The Book of Chronicles and colophonic chronography
[Thesis]
Jelbert, Patricia R.
Pitkanen, Pekka ; Mcconville, Gordon
University of Gloucestershire
2018
Thesis (Ph.D.)
2018
This thesis examines the repeating citation formulae in the biblical book of Chronicles to discover their nature, purpose and function. The principle focus of this study will be on the repeating formulae, especially the citation references: "And the rest of the acts of King X, first and last, are found in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel," or other such references. These usually appear at the end of each king's reign. In addition, the ending of Chronicles which is repeated at the start of Ezra will be reviewed. Variously designated by different scholars as "titles," "conclusion formulae" and even "Stichzeile" (catchlines), there is no scholarly consensus about these formulaic citations or their role within Chronicles. An overview of the history of scholarly views on authorship, dating and genre in the book of Chronicles is conducted here, where it may be seen that today there is no settled view on these isagogic elements, which would seem to justify not assuming the isagogic elements a priori. From this starting point the Chronicles' citation formulae are compared and contrasted with those in the ancient Near Eastern epigraphic materials, especially those of Babylon and Assyria, where colophons are a feature of chronographic literature. A brief look at Egyptian epigraphy is included too. Overall, the thesis finds that these share similar features with those in biblical Chronicles, but also significant differences, depending on the period being examined. The next step is to make an inner biblical comparison of Chronicles' citations with those found in Kings. Samuel is also examined, and parts of Isaiah and Jeremiah, where relevant. The findings of the ancient Near Eastern comparison of the citation formulae, and the internal biblical comparison with Kings' source citations, lead to a proposal that points to a genre classification of "Chronicles" with all that this implies about a running account and a pre-exilic commencement date in the time of the first temple of Solomon.