Digital Logos Edition
In his introduction De Vries sketches the canonical setting of the books of Chronicles, especially in relation with Ezra-Nehemiah, and then discusses the redacted and original versions of Chronicles. He describes Chronicles as genealogical and narrative history that tells who/what ideal Israel is, how it has suffered by its unfaithfulness, and how it will remain true Israel by trusting in God.
“Greater ethnic self-awareness and a more intense torah-righteousness appeared only toward the end of the 3rd century, with the rise of apocalypticism and the religious parties.” (Page 17)
“For ChrH, the book that Hilkiah finds is more than ‘a/the book of the law’; it is ‘the book of the law of Yahweh (given) through Moses.’” (Page 408)
S. J. De Vries’s form-critical analysis of 1 and 2 Chronicles is a thoroughly competent treatment of this difficult and much-neglected portion of the Old Testament. The writer’s well-balanced, solid treatment provides a most reliable guide through much unchartered territory and will be welcomed by all serious students of the Bible.
—Brevard Childs, Yale University
Based on impeccable erudition and written with the flair of a pioneer enamored of the landscape, this form-analytical and genre-setting commentary restores to Chronicles the oft-neglected appeal of an unlikely subject: the marriage of genealogy with temple music and splendor for the sake of an ideal Israel.
—Samuel Terrien, Union Theological Seminary