YouTube2Text

Day 352: 1 Chronicles 19-21 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango — Transcript

by The Bible Dept. · 4,463 words · 640 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Full transcript

  1. 0:00Hey Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny
  2. 0:02Orango. Welcome to the Bible department
  3. 0:04podcast powered by Arma. We are walking
  4. 0:08through the entire Bible in a year. You
  5. 0:10can go to the description or the bible
  6. 0:13department.com to download a reading
  7. 0:15plan and join the journey
  8. 0:24family. Welcome to day 352.
  9. 0:27We are looking at 1 Chronicles chapters
  10. 0:3019, 20, AND 21 TODAY. AND BUCKLE UP
  11. 0:33because we are going to see the sin or
  12. 0:36the downfall of David in the book of
  13. 0:39Chronicles. Now, when we looked at
  14. 0:41Samuel and Kings, the big downfall of
  15. 0:45David is going to be his murder of Uriah
  16. 0:49and the sexually illicit relationship
  17. 0:51with Beth Sheeba. But that is not the
  18. 0:54reason for David's downfall. in
  19. 0:56Chronicles. Actually, it's almost like
  20. 0:59the book is going to prep us for that
  21. 1:01moment and then it's just not there. So,
  22. 1:04buckle up. We are going to look at a
  23. 1:07[snorts] different report, a minority
  24. 1:10report on what happened in the life of
  25. 1:13David. If you have not done the reading
  26. 1:15today, you are definitely going to want
  27. 1:17to do the reading. We got some
  28. 1:18entertaining passages of scripture today
  29. 1:21and uh I'm super super excited. If you
  30. 1:24have not done uh the reading, stop the
  31. 1:26video, pause the audio, go get the
  32. 1:28reading done, and then come back. All
  33. 1:30right, we are in 1 Chronicles chapters
  34. 1:3419, 20, and 21. I'm going to start by
  35. 1:37giving us uh context clues, and then
  36. 1:39we'll dive into some nerdy nuggets. Big
  37. 1:42big big context clue that I want to
  38. 1:43give, okay? is when we get into 1
  39. 1:46Chronicles 20, it's going to say in the
  40. 1:50spring at the time when kings go off to
  41. 1:52war. Now, I'm immediately going to be
  42. 1:55triggered by that because that is
  43. 1:58literally 2 Samuel that those exact
  44. 2:01words are going to get used in 2 Samuel
  45. 2:04to prompt the story of David in Beth
  46. 2:06Sheba, right? In the time when in the
  47. 2:09spring when kings go off to war, what's
  48. 2:11David going to do? He's going to stay in
  49. 2:12Jerusalem. And so part of the reason why
  50. 2:15he's even tempted by seeing a bathing
  51. 2:20woman and the reason that there's even a
  52. 2:21bathing woman in the first place is
  53. 2:23because David's just not where he should
  54. 2:26be. And so the the text is telling us
  55. 2:30like, hey, we we want you to have Samuel
  56. 2:33in mind. And I guess I'll tell you this
  57. 2:35precursor is that Ezra knows that the
  58. 2:39books of Samuel and Kings are written
  59. 2:42and available. So it's not like by
  60. 2:45omitting facts Ezra is trying to like
  61. 2:48fool anybody or trick anybody. There's
  62. 2:51no malicious intent on the parts of the
  63. 2:53biblical authors. Ezra essentially
  64. 2:55understands, hey, there's a different
  65. 2:59perspective on David's downfall and any
  66. 3:02good Jew could go read those that
  67. 3:05perspective and you should be reading
  68. 3:09Ezra's perspective and and Samuel's
  69. 3:12perspective. Like neither of these
  70. 3:14perspectives are right or wrong or good
  71. 3:17or bad, but they are both necessary in
  72. 3:20order for us to get a complete picture
  73. 3:22of David, the person of his character
  74. 3:25and how God ultimately sees David. So
  75. 3:28what we have in Samuel is going to be
  76. 3:30the prophetic history. Remember the
  77. 3:32books of Judges, Joshua, Judges, Samuel,
  78. 3:35and Kings are the former prophets. Okay?
