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Before we get started with our episode

1:28

today, we have a huge announcement to

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it out. Hey folks, welcome to

3:23

this episode on First and Second Chronicles.

3:26

Let me say right off the bat

3:28

that we're only doing one episode on

3:30

these two books. There's

3:32

a reason for that mainly because

3:34

Chronicles, it covers the same storyline

3:37

that Samuel and King's cover, the

3:39

period of the monarchy. So there's no need

3:41

to walk through that narrative from Saul to

3:44

David, and then to Solomon, and then the

3:46

divided monarchy, and then the two exiles of

3:48

North and South. No need to do

3:50

that. We've covered that already in the last several Pete

3:53

Ruins episodes. Chronicles

3:56

specifically is a retelling

3:58

of that story. that

4:00

we see in Samuel and Kings, but

4:03

from a very different perspective. So we'll

4:05

be focusing on what that perspective is.

4:09

See, when you read Chronicles, you're

4:11

reading one group's expression of the

4:13

nature of their existence as the

4:15

people descended from the ancient Israelites.

4:18

You're watching them put the pieces

4:20

together and how they see themselves

4:23

and their God. Chronicles is a

4:25

piece of contextual theology. Jews and

4:27

then Christians ever since have been

4:29

doing the very same thing the

4:31

chronicler does. How do we connect

4:34

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4:36

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Chronicles is not the most popular book in the

5:45

Hebrew Bible, am I right? Precisely

5:48

because after slogging through Samuel and

5:50

Kings were met with Chronicles, which

5:52

basically covers the exact same territory.

5:54

I'm not reading that again. And

5:56

I can imagine some of you might not be

5:58

terribly excited about that. whole episode on

6:01

Chronicles. Well, my goal here is to

6:03

convince you that this is not a

6:05

waste of your time, and that Chronicles

6:07

is actually a book worthy of your

6:09

very careful attention. All right, so

6:12

just let's start with some preliminaries as

6:14

we always do. The Hebrew title of

6:17

Chronicles is Divre Hayemim,

6:20

which means something like the words of the days

6:22

or the events of the days, and

6:25

probably implied the book of

6:27

the events of the days. That

6:29

doesn't mean this book was actually recording daily

6:31

events or something like that. It just means

6:33

this book is an account of the past,

6:37

and an interesting account it is.

6:39

Now, that's all well and good, but the

6:41

Greek title is different from

6:43

the Hebrew title and

6:45

has had an undue influence, I

6:47

think, on how people today might

6:50

look at Chronicles. So

6:52

you may recall from past episodes that

6:54

the Hebrew Bible was of

6:56

necessity translated into Greek, and that

6:58

happened after the conquest of Alexander

7:00

the Great in the late 4th

7:02

century BCE. The

7:05

Greek title given

7:07

to Chronicles is

7:09

Ta Paralei Po-mena, which

7:12

means something like the things missing

7:14

or the things left over, namely

7:17

from Samuel and Kings. Now,

7:19

that's not the best bit of marketing if

7:22

you want people to actually read this. The

7:24

sense given is that Chronicles contains some

7:28

details that were left out of Samuel

7:30

and Kings, and frankly, who cares? I

7:32

mean, who wants to go through this

7:34

after having just read Samuel and Kings

7:36

just for a few leftover crumbs? But

7:38

here's the thing, Chronicles is not simply

7:40

things that didn't make the first cut.

7:43

Rather, it is itself an independent,

7:47

ideologically independent. It's not independent in

7:49

other ways, we'll get to that.

7:51

But it's an independent, focused,

7:54

intentional, purposeful

7:57

retelling of Israel's past from...

8:00

their own time from the time in

8:03

which this was written. Folks, and

8:05

that's the key, it's a retelling of the

8:07

past for their own

8:09

time. Now unfortunately,

8:12

the fact that it

8:14

appears right after Samuel and Kings

8:16

clearly discourages people from seeing it

8:18

as an independent work. In

8:21

the Jewish canon however, Chronicles

8:23

is not just tucked away after

8:25

2 Kings, it's placed

8:27

last. And boy is

8:29

this telling. See it's not grouped with

8:31

the other, as Christians call

8:34

them, historical books. It's

8:36

grouped with those books referred to in

8:39

Judaism as the writings.

8:42

Sort of a general category which

8:45

includes things like Psalms, wisdom literature,

8:47

and other books that Christians place

8:49

among the historical books but Jews

8:51

don't, namely Esther and

8:54

Ruth. So even Daniel which

8:56

is a prophetic book in the

8:59

Christian Bible is in

9:01

the Jewish Bible categorized in

9:03

this third group called the writings.

9:06

And that's where Chronicles is placed

9:08

last. Why? Well

9:11

placing it at the end of the

9:13

canon signals that Chronicles is

9:15

a final summation of Jewish experience at

9:17

the time it was written. It's

9:20

a way of closing out the Hebrew Bible.

9:23

It's a final statement of here's where

9:25

we were and here hopefully is where

9:27

we're going. It recounts

9:29

the past but in such a way

9:31

that it gives a hope for the

9:33

future and we'll get to the nature of that

9:36

hope a little bit later. But

9:38

see placing it last ensures that

9:40

it is taken as a statement

9:42

in its own right, not

9:45

just a collection of things simply

9:47

left out of the Deuteronomistic history

9:49

that we should just ignore because we just read

9:52

it. And by the way folks, while

9:55

we're on the topic, if you ever

9:57

want evidence that the Bible is absolutely

9:59

an indeed multi-vocalic,

10:02

that it speaks in

10:04

different voices on the same

10:06

subject. If you're convinced

10:08

that's not the case, and if you want

10:10

some evidence, just compare Chronicles to Samuel King's.

10:13

They tell the same story, but

10:15

they tell it very, very differently.

10:19

And our focus here in this episode is on

10:21

how the story in Chronicles

10:24

is a different story that this

10:26

author wants to tell his audience. It's

10:28

a different take on Israel's

10:30

past, specifically the monarchy. So

10:33

more preliminaries here. Let's talk about the date of the

10:35

book. Chronicles is a presentation

10:37

of the past that

10:40

begins, basically begins with

10:42

Saul. Now, if you're familiar

10:44

with Chronicles, you know right away that

10:46

I'm leaving out a very boring part,

10:48

the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles,

10:50

which is a long genealogy. Yes, I'm

10:52

leaving that out just for the moment.

10:56

The historical story that it tells,

10:58

it begins with Saul, and it

11:00

goes all the way to the

11:02

Babylonian exile back in 586 roughly BCE.

