PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Books of Chronicles
Bennett, W. H. (William Henry) · 128,650 words · 176 reading sections
Contents
The Expositor’s Bible The Books of Chronicles By William Henry Bennett Professor of Old Testament Languages and Literature, Mackney and New Colleges; Sometime Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge Hodder & Stoughton New York George H, Doran Company Preface Book I. Introduction. Chapter I. Date And Authorshi…
321 wordsSECTION 2Chapter I. Date And Authorship.
To expound Chronicles in a series which has dealt with Samuel, Kings, Ezra, and Nehemiah is to glean scattered ears from a field already harvested. Sections common to Chronicles with the older histories have therefore been treated as briefly as is consistent with preserving the continuity of the narrative. Moreover, an…
732 wordsSECTION 3Chapter I. Date And Authorship.
There is no evidence whatever as to the name of the author; but his intense interest in the Levites and in the musical service of the Temple, with its orchestra and choir, renders it extremely probable that he was a Levite and a Temple-singer or musician. We might compare the Temple, with its extensive buildings and nu…
267 wordsSECTION 4Chapter II. Historical Setting.
In the previous chapter it has been necessary to deal with the chronicler as the author of the whole work of which Chronicles is only a part, and to go over again ground already covered in the volume on Ezra and Nehemiah; but from this point we can confine our attention to Chronicles and treat it as a separate book. Su…
676 wordsSECTION 5Chapter II. Historical Setting.
Nearly a century and a half elapsed between the first captivity under Jehoiachin (B.C. 598) and the mission of Ezra (B.C. 458); no doubt in the succeeding period Jews still continued to return from Babylon to Judæa, and thus the new community at Jerusalem, amongst whom the chronicler grew up, counted Babylonian Jews am…
812 wordsSECTION 6Chapter II. Historical Setting.
Nor need much be said of the relation of the chronicler to the later Jewish literature of the Apocalypses and Wisdom. If the spirit of this literature were already stirring in some Jewish circles, the chronicler himself was not moved by it. Ecclesiastes, as far as he could have understood it, would have pained and shoc…
278 wordsSECTION 7Chapter III. Sources And Mode Of Composition.
Our impressions as to the sources of Chronicles are derived from the general character of its contents, from a comparison with other books of the Old Testament, and from the actual statements of Chronicles itself. To take the last first: there are numerous references to authorities in Chronicles which at first sight se…
912 wordsSECTION 8Chapter III. Sources And Mode Of Composition.
Reserving for a moment the view which specially commends itself to us, we may note two main tendencies of opinion. First, it is maintained that Chronicles either goes back directly to the actual sources of Kings, citing them, for the sake of brevity, under a combined title, or is based upon a combination of the main so…
792 wordsSECTION 9Chapter III. Sources And Mode Of Composition.
But it is to these earlier books that the chronicler owes most. His work is very largely a mosaic of paragraphs and phrases taken from the older books. His chief sources are Samuel and Kings; he also lays the Pentateuch, Joshua, and Ruth under contribution. Much is taken over without even verbal alteration, and the gre…
432 wordsSECTION 10Chapter IV. The Importance of Chronicles.
Before attempting to expound in detail the religious significance of Chronicles, we may conclude our introduction by a brief general statement of the leading features which render the book interesting and valuable to the Christian student. The material of Chronicles may be divided into three parts: the matter taken di…
923 wordsSECTION 11Chapter I. Names. 1 Chron. i-ix.
The first nine chapters of Chronicles form, with a few slight exceptions, a continuous list of names. It is the largest extant collection of Hebrew names. Hence these chapters may be used as a text for the exposition of any spiritual significance to be derived from Hebrew names either individually or collectively. Old …
674 wordsSECTION 12Chapter I. Names. 1 Chron. i-ix.
But names do not merely suggest individuals and communities: the meanings of the names reveal the ideas of the people who used them. It has been well said that “the names of every nation are an important monument of national spirit and manners, and thus the Hebrew names bear important testimony to the peculiar vocation…
937 wordsSECTION 13Chapter I. Names. 1 Chron. i-ix.
