Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/137

Rh Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed hard

here or in viii. 29 ff., or possibly is original in both chapters, there is not sufficient evidence to determine (see note on viii. 29).

At this point the Chronicler begins his narrative of Israel's history. It commences abruptly with an account of the defeat and death of Saul, which however is given not for its own interest, but to serve as a brief introduction to the reign of David (ch. xi. ff.). Why does the Chronicler choose to begin his narrative at this point, passing over in silence (a) the Mosaic period, (b) the stories of Judges and of 1 Samuel i.—xxx.? As regards (a) his silence is due to the assumption that those for whom he writes are no less familiar than he is himself with the account of the Mosaic age as presented by the fully developed tradition of the Pentateuch. As for (b), his silence probably arises neither from the difficulty of retelling the narratives of Judges in accordance with his theory of the early history, nor yet from the fact that they were doubtless familiar to his readers; but, again, from a consideration of the central purpose of his work. His theme is the Divine guidance of Israel's destiny, and, since that destiny had ultimately centred upon the fortunes of Jerusalem and the worship maintained through its Temple, all else in Israel's history becomes of quite secondary importance. He begins therefore where (for Israel) Jerusalem and the Temple began—with David, who conquered the city and planned the Temple. The tales of the Judges, of Samuel, and of David's early life and his magnanimity toward Saul (a tempting source for the exaltation of the character of the ideal king), all these are logically ignored, since they lie outside the scope of the Chronicler's design.

1—12. There are several variations between the text given here and the text of 1 Sam., to which attention will be called in the notes below.

1. in mount Gilboa] In the campaign of Gilboa the Philistines showed new and skilful strategy. Instead of at once marching eastward up the ravines which lead into Judah and Benjamin—in which there was no room for their chariots (2 Sam. i. 6) to manœuvre—they first marched northward along the sea-coast and then turned eastward just before reaching Mount Carmel. This movement brought them into the great fertile plain watered by the Kishon, ground over which chariots