The Writings of 2 Chronicles

This is the second book in the Bible of the storyteller, writing for the Jews returning from Babylonian captivity.  They are rebuilding their lives and their nation.  Now is the time to honor God.  Now is the time to be the nation of Israel, God’s nation.  But how do they do that?  It has been so many years since they’ve had this opportunity.  For so many years they have had their captors tell them what to do.  Now they are free to choose how to live.

Nothing is more important to the chronicler than making sure that Israel knows their main priority is their worship to God.  More than their wealth, their farms, and even their families, the Jews need to have a pure worship and obedience to God.  So the chronicler continues his story.  He started with creation, Saul and mainly telling of David.  Now he tells the story of Solomon and the kings that followed.

King David made Israel a strong nation, able to fight off all other nations.  Solomon built God’s Temple for Israel, making them a worshiping nation to God.  But there were other kings that followed who had the job of making sure the Jews would not be wrongly influenced by other nations and people, compromising their spiritual identity with God.

God’s plan is to have a nation that stands apart from all other nations.  From this nation would come the Messiah Jesus Christ.  Spiritual purity is very important so the nation of Israel stands apart from other nations.  So the storyteller writes story after story of Israel’s challenge in maintaining its purity of worship and identity before God.

The chronicler knew that although it is a new generation and a new time, Israel would face the same challenges it had before they went into captivity.  Stories are the way to learn.  Stories show us truths in action.  The chronicler knew the Israelites would learn from good and bad examples.  God, knowing the importance of learning from stories, includes both good and bad examples of His people.  The Israelites need to learn from their past in order to build their future.