1 and 2 Chronicles for Everyone

John Goldingay

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780664233815
• eBook ISBN: 9781611641585
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

In this popular and ambitious series, John Goldingay covers Scripture from Genesis to Malachi and addresses the texts in such a way that even the most challenging passages are explained simply. Perfect for daily devotions, Sunday school preparation, or brief visits with the Bible, the Old Testament for Everyone series is an excellent resource for the modern reader.

1 CHRONICLES 1:1–2:8

In the Beginning

¹Adam, Seth, Enosh, ²Kenan, Mahalel, Jared, ³Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, ⁴Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ⁵The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Media, Greece, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ⁶The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Diphath, and Togarmah. ⁷The sons of Greece: Elisha, Tarshish, the Kittites, and the Rodanites.

⁸The sons of Ham: Sudan, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. ⁹The sons of Sudan: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama, and Sabteca. The sons of Raama: Sheba and Dedan. ¹⁰ Sudan fathered Nimrod; he was the first to be a warrior on the earth. ¹¹Egypt fathered the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, ¹²Pathrusites, Casluhites (the Philistines came forth from there), and Caphtorites. ¹³Canaan fathered Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth, ¹⁴the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, ¹⁵Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁶Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites.

¹⁷The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram, Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech. ¹⁸Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. ¹⁹To Eber two sons were born: the name of one was Division (because in his days the earth divided), while his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁰Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²¹Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²²Ebal, Abimael, Sheba, ²³Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

²⁴Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, ²⁵Eber, Division, Reu, ²⁶Serug, Nahor, Terah, ²⁷and Abram—that is, Abraham. ²⁸The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael…. ^34bThe sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel….

^2:1These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, ²Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. ³The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah; the three were born to him by Bath-shua the Canaanite. Er, Judah’s firstborn, was displeasing in Yahweh’s eyes, and [Yahweh] put him to death. ⁴Since his daughter-in-law Tamar bore him Perez and Zerah, Judah’s sons were five in all. ⁵The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. ⁶The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, five in all. ⁷The sons of Carmi: Trouble, the troubler of Israel, who trespassed on something devoted. ⁸The son of Ethan: Azariah.

I have a bad conscience about the small number of people whom I name in the acknowledgments to these Old Testament for Everyone volumes, because I notice that other authors thank a whole string of people in the prefaces to their books. I must remember to include in the last volume a comprehensive list of people to whom I am indebted. I have noticed something similar about movies. When I watch an old movie, one of the trivial things that strikes me is how short the credits are; nowadays the credits are so long they are still rolling long after everyone has left the theater. On CD liners, too, artists routinely thank everyone they have known since they were in high school. In books and CD liners, at least, the lists are a rather touching phenomenon. They recognize that although one person’s name appears on the cover, this person lives and works in the context of a community. You mustn’t understand this person as an isolated individual.

Something analogous is part of the significance of the lists of names with which Chronicles begins. The books are going to tell the story of Israel from David to the exile in such a way as to bring a message to people living in Judah after the exile. Like Genesis, they begin by setting this story on the widest possible canvas. A church’s stained-glass windows set the life of a congregation in the life of the people of God over the millennia. They portray some people who are named in Chronicles’ lists and also people from later times, such as Mary, Jesus, Peter, Paul, Lydia, Ignatius, Monica, and Augustine. The list reminds the congregation of what it owes to these people. It acknowledges their inspiration.

When the congregation is a beleaguered little group in an indifferent or hostile world, the figures invite it to lift its head and be reminded of the significant body to which it belongs. The lists in Chronicles fulfill such a function for the little beleaguered Judahite community after the exile. Indeed, they put before it a vision of its own significance that beggars belief. They trace its ancestry not merely back to high school but to the very beginning of the world. The first half of chapter 1 comprises a list of the names that also appear in Genesis 1–11, so that it summarizes the story from creation to the moment when God set going the process that brought Israel into being. It covers individuals, peoples, and places; and “son” covers descendants as well as direct offspring.

