The Historiography of Chronicles as Reflected in Its Account of Solomon's Reign

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of "intertextuality" between the books of Chronicles and Kings, focusing on the Solomon narrative. Contrary to the current scholarly conviction that Chronicles is unreliable historiography, this study defends its reliability and argues that the differences between Chronicles and Kings are due to the editorial choices of the respective authors in utilizing their sources. Using literary analysis, this study investigates the discrepancies between the two Solomonic narratives and reveals not only the uniqueness of each book but also the historical reliability of their biblical authors. Chapter 1 states the purpose of this study, its methodology, and its limitations. Chapter 2 reviews the history of interpretation of Chronicles and demonstrates that Chronicles has been treated as "second class" history from the time of the LXX translators until the present. Chapter 3 argues that the Chronicler did not fabricate his materials, but used sources available to him and discusses the possibility of written literature in Israel, despite the lack of epigraphical evidence available today. The internal evidence from Chronicles is evaluated by taking into consideration its canonical and non-canonical, sources focusing on lexical, form critical, textual, and content considerations. Chapter 4 identifies the different purposes of Chronicles and Kings and focuses on their descriptions of Solomon. The current debates on interpreting Solomon in Kings, namely whether or not Solomon was depicted negatively from the beginning of his episode, are investigated. Chapter 5 examines the discrepancies between the Solomon narratives. Applying the reliability of Chronicles, this chapter explains the discrepancies by reading the Solomon narrative of Kings through the lens of Chronicles. This intertextual investigation seeks to understand Kings' presentation of Solomon from the perspective of Chronicles. Chapter 6 is the conclusion of this dissertation. This chapter recapitulates the results of this study from start to finish.