Key Places In 2 Chronicles
1 Gibeon
David's son Solomon became king over Israel. He summoned the nation's leaders to a ceremony in Gibeon. Here God told Solomon to ask for whatever he desired. Solomon asked for wisdom and knowledge to rule Israel (2 Chronicles 1:1-12).
2 Jerusalem
After the ceremony in Gibeon, Solomon returned to the capital city, Jerusalem. His reign began a golden age for Israel. Solomon implemented the plans for the temple which had been drawn up by his father, David. It was a magnificent construction. It symbolized Solomon's wealth and wisdom, which became known worldwide (2 Chronicles 1:13-9:31).
3 Shechem
After Solomon's death, his son Rehoboam was ready to be crowned in Shechem. However, his promise of higher taxes and harder work for the people led to rebellion. Everyone but the tribes of Judah and Benjamin deserted Rehoboam and set up their own kingdom to the north called Israel. Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem as ruler over the southern kingdom called Judah (2 Chronicles 10:1-12:16). The remainder of 2 Chronicles records the history of Judah.
4 Hill Country of Ephraim
Abijah became the next king of Judah, and soon war broke out between Israel and Judah. When the armies of the two nations arrived for battle in the hill country of Ephraim, Israel had twice as many troops as Judah. It looked like Judah's defeat was certain. But they cried out to God, and God gave them victory over Israel. In their history as separate nations, Judah had a few godly kings who instituted reforms and brought the people back to God. Israel, however, had a succession of only evil kings (2 Chronicles 13:1-22).
5 Aram
Asa, a godly king, removed every trace of pagan worship from Judah and renewed the people's covenant with God in Jerusalem. But King Baasha of Israel built a fortress to control traffic into Judah. Instead of looking to God for guidance, Asa took the silver and gold from the temple and sent it to the king of Aram requesting his help against King Baasha. As a result, God became angry with Judah (2 Chronicles 14:1-16:14).
6 Samaria
Although Jehoshaphat was a godly king, he allied himself with Israel's most evil king, Ahab. Ahab's capital was in Samaria. Ahab wanted help fighting against Ramoth Gilead. Jehoshaphat wanted advice, but rather than listening to God's prophet who had promised defeat, he joined Ahab in battle (2 Chronicles 17:1-18:27).
7 Ramoth Gilead
The alliance with Israel against Ramoth Gilead ended in defeat and Ahab's death. Although shaken by his defeat, Jehoshaphat returned to Jerusalem and to God. But his son Jehoram was a wicked king, as was his son Ahaziah, and history repeated itself. Ahaziah formed an alliance with Israel's King Joram to do battle with the Arameans at Ramoth Gilead. This lead to the death of both kings (2 Chronicles 18:28-22:9).
8 Jerusalem
The rest of Judah's history recorded in 2 Chronicles centers on Jerusalem. Some kings caused Judah to sin by bringing idol worship into their midst. Others cleaned up the idol worship, reopened and restored the temple and, in the case of Josiah, tried to follow God's laws as they were written by Moses. In spite of the few good influences, a series of evil kings sent Judah into a downward spiral that ended with the Babylonian empire overrunning the country. The temple was burned, the walls of the city were broken down, and the people were deported to Babylon.
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| Chronicles, Books of
The two books were originally one. They bore the title in the
Massoretic Hebrew _Dibre hayyamim_, i.e., "Acts of the Days."
This title was rendered by Jerome in his Latin version "Chronicon,"
and hence "Chronicles." In the Septuagint version the book is
divided into two, and bears the title Paraleipomena, i.e., "things
omitted," or "supplements," because containing many
things omitted in the Books of Kings. The contents of these books are
comprehended under four heads.
1. The first nine chapters of Book I. contain little more than a
list of genealogies in the line of Israel down to the time of David.
2. The remainder of the first book contains a history of the
reign of David.
3. The first nine chapters of Book II. contain the history of
the reign of Solomon.
4. The remaining chapters of the second book contain the history
of the separate kingdom of Judah to the time of the return from
Babylonian Exile. The time of the composition of the Chronicles was,
there is every ground to conclude, subsequent to the Babylonian Exile,
probably between 450 and 435 B.C. The contents of this twofold book,
both as to matter and form, correspond closely with this idea. The
close of the book records the proclamation of Cyrus permitting the
Jews to return to their own land, and this forms the opening passage
of the Book of Ezra, which must be viewed as a continuation of the
Chronicles. The peculiar form of the language, being Aramaean in its
general character, harmonizes also with that of the books which were
written after the Exile. The author was certainly contemporary with
Zerubbabel, details of whose family history are given #1Ch
3:19 The time of the composition being determined, the question
of the authorship may be more easily decided. According to Jewish
tradition, which was universally received down to the middle of the
seventeenth century, Ezra was regarded as the author of the
Chronicles. There are many points of resemblance and of contact
between the Chronicles and the Book of Ezra which seem to confirm this
opinion. The conclusion of the one and the beginning of the other are
almost identical in expression. In their spirit and characteristics
they are the same, showing thus also an identity of authorship. In
their general scope and design these books are not so much historical
as didactic. The principal aim of the writer appears to be to present
moral and religious truth. He does not give prominence to political
occurences, as is done in Samuel and Kings, but to ecclesiastical
institutions. "The genealogies, so uninteresting to most modern
readers, were really an important part of the public records of the
Hebrew state. They were the basis on which not only the land was
distributed and held, but the public services of the temple were
arranged and conducted, the Levites and their descendants alone, as is
well known, being entitled and first fruits set apart for that
purpose." The "Chronicles" are an epitome of the sacred
history from the days of Adam down to the return from Babylonian
Exile, a period of about 3,500 years. The writer gathers up "the
threads of the old national life broken by the Captivity." The
sources whence the chronicler compiled his work were public records,
registers, and genealogical tables belonging to the Jews. These are
referred to in the course of the book #1Ch 27:24
29:29 #2Ch 9:29 12:15 13:22 20:34 24:27
26:22,23 27:7 35:25-27 There are in Chronicles, and the books
of Samuel and Kings, forty parallels, often verbal, proving that the
writer both knew and used these records #1Ch
17:18 comp. #2Sa 7:18-20 #1Ch
19:1ff. comp. #2Sa 10:1ff. etc. As
compared with Samuel and Kings, the Book of Chronicles omits many
particulars there recorded #2Sa 6:20-23
9,11,14-19 etc., and includes many things peculiar to itself #1Ch
12:22,23 etc.. Twenty whole chapters, and twenty-four parts of
chapters, are occupied with matter not found elsewhere. It also
records many things in fuller detail, as (e.g.) the list of David’s
heroes #1Ch 12:1-37 the removal of the
ark from Kirjath-jearim to Mount Zion #1Ch
13:1ff. #1Ch 15:2-24 16:4-43 comp.
#2Sa 6:1 Uzziah’s leprosy and its cause
#2Ch 26:16-21 comp. #2Ki
15:5 etc. It has also been observed that another peculiarity of
the book is that it substitutes modern and more common expressions for
those that had then become unusual or obsolete. This is seen
particularly in the substitution of modern names of places, such as
were in use in the writer’s day, for the old names; thus Gezer #1Ch
20:4 is used instead of Gob #2Sa 21:18
etc. The Books of Chronicles are ranked among the _khethubim_ or
hagiographa. They are alluded to, though not directly quoted, in the
New Testament #Heb 5:4 Mt 12:42 23:35 #Lu
1:5 11:31,51
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