Summary: Bible - Book of 1 Chronicles

The GIST

1 Chronicles tells a story the Bible has already told, and tells it again on purpose. It covers ground familiar from the books of Samuel, the reign of King David, but it was written centuries later, for readers living under Persian and then Greek rule, long after the kingdom had fallen. In the Hebrew Bible, Chronicles is one work and stands at the very end. Its Hebrew name means the words of the days. Its first half, the book summarized here, has two parts of very different texture: nine chapters of genealogies that begin with Adam, and twenty chapters on David that are concerned less with his wars and his troubles than with what he did for the worship of God.

Tradition attributed the work to Ezra. Most scholars today speak instead of the Chronicler, probably a Levite of Jerusalem writing somewhere between 400 and 250 BC, a well-read editor and theologian who drew on the older scriptures to say something to the people of his own time. What he says, in brief, is that Israel's identity lies in the house of David and the house of God, and that both were gifts.

What It Says

The names (chapters 1 to 9). The book opens without a verb: Adam, Seth, Enosh. For nine chapters the story of the world is carried forward almost entirely by lists, from the first human beings through Noah and Abraham to the twelve sons of Israel and their descendants, tribe by tribe. The tribe of Judah, from which David comes, and the tribe of Levi, which serves the sanctuary, receive the most space. To readers trying to rebuild a community, these lists said who they were and that their line reached back unbroken to the beginning. Now and then a few lines of story surface among the names. The best known concerns a man called Jabez, who "called on the God of Israel" asking to be blessed and kept from harm, "And God granted him that which he requested."

Saul's end and David's rise (chapters 10 to 12). The narrative begins with a death. King Saul falls in battle with the Philistines, and the Chronicler gives the reason in a sentence: "So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD." The kingdom passes to David. All Israel gathers to him at Hebron, reminding him of God's word, "Thou shalt feed my people Israel," and he is anointed king. He takes Jerusalem and makes it his city. Then come the rolls of his mighty men, the warriors whose exploits helped establish his rule, and the lists of the fighting men from every tribe who came over to him, until the whole nation is of one heart to make David king.

The ark comes to Jerusalem (chapters 13 to 16). David's first concern as king, in this telling, is the Ark of the Covenant, neglected in Saul's time. The first attempt to bring it up ends in disaster. It is carried on a cart, the oxen stumble, a man named Uzza reaches out to steady it and is struck dead. The ark is left for three months at a house nearby. David draws the lesson that the thing was not done in the right way: "None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites." The second procession is organized with great care, with Levites as bearers, singers and players of cymbals, harps and trumpets, and David himself dancing before it. Once the ark is in its tent, David appoints Levites to give thanks continually, and the chapter gives the psalm sung that day: "Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people." Its refrain will echo through the two books of Chronicles: "O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever."

The promise (chapter 17). Settled in his own house of cedar, David wishes to build a house for the ark. Through the prophet Nathan the answer comes back: "Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in." Instead God will build a house for David, a dynasty. One of his sons will build the Temple, "and I will stablish his throne for ever." David goes in and sits before God, overcome: "Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?"

Wars (chapters 18 to 20). David's victories over the Philistines, Moab, Syria, Edom and Ammon are told briskly. They matter here mainly because they bring the security and the wealth with which a Temple can be built. Readers who know the books of Samuel will notice what is missing. The story of David and Bathsheba, and the family tragedies that followed it, are not told. The Chronicler is not rewriting the past so much as selecting from it what serves his purpose.

The census and the site (chapter 21). One failure is kept, because of where it leads. David orders a count of his fighting men; the Chronicler says that "Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel." His general Joab objects and is overruled. God is displeased, and the prophet Gad brings David a choice of three punishments. David's reply is one of the great expressions of trust in the Bible: "I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies." A plague kills seventy thousand, and the destroying angel is halted at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. David insists on buying the place at its full price, builds an altar there, and God answers by fire. He recognizes it as the site of the future house of God.

Preparing the Temple (chapters 22 to 29). The remainder of the book is preparation. David gathers stone, iron, bronze, cedar, and gold and silver in vast quantities. He explains to Solomon why the task falls to him: David was told, "Thou hast shed blood abundantly," and the house is to be built by a man of peace. Then, in chapter after chapter, he organizes those who will serve there: the Levites in their divisions, the priests in their courses, the musicians who are to "prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals," the gatekeepers, the treasurers, and the officers of the kingdom. He hands Solomon the plan of the building, which he says he received in writing from God's own hand, and charges him before the assembly: "Be strong and of good courage, and do it."

The book closes with a scene of giving. David offers his own treasure, the leaders follow, and the people rejoice at how willingly it is done. David's prayer over the offering is among the best-known in the Old Testament: "Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty." It is followed by a line of deep humility: "for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." Solomon is made king, and David dies "in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour."

Why It Matters

Chronicles shows what a community does with its past when it needs to know who it is. The Chronicler's readers had no king. What they had was a Temple, a priesthood, the scriptures and a memory. By beginning with Adam, he sets Israel's story inside the story of all humanity. By dwelling on David the organizer of worship, he tells them that their present life of prayer and sacrifice in Jerusalem is the true inheritance of the great king. The parallel he draws between David and Solomon carries the argument: the father becomes king, establishes the worship of God in Jerusalem and fights the wars that make the Temple possible, and the son builds it and enjoys the peace.

The book is also a meditation on legacy. David is not allowed to do the thing he most wants to do, and he spends his last strength making it possible for someone else. The prayer that ends the book insists that even that generosity was only giving back what had been received.

Readers compare Chronicles with Samuel and Kings and weigh the differences in various ways. Jewish and Christian tradition long regarded it as Ezra's work, and its last sentence, at the end of 2 Chronicles, is repeated as the first of the book of Ezra. In the Hebrew Bible it closes the whole canon; in Christian Bibles it follows Kings. Modern scholars think it improbable that its author also wrote Ezra and Nehemiah, and they read it as a theological reinterpretation of Israel's history more than an independent record of it.

Who Should Read It

Read 1 Chronicles after Samuel and Kings, when you know the story and want to see how a later generation understood it. It rewards readers interested in worship and music in the Bible, in how communities rebuild after catastrophe, and in the making of a tradition. Be ready for the lists at the start. Read slowly, with the first audience in mind, they become a kind of roll call of survival.