There are several points where someone who tries to read all though the Bible may get stuck or may at least ask the question, “What the heck?” The nine chapters of names that open Chronicles is one of the places where this question is most pressing. Yet the lists occupy a sixth of the book; evidently they were very important to its authors, so it’s worth trying to get into their way of thinking. What might postexilic Judahites infer from this first list? They might realize, “We are part of a story that has been going on for a long time. We are not so insignificant. We issue from a process going back to the very creation of humanity.” They might even infer, “God’s purpose for the whole world lies behind our being here. God intends to do something with us that will fulfill the original purpose of creating the world. We exist for the sake of the world, even if at the moment it thinks we are nothing.” They would indeed be likely to feel overwhelmed by the power of the superpowers of the day, which in the Second Temple period were Medo-Persia, then Greece. What is the nature of God’s sovereignty in relation to the empires of the day? Before it has completed five verses, Chronicles has mentioned Media and Greece. They are part of an unfolding of history that happens within God’s purview.

Chapter 1 goes on to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel, the prehistory of Judah’s own story. Their inclusion invites the community to remember the line of promise of which it is a part and whose promises it inherits. It might remember God’s intention to bless the whole world through this line. Once again the names mostly come from Genesis. The lists go on to refer to other peoples who lived around the Judahites, especially the Edomites, the descendants of Israel’s brother Esau. In the readers’ day, the Edomites had taken over much of Judah’s own territory. Chronicles reminds the readers not to be either too overwhelmed or too dismissive of these relatives of theirs. In some sense they, too, are part of God’s story. Actually, the unfolding of these lists in 1 Chronicles 1 would be more straightforward if they went directly from Abraham and Isaac to Jacob and his sons. The account is made more complicated by the material about the descendants of Hagar via Ishmael, and of Keturah, and then the material about the descendants of Esau and Seir (which is closely associated with Edom) and the Edomite kings. Yet without it, the unfolding would be oversimplified. It would encourage readers to focus exclusively on that line that leads from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Judah to David. For Chronicles’ original readers, it was important to remain aware that their story was positively interwoven with the story of the Edomites. For Chronicles’ modern readers, it is important to remain aware that their story was interwoven with the story of Ishmael, the son of Abraham to whom the Arab peoples trace their origin, as the Jewish people trace their origin to Isaac. The Arab peoples are part of God’s story.

In chapter 2, Chronicles again narrows its focus, like Genesis. Having first listed the names of Israel’s sons, it focuses on the descendants of the fourth son, Judah. Genesis 34 and 35 give some hints as to why Israel’s first three sons lose their senior position, though Genesis 38 also tells a story that could provide good reason for Judah to lose his place. Chronicles is discrete in the allusions it makes to that story, but it reminds its readers (who would be mostly Judahites) that there are skeletons in Judah’s closet, too. The chapter thus shows that as usual you can’t explain what God does simply on the basis of merit, and the Judahites had better not think so. The story of Trouble comes in Joshua 7, and the sentence about him introduces one of Chronicles’ key terms to characterize the significance of Israel’s wrongdoing. It’s like trespassing on someone’s property or their rights or their personal space or the contents of their refrigerator in a way that goes beyond what you have been invited into. There was stuff that Israel was supposed to devote to God, and Trouble thought he could get away with appropriating a little on the side.

1 CHRONICLES 2:9–4:43

The Prayer of Jabez

⁹The sons of Hezron, who were born to him: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Celubai…. ^3:1These were the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite; the second, Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelite; ²the third, Absalom, the son of Maacah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggith; ³the fifth, Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah. ⁴Six were born to him in Hebron. He reigned there seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. ⁵These were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon, four by Bath-shua daughter of Ammiel; ⁶Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet, ⁷Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, ⁸Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet: nine. ⁹All were David’s sons, besides the sons of secondary wives, and Tamar was their sister.

¹⁰Solomon’s son: Rehoboam; his son Abijah; his son Asa; his son Jehoshaphat; ¹¹his son Joram; his son Ahaziah; his son Joash; ¹²his son Amaziah; his son Azariah; his son Jotham; ¹³his son Ahaz; his son Hezekiah; his son Manasseh; ¹⁴his son Amon; his son Josiah. ¹⁵The sons of Josiah: the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum. ¹⁶The sons of Jehoiakim: his son Jeconiah, his son Zedekiah. ¹⁷And the sons of the captive Jeconiah: his son Shealtiel, ¹⁸Malchiram, Pe daiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. ¹⁹The sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah, and Shelomith was their sister….

