1 Chronicles 9:1
So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and, behold, they were written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, who were carried away to Babylon for their transgression. So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and, behold, they were written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, who were carried away to Babylon for their transgression.
All Israel were reckoned by genealogies, and those genealogies were written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. The reckoning embraced the whole people, counted and recorded in the royal histories, and the same record joins the Babylonian exile to the people's transgression. Their sinful course brought the captivity as its sure result.
The verse introduces the account of the order of worship and service as it stood after the return from Babylon. That order had originally been appointed by David and Samuel, and it included the Sabbath service of preparing the shewbread every Sabbath as described later in the same passage. Together with the following verses, the verse shows that after the captivity members of Ephraim and Manasseh dwelt in Jerusalem alongside Judah and Benjamin. This proves that the ten tribes returned and continued to be recognized within Israel.
Israel and Judah were carried away to Babylon for their transgression, and the exile followed that transgression. The captivity was the sure result of the people's sinful course. The transgression that brought it was refusing God's instruction and prophetic messages and failing to carry out their witness to the nations.
The genealogies preserve the record of God's people and uphold the integrity of the tribes, and the careful preservation of Judah's genealogy mattered because Christ came through Judah. The genealogies of Judah and Levi alone remained unbroken until Christ's first advent. Jesus came from David's family of Judah as prophecy foretold, and the Aaronic priesthood continued until it was superseded by Christ's priesthood. The genealogies show that God is particular, and just as these earthly records were kept, a faithful record of each person is kept in heaven.
The disobedience that led to captivity in literal Babylon parallels the later captivity of God's people under mystical Babylon. The verse is likewise linked to the later permission of power to the Papacy because of transgression.