The outline which follows is not designed to be comprehensive. Indeed others might well have other structures in mind. The objective is to ease reading rather than to provide a definitive outline so it is expected that others might differ in their understanding.

Chapter 1
Chapter 1 is a chronology from Adam to the sons of Esau.

:1-4 Adam to Noah
:5-7 Sons of Japheth Genesis 10:2-5
:8-16 Sons of Ham Genesis 10:6-21
:17-23 Sons of Shem Genesis 10:22-29
:24-27 Shem to Abraham Genesis 11:10-26
:28 Sons of Abraham
:29-31 Sons of Ishmael Genesis 25:13-15
:32-33 Sons of Keturah and their sons
:34 Abraham begets Isaac
:35-42 The sons of Esau and their sons Genesis 36:9-13
:43-54 The kings that reigned in Edom Genesis 36:31-43

So we see that 1 Chronicles takes a number of genealogies from Genesis and relates them to each other. Notice that the sons of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob are not developed in any detail in this chapter.

Is this because the line through which the 'seed' was to come is dealt with last. Notice with respect to Jacob and Esau the genealogy of Esau is mentioned before that of Jacob.

It's interesting to pick out some of the names of the relatives of Abraham, who became nations :
eg Medan, Midian, Sheba and Dedan sons of Keturah (1Chron 1:32).

Chronicles I and Chronicles II were originally one book until 180 BC.  Ezra is popularly ascribed as being the author, although not specifically named in the book. 

It is interesting to note that, emanating from the cursed line of Ham (Gen 9:22,25) are a number of people who would give Israel a lot of trouble: Nimrod (the father of Babylonian idolatry, whose idolatry ultimately affected Israel) (v.10); the Philistines (v.12); the Jebusites, Amorites, Hivites (vs.14,15). 

These peoples were part of the seed of the serpent which have always been in conflict with the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15).  The line of Shem represented the seed of the woman, of which (faithful) Israel was a part.

1:19 ‘Peleg for in his days was the earth divided’ quotes Gen 10:25 . An enigmatic statement. Some have reasoned that it relates to the land masses being divided. If this is so then that had to take place over a relatively short time.

Ezra probably wrote the Chronicles (1 & 2 were originally one book) between 450-425 BC.  The listing of genealogies might be tiresome to the reader, but it was, nevertheless, an important written entry.  Ezra led some exiles back to the Land in 458 BC.  Genealogies would be valuable in re-establishing land and property claims.

1:43  In listing the kings and dukes of Edom we see a nation who had their origins in the line of Shem who had so early turned away from seeing Yahweh as their king.

1:27 In saying ‘Abram, the same is Abraham’ the chronicler is assuming that the reader is already aware of the way in which Abram’s name was changed in Gen 17:5. So in this respect what we have here is but a summary of a large area of Genesis.

1:28-29 Having traced the generations of Adam past the flood we now arrive at Abram and the first thing we are reminded of is that Ishmael was the ‘firstborn’ – again summarising a large area of Genesis to provide the background to the historical narrative about the kings of Judah and their involvement with the nations round about them.

1:32 The historical data which is summarised here is Gen 25:1

1Chron 1:4 - "Noah" [(5146) means "rest"], "Shem" [(8035) means "name"], "Ham" [(2526) means "hot"], "Japheth" [(3315) means "expansion, opened"].

1Chron 1:8 - "Mizraim" ["Egypt, Egyptians" (4714) means "double straits"].

1Chron 1:13 - "Heth" ["Hittites" (2845) means "terror"].

1Chron 1:19 - "Peleg" [(6389) means "division, part, earthquake"].

1Chron 1:27 - "Abraham" [(85) means "father of a multitude"].

1Chron 1:34 - "Israel" [(3478) means "God prevails, he will rule as God, ruling with God, the prince that prevails with God"].