  79. 3:38So they're the prophetic viewpoint or
  80. 3:41the prophetic perspective on historical
  81. 3:43events. Ezra is writing a priestly
  82. 3:47history. So Chronicles is not giving a
  83. 3:49prophetic history, but a priestly
  84. 3:51history. And I'm just going to read some
  85. 3:53some of the content from my notes that
  86. 3:56really I think will help us understand
  87. 3:59this. At the heart of both books is the
  88. 4:01covenant, the relationship between
  89. 4:03Yahweh and Israel and how the leaders of
  90. 4:05Israel are involved for good or bad in
  91. 4:08that covenant. But what prophetic
  92. 4:10history focuses in on is the character
  93. 4:13of those leaders. Character, not
  94. 4:16morality. Okay, big word, character.
  95. 4:20Kings are deemed successful not because
  96. 4:23of wars, building programs, etc., but by
  97. 4:26whether they ruled like David, i.e. in
  98. 4:29David's character. Key word character in
  99. 4:32humility before Yahweh. In what shows
  100. 4:35character? Nothing shows character like
  101. 4:39the humility of having to respond to sin
  102. 4:43in your life. This is why character is
  103. 4:46so much more important than morality.
  104. 4:48Okay? A moral person may never, I don't
  105. 4:53know, smoke weed or watch pornography.
  106. 4:57But someone with character may struggle
  107. 4:59with weed and struggle with pornography,
  108. 5:02but then show a characteristic
  109. 5:05of humility by confessing those sins,
  110. 5:08being honest about th those things,
  111. 5:10being transparent, not lying or hiding
  112. 5:12or covering it up, but by being honest
  113. 5:15and transparent. So character. In order
  114. 5:18for the prophetic history to show this
  115. 5:20character, this humility, the writers of
  116. 5:23the prophetic history show all aspect of
  117. 5:26the leaders lives, their successes and
  118. 5:28their failures. Because it is in failure
  119. 5:31that true character is shown. Man, that
  120. 5:35could be a timeless truth right there.
  121. 5:37It's in failure that true character is
  122. 5:40on display.
  123. 5:41What does David do when he fails
  124. 5:44according to the prophetic history? What
  125. 5:46is his response to his sin? This is
  126. 5:49important to a prophet.
  127. 5:52Repentance is the core message of the
  128. 5:55prophetic gift. Remember, John the
  129. 5:58Baptist is a prophet. And what is his
  130. 5:59message? Repent for the kingdom of hand
  131. 6:02is at near. Okay? How people repent is
  132. 6:06at the core of like what prophets care
  133. 6:09about. I'll say it again. Repentance is
  134. 6:12the core of the prophetic gift or the
  135. 6:15prophetic ministry bringing people back
  136. 6:17to the covenant to Yahweh through
  137. 6:19repentance. So in Samuel, the David and
  138. 6:23Beth Sheba story is centrally important.
  139. 6:26It shows that David wasn't perfect, that
  140. 6:28he failed, but it also shows his
  141. 6:30character after sin, after failure, his
  142. 6:35repentant heart laying on his face
  143. 6:38before Yahweh. That right there, David's
  144. 6:41response to his sin is super important
  145. 6:45for the prophet to show or or to
  146. 6:48demonstrate. And so what the prophetic
  147. 6:50history is doing through the books of
  148. 6:52Samuel is showing David is a relatable
  149. 6:56person. And you, the reader, can repent
  150. 7:00the same way that David has repented.
