Our daily Bible reading now takes us to the Chronicles. Readers might be led to believe that Chronicles is just a retelling of Samuel and Kings. Though there are some similarities, there remains quite a bit of difference. Especially when it comes to the chronicler’s intent for writing the books. Even the inclusion of detailed genealogies are part of the writer’s intended purpose (1 Chr. 1-9). Keep in mind that the majority of English Bibles aren’t organized chronologically. If they were to be chronologically organized, then Chronicles would be placed last in the Old Testament. With that in mind, Chronicles was written after Judah’s exile and return to the Promised Land. Which gives us some indication for the writer’s purpose, and the books overall theme.
The book of Second Kings records the Northern Kingdom’s exile and captivity by the Assyrians (2 Kings 18:11-12). It also records the Southern Kingdom’s deportation from Judah to Babylon (2 Kings 24-25). The Israelite people had been completely removed from the Promised Land. Their continued apostasy had come to a climax, and the country was left desolate. The remnant of Judah, which was in Babylon, had very little hope remaining. Babylonian Empire would be overthrown by the Persians around 539 BC. All of what had been Judah (and consequently the Northern Kingdom) then came under Persian rule. Persia’s king, Cyrus, allowed Hebrews exiled in Babylon to return to Judah to rebuild their homeland (2 Chr. 36:22-23; Ezra 2:1-35; Neh. 7:5-73). Judah wouldn’t be an autonomous nation, but would be governed by Persia.
To those who returned to Judah after the exile, it seemed as if the Lord had forsaken Israel and His promises. The chronicler takes the responsibility to give Israel renewed hope in God’s promises. Although David’s throne had been removed from Jerusalem, God’s covenant with David continued. Furthermore, the Temple had also been destroyed in Jerusalem, but true worship was to continue. Two themes emerge from Chronicles, the throne and the Temple. The genealogies presented in the first nine chapters of First Chronicles prove the line of David was still intact. The last half of First Chronicles gives us great detail of David’s preparation concerning the Temple.
The writer of Chronicles sets out to prove that God was in control of Israel’s past, despite her misgivings, and He was still in control of their future. Israel no longer had a king sitting upon a throne, but through David’s lineage the King of Kings was to emerge. This Son of David would have an everlasting throne. David’s greater Son, Jesus Christ, would not dwell in a temple made with hands, but heaven would be His throne, and earth would be His footstool (Acts 7:48-49).
Though Chronicles seems to be a retelling of events that we’ve previously read, and reading the genealogies is about as exciting as reading a telephone book, it has great purpose. That purpose is that God is in control, and His promises are sure. Israel experienced victory, blessings, setbacks, apostasy, revival, good kings, bad kings, exile, and captivity. But God remained faithful. I hear the words of the apostle Paul echo throughout Chronicles, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35-39).