THE NEW SC'IIAFF-HERZOG
CHRONICLES, BOOKS OF.
I. Name.
II. Range and Divisions.
III. Place in the Canon.
IV. The Text.
The Aramaic Targum (§1).
The S.vriac Translation of the London Polyglot (5 2). The Septuagint (§ 3). The Latin Translation of Jerome (§ 4). The Masoretic Text (§ 5). V Contents and Purpose. VI. The Author and His Sources.
I. Name: The Hebrew title, Dibhre hayamim, of the two historical books standing, in the English Bible, between II Kings and Ezra may be translated "the occurrences of the times"; for the first word expresses the content (history), the second the form (chronological). As this refers to time, the content can be only the sum of deeds or fortunes of men. But this meaningless general title can be but the practical abbreviation of a longer one, which either added the subject referred to (as in I Chron. xxvii. 24, " of King David "), or named a particular period within the whole time. In \'iew of the greater part of the subject-matter, the (lost) explanatory clause could be only " of the Ivings of Judah." Indeed, the Syriac gives the name " The Book of the Reign of the Days of the Kings of Judah, which Bears the Name Scpher D'haryamin " ; the Arabic title is similar; and the Septuagint reads in Codex Alexandrinus and elsewhere " Deeds (?) of the Kings of Judah." Strangely enough, the Arabic, after translating the title adds, "the Hebrew is dibra hayyamim" ; in the Syriac the title is followed by the Hebrew name in the Syriacized form D'haryamin. The title " Chronicles " dates back to a comment by Jerome in his " Preface to the Books of Samuel and Kings " (translated in NPNF, 2d series, vi. 490).
II. Range and Divisions: The Masoretic notes at the end of Chronicles reckon 1,656 divisions, evidently meaning verses separated by a colon; actual count in the editions of Opitz and Michaelis gives the number as 1,764. Computations based upon smaller " commata " are asfollows: the Talmud gives 5,880 (cf. H. L. Strack, Prolegomena critica in Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum, Leipsic, 1873, p. 11), the Sj'riac 5,603, Nicephorus 5,500, codices of the Septuagint and Synopsis (cf. E. Klostermann, Analekta zu Scptuaginta, Ilexapla und Patristik, Leipsic, 1895, pp. 45, 81) 5,000, the Canon Mommsen only 4,140. The division into two books is comparatively modem, unknown to the Masora and the canon-catalogues. Origen (cf. Eusebius, Hist. eccL, \l. XXV. 2), Epiphanius, Synod of Laodicea, Athanasius, and Rufinus state expressly that Chronicles, given by the Septuagint as two books, is to be looked upon as one. The Septuagint di\'ides it after the death of David, a principle adopted by the Syriac and Arabic; the former has, however, another division after II. v. The codex .[iniatinus of the Vulgates has blank spaces after 1. IX. and 1. xxix., and writes I. x. 1 and 11. i. 1 ui red ink, suggestive of early division at those p:)ints.
III. Place in the Canon: Tradition has two places for Chronicles among the Kcthubhim
(see Canon of Sctiiptuims, I.). The order followed by the German manuscripts and by the printed Hebrew Bibles is: Rs., Prov., Job, the five Rolls (arrangi'd according to the Jewish church-calendar), Dan., Ezra-Neh., Chron. The position of Chronicles, following Ezra, suggests to the memory the remark of the Mishnah: "Chronicles is given only for investigation "; Daniel and Ezra were edifying to the congregation, whereas Chronicles was rather scholastic in cliaracter. More likely, however, is it that Daniel and Ezra- Nehemiah seem to belong together, as on the one hand, a statement of the divine programme and the story of its partial fulfilment, and, on the other hand, as possessing literary kinship, since both belonged to the time of Cyrus, and both were largely transmitted in Aramaic. The Talmudic order is similar: Ruth, Ps., Job, three Rolls, Dan., Esther, Ezra-Neh., Chron. The other arrangement is the totally different one of the Masora: Chron., Ps., Job, Prov., the Rolls, Dan., Ezra- Neh.; as though Chronicles together with Ezra, ranging from Adam to Jaddua, furnished the historical setting for the rest of the Kethubhim (cf. Augustine, Christian Doctrine, II. viii. 13, in NPNF, 1st series, ii. 541). According to a Masoretic codex Tschufutc (13 'Adath dibburim, cf. H. Strack, in G. A. Kohut, Semitic Studies, London, 1897, p. 570) this order is that of the Land of Israel, and is the only correct one, to be adopted ultimately by all scribes; whereas the other, in which Chronicles or Esther stand at the end, is called a corruption by the people of the Land of Sinear. Among the old translations of the Christian Church is the fanciful order given by Junilius and by Epiphanius. The other transmitted catalogues either join Chronicles to Ezra, to Kings, or separate them. That gives four arrangements: (1) Kings, Chron., Ezra (so Origen, Cyril of Jerusalem, Canon of the Apostles, Apostolic Constitutions, Council of Laodicea, Gregory Nazianzen, Amphilochius, Athanasius in his " Easter Letter," Vulgate, Rufinus, Ethiopic Bible); (2) Kings, Chron., Ezra (Melito,
Augustine, Codex Alexandrinus, Codex Amiatinus, Canon of Hippo, Decreta Gchisii, Canon of Mommsen, the Second Order oi Cassiodorus) ; (3) Kings, Chron., Ezra (First Order of Cassiodorus, Jerome in "Preface to the Books of Samuel and Kings"); (4) Kings, Ezra, Chron. (Rescript of Inno-
cent I.). In general, it seems that where Jewish scholasticism did not influence the Christian Church the latter's arrangement Avas ruled by the conviction that Ezra-Nehemiah was intended to be the continuation of Chronicles, which latter in its relation to Kings bore in the Septuagint correctly the name " Deeds (?) of the Kings of Judah."
IV. The Text: For the verification of the Masoretic text there are excellent means in the translations from the early Hebrew. The Aramaic Targum is a translation wiiich shows, 1. The on the one liaiid, a close following of Aramaic the lettci' of the text and an en(leavt)r Targum. to reiuodiicc it correctly; and, on tlie otlier hand, an attempt to satisfy the spiritual hunger which mere names and brief statements must create in the hearers