Altogether, those chosen to be gatekeepers at the thresholds numbered 212. They were registered by genealogy in their villages. The gatekeepers had been assigned to their positions of trust by David and Samuel the seer. – 1 Chronicles 9:22

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 29, 2016): 1 Chronicles 9

Ronald Reagan seems to be the patron Saint of the Republican Party. If you listen to the way that they speak, Reagan’s name continues to be mentioned and his shadow extends over a party that is now separated from his leadership by more than two and a half decades. The greatest compliment a Republican Candidate can receive is that you are doing things just the way that Reagan did, and the biggest criticism seems to be that Ronald Reagan would not have approached the problem that way. I almost expect to see candidates for Republican Party start to where rubber bracelets on their arms with WWRRD on them – What Would Ronald Reagan Do.

So maybe it is not surprising that some are asking whether or not Donald Trump is the next Ronald Reagan. Robert Alexander, Professor of Political Science at Ohio Northern University and self-described optimist and pragmatist, notes that there are some similarities between the two men. Both men were celebrities before they started their political careers. Both identified first with the Democratic Party before moving to the Republican Party, both challenged the Republican establishment (I think we forget that when nostalgically remembering Reagan), and both promised to restore America’s greatness. However, Reagan had a well-defined strategy for leadership which Trump seems to lack. But winning as a Republican candidate today seems to depend on being more and more like Ronald Reagan.

As we read the book of Chronicles, we have to continually remind ourselves about when the book was written. Chronicles was written following the return of Judah to its homeland after the Babylonian exile. It presented the case for how the nation needed to move forward in a brand new day and era. The purpose was to give a roadmap to the people with regard to how to make Israel great again. To do that, Chronicles describes the rise of Israel (although more specifically Judah) and then follows with the story of how Judah fell. And the rise was primarily due to two men; the prophet, Samuel, and the king, David.

So a successful roadmap back to greatness required following the example of these two men and doing exactly as they had done, but especially following the example of David. The rebuilders of the nation continually asked themselves “What Would David Do.” All that was needed to convince the people to do something in a particular way was to remind them that David had done it that way. Even when it is something as mundane as setting the gate keepers at the entrances of the city. The people were anxious to do things just the way that David had done them in an effort to recapture the greatness of that period in time.      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 10

These were the descendants of Ehud, who were heads of families of those living in Geba and were deported to Manahath: - 1 Chronicles 8:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 28, 2016): 1 Chronicles 8

Israel. Just the name is enough to induce conflicting views on the Middle East situation. Its people are fiercely independent and self-aware. In an ocean of Arab States, Israel seems to exist on its own Island, set apart and different from all of their neighbors. The nation itself was reformed in 1948 after an almost 1900 year absence in the world (Israel ceased to be in the early 70’s as The Roman Empire decimated the nation and pulled down her Temple). But the Second World War revealed that as a planet we had a problem. The Jews were a people without a homeland, and they were under attack. They needed a place to call home, and their ancestral land beckoned. Israel was not replanted easily. The opening moments of the new nation meant that she was immediately embroiled in a new war against neighbors that simply wished that she didn’t exist. But for those first inhabitants of the land in 1948, any fight seemed worth the attempt to finally have a place where the Jews could once again call home.

I am not sure that Israel has ever been a safe place. She has developed some positive ties with some of her neighboring countries, but there are still many in the area who wish that Israel would simply cease to be. But for this moment in time, at least her people have a place to stand and a place to say that this ground belongs to them. Israel is part of the area of the world that is known as The Levant, a term that has inserted itself into our culture with the growing of the Islamic State which calls this part of the world theirs, but for now Israel has a place to exist, if not a place to exist in relative safety.

This passage in 1 Chronicles is a troublesome one, and there is a high probability that the passage has endured at least some kind of corruption. But at the minimum, we see the story of a deportation of some of the tribe of Benjamin from their native lands to Manahath, a town within the tribe of Judah. Judah and Benjamin shared a border, but more than that, the two tribes shared a future. After the death of Solomon, Israel would be divided into two nations, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. The northern nation would consist of ten tribes. Judah would consist of only two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. And the story we have in the books of Chronicles is actually aimed at those two tribes who chose to stand together. And this story of the deportation of the descendants Ehud form one of the early interconnections between the two tribes.

What we don’t know is why this portion of the tribe of Benjamin was deported into the territory of Judah. But the likely result was that within Judah, this portion of the tribe of Benjamin found a safe place to simply be and grow. They would help Judah tame the land and in return they would be kept safe from all who wished to cause Benjamin harm. It was the beginning of what would become a lasting friendship, maybe even culminating in the two major forces that would shape the Christian Church; Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of the tribe of Judah and Paul the Apostle, a descendant of the tribe of Benjamin.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 9