The books of Chronicles

Except in these two chapters the old Greek Version has unfortunately perished, and for all the rest of Chronicles comparison can only be made with a much later Greek Version, wh...

description of many works of later Jewish literature. A Midrash may be defined as an imaginative adaptation of an idea suggested by Scripture, especially a homiletic exposition...

The first nine chapters are occupied almost entirely by a series of genealogical lists. Starting from the primeval age, the line is traced from Adam to the origin of Israel, sho...

origin of the nations. It concludes with a list of the chiefs of Edom. The names are those given in the genealogies of Genesis i.‒xxxvi., but the lists are abbreviated to the ut...

³The sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah: which three were born unto him of Bath-shua the Canaanitess. And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and he...

³the fifth, Shephatiah of Abital; the sixth, Ithream by Eglah his wife. ⁴Six were born unto him in Hebron; and there he reigned seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he r...

The material contained in these verses gives rise to no little perplexity, not only in itself but also when considered along with the genealogies of Judah in ii. 3 ff. Whether t...

¹And the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s couch, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the...

The identity of interests and standpoint between the Chronicler and the Levitical order has been noted in the Introduction § 6 _ad fin._ It follows that the contents of the pres...

The treatment of the several tribes in this chapter is very unequal. In the case of Issachar (=1‒5=), Zebulun (=6‒12=, see note verse 6), and Asher (=30‒40=), genealogies are gi...

=1‒40.= Various indications combine to show that the names in this list reflect post-exilic conditions. It has generally been compared with the “Benjamite” genealogy in vii. 6‒1...

Verses 2‒17 contain the lists of the heads of families of Judah (=3‒6=), of Benjamin (=7‒9=), of the priests (=10‒13=), of the Levites (= 14‒16=), and of the porters (=17=), who...

by the fact that the four porters last mentioned (verses 26, 27) are Levites. Some commentators hold that the paragraph dealing with the duties of the Levites begins in verse 26...

=1.= _in mount Gilboa_] In the campaign of Gilboa the Philistines showed new and skilful strategy. Instead of at once marching eastward up the ravines which lead into Judah and...

The remaining chapters of the first book of Chronicles are occupied with the reign of David, who is represented as a king fulfilling the Chronicler’s highest ideals of piety and...

This section describes the gathering to David of helpers from Benjamin (verses 1‒7), Gad (8‒15), Benjamin and Judah (16‒18), and Manasseh (19‒22)――before the death of Saul. It i...

In harmony with his conviction that the acts of David in promoting or instituting the religious ceremonial of Israel were the supremely important events of his reign, the Chroni...

The Chronicler derives this chapter from Samuel but gives it in a setting of his own. To agree with Samuel it should immediately follow 1 Chronicles xi. 9 and should immediately...

In 2 Samuel vi. 12 the reason given for the renewal of David’s attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem is the report of the blessing which was said to have befallen Obed-edom, in...

¹And they brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

=33.= _to judge the earth_] The joy with which the coming judgement is greeted arises from the fact that the Hebrews regarded a judge as a champion of the oppressed and not as a...

harmonising gloss, added by someone who wished to insist on Obed-edom as a _singer_, and hence gave him a place in the line of Jeduthun, one of the three great choral guilds.

This passage is a reproduction with some omissions and variations of 2 Samuel vii. The text is generally smoother in Chronicles, and in some cases (e.g. in verse 6) we cannot do...

This chapter like the last is taken from 2 Samuel with a few omissions and variations. The Chronicler paraphrases (verses 1, 17), omits (verse 2), has a different reading (verse...

Chronicles here omits the story of David’s kindness in seeking out and befriending Mephibosheth (Merib-baal) the son of Jonathan (2 Samuel ix.), because he has ignored the story...

The account of the siege of Rabbah is given more shortly in Chronicles than in 2 Samuel From the latter we learn that the Ark was in the besiegers’ camp (xi. 11), that the city...

Comparison of these verses with the account given in Samuel discloses not a few interesting divergences, the more important of which are pointed out in the notes below (see espe...

_This is the house of the LORD_, etc.] Hence the necessity for relating the story of David’s sinful action in taking the census. The Chronicler’s desire to show only the idealis...

⁹behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon¹, and I will give peac...

The Chronicler unhistorically ignores the struggle between the parties of Solomon and of Adonijah for the throne (compare xxix. 22 f.; 1 Kings i. 5 ff.), and makes the reign of...

=4.= _twenty and four thousand_] These were divided into courses (verse 6), serving by turn, apparently twenty-four in number, consisting each of a thousand men. See, however, t...

Probably the same person is meant throughout, the confusion springing from a false reading in 2 Samuel viii. 17, _Ahimelech the son of Abiathar_ for _Abiathar the son of Ahimele...

The Chronicler displays so much interest in the liturgical worship of the Temple that it is very probable that he was himself a member of the musical guilds. There is no reason...

¹For the courses of the doorkeepers: of the Korahites; Meshelemiah¹ the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph². ²And Meshelemiah had sons; Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the secon...

It is in keeping with the plan and spirit of the Chronicler that he should not fail to ascribe to David, who for all his piety was preeminently the warrior-king, the organisatio...

The glorious reign now reaches a fitting climax. David summons the assembly of all the princes and commanders of Israel, and, in the presence of the heir to the throne, addresse...

