Fri.’s Devo - The Return to Jerusalem

Read: 1 Chronicles 9:1-10:14; Acts 27:21-44; Psalm 8:1-9; Proverbs 18:23-24 Our story begins with “the people of Judah were exiled to Babylon because they were unfaithful to the Lord.” It ended with “So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord. He failed to obey the Lord,’s command, and even consulted a medium instead of asking the Lord for guidance. So the Lord killed him and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.” In between these two explanations were the ones who came back to Jerusalem after being taken in exile for 70 years to Babylon, Egypt and Assyria. It begins with the posterity of Tamar and Judah’s twins: Perez and Zerah. Of their tribe 690 families returned. From Benjamin’s tribe, 956 families. From the tribe of Levi, 1,760 priests returned along with gatekeepers. The Levites from the Koran clan that had been responsible for the curtains and the linen hangings became the gatekeepers responsible for who came in and out of the temple. They also made the incense and the furniture and the shewbread for the priests. The musicians lived in the temple and were on call all the time. Saul’s clan, the Gibeonites came back. This lead to the writer telling us about Saul’s death. Saul’s three sons were all killed on the battlefield and he was wounded. He didn’t want to be taken by the Philistines and tortured so he begged his armor-bearer to kill him. When he wouldn’t, Saul took his own life, then his armor-bearer followed. Saul’s body and his son’s bodies were taken and desecrated in their pagan temples until the people of Jabesh-gilead heard about it. They went and took their bones back and buried them under the great tree at Jabesh. There, they mourned the death of Saul and his sons. In Acts, Paul declared what would happen. God would get Paul to Rome to stand trial. All of the ones with him would be shipwrecked on an island but would all live. Every time the soldiers tried to deviate from the plan, Paul would guide them back. They learned to trust in Paul’s faith and it saved their lives. Even as a prisoner, Paul was a leader. Lord, it is amazing how Paul’s gift and spiritual office reigned over his personal circumstances. Help us to remember who you say we are, not what the world thinks we are.