11:06

And then it continues to

11:09

talk about the return from

11:11

exile. This

11:13

is a helpful clue as to the dating

11:15

of this book. See, Chronicles ends with the

11:17

release of the Judahites from Babylon in 539

11:19

BCE by the Persian King

11:23

Cyrus. In other

11:25

words, Chronicles was written after the

11:27

exile, after the

11:29

return from the exile at

11:32

some point during the Persian period,

11:34

and the Persian period is 539 to 322 BCE.

11:40

More specifically, the date range typically given

11:42

by scholars is the late fifth to

11:44

the early fourth century BCE. So let's

11:46

just say for argument's sake somewhere between

11:49

450 and 350. One

11:52

reason for the specific date range is

11:55

the fact that the genealogy, we're back

11:57

to the genealogy here that opens the

11:59

book. right in chapters 1 through

12:01

9. That genealogy gives

12:03

seven generations of names

12:06

beyond the governor of

12:08

Judah, whose name was Zerubbabel,

12:11

who was appointed by the Persian

12:14

king Cyrus, and he

12:16

governed Judah in the late sixth

12:18

century. And Chronicles

12:21

includes seven generations of

12:23

names after Zerubbabel. So

12:27

we're well into the fifth century, but

12:29

probably before the Greek period, which started

12:31

around 332 with Alexander the Great,

12:34

right? So we're probably before

12:36

the Greek period since there's no

12:38

evidence of Greek influence in Chronicles,

12:40

and Greek influence would be

12:43

something relatively easy to

12:45

see because we actually do see

12:47

Greek influence in later books of

12:49

Judaism that were written under

12:51

Greek influence, right? So anyway,

12:54

the date range for Chronicles is

12:56

before the Greek period, but in

12:58

the Persian period and pretty much

13:00

in the latter half of

13:02

the Persian period. So again, between 450

13:05

and 350 BCE, that's the

13:08

standard date range given to

13:10

the book, although, you know, there's

13:12

always debate among scholars. So

13:14

anyway, but that's what we're sticking with that

13:17

time period. So Chronicles gives

13:19

a later perspective on Israel's history.

13:21

That's the point of this. It

13:23

gives a later perspective of the

13:26

mid fifth to the mid fourth century, and

13:28

that's later than what we find in Samuel

13:30

and Kings. Those earlier

13:32

books, Samuel and Kings, are united

13:35

by an earlier

13:37

theological perspective, namely, the

13:39

theology of the book of Deuteronomy. And here,

13:41

I just want to ask if you're not

13:43

familiar with some of this stuff, and that's

13:45

fine. We spent a lot of time in

13:47

the last few episodes talking about the

13:50

theology of the book of Deuteronomy and

13:52

how it affects the books of

13:54

Samuel and Kings. And that's why,

13:56

as you may recall, the author of Samuel

13:58

and Kings, is referred

14:00

to in modern scholarship as the Deuteronomistic

14:05

historian, the historian who writes from a

14:07

Deuteronomistic point of view. The

14:09

author of Chronicles also

14:11

has his own perspective on that

14:13

same history, and this perspective

14:15

is signaled to us throughout his

14:18

retelling by what he includes and

14:20

what he doesn't include, and also by

14:22

the many slants that he gives

14:25

to many of the stories we

14:27

find in Samuel and Kings. And

14:29

this author is usually referred to

14:31

as the chronicler, which is shorter

14:33

isn't it than Deuteronomistic historian, but

14:35

that's good. So he's referred to as the

14:38

chronicler, and I'll stick with that in referring

14:40

to this author. So what

14:42

is the chronicler's relationship to

14:44

these older texts Samuel and Kings?

14:47

Right? If it's pretty much covering the same territory,

14:49

is he using these books? What's going on? And

14:52

that is a very good question, and there

14:54

is room for some debate here, but there seems

14:56

to be little question on at least one point,

14:59

and that is that the chronicler not

15:01

only knew of the existence of

15:03

Samuel Kings, but used

15:06

these books and then

15:08

consciously diverged from them to tell

15:10

his own story. Now

15:12

if it helps, especially if you're

15:14

not familiar with, you know, grappling

15:16

with these historical narratives of the Hebrew

15:18

Bible, I can offer an analogy

15:20

if it helps from the New Testament, and it's only

15:23

a rough analogy, but here it is. It's

15:25

essentially still a consensus and biblical scholarship.

15:28

The author of Matthew's Gospel used

15:30

the earlier Gospel of Mark, Mark

15:32

is earlier than Matthew. He used

15:34

it as his basis, but

15:36

then intentionally augmented it, changed it,

15:38

and then adapted it for

15:41

his own purposes, to tell his own story

15:43

of Jesus, which is

15:45

not the same as Mark's telling of the

15:47

story. And sticking with this

15:49

analogy for a moment, we should remember that

15:52

there is much more to Matthew's Gospel

15:54

than simply a reworking of Mark and

15:56

making some changes. There are other influences

15:59

that New Testament Testament scholars talk

16:01

about. There's also Matthew's personal

16:04

genius and ingenuity and creativity

16:06

and things like that. But

16:09

generally speaking, something like

16:11

that which is happening in the

16:13

Gospels is also at work with

16:15

Chronicles and his relationship to Samuel

16:18

and Kings. He is repurposing an

16:20

earlier version. He is adapting it for

16:22

a new purpose. As

16:24

I've been saying, Chronicles does not simply

16:26

repeat Samuel and Kings and fill in

16:29

some missing details, but it

16:31

is its own distinct presentation

16:33

of Israel's history. It

16:35

is a piece of theology, and we

16:37

need to treat it as that. Now

16:39

do we know who wrote Chronicles? Well, no.

16:42

Like every biblical book at least, I would

16:44

argue that we don't know

16:47

who wrote Chronicles. One traditional view

16:49

is that Chronicles was authored by

16:51

the same person who wrote

16:53

Ezra and Nehemiah. And the reason for

16:55

making that claim is that the

16:57

last verses of Chronicles, and that would be

17:00

2 Chronicles 36 verses 22 to

17:03

23, this is where we read of

17:05

the decree of Cyrus, the Persian

17:07

king, in his order to release the captives and

17:09

let them go back home. Well, these

17:12

verses are repeated verbatim in

17:15

the opening verses of the book of Ezra. Again,

17:17

if I can just offer a New Testament

17:19

analogy we might be more familiar with, it's

17:22

like the ending of the Gospel of

17:25

Luke is repeated

17:27

in a certain sense, not quite verbatim,

17:29

but it's repeated in the sense at

17:31

the beginning of the book of Acts,

17:33

and that is alerted, scholarship, that the

17:36

same author is at work there. So

17:39

you have something similar here going

17:42

on in Chronicles with Ezra, Nehemiah,

17:45

and that's led people to conclude

17:47

that whoever wrote Chronicles wrote

17:49

Ezra and Nehemiah as well. Now

17:52

another reason for this hypothesis is

17:55

that the genealogical

17:57

information in Chronicles

18:00

a lot of it, right, those first nine chapters. The

18:02

genealogical information in both Chronicles and

18:05

Ezra and Nehemiah are similar. Now,

18:08

all that is well and good, but

18:10

just again to get to more of

18:12

the scholarly consensus, despite these similarities, this

18:15

view that the author of Chronicles and

18:17

Ezra and Nehemiah are the same person,

18:20

that has fallen out of academic favor.

