A SERIES OF WORKS FROM THE SACRED SCRIPTURES PRESENTED IN MODERN LITERAL FORM THE CHRONICLES EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY RICHARD G. MOULTON, M.A. (Camb.), PH.D. (PENN.) UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1897 16060 COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Norwood Press 1896 INTRODUCTION THIS last volume in the Historical Series of biblical works introduces a great change in the character of the history of Israel as presented by themselves. Previous volumes - Genesis, The Exodus, The Judges, The Kings — have followed a chronological succession of events from the creation to the captivity. The Chronicles, it is true, carries forward the narrative to the Return of the Exiles: but this is only a fragment of its purpose, and the whole is presented afresh, from Adam to Nehemiah. And the spirit of the literature is changed from National to Ecclesiastical History; the Hebrew people have silently changed into the Jewish Church. Nor is it merely in the story of the Return that the change appears: the first of the nine Chronicles into which the whole seems to divide itself, before the narrative of events has commenced, is a collection of genealogies leading up to the allocation of the returned families in Jerusalem and in the other cities, necessary as basis for the Temple service and the dues *The term 'Jew' occurs only twice in the previous history (II Kings chapters xvi. 6 and xxv. 25), and then in close relation with the captivity. |