Historical Setting and Date
The name “Chronicles” came from St. Jerome in the 4th century A.D.[1] However, the Hebrew name of Chronicles is דברי הימים divre hayamim meaning “words of the days.” Originally, 1 and 2 Chronicles were one book. They were later split into two by the translators of the Septuagint.[2] Thus, it is important to look at both of them together as one book. The author sets the book, for the most part, in the time of the kings, though it starts with a whopping nine chapters of genealogies beginning with Adam and going down through to Saul who is briefly addressed in chapter nine of 1 Chronicles. Though the setting is the kings of Israel, the book was not written during the era of the kings. Instead, it was written to the exiles who had returned from Babylon after the events of Chronicles took place.[3] The likely date of writing is between 400 and 500 B.C.[4]
Authorship and Audience
Like many of the books of the Old Testament, the author of Chronicles is unknown.[5] That said, for much of church history, Ezra was the suggested author because of the obvious connection between the end of Chronicles and the start of Ezra.[6] This is not a common view today as there are problems with the idea. Namely, there are different emphases between the two books which suggest a different author. The author wrote in multiple genres for 2 Chronicles. The book starts with extensive genealogies and from there mostly moves into narratives. That said, there are speeches, prayers, edicts, and letters scattered throughout the text.[7]
Major Theological Themes
Many assume that Chronicles is merely a history book. While there is truth to say that it is a book of history, it, like the Gospels, is written with specific theological themes. In fact, there is a definite sermon-like aspect to how the author addresses things.[8]
The most obvious theological theme in these chapters demonstrates what it looks like when Israel, and her kings, follow God versus when they do not follow God. In particular, the phrases “he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh” (2 Chronicles 26:4, English Standard Version) or conversely “he did not do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh” (2 Chronicles 28:1) are loaded theological phrases used for each of the kings. This theme can be traced all throughout the Old Testament from Judges to Proverbs to Isaiah and many more.
Another obvious theme for the book of Chronicles as a whole is that Israel is the chosen nation of God. Yes, the genealogies at the beginning of the book show how Israel was descended from Adam, but the focus is predominately on Abraham and subsequent generations. Israel can trace their genealogy back to these forefathers who received the covenant from God that they would be His chosen nation with a unique role and place in God’s plans. This was likely done as a reminder to the Jews who were coming back from a period of exile that the promises of God remained true for them.
Finally, a theme tracing throughout the whole of 2 Chronicles is that the kings were of the line of David. Most of the kings are compared back to King David. David was a “man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14) and sought to follow God and do right in His eyes. In many cases, the introductions to the new kings in the book of Chronicles are compared to this standard. When the kings did not follow the example of their actual fathers, the writer of Chronicles points back to David. For example, Jotham was compared to his father, Uzziah because they both did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh. However, Ahaz, having not followed Jotham’s example, is said to have “not done what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, as his father David had done” (2 Chronicles 28:1). Similarly, Hezekiah does not follow Ahaz’s example and is thus also compared to David in 2 Chronicles 29:2.
2 Chronicles 26:1-23, Uzziah reigns and Judah prospers.
26:1-5, Uzziah seeks God.
After the death of his father Amaziah, the people of Judah made Uzziah (also known as Amaziah)[9] their king when he was but sixteen years old. Like his father before him, he “did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh” (2 Chronicles 26:4). However, the text differs here in regard to how he sought God versus his father, Amaziah. Amaziah was said to do “what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, yet not with a whole heart” (2 Chronicles 25:2). Uzziah, on the other hand, has no exception clause. He truly sought God with his whole heart and did what was right in His eyes. Verse 5 discusses how Zechariah taught him to fear God and that God made him prosper so long as he “sought Yahweh.”
26:6-15, Uzziah makes war and his fame spreads.
Following along from the mention that Uzziah prospered as long as he followed Yahweh, this section goes into all of the ways in which Yahweh made him prosper. He waged war against the Philistines, the Arabians, and the Meunites and won. He built cities and was paid tribute by the Ammonites. 2 Chronicles 26:8 tells of how his fame spread all the way to the border of Egypt because of how strong God made him. He built towers and fortified cities and had many men who were “fit for war” (2 Chronicles 26:11). Additionally, his reign was characterized by the gathering of skillful men to make machines that shot arrows and great stones from the towers he built. This section ends with a repetition of his fame spreading because of how helped by God he was. This fame spread “till he became strong” (2 Chronicles 26:15).