18:23

Why? Well, there seem

18:25

to be too many differences in

18:27

theological themes and writing style

18:29

between the books to suggest one

18:31

person is responsible for both. And

18:34

here's the thing too, even if we could surmise

18:37

that they were written by the

18:39

same person, we still wouldn't

18:41

know who that person is. So

18:43

to say it's one author or multiple

18:46

authors doesn't tell us who

18:48

wrote it. And as I said,

18:50

with most books of the Bible, I think

18:53

we have to agree to

18:56

say we don't know who wrote some of this stuff. We

18:59

just don't. Chronicles is an anonymous text. Did

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All right, so Chronicles, let's get into

20:29

an outline of Chronicles. And as you

20:31

know, I love outlines. So Chronicles can

20:33

be divided into five sections. That's

20:36

just my scheme. The first

20:38

is the genealogy in

20:40

1 Chronicles chapters 1 to 9. The

20:43

second section is very brief.

20:46

It's chapter 10. And this is

20:48

a note basically on the death of Saul,

20:51

the king who preceded David. The

20:53

third section is all about the reign of

20:56

David, which covers the rest of 1 Chronicles.

20:58

This is chapters 11 through 29. 2

21:02

Chronicles begins with the reign of Solomon

21:04

in chapters 1 through 9. That's

21:06

the fourth section. And then chapters

21:08

10 to 36 make up the

21:11

fifth section, which deals with the history of

21:13

Judah from the

21:15

division of the monarchy, that's after the

21:17

death of Solomon, to the

21:19

fall of Jerusalem, and then the decree

21:21

of Cyrus, the Persian king, to

21:24

allow the people to return. So roughly

21:26

speaking, 1 Chronicles deals

21:28

with Saul and David and

21:31

follows the very broad subject matter of 1

21:33

and 2 Samuel. 2

21:35

Chronicles focuses on Solomon

21:38

and the divided kingdom, which

21:40

is the subject of 1 and 2 Kings. You

21:43

can think of it that way. 1 Chronicles corresponds

21:45

to the Samuel books. 2 Chronicles

21:47

corresponds to the Kings books. Now,

21:50

not to complicate things, but we could

21:52

divide Chronicles into three historical sections. That's

21:55

the genealogy, that's chapter 1 to

21:57

9 of 1 Chronicles. And

22:00

then we can just combine the stories

22:02

of Saul, David, and Solomon and

22:04

just put them under the heading

22:06

of what? Well, united monarchy. That

22:09

would be 1 Chronicles 10 to 2 Chronicles 9. And

22:13

then the last part, 2 Chronicles 10

22:15

to 36, is the divided

22:17

monarchy. Some people like

22:19

three, some people like five. I'm just sticking with

22:21

a five-part outline for the purposes of this podcast.

22:24

So, you ready, folks? Let's take each

22:26

of these five sections and look at

22:29

what is distinctive about them compared to

22:31

Samuel King's. And remember,

22:33

it is the distinctive elements

22:35

that clue us in to

22:38

the chronicler's theology to

22:40

answer the question of why he even wrote

22:42

this book. And rather than

22:44

putting us all on a fox chase, let

22:46

me just say at the outset what the

22:49

big difference in perspective is between the chronicler

22:51

and the deuteronomistic historian. And

22:54

I think knowing at the outset will help make sense

22:56

of some of the things we're going to look at.

22:59

Simply put, our two authors are

23:01

asking different questions and therefore giving

23:03

very different takes on the history

23:05

of the monarchy. The

23:07

deuteronomistic historian is asking the

23:09

question, why are we in

23:11

exile? Why did it happen? How

23:14

can we reconcile this tragic event

23:16

with the goodness and justice of God? The

23:19

answer that author gave, you may

23:21

recall, is that exile is

23:24

not a sign of God's weakness

23:27

or God's distractiveness or God's abandonment,

23:30

but of God's sovereign just will.

23:32

See the exile, why are we

23:34

in exile? It's punishment. It's

23:36

punishment for failing to maintain

23:38

the covenant, namely the laws

23:41

about the exclusive worship of the

23:43

God of Israel named Yahweh and

23:46

the exclusive worship in the temple itself. And

23:49

according to the deuteronomistic historian,

23:51

the failure to uphold this

23:54

is why the two exiles happened, the exile of

23:56

the north in 722 and of the south of

23:58

the south of the south in 586.

24:02

The chronicler, however, is living at

24:04

a different time, and he

24:06

is asking another question entirely. After

24:09

all that has happened, our

24:11

deep past, and all the struggles, are

24:14

we still the people of God, or

24:16

has God forgotten us completely? Is

24:18

God merciful? Has God forgiven us? Is

24:21

God going to punish us forever? Do we

24:24

have a future? See, his

24:26

answer to those questions is basically

24:28

that God is just, and

24:30

God will treat his people justly, and

24:33

the future looks bright. See, in other

24:35

words, the Deuteronomistic history

24:37

is an explanation for why

24:39

the exile happened. Chronicles

24:41

is an expression of faith in God's

24:43

continued care for the people of Judah

24:46

despite their past. The

24:48

chronicler tells the history of Israel in

24:51

a creative way to drive

24:53

home that very practical theological

24:55

point. That's the heart of it, folks. So

24:58

let's now look at each of those

25:00

sections and highlight some points that illustrate

25:03

the chronicler's theology. So first,

25:05

the genealogy. Several observations, if I

25:07

may. First, the

25:10

genealogy begins with Adam,

25:13

and this is the only place Adam is

25:15

mentioned after Genesis 5. By

25:17

the way, I know the word Adam appears

25:19

in Joshua, it appears in Hosea, but it's

25:22

a place name. It's irrelevant. It's not the

25:24

name of the character, right? So

25:26

we begin this genealogy with

25:28

Adam. He hasn't been mentioned since

25:30

Genesis 5, and the

25:32

chronicler begins, see, his story

25:35

at the beginning. That's the point. He

25:37

begins at the very beginning of Israel's

25:39

story, because he's going to trace a

25:41

genealogy that goes from there to his

25:43

own time. It's as if

25:45

he wants to remind his people that

25:47

their pedigree goes way back,

25:49

that they are part of an ancient story, and

25:52

that God has not forgotten them. They

25:54

are connected to the past. They are

25:56

connected to the very beginning. So

25:59

he traces the lineage. lineage from Adam

26:01

to Israel, also known as Jacob. But this

26:03

is in basically chapter 1 of

26:06

the genealogies. Then we move

26:08

on to the lineage of Israel

26:11

and the 12 tribes, the

26:13

sons of Jacob. And that takes up most

26:15

of the genealogy. This takes us to

26:17

the very beginning of chapter 9.

