daily bible readings

Thomson’s NAC commentary on 1 and 2 Chronicles reveals a nice summary of Chronicles in the Hebrew and English Bibles. “In the Christian canon of Scripture, Chronicles has been divided into two books. In the Hebrew Bible it is called “words [or events] of the days,” although in the Hebrew canon the two books were counted as one. The division into two books was made when the Hebrew text was translated into Greek in pre-Christian times. One reason for this may have been that in Hebrew only the consonants are written (the vowels are implied) whereas in Greek both consonants and vowels are written. Hence in Greek there are approximately double the number of characters to be recorded. As a result the Greek Chronicles came to be spread over two scrolls.

In the Hebrew Bible these two books normally stand at the end of the third division of the Bible known as the Writings. Jesus’ words in Matt 23:35 referring to the death of the priest Zechariah suggest that by New Testament times these books were considered as Scripture and stood at, or near, the end of the collection (cf. 2 Chr 24:20–22). But the English Bible followed the Greek LXX (which named these books “the things left over”) and attached them to the historical books after Samuel and Kings. This is unfortunate because the church has tended to see 1 and 2 Chronicles as a sort of appendix to Samuel-Kings, a supplement containing a collection of priestly observations, and has ignored the unique contents and message of 1 and 2 Chronicles.

If Chronicles is treated as a whole, there is a major break after the genealogies at 1 Chronicles 9. Another major break comes after 2 Chronicles 9, which records the death of Solomon. The stories of David and Solomon should not be split. Solomon’s work was complementary to that of David..”

Thomson also reveals to us why Chronicles was written. “By the time the Chronicler wrote, much had happened in Israel’s history. From the tribal days of the Judges, through the period of the establishment of the United Kingdom under David and Solomon (ca. 1000–931 b.c.), through the schism after Solomon’s death and the period of the Divided Kingdom (931–722 b.c.), and on through the period of the kingdom of Judah (722–587 b.c.), the people of Israel had experienced many vicissitudes including two major political tragedies. The destruction of the Northern Kingdom ... took place in the late summer or autumn of the year 722/721 b.c. After that, the Southern Kingdom, Judah, survived as the sole representative of the people of Israel until it too, after surviving 134 years, came to an end in July 587 and more of the people of old Israel went into exile.

Politically the old Israel had ceased to exist. But in God’s mind there was more to its story yet to unfold. The great empires of Assyria and Babylonia passed from the stage of history. During their period of ascendancy, numbers of God’s people languished in a foreign land. Some, of course, never left their homeland. But in 539 b.c. Cyrus, ruler of Persia, overthrew Babylon. In the first year of his reign in Babylon, in 538 b.c., he issued a decree ordering the restoration of the Jewish community and its cult in Palestine (Ezra 1:2–4; 6:3–5). The exiles were free to return, and many did, although some stayed in Babylonia.

When they returned, there were years of hardship and frustration ahead of them. The community was at first very small, perhaps only twenty thousand. It was to be a “day of small things” (Zech 4:10). Jerusalem was still thinly populated seventy-five years later (Neh 7:4). The land at the disposal of the Jews was tiny (about twenty-five miles from north to south); there was no temple. The newcomers faced years of privation and insecurity. They experienced poor seasons, partial crop failures (Hag 1:9–11; 2:15–17). Nor is it likely that Jews who were still resident in the land in every case welcomed the influx of immigrants with enthusiasm. They had regarded the land as theirs (Ezek 33:24). Their neighbors, especially the aristocracy of Samaria, resented the limitation of their prerogatives there and were openly hostile. To aggravate matters the returning exiles considered themselves as the true Israel and tended to separate themselves both from the Samaritans and their less orthodox brethren as from men unclean (Hag 2:10–14).

In addition to these physical problems, a real spiritual emergency existed in the community. The morale of the community was dangerously low as revealed in Haggai and Zechariah. The second temple was built by March 515 and dedicated with great rejoicing (Ezra 6:13–18). David’s throne, however, was not reestablished. Among the returning exiles questions arose about the legitimacy of the membership of individuals in the community of Israel. Men of spiritual insight like the Chronicler had even deeper concerns—the spiritual health of the community and the proper recognition of Jerusalem as the authentic place of worship. The returnees were the legitimate successors of the people of Judah. But the issue was wider in the Chronicler’s view with his concept of “all Israel.” He needed to demonstrate by resort to genealogical records the total composition of Israel—not merely Judah and the returning exiles but legitimate descendants of the authentic Israel both north and south. He also needed to establish the legitimacy of the priests and Levites from the extant genealogies of which, it seems, there were many.

Prayer:

Adoration:

• Adore God for His love and compassion to Israel as a nation.

Discussion Questions

1. In what ways does it help us as we know the background of the book we are reading?
2. How did God’s love and compassion to the nation continue to the nation after the exile ended?