26:16-21, Uzziah becomes prideful and falls.
Unfortunately, as is the case with many men who grow famous and powerful, Uzziah fell into pride. “But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction” (2 Chronicles 26:16). Interestingly, the text only demonstrates a single sin that caused his downfall. 2 Chronicles 26:16-19 describes the way he entered the temple and tried to burn incense on the altar of incense and how the priests stood up to him and told him that it was not his place to burn incense to Yahweh. It says how he grew angry at being told that he had done wrong and that, when he became angry, his forehead broke out in leprosy. Uzziah’s sin was ultimately pride as was said in verse 16. It was a pride that he could do the things that Yahweh had given to other men to do. This pride told him that he was above the laws of Yahweh his God. The consequences of that sin lasted until he died.
26:22-23, Uzziah dies and Jotham reigns.
The Chronicler notes that the rest of Uzziah’s acts are written about by Isaiah. Uzziah died and was buried with his fathers but was forever marked by the fact that he was a leper. His son Jotham reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles 27:1-9, Jotham reigns and Judah prospers.
27:1-2, Jotham follows Yahweh.
Jotham’s reign is only briefly addressed by the Chronicler. He took over from Uzziah his father and “did right in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that Uzziah had done, except he did not enter the temple of Yahweh” (2 Chronicles 27:2). Thus, where his father failed, he succeeded. Jotham took note of how pride had ruined his father and learned to fear Yahweh. Unfortunately, while Jotham was a good and upright king, the people of Israel followed destructive practices.
27:3-6, Jotham becomes mighty.
Much like his father, this middle section of the chapter tells of his feats as he pursued Yahweh. He built cities and the “upper gate to the house of Yahweh” (2 Chronicles 27:3) and forts and towers. He fought against the Ammonites and won, which means that he also got tribute from them as his father had. Verse 6 says that Jotham became mighty in much the same way as Uzziah had, but unlike Uzziah, he continued to order “his ways before Yahweh his God.”
27:7-9, Jotham’s reign and successor.
The Chronicler points to the “Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah” as the place where the rest of the acts of Jotham are recorded. Additionally, he repeats the age at which Jotham began to reign and how long he reigned for in verse 8. He was buried with his fathers in Jerusalem and was replaced by his son, Ahaz.
2 Chronicles 28:1-27, Ahaz reigns sinfully and Judah falls.
28:1-4, Ahaz does evil.
The life of Ahaz can be characterized by evil. His reign is the exact opposite of Jotham’s and only shares a single similarity with his grandfather Uzziah. Since he was so radically different from his father and grandfather, Ahaz is compared back to King David in 2 Chronicles 28:1 which says, “He did not do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, as his father David had done.” Instead, he is compared with the kings of Israel in verse 2. The Chronicler wastes no time in bringing up the sinful ways that Ahaz followed. He was involved in Baal worship and even made offerings of his own sons in the fire to false gods. He made sacrifices to these false gods all over the land.
28:5-8, Judah is punished for Ahaz’s sin.
This section starts with “therefore” since what happens next is a direct result of the sins he committed in the previous section. Because of his idol worship and his many sins, Yahweh used Syria and Israel to defeat Judah and take many captives. An astonishing number of Judeans were killed in a single day by the king of Israel. The Chronicler states that 120,000 “men of valor” died in a single day in 2 Chronicles 28:6.[10] To put this in perspective, these are similar numbers to when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in World War II. Not only that, but he states that 200,000 of the women, sons, and daughters were taken captive by Israel.
28:9-11, Oded speaks against Israel.
Oded was a prophet of Yahweh from Samaria. He prophesied to the men returning from Judah with the 200,000 captives saying, “Behold, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven” (2 Chronicles 28:9). Yahweh used Israel to humble Judah; however, they clearly went beyond what they had been allotted to do as is evident by how they killed the men of Judah “in a rage that has reached up to heaven.”[11] He goes on to tell them that their intent to “subjugate the people of Judah” (2 Chronicles 28:10) will just add to their sins as this is completely against the Law. He warns them to send back the captives because God’s “fierce wrath” is upon them.
28:12-15, Judah’s captives are clothed and released.