26:20

But here's the thing. In chapter 2, when

26:23

he's going through the lineage of the 12 tribes, the

26:25

focus is immediately on the lineage of

26:28

one of Jacob's 12 sons. Which

26:31

one is that? Glad you asked. Judah.

26:34

Who the heck cares? Here's why. Why single

26:36

out Judah? Well, this is our first

26:38

clue about what makes

26:41

Chronicles distinctive, its focus

26:43

on Judah, meaning the nation

26:46

of Judah, the southern

26:48

nation. Remember how first

26:50

and second kings go back and forth

26:52

between the kings of the north and

26:54

the kings of the south, sort of

26:57

telling alternating stories. Well, not Chronicles. He's

26:59

focusing on the story of one tribe,

27:01

that nation, that southern nation that

27:03

survived exile and return. And

27:06

that tribe is highlighted in

27:08

the genealogy. The author is

27:10

bringing his own people into this story

27:13

front and center because this is the

27:15

story of their survival and

27:17

this is the story of their continued existence

27:20

and the hope that they want to have for

27:22

that future. Now, the chronicler, he's

27:24

not ignoring by any means the other

27:26

tribes. He gives their lineages as well.

27:29

He gives a lot of space to the

27:31

Levites, for example. Those were

27:34

from Levi, one of the sons of

27:36

Jacob. And the Levites are those who were

27:38

in charge of the temple. Why spend

27:40

time on this? Because this was too

27:42

important to the author to not talk

27:44

about. He's very interested in temple

27:47

worship. It is huge for him. So

27:49

the Levites, they dominate chapters six and

27:51

seven. Tucked into

27:53

chapter six also is a list

27:55

of the temple musicians that David

27:57

appointed focused on temple worship. As

28:00

we'll see, David has a connection to the

28:02

temple that is simply missing

28:04

from Samuel King. That's

28:06

a side issue, but we're going to get to that big time in

28:08

just a few minutes. See, next,

28:10

we're still in the genealogy here, folks. Next

28:13

we see a list of names of those

28:15

who returned to Jerusalem after the exile. And

28:18

this is chapter 9, basically starts in

28:20

verse 2 and it goes to verse 34. And

28:23

the list of those who returned to

28:26

Jerusalem after the exile is very important

28:28

for the chronicler. His

28:30

genealogy, as I said before, it

28:33

links the present post-exilic,

28:35

fifth century community to

28:38

Israel's deep past.

28:40

Again, I just really want to

28:42

underscore that. This is a practical theological

28:45

pep talk for his

28:47

people, and this is the purpose of the

28:49

genealogy. Remember your pedigree. Have

28:52

hope. The same God is

28:54

still active and has not abandoned his

28:56

people. Now, the genealogy

28:58

ends with the line of

29:00

Saul, and it bridges, therefore,

29:03

the genealogical section to

29:05

his actual treatment of Saul, which is

29:07

our section 2. That's chapter 10.

29:10

And the chronicler takes care of Saul's

29:12

story pretty quickly, though, and he focuses

29:14

on Saul's death. He's really not

29:16

that interested in Saul. Saul is

29:18

more an entrance ramp to get us onto

29:21

the David Highway, and

29:23

that's now section 3, and

29:25

we'll occupy the rest of 1 Chronicles,

29:28

just chapters 10 through 29. And

29:31

folks, this is where things get interesting,

29:33

and we need to slow down just

29:35

a bit and look at some of

29:37

the details about how the chronicler handles

29:39

the reign of David. As

29:41

a way of getting into that, let

29:44

me give a related concrete

29:46

example. It's not one of the things I

29:48

want to focus on too much. It's just

29:50

a very succinct way of getting

29:52

into the mindset

29:54

of the author of Chronicles

29:56

concerning how he handles what

29:59

he reads. in Samuel Kings and how he

30:01

adapts it for his own reason. And

30:04

that example is from 2 Samuel 7.16.

30:10

And how does Chronicles handle this verse? Well, here

30:13

is in this part of the story

30:15

in 2 Samuel, we have Nathan the

30:17

prophet. He's speaking

30:19

for God and he's prophesying to

30:21

David. This is all about

30:24

David, that Solomon, his next in

30:26

line, he will be the next

30:28

king. And that

30:30

David's line is firmly

30:32

established. His reign,

30:34

his kingdom, his lineage

30:37

will be forever. And

30:40

here's what 2 Samuel 7.16

30:42

says. This is again

30:44

God speaking through Nathan to David. Your

30:47

house, that's your meaning David,

30:50

your house and your

30:52

kingdom shall be made sure

30:54

forever before me. Your

30:57

throne shall be established forever.

31:00

See, this is a comment on David's

31:04

lineage and how there's

31:06

always going to be a son of David

31:08

sitting on the phone. And

31:10

that's your house, David. That's your kingdom.

31:12

It's your throne. Now, here's the

31:15

problem, of course, with all this in 2

31:17

Samuel 7. That's that David's

31:19

line did indeed come to an

31:22

end, at least functionally, in the

31:24

exile. That's the whole point of

31:26

it. So when telling this story of

31:28

David, and especially of 2 Samuel 7,

31:32

what the chronicler does is

31:34

he clearly changes Nathan's speech.

31:37

Here he says, I will

31:40

confirm him, and the hymn

31:42

here is Solomon. I will confirm

31:44

him in my house, whose

31:49

house is at its God's house. It's not David's

31:51

house. And in

31:53

my kingdom forever, and

31:56

his throne shall be established forever. A little

31:59

bit different. That's 1 Chronicles 1714. Just

32:03

notice the big picture. There are a lot of details

32:05

we could talk about here, but just keep an eye

32:07

on the big picture here. Notice

32:10

whose house and whose kingdom it is. Here

32:12

in Chronicles, it's God's. The

32:14

historical reality at the time is

32:16

that there is no one occupying the throne

32:19

of David. That hadn't happened since the

32:21

Exo. But here's the thing.

