War in Chronicles: Temple Faithfulness and Israel's Place in the Land

This thesis contends that the Chronicler includes many episodes of war in his retelling of Israel’s monarchic history to demonstrate the benefits and consequences of temple faithfulness. Several scholars have long pointed out the Chronicler’s reworking of texts in Samuel-Kings to show that Yahweh rewards the good and punishes the wicked (i.e. retribution theology). Some recent scholars, however, have put forward several exceptions to this rule. The analysis of passages in this thesis demonstrates that the Chronicler maintains this cause-effect relationship with the dual themes of war and temple. To do this, it divides the various kings into different categories. First, David belongs in a category all by himself since he (according to the Chronicler) pioneered the two most foundational elements of the temple cult (i.e. gathering all Israel and providing the building materials). For this reason, he also won many battles to secure Israel’s place in the land. The next two groups of kings either show complete faithfulness to (re)establishing the temple cult and its practices (e.g. Solomon, Hezekiah), or neglect it (e.g. Ahaz, Jehoram). Based on their attitude toward the temple, the Chronicler illustrates how they either prosper in the land through military victory, or suffer attack. The Chronicler presents mixed cases with the last two categories. On the one hand, he reports how many faithful kings (in varying degrees) support orthodox temple practices and so prosper on the battlefield. However, none of these kings persevere in their faithfulness so that either their success immediately stops or they suffer attack. On the other hand, the Chronicler also tells how two thoroughly wicked kings committed some of the worse sins in Israel’s history, yet repented after suffering swift punishment. Through all these cases, the Chronicler demonstrates that temple faithfulness always brought Israel peace and security.This thesis is not currently available on ORA