Know God and Seek Him

In my high school history classes, I stress the importance of paying attention to texts. What is the author saying – that's important – but then also what is the author doing.

If you don't know what the author is saying you'll usually miss what the author is doing. But until you see what the author is doing, you will not fully hear what the author is saying.

The same thing is true with the scriptures. This is why I preach the way I do. I want to teach you not only what the scriptures are saying, but also I want to show you how to see what the scriptures are doing.

So to start with, who is this passage speaking to? The Chronicler is speaking to those who live in the land after the exile.

So as we go through what David said in his day, we need to keep in view what the Chronicler is saying in his day – and thus, to us...