  151. 7:02But for the priest, priests have a
  152. 7:05different agenda. And I want you to
  153. 7:07listen closely if that word agenda kind
  154. 7:10of makes you feel like you can't trust
  155. 7:12what someone has to say because they
  156. 7:14have an agenda. Right? Sometimes in our
  157. 7:16current vernacular when we talk about
  158. 7:19someone with an ulterior motive or an
  159. 7:21agenda, that person is immediately not
  160. 7:23trustworthy. But I don't want you to
  161. 7:25bring that baggage into biblical
  162. 7:28interpretation. When we say that an
  163. 7:29author has an agenda, it's no different
  164. 7:32than saying, "I had an agenda when I
  165. 7:34wrote Crushing Chaos." That agenda is to
  166. 7:37help people bring order to the chaos of
  167. 7:40their lives. That's my agenda. So I
  168. 7:42don't want you to think about it as a
  169. 7:45negative agenda as much as it's an
  170. 7:47objective. It's the goal. Okay? It's a
  171. 7:49purpose. All right? So if the word
  172. 7:51agenda has ever triggered you with
  173. 7:54especially as we talk about different
  174. 7:55authors having different perspectives, I
  175. 7:57hope that's helpful. What if I told you
  176. 8:00that what you're learning in this video
  177. 8:02was just the tip of the iceberg? The
  178. 8:04Bible department is actually powered by
  179. 8:06Arma. What is Arma? I'm so glad you
  180. 8:09asked. Arma is an online
  181. 8:12subscription-based platform that we
  182. 8:14designed to help people, everyday
  183. 8:17people, learn the Bible for themselves.
  184. 8:19We started Arma so that anybody anywhere
  185. 8:23could have access to trustworthy and
  186. 8:25entertaining Bible and theology content.
  187. 8:27[music]
  188. 8:28In addition to this podcast, we have
  189. 8:30over 60 courses on individual books of
  190. 8:33the Bible, on theology topics, and on
  191. 8:36some hot topics like homosexuality,
  192. 8:39tithing, and women in ministry. But
  193. 8:41really, Arma is a community. A community
  194. 8:44of people that I've gotten to know. A
  195. 8:47community where thousands of people are
  196. 8:49currently finding family, asking
  197. 8:52questions, and nerding out on the Bible
  198. 8:54together. If you want a community to
  199. 8:56read the Bible with you this year, or if
  200. 8:59you want to dive into some deeper
  201. 9:00theological content, or if you want more
  202. 9:04exclusive access to me and the entire
  203. 9:07Arma team, how about you go to the Bible
  204. 9:09department.com? [music]
  205. 9:11I'll be sure to post the link in the
  206. 9:13description of this video. Let's make
  207. 9:15this your year to become a Bible nerd.
  208. 9:19The priest's focus is always going to be
  209. 9:22the temple, worship, festivals, the
  210. 9:25ritual. It's not the character of David
  211. 9:28that a priest cares about or that is the
  212. 9:30most important to him, but the role of
  213. 9:32David. David here in Chronicles is not
  214. 9:37the ideal king because of his character
  215. 9:39or repentance before Yahweh, but he's
  216. 9:42the ideal king because of his worship of
  217. 9:45Yahweh and his care for wanting to build
  218. 9:50Yahweh's house. That's what makes David
  219. 9:53ideal. So, not that either of these are
  220. 9:56correct, but without the other, they're
  221. 9:59incomplete. The priest needs the
  222. 10:01prophet. The prophet meets the priest.
  223. 10:03The original audience are re Ezra's
  224. 10:06audience is reestablishing the rituals
  225. 10:09in worship of the temple after exile. So
  226. 10:13the David they need is the religious
  227. 10:16hero rather than the sinful yet
  228. 10:17repentant human. They need inspiration
  229. 10:21to prioritize God's house. And that's
  230. 10:24what Ezra provides by shining a
  231. 10:27particular light on David as a
  232. 10:29character. Ezra is going to highlight
  233. 10:32the David who reorganizes worship, plans
  234. 10:36the temple, prepares for the building of
  235. 10:38that temple, brings the ark of the
  236. 10:40covenant back to Jerusalem. His private
  237. 10:44life is simply not important here. It is
  238. 10:47his work for the house of Yahweh that's
  239. 10:50important for Ezra, which is the focus
  240. 10:52of Chronicles. Basically, if it's not
  241. 10:55connected to the temple, to temple
  242. 10:58worship, to rituals, to sacrifice, to
  243. 11:02the house of the Lord, it's not going to
  244. 11:05make it into the book of Chronicles
  245. 11:07because the author's agenda creates a
  246. 11:10filter. You have this unlimited amount
  247. 11:12of source material and you can't use all
  248. 11:15of it. So in selecting source material
  249. 11:18for the book of chronicles, Ezra tells
  250. 11:21you his agenda aka his filter. David and
  251. 11:24Goliath, David on the run, civil war
  252. 11:26with Ishbal, Beth Sheeba, Abselum, etc.
