Samuel-KIngs, Chronicles

Prompt: What do the differences between these histories indicate about the perspective of the author of Chronicles?

Introduction and Thesis Statement

The books of Samuel-Kings tell the ongoing story of the covenant people of God who were leaving an unorganized system of leadership under the Judges and entering a powerful government ruled by kings. In Samuel, we see the last of the Judges, the emergence of the Prophets, the ascension and rejection of Saul as king, and the anointing of David as the kind of King that the Lord desired to reign over his people. The books of the Kings pick up where Samuel’s story left off: King David gets old and dies, Solomon becomes king, though not without incident. The storyline of this book is about the great successes of Solomon, with the building of the Temple being his greatest achievement as king. The narrative of the Kings also introduces us to the tragic split and fall of this once great United Kingdom, into two independent nations, that ultimately left them both exiled in foreign lands. The books of Chronicles are a retelling the story of the nation of Israel from the beginning; It links the kingdom of Israel to God’s original design, as the writer takes his readers back to Adam. Chronicles provide context to many unanswered questions for those Jews who were returning from exile.

Although Samuel-Kings and Chronicles are both histories of the same nation during the same time period, the differences between these histories indicate that the perspective of Chronicles is to tell the story of Israel to a postexilic Jewish audience returning from captivity who were attempting to reclaim their true identity.

SUMMARY

Samuel-Kings were not originally designed to be the two-part compilation that we see today; in the original Hebrew text 1st and 2nd Samuel was one book as was Kings. Both works underwent changes during the time that the Hebrew was translated to the Greek Septuagint. Harrison says “The LXX translators called 1 and 2 Samuel the First and Second Books of Kingdoms; the two books of Kings were then known as the Third and Fourth Books of Kingdoms. The change from “Kingdoms” to “Kings” is found in the Vulgate and has been followed by most English versions.[1] The books called Samuel are thus named because he is the central character for much of the book until his death, and even then he makes a cameo appearance after death.

The author tends to include historical details, geographical locations, critical events, and genealogies. Kings follows in line with Samuel in that it translates the story from David to Solomon, from Solomon to Rehoboam, from Rehoboam to Jeroboam and a divided kingdom, from the Northern Kingdom being led away from the true God and worship, to them being going away into captivity by the Assyrians, to Judah and Jerusalem (the place where God choose to dwell) being overrun by the Babylonians who tear down the walls and burn and destroy the Temple. Recurring themes include sin, repentance, prophetic preaching, rebellion, judgment, God’s wrath.

The book of Chronicles takes into consideration these post-exilic questions for Jews: “Who are we”, “How did we get here”, and “Where are we going?” Whenever we look at this book, we must be reminded that this writer is looking back and telling the story to people who may never have heard it or had heard it incorrectly to point them forward. Hasel states: “Undoubtedly the Chronicler had in view a purpose that grew out of the new situation of the postexilic community; the earlier canonical histories of his people did not speak to this situation. The intent and purpose of the Chronicler was not to write a comprehensive history of God’s people by gathering together what his predecessors had not covered.[2]”

[1] R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969), 695.

[2] G. F. Hasel, “Chronicles, Books of,” ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 670.

CRITIQUE

One of the major differences between these historical accounts of the nation of Israel is the audience for which each was written. When we read Samuel-Kings we see that the writer is directing his attention to a people who are alive during the Deuteronomistic history (from Genesis-2 Kings), while Chronicles is set in the context of the Persian Era. It has also been observed that there is notable differences of the language between the histories, with Samuel-Kings being written in “Standard Biblical Hebrew (SBH)” and Chronicles in “Late Biblical Hebrew (LBH)”: “SBH could be considered to be ‘early’ Hebrew, i.e. Hebrew from the monarchic, or pre-exilic, period, which means earlier than 586bc.”[1] One other major difference that stands out is that the Chronicler(s) place emphasis on David and the kingdom of Judah more than on the Northern kingdom of Israel, who receives glancing references.

There is no concrete evidence available to help us identify the author of Chronicles, because of this fact, we are relegated to referring to him/them simply as the “Chronicler.” There are several reasons why they would highlight certain aspects of Israel’s history different than Samuel-Kings, among them is the suggestion that it was done for theological or ideological reasons. According to Omanson “Some of the differences, even seemingly insignificant differences, may be explained as deliberate changes by the writer of Chronicles for theological or ideological reasons. It is important to recognize that the writer of Chronicles has rewritten Israel’s history for theological purposes.[1]” While this position sounds acceptable, there are those who disagree with this assessment wholeheartedly; positing that the Chronicler was not a theologian nor was the book of Chronicles constructed using a theological method; Kalimi says. “The trouble with the classification of the Chronicler as theologian or his work as theological is that it does not clarify a great deal about how the Chronicler went about his task. [2]” He opts that we his coloring of the text coming from the position of a historian.

[1] Roger L. Omanson and John Ellington, A Handbook on Second Book of Samuel, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 2001), 1206.

[2] Ralph W. Klein, 1 Chronicles: A Commentary, ed. Thomas Krüger, Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2006), 18.

[1] Jacobus A Naudé, “Linguistic Dating of Biblical Hebrew Texts: The Chronology and Typology Debate‍,” Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 36, no. 2 (2010): 3.