The Genealogical Introduction to Chronicles (1 Chronicles 1-9): The Chronicler’s Purpose

В статье исследуется достаточно сложный вопрос об аутентичности, предназначении и богословии обширного генеалогического введения Книг Паралипоменон (Хроник). Обсуждается социально-историческое значение генеалогий израильских колен, а также рассматриваются сходства и различия между ними и другими библейскими генеалогиями, с одной стороны, и ближневосточными и древнегреческими - с другой. Кроме того, в статье выявляется композиция генеалогического раздела Хроник, построенная по принципу хиазма, посредством которого священный автор стремился донести ключевую богословскую идею как введения, так и произведения в целом: Божественный Замысел о человечестве и творении должен осуществиться через святость народа Божия. В итоге делается вывод о том, что Летописец стремился донести до своей аудитории (иудеев позднего персидского [Ахеменидского] периода) важное сообщение: несмотря на катастрофу разрушения и Вавилонский плен, взаимоотношения Яхве со Своим народом продолжаются, и Израиль по-прежнему призван реализовать в своей жизни некогда задуманный Богом в отношении всего человечества идеал святости. The article examines a rather complex issue of the authenticity, purpose and theology of the extensive genealogical introduction of the Chronicles. The socio-historical significance of the genealogies of the Israelite tribes is discussed, as well as the similarities and differences between them and other biblical genealogies, on the one hand, and the Middle Eastern and Ancient Greek ones, on the other. In addition, the article reveals the composition of the genealogical section of the Chronicles, built on the principle of chiasm, through which the sacred author sought to convey the key theological idea of both the introduction and the work as a whole: The Divine Plan for humanity and creation must be realized through the holiness of the people of God. As a result, it is concluded that the Chronicler sought to convey to his audience (the Jews of the late Persian [Achaemenid] period) an important message: despite the catastrophe of destruction and the Babylonian captivity, the relationship of Yahweh with His people continues, and Israel is still called to realize in its life, once conceived by God for all mankind, the ideal of holiness.

A Monument and a Name: The Primary Purpose of Chronicles’ Genealogies

The primary purpose of the genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1–9 is to construct a monument to the pre-exilic dead of Judah and Israel, reflecting the important cultural value Judeans placed on the preservation of one's name after death. Ancient Near Eastern and archaeological evidence suggests that the preservation of ancestral names for many generations was something available only to the elite; by opening the work with a monument to the pre-exilic ancestral dead, the Chronicler implies readers would raise their cultural status by supporting a restoration of the pre-exilic polity. The Chronicler used the genealogies to reflect important themes of the work, but the one thing they do that narrative cannot is to create a literal monument to the dead.

The Politics of Remembrance

The genealogies section of 1 Chronicles 1: 1 to 9: 34 is known as the ‘genealogical hall’ which shares the function of a traditional Chinese ancestral hall in which ancestors are to be remembered as a testimony to a unified origin of the clan. Similarly, when Israelites lost their temple and the land, the Chroniclers tried painstakingly to make sense of Israelite history by ‘registering’ (yahas) the lost tribes into the genealogies for a unified Israel for the future. When Paul Riceour asks the people to ‘re-member’, it is not just about not-forgetting but also keeping in mind of those who are members of our community who were lost to human tragedy. This chapter will study the meaning of writing back into history through the cross-textual readings of the genealogies hall of 1 Chronicles and the politics of memories for the traumatic Chinese events.

Miriam ben Amram, or,

1 Chronicles 1–9 presents an archive of genealogies that performs memory and identities of Israel in a highly nuanced manner. Numerous references to women fulfil structural functions at the core of the genealogy performance, first and foremost in the genealogies of Judah. In contrast, the central genealogies of Levi only provide a single gendered fragment: they list Miriam as one of the ‘sons’ of Amram (5:29). Other Levite women, for example those listed in Exodus 6:16–25, are missing. Miriam herself is not formally linked to the many sisters that are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 1–9, nor are her capacities as musician, dancer, prophet, and leader brought into play. Embarking from this striking gap, the chapter addresses the question of how Bible texts that are