These examples of interesting etymologies might easily be multiplied; they serve, at any rate, to indicate a rich mine of suggestive teaching. It must, however, be remembered that a name is not necessarily a personal name because it occurs in a genealogy; cities, districts, and tribes mingle freely with persons in thes…
666 wordsSECTION 14Chapter I. Names. 1 Chron. i-ix.
Turning to matters of practical religion, how far do these names help us to understand the spiritual life of ancient Israel? The Israelites made constant use of El and Jehovah in their names, and we have no parallel practice. Were they then so much more religious than we are? Probably in a sense they were. It is true t…
726 wordsSECTION 15Chapter I. Names. 1 Chron. i-ix.
“The East bowed low before the blast In patient, deep disdain; She let the legions thunder past, And plunged in thought again.” But the Christian Church is mistress of a more compelling magic than even Eastern patience and tenacity: out of the storms that threaten her, she draws new energies for service, and learns…
802 wordsSECTION 16Chapter I. Names. 1 Chron. i-ix.
We must not, however, suppose that pious Israelites would consciously and systematically discriminate between these names, any more than ordinary Christians do between God, Lord, Father, Christ, Saviour, Jesus. Their usage would be governed by changing currents of sentiment very difficult to understand and explain afte…
679 wordsSECTION 17Chapter II. Heredity. 1 Chron. i.-ix.
Possibly these old-world saints were not more preoccupied with their material needs than most modern Christians. Perhaps it is necessary to believe in a God who rules on earth before we can understand the Father who is in heaven. Does a man really trust in God for eternal life if he cannot trust Him for daily bread? Bu…
928 wordsSECTION 18Chapter II. Heredity. 1 Chron. i.-ix.
We will now briefly consider the genealogies in these chapters in the order in which they are given. Chap. i. contains genealogies of the patriarchal period selected from Genesis. The existing races of the world are all traced back through Shem, Ham, and Japheth to Noah, and through him to Adam. The chronicler thus acc…
836 wordsSECTION 19Chapter II. Heredity. 1 Chron. i.-ix.
Of the section containing the genealogies of Judah, the lion’s share is naturally given to the house of David, to which a part of the second chapter and the whole of the third are devoted. Next follow genealogies of the remaining tribes, those of Levi and Benjamin being by far the most complete. Chap. vi., which is de…
873 wordsSECTION 20Chapter II. Heredity. 1 Chron. i.-ix.
“God was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel, So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent which He placed among men; He refused the tent of Joseph, And chose not the tribe of Ephraim, But chose the tribe of Judah, The Mount Zion which He loved: And He built His sanctuary like the heights, Like the ear…
703 wordsSECTION 21Chapter II. Heredity. 1 Chron. i.-ix.
The recognition of these facts should tend to foster our humility and reverence, to encourage patriotism and philanthropy. We are the creatures and debtors of the past, though we are slow to own our obligations. We have nothing that we have not received; but we are apt to consider ourselves self-made men, the architect…
1,204 wordsSECTION 22Chapter II. Heredity. 1 Chron. i.-ix.
Before closing this chapter something may be said on one or two special points. Women are virtually ignored in these genealogies, a fact that rather indicates a failure to recognise their influence than the absence of such influence. Here and there a woman is mentioned for some special reason. For instance, the names o…
442 wordsSECTION 23Chapter III. Statistics.
Statistics play an important part in Chronicles and in the Old Testament generally. To begin with, there are the genealogies and other lists of names, such as the lists of David’s counsellors and the roll of honour of his mighty men. The chronicler specially delights in lists of names, and most of all in lists of Levit…
657 wordsSECTION 24Chapter III. Statistics.