32:23

It's, according to the Chronicles,

32:25

it's not even David's throne. It's

32:27

God's throne. That's what

32:29

the chronicer wants to get across. See,

32:32

here's the practical piece of encouragement to

32:34

a people that finds itself

32:36

in the land, but without the blessing of

32:38

a king in the line of David, which

32:40

was the promise of 2 Samuel 7. Here's

32:44

the point. Despite what it looks like, folks,

32:47

Israel's throne and kingdom are

32:49

squarely in God's hands. It

32:52

is His throne and His kingdom. And

32:55

if no earthly king is involved,

32:57

don't let that detail discourage you

33:00

from the ultimate reality. See,

33:02

the lesson is this. A kingless

33:04

throne is not evidence of God's

33:06

abandonment. It's God's throne.

33:08

It's God's kingdom, and God is still in

33:10

charge. See, this is

33:13

just one example of the

33:15

way in which the

33:17

chronicler adapts his own

33:20

main source for writing his story,

33:22

which is Samuel King's. Anyway,

33:25

let's talk specifically now about

33:27

the chronicler's David, which

33:29

is a very different David than what

33:31

we see in Samuel King. I would

33:33

like to highlight four examples of how

33:35

the chronicler presents an idealized

33:37

portrait. That's really the term I'm

33:40

looking for here, an idealized portrait

33:42

of David. For example, it

33:45

is explicit in 2 Samuel 7 that

33:48

David will have nothing to do with building the

33:50

temple. That will be all

33:52

Solomon's deal. He's going to do it. And

33:55

then in 1 Kings, chapters 5 and

33:57

6, we see Solomon making

33:59

preparations. for the temple, like

34:01

gathering materials, and then

34:03

actually overseeing its construction. The

34:06

only thing David does in

34:08

2 Samuel that even remotely

34:10

ties him to the

34:12

preparation of the temple is

34:14

his last act in that book, which

34:17

was to erect an altar on

34:19

the threshing floor of

34:21

some dude named Arona, who

34:24

is a Jebusite. The Jebusites,

34:26

by the way, were the original

34:28

inhabitants of Jerusalem, and after David

34:30

conquered it, he made it his

34:32

city. There are Jebusites there. So

34:35

anyway, he offered sacrifices on this

34:38

altar to appease God, who is

34:40

currently plaguing the people because

34:43

of the census that David took. Okay,

34:45

so who cares? What's the tie of

34:47

this story to the temple? Well, it's

34:49

indirect, but it's still

34:51

there. This threshing floor, we

34:54

read in the story, would become

34:56

the site of Solomon's temple, which

34:59

David didn't plan. He just erected an

35:01

altar on this threshing floor of Arona

35:03

to offer a sacrifice. That's

35:05

where the temple would be built, but this is

35:07

not explicit. David's not thinking to himself, yeah, I'm

35:09

founding a site for the temple here. It's

35:12

a very innocent little story. It

35:14

connects to the temple, but it's not really David

35:16

going out of his way to make preparations or

35:18

anything like that for the temple. And

35:21

this is the only thing David does

35:23

in the Deuteronomistic history that is really

35:25

related to temple preparation at the temple

35:27

building. So anyway, the

35:30

next story of the temple

35:32

building is told very briefly. It's in two

35:34

chapters, 1 Kings 6 and

35:36

7, and all, again,

35:38

without involvement from David. The

35:41

chronicler, however, and you can see where

35:43

this is going, he has David very

35:46

involved in the temple. He doesn't build

35:48

it, but he does

35:50

everything but build it. Where

35:52

can you read this? Oh, I don't know. 1

35:55

Chronicles, chapters 22 through 29, eight chapters

35:57

of Deuteronomy. David

36:00

doing all sorts of stuff, he

36:02

gives the order to have the temple built,

36:05

and he gives a charge to Solomon. You

36:07

know, he's like the overseer of the

36:09

whole project. He assembles all the priests

36:11

and the Levites and gives them the

36:13

pep talk. He sets up

36:16

the musicians, gatekeepers, treasurers, and

36:18

others, and then he assembles

36:20

all Israel together and publicly

36:22

instructs Solomon to build a

36:24

temple. David, he's

36:26

not building it, but he's doing everything but.

36:29

See, the reason given for David's,

36:32

let's call it, helicopter parenting of

36:34

Solomon's temple project is

36:36

laid out in 1 Chronicles 29, 1 to 2. Let

36:40

me quote, King David said

36:42

to the whole assembly, My

36:44

son Solomon, whom alone God

36:46

has chosen, is young

36:48

and inexperienced, and the work is great,

36:51

for the temple will not

36:53

be for mortals, but for the

36:55

Lord God. So I have provided

36:57

for the house of my God, so far

36:59

as I was able, the gold

37:01

for the things of gold, the silver for the

37:03

things of silver, etc. You

37:05

see, Solomon can handle it, but he

37:08

can't handle it. So I've arranged

37:10

everything. You're welcome. It reminds

37:12

me of a parent telling their recent college

37:14

graduate that they need to live on their

37:16

own and make it on their own. So

37:19

the parent helps them along by finding them

37:21

a job, setting them up with an

37:23

apartment, and then giving them a new car. The

37:26

chronicler makes David

37:28

responsible for the

37:30

temple, not for building it, but

37:33

for doing everything but. Why?

37:36

Well, see, he's not interested in painting a

37:38

rosy picture of David or something just

37:41

because he likes David. Rather,

37:43

the chronicler's David is

37:45

a model for what their

37:47

true and future king would look

37:49

like, a temple honoring

37:51

king. That's what it means

37:53

to be in the line of David, to have

37:56

an attitude towards the temple that David explicitly had,

37:58

at least explicitly, according to the temple. according to

38:00

the chronicler. Remember, at this time,

38:03

they have no king. The

38:05

chronicler's David points the reader

38:07

future in time. It's not a trip

38:09

down memory lane. And let me

38:12

add here that the chronicler –

38:14

I'm trying to avoid using modern

38:16

language and modern biases here –

38:18

but the chronicler is not distorting

38:21

the past. He's

38:23

using it. Let's call

38:25

it for pastoral purposes. He's

38:28

using it to establish for his

38:30

community a vision for their future

38:33

with a righteous, temple-honoring son

38:35

of David to rule them. So

38:38

David's awesome. Having said

38:41

that, how awesome David is and righteous,

38:43

let's talk about the David and Bathsheba

38:45

incident. This is our second example of

38:48

how the chronicler treats David. In

38:50

2 Samuel 11, we

38:52

read the famous story of

38:54

David's rape of Bathsheba. And

38:57

by the way, if you haven't

38:59

seen the brief three-part video series

39:01

on the David and Bathsheba story

39:03

by our very own Nerd in

39:05

Residence, Cynthia Shafer-Elliott,

39:08

you need to do that right away.

