II. Contents, — (a.) In 1 Chron. i-ix is given a series of genealogical tables, interspersed with historical, ge- ographical, and other notices. These genealogies are not complete : the generations of Adam to Abraham (ch. i, 1-28) ; of Abraham and Esau (i, 28-64) ; of Ja- cob and his son Judah (ii) ; of king David (iii) ; of Judah in another line (iv, 1-23) ; of Simeon (iv, 24- 43); of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, with historical and topograph icid notices (v) ; two lists of the sons of Levi (vi, 1-30) ; genealogicid registers of Heman and Asaph (vi, 31-48) ; of Merari (vi, 44-60) ; of Aaron, with a list of the residences of the Levitical families (vi, 60-81) ; list of the sons of Issachar (vii, 1-6) ; of Ben- jamin and Naphtali (vii, 6-18) ; of Manasseh (vii, 14- 19) ; of Ephraim, with notices of their possessions (vii, 20-29) ; of Asher (vii, 30-40) ; a second list of the de- scendants of Benjamin, wiUi the genealogy of Saul (viii) ; list of families dwelling at Jerusalem, with in- timations of the tribes to which they belonged (ix).
(6.) 1 Chron. x-xxix contains the history of David's reign from the death of Saul, partly agreeing with the account given of him in the books of Samuel, though with several important additions relating to the Le- vites.
2 Chron. i-ix contains the history of Solomon. -
2 Chron. x-xxviii famishes a succinct account of the kingdom of Judah while Israel still remained, but separate from the history of the latter.
2 Chron. xxix-xxxvi describes the kingdom of Ju- dah after the downfall of Israel, especially with refer- ence to the worship of God.
From this analysis it appears that the Chronicles contain an epitome of sacred history, particularly fVY>m the origin of the Jewish nation to the end of the first eaptivit}'. Besides important notices of a historical character not found in the other books, there are oth- ers of a doctrinal and devotional nature. There is one psalm (1 Chron. xvi, 7-86), the first which David assigned for public worship (verse 7).
III. Diction, — ^This is such as suits the time tmme- diatefy subsequent to the Captivity. It is substantiAl-
ly the same with that of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Estber, which were all written shortly after the Babylonish exile. It is mixed with A ranutisms, marking at once the decline of the Jews in power and the cormption of their native tongue. The pure Hebrew had then been laid aside. It was lost during their aojoum in Baby- lon. The orthography is characterized by an adoption of the matrts kd^onis and freqnent interchanges of the weak letters, with other pecnliaritiea (see beknr, §4).
lY. Age and Author. — Internal evidence sufBdent- ly demonstrates that the Chronicles were written after the Captivity. Thus the hisU^y is brought down to the end of the exile, and mention is made of the leeto- ration by Cyrus (2 Chron. xxxvi, 21, 22). It is certain that they were compUed after the time of Jeremiah (3 Chron. xxxv, 25), who lived to see the destmction of Jerusalem by the Chaldsans. The same opinion is supported by the character of the orthography and the nature of the language employed, as we have already seen, both which are Aramaean in complexion, and har- monize with the books confessedly written after the ex- ile. The Jews generally (unanimously, according to Hnet, Demonst. Evangelica, iv, 14) ascribe the Chroni- cles to Ezra (Baba Bathra^ f. xv, c. 1). In fact, the in- ternal evidence as to the time when the books of Chron- icles were compiled seems to tally remarkably with th« tradition concerning their authorship. Notwithstand- ing this agreement, however, the authenticity of Ckr<m- icles has been vehemently impugned by De Wette and other German critics, whose arguments have been sae- cessfuUy refitted by Dahler, Keil, Movers, and others. It has been clearly shown that the attack was groni^ ed not upon any real marks of spuriousness in the books themselves, but solely upon the desire of the critics in question to remove a witness whose evidence was fktal to their fiivorite theory as to the post-Babf- Ionian origin of the books of Moses. If the accounts in the books of Chronicles of the courses of priests and Levites, and the ordinances of divine service as ar- ranged by David, and restored by Hezekiah and Jo- siah, are genuine, it necessarily follows that the Levit- ical law as set forth in the Pentateuch was not invent- ed after the return from the Captivity. Hence the successful vindication of the authenticity of Chronicles has a very important bearing upon many of the veiy gravest theological questions.
There is particularly the circumstance that these books bring down the genealogy of David (1 Chron. iii, 19, etc.) to a period admitted on all hands to he subsequent to the restoration. Indeed, f^m the re- semblance of several of the names given in that list with some of those in the ancestry of Christ (Luke iii, 26, 26), the genealogy of David is there brought down to the ninth generation after Zerubbabel (Strong's Harmony and Exposition of the Gospds^ p. 17, note m). This passage, however, may have been added by final editors of the sacred canon, traditional- ly reputed to have been the members of the Great Synagogue (q. v.). That the author was at least a contemporary of Zerubbabel is clear ; and to show stUl more the writer*s intimate acquaintance with and in- terest in him, Shelomith, a daughter of Zerubbabd, is inserted, and numerous details given about the fiunilj. The name Hattush (verse 22) occurs also in Ezra viii, 2, as that of a descendant of David who returned with Ezra f^om Babylon : this would favor the view ad- vanced if the identity could be established; but fbr this there is no evidence. But a more important note of time is the notice in 1 Chron. ix, 17, 18, regarding the Levitical porters, "who hitherto (H|>1**75, wtf nowy to the time of the writer) waited in the king's gate ;" and of two of which, Akkub and Tafanon, mention is made in Neh. xii, 25, 26, as "keeping the ward at the thresholds of the gates .... in the days of Nehemiah, and of Ezra the priest the scribe.'*