V.13-21 The prophet puts the case of the land sinning so as to fall under the judgment of a famine, (V.13) then noisome beasts (V.15), then the sword (V.17), and finally pestilence (V.19). These three men were delivered from calamities because of their rightousness, but could not deliver the land. If Noah, Daniel, and Job, could not deliver the land, "how much more" when all four judgments combined are to visit the land for sin; shall these three righteous men not deliver it. 

Vs.13,21 Yahweh's mind was made up and He would not relent - He would destroy Judah and Jerusalem.  To punctuate this fact, He cites three faithful men; Noah, Daniel and Job (vs.14,20). 

He is saying that if these men were here in this situation, they could save only themselves and no-one else.  In their own experiences, these men were instrumental in saving others: Noah his family (Gen 7:7); Daniel his three companions (Dan 2:16-18,49); Job his three friends (Job 42:7-9).  But such was the anger of Yahweh, that the land and the city were doomed to destruction.  

14:3  The thoughts of these men was wicked – like we saw in Eze 11. They had a ‘form of Godliness’ but denied the power. A warning for us – 2Tim 3:5

14:8 ‘a sign and a proverb’ catches the language of the curse in Deut 28:37

14:14-20 It is interesting to contrast the recurring statement that the righteous named would only deliver themselves with that of Lot, who is not mentioned. He saved his family through his righteousness.

V.5 Idolatry necessarily separates the idolater from Yahweh. Yahweh cannot countenance idolatry (Exo 20:3).

The idols that were worshipped by Israel were plain to see.  They were statues of some kind, made from wood, stone, or precious metals (Deut 29:17). Or, perhaps they were fashioned from trees, like the Asherah poles (1Kin 14:23).  In any case, the idols were visible and tangible.

We do not worship such idols.  However, there are many idols available in our modern, sophisticated world.  In general, any activity or pursuit which takes away significant time and effort from the service of the Lord is an idol.

Paul tells the Corinthians (and us) to escape from idolatry (1Cor 10:14).

It is a useful exercise to determine how much time we devote to the service of the Lord, and how much time we devote to our own interests.  We might be quite surprised at the findings. 

Let us adjust the balance in favour of the Lord.  We can never do enough for Him who did everything for us.  Let us work towards the level of devotion that David displayed, for example (Psa 119:97).

Eternal life is at stake: He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury (ESV).

The problem for Ezekiel was twofold.

1) He was many miles away from Judah/Jerusalem so couldn't see first hand the behaviour of the people.

2) The elders of Judah who spoke with him concealed their idolatry and despised God secretly.

So when God spoke of the dreadful punishments He was going to bring upon Jerusalem, Ezekiel had huge trouble empathising with God. And when we read the sad history of the Jews, no doubt we have trouble too. So God decided to help Ezekiel by sending a group of escapees to him. This remnant from the destructions of Jerusalem would be a representative sample displaying the general behaviour of the people they came out from. He would then see first hand why God was so angry, and be comforted in the knowledge it was a just punishment (v22-23).

This group could have been one of the groups mentioned in Jer 52:28-30 which came in to Babylon where Ezekiel was (Eze 1:1). The behaviour and attitude of this group would have been very similar to that described in Jer 44 of the remnant that escaped to Egypt; completely impenitent and hell-bent on serving idols no matter what.

14:5 In saying that those who set up idols in their ‘heart’ are estranged from God the fundamental principle – Matt 6:21- is seen.

But if we look in John 11v22-27 we have the most complete confession of faith we find in the gospels - and it was by Martha, not Mary! It seems that throughout her serving, Martha was the one who managed to keep her ears open. It was Martha who not only heard the word, but listened to it and understood it. Her sister, though sitting at Jesus' feet and listening, hadn't understood about the resurrection. Was Martha's "worrying over much serving" actually an indication that Martha's heart was exactly in the right place? And had she meekly taken the rebuke on-board to listen more carefully to the Lord? If so, she's an example to us all.

The Good Samaritan/Who is my Neighbor 

Luke 10:25-29 - Begins with what must I do to inherit eternal life? And continues with the two greatest commandments and finally a clarification of who is my neighbor? Deut 22:1-4   compares with Isa 58:7 which said help the poor wanderer.

