1 and 2 Chronicles: Volume 1: 1 Chronicles 1-2 Chronicles 9: Israel's Place among Nations

418 Pages·1998·19.298 MB·English

by  William Johnstone

JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
253
Editors
David J.A. Clines
Philip R. Davies
Executive Editor
John Jarick
Editorial Board
Robert P. Carroll, Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper, J. Cheryl Exum,
John Goldingay, Robert P. Gordon, Norman K. Gottwald,
Andrew D.H. Mayes, Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller
Sheffield Academic Press
This page intentionally left blank
1 and 2 Chronicles
Volume 1
1 Chronicles 1-2 Chronicles 9
Israel's Place among the Nations
William Johnstone
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Supplement Series 253
Copyright © 1997 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by
Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
Mansion House
19 Kingfield Road
Sheffield S11 9AS
England
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
and
Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain
by Bookcraft Ltd
Midsomer Norton, Bath
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 1-85075-693-7
CONTENTS
Abbreviations 7
Introduction 9
1 Chronicles 1: Israel's Place within the Human Family 24
1 Chronicles 2.1-2: Preview of 1 Chronicles 2-8 37
1 Chronicles 2.3-4.23: Judah and the House of David 41
1 Chronicles 4.24-5.2: Simeon 66
1 Chronicles 5.3-26: The East Bank Tribes:
Reuben, Gad and Half-Manasseh 72
1 Chronicles 6: Levi 82
1 Chronicles 7-9: The West Bank Tribes and Jerusalem 98
1 Chronicles 7. 1-5: Issachar 101
1 Chronicles 7.6-13: Benjamin (1) with Naphtali 103
1 Chronicles 7. 14-19: Manasseh 105
1 Chronicles 7.20-29: Ephraim 107
1 Chronicles 7.30-40: Asher 110
1 Chronicles 8: Benjamin (2) 111
1 Chronicles 9.1-34: The Population of Jerusalem 118
1 Chronicles 9.35-10. 14: The Reign of Saul 130
1 Chronicles 11.1-29.30: David: Enabler of Israel's Destiny
among the Nations of the World? 137
1 Chronicles 11.1-9: David, king of 'All Israel';
Jerusalem, City of David 142
6 1 Chronicles 1-2 Chronicles 9
1 Chronicles 11.10-12.40: The Roll of Warriors
who Joined Forces with King David 150
1 Chronicles 13: David's Initiative to Fetch the Ark of God
is Cut Short 167
1 Chronicles 14.1-16.43: The Installation of the Ark
in Jerusalem 174
1 Chronicles 17: David's Proposal to Build a Temple is Rejected 198
1 Chronicles 18-20: The Fulfilment of the LORD'S Promise
to Subdue David's Enemies 210
1 Chronicles 21.1-22.4: The Census: Pivotal Event
of David's Reign 224
1 Chronicles 22.5-19: David Commissions Solomon to Build
the Temple 239
1 Chronicles 23-27: The Personnel of Temple and Community 244
1 Chronicles 28-29: David's Reign Fulfilled 274
2 Chronicles 1-9: The Reign of Solomon 294
2 Chronicles 1. 1-13: The Sacral Assembly Is Convened
at the Tabernacle at Gibeon. The Theological Basis
of Solomon's Rule 298
2 Chronicles 2.3-16: Solomon's Correspondence with Huram
of Tyre 306
2 Chronicles 2. 17-5.1: Solomon Builds the Temple 313
2 Chronicles 5.2-7.22: The Dedication of the Temple 331
2 Chronicles 8.1-9.31: The Universal Recognition
of Solomon's Reign 361
Bibliography 377
Index of References 380
Index of Selected Key Terms 410
ABBREVIATIONS
ANET J.B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts
AV Authorized Version
BBB Bonner biblische Beitrage
BDB F. Brown, S.R. Driver and C.A. Briggs, Hebrew and English
Lexicon of the Old Testament
BHK R. Kittel (ed.), Biblia Hebraica
BHS Biblia hebraica stuttgartensia
BKAT Biblischer Kommentar: Altes Testament
BZAW Beihefte zur ZAW
C Chronicles (1 and 2); 'The Chronicler', the assumed final
editor/author of 1 and 2 Chronicles
CAH Cambridge Ancient History
ExpTim Expository Times
FOTL The Forms of the Old Testament Literature
GKC Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, ed. E. Kautzsch, trans. A.E.
Cowley
JPSV Jewish Publication Society Version
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series
KBS L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner, Hebrdisches und aramdisches
Lexikon (ed. J.J. Stamm et a/.; Leiden: Brill, 3rd edn, 1967-
90)
LBA Late Bronze Age
NEB New English Bible
NTV New International Version
NRSV New Revised Standard Version
OTG Old Testament Guide
SJLA Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity
ST Studia theologica
ZAW Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
This page intentionally left blank
INTRODUCTION
The Challenge of Chronicles
Chronicles (C) is a challenging work, not just in its format but in the
way in which it throws widely held views into question.
On the forgiveness of sins, for instance, C insists that, while God in
grace preserves the sinful people of Israel—and humanity as a
whole—alive, there is no easy blotting out of the guilty past. Rather,
he focuses realistically on the lasting effects of sin, the cost of repara-
tion and the long process of rehabilitation.
Then again, C rejects the order of the books in the standard English
Versions of the Bible. In the standard English Versions of the Old
Testament it is associated with the 'historical books', with Samuel-
Kings coming before it and Ezra-Nehemiah following it. But in the
conventional order of the Hebrew Bible it stands at the end of the
canon as the last word of the Hebrew Scriptures. It thus comes after
Ezra-Nehemiah, despite, ostensibly, dealing with the period before
them.
In the Hebrew Bible it is not, thus, part of a series of history books
merely giving a connected account of the past. Rather, it is a theologi-
cal work. As the final work of the canon, it looks forward to a future
yet to be realized. It offers a theology of hope in the dawning age that
only God can bring about through the transformation of the present
conditions of human life. And it endorses a pattern of life to be fol-
lowed meantime as Israel awaits the fulfilment of these hopes.
C in its Hebrew Bible form rejects, too, many of the chapter and
paragraph divisions of the standard English translations, and even the
division of the work into two books after 1 Chronicles 29. Such divi-
sions often run counter to the structure of the traditional Hebrew text
(the 'Masoretic Text' [MT]): this leaves one free to find, for example,
that the more natural break in the work is after 2 Chronicles 9, not at
the end of '1 Chronicles'. This commentary will, on the whole, adopt
the paragraphing of MT.