  253. 11:30Solomon's idolatry, the entire northern
  254. 11:32kingdom after the split. That has
  255. 11:35nothing to do with the temple and
  256. 11:38worship. Therefore, it's not here in
  257. 11:40Chronicles. Though, it is important to
  258. 11:42remember that Ezra is not hiding
  259. 11:44anything here. Nothing's being hidden.
  260. 11:47There's no trick up Ezra's sleeve.
  261. 11:50Samuel and Kings can be read. Someone
  262. 11:53can go read the book of Samuel and read
  263. 11:55the book of Kings and learn all about
  264. 11:59all of the sins of David and how he's
  265. 12:01got a great character and how he
  266. 12:02repents. The biblical books are designed
  267. 12:04to complete one another. They in and of
  268. 12:08themselves are not complete. This is why
  269. 12:10it's important to study the entire Bible
  270. 12:13over the course of a year. Yes, I'm
  271. 12:15going to make a plug for the Bible
  272. 12:16department while you're watching an
  273. 12:18episode of the Bible department a lot of
  274. 12:21times, and I'm guilty of this. I love
  275. 12:24the Gospels. So, the majority of my
  276. 12:26sermons come from the Gospels. But my
  277. 12:29job as a pastor isn't just to preach my
  278. 12:31favorite books of the Bible. It's to
  279. 12:33give people a balanced meal, to make
  280. 12:36sure that the full council of God is
  281. 12:38available for people. And that means all
  282. 12:4066 books. And we're watching right here
  283. 12:43in Chronicles that Chronicles is
  284. 12:45designed to give a different
  285. 12:47perspective. Not a correct perspective,
  286. 12:51not an incorrect perspective, but a
  287. 12:54different perspective on the character
  288. 12:56of David. All right. It is super
  289. 12:58important to remember that Ezra is not
  290. 13:00hiding anything. Samuel and Kings have
  291. 13:03both been written. They exist. They have
  292. 13:05been compiled. And the people of Judah
  293. 13:08know these stories. So when people are
  294. 13:10engaging with the book of Chronicles in
  295. 13:12their proper context, they know that the
  296. 13:15stories of Samuel and Kings exist. All
  297. 13:17right, Ezra has zero ill intent. All
  298. 13:20right, that's a ton of context. Okay,
  299. 13:23but I think that's going to just help us
  300. 13:25interpret what's going on uh in these
  301. 13:28chapters. All right, let's dive into
  302. 13:29chapters 19, 20, and 21. I'm really
  303. 13:32going to fly through 19, and 20. We'll
  304. 13:34focus on 21 because that's where David's
  305. 13:36downfall is going to occur in chapter
  306. 13:3919. Uh the whole point of chapter 19,
  307. 13:42you may not realize this on the surface,
  308. 13:44but the whole point of chapter 19 is to
  309. 13:46show that David has conquered the
  310. 13:49original land of the promised land.
