The Background of the Book of Chronicles

The Hebrew name for Chronicles is “Dibre Hayyamim,” meaning “the affairs of the days” or “the annals.” In the Hebrew Bible, 1 and 2 Chronicles are a single book. The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) divided Chronicles into two volumes. Because the final paragraph of Chronicles is almost identical to the beginning of Ezra (Ezra 1:1-3), Jewish tradition holds that the author of Chronicles was the scribe Ezra. Chronicles is divided into two books, First and Second Chronicles. It provides a comprehensive overview of Jewish history from creation until the return to the land of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple. Its content is similar to the historical sections of the Torah, Samuel, and Kings.

Chronicles begins with one of the longest genealogies in the Bible, spanning nine entire chapters. For modern readers, this extensive genealogy might seem like a tedious list. However, for the book’s original readers, this genealogy was a source of comfort for the defeated, support for the weak, and affirmation for the called. Chronicles was written after the Judean exile and return. At that time, the Persian Empire allowed the exiled Israelites to return and rebuild the Temple (2 Chronicles 36:22), but most of the people were unwilling to leave Babylon, where they had lived for seventy years. Although a minority of people obeyed God’s call (Ezra 2:64-65) and “returned from Babylon and settled in their own towns” to rebuild the destroyed Temple and desolate Jerusalem, their hearts were burdened with a profound identity crisis and deep feelings of guilt and shame (Ezra 3:12-13), even struggling to comprehend God’s love (Malachi 1:2). At this critical juncture, God used this magnificent genealogy to count His people, tracing the lineage of these small, humble, and seemingly defeated individuals back to Adam, the very beginning of creation. This allowed the people to clearly recognize their chosen status. What God proclaimed through this genealogy was precisely His own declaration: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).