Up until the end of Solomon’s reign, Chronicles feels like a heavily sanitized version of Samuel: The same story, just without the sins.
If Samuel wrestles with the relationship between God’s rulership and having a King, then Chronicles is a story about fidelity to the Law; and the blessings and cursings attendant with keeping or breaking the law. 2 Chronicles 13:18 highlights this:
Thus the Israelites were subdued at that time, and the people of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord
It is interesting to me that the deeply problematic nature of Judah doing war with their brothers, Israel, doesn’t come up in Chronicles - it not a part of this particular telling of the story.
This, perhaps, highlights a feature of scripture that is worth talking about; namely, the recounting of Israel’s story to make a point. Israel’s story is constantly being retold in scripture. Each time it is recounted, the telling emphasizes something different. The communities past informs and delimits Israel’s possible futures: the prophets are often just reminding Israel that because of her unique past - and the promises given by God in Israel’s past - Israel’s present actions will hasten a predictable future. As here, “the people of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord.”
In a sense, Chronicles is a history of the Temple of God as much as it is a history of Israel. Hm. I’ll have to think about that some more.
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