Welcome back.
Let’s start with Chronicles…
We get more lists of Jacob’s descendants. I have listed the tribes in the order they appear in the chapter and also the mother of each son :
- Issachar (Leah)
- Benjamin (Rachel)
- Naphtali (Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid)
- Manasseh (Joseph’s firstborn by his Egyptian wife, Asenath; adopted by Jacob)
- Ephraim (Joseph’s second son by Asenath; adopted by Jacob but given primogeniture – that is, the right of the firstborn)
- Asher (Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid)
ABOUT BENJAMIN…
If you go to Genesis 46:21, the list of Benjamin’s sons is much longer than the list here in 1 Chron. 7.
In Genesis we have 10 sons:
1) Belah, 2) Becher, 3) Ashbel, 4) Gera, 5) Naaman (not the leper who washed in the Jordan), 6) Ehi, 7) Rosh, 8) Muppim, 9) Huppim, and 10) Ard.
In 1st Chronicles 7 there are only 3:
Bela, Becher, and a new guy: Jediael.
😏 Was he strong with the Force? Jedi—ael.
😑 I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. His name is actually really cool. It means “knowing God.”
😏 Then yup – he was strong with the Force. The REAL Force, that is. 😉
In chapter 8 we get more descendants of Benjamin and this time we get the detail of their birth order.
“Benjamin’s first son was Bela, the second was Ashbel, the third was Aharah, the fourth was Nohah, and the fifth was Rapha.”
1 Chronicles 8:1-2 NLT
To straighten out this confusion (a little, I’ve looked at all these and I’m still kinda confused) we need Numbers 26:38-40 and 1 Chronicles 8:3-5.
Turns out that some of the men listed in Benjamin’s Genesis family tree are grandsons. It’s important to note that the Biblical use of the word “son” is not as literal and scientific as ours. It’s a bit more flexible. In the Bible, “son” can be used more like the way we use the word “descendant.”
Here was a surprise in the text I’ve never noticed before. It’s talking about Ephraim’s son Beriah (Joseph’s grandson) who was born after the death of two of Ephraim’s other sons.
“He (that is, Beriah) had a daughter named Sheerah. She built the towns of Lower and Upper Beth-horon and Uzzen-sheerah.”
1 Chronicles 7:24 NLT (emphasis mine)
😏 Sheerah? Was she He-man’s girlfriend?
🙄 Uh… only like a handful of 80’s kids are going to have the foggiest idea what you’re talking about. And no. This Sheerah had nothing to do with the biblical Heman.
Perhaps Joseph’s great-granddaughter took after him as a capable manager and planner. Upper and Lower Beth-horon have been mentioned several times in the Conquest narrative and the life of Saul. And it was Joseph’s great-granddaughter who built them. Cool!
PSALM 88
This psalm was written by our new friend Heman.
☝🏼😌 Who had nothing to do with Sheerah.
Right.
It was to be performed by The Sons of Korah. The inscription includes the Hebrew words, “Mahalath Leannoth, Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.”
Mahalath Leannoth may be the name of the melody or some kind of musical instruction. The NLT has is as “sung to the tune of ‘The Suffering of Affliction.’” This psalm is not exactly a ray of sunshine.
Poor Heman. He was either a drama queen or he wrote this psalm in response to a really difficult experience. The theme of the psalm really focuses on death.
😏 Wow. That’s a cheery subject.
Yeah – I know it’s kinda a downer but it’s raw and real and if you’re facing the Grim Reaper it’s comforting to know you aren’t the only one. It’s the only Psalm I can think of that ends in the dark. It doesn’t turn around at the end and say something like “But God is my strength…”
I thought that verse 10 might be referring to the resurrection.
“Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead? Do the dead rise up and praise you? Interlude”
Psalms 88:10 NLT
Then I looked at verses 10-11 in the Lexham English Bible, which has a lot of academic helps.
“Do you work wonders for the dead? Or do the departed spirits rise up to praise you? Selah. Is your loyal love told in the grave, or your faithfulness in the underworld?”
Psalms 88:10-11 LEB
“Departed spirits” is the Hebrew word Rephaim. Which brings us AGAIN back to good ol’ Genesis 14 and the first list of the giant clans.
🙄 Again with the giants? Will those things never go away?!
Acatully, no. And the Bible and the world make a LOT more sense when you understand the involvement of the giants. Here’s Genesis 14 again…
“In the fourteenth year Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-Kiriathaim.”
Genesis 14:5 LEB
🤔 So, the “departed spirits” Heman is talking about aren’t just any old departed spirits.
Right. They are the departed spirits of the dead giants. And when did they perish?
🤔 In the Flood, right?
Yes.
🤔 Why did you put the word “underworld” in bold back in that quote?
Well, that’s the Hebrew word “Abbadon” which is pronounced ab-uh-doan rather than a-bad-un.
😏 I’d pronounce it a-bad-un. ‘Cuz that’s what ya gotta be to be sent there; a bad ‘un.
🤓 Hey – isn’t that name – Abbadon – the name of a bad guy in the book of Revelation?