  311. 13:52Okay? When God originally tells Abraham
  312. 13:55the borders for Israel, like the
  313. 13:57promised land, this is the land I'm
  314. 13:59going to give to you. He gives some
  315. 14:01geographical markers. And this story
  316. 14:05right here in 1 Chronicles 19 is the
  317. 14:08first time that those geographical
  318. 14:10markers that Yahweh gave to Abraham are
  319. 14:13actually fulfilled. Which means Joshua
  320. 14:15did not conquer all of the promised
  321. 14:17land. He conquered a portion of it. And
  322. 14:19it's not until we get to David that
  323. 14:21David actually walks in the fullness of
  324. 14:24what God had promised. And I could talk
  325. 14:27a I could give a Thomas truth about
  326. 14:29that. That if God has promised me three
  327. 14:33children and I only have one, it doesn't
  328. 14:36mean that I'm not grateful that I'm
  329. 14:37still contending for the extra two. I
  330. 14:40want everything that God has for me. And
  331. 14:43so it's easy to celebrate Joshua's
  332. 14:46victory of the promised land as a
  333. 14:48victory, but really it's not a victory
  334. 14:50if Joshua didn't actually take
  335. 14:54everything that God had for him. And
  336. 14:56David finally does. And that's the whole
  337. 14:58point of chapter 19. You may not realize
  338. 15:00that that's the point of chapter 19, but
  339. 15:02it is. And I think I just probably gave
  340. 15:04you an interpretive key for all of
  341. 15:06chapter 19. Chapter 20, there's, you
  342. 15:09know, this is the David and Beth Sheba
  343. 15:10story with no Beth Sheba. So, you're
  344. 15:13probably immediately at like, "Wait a
  345. 15:15second. Where's the part where he kills
  346. 15:17Uriah and takes the man's wife?" Yeah,
  347. 15:20that's not there. Which then leads us to
  348. 15:22chapter 21. Right where you would think
  349. 15:24you would find the big moral failure,
  350. 15:27you're going to find it in the next
  351. 15:28chapter. So, chapter 21, it says this,
  352. 15:30"Satan rose up against Israel and
  353. 15:33incited David to take a census of
  354. 15:36Israel." Now, in the modern world, when
  355. 15:39there's a census that gets taken, I
  356. 15:41think there was a census in maybe like
  357. 15:432020 here in America, here in the United
  358. 15:45States, maybe 2020, 2019. Anyway, we had
  359. 15:48a census and I remember it came to my
  360. 15:50house, came to my mailbox and I don't
  361. 15:52know, I filled in the information and
  362. 15:53put it back. And uh when we have a
  363. 15:56census in the modern world, it's
  364. 15:57typically for taxation and it's for the
  365. 16:00government to have records. In the
  366. 16:02ancient world, a census was for one
  367. 16:05purpose and one purpose only. To figure
  368. 16:07out how many numbers of people you had
  369. 16:10for the army. That's it. That that's the
  370. 16:13whole point of a census. And this story
  371. 16:16is going to start with Satan rose up
  372. 16:18against Israel and incited David to take
  373. 16:21census of Israel. So I want to talk
  374. 16:24about two things. I want to talk about
  375. 16:26counting people and whether that's okay.
  376. 16:28And then I want to talk about sin and
  377. 16:30temptation. Okay? Because this story is
  378. 16:34going to open the door for both of those
  379. 16:36topics. So, let's talk about sin and
  380. 16:39temptation. Okay? I want to actually
  381. 16:41compare what the Bible says in Samuel to
  382. 16:45what the Bible says here in Chronicles.
  383. 16:48Okay? 1st Chronicles 21:1, we just read
  384. 16:51it. It says, "Then Satan stood against
  385. 16:53Israel and incited David to number
  386. 16:56Israel." Okay, that's how the story
  387. 16:57starts in Chronicles. But that's not how
  388. 17:00it starts in 1 Samuel. 1st Samuel 24:1
  389. 17:03says this again. The anger of Yahweh was
  390. 17:06kindled against Israel and God. Okay.
  391. 17:10Yahweh incited David against them
  392. 17:13saying, "Go number Israel and Judah."
  393. 17:16Fascinating. So, let's talk about the
  394. 17:19foursided reality of every temptation.
  395. 17:23Okay. Now, I want you to see the Oh,
  396. 17:27boy. I'm about to open up a massive
  397. 17:29theological can of worms because you can
  398. 17:32see this in the book of Job. Who's
  399. 17:34responsible for Job's suffering? God or
  400. 17:37Satan? And and you could honestly say
  401. 17:40both. And why? Why? And I and I I I hope
  402. 17:44I can say this really succinctly.
