Why is Chronicles in the Bible? Doesn’t it just repeat most of the things 1 and 2 Kings have already said? You’ve probably never heard a sermon series on 1 or 2 Chronicles. I say that because statistically it’s one of the least preached books of the Bible (alongside little-known Obadiah and 3 John). Not many verses from Chronicles make it onto fridge magnets or church year verses!
You might have read Chronicles if you’ve ever done a Bible-in-a-year reading plan. As a young Christian I was encouraged to read through the Bible cover to cover over the course of a year. I’m glad I did but it was hard going at points. After Leviticus, Chronicles was one of the hard bits because it gave me a weird sense of déjà vu. You know the experience. That feeling of going somewhere or doing something and it suddenly feels really familiar so that you think that you’ve done it or been there before. It feels odd and can be unsettling.
Reading 1 and 2 Chronicles is a bit like that, especially if you’re reading it as part of a Bible reading plan because the books repeat lots of the same stories that we find in 1 and 2 Kings. Both Kings and Chronicles recount the history of Israel and focus on the period of the kings until the exile in Babylon. They have the same characters and talk about the same events. As a young Christian this left me confused. If 1 and 2 Kings have already told us this information, why is Chronicles in the Bible? Why is the same information repeated again? Or to put it more pointedly, why did God inspire both these books to be written?
Everything is significant
In his commentary on John’s gospel, Augustine says that the small details of the Bible are important: ‘Nothing is without meaning; everything is significant.’ This is true. God inspired the Bible and he inspired the details. He was in control of what the human authors decided to include (and leave out) in their writings. With God in control, nothing is left to chance, including the details of what gets written down in the Bible.
This means that the details of Chronicles matter. On closer inspection, there are some significant differences between 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and those differences are gems we can glean from the book.
We have godly examples to follow
David’s adultery with Bathsheba was a shocking moment in Israel’s history. Solomon’s many wives turned his heart away from the Lord. Yet neither of these incidents is mentioned in Chronicles and that’s not because Chronicles isn’t interested in David or Solomon. Quite the opposite! A whopping 29 chapters is focused on the two of them but the focus is on their achievements and godliness, whilst their failings are ignored.
King Manasseh is another example. He’s described as an evil king in both 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33 but Chronicles mentions his repentance whilst Kings does not. Why is that? Is Chronicles giving us an airbrushed history? Is it fake news? Not at all. David and Solomon’s failings were well known but the writer wants to paint a positive picture of the monarchy. At the time Chronicles was written the people were coming back from exile in Babylon. They were establishing themselves again in the land that God had given them, and to spur them on to love God and keep his commands, the writer encourages them with figures from the past who did just that. David and Solomon are spotlighted as men to emulate.
That reminds us that we also have a godly king to emulate! We have a king from the tribe of Judah who was completely sinless and never did any wrong – Jesus! He’s the great king we can look to and copy his example. Chronicles reminds us to look to him.
We need a priest and a king to restore us
Be honest: you don’t read every name in a genealogy, do you? I don’t blame you. 1 Chronicles starts with an extended list of names and whilst we might think that’s boring, it’s actually very important. In the list of names there’s a heavy focus on the family line of David. David’s royal family features more prominently than the other tribes do. Throughout the book as a whole the focus is mainly on the southern tribe of Judah (where David was from) and not on the ten northern tribes of Israel. This is because, though they had just come back to the land and whilst they no longer had a king from David’s family on the throne, they knew God’s promise had not failed – there would be a king from David’s line who would rule forever. The people were anticipating a future king to be born and to restore them. We know this king is Jesus, the true royal son of David, and this emphasis on David’s line in Chronicles reminds us that all the Bible points us to Jesus.
Another major distinctive in Chronicles is the emphasis on the priests. Their names feature prominently in the genealogies. This was to remind God’s people that they needed priests to direct their worship in the temple and to offer sacrifices. This finds its fulfilment in Jesus, the true priest, who offered a sacrifice not of bulls and goats, but of himself. Through our priest we can approach God in a way that even the Levitical priests could not. Chronicles reminds us that we have ‘a great high priest whose name is love’, to quote a famous hymn.
Music and singing are important in worship
Religious assemblies and festivals fill the pages of 1 and 2 Chronicles. The book gives 21 chapters to King David and 17 of them are about his plans to build the temple. The temple is a major emphasis in the book because God wants us to know that the gathering of God’s people to worship in the temple is vital for the health of his people.
Temple worship was to be filled with music and singing. Chronicles often mentions singing in the temple as well as musicians and their various instruments, even musicians leading the army out to war. If this was true for God’s people then when they were still longing for the king to come in David’s line, how much more do we have reason to joyfully express our praise to God in song and music. The true king that Israel was hoping for in Chronicles has come and little-read Chronicles proclaims his name.