Yes it is.
😒 Know-it-all…
🤓 Oh take a chill pill.
That’s enough, you two. Here’s the text. It’s talking about the strange, locust-like, demonic horde that ascends from the Abyss:
“They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.”
Revelation 9:11 LEB
🤓 Appollyon means “Destroyer.”
🤔 So Heman isn’t talking about the good guys rising from the dead, is he?
No. He seems to be referring to something far more sinister. And when he asks if the Rephaim will rise from the dead and praise the Lord, the answer is…
🤓 Of course not!
🤔 What is the Abyss? Is it like the Mariana Trench?
No. It’s a place in the spiritual realm. The Bottomless Pit. It was said by the ancient Greeks to be as far below Hell as the Earth is below Heaven. And in Greek it’s called the Abussos or Tartarus.
🤔 Tartarus? The stuff you dip fish sticks in?
🤓 No, Dummy. That’s tartar sauce.
🤨 I oughta dip your face.
🤓 I’d like to see ya try.
🤨 One order of fish sticks with bottomless tartar sauce comin’ right up…
(Ahem)
😬 Oh… Sorry.
🤓 Do continue.
Tartarus is only used one time in the Bible:
“For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but held them captive in Tartarus with chains of darkness and handed them over to be kept for judgment,”
2 Peter 2:4 LEB
Most Bible translations have it as “Hell” but it’s not the word Hades which is usually the word translated as Hell.
Notice WHO the inhabitants of Tartarus are.
😲 The fallen angels from Genesis 6?
The very same.
In Revelation, the Abyss is not only where the locust-monsters come from, it’s where Satan himself is imprisoned.
“And I saw an angel descending from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon—the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan—and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it above him, in order that he could not deceive the nations again until the thousand years are completed. After these things it is necessary for him to be released for a short time.”
Revelation 20:1-3 LEB
So, in Psalm 88:11, Heman seems to be essentially asking, “Will the faithfulness of Yahweh be declared in the Abyss?” The answer is – Nope. That’s the big-house. The slammer. The maximum security prison of the universe. And there’s no good news for anyone that ends up there.
Overall, Psalm 88 is pretty bleak. It’s amazing that this is inspired scripture. That means it comes from the heart of God. To me, there is a flavor of the experience of Jesus on the cross and in the Grave in this psalm.
I recently stumbled across an artist who sings the Psalms in the musical style of the Blues. And it makes SO much sense! That’s a musical genre that was born out of oppression and heartache. The Blues are deeply expressive and raw. Once I heard the pairing of Psalms and the Blues I wondered why no one had done it before. Click HERE to give it a listen.
PSALM 92 is a “song for the Sabbath day.” And there is a theme of rest in it.
The anonymous writer begins with praise and meditation on God’s works.
Then he reminds himself what happens to the wicked and ends with the blessings of the righteous.
No where in the psalm is there the notion of working or labor. The righteous man is flourishing like a date-palm tree bearing crops of fruit in old age.
🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴
But the tree does not labor to produce fruit. It simply does so because of where it is planted.
Fruitfulness in the life of the Christian is not a matter of human effort and labor. Jesus calls the weary to come to Him to find rest. And He also said…
“Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch is not able to bear fruit from itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything.”
John 15:4-5 LEB
I recommend to you the little book Abide In Christ by Andrew Murray. It’s like a 30-day devotional before there were such things. Andrew Murray was a Dutch-Reformed Missionary from South Africa in the 1800’s. In this, Murray’s first book, he shares meditations on John 15 and the power of resting and abiding in Christ.
It’s one of my “If-you-were-stuck-on-a-desert-island” books. 🏝️ I’d want my Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, an unabridged Strong’s Concordance (which could double as furniture and a weapon on said deserted island), and Abide In Christ. I’d also want at least another trunk-full of books and a glamping tent so we will hope I’m never marooned. 🏝️🏕️📚📚📚
PSALM 93
This short psalm praises the power and majesty of God. In it, we get one of the many mosaic tiles that help form the picture of the nature of God.
“Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.”
Psalms 93:2 LEB
This is one of many texts that make the claim that the God of the Bible is the eternal, uncreated Creator. It is claiming that the LORD had no beginning. He IS – He simply exists – from everlasting. There is no time when He wasn’t.
These kinds of ideas are related to the characteristic of Yahweh that we call His “eternality.” But you can’t open the Bible to the chapter on the doctrine of Eternality or turn to the book of The Attributes and Nature of God. The truths about Him are woven like threads of a tapestry through the entire work.
I credit the late Dr. Chuck Missler for pointing out that this method of distribution of truth across the text is a way to guarantee its permanence. If all the information about God was packed into a single book or chapter, how easily could someone simply remove the one offending section? Having these statements scattered throughout the text in an almost granular way, makes it much harder to eliminate.
The LORD put this book together brilliantly. He not only revealed information about Himself, He did it in such a way that if someone tore a Bible into individual pages, you could learn a LOT about Him from any given page. That’s genius.
To The Reader 