CHRONICLES 1 דברי הימים א

The story of Saul, Israel’s first king, took up twenty-four chapters in earlier history (1 Samuel 8-31). Chronicles, while assuming the reader is aware of the whole story, is only interested in the last scene, Saul’s death at the hands of the Philistines. This is because Saul functions as a foil for the Chronicler’s portrayal of David and Solomon.

In 1 Samuel, Saul dies along with “all his men” (1 Samuel 31:6); but in Chronicles, “all his men” is changed to “all his house” (1 Chronicles 10:6), despite the long genealogy of Saul’s house presented in 1 Chronicles 8:29-40. The Chronicler intends to show that this is the end of Saul’s kingship and line.

The reason for this judgment is found in 10:13-14 where it is clearly stated that ultimately it was the Lord who put Saul to death and turned the kingdom over to David because of Saul’s “unfaithfulness.” Two crucial aspects of the Chronicler’s theology are introduced here:

• David’s kingship is divinely authorized as “the LORD” is the subject of the verb “to cause to die”–that is, God was behind the activities of the Philistine archers.
• “Unfaithfulness” had resulted in exile for Judah (1 Chronicles 9:1) and the northern tribes (1 Chronicles 5:25-26).

Thus, the Chronicler begins his narrative of David’s reign with a portrayal of Saul, Israel’s first king, who embodies the danger of losing the land and exile because of unfaithfulness. David, and Solomon after him, will embody the possibility of retaining the land due to their faithfulness to God and especially to proper worship in the temple.

Hebron: Although David had been anointed king years earlier, his reign began when the leaders of Israel accepted him as king at Hebron (1 Chronicles 11:1-3).

Jerusalem: David set out to complete the conquest of the land begun by Joshua. He attacked Jerusalem, captured it, and made it his capital (1 Chronicles 11:4-12:40).

Kiriath Jearim: The ark of the covenant, which had been captured by the Philistines in battle and returned (1 Samuel 4-6), was in safekeeping in Kiriath Jearim. David summoned all of Israel to this city to join in bringing the ark to Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, it was not moved according to God’s instructions, and as a result, one man died. David left the ark in the home of Obed-Edom until he could discover how to transport it correctly (1 Chronicles 13:1-14).

Tyre: David did much building in Jerusalem. King Hiram of Tyre sent workers and supplies to help build David’s palace. Cedar, abundant in the mountains north of Israel, was a valuable and hardy wood for the beautiful buildings in Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 14:1-17:27).

Baal Perazim: David was not very popular with the Philistines because he had slain Goliath, one of their greatest warriors (1 Samuel 17). When David began to rule over a united Israel, the Philistines set out to capture him. But David and his army attacked the Philistines at Baal Perazim as they approached Jerusalem.

The story begins on page one of the Bible: the first word of 1 Chronicles is “Adam.” From there, the Chronicler has woven the entire story of Abraham’s family leading up to David and beyond into a series of elaborately arranged genealogies.

For ancient Israelite readers, these genealogies weren’t just a matter of family lines but a shorthand way of retelling the stories of all these characters in an annotated form. These names would have provoked whole memories of earlier scriptural stories.

The genealogies were meant to activate all kinds of mental links and collective stories deeply ingrained in Hebrew culture. After reading through the genealogies, readers come to the very brief story of Saul’s reign and failure as a king (1 Chron. 10). Then we quickly move on to King David (1 Chron. 11-29), which retells the stories from 2 Samuel.

You might even come to appreciate these genealogies. They are the introduction to a retelling of Israel’s entire story, focusing on the future hope of a messianic king like David, who will restore the temple and God’s kingdom over the nations.

In the book of Chronicles 1 David calls on the nations to worship God just as Israel does. When the ark is brought to Jerusalem, David appoints the family of Asaph to declare the power of the God of Israel to the whole world: “Make known his deeds among the peoples! . . . Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! . . . Tremble before him, all the earth” (1 Chron. 16:8, 23–24, 30).

