Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: 1 Chronicles 1-2.
Today, in our chronological reading of the Bible we suddenly find ourselves in the book of 1 Chronicles simultaneously while we are reading 2 Samuel, and a number of the Psalms.
This is because we are currently studying the monarchy of King David.
These books do not identify "the chronicler", but Jewish tradition assigns the authorship to Ezra. These books were written after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and provide to the Jewish people who will now rebuild the temple the critical remembrance of God's design for not only Jerusalem, but the temple as well.
To do so, the Chronicler starts with a genealogy that goes all the way back to Adam, and as perhaps the Bible's first theologian, is intent on reminding Israel where she came from, and pointing her back into God's good graces.
Here is an informative perspective on these books from The New Dictionary of Biblical Theology:
"The Chronicler’s interpretation of history highlights three areas where God’s activity was of special significance. Firstly, Israel’s history from beginning to end belongs in the context of God’s purposes for the whole world. The work accordingly traces Israel’s origins and those of the nations back to Adam (1 Chr. 1:1–54) and ends with a pagan emperor fulfilling prophecy by inviting the Jewish exiles to return to their Promised Land (2 Chr. 36:22–23). In the Chronicler’s post-exilic context where many Israelites believed that foreign empires had obliterated God’s purposes for them, this idea was a direct challenge to a narrow theology; God’s work is seen as part of a symbiotic relationship linking Israel with the rest of the world.
Secondly, the Chronicler is especially concerned with the monarchy. This subject dominates the entire work, though the Chronicler concentrates on the United Monarchy under David and on Judah during the Divided Monarchy, emphasizing two contrasting influences. On the one hand, Saul’s kingship is removed because of his unfaithfulness to God and refusal to listen to God’s word, and Judah is finally sent into exile for the same reasons (1 Chr. 10:13–14; 2 Chr. 36:14–20). On the other, God turns Saul’s kingdom over to David and preserves his dynasty throughout the period because of his covenant promises (1 Chr. 17).
Thirdly, the perspective on Israel’s past from which the Chronicler writes is that of the exile. Though the exile hung like a spectre over the whole of Israel’s history (1 Chr. 5:26; 2 Chr. 30:6–9), it also formed a bridge between the disasters of Israel’s past and their hopes for the future. Beyond the exile lay an opportunity to repopulate the Promised Land, to rebuild the temple, and to restore the worship of God (1 Chr. 9:2–34; 2 Chr. 36:23). The key to understanding the exile is found in the prophetic word. Although the exile had happened because the prophets’ warnings had been repeatedly rejected (2 Chr. 24:19; 36:15–16), prophecy was also the means by which God’s purposes were put into effect and could be renewed (2 Chr. 36:21–23)."
It will be interesting to view David's monarchy from so many different perspectives.
