Sermon Tone Analysis

1 & 2 Chronicles

1. Title

Ø       In Hebrew the biblical books of Chronicles are called "the words of the days".

Ø       In the LXX the title of Chronicles means "the things omitted."

2.

Date and Authorship

Ø       500 B.C. as the earliest possible date for Chronicles, according to the internal evidence.

Ø       Chronicles would have to have been written before 420.

If its composition, moreover, is associated with the work of Ezra, we must notice that the Aramaic language found in the book that bears Ezra's name.

Ø       Jewish tradition affirms that Ezra wrote Chronicles, along with the book that bears his name; and in recent scholarship has particularly reemphasized this conclusion.

3. Occasion and Purpose

Ø       Ezra's goal of maintaining Israel's racial and religious purity explains his stress on genealogical listings (e.g., as recorded in 1 Chron 1-9; cf.

Ezra 2:62-63).

Ø       Ezra's zeal for worship according to the law and to its Levitical institutions explains his emphasis on the temple (1 Chron 22), the sacred ark (ch.

13), and its attendant Levitical priests and singers (chs.

15-16).

Ø       Ezra's concern to encourage the exiles who had returned to Judah explains his rehearsals of the past glories of David and the God-given victories of his dynasty (cf. 2 Chron 13; 17; 20; 25).

*SUMMARY*

The Books of Chronicles cover the history of Judah from Adam through Cyrus' decree to allow the Judeans to return to Jerusalem.

The first ten chapters follow David's genealogies.

Beginning with Adam, David's lineage is traced from his ancestors through his descendants who were taken into exile, to the Judeans who returned from exile.

The remainder of 1 Chronicles provides a his­tory of David's reign.

4.

Theology

Ø       */Promise of God/* - in Chronicles the Lord takes center stage and leaves no doubt as to who is in charge.

Ø       */Retribution/* - the burden of obedience lies primarily on the shoulder of the king of the nation.

When the sovereign is faithful, he is often rewarded with military victory, secure kingdom, wealth, and honor.

When he forsakes God, he often reaps defeats and diseases.

The history of the southern kingdom abounds with illustrations of this doctrine of retribution, and the principle may be found in 1 Chron.

10:13-14 and 28:8-9.

Ø       */Service/* – An interest of Chronicles can be seen in the emphasis given to the ark, the temple, and the priesthood.

Ø       */Worship/* - An interest of Chronicles is closely related to Israel's worship at the temple.

The author is not just concerned with the right persons officiating at the right place in the right external manner.

The Chronicler is concerned about the nature of true worship as opposed to correct ceremony.

Ø       */Kingdom/* – An interest of Chronicles is the kingship in Israel.

First, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Judah are often treated as if they are one and the same entity.

Secondly, the kingdom is important as the guardian of the temple.

It is a re-outlining of the story already told in the books of Samuel and the Kings, but from a different standpoint, with new emphases and new aspects, with significant additions and omissions and supplying completive interpretations.

In fact, it is in this repetition, with its characteristic additions and omissions, that the peculiar /viewpoint and significance /of the Chronicles are perceived; for if we read these "chronicles" side by side with the earlier accounts in Samuel and the Kings, we soon begin to notice that the additions and omissions all seem of the same sort, that is, they all seem to conform to one focal purpose.

What, then, is the unifying idea running through these additions and omissions?

And what is the central purpose of the Chronicles?

 

*The Unifying Idea*

First, as to /the unifying idea or emphasis/, all who have studied and written on these two books of the Chronicles are unanimous in observing the prominence given to the /temple /and matters connected with it.

*The Central Purpose*

But we are still left asking: "/Why /this unifying new emphasis?

What is the /purpose /behind it?

1.  First, there was /the teaching of the past/, a past such as no other people had ever had, with a significance attaching to it such as did not attach to the history of any other nation.

2. Second, there was /the prophetic promise for the future/.

Although the Davidic throne was no more among them, the Davidic /line /was; and of this line the Messiah was to come, according to Divine promise and covenant, who should lift the Davidic throne to unprecedented splendor, and consummate Jehovah's purpose in and through Israel, by bringing in a wonderful world-rule, with its centre at Jerusalem.

3.  Third, there was the presence of Jehovah with them in the present.

The temple was now, above all things, (a) the symbol of the unity of the nation, the more so now that the earthly throne had disappeared; (b) the reminder of the nation's high calling and function; (c) the sign that Jehovah was still with His chosen people; (d) the focus of the true emphasis in the national life.

It was in the light of that temple that all the past was to be read, and the present reconstructed, and the future anticipated.

Hence the compiling of the Chronicles, with their sustained emphasis on the temple and the religious aspects, of things, And hence the central /purpose /of the Chronicles, namely, to bring home afresh to the covenant people /where the true emphasis in Israel's national life lay/, to convince them as to /where their first duty and their only true safety lay, and thereby to challenge the elect race to a renewed consecration /as the Divinely-appointed priest of the nations.

(from Explore the Book.

Published by Zondervan Publishing House.

Copyright (c) 1966.)