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Christian Greek ScripturesAid to Bible Understanding
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teaching, his example, his sacrificial death and resurrection. The historic record of the formation of the Christian congregation, the outpouring of the holy spirit, which enabled it to grow so successfully, its problems and how they were resolved—all of this is so essential for the operation of the true Christian congregation today. The separate books that were independently written for particular persons or situations or with a special view and purpose in mind, all merge to form a great unified complete entity with no details lacking, complementing and completing the Bible canon, and presently of universal importance, interest and concern primarily to spiritual Israel, the congregation of God, but, additionally, to all persons who seek the approval of God.
For information on the contents of the twenty-seven books, their writers, the time written, proof of authenticity, see the individual books by name.
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Chronicles, The Books Of TheAid to Bible Understanding
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CHRONICLES, THE BOOKS OF THE
Two inspired books of the Hebrew Scriptures that were apparently one volume in the original Hebrew canon. The Masoretes regarded them as one single work and they are reckoned as one book in the counts that regard the Hebrew Scriptures as made up of twenty-two or twenty-four books, and as two books in the count that regards the total number of books as thirty-nine. The division into two books seemingly originated with the translators of the Septuagint. In modern Hebrew Bibles the twofold division did not become effective until the sixteenth century. In the Hebrew Bible Chronicles appears at the end of the section called “Writings.” The Hebrew name, Div·rehʹ Hay-ya·mimʹ, means “The Affairs of the Days.” Jerome suggested the name “Chronicon,” from which we get “Chronicles” in the English Bible. A chronicle is a record of happenings in the order in which they occurred. The Greek title (in the Septuagint) is Pa·ra·lei·po·meʹnon, meaning “Things passed over, left untold or omitted” (from the books of Samuel and Kings), but since the Chronicles are by no means a mere supplement to those books, the terminology was inaccurate.
WRITER, TIME, PERIOD COVERED
The Jewish priest Ezra is recognized, for a number of reasons, as the writer. Jewish tradition has long held to this view. It is also supported by the striking resemblance between the writing style of Chronicles and the style of the book of Ezra. Furthermore, there is repetition at the close of Second Chronicles and at the beginning of Ezra that is virtually word for word. Moreover, the statement of Cyrus’ decree found at the end of Second Chronicles is given in full in the book of Ezra, indicating that the writer closed the book of Chronicles with the intention of writing another book (Ezra) that would deal with the decree and its execution more fully. Chronicles was completed about 460 B.C.E. With the possible exception of the Psalms, only three books of the Hebrew canon were completed afterward, namely, Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi.
Aside from the genealogical lists that run from Adam, the Chronicles cover the period from the death of King Saul to the carrying away of exiles to Babylon, with a conclusion telling of Cyrus’ decree at the end of the seventy-year exile.
SOURCES
Ezra assumed his readers to be familiar with the books of Kings and therefore did not try to cover the same ground. The material he used, which in some instances reads exactly or nearly like portions of Kings, is included only in order to retain that which, by its relationship, gives meaning to the additional information in Chronicles. It may be that Ezra used the books of Samuel and Kings as well as some other parts of the Bible as sources, but it seems that in most, if not all cases, he had access to writings not now known to be in existence. Some of these may have been documents of state from both Israel and Judah, some genealogical records, and historical works written by prophets, also documents possessed by tribal or family heads. A portion of the sources used were no doubt the work of professional recorders. (1 Ki. 4:3) In the Apocrypha at 2 Maccabees 2:13 it is said that Nehemiah gathered together books to make a library. If this is true, these books may have been consulted by Ezra, who was not only “a skilled copyist in the law of Moses,” but also a researcher extraordinary.—Ezra 7:6.
There are many documentary sources listed by Ezra. Some believe the sources may have gone as high as twenty-five or more. Sources doubtless included Kings and other canonical books. Ezra names or describes some of the sources he used by the following designations:
(1) The Book of the Kings of Judah and of Israel (2 Chron. 16:11; 25:26)
(2) The Book of the Kings of Israel and of Judah (2 Chron. 27:7; 35:27)
(3) The Book of the Kings of Israel (2 Chron. 20:34) (The above-listed sources may be the same collection of state documents, with varied ways of stating the title, or could possibly refer to the books of Kings in our Bible.)
(4) The Book of the Kings of Israel (evidently a genealogical work) (1 Chron. 9:1)
(5) The exposition of the Book of the Kings (2 Chron. 24:27) (for information on Jehoash of Judah)
(6) The affairs of the kings of Israel (2 Chron. 33:18) (for information on Manasseh)
(7) The words of Samuel the seer and of Nathan the prophet and of Gad the visionary (1 Chron. 29:29) (for information on David) (This may be one work, or two or three; or it may refer to Judges and the books of Samuel.)
(8) The words of Nathan the prophet (2 Chron. 9:29) (for information on Solomon)
(9) The prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite (2 Chron. 9:29) (about Solomon)
(10) “Shemaiah . . . wrote” (1 Chron. 24:6) (about David), and the words of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the visionary by genealogical enrollment (2 Chron. 12:15) (about Rehoboam) (perhaps two or three sources)
(11) The words of Jehu the son of Hanani, which were inserted in the Book of the Kings of Israel (2 Chron. 20:34) (Jehoshaphat)
(12) The rest of the affairs of Uzziah, by Isaiah the son of Amoz the prophet (2 Chron. 26:22)
(13) The words of (Manasseh’s) visionaries (2 Chron. 33:19)
(14) Dirges (of Jeremiah, and possibly of singers) (2 Chron. 35:25) (about Josiah)
(15) The exposition of the prophet Iddo (2 Chron. 13:22) (about Abijah)
(16) The account of the affairs of the days of King David (1 Chron. 27:24)
(17) The commandment of David and of Gad and of Nathan the prophet (2 Chron. 29:25) (as enforced by Hezekiah)
(18) The writing of David and of Solomon his son (2 Chron. 35:4) (as referred to by Josiah)
(19) The commandment of David and of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun the visionary of the king (2 Chron. 35:15) (referred to in connection with Josiah’s acts)
(20) The writing of Elijah to King Jehoram of Judah (2 Chron. 21:12-15)
(Some of the above may refer to the same book or to books in our Bible, especially the prophetic works. There are also references in Chronicles to writings, particularly genealogies, that may designate other sources used by Ezra.)
It is evident that Ezra was no inaccurate historian, but that he was extremely careful, doing meticulous research, going through all the documentary sources accessible to him, evidently investigating every document
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