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xl exalt the honour and the privileges of its priesthood and its Temple.

(2) In seeking to achieve this aim, the Chronicler inevitably dwelt upon those aspects of life and thought in which he specially believed. Thus we may distinguish various features of his work which subserve the main purpose:

(a) He was anxious, for instance, to uphold the political supremacy of Jerusalem, no easy matter in his time. To Jews of the Greek period, fully aware of the pomp and power of heathen states, the achievements of even such national heroes as David or Solomon probably seemed pale and insignificant, as they are related in Samuel or Kings. In order to create a due sense of their importance, and to mitigate the depressing effects of Jerusalem's present impotence, the Chronicler retold the glories of the past in terms commensurate with the notions of the present. To this end he idealised the great men of Israel. Thus the life of David is related by him as a career of almost unbroken success and of consistent piety. Thus also the sacrifices offered by Solomon at the dedication of the Temple are said to have been on a scale that might well have astonished Alexander the Great.

(b) Chiefly, however, the Chronicler was concerned with the religious pre-eminence of Jerusalem. He delights therefore in magnifying to the full the glories of the Temple, its ritual and its officers. It is quite clear that his interest in this theme is far wider than any immediate polemical aim, and the subject deserves careful attention. When he describes the Temple of Solomon in terms of surpassing splendour, he is not merely seeking to cast down the pride of Samaritan rivals, he is also gratifying the longings of his own heart—how poor in comparison the outward form of the Temple he himself served so faithfully! Perhaps also he hoped thereby to excite his own love for its well-being among the less ardent of his brethren. More important was the question of ritual and the Law. We have already said (p. xx) that the Chronicler lived at a time when the Pentateuch had for a long while existed in its final