Scripture Daily

Context No. 4216 of 4322 · 1 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

1 Chronicles 7:1-5: in context

1Of the sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. 2The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers’ houses, of Tola; mighty men of valor in their generations. Their number in the days of David was twenty-two thousand six hundred. 3The son of Uzzi: Izrahiah. The sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah, five; all of them chief men. 4With them, by their generations, after their fathers’ houses, were bands of the army for war, thirty-six thousand; for they had many wives and sons. 5Their brothers among all the families of Issachar, mighty men of valor, listed in all by genealogy, were eighty-seven thousand.

This passage records the descendants of Issachar, and it repeatedly notes their character: they were men of valor, courageous and ready, listed by their generations, tens of thousands strong. The genealogy does not merely count heads; it remembers these as brave and capable men, their courage recorded alongside their names in the register of the tribe.

What stands out is that their valor was noted and remembered. Long after these men had lived and died, their courage and readiness stood recorded, not forgotten. God's record of his people takes account not only of who they were but of how they lived, and the courage of these men of Issachar was written down and preserved.

The way we live, our faithfulness, our courage, our readiness to stand and serve, is not lost or forgotten. As the valor of Issachar's sons was recorded, so God takes account of the character and courage of his people. Nothing done in faithfulness is finally forgotten; God remembers those who stand ready to serve him, and our lives are written in a register more lasting than any earthly genealogy.

Do I trust that the way I live in faithfulness and courage is not lost or forgotten but noted and remembered by God, as the valor of Issachar's sons was recorded, so that nothing done in his service finally passes into oblivion?

Sources