  403. 17:46Honestly, I could teach a 90minute
  404. 17:47course on this, but I want to say this
  405. 17:49really succinctly. Satan is still under
  406. 17:53the control of Yahweh. So, so Satan
  407. 17:56can't just like run around doing stuff
  408. 17:59like without like Yahweh. I I I maybe I
  409. 18:04can say it in an even more powerful way
  410. 18:06like Satan is on God's payroll. Okay,
  411. 18:09Satan is an employee in in God's like
  412. 18:12ecosystem. So this whole idea like well
  413. 18:15was it God or was it Satan? Well, let's
  414. 18:17think about the story of Job. Satan is
  415. 18:20roaming around. He's kind of like ah
  416. 18:22people only serve you because you bless
  417. 18:24them. And God's like, "Have you thought
  418. 18:26about Job?" LIKE GOD BRINGS JOB UP. And
  419. 18:29then Satan is like, "Ah, let me let me
  420. 18:33tempt him." But for God, it's a test.
  421. 18:36Let's think about the Garden of Eden.
  422. 18:38It's God that created everything in the
  423. 18:40garden. The tree that Adam and Eve can't
  424. 18:43eat from was made by God. And then the
  425. 18:47serpent is there to provide temptation.
  426. 18:50But for God, it's not temptation. It's a
  427. 18:52test. And so for every temptation on the
  428. 18:56flip side of temptation is a test.
  429. 18:58Temptation means that there's an
  430. 19:01adversary that wants you to fail. A test
  431. 19:03means that there's a God that wants you
  432. 19:04to pass and succeed. So for every moment
  433. 19:08where there is a temptation, God is
  434. 19:12rooting for you. God is like, "WHAT
  435. 19:14ABOUT JOB, MAN? He's he's faithful. Try
  436. 19:18him." Satan is then going to tempt Job
  437. 19:21by creating scenarios. Satan believes
  438. 19:24that Job is going to fail, but Yahweh
  439. 19:27believes that Job can withstand the
  440. 19:29trial. So, a test and a temptation are
  441. 19:34the flip sides of the same coin. It's
  442. 19:36the motive behind the person that
  443. 19:40actually makes it a test or a
  444. 19:42temptation. And by person, I mean
  445. 19:44spiritual being. It's the motive of
  446. 19:46Satan to try to get you to fail. And
  447. 19:49it's the motive of God. God's motive is
  448. 19:52that you would win, that you would
  449. 19:53succeed, that you would pass. Second, or
  450. 19:55third. So, first, yeah, God is involved,
  451. 19:59but he his heart God's heart posture is
  452. 20:02not for you to fail. God's heart posture
  453. 20:05is for you to choose him. Okay? So,
  454. 20:07number one, God's involved. Two, Satan
  455. 20:10is involved. Three, there are
  456. 20:12circumstances that are involved. This
  457. 20:15entire story, chapter 21, is in the
  458. 20:19midst of threats and Ammonites and
  459. 20:23Arameans and all kinds of just political
  460. 20:28stuff. So what is the nature of
  461. 20:31temptation? God is involved. Satan is
  462. 20:34involved. Circumstances are involved.
  463. 20:36And then David's involved. So no one
  464. 20:41part of this four-part system can ever
  465. 20:43be blamed. So to blame God for tempting
  466. 20:47or trial or testing is immature. To
  467. 20:51blame Satan is immature. To blame the
  468. 20:54circumstance is immature. And to then
  469. 20:57blame yourself in the wallow in guilt
  470. 21:00and shame is also immature. Wh why am I
  471. 21:04failing in a test man? 25% of the reason
  472. 21:09is because of me, man. I I need to pray
  473. 21:11more. I need to memorize the word more.
  474. 21:13Why do I keep falling prey to sexual
  475. 21:16temptation or to anger or to not tithing
  476. 21:20or to whatever it is, man? Part of it's
  477. 21:22me. Part of it's a circumstance. We're
  478. 21:25in a recession. Hey, man. It's a
  479. 21:27pandemic. Like, part of it's the
  480. 21:29scenario. Part of it's the enemy. Satan
  481. 21:33wants to 1,000%
  482. 21:36capitalize on whatever the circumstance
  483. 21:38is and whatever your personal
  484. 21:41convictions or lack thereof are. And
  485. 21:44then there's God. God is not going to
  486. 21:47remove you from temptation. The moment
  487. 21:50temptation happens, God's not going to
  488. 21:52teleport you to Mars. He's not going to
  489. 21:54teleport you somewhere where there's no
  490. 21:56weed. He's not going to shield you from
  491. 21:59all temptation. That's not what he's
  492. 22:01going to do. And so God, Satan, the
  493. 22:05circumstance, and you are all a factor.
