(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . 2 Chronicles? Really? [1] ['View Profile', 'Back Of Bourke'] Date: 2026-04-20 News reports have stated that next week, as part of a Bible-reading marathon, the president will read 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 publicly in the Oval Office. Some Background I am a recognized expert on the book of Chronicles, but there are probably a couple dozen I would rank ahead of me. A full chapter of my doctoral dissertation was on 2 Chronicles 7, and I have continued to publish academic research on this literature for the past four decades. There are a few important facts readers or listeners should know about this book(s). First, Chronicles offers an alternative story of the people of ancient Israel/Judah. Its first word is Adam’s name, and its final chapter reports the destruction of Jerusalem by the neo-Babylonian army in 586 BCE. So, it has the same beginning and ending points as the long complex of writings from Genesis to Kings, though it is about one-sixth its length. For example, it does not report the stories of the ancestors, the exodus, the reception of the laws at Mount Sinai, or the occupation of the land in Joshua and Judges. Second, its writers had access to the earlier, parallel book(s) of Samuel-Kings. They frequently copied the earlier story of the Israelite monarchy word for word. They also omitted large portions, added major elements, and made small to medium sized revisions to the parts they used. Scholars often compare the two collections to draw conclusions about the distinctive ideology of Chronicles. For example, it omits all of David’s bad behavior – his outlaw days during the reign of Saul, his assassination of rivals to gain and keep the throne, and his sexual assault of Bathsheba and plot to murder her husband. Chronicles makes David an ideal king. Third, within the scholarly discussion about this book the debate about the time of its writing is whether it was written in the mid to late Persian Period (approximately 500-350 BCE) or the early to mid-Hellenistic Period (approximately 325-250 BCE). Either of these dates would have meant that Solomon’s Temple had been destroyed long ago and its replacement, the Second Temple, had been built. Why 2 Chronicles 7? The story of the dedication of the Jerusalem temple by Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7 copies significantly from the report in 1 Kings 8-9 with significant additions, subtractions, and reordering. The portion that will be read publicly by the president in the Oval Office on April 21, 2026, 2 Chronicles 7:11-22, was developed from 1 Kings 9:1-9. In both texts God speaks privately to Solomon. Determining why somebody made the decision to for the president to read 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 (a seemingly obscure text) is not hard to say. Evangelical Christians who have advocated for their version of spiritual revival in America have long loved 1 Chronicles 7:14. It appears on t-shirts, bumper stickers, and posters. By itself it lacks specificity. There is no reference to any people, places, or events. It is not present in the 1 Kings 9 version of the divine statement to Solomon, but appears to be an independent composition of the writer(s) of Chronicles. The architects of the Oval Office Bible-reading event likely wanted a text of specific length (not too short or too long) and wished to avoid any accusation that 7:14 was taken out of context. In 2 Chronicles 7:11-22, added the element in 7:14 plays a crucial role. While the responsibility for the success or failure of Israel/Judah is placed primarily on the king and political leadership in 1 Kings 9:4-9, the insertion of 7:14 into the Chronicles version shifts that responsibility more toward the obedience of the people as a whole. The shift seems appropriate for an American president who has said publicly that he has never done anything requiring repentance of forgiveness. That the story places him, by analogy, in the role of a great king seems an additional benefit. The composers of both texts knew that the story of Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple ended in disaster, but Chronicles in particular expressed a hope that the second try might be successful. It requires some hard squinting, but I suspect there are Trump supporters who might see his story in this. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/20/800024439/community/2-chronicles-really/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/