Luke 10:30 - A man was going downhill from Jerusalem to Jericho (the city of curse). It is the natural state of man to be a sinner and thus go downhill. The robbers (sin?) left him w/o clothes (of righteousness?) and in a hopeless condition. V.31-32 - Also going downhill came a priest and Levite who perhaps symbolized the law and they might help but lacked love/compassion and were perhaps more concerned with danger and defilement. V.33-34 - A Samaritan (significantly, it doesn't say he was travelling downhill) had compassion on the man and bandaged his wounds and applied oil (the word?) and wine (sacrifice?) as a dressing to heal his wounds and put the man on his donkey (perhaps reminds us of Christ's journey to Jerusalem on a donkey). V.35 - The mention of next day implies the Samaritan slept and arose (resurrection of Christ?) and he paid the price of atonement for another Exo 30:15 (half shekel was the same as two pence) and put the man in a place for recuperation (spiritual recuperation?). Then the Samaritan went away noting he would pay the helper/inkeeper what he was owed when he come again (second coming of Christ?).

What was needed was not so much fresh knowledge but a compassionate heart. Any person, esp. one in trouble who we are in a position to help is our neighbor, regardless of race, religion, location, status, or character. In Luke 10:36 Jesus flipped the traditional question of who is the neighbor and inferred the one offering the compassion was being the neighbor. The good Samaritan (who reminds us of Jesus) was a neighbor to the man who needed help and healing and willingly reached out to anyone just as Jesus did and does. We look forward to the time when we might be neighbors with Jesus in his coming kingdom.

10:19  The power to tread upon serpents was not simply an ability to resist the poison of venomous bests. Rather it is an allusion to Gen 3:15. the power that the 70 had a foretaste of the kingdom powers which would be attained through the death of the serpent power through the death and resurrection of Jesus – Heb 2:14

ATTITUDES TO CIRCUMSTANCES (v.25-37)

1. THE LAWYER - treated the wounded man as a topic for discussion

2. THE THIEVES - treated the man as an object to exploit

3. THE PRIEST - treated the man as a problem to avoid

4. THE LEVITE - treated the man as an object of curiousity

5. THE SAMARITAN - only the Samaritan treated him as a person to love

10:13 The reference to ‘mighty works’ that had been done in Tyre and Sidon. Jesus – Luke 4:26- drew attention to God’s earlier work in Sidon and in Luke 6:17 he had healed many from Tyre and Sidon.

Vs.1,17 Some manuscripts have seventy while others have seventy-two.

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10:11  The rejection of the message and miracles by those of a city in no way invalidated the veracity of the message. We should take courage from this when we receive a lukewarm, or hostile, response to the gospel message. Our message is true whether anyone accepts it or not.

10:16 Doubtless the disciples would have felt rejection very keenly. Jesus puts such rejection into perspective advising the disciples that in reality the people who reject them are actually rejecting God. If we can get this clear in our minds when our message is rejected we would feel sorrow rather than rejection. Sorrow that our God’s offer of salvation is being rejected.

V.18 is linked with Isa 14:12-14 by some to show that Satan was a fallen angel.
The Lucifer of Is.14 refers to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.  Here, in v.18, the Lord is using a simile (a figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another) to show that Satan's fall was as swift as lightning falling from heaven - not that Satan was descending from heaven. The operative word in a simile (comparison) is as (KJV); like (ESV).

Satan means adversary and could refer to anything or anyone that opposes the will of God. Unfortunately, translators of the Bible have chosen to personify this entity, and use a capital S to signify it.

Satan refers to the enemy of v.19, which is the evil in the world that endangers and imprisons humankind. Jesus had given power to the seventy to overcome this enemy. He gave them power to cure mental illness and power not to be harmed by the natural world (vs.17,19).

10:23 It is easy to think of Jesus’ ministry as being primarily for all people in the land of Israel. However there are a number of times n the gospels when Jesus makes a point of speaking specifically to his disciples. Jesus, during his ministry, was training the disciples to continue his work on earth after his resurrection.