Omitted and Remaining Matters: On the Names Given to the Book of Chronicles in Antiquity

Abstract

(Proquest Information and Learning: Foreign text omitted). The seventh book [of Writings] is Dabreiamin, that is Words of days, which we are able to call more specifically a chronicle (...) of all divine history; this book is entitled among us Paralipomenon One and Two.1 -Jerome, from Preface to his translation of Samuel-Kings.2 Like many other works stemming from ancient Near East, book known to us as Chronicles was originally untitled and anonymously authored. The purpose of this short study will be to explore varied nomenclature given to this book by early Jewish and Christian interpreters. The different titles attributed to text provide fascinating glimpses into how antique translators and commentators construed nature, genre, and import of this work. That at least some of these titles were retained and perpetuated for much longer periods of time than scholars have previously thought indicates influence of early interpreters upon later generations. In brief, present discussion is a contribution to hermeneutical history of one biblical book. In what follows, special attention will be devoted to works of patristic writers, because their comments on titles of Chronicles are not well known. I. The Name of Chronicles in Rabbinic Literature In Hebrew (rabbinic) tradition, cited by Jerome, work is called the book of events (literally: words) of (...).3 It is uncertain when text acquired this title. The book also carries this title in earliest witnesses to Peshitta.4 In ascribing name (...) to Chronicles, early interpreters may have been influenced by biblical tradition itself. The authors of Kings regularly cite lost works entitled the book of events of days of kings of (...) e.g., 1 Kgs 14:19; 15:31; 16:5, 14, 20, 27; 22:39; 2 Kgs 1:18; 10:34; 13:8, 12; 14:15, 28; 15:11, 15, 21, 31) and the book of events of days of kings of (...) e.g., I Kgs 14:29; 15:7, 23; 22:46; 2 Kgs 8:23; 12:20; 14:18; 15:6, 36; 16:19; 20:20; 21:17, 25; 23:28; 24:5). Similar names appear in Esth 10:2, the book of events of days of kings of Media and Persia (...), and in Esth 6:1, the book of records, events of (...). There is no scholarly agreement about nature of such lost works. Some think of royal annals, official records of a given king's reign.5 Others think of literary compositions or surveys that may have been based, in part, on official records or annals.6 Indebted to work of authors of Kings, authors of Chronicles also refer to written sources dealing with monarchy. The text sometimes speaks of the book of kings of Judah and (...) (...) 2 Chr 16:11; 25:26; 28:26; 32:32) and of the book of kings of Israel and (...) 1 Chr 9:1; 2 Chr 27:7; 35:27; 36:8).7 In only one case is reference made to the book of kings of (2 Chr 20:34). In no instance is there a reference made to the book of kings of Judah.8 Interestingly enough, references in Chronicles to the book of kings of Israel and and to the book of kings of Judah and are all found in discussions of southern kings or of Judah and Benjamin. As such, they are probably formulaic adaptations of source citations found in Kings.9 Judging by context in which expressions are used, one may assume that readers are being referred to (otherwise lost) written records pertaining to southern monarchy. Nevertheless, contrast in phraseology with Kings is important. The book of Chronicles contains no instance of collocation that later became its name, (...). Hence, if later interpreters drew title from earlier biblical tradition, they drew it from works other than Chronicles itself.10 Aside from cited works whose titles resemble that given to book of Chronicles, there are works that refer to its precise name. …