The Israelite Monarchy: The Book of Chronicles

The book of Chronicles reviews the period from Adam until the proclamation of Cyrus permitting the exiled Jews to return to Judah (539 BCE). It centers on the monarchy, particularly the reigns of David and Solomon, and on the history of the Southern Kingdom, Judah, which it portrays as the only legitimate heir to the Davidic monarchy. The Northern Kingdom of Israel is not mentioned for its own sake, but only as it bears on Judah. Chronicles drew on earlier sources, especially the books of Samuel and Kings, but freely adjusted them to suit its purposes and its Second Temple audience, retrojecting contemporary practices onto earlier material. The centerpiece of the narrative is the Temple, its personnel, and its rituals. David, rather than Solomon, as in the book of Kings, is credited with the architectural design of the Temple (though not with actually building it) and for establishing its practices. Although written after the exile and the return to Judah, Chronicles focuses upon the history of Israel in the land of Israel during the monarchy, barely noting the exile, and it ends with the notice that return is on the horizon. In that sense, Ezra-Nehemiah, which takes place after the return, follows chronologically after Chronicles, but in Jewish editions of the Bible it usually appears before Chronicles.