Book of 1 Chronicles - Bible Survey

The first book of the Chronicles begins with genealogies which start with Adam and lead up to the time of the restoration from the captivity and sometime after. The tables do not mention all the names; many are omitted. This makes clear at once the object of these long lists of names. Only those are recorded who were related to the accomplishment of the purpose of God and who were the divinely chosen channels through whom the Lord carried out His purpose. Many lessons may be gathered from these genealogies, so often considered unprofitable. Even to those opening chapters of Chronicles, applies the statement in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." The main part of the book begins with the miserable end of Saul, the crowning of David at Hebron and the establishment of his kingdom. Especially is that made prominent which is passed over in the books of the Kings, David's relation to the public worship of God and to the building of the temple, which his son Solomon built after him.

The books of Chronicles are not a repetition of the books of Kings. God pursued a special purpose with the writings of the Chronicles. We may see this already in the long genealogies of Israel and especially of the house of David, which commences with Adam, the first man. The books of Chronicles give a divine retrospect over Israel's history and the history of mankind as well as God's ways with men. One would think of comparing the Chronicles with Deuteronomy, which is no repetition of the preceding books either.

Like the Gospel of John among the Gospels, so these books among the historical books of the O.T. have a special character. John goes back to the 'beginning,' when the Eternal Word was with God: the Chronicles go back to the beginning of man's history: "Adam, Sheth, Enosh," in order to develop that history in the chosen line of promise and grace. The peculiarities of the Chronicles have been a stumbling block to some of the learned critics. It is evident from 1 Chr. 6:15 and 2 Chr. 36:22-23 that they date after the captivity of Judah, the writer compiling the records of the chosen line according to grace — grace which restored them from their captivity. It may be asked, Why omit so many things found in the books of Samuel and the Kings? and why add events not in those early books? There is design in the differences, God being the author of them. One fact should help the elucidation, namely, that after the division of the kingdom, the history of Judah only is given. Therefore more is said of David, and of his preparations and pattern for the Temple, and the history of David's line is traced, with which the mercies of God for Israel were connected in the aspect of grace and of the blessing and ways of God with that people.

The books of Chronicles are much more fragmentary than those of Kings. At the same time they are more bound up with what follows, for this very reason — that they look at the line of promise and purpose, and hence, therefore, are occupied with David and those that inherited the kingdom of David's race. The books of Kings, on the other hand, look at the kingdom of Israel as a whole, and therefore show us the continuation of Samuel much more closely — show us the history of the kingdom viewed as a matter of responsibility. Hence, we have the failure of the ten tribes detailed at great length in the Kings and not in the Chronicles, because there it is not purpose, but responsibility; and we have, therefore, the contemporary kingdoms from the time of Jeroboam and Rehoboam till the extinction of the kingdom of Samaria, and then the history of the kingdom of Judah until the captivity. But the books of Chronicles look only at the history of God's kingdom in the hands of David and of his race. For that reason we here at once are connected with the whole of God's purposes from the beginning. We have the genealogy. Indeed all the early chapters are filled with genealogy for a reason which I shall afterward explain; but we begin with the beginning — "Adam, Sheth, Enosh" and so on, down to Noah, a line of ten from the beginning, followed by the various sons of Noah, and their posterity — seventy nations springing from the sons of Noah. Then again we have Abraham as a new stock and commencement. Just as Adam in verse 1, so Abraham and his sons in verse 27 are brought before us, with also a list of seventy tribes, or races, that spring from Abraham and his posterity.

That there is a purpose in the book of Chronicles, now divided into two, distinct from that which runs through the preceding books of Kings, is unquestionable. No "And" connects their beginning, as before. But the Septuagintal title of Παραλειπόμενα, "Things deficient or omitted," fails to describe it adequately. A great deal is repeated though not without characteristic differences, while very much is fresh with notable omissions of a markedly homogeneous kind. The introductory genealogy from man's existence on the earth ought to have shut out the notion of a mere supplement, and prepared for a special design of God; Who here points out, in the midst of general ruin, His sovereign mercy and blessing bound up with the house of David and the tribe of Judah, whatever His chastenings because of their sins. They were a spiritual retrospect, like Deuteronomy, which also is not in continuity with its predecessors, though to the believer undoubtedly of Moses, as the Chronicles in all probability of Ezra, both admitting of a little inspired addition to complete them. But there is no such ground to insist on Ezra here, as on Moses there, who claims the book with unusual precision; so that one must accept this, or treat it as a fraudulent romance and risk the consequence both now and before the judgment-seat of Christ.

As to the book of Chronicles, it is the Deuteronomy or fifth book, and as we have seen, that gives us God's review, to bring out His thoughts. Thus you find in Chronicles, while it resembles the book of Kings in many ways, there is a special purpose running through the entire book. Significantly the record begins with Adam. No matter how far separated in time, man has a moral link with him who brought sin in.

