Bible Reading and Commentary

1 Paralipomenon 16: 23-36 (1 Chronicles)

Sing ye to the Lord, all the earth; show forth from day to day his salvation. Declare his glory among the Gentiles; his wonders among all people. For the Lord is great and exceedingly to be praised; and he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord made the heavens. Praise and magnificence are before him; strength and joy in his place.

Bring ye to the Lord, O ye families of the nations; bring ye to the Lord glory and empire. Give to the Lord glory to his name, bring up sacrifice, and come ye in his sight; and adore the Lord in holy becomingness. Let all the earth be moved at his presence, for he hath founded the world immoveable.

Let the heavens rejoice, and the earth be glad, and let them say among the nations: The Lord hath reigned. Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; let the fields rejoice, and all things that are in them. Then shall the trees of the wood give praise before the Lord, because he is come to judge the earth.

Give ye glory to the Lord, for he is good, and for his mercy endureth forever. And say ye: Save us, O God our savior, and gather us together, and deliver us from the nations, that we may give glory to thy holy name, and may rejoice in singing thy praises.

Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel from eternity to eternity; and let all the people say Amen, and a hymn to God.

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This book of the bible is called in the Greek language Paralipomenon, which means “the things that are left out” meaning detail that is not included in previous books, forming a kind of supplemental writing. In Hebrew this section is called Dibre Haijamim, “The words of the days” otherwise known as The Chronicles. It contains information from the beginning of sacred history with Adam to the Babylonian Exile in 536 BC. The section I have quoted is from the time of David, when David had the Ark placed in the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle at the time was a tent that David had pitched for the Ark of God having newly arrived in the City of David, that is, Jerusalem. The Ark was in the charge and care of the priestly tribe, the Levites, and David appointed chiefs and brethren from the tribe to move and place the ark, provide the festivities, musicians and singers, and to conduct sacrifices and then feed the people. (Every person received a loaf of bread, a piece of roast beef, and flour friend with oil). After this feast Asaph, who was appointed chief on this occasion by David, sang the praise I have quoted above.

When meditating on this passage remember that God was physically present in the Ark among the people. So this was not just pretty words of a song written for an occasion; this was praise and affirmation given to God to his very face while in the midst of all the people of Israel. So there is a great correctness in all that is spoken by Asaph (and I quoted only about half of it) not only because the virtue of it being recorded in sacred scripture, but also because of the occasion, where it is spoken directly to God in the Ark.

There are two insights I’d like to point out that I think are missed by many today. The first is to please note how emphatically it is expressed that God is to be praised and glorified not just within the Israelites, but to all “among the Gentiles,” “all the earth,” “among all peoples” and “of the nations.” Now, Judaism today and traditionally is not known as a proselytizing faith. In other words, they do not evangelize. However, it is abundantly clear that the admonition is to praise the one God to all people, every nation throughout the whole earth. God expects and David and the Levites confirm that the One God should be affirmed, glorified and praised not only among themselves, the Israelites, but directly among the Gentiles and among all peoples. This is one reason I give when people wonder why I am affectionate toward devout mainstream Islam. They are declaring their belief very loudly and continuously in the One God. This is one example I give of the validity of the common roots of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. The commonality is the unrelenting glorification and affirmation of the One God. This is one reason that Islam “casts a hairy eyeball” (is skeptical) of some aspects of Christianity, as they are concerned that the birth of Jesus by the will of God through the Holy Spirit, and the idea of the Trinity, is a dilution of the affirmation of One God. I’ve blogged and will continue to do so about how that misunderstanding is indicative of a much smaller gap than people realize, but this blogging is intended for different purposes. I wanted to show that it is historically and theologically imperative that the One God be praised and glorified among all people, even if surrounded by idolaters (and by that we mean people who believe that inanimate objects have any portion of divine power.)

This leads me to a second point. Notice that the passage is lavish in description of the beauty of the world: the wonders, heavens, earth, world, sea, fields, the things within them, and trees of the wood. However, all of these aspects of the physical world are praised in relationship to God having created them, and how in turn, their very existence consists of them “praising” God in turn. I think that many people today make two mistakes. One is that they think that early “primitive” people were not full of appreciation for the beauty and majesty of the natural world. Far from it – people then loved the greenery and wilderness and glory of creation probably more than even the most fervent “tree hugger” or “Green” today. This is because ancient people recognized God’s hand in the creation of the earth and all its being around them. It was not just an “old, exceptional specimen of cedar of Lebanon,” it was a tree created and nurtured by God. Just because people lived in subsistence and harvested trees for their buildings did not mean they were not moved very deeply by the beauty of nature. They kept it in perspective, though, because they recognized that the very existence of life in all its natural forms is the result of the hands of God. This is what I mean by the second mistake by people today, who are making a pseudo-religion out of the wonderment and protection of nature. I’m the most ardent steward of earth, and that was even my major in college, but I urge people do not confuse feeling the wonder of God and his creation with either political or real animism. In an odd way the most extreme protectors work against themselves by objectifying “the wonder of nature” separately from God’s works and being the good steward. The good steward makes better protective decisions about nature and the environment than does the person who is practicing a form of political animism that borders on idolatry. The good steward ensures survival by good management in the context of the reality of how people live and the ecosystems. The ineffective “protector” is almost trying to hermetically seal species or parts of ecosystems from the reality in which they must ultimately survive.

So I thought this passage, sung before the real physical in spirit presence of God in the Ark, would give some important perspective and reference point for pondering and learning. When people stray it is important to look back carefully at the original deeds and specific wordings of these important events and teachings. By the way, just as a personal comment, this passage is so important that I’ve had one of my special book marks on this page in my childhood Bible from that very time… just about forty years of time from then to now…