Chronicles
Reading Guide
1 Chronicles - Sept. 1-7
2 Chronicles - Sept. 8-14
Because of scroll length Chronicles was divided into two books, but it was written as one book with one coherent message. Chronicles is the last book in the Hebrew Bible and ir summarizes all of the Jewish scriptures (our “Old Testament”)
Probably written during or shortly after the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.
What is the first word in 1 Chronicles?
What is announced in the last paragraph of 2 Chronicles?
Chronicles has organized these accounts of David and Solomon and the kings of the past in order to provide a message of hope for the future.
Look for two themes in the book:
The hope for the coming Messianic king
The future of the new temple
1 Chronicles 1-9 The genealogies
The author is summarizing the whole Old Testament by naming all of the key characters.
The genealogies emphasize two key lineages:
The line of the promised Messianic king - From Judah to David to the time Chronicles is written.
The priesthood - the descendants of Aaron
1 Chronicles 10-29 David’s life and times - leaves out the negative events of David's life and emphasizes the positive aspects of David’s life.
Also includes new material that is not in the book of Samuel: 1 Chronicles 22-29.
David is compared to Moses: 1 Chronicles 28:11-19
1 Chronicles is trying to portray David as the ideal king in order to point forward to the future Messianic king who will come from the line of David. Jeremiah and Ezekiel spoke of the coming Messiah as a “new David”. 1 Chronicles 17 is highlighting that neither David nor Solomon nor any of the kings of his line were the Messianic king, and that when the Messiah does come he will be a king like David.
2 Chronicles 1-36 The kings who lived in Jerusalem
Nothing about the kings of northern Israel.
A focus on the line of David.
Highlights and emphasizes the kings that were obedient to God - shows how their obedience led to success and blessing
Also mentions the unfaithful kings showing how their disobedience led to failure and hardship
2 Chronicles 36:22-23 The incomplete ending
This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you—may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up..."
The book ends with an incomplete sentence, thus pointing forward to the future (to them) coming of the Messiah fulfilled by Jesus. (Matthew 1:1-16)