39:10

Please access your social media accounts and

39:12

take a few minutes and learn everything

39:14

you've wanted to know ever about

39:16

this story. Anyway, with

39:18

respect to the David and Bathsheba story

39:21

in 2 Samuel, this is

39:23

happening in 2 Samuel 11. That's

39:25

the rape of Bathsheba. And David

39:28

had been crowned king.

39:30

His opposition had been removed. He brings

39:32

the ark back to Jerusalem. He enjoys

39:35

battle victories. He offers a pious

39:37

prayer, etc. And this goes on through

39:39

chapter 10. So

39:41

here's a point. Chapters 5 through

39:43

10, those are the good times

39:46

for David. This is when everything is

39:48

as it should be. But that

39:50

comes to a screeching halt here in

39:52

chapter 11. His rape of

39:54

Bathsheba led to political trouble, which

39:57

marks the remainder of his career. See, David

39:59

has no peace but suffers

40:01

the consequences of his actions. So

40:04

how does the chronicler handle this

40:07

episode? One that makes

40:09

David look so imperfect. How

40:11

does he handle it? He doesn't. He

40:13

skips it entirely. This incident, the

40:16

effects of which would follow David for the remainder

40:18

of his life, according

40:20

to the Deuteronomistic historian, is completely

40:22

left out of the chronicler's picture.

40:26

Rather than smooth it over or give it

40:28

a good spin, which I think

40:30

is impossible to do in this story, he

40:32

just omits it. Let me

40:34

suggest that this incident is not

40:37

something he could easily fold into

40:39

his retelling of the David story.

40:42

He's giving us an idealized David, and

40:44

this idealized David

40:47

would come to dominate both Judaism

40:49

in the centuries to follow and

40:51

the early Christian movement. David,

40:54

the morally flawed character of

40:57

the Deuteronomistic history, would

40:59

become, thanks in large part to the

41:01

chronicler, the man after God's

41:03

own heart. See,

41:05

that nicer narrative eventually

41:08

dominates the Jewish and

41:10

Christian landscape, so

41:12

much so that well-intentioned Bible

41:14

readers today have some trouble

41:17

accepting the Deuteronomistic

41:19

historian's unflattering portrait of David,

41:21

especially in the David and

41:24

Bathsheba story. And by the

41:26

way, this is why the

41:28

chronicler's retelling of David's census is

41:31

what it is. You may remember David numbers

41:33

his troops, which displeases the Lord

41:35

greatly in both 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21.

41:40

The difference is that in 2 Samuel,

41:42

it is the Lord himself who incited

41:45

David to do this, to count the

41:47

number of his fighting men. So

41:50

God plagued everyone because of it, which

41:52

is an odd story. He plagues David

41:54

for a census that the Lord himself

41:57

incited him to do. One

41:59

of those weird stories in the book. the Bible. Anyway,

42:01

in 1 Chronicles, it's not

42:03

the Lord who incites David, it's Satan. Now,

42:06

just what is meant there at this point in

42:08

history by Satan is an interesting issue we can't

42:10

get into here. But the main

42:12

point is pretty clear. The troubling

42:15

relationship between David and God

42:17

that's implied in 2 Samuel is

42:19

sidestepped completely by the chronicler. The

42:22

plague is still there in Chronicles, but

42:24

not because God had a beef with

42:27

David. God and David get along. The

42:30

last example concerns the transfer of

42:32

power from David to Solomon. Another

42:35

really interesting moment here. In

42:37

1 Kings 1-2, the

42:39

transfer of power, you know, it

42:41

reads like a Game of Thrones episode, folks,

42:43

with intrigue and murder of rivals and all

42:46

sorts of stuff like that. In

42:48

1 Chronicles, the transfer, however,

42:50

is smooth and silk. It's hardly worth

42:52

a comment. 1 Chronicles

42:55

23, verse 1, when

42:57

David was old and full of days

42:59

he made his son Solomon king over

43:01

Israel. It's like, here's your crown,

43:03

boy, have at it. It's not a big deal. 1 Chronicles

43:06

ends, and here I'm talking about chapter 29,

43:08

verses 22-25, but

43:11

1 Chronicles ends by repeating the

43:13

sentiment and praising David at

43:15

his death, having lived a

43:18

life of fullness, riches, and honor. The

43:20

smooth transfer of power emphasizes

43:22

the unity of the nation, which

43:25

is a big theme in Chronicles, by the

43:28

way. It also emphasizes God's blessing on David

43:30

and then Solomon. That's what

43:32

this rewriting, this retelling of

43:34

the transfer of power in

43:36

Chronicles accomplishes. It

43:38

presents a very different picture of

43:41

the stability of the reign of David

43:44

and of God's presence

43:46

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for the ones who get it

44:21

done. That's

44:27

so much for David. Let's move on to

44:29

the fourth section and talk briefly about Solomon.

44:32

And this is 2 Chronicles 1-9.

44:34

Now, he is, of course, David's son and the

44:37

last king of the United Monarchy.

