Stress Fractures

O. T. #917  "Stress Fractures"
February1, 2017
1 Chronicles 24
verse??

LET IT GLOW

Not only was Aaron a high priest in Moses' day, but his descendants were the priestly line which God promised to use to carry on worship and His sacrificial system for their sins. Jesus is our blood sacrifice for our sins now.

In David's day, he organized the priests to serve that were from Aaron's line, sons of Eleazer and Ithamar. As we studied in chapter 15, Zadok was a descendant of Eleazer and his division of priests were divided into 16 groups meanwhile, Ahimelech was the descendant of Ithamar and his division of. Their was a larger number of Zadok's family leaders, being the reason for twice as many men serving as priests from his family than Ahimelch. Also, it could have been due to the death of Nadah and Abihu and having no children to carry on as priests from them(Leviticus 10:1-2). The number of Levites had grown from 8,000 in Moses' time to 38,000 in David's time.
One group would go serve in the LORD's house on rotation basis, and under the direction of the two leaders. Shemaiah wrote the name of the heads of the division as they were drawn by lot.(verse 5)

What can we glean from this? I see how families and lineage was important to the Lord. He required the Levites to be His priests to serve Him and intercede for the people, Israelites. Although Jesus was not a descendant of the Levite tribe, but Judah, He is serving as our High Priest interceding for us to the Heavenly Father.

I read this daily devotional by Charles Swindoll today:

Stress fractures aren't limited to athlete. Microscopic cracks in bones are painful, but can they match the hurt of a stress-fractured spirit? That's a pain like no other. So what do we do? Above all, turn it over to God. Tell Him everything. He has no problem hearing about our hurts. Furthermore, He can keep any secret you tell Him. Don't let stress fracture you. (Ps. 23)

So far I have never had a stress fracture, but my heel has been bothering me for months. That is painful. Yesterday, I got a steroid shot in it, so I hope it goes away. A stress-fractured spirit is just as painful, right? But Jesus can fix it.


LET IT GROW

Now Ezra writes about Shemaiah, so of Nethanal, a Levite, who acted as a secretary,  and wrote down the names and assignments in the presence of:

•  the king,
• the officias,
• Zadok the priest,
• Ahimelech, and the family leaders of priests,
• and Levites.

He had quite an extensive job.

Verses 20-30 list the various family leaders, descendants of Levi. Like the descendants of Aaron, they were assigned to their duties by means of sacred lots, without regards to age or rank. Lots were drawn in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the family leaders of he priest and the Levites. Lots were cast to prevent pride or jealously.

The official secretary kept a record, and there were overseers from both family lines, as well as the dignitaries who did not have a vested interest in how this manner was handled.  (Holman)

An interesting note is that some priestly divisions such as that of Abijah survived almost a thousand years (Luke 1:5) This is referring to Zacharias, father of John the Baptist.

Thank a secretary as she does she/he does their work. The position is God called.


LET IT GO

Take my stress-fractures to Jesus.

Thank secretaries for their work.