I and II Chronicles
Pages
728
Publisher
Westminster John Knox
Published
3/17/2026
ISBN-13
978-0664263409
In this critical and illuminating volume of the Old Testament Library, internationally respected scholar Louis C. Jonker reveals Chronicles as a dynamic text that reinterprets sacred traditions to help the postexilic Judahite community navigate shifting political and religious landscapes.
Written during the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods, Chronicles offers a bold vision for “all Israel” centered on the Jerusalem Temple, reframing Judah’s identity through genealogies, liturgical reform, and idealized history. Drawing on interdisciplinary methods―including text-pragmatical analysis, social psychology, postcolonial theory, and reception history―Jonker explores how the Chronicler constructs communal memory, reclaims older traditions, and resists imperial dominance by portraying YHWH as the true king.
A distinctive feature of this commentary is Jonker’s proposed diachronic model of composition. He identifies an early priestly-oriented stratum affirming the Davidic monarchy and Aaronide priesthood, followed by a later redactional layer that elevates the Levites―especially in the Hezekiah and Josiah narratives―as spiritual leaders. This evolution signals a broader theological and ideological shift within the community. Jonker also traces the reception of Chronicles through history―from its shaping influence on Ezra-Nehemiah to its use in rabbinic interpretation, feminist biblical scholarship, Jewish visual art, and post-apartheid South African theology.
With fresh insight and scholarly depth, I and II Chronicles: A Commentary reclaims these often-overlooked texts as far more than a retelling of Israel’s past. They are vital witnesses to the theological and communal imagination of a people rebuilding identity in the shadow of empire.
Written during the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods, Chronicles offers a bold vision for “all Israel” centered on the Jerusalem Temple, reframing Judah’s identity through genealogies, liturgical reform, and idealized history. Drawing on interdisciplinary methods―including text-pragmatical analysis, social psychology, postcolonial theory, and reception history―Jonker explores how the Chronicler constructs communal memory, reclaims older traditions, and resists imperial dominance by portraying YHWH as the true king.
A distinctive feature of this commentary is Jonker’s proposed diachronic model of composition. He identifies an early priestly-oriented stratum affirming the Davidic monarchy and Aaronide priesthood, followed by a later redactional layer that elevates the Levites―especially in the Hezekiah and Josiah narratives―as spiritual leaders. This evolution signals a broader theological and ideological shift within the community. Jonker also traces the reception of Chronicles through history―from its shaping influence on Ezra-Nehemiah to its use in rabbinic interpretation, feminist biblical scholarship, Jewish visual art, and post-apartheid South African theology.
With fresh insight and scholarly depth, I and II Chronicles: A Commentary reclaims these often-overlooked texts as far more than a retelling of Israel’s past. They are vital witnesses to the theological and communal imagination of a people rebuilding identity in the shadow of empire.
Reviews
DavidH
August 8, 2026
August 8, 2026
Jonker’s commentary is arguably the best current all-round treatment of Chronicles. It combines careful exegesis with an exceptionally broad command of recent scholarship, while bringing genuinely fresh perspectives through his treatment of Chronicles as “reforming history,” social-memory construction and identity negotiation in Persian/Hellenistic Yehud. He is especially good at showing how the Chronicler’s reuse of Israel’s traditions functions rhetorically to reshape communal identity rather than merely retell the past. Some readers will find the sociological, postcolonial and other interdisciplinary approaches more useful than others, but Jonker generally handles them with methodological caution rather than allowing theory to overwhelm the text. For anyone writing or researching Chronicles today, this is probably the best single commentary with which to begin.