The Hebrew Bible puts Chronicles as one book, the last one in the canon, at the end of the Writings. The Septuagint divided the book into two segments and classified them at the end of the historic segment. As with many of the Old Testament books, Chronicles is anonymous. The author clearly lives in the postexilic period, having reported the decree of Cyrus. The text mentions a "daric" which was not minted before 515 B.C. It appears he book was written by a single author, but he does refer to a number of different sources. It appears that Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah probably were originally a single work. Yet there are significant differences in the foci of hte books, so the information is not conclusive.
The chronicler takes on many tasks, including explaining the exile, showing it as a confirmation of God's power, and encouraging the reader that God has not forsaken his people. The first nine chapters, consisting of genealogies, serve to remind people of the ongoing care of God for his people and resolve questions of legitimacy and legality to the post-exilic community. The material from 1 Chronicles 10 through 2 Chronicles 9 point to the kings of the united monarchy as people with strong and consistent leadership abilities, downplaying divisiveness within the Davidic line. This is consistent with the author encouraging readers that God's promised Davidic line will not be broken. After the schism the author points to the wrongdoing that leads to the Exile, though not to God's forsaking his people.
As we look toward the New Testament we see that the Davidic line is continued to its culmination in the person of Jesus, the Son of David.
--
No comments:
Post a Comment