Oded’s warning caused several of the chiefs of Israel to stand up against their brothers and prevented them from bringing the captives into their land because they recognized that it was sinful and would add to their already great guilt. Thus, the armed men of Israel left the captives and spoil “before the princes and all the assembly” (2 Chronicles 28:14). Then the chiefs who were named in 2 Chronicles 28:12 clothed their kinsfolk and brought them to Jericho and returned back to Samaria.
28:16-21, Ahaz seeks help and does not find it.
During the time when the Israelites returned the captives to Judah, Ahaz sought out help from the Assyrians against the Edomites and the Philistines.[12] The Edomites had attacked and taken captives away while the Philistines had attacked certain cities and were now occupying them. The text says that this happened because “Yahweh humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had made Judah act sinfully and had been very unfaithful to Yahweh” (2 Chronicles 28:19). Unfortunately for Ahaz, this humbling included the king of Assyria, the one whom Ahaz had appealed to, coming against him also instead of strengthening him.[13] Verse 21 says that this happened because Ahaz “took a portion from the house of Yahweh.” He did this rather than turning to Yahweh and appealing to Him.
28:22-25, Ahaz sacrifices to foreign gods.
Instead of turning back to God, Ahaz doubled down on his idolatry “in the time of his distress” (2 Chronicles 28:22). He rationalized with himself by saying that since the gods of Syria had helped the Syrians then he would sacrifice to them to gain the same help. He “cut in pieces the vessels of the house of Yahweh” (2 Chronicles 28:24) and made altars and sacrifices all across Judah which provoked the anger of Yahweh. However, rather than finding help from these gods, the Chronicler states, “they were the ruin of him and of all Israel” (2 Chronicles 28:23).
28:26-27, Ahaz’s death and successor.
The Chronicler ends this look into the life of Ahaz by saying that all of the other acts of Ahaz were written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. Ahaz was buried in Jerusalem and his son Hezekiah took his place as king.
2 Chronicles 29:1-36, Hezekiah reigns and Israel is restored.
29:1-2, Hezekiah does right in the eyes of Yahweh.
Like his father Ahaz, Hezekiah is compared back to King David because his reign was radically different from his father’s. Unlike Ahaz, Hezekiah “did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done” (2 Chronicles 29:2). David was not his literal father but was instead his ancestor. The term “father” for David is used similarly to how Christians today refer to the “church fathers” except that Hezekiah was in the actual bloodline of David.
29:3-11, Hezekiah’s speech.
Hezekiah, immediately upon beginning his reign,[14] reopened the doors of the temple that Ahaz had closed and repaired them. He assembled the priests and Levites and gave a speech to them. The ESV Expository Commentary notes that this speech was “carefully constructed, essentially serving as a sermon.”[15] In it, he commands them to consecrate themselves and the house of Yahweh because their (his and all of Judah’s) fathers had been unfaithful and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He tells them that this is the reason why the wrath of God has come upon them and made them “an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing” (2 Chronicles 29:8). He tells them that it is in his heart to “make a covenant with Yahweh” (2 Chronicles 29:10) so that the fierce anger of Yahweh may turn away from them. Hezekiah then beseeches them to stand in the presence of God and minister to Him.
29:12-19, The Levites cleanse the temple.
The Levites arose and did as Hezekiah commanded. They cleansed the house of Yahweh of all uncleanliness. Then they spent sixteen days consecrating the house of Yahweh. When they had finished doing these things, they went and told Hezekiah all that they had done. They had put the house of Yahweh right after Ahaz had desecrated it.
29:20-24, Hezekiah brings sacrifices to the temple.
After receiving the report from the priests and Levites, Hezekiah, again showing his dedication, “rose early” (2 Chronicles 29:20) and brought the officials of the city to the house of Yahweh. They brought seven bulls, rams, lambs, and male goats to offer to God as a sin offering. There the priests offered them on the altar of Yahweh according to the requirements of the Law. Before the male goats were offered, the king and the assembly laid their hands on them before the priests slaughtered them. This was the custom that was done to recognize that the goats were being used to take the sins of the people of Israel.[16] Hezekiah even commanded that this offering was to be for all of Israel and not just Judah even though the kingdom was still split.[17]
29:25-30, The assembly worships God.