44:39

And the chronicler's focus differs from

44:42

that of the Deuteronomistic history, which

44:45

you probably have guessed by now, right? So

44:47

the story of Solomon's completion of

44:49

the temple dominates this section in

44:51

Chronicles. The chronicler leaves

44:53

out things that don't enhance Solomon's role

44:55

in the temple, like, you know, that

44:57

famous story of the two women who

44:59

each claimed that an infant was theirs,

45:02

and the true mother cried out in

45:04

horror when Solomon suggested he solve this

45:06

problem by just cutting the infant in

45:08

half, right? Remember that? Well, the chronicler

45:10

leaves that out. And he also leaves

45:12

out Solomon's apostasy

45:15

in 1 Kings 11. This is

45:17

where Solomon built high places for

45:20

his foreign wives to worship their foreign

45:22

gods on Israelite land. Bad

45:25

move, Solomon. And according to

45:27

1 Kings, this act was

45:30

the reason for the division of the

45:32

monarchy itself into north and south. See,

45:35

Solomon blew it. So

45:37

what does the chronicler do with all

45:39

this? Well, the chronicler focuses on

45:41

the temple as Solomon's only

45:44

act of note. And

45:46

this section, these first nine chapters

45:48

of 2 Chronicles, this section is

45:51

centered around that temple,

45:53

literally centered around it. The middle

45:55

section, chapters 3 through 7, are

45:58

all about the construction of the temple. the temple and

46:00

the dedication of the temple. Five

46:03

of the nine chapters. Framing

46:05

that section are chapters two and eight. Two

46:08

is about Solomon's preparations for the temple, and

46:10

chapter eight is about the final touches put

46:13

on the temple. And then

46:15

framing that entire section is

46:17

chapters one and nine. And

46:20

these are two sections about Solomon's kingly

46:22

reputation. Chapter one talks about his wisdom

46:24

and wealth, and chapter nine

46:26

talks about his international reputation. This is

46:29

the whole incident with the queen of

46:31

Sheba, and also about his wealth. See,

46:34

anyway, chronicler's focus is

46:36

on what is at the center

46:39

of this nine chapter section, which

46:41

is the actual temple building. Everything

46:44

before leads up to it. Everything

46:47

that comes after is a result of it. Now,

46:50

one thing I want to point out here

46:52

quickly about this section is chapter nine, verse

46:54

eight. Because here we

46:56

see a theme of chronicles that we've already

46:58

glimpsed, and this is why I want to

47:00

emphasize this. These are the

47:02

words of the queen of Sheba, what she says

47:04

to Solomon, right? She visits him and sees his

47:07

wealth, blah, blah, blah. And she says, blessed

47:09

be the Lord your God, who has

47:11

delighted in you and set you on

47:13

his throne as king for the

47:16

Lord your God. It's

47:18

so easy to miss folks, that little line there,

47:20

but the queen of Sheba says that the throne

47:22

is God's. And

47:25

it's just the one occupying it. And

47:27

this is one of these micro details, but

47:30

it is all part of the chronicler's

47:33

purpose, the chronicler's agenda for

47:35

penning this story of Israel's

47:37

history. And that purpose is,

47:39

among other things, to bring some comfort to

47:42

his generation and knowing that the throne is

47:44

occupied at all times, either

47:47

by God or by a king. Okay,

47:49

enough with Solomon here. Let's move to

47:52

the final section, and this is the

47:54

divided monarchy in chapters 10 to 36

47:56

of 2 Chronicles. The

48:00

big distinctive mark of this section

48:02

is that only the careers of the

48:05

southern kings are mentioned. Now,

48:07

northern kings are mentioned here and there

48:09

as they play roles in the dealings

48:11

of the southern kings, but they don't

48:13

get their own sections as they do

48:15

in first and second kings. The

48:18

chronicler is only interested in telling

48:20

the story of the southern nation of Judah

48:23

because they are the ones left standing. The

48:26

north, you may recall, was exiled in 722

48:29

BCE by the Assyrians, never

48:31

to return, about 350 years earlier. They're

48:35

all gone. What's left is the

48:37

south. And what's fascinating is not

48:39

just leaving out the northern kings,

48:41

but it's how the chronicler gives

48:44

his own twist to these narratives of

48:46

the southern kings. And in some

48:48

cases, there is more of a twist than in others.

48:51

And just to not bore you with

48:53

five examples, which would take too long

48:55

anyway, I just want to focus on

48:57

one illustration that really drives

49:00

home how thoughtful and creative

49:02

and intentional and

49:04

theological the chronicler is in

49:06

telling the story of

49:08

his people. And the one

49:10

illustration is the story of King Manasseh.

49:13

This is found in 2 Chronicles 33 and also in 2 Kings 21. Now

49:20

telling you folks, just printing them out – this

49:22

is what I do for my undergraduate students –

49:24

just printing them out and laying them side by

49:26

side is itself an

49:28

education in what Chronicles is all

49:30

about. So Manasseh, who

49:33

is this guy? Well, he is hands

49:35

down the worst king of Judah. The

49:38

story in 2 Kings goes like this.

49:41

The author tells us in

49:43

great detail all about Manasseh's

49:45

wicked reign, which includes

49:47

not only the worship of the

49:50

Canaanite gods Baal and Asherah, but

49:53

child sacrifice, and both are

49:55

major no-no's. And

49:57

after that, the author gives his

49:59

evaluation. of Manasseh, which

50:02

is this. Because of all this horrible

50:04

stuff that he did, here's what's

50:06

going to happen. God will bring

50:08

upon Judah the same fate

50:11

he brought upon the northern kingdom

50:13

of Israel, which is exile. See,

50:15

Manasseh's deeds and, as the narrator tells

50:18

us, the great amount of blood that

50:20

he spilled, those things are

50:22

too much for God to overlook in

50:25

several generations because of what

50:28

Manasseh did, Judah

50:30

will have to be exiled. That's

50:32

about as bad as you can get, folks,

50:34

in the Old Testament in terms of evaluating

50:36

a king. This guy is responsible

50:39

for you people losing your land, and

50:41

your king, and your temple. How

50:44

is the chronicler's version of

50:46

Manasseh different? Well, he

50:48

begins the same way by recounting

50:50

Manasseh's sins from 2

50:52

Kings and almost verbatim. There are

50:55

some small differences, but basically line

50:57

by line it reiterates all that

50:59

stuff. But that's where

51:01

the similarities end and where the

51:03

spin begins. To cut to the

51:05

chase, the story of Manasseh is

51:07

creatively rewritten by the chronicler in

51:10

such a way that

51:12

Manasseh now becomes an object

51:14

lesson for repentance for the

51:16

people of Judah. Right? Let

51:18

me lay this out. This is, I

51:20

think, a very important illustration for understanding

51:23

the nature of the chronicler's handling

51:25

of Samuel and Kings. See,

51:28

after recounting his sins, here's what we

51:30

read in 2 Chronicles. The

51:32

Lord spoke to Manasseh

51:35

and the people to try to get them to see the

51:37

error of their ways, but they

51:39

don't heed God's warning. So

51:41

God's next move – now, this is the

51:44

key point here, folks – God's

51:46

next move is to have the

51:48

Assyrians attack Jerusalem

51:52

and take Manasseh captive

51:55

and then bring him in chains to

51:57

Babylon. Now, there's a lot of going

52:00

on here. You know, for one thing, the

52:04

Assyrians attacking during this period. Manasseh

52:07

reigned mid to late

52:09

7th century BCE. And

52:12

Second Kings certainly knows nothing

52:14

of the Assyrians capturing Manasseh,

52:18

let alone taking him captured

52:21

bound to Babylon. They're

52:24

Assyrians. What are they

52:26

doing taking him to Babylon? This

52:28

is, in my opinion, historically

52:31

implausible. It seems more like

52:33

the chronicler is trying to

52:35

say something. Hold that thought.

52:38

Next, we read in 2 Chronicles

52:40

that while he was in Babylon,

52:43

Manasseh had a, basically, I'm going

52:45

to say a conversion experience. He

52:47

humbles himself and he repents before

52:49

God for all that he's done.

