Introduction
1. Character and Contents. Chronicles at first not only formed a single book but probably constituted one continuous work with Ezra and Nehemiah. The English name is a tolerable equivalent of the Hebrew; whilst the corresponding Greek rendering probably means 'supplement' (lit. 'things passed over,' i.e. by the preceding historical books). Its author is unknown; but from the prominence which is given in the book to the Levitical order it has been conjectured that he was himself a Levite. Its contents comprise, (a) certain genealogies, (b) the history of David and Solomon, and (c) the history of Judah (the history of the northern kingdom being entirely omitted). Its date, in conjunction with that of Ezra and Nehemiah, may be approximately determined by the mention in 1 Chronicles 3:24 of the sixth generation after Zerubbabel (who was living in 520 b.c.), which implies a date subsequent to 340 and this is supported by the reference in Nehemiah 12:11; Nehemiah 12:22 to Jaddua, who was high priest in the time of Darius Codomannus (335-330) and of Alexander the Great (336-323). It was thus probably composed not much before 300 b.c., and consequently separated by a much longer period than Kings from the events it records.