Hezekiah continues with turning Israel back to Yahweh. Now that their sins have been accounted for, he stationed the Levites in the house of Yahweh, according to the command of Yahweh, through His prophets David, Gad, and Nathan. He then commanded the burnt offering to be offered and while that was in process, the song of Yahweh began and the whole assembly worshiped God until the burnt offering was finished. Louis Jonker notes that this singing of praises, with its emphasis on the words of David and Asaph (2 Chronicles 29:30), is reminiscent of 1 Chronicles 23-27.[18]
29:31-34, Too few priests for the offerings brought by the assembly.
Now that the people of Judah, the Levites and priests, and the king had been consecrated to Yahweh, Hezekiah commands them to “come near: bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of Yahweh” (2 Chronicles 29:31). They were finally clean and could approach the house of Yahweh. A total of 3,970 animals were brought before Yahweh as offerings to Him.
29:34-36, All the people rejoice in God’s provision.
The people of Judah, having brought many offerings before Yahweh, now had a problem. Namely, there were too few priests. The Levites ended up helping (strengthening) them until the work was finished. Additionally, many other offerings were brought before Yahweh. Thus, the “service of the house of Yahweh was restored” (2 Chronicles 29:35) and all the people rejoiced because God had provided for them.
Conclusion
Far from being merely a historical book, Chronicles is rich in theology. Additionally, the theological truths found in this book are still relevant today. One such truth is the general truth that those who pursue God and His righteousness will prosper and vice versa. This section of 2 Chronicles demonstrates how the king and the nation’s ability and willingness to follow God resulted in God’s blessing or cursing. Similarly, the New Testament talks about how those who “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) will receive everything they need from God and thus have no need to worry.
The second theological truth that applies today is that Christians, through adoption as sons of God, can trace their line back through the very people that the Chronicler emphasized (the line of David). Thus, in many ways, Chronicles is the history of Christianity and therefore incredibly relevant for Christians today. The Gospel of Matthew traces the lineage of Jesus through the very same people that the Chronicler does in Matthew 1:1-16. This does not mean that the church has replaced Israel as God’s chosen nation.
Another major theological truth relevant today is that children do not always follow their parent’s example. This may seem like a stretch to pull this idea from the text, but it is worth discussing. The kings of Israel regularly did the opposite of what their father did. If their father was righteous, they were often unrighteous, and vice versa. Many Christian parents struggle with verses like Proverbs 22:6 which state, at least in English, that training a child properly will result in them not departing from those ways. The list of kings throughout Chronicles simply shows that this idea is not true, or at least not wholly. This really should not be a surprise to Christians though. Jesus said, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36). It does not necessarily matter how well a child is raised (or how poorly).[19] Each child must choose of their own accord whether or not they will follow God with their whole being and it is clear from what Jesus was saying in Matthew 10 that the pattern has not changed much if at all since the time of the kings of Israel and Judah.
[1] Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001), 477.
[2] Carl Friedrich Keil, and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 3. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 375.
[3] Ibid., 383.
[4] Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books, 478.
[5] Iain M. Duguid et al., ESV Expository Commentary (Volume 3): 1 Samuel-2 Chronicles. (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), 1253.
[6] Duguid et al., ESV Expository Commentary (Volume 3), 1253.
[7] Louis C. Jonker, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series: 1 and 2 Chronicles (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2013), 6.
[8] Leslie C. Allen, “Kerygmatic Units in 1 & 2 Chronicles.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 13, no. 41 (1988): 21-36.
[9] Jonker, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series, 255.
[10] Keil, Commentary on the Old Testament, 670. Some take offense at the large numbers given in this narrative; however, this commentary gives good evidence from Scripture to suggest that the numbers have not been exaggerated.
[11] Keil, Commentary on the Old Testament, 671.
[12] Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books, 492. Ahaz should have sought out and trusted Yahweh like the examples of David and Solomon gave.
[13] Duguid, ESV Expository Commentary, 1740. Both Israel and Judah became vassals of Assyria at this time.
[14] Duguid, ESV Expository Commentary, 1748.
[15] Ibid., 1749.
[16] Martin J. Selman 2 Chronicles: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 11. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1994), 510.
[17] Ibid., 510.
[18] Jonker, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series, 271.
[19] To be sure, a child raised well in a Christian household is much more likely to follow God than one raised in a nonbelieving home. There just is no guarantee like many Christians believe and Scripture demonstrates this.
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L. J. Anderson - Author and Blogger 