God traces the genealogy of the people from Adam, and when He gets to David you find king Saul is left out, and in David's history there is no mention of any failure. So also in Solomon's life. God is giving us thus the history from His side of view. He is presenting to us what these men are typical of David is the victor, Solomon is the peaceable king who reigns in righteousness. You will find that so far as He can, God omits the failures in this book. The whole ten tribes are left out as having left the place of responsibility and testimony before God. Most prominently do we find the prophet coming in all the way through — the divine witness, God speaking with man. Now all of that has instruction, and it is to show us that when God gives us His history, He does it with a purpose, to make everything centre about His blessed Son. Everything in Chronicles centres about the glory and the kingdom of David and Solomon, Christ in the two-fold thought of Victor and peaceable King. And the later history gives the account of how the people departed from that submission, and that subjection to God which marked the reigns of David and Solomon. But there is a very touching close to that book, and that is when at last we have the account of the captivity of the people. We find in the order of the Gentile king of Persia, Cyrus, that the people should go back to the land of Judea, and should rebuild their temple. That shows God's complete power over the authority of the Gentiles, making even the wrath of man to praise Him.

These Books, written or drawn up after the captivity (see 1 Chron. 6:15), preserve God's history of His people, recorded by the Holy Ghost, as He loved to remember it, exhibiting only such faults as require to be known in order to understand the instructions of His grace.

He records at the same time the names of those who had gone through the trials mentioned in this history without being blotted out of the book. Here indeed it is but the outward figure of this blessed memorial of the people of His grace; but in fact this is what we find here. All Israel is not there; but all are not Israel who are of Israel. At the same time the Spirit of God goes farther back, and gives us the genealogy from Adam of the generation blessed by grace according to the sovereignty of God, with that which belonged to it outwardly, or after the flesh. He puts into relief, sufficiently to make it apparent, the part owned in grace, which stood externally in relationship with that which was merely outward and natural; putting always that which is natural first, as the apostle tells us.

So also the Books of Samuel and of the Kings on the one side, and the Chronicles on the other, are complementary. The former is a record of mercy and forbearance. The iniquity of the people reached its climax when they rejected God as their king, yet He forbore. It was God's mind to give them a king, and this necessarily appears in their history, as proof of God's goodness which their sin could not turn away. But it in no way lessens Israel's guilt in desiring a king like the surrounding nations, that it was the purpose of God to give them a king in His own good time. Israel would have a king before God's man (typical) was prepared for them. The result was ruin. But the point in Samuel and the Kings seems to be the complete breakdown of man as seen in Israel; responsibility and ruin are correlatives. Now in Chronicles, where of course the ruin is as plainly read as in the former books, the point is God's predetermined bringing in of His Only-begotten, through a human line, but His only begotten Son. That is to say, His purpose is the more prominent in Chronicles. The genealogy is proof of this, and gives the key to the book. The sin and rebellion of the Kings involving the ruin of the people is met by God's purpose that His King shall reign.

These books constitute but one book in the Hebrew; called by the Jews "words or acts of the days," i.e. journals or diaries, rendered chronicon by Jerome and with us chronicles from the Latin Vulgate. The title by the Septuagint Paraleipomenon, "things omitted," is a most objectionable one. The special design of these books is manifestly of God and as worthy of its Divine Author as any other portion of Holy Writ. The close of the Babylon captivity is indicated more than once, and moreover is regarded as a past historical fact (1 Chron. 6: l5). The closing verses (2 Chron. 36:22-23) constitute the opening words of the book of Ezra, in which the history contained in the Chronicles is continued. Ezra therefore may safely be regarded as the writer and compiler of the Chronicles, and the time at or during the restoration to Palestine. In the Hebrew canon these books stand last in order. The books of Chronicles cover the same ground and time as the books of Kings, while having a special character of their own. The first nine chapters contain divine genealogical records from Adam, and which enabled the returned remnants from the Captivity to verify their various Jewish claims.

Originally the two books of the Chronicles formed one book and were undivided. The period of the history of the people, Israel, covered in this book is the same as in the books of the Kings. It begins with the Solomonic reign, the building and dedication of the temple, and ends with the captivity of Judah. The closing of Chronicles proves the post-exilic time of its composition, for it mentions Cyrus the King of Persia and his restoration proclamation. The history, however, is almost exclusively the history of the house of Judah. Israel's history is very briefly touched upon. Inasmuch as Chronicles is written from the priestly and the divine viewpoint, everything centers around the temple of Jehovah. There are most interesting descriptions of Solomon's reign, the temple and the worship, which we do not find in the parallel chapters in the first book of Kings. The reader should make use of the parallel passages given in connection with the introduction to the Chronicles and then read the annotations in Kings, as we shall not repeat, in the annotations of this second book of the Chronicles, what has already been given. We shall point out what is peculiar to Chronicles. We divide the book into four sections.