  494. 22:09And at some point, you've got to be
  495. 22:10aware of all four if you're going to
  496. 22:13begin to walk in victory over
  497. 22:16temptation, and win tests and prove your
  498. 22:22character to the Lord. You're going to
  499. 22:23have to know yourself really well. You
  500. 22:26are going to have to then prepare
  501. 22:28yourself for certain circumstances. you
  502. 22:31are going to have to understand the
  503. 22:34deceptive voice of the enemy and you're
  504. 22:37going to have to be relying on the Lord.
  505. 22:38Okay, so all four of these factors are
  506. 22:40really, really helpful. And honestly,
  507. 22:42that could be our timeless truth for the
  508. 22:44day. Like I just gave you a solid game
  509. 22:47plan for how to defeat some cycles of
  510. 22:50sin and create victory. All right, last
  511. 22:52couple things we need to kind of shore
  512. 22:54up. What's going on with counting
  513. 22:56people? Okay, the issue here is not the
  514. 23:00activity of counting people because news
  515. 23:03flash, WE HAVE A WHOLE BOOK OF THE Bible
  516. 23:06called Numbers, which is a census of the
  517. 23:09army. Okay? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
  518. 23:14Numbers. The fourth book of the Bible is
  519. 23:16all about numbers. Jesus says that a
  520. 23:18good shepherd leaves 99 sheep to go
  521. 23:21after one. HOW WOULD A shepherd know
  522. 23:25that they that one sheep has left? WELL,
  523. 23:29YOU GOT to count. All throughout the
  524. 23:31book of Acts, it says there's 120 people
  525. 23:33in the upper room. How do we know that?
  526. 23:36Someone counted. Then it says that the
  527. 23:39church grew in the book of Acts by a
  528. 23:42couple thousand. I think 3,000 on the
  529. 23:44day of Pentecost. How do we know?
  530. 23:46SOMEONE COUNTED. So counting is not a
  531. 23:49problem. Here's the problem. The problem
  532. 23:53is counting on the people that you just
  533. 23:57counted. That's the problem. God says,
  534. 24:00"I would like for you to count on me."
  535. 24:03And this is going to get into our time
  536. 24:05of truth because we can be really
  537. 24:08legalistic when we start thinking that
  538. 24:12convictions and sin are the same thing.
  539. 24:16The actual issue here is that David got
  540. 24:20his validation
  541. 24:22and strength from the amount of people
  542. 24:25in the army and not from God. And that's
  543. 24:30the problem. Had the number not meant
  544. 24:32anything to David, God wouldn't have had
  545. 24:34a problem with it. But it did mean
  546. 24:36something to David. And what can
  547. 24:38typically happen is something means
  548. 24:42something to you so God tells you not to
  549. 24:45do it. Like I know people who literally
  550. 24:48say Beyonce's an idol for me so God told
  551. 24:52me not to go to Beyonce concerts. Then
  552. 24:55that person who Beyonce is an idol for
  553. 24:58them. Guess what they started to do?
  554. 24:59They assume that everyone has elevated
  555. 25:03Beyonce to the same place in their own
  556. 25:05life. So now the person who has an
  557. 25:08idolatry problem and God told them not
  558. 25:11to go see Beyonce, they then start to
  559. 25:14judge people who go see Beyonce. And
  560. 25:16they're like, "See, they're not really
  561. 25:18saved. They're going to see Beyonce."
  562. 25:19No, they're obeying their conscience as
  563. 25:24should you. And you should really mind
  564. 25:27your business because the sin is not
  565. 25:30counting. The sin is in disobeying God.
