Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/723

Rh taken by other ancient historians, and even by early copyists, and it is the business of historical criticism to form a clear conception of the nature and limits of these freedoms, with a view to distinguish in individual passages between the facts derived by the Chronicler from his written sources and the literary additions, explanations, and influences which are his own. In particular:— 1. His explanations of verbal or material difficulties must be critically considered. Thus even Keil admits an error in 2 Chron. xx. 36, 37, where the Tharshish-ships, that is ships fit for a long voyage, which Jehoshaphat built on the Red Sea (1 Kings xxii. 48), are explained as ships voyaging to Tartessus in Spain. Such criticism is especially necessary where remarks are introduced tending to explain away the differences in religious observances between early times and the period of the Chronicler. Thus in 1 Chron. xxi. 28, sqq., an explanation is given of the reasons which led David to sacrifice on the threshing-floor of Oman instead of going to the brazen altar at Gibeon. But it is certain that at the time of David the principle of a single altar was not acknowledged, and therefore no explanation was required. In 1 Kings iii. 3, 4, Gibeon appears only as the chief of many high-places, and it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Chronicler has simply inferred from the importance of this sanctuary that it must have possessed a special legitimation, which, could only consist in the presence of the old brazen altar. 2. A certain freedom of literary form was always allowed to ancient historians, and need not perplex anyone who does not apply a false standard to the narrative. To this head belongs especially the introduction of speeches like that of Abijah in 2 Chron. xiii. This speech is no doubt a free composition, and would be so understood by the author s contemporaries. By such literary devices the author is enabled to point a lesson without interrupting the thread of his narrative by reflections of his own. Similar remarks apply to the Psalm in 1 Chron. xvi., which is made up of extracts from Psalms cv., xcvi., cvi. 3. A usage not peculiar to the Chronicler among Old Testament writers, and which must be carefully taken into account by the historical critic, is that of giving statistical information in a narrative form. This is the principle which underlies many genealogical lists of the Bible, and which alone explains the variations between different accounts of the genealogy proceeding from a single ancestor. Information as to the subdivisions of clans, the intermingling of populations, and the like, is thrown into a genealogical form. Thus the different sons of a father often stand merely for the branches of a family as they existed at some one time. Of course lists made out at different times when the divisions of clans had varied produce an apparent discrepancy in the names of the sons. The union of two clans is expressed as marriage, or the territory is the wife, and her several husbands are succes sive populations, and so forth. A different application of the same principle seems to lie in the account of the institutions of Levitical service which is introduced in connection with the transference of the ark to Jerusalem by David. The author is not concerned to distinguish the gradual steps by which the Levitical organization attained its full development. But he wishes to describe the system in its complete form, especially as regards the service of the singers, and he does this under the reign of David, who was the father of Hebrew psalmody, and the restorer of the sanctuary of the ark. This account of some of the leading points of view which criticism of the Chronicles has to take up makes no pretence at completeness, but may suffice to indicate the nature of the problems which arise in a detailed study of the narrative, and to show that much is to be learned from the book not only in the way of supplement to the earlier history, but for the better understanding of the religious spirit and ordinances of the theocracy as it was after Ezra.

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   HRONOLOGY (from the χρονολογία, computation of ) is the  which treats of. Its object is to arrange and exhibit the various events which have occurred in the of the  in the order of their succession, and to ascertain the intervals of  between them. The preservation of any record, however rude, of the lapse of implies some knowledge of the, by which alone can be accurately measured, and some advancement in the  of civilized life, which could only be attained by the accumulated experience of many generations. Before the invention of the memory of past transactions could not be preserved beyond a few s with any tolerable degree of accuracy. Events which greatly affected the physical condition of the, or were of a nature to make a deep impression on the minds of the rude inhabitants of the , might be vaguely transmitted through several ages by ; but intervals of , expressed by abstract numbers, and these constantly varying besides, would soon escape the memory. The invention of the of  afforded the means of substituting precise and permanent records for vague and evanescent tradition; but in the infancy of the,  had learned neither to estimate accurately the duration of , nor to refer passing events to any fixed epoch. was practised many centuries before began to assign dates to the events they narrated. The masterpieces of and, while setting forth, each in the manner suited to the author's aim, events in the order of their succession, are stories without dates.