How are the books of Chronicles different from the books of Samuel and Kings?

Answer 1

The Books of Samuel and Kings form part of the Deuteronomic History (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings), believed to have been written by an anonymous author now known as the Deuteronomist during the reign of King Josiah of Judah and probably updated during the Babylonian Exile. The Book of Chronicles was written during the Babylonian Exile by an anonymous author now known as the Chronicler.

In Babylon, the Chronicler had no older texts to work on other than a copy of the Deuteronomic History, and his history clearly was based on the work of the Deuteronomist, often mirroring the style and content of the older work. However, the Book of Chronicles contains amendments and updates to suit the political and theological needs of the time.

An obvious difference between the two histories is the omission from the Chronicles of the story of David's defeat of Goliath, even though Samuel gives this victory as an important reason for David's future selection as king of Israel. The Book of Samuel also had Elhanan kill the same Goliath, and Chronicles repeats this passage but alters the name Elhanan to Lahmi, to avoid mention of the pagan god, El-hanan (or Baal-hanan).

Chronicles omits the lengthy diversion about the rape of Tamar, Absalom, the attempted coups and the Sheba uprising.

Satan is never mentioned in any material written before the Babylonian Exile. 1 Chronicles 21:1 has Satan provoke David to number Israel, but the original version of this story, in the Book of Kings, never mentioned Satan.

Finally, the story surrounding Solomon's succession in Samuel and Kings is so different from that in Chronicles that the Chronicler must have considered the original to be no more than a literary legend.

Answer 2

A:

The Books of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel were originally a single scroll, and were separated when translated into Greek because of the difficulty of fitting the full text onto a single scroll. They form part of a well-integrated set of works known to scholars as the Deuteronomic History, consisting of the Books of Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings. Although traditionally regarded as having been written over a period of many centuries by different authors in different times and even different cultures, they are by the same hand that wrote the Book of Deuteronomy, thus the designation of the series as the Deuteronomic History.

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The Books of 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles were also originally a single scroll, but written much later than the Deuteronomic History, and largely based on it.