The dedication of the ark must not be a private religious affair for Israelites only. All nations are invited to celebrate the abundant blessings of God upon his chosen people. Such a worldwide audience for Israel’s worship is also envisioned in psalms about Zion and, later, its temple (e.g., Psalms 46–48; 67; 84).

The supremacy of God among the nations. Third and finally, the God who fulfills his promises to David has no equal among the gods. David had desired to build God a physical “house” (i.e., a temple; 1 Chron. 17:1) as other ancient peoples did for their deities.

But the God of Israel does not need such a house (17:4–6; compare 2 Chron. 2:6; 6:18); instead, he says that he will build David a “house” in the form of an everlasting dynasty (1 Chron. 17:10–14).

This remarkable promise leads David to proclaim the greatness of the God of Israel: “There is none like you, O Lord, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears” (17:20). The God of the Bible cannot be limited to the puny categories and limitations of pagan deities.

The two books of chronicles were originally one. They are referring to the period after the return from exile. Unlike the books of kings, they tell the history of Israel from a different perspective. They tell the story of Israel from Adam to the exiles.

After the division of the kingdom, they only narrate the story of Judah. It is a story of how obedience and disobedience affected the fortunes of Israel. The chronicler shows that the strength of a kingdom is hinged on her spirituality, not her kings. This is shown in the value attached to her priests and temple.

God’s presence in a kingdom matters more than that of a king. In doing this the chronicler shows that there is hope in God’s plan hence encouraging the returnee to live out God’s plans in the present. As they understand their heritage, they can begin to shape their legacy.

The book omits the mistakes of David and Solomon. It uses the history of Israel selectively to tell a story of how these kings were used to prepare and build the temple and its worship, a subject he gives prominence to. 

The literary structure of the Book of Chronicles can be described as follows: Caretakes of the kingdom of God (1 Chron. 1:1-9), David, military and religious leadership (1 Chron. 10:1-29), Solomon, construction of the Temple (2 Chron. 1:1-9), and Kings of Judah, reformers like Hezekiah and Josiah (2 Chron. 10:1-36)

The first book of Chronicles initially traces the history of the people of God from Adam in the Genealogy of Chapters 1-10. The narrator of Chronicles places the genealogy of the tribe of Judah first among the twelve tribes of Israel.

Chapter 3 gives the Genealogy of Kings David and Solomon, the Kings of Judah, and the descendants of the Babylonian captive King Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) up to the time of the Chronicler.

This is to show that the people of Israel who have returned from the Babylonian Exile have the same heritage as Adam and Abraham and thus are assured of the promise of God’s salvation in return for their fidelity to their Covenant with God through the Law of Moses.

Chapters 11-24 of the books of Chronicles 1 relate an idealized history of King David. David was successful because of his continuous communion, repentance, and gratitude to God his Creator.

These chapters relate how David was chosen King of Israel while in Hebron, his capture of Jerusalem, the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant to the City of David, and the reception of the Messianic prophecy of Nathan. The hymn in Chapter 16 is an ensemble from Psalms 105:1-15 (verses 8-22), 96:1-13 (verses 23-33), and 106:1, 47-48 (verses 34-36). First Chronicles 17:11-14 serves as a Messianic Prophecy.

Chapters 21-22 record the purchase of the place of Ornan the Jebusite on Mount Moriah, where David built an altar to the LORD (21:26) and God answered his prayers. David planned to build a Temple there for God to house the Ark of the Covenant but that was to be left to his son Solomon.

Chapters 23-27 continue the enumeration of names in the planning for the Temple. Chapters 28-29 provide a summary of David’s life, Temple preparations, a beautiful prayer, the anointing of Solomon as King, and the death of David.

David reigned as King for forty years, seven years and six months in Hebron as King of Judah, and 33 years as King of the United Kingdom of Israel in Jerusalem, as noted in Second Samuel 5:5. The name Yeshua is recorded as a name for one of the priests of the House of Aaron in First Chronicles 24:11.