  566. 25:35And if God told you not to count, YOU
  567. 25:39SHOULDN'T COUNT. AND THAT'S JUST THE
  568. 25:41TRUTH. Why is this such a big deal? Oh,
  569. 25:44it's such a big deal because guess what?
  570. 25:47Psalms 20:7,
  571. 25:49you want to know what David says? David
  572. 25:52says in Psalms 20:7, "Some trust in
  573. 25:55chariots and some in horses, but we
  574. 25:58trust in the name of the Lord our God."
  575. 26:00This same David who's counting men in
  576. 26:03the army in order to feel strong is the
  577. 26:06same dude who looked a Philistine in the
  578. 26:08face and said, "You come against me with
  579. 26:10swords, spear, and javelin, but I come
  580. 26:12against you in the name of the Lord God
  581. 26:13Almighty." So, David has a history of
  582. 26:17not trusting in numbers, but in trusting
  583. 26:19in God. And then he went against his own
  584. 26:25faith and his own convictions. And
  585. 26:28that's a problem. And so our timeless
  586. 26:31truth for the day is that this is not a
  587. 26:33problem to solve, but attention to
  588. 26:35manage. I can be honest. There are times
  589. 26:38where the Lord has asked me, "Hey, don't
  590. 26:42ask for the attendance number." But then
  591. 26:45there are times where God says to me,
  592. 26:47"Hey, you need to start asking for the
  593. 26:49attendance number." Well, is God
  594. 26:51schizophrenic? NO. GOD KNOWS MY HEART.
  595. 26:55There are certain seasons where I can
  596. 26:57handle the number because the number
  597. 26:59doesn't mean anything to me. And then
  598. 27:00there are certain seasons where I'm
  599. 27:03irresponsible if I don't know the
  600. 27:05number. Which means there's a lot of us.
  601. 27:08You've got to move from religion into
  602. 27:11relationship. Which means in a
  603. 27:13relationship, GOD CAN CHANGE HIS MIND
  604. 27:17BECAUSE IT'S A RELATIONSHIP. God could
  605. 27:20say ONE THING TO YOU on Tuesday and a
  606. 27:22different thing to you on Thursday. And
  607. 27:24if you're set in a rule, you'll just
  608. 27:27keep doing what he said to do on Tuesday
  609. 27:29forever. But if you actually have a
  610. 27:32relationship, there was a season where
  611. 27:34my wife didn't like flowers. And then
  612. 27:35GUESS WHAT? SHE STARTED LIKING FLOWERS.
  613. 27:38AND SO GUESS WHAT? I STARTED GIVING HER
  614. 27:41FLOWERS. But if you think that your
  615. 27:43relationship with God is just a routine
  616. 27:45or rule or religion, then you won't make
  617. 27:49a symbiotic relationship with him. And
  618. 27:52that's the timeless truth. And that's
  619. 27:54not just relevant for David. That's not
  620. 27:56just relevant for Joab or for Nathan or
  621. 27:59for any of the characters in the story.
  622. 28:00That's relevant for you and for me
  623. 28:03because it's A TIMELESS TRUTH. TOMORROW
  624. 28:06WE got day 353. We're going to be
  625. 28:09walking through 1st Chronicles chapters
  626. 28:1122- 24. Some of the things about buying
  627. 28:15the threshing floor that we're actually
  628. 28:17in today's reading, we're actually going
  629. 28:19to discuss it tomorrow because it fits
  630. 28:21in with all the stuff in chapters 22,
  631. 28:2323, and 24. Anywh who, I'll see you
  632. 28:26tomorrow. Love you so much. Peace.
  633. 28:30Thanks so much for joining us on the
  634. 28:32Bible department podcast. If this
  635. 28:34episode was helpful, how about you leave
  636. 28:36a comment, share with a friend, and
  637. 28:38subscribe so that you never miss an
  638. 28:40episode. To learn more about the show,
  639. 28:42head to the bible department.com. We'll
  640. 28:44see you right back here tomorrow.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Day 352: 1 Chronicles 19-21 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango by The Bible Dept., generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 4,463 words across 640 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.