^4:1The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal. ²Reaiah son of Shobal fathered Jahath. Jahath fathered Ahumai and Lahad. These were the families of the Zorathites. ³The father of Etam, these: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash; their sister’s name was Hazlelponi. ⁴Penuel was the father of Gedor. Ezer was the father of Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah, the father of Bethlehem. ⁵Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah. ⁶Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah. ⁷The sons of Helah: Zereth, Zohar, and Ethnan. ⁸Koz fathered Anub, Hazzobebah, and the families of Aharhel son of Harum. ⁹Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, “because I bore him in suffering.” ¹⁰Jabez had called to the God of Israel, “Oh, do bless me, enlarge my territory. May your hand be with me and may you keep me from trouble so that I do not suffer.” God brought about what he asked….

^4:24The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul.

[Verses 25-43 of chapter 4 list the descendants of Simeon.]

I was talking the other day to a woman who runs an adoption agency about the rights of adoptive children to trace their birth parents (and for that matter, the rights of birth parents to trace the children they surrendered). Most states recognize no such rights, though some have procedures whereby parents and their offspring can make contact if both parties want to do so. Just after this conversation, I opened up this question with a friend who had been adopted, and she exploded over the difficulty of discovering who her birth parents had been. Not every adopted person wants this knowledge, though many sense that knowing their birth parents’ identity is a significant aspect of knowing who they themselves are.

Most of the people and places listed in 1 Chronicles 2 and connected with Judah are unmentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament; the people who are mentioned elsewhere are not Israelite by birth. In effect, they are people who are adopted into Judah. One can sometimes get the impression that Israel is by its essential nature an ethnically based people, but from time to time the Old Testament makes clear that this is an oversimplification. On one hand, you can forfeit your membership in the family of Israel by failing to be faithful to Yahweh. You can be “cut off,” as the Torah often puts it. On the other hand, if you belong to another people but come to identify with Israel and with its God, you can be adopted into the family of Israel. Like adopted children in any context, you and the rest of the original family may be aware for quite a time that you were not born into the family, but this does not alter the fact that you now belong to it as truly as people who were born into it. Israel had to balance the importance of staying uncontaminated by people who did not fully acknowledge Yahweh or acknowledge who Israel was, with the importance of staying open to outsiders who did so acknowledge Yahweh and Israel. The context in which Chronicles’ readers lived made that an especially pressing necessity. It would be easy for Judah to be swallowed up by the peoples around. On the other hand, Chronicles reminds it not to be closed to groups that will make their acknowledgment of Israel and of Yahweh.

First Chronicles 4 lists key members of several of the clans over the centuries. It again begins with Judah, the clan to which the vast bulk of the community for which Chronicles was written belonged. Our word Jew comes from the word for “Judahite”; Jew does not apply to Israelites in the First Temple period. It is when Israel is virtually coterminous with Judah that Jew becomes an appropriate term for Israelites, because most of the Israelites who were left were Judahites. Simeon here follows on Judah because it lived in Judah’s shadow. Its separate existence was really rather nominal. Joshua 19 (where the information on Simeon comes from) notes how in effect Simeon was absorbed by Judah.

The prominence of Judahites among the readers of Chronicles is not the only reason for Judah’s prominence in these chapters. Judah matters because David was born from Judah; hence the transition here from chapter 2 to chapter 3. When 1 Chronicles tells Israel’s actual story, beginning in chapter 10, David is where it will begin. That reflects David’s continuing importance even in the Persian or Second Temple or postexilic period when Chronicles was written. After listing David’s sons, Chronicles goes on to list the kings who ruled until the fall of Jerusalem, after which no kings reigned in Judah for four centuries. Yet the list of David’s descendants does not stop there but continues with the names of descendants of David who lived in the midst of the Second Temple community, people such as Zerubbabel. As a descendant of David he might be king if Judah had a king. The list reminds the readers that David’s line has not died out and affirms the continuing importance of that line.

Why might it be important? God had promised in due course to put on the throne in Jerusalem a descendant of David who would fulfill all that a king ought to be and would reign in faithfulness over the people. Another possibility would be that people in Judah simply hoped that an “ordinary” Davidic king might reign again. Chronicles doesn’t indicate whether it shares either of those hopes. For Chronicles, the explicit importance of David lies in what he did in the past. It was he who made all the arrangements for the worship life of Jerusalem. People who could trace their family history back to David would have reason to be proud of that link.

Jabez’s na...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Maps
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Chronicles 1:1–2:8: In the Beginning
• 2 Chronicles 1:1–17: What Would You Like Me to Give You?
• 2 Chronicles 20:14–23: The Two Stages whereby We See Answers to Prayer
• Glossary