The Books of Kings and Chronicles

Abstract

The book of Chronicles contains material found in the Torah and Former Prophets. The most significant overlapping material is with Kings. The exact version of Kings that the Chronicler had shows variations from the Masoretic Text, Septuagint, or other extant textual traditions. Scholars debate the exact purpose of Chronicles in relationship to Kings, classifying it in a number of ways including midrash or exegesis, “Rewritten Bible,” “Rewritten Scripture,” mimesis, or imitatio. These suggestions understand Chronicles as a reframing of earlier Judahite monarchic traditions written for a postexilic audience. The Kings narrative is important to the composition of Chronicles and the Chroniclers’ freedom to make changes to the received tradition, particularly concerning the roles of Judahite kings, the northern kingdom of Israel, women, and the priests and Levites. These changes reveal the dependence of Chronicles on the general organization of Kings and a different historical and theological outlook on the events.