THE RECOVERY OF “story” in our postmodern culture bodes well for the rediscovery of Chronicles by the Christian church. The books of Chronicles retell the story of Davidic kingship in ancient Israel. The story is told as a theology of hope for a despairing Jewish community in postexilic Judah. The writer rehearses Israel’s past as proof-positive that God’s promises are utterly reliable—not a “pocketful of divine mumbles,” as his audience suspects. The stories of kings like David, Solomon, Hezekiah, and Josiah are surety of sorts that the long-awaited “righteous Branch” will indeed “sprout from David’s line” (Jer. 33:15; cf. Ezek. 34:23–24).
Hope is always in vogue; indeed, hope “springs eternal” for fallen people in a fallen world—never more so than now. The moral bankruptcy of a consumer culture, the oppression and persecution of millions in the name of religion, the failure of humanist philosophy in education and politics, the devaluation of human life in the form of state-sponsored infanticide, and the emerging threat of global terrorism make our world a rather grim place to live. It is in this context that the Christian church awaits the second advent of that “righteous Branch”—that Son of David. In so doing, we embrace Paul’s exhortation to “have hope” through the encouragement of the Scriptures written in the past to teach us (in this case, 1–2 Chronicles; cf. Rom. 15:4).
A discerning reader will notice that I have attempted (perhaps crudely) to imitate aspects of the literary approach of Chronicles, especially the narrative style that utilizes lists, appeals to a wide range of bibliographic sources, and emphasizes the theme of worship. Beyond this, I have made a conscious effort to bring three lenses to bear on the text of Chronicles: those of historical awareness, literary appreciation, and theological perspective.
(1) To read the books of Chronicles as history means that we understand this portion of the Bible as the chronological record of key events and significant characters affecting a nation (in this case, Israel) and institutions (in this case, the Davidic dynasty and Solomon’s temple). Often this includes an explanation of both the cause(s) and the effect(s) of these events, and for the books of Chronicles God is always “first cause.” In keeping with the nature of Hebrew narrative, however, 1–2 Chronicles depicts “a God who has chosen to do nothing apart from human participation.”1
(2) To read the Bible as literature means that we understand the books of Chronicles as the story of human experience and a commentary on the great issues of life. These great issues may be summarized in questions such as these: What really exists? What is good and bad behavior? What really matters and what matters most?2 The literary approach to biblical narrative is one that explores the story as an experience with enduring relevance and considers the biblical story “as an invitation to share an experience.”3
(3) To read the Bible as theology means that we understand the books of Chronicles as the revelation of God (in his immanence and transcendence) and as his redemptive plan to reclaim creation and restore humanity to the “garden.” In the case of Chronicles, the historical narrative “bears witness to God as the architect of a universal kingdom which was foreshadowed by Israel’s monarchy.”4 Specifically, the recitation of the story of the Davidic dynasty in ancient Israel anticipates the reign of that ultimate “son of David” (Matt. 1:1).
The books of Chronicles are a sermon without explicit application. The writer expected his audience to tease out the implications and applications of his retelling of Hebrew history on the basis of their prior knowledge of this history (from the synoptic parallels in 1–2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings) and their own theological understanding (informed by priestly instruction and temple worship). Although less opaque than the Chronicler (I trust), I have copied his sermonic style in the sense that I offer the reader categories of personal and corporate application of the message of Chronicles with the design that he or she might tease out that specific application of the biblical text appropriate for his or her local context.
I have outlined the literary units of Chronicles in broad chronological strokes, seeking to maintain the historical flow of the narrative as much as possible. This means some literary units will be (several times in certain cases) longer than other pericopes of Chronicles. Naturally, the reader is expected to isolate a particular text in those expanded literary units for preaching or teaching (whether a chapter or a clearly delineated subunit of a chapter). The highly repetitive nature of the narrative in Chronicles permits this kind of selectivity in identifying texts for preaching and teaching without compromising the essential message of the two books. The broad-based categories for contemporary application have been crafted to be compatible with almost any literary unit within that given section of the outline of 1–2 Chronicles.
Unlike Shakespeare’s King John, who lamented that “life is as tedious as a twice-told tale,” the author of Chronicles encourages us to enter his retelling of Israelite history like Bunyan’s pilgrim named “Hopeful.” This fellow traveler became Hopeful by observing the behavior and listening to the speech of Christian and Faithful during their suffering at the fair. Like Hopeful, our encounter with the faithful of God portrayed in Chronicles should prompt us to “love a holy life and long to do something for the honor and glory of the name of the Lord Jesus”5—that Son of David whom the Chronicler longed to see. So then, let the “pilgrimage” through Chronicles begin!
Finally, by way of acknowledgments, I wish to thank Zondervan for the opportunity to contribute to the NIV Application Commentary Series, especially general editor Terry Muck and senior acquisitions editor Jack Kuhatschek. My appreciation extends to the rest of the Zondervan editorial and production staff as well for their good work in seeing the manuscript through into print. I commend Zondervan for their initiative with the NIV Application Commentaries—biblical interpretation is incomplete without application, and this is the distinctive feature of this commentary series. As an Old Testament scholar, I am hopeful that this series will result in an awakening of sorts to the fact that there is still an important place for the preaching and teaching of the First Testament in the Christian church.
As always, I am grateful for my wife Teri—thanks to her partnership I have come to understand even more clearly that “yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours” (1 Chron. 29:11).
Beyond this, both Teri and I are grateful to our son, Jesse Andrew, for his challenge to keep the first great commandment first—and thus learn to love and worship our God as King David did, who desired only to “dwell in the house of the LORD … to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD” (Ps. 27:4).
Andrew E. Hill
Wheaton, Illinois
Yom Kippur, 2001