52:52

And as a result, God

52:54

rewards him by restoring him

52:56

to his throne. So

52:59

he not only was captured, he gets

53:01

back somehow and he sits

53:03

on the throne again. And after he got back,

53:06

Manasseh, among other things, he

53:09

cleaned the house of the Lord from foreign

53:11

gods and he led the people in the

53:13

proper worship of God. Right?

53:15

This is a major repentance about

53:17

face here for Manasseh. And

53:20

Second Kings knows nothing of this. Manasseh

53:23

learned his lesson. But here's

53:25

the problem. Why did the exile happen

53:27

if Manasseh is a good guy? Well,

53:30

the people kept sacrificing at

53:32

the high places. Now, they only

53:34

sacrificed to the Lord, mind you,

53:36

which is good. It's better, but

53:39

still, sacrificing at the high

53:41

places, even to Yahweh, was

53:43

simply forbidden. So for

53:45

the chronicler, the cause of

53:47

the exile was no longer Manasseh.

53:50

He repented of his sins. It's

53:53

just that the people didn't follow the program. They

53:56

were to blame. See, this

53:58

episode as the chronicler tells... that

54:00

didn't happen. The Assyrians did

54:02

not take Manasseh captive to Babylon. That

54:05

historically is just fraught with all sorts

54:07

of unlikelihoods. But

54:09

he tells the story this way creatively

54:13

to make a point. And

54:15

it's not about Manasseh, but it's

54:17

about the writer's audience

54:20

and their situation. See, a

54:22

major theme of Chronicles is

54:25

the notion that God treats each

54:27

individual as they deserve. And if

54:29

you sin, folks,

54:31

forgiveness is just one

54:33

humble, truly heartfelt prayer

54:35

away. God listens.

54:39

See, probably the most famous line

54:41

in Chronicles is in 2 Chronicles

54:44

chapter 7. And this is where God

54:46

is speaking to Solomon after

54:48

his construction and dedication

54:50

of the temple. And

54:53

let me read to you verses 12 through 14. This is

54:55

a 2 Chronicles 7. And many

54:58

of you will recognize these words because

55:00

they're hugely used at election time every

55:03

cycle, but let's not get into that.

55:05

So, God is speaking. Here's

55:07

what he says to Solomon. I have heard

55:09

your prayer and have chosen this place, this

55:11

is the temple, for myself as

55:13

a house of sacrifice. When

55:16

I shut up the heavens so that

55:18

there is no rain, or command the

55:20

locust to devour the land, or send

55:22

pestilence among the people, if

55:25

my people who are called by

55:27

my name humble themselves, pray,

55:29

seek my face, and turn from

55:31

their wicked ways, then I will

55:33

hear from heaven and will forgive

55:35

their sin and heal their land.

55:38

See, this is a major theme

55:40

of Chronicles. Prayer, humility, repentance are

55:44

always available and they work. It

55:46

even worked for Manasseh, the

55:49

worst king on the planet, and so it

55:51

can work for you. As

55:53

God brought Manasseh out of

55:55

exile in Babylon on account

55:57

of his repentance, well...

56:00

God brought your ancestors out of

56:02

Babylon too. And

56:04

as for you, people stuck here in

56:07

Persian-run Judea, no matter

56:10

how bad things get for you, no matter

56:12

how much you might think that God has

56:14

abandoned us as His special people, no matter

56:16

how deeply you're worried that there is no

56:19

future for you and your people, we

56:21

like Manasseh can also become

56:24

fully restored. If it

56:26

happened to Manasseh, it can happen to

56:28

anybody. By the way, the

56:30

chronicler's version of the story of Manasseh

56:33

seems to have inspired a later writer

56:36

to pen something that we call today

56:38

the prayer of Manasseh, which you can

56:40

find in any version of

56:43

the Bible that contains the Apocrypha.

56:46

And I recommend reading it. It's great

56:48

stuff. It's a brief, it's

56:50

only 15 verses long, but it's a

56:52

brief but powerful statement of

56:54

Jewish piety during the late Second

56:56

Temple period. Well,

56:59

folks, I don't know. There's so much

57:01

to talk about with first and second

57:04

chronicles and can't get to all of it,

57:06

as you know, but I hope these highlights have

57:08

given you some sense of why chronicles is much

57:11

more than just some tidbits that

57:13

didn't make it into Samuel King's.

57:15

Rather, it is a thoughtful, work-out

57:18

piece of theology expressed by

57:20

means of a creative retelling of the

57:22

history of the monarchy. And

57:24

I understand that some listening might balk

57:27

at the notion that two

57:29

such very different stories of

57:31

500 years

57:34

of Israel's history can coexist in the

57:36

same Bible. That can't be.

57:39

That's a contradiction. And yet here they are.

57:42

And the differences between them are not

57:44

minor details to be ignored, nor

57:46

are they problems that need fixing.

57:48

Rather, it's not the

57:50

bug, right? It's actually the heart of

57:52

the matter. These episodes,

57:55

just the ones we've gone through, are

57:57

snapshots of how ancient

58:00

Israelites at a

58:02

different time understood differently their relationship

58:04

with their God. And

58:06

that understanding is affected by the

58:09

time and place and circumstances of

58:12

this author. Actually, the

58:14

same goes for both authors. The Deuteronomistic

58:16

Historian and the Chronicler are both people

58:18

writing and describing and talking about and

58:21

emoting the events that

58:24

are important to them and telling the story in a

58:26

way that gets across what they want to get across.

58:29

Their theology reflects their

58:32

setting. And frankly, folks, a

58:34

more obvious statement could not be made. And

58:37

yet this acknowledgment is still fraught

58:39

with controversy, at least in some circles.

58:42

See, when you read Chronicles, you're

58:44

reading one group's expression of

58:47

the nature of their existence as the

58:50

people descended from the ancient Israelites. You're

58:53

watching them put the pieces together

58:55

and how they see themselves and

58:57

their God. Chronicles

58:59

is, if I can use this expression,

59:02

it is a piece of contextual theology.

59:05

And it would not be the last. Jews

59:07

and then Christians ever since have been

59:09

doing the very same thing the Chronicler

59:11

does. How do

59:13

we connect today with those

59:16

stories from back then? That's

59:19

the question all faith traditions ask

59:21

sooner or later. How do

59:23

we today connect with the past? And

59:25

in Chronicles, we have one

59:28

early, and I'm going to

59:30

say thoroughly biblical example of this

59:32

living dynamic between past

59:35

and present. Well,

59:38

thanks to everyone who supports the show.

59:40

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People team. Brittany Hodge,

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