hold together wholehearted worship and doing things God's way?
- 3For three months the ark stayed in Obed-Edom's house, and the LORD blessed it (13:14). What would it look like to make room for God in your home this week?
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