¹And David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great: for the palace is not for man, bu...

²And Solomon spake unto all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ _houses_.

²And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand men that were hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred to overse...

¹Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where _the LORD_ appeared unto David his father, which he made ready¹ in the place that David² h...

=1.= _an altar of brass, twenty cubits_] The brasen altar is referred to in 1 Kings viii. 64; 2 Kings xvi. 14 ff., but it is (strangely) not mentioned among the furnishings of t...

²Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ _houses_ of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ar...

¹Then spake Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. ²But I have built thee an house of habitation, and a place for thee to dwell in for ever. ³And...

¹Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

=2.= _the cities which Huram had given to Solomon_] According to 1 Kings ix. 12, 13 it was Solomon who gave _Huram_ cities. Huram however was not pleased with them (1 Kings ix....

_two hundred and fifty_] According to 1 Kings ix. 23, _five hundred and fifty_. On the other hand the _under_-overseers are reckoned at three thousand six hundred in 2 Chronicle...

¹And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great train, and camels that bare spices, and...

²And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, (for he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of king Solomon,) that Jeroboam returned out of Egy...

¹And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against Israe...

These verses have no corresponding section in 1 Kings On the other hand, the Chronicler omits three important sections of 1 Kings, _viz._ xii. 25‒33 (the setting up of the golde...

=2.= _Shishak_] The Egyptian king has commemorated this expedition in a pictorial inscription on the wall of the temple of Karnak. It appears that the Northern Kingdom suffered...

=2.= _Micaiah_] Read with LXX., =Maacah=; compare note on xi. 20. Torrey, however, (_Ezra Studies_, p. 217) suggests that some words have fallen out of the text through similari...

In Kings the reign of Asa is reviewed with entire approval, according to Chronicles his conduct was marred only by the lack of faith manifested in his reliance on the king of Sy...

²and he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of...

view seems preferable to the present writer. If so, we have in Chronicles the first traces of the extension of Judaism northwards from Judea into Samaria and Galilee. Hölscher t...

¹In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king o...

The reign of Jehoshaphat is one of the most interesting sections of Chronicles If these chapters, xvii.‒xx., be compared with the references to Jehoshaphat in Kings (viz. 1 King...

pious action (xvii. 11 ff. and xx. 1‒28). Yet the possibility that the Chronicler in these passages has incorporated a really old tradition associating Jehoshaphat with some ref...

=1.= _joined affinity_] Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat married Athaliah the daughter of Ahab (2 Kings viii. 16, 18, 26). Athaliah though called “daughter” of Omri in 2 Kings vii...

⁹Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, and they sat in an open place¹ at the entrance of the gate of Samaria;...

²And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the wicked, and love them that hate the LORD? for this thing wrath i...

Verses 1‒30 of this chapter present an edifying tale of a miraculous victory gained by Jehoshaphat over an invading horde of desert tribes, a victory gained solely through praye...

=2‒4.= Presumably the Chronicler has drawn the information given in these verses from traditional sources. The details of the names of the brethren, their possessions, and their...

¹And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah¹ his youngest son king in his stead: for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaz...

The account in Kings of the famous conspiracy which resulted in the downfall and death of Athaliah the queen mother and the coronation of the child Joash has the marks of a grap...

¹Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. ²And Joash did that which was right i...

¹Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. ²And he did t...

=1.= _all the people of Judah_] Popular choice does not seem to have determined the succession to the throne, except when the reigning king had perished by a violent or untimely...

=1.= _he reigned sixteen years_] The years during which he acted as regent in place of his father (see above xxvi. 21) are included in the _sixteen_. Jotham’s independent reign...

The reign of Ahaz is a specially interesting section of Chronicles, showing in a remarkable degree the freedom with which the older accounts in 2 Kings xvi. and Isaiah vii. 1 ff...

²⁰And Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came unto¹ him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not². ²¹For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the...

The reign of Hezekiah is related in chapters xxix.‒xxxii. Of this section chapters xxix., xxx., and xxxi. furnish new material with the exception of only three verses, xxix. 1,...

is mentioned (so Kittel). Less probable is the view of Benzinger that this verse has been added by the Chronicler to the midrashic source upon which he is here depending, and th...

From verse 2 it appears that this Passover took place in the first year of Hezekiah while the Northern Kingdom was still standing. The invitation to share in it at Jerusalem whi...

¹Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake in pieces the pillars¹, and hewed down the Asherim, and brake down the h...

The Chronicler introduces us somewhat abruptly to the Assyrian crisis. From 2 Kings we learn that Hezekiah renounced the suzerainty of Assyria (xviii. 7), which his father Ahaz...

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. ²And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abom...

Of Josiah only good is recorded in Kings: “he did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right...

Regarding the reference to 1 Esdras i. in the heading above, see the Introduction § 10, s.v. _Greek Versions_, where the important fact is noted that in 1 Esdras we have an _old...

=3.= _deposed him at Jerusalem_] The clause answers to 2 Kings xxiii. 33, “put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem.” Perhaps we sh...

¹⁶but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy¹.

The Books of Joel and Amos. By the Rev. S. R. DRIVER, D.D. Adapted to the text of the Revised Version, with a few supplementary notes, by the Rev. H. C. O. LANCHESTER, M.A. With...