In 1 Chronicles 9:1–34, the genealogies section
is rounded off with an account of the return of exiles from Babylon to their former territories (1 Chronicles 9:2). This shows clearly that 1 Chronicles 1:1–9:44 corresponds to the story of Chronicles as a whole and shares a similar concern with the situation of the postexilic community. In fact, 1 Chronicles 9:1–44 is very much like Nehemiah 11:1–36, on which it is generally held to be based. Nehemiah deals directly with the postexilic period, whereas 1 Chronicles 9:1–44 focuses on preexilic Israel and how it links up with the postexilic community.1 The genealogies finish, therefore, by highlighting that all Israel
is in principle still intact (even though Ephraim and Manasseh do not reoccupy their historic land). And they signal the importance of the temple and its ministry in the life of the postexilic community.2
The genealogies, we may conclude, were written for the benefit of the postexilic (restored) community of God’s people. But what is it that the Chronicler wanted to say through them? The answer is indicated by 1 Chronicles 9:1–44. The Babylonian exile was not the end of Israel. Rather, having come through the exile, the Israelites came again to dwell in their cities,
to repossess the territory or the part of it which the Lord had given them centuries before and which the exile seemed to deprive them forever (Deuteronomy 28:47–52). The genealogies then make the point that is more elaborately made in 2 Chronicles 36:22–23, with the decree of Cyrus allowing the Jews to return to their homeland. In this respect the genealogies are making the same point as the one made at the end of the book.3
What the postexilic community of Judah encountered upon its return was far removed from the joyful restoration of its inheritance. There was no king on the throne in Jerusalem, but instead, the returnees were living under Persian kings. Opposition had come from the surrounding provinces in an attempt to thwart their rebuilding efforts provinces (Nehemiah 2:14; 1 Chronicles 4:1–43). Their resettlement in the land was far removed from the extensive boundaries under Solomon, and some among the returnees were facing dire poverty. Such adverse circumstances certainly caused despondency among God’s people.
To such defeatism the Chronicler answers that his small community is in reality the successor of Israel at its greatest, and that all God’s commitments to their forefathers still stand and are now focused on them. The Chronicler is reminding the returnees of God’s irrevocable calling and their purpose to proclaim the name of the Lord among the nations. The Chronicler brings a word of hope—the best is yet to come. Yes, there are the gory days of David and Solomon far back in the past, but God’s plan for the future is so much greater than even these. God’s glorious purpose still stands.
McConville asks whether the genealogies have any relevance for the church today. He concludes, Wherever the Church in the twentieth century feels itself to be of little account in the world, to have a precarious existence, despised and without real hope, its situation is in all essential respects like that of the Chronicler’s Judah.
4 There is a sure and certain hope for God’s people—based not on their circumstances but on the sure purposes and promises of God!
1 So all Israel was recorded in genealogies, and these are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And Judah was taken into exile in Babylon because of their breach of faith.