The book of Chronicles, the last book of the Hebrew Bible and a central historical book of the Christian Old Testament, has in recent decades gone from being “the Cinderella of biblical studies” to being one of the most researched books of the Bible. The anonymous author, often simply called “the Chronicler” by modern scholars, looks back at the old Israelite monarchy, before the Babylonian exile, from his vantage point in the post-exilic early Second Temple Period, and attempts to “update” the older historiographies of Samuel and Kings in order to elucidate their meaning to the people of his own time. In The Chronicles of the David and Solomon, Yigal Levin does the same for the modern reader. He offers a brand-new translation and commentary on 1 Chronicles 10 – 2 Chronicles 9, examining the period of David’s and Solomon’s reign as presented in the text in exhaustive detail. The Chronicles of David and Solomon is preceded in publication by The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah on 2 Chronicles 10 – 36, and will be followed by The Chronicles of All Israel on the genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1-9 and including comprehensive essays on the book of Chronicles, its time, purposes, methods and meanings.