But Biblical statistics are also examples in accuracy and thoroughness of information, and recognitions of the more obscure and prosaic manifestations of the higher life. Indeed, in these and other ways the Bible gives an anticipatory sanction to the exact sciences. The mention of accuracy in connection with Chronicle…
725 wordsSECTION 25Chapter III. Statistics.
Our chronicler’s interest in statistics lays healthy emphasis on the practical character of religion. There is a danger of identifying spiritual force with literary and rhetorical gifts; to recognise the religious value of statistics is the most forcible protest against such identification. The permanent contribution o…
800 wordsSECTION 26Chapter III. Statistics.
Chapter IV. Family Traditions. 1 Chron. i. 10, 19, 46; ii. 3, 7, 34; iv. 9, 10, 18, 22, 27, 34-43; v. 10, 18-22; vii. 21-23; viii. 13. Chronicles is a miniature Old Testament, and may have been meant as a handbook for ordinary people, who had no access to the whole library of sacred writings. It contains nothing corre…
655 wordsSECTION 27Chapter III. Statistics.
We learn from ii. 34-41 and iv. 18 that two Jewish families traced their descent from Egyptian ancestors. Sheshan, according to Chronicles, was eighth in descent from Judah and fifth from Jerahmeel, the brother of Caleb. Having daughters but no son, he gave one of his daughters in marriage to an Egyptian slave named Ja…
734 wordsSECTION 28Chapter III. Statistics.
Such marriages with Egyptians must have had some influence on the religion of the south of Judah, but probably the foreigners usually followed the example of Ruth, and adopted the faith of the families into which they came. When they said, “Thy people shall be my people,” they did not fail to add, “and thy God shall be…
654 wordsSECTION 29Chapter III. Statistics.
In iv. 21, 22, we read, “The sons of Shelah the son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, and Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen, of the house of Ashbea; and Jokim, and the men of Cozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who had dominion in Moab and returned to Bethlehem.”(85…
812 wordsSECTION 30Chapter III. Statistics.
The moral of these incidents is obvious. When a prosperous people is peaceable and defenceless, it is a clear sign that God has delivered them into the hand of any warlike and enterprising nation that knows how to use its opportunities. The chronicler, however, is not responsible for this morality, but he does not feel…
657 wordsSECTION 31Chapter III. Statistics.
“The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre, Assyria also is joined with them; They have holpen the children of Lot.” There could be no question of unprovoked aggression against these children of Ishmael, that “wild ass of a man…
662 wordsSECTION 32Chapter III. Statistics.
The last two incidents which we shall deal with in this chapter serve to illustrate afresh the rough-and-ready methods by which the chronicler has knotted together threads of heterogeneous tradition into one tangled skein. We shall see further how ready ancient writers were to represent a tribe by the ancestor from who…
672 wordsSECTION 33Chapter III. Statistics.
The account of this memorable cattle foray is a necessary note to the genealogies to explain the origin of an important clan and its double connection with Ephraim and Benjamin. Both the chronicler and his authority recorded it because of its genealogical significance, not because they were anxious to perpetuate the me…
569 wordsSECTION 34Chapter V. The Jewish Community In The Time Of The Chronicler.
We have already referred to the light thrown by Chronicles on this subject. Besides the direct information given in Ezra and Nehemiah, and sometimes in Chronicles itself, the chronicler by describing the past in terms of the present often unconsciously helps us to reconstruct the picture of his own day. We shall have t…
806 wordsSECTION 35Chapter V. The Jewish Community In The Time Of The Chronicler.
There are also traces of the Prophets. Hanani the seer in his address to Asa(99) quotes Zech. iv. 10: “The eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” Jehoshaphat’s exhortation to his people, “Believe in the Lord your God; so shall ye be established,”(100) is based on Isa. vii. 9: “If ye will not b…
707 wordsSECTION 36Chapter V. The Jewish Community In The Time Of The Chronicler.
Some details have been preserved of the organisation of the Levites. We read how the porters were distributed among the different gates, and of Levites who were over the chambers and the treasuries, and of other Levites how— “They lodged round about the house of God, because the charge was upon them, and to them perta…
1,020 wordsSECTION 37Chapter V. The Jewish Community In The Time Of The Chronicler.
