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Read Ebook: The books of Chronicles by Elmslie W A L William Alexander Leslie Kirkpatrick A F Alexander Francis Editor
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Ebook has 1944 lines and 206127 words, and 39 pages
? 1. Characteristics of Ancient Historical Writings
? 2. Relation to Ezra and Nehemiah
? 3. Date and Authorship
? 4. Contents
? 5. The Sources
? 6. The Purpose and Method of the Chronicler
? 7. The Historical Value of Chronicles
? 8. The Religious Value of Chronicles
? 9. Name and Position in the Canon
? 10. Text and Versions of Chronicles
? 11. Literature
INDEX
MAPS Western Asia
Palestine
The Environs of Jerusalem
Jerusalem
PREFATORY NOTE
THE author desires to acknowledge with gratitude his indebtedness to Mr S. A. Cook for his kindness in reading the first proofs and in making many most valuable suggestions and criticisms, and to the General Editor of the Series, the Dean of Ely, for his very helpful revision of the proofs. His obligation to Professor W. E. Barnes is referred to on p. lx.
W. A. L. E.
INTRODUCTION
? 1: CHARACTERISTICS OF ANCIENT HISTORICAL WRITINGS
Until recent times the study of the historical records of Israel and of other nations of antiquity has suffered from insufficient recognition of the principles and procedure of ancient historians. It is obvious that a great contrast exists between any modern historical work and those books of the Old Testament which relate the fortunes of Israel; and unless there is a clear perception of the main facts to which this contrast is due, the nature and value of the Books of Chronicles cannot readily be understood and certainly will not be properly appreciated. It is desirable therefore to deal with this matter at the outset, before proceeding to consider the special characteristics of Chronicles.
For all that lies beyond his personal experience the historian is, of course, dependent on sources, documentary or otherwise. The modern writer recognises the duty of testing and verifying the accuracy of the sources he uses for his narrative, and in producing his own account of affairs he is expected, where desirable, to state the sources upon which he has relied. The ancient historian also made use of sources, but he used them uncritically, with little or no anxiety concerning their accuracy, and it was his custom simply to select from the available material any passages, long or short, even words or phrases, which served his purpose, and to incorporate these in his work, frequently without any indication of the borrowing. Only in certain instances was the source precisely referred to. Moreover the utmost freedom was exercised in dealing with the passages thus chosen. Sometimes they were reproduced word for word; at other times they were partially or wholly transformed to suit the new context. This may seem an unwarrantable procedure to us, but one has only to examine the actual instances of these adaptations or transformations of unnamed sources to perceive that the ancient? writer has acted in perfect good faith, with no suspicion that the manipulation was in any way blameworthy. How indeed could it have been otherwise? The science of literary criticism was unknown, "notions of literary propriety and plagiarism had not been thought of, and writers who advanced no pretensions to originality for themselves were guilty of no imposture when they borrowed without acknowledgement from their predecessors" .
Justification for these remarks can be drawn not only from the writings of the Old Testament but also from the study of ancient literature in general. Nowhere, however, are the principles and characteristics which we have outlined more clearly exemplified than in the books of Chronicles. They are the key to the comprehension of Chronicles; and, if they are borne in mind, what is generally considered a somewhat dull book of the Bible will be seen to be one of the most instructive pieces of ancient literature. At the same time, we shall be in a position to perceive and appreciate the religious enthusiasm which animated the Chronicler.
? 2. RELATION TO EZRA AND NEHEMIAH
It is well known that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one book; but further it is certain that Chronicles has been artificially separated from them, and that the three books, Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah, were once a continuous work. The reasons upon which this conclusion is based are as follows:
The same general standpoint and the same special interests are found both in Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah to a remarkable degree. In particular, attention may be called to the following points:
The same intense interest in religious festivals and institutions; compare 1 Chronicles xv., xvi.; 2 Chronicles v.-vii., xxix., xxx., xxxv. 1-19, with Ezra iii., vi. 16-22; Nehemiah viii.
Three classes of Temple attendants, viz. Levites, singers, and porters, which are barely mentioned in the rest of the Old Testament, receive a great deal of notice both in Chronicles and in Ezra-Nehemiah.
The same style and diction are found in both works . Characteristic phrases are the following:
"Fathers' houses"; compare 1 Chronicles vii. 2, note.
"The house of God," very frequently in Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah in place of the usual "house of the LORD" . With this compare the avoidance of the use of the name Jehovah in such places as 2 Chronicles xvii. 4 , xx. 12, 30; Ezra viii. 18, 21.
"genealogy" ; compare 1 Chronicles v. 17, note; Ezra ii. 62.
"to oversee"; 1 Chronicles xxiii. 4; 2 Chronicles ii. 2 ; Ezra iii. 8 .
"willingly offer"; 1 Chronicles xxix. 14; Ezra i. 6.
These are merely a few instances out of very many which might be given. This similarity of style and language is far more striking in the Hebrew .
When fully stated, the evidence indicated under and above is of a convincing character, and the conclusion that Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah were at one time a single work should be unhesitatingly adopted.
Since, as we have said , Ezra-Nehemiah formed originally one book with Chronicles, evidence for the date of Chronicles is also furnished by any indications of date which occur in Ezra-Nehemiah.
Further, in Nehemiah xii. 26, 47 the phrase "in the days of Nehemiah" occurs, implying that for the writer Nehemiah belonged to the past, but, as one cannot say how near or how distant a past, the point carries little weight.
Again, in Nehemiah xii. 10, 11 and 22, 23, a list of high-priests is given, concluding with the name of Jaddua, whom the Chronicler evidently knew to have been the high-priest about 332 B.C., at the end of the reign of Darius , when the Persian Empire collapsed before the attack of Alexander the Great.
These details, indicative of the date of composition, are as numerous as we have any right to expect in a work of the nature of Chronicles, which deals with past history. Their evidential value can of course be criticised by supposing that the passages in question are late interpolations and have therefore no bearing on the date of the main body of the work. But no solid grounds are adduced for this objection, and the burden of proof lies upon the objector. The supposition is extremely improbable, and may be dismissed in view of the fact that the general character, and the linguistic peculiarities of Chronicles alike demand a date considerably later than the period of Ezra-Nehemiah.
The late date of Chronicles is finally put beyond all doubt by the linguistic peculiarities of the book. Excluding, of course, the passages drawn from earlier Scriptures, the Hebrew of Chronicles is of such a character that it is impossible to assign anything but a late post-exilic date for its composition. In every aspect of language--grammar and syntax and vocabulary--the diction exhibits the unmistakable characteristics of late Hebrew. It lies beyond the scope of the present volume to give details of the Hebrew, and reference may be made to the edition of Chronicles by Curtis and Madsen , pp. 27 ff., where a list of 136 such peculiarities is given.
? Actually Chronicles concludes with the first three verses of Ezra i., which relate the famous edict of Cyrus, permitting the Jews to return to Jerusalem: see ? 2 .
The following Table gives a general survey of the contents of 1 and 2 Chronicles?.
i. 1-4 . Genealogy from Adam to the sons of Noah.
ii. 1, 2 . The sons of Israel.
ii. 3-17 Descent of the sons of Jesse.
iii. 1-9 . David's sons.
iv. 1-23 Additional genealogies of Judah.
iv. 24-v. 26 Genealogies of Simeon, Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh.
vi. 1-81 The tribe of Levi:
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