Still the task of expounding and enforcing the Law brought with it compensations in the shape of dignity, influence, and emolument; and the Levites would soon be reconciled to their work as scribes, and would discover with regret that they could not retain the exposition of the Law in their own hands. Traditions were c…
709 wordsSECTION 38Chapter V. The Jewish Community In The Time Of The Chronicler.
Courses of the Levites are sometimes mentioned in connection with those of the priests, as if the Levites had an exactly similar organisation.(121) Indeed, twenty-four courses of the singers are expressly named.(122) But on examination we find that “course” for the Levites in all cases where exact information is given(…
815 wordsSECTION 39Chapter V. The Jewish Community In The Time Of The Chronicler.
We have already noted that much of the space allotted to the genealogies of Judah is devoted to the house of David.(128) The form of this pedigree for the generations after the Captivity indicates that the head of the house of David was no longer the chief of the state. During the monarchy only the kings are given as h…
672 wordsSECTION 40Chapter V. The Jewish Community In The Time Of The Chronicler.
The following is an account of the possessions of the Theban temple of Amen, supposed to be given by an Egyptian living about B.C. 1350(131):— “Since the accession of the eighteenth dynasty, Amen has profited more than any other god, perhaps even more than Pharaoh himself, by the Egyptian victories over the peoples of…
767 wordsSECTION 41Chapter V. The Jewish Community In The Time Of The Chronicler.
But scholarly familiarity with the past has its drawbacks. The scholar may come to live so much amongst ancient memories that he loses touch with his own present. He may gain large stores of information about ancient Israelite life, and yet not know enough of his own generation to be able to make them sharers of his kn…
714 wordsSECTION 42Chapter V. The Jewish Community In The Time Of The Chronicler.
Most people read their Bible without any reference to archæology. If they dramatise the stories, they do so in terms of their own experience. The characters are dressed like the men and women they know: Nazareth is like their native village, and Jerusalem is like the county town; the conversations are carried on in the…
693 wordsSECTION 43Chapter V. The Jewish Community In The Time Of The Chronicler.
But we must be careful to recognise that the chronicler writes in perfect good faith. These views of the monarchy were common to all educated and thoughtful men of his time; they were embodied in current tradition, and were probably already to be met with in writing. To charge him with inventing them is absurd; they al…
866 wordsSECTION 44Chapter V. The Jewish Community In The Time Of The Chronicler.
Enlightened and well-informed Christian teachers may still learn something from the example of the chronicler. The uncritical character of his age affords no excuse to them for shutting their eyes to the fuller light which God has given to their generation. But we are reminded that permanently significant stories have …
421 wordsSECTION 45Chapter I. Teaching By Types.
A more serious charge has been brought against Chronicles than that dealt with in the last chapter. Besides anachronisms, additions, and alterations, the chronicler has made omissions that give an entirely new complexion to the history. He omits, for instance, almost everything that detracts from the character and achi…
700 wordsSECTION 46Chapter I. Teaching By Types.
The chronicler’s selective method, however, is carried so far that the historical value of his work is seriously impaired; yet in this respect also he is kept in countenance by very respectable authorities. We are more concerned, however, to point out the positive results of the method. Instead of historical portraits,…
655 wordsSECTION 47Chapter I. Teaching By Types.
But we may take these ideals as types, not only in a general sense, but also in a modification of the dogmatic meaning of the word. We are not concerned here with the type as the mere external symbol of truth yet to be revealed; such types are chiefly found in the ritual of the Pentateuch. The circumstances of a man’s …
743 wordsSECTION 48Chapter II. David—I. His Tribe And Dynasty.
The strange power of teaching by types has been well expressed by one who was herself a great mistress of the art: “Ideas are often poor ghosts: our sun-filled eyes cannot discern them; they pass athwart us in thin vapour, and cannot make themselves felt; they breathe upon us with warm breath, they touch us with soft, …
701 wordsSECTION 49Chapter II. David—I. His Tribe And Dynasty.
We have already noticed that, in spite of this general attitude towards Saul, the genealogy of some of his descendants is given twice over in the earlier chapters. No doubt the chronicler made this concession to gratify friends or to conciliate an influential family. It is interesting to note how personal feeling may i…
856 wordsSECTION 50Chapter II. David—I. His Tribe And Dynasty.
The attitude of the chronicler towards the prophets of the northern kingdom does not in any way represent the actual importance of these prophets to the religion of Israel; but it is a very striking expression of the fact that after the Captivity the ten tribes had long ceased to exercise any influence upon the spiritu…
652 wordsSECTION 51Chapter II. David—I. His Tribe And Dynasty.
But it is time to return to the more positive aspects of the teaching of Chronicles, and to see how far we have already traced its exposition of the Messianic idea. The plan of the book implies a spiritual claim on behalf of the Jewish community of the Restoration. Because they believed in Jehovah, whose providence had…
311 wordsSECTION 52Chapter III. David—II. His Personal History.
In order to understand why the chronicler entirely recasts the graphic and candid history of David given in the book of Samuel, we have to consider the place that David had come to fill in Jewish religion. It seems probable that among the sources used by the author of the book of Samuel was a history of David, written …
892 wordsSECTION 53Chapter III. David—II. His Personal History.
David’s name was also familiar as the author of many psalms. The inhabitants of Jerusalem would often hear them sung at the Temple, and they were probably used for private devotion. In this way especially the name of David had become associated with the deepest and purest spiritual experiences. This brief survey shows…
750 wordsSECTION 54Chapter III. David—II. His Personal History.
The touching story of Rizpah is omitted; the hanging of her sons does not exhibit David in a very amiable light. The Gibeonites propose that “they shall hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord,” and David accepts the proposal. This punishment of the children for the sin of their father was …
682 wordsSECTION 55Chapter III. David—II. His Personal History.
Let us now consider the positive picture of David as it is drawn for us in Chronicles. Chronicles would be published separately, each copy written out on a roll of its own. There may have been Jews who had Chronicles, but not Samuel and Kings, and who knew nothing about David except what they learned from Chronicles. P…
650 wordsSECTION 56Chapter III. David—II. His Personal History.
This chapter partly explains David’s popularity after Saul’s death; but it only carries the mystery a stage further back. How did this outlaw and apparently unpatriotic rebel get so strong a hold on the affections of Israel? Chap. xii. also provides material for plausible explanations of another difficulty. In chap. x…
700 wordsSECTION 57Chapter III. David—II. His Personal History.
This revelation of the Divine will as to the position of the Temple led David to proceed at once with preparations for its erection by Solomon, which occupied all his energies for the remainder of his life.(172) He gathered funds and materials, and gave his son full instructions about the building; he organised the pri…
663 wordsSECTION 58Chapter III. David—II. His Personal History.
Next to David’s enthusiasm for the Temple, his most conspicuous qualities are those of a general and soldier: he has great personal strength and courage, and is uniformly successful in wars against numerous and powerful enemies; his government is both able and upright; his great powers as an organiser and administrator…
749 wordsSECTION 59Chapter IV. David—III. His Official Dignity.
In estimating the personal character of David, we have seen that one element of it was his ideal kingship. Apart from his personality, his name is significant for Old Testament theology, as that of the typical king. From the time when the royal title “Messiah” began to be a synonym for the hope of Israel, down to the p…
732 wordsSECTION 60Chapter IV. David—III. His Official Dignity.
The authority derived from God and the people continued to rest on the same basis. David sought Divine direction alike for the building of the Temple and for his campaigns against the Philistines. At the same time, when he wished to bring up the Ark to Jerusalem, he “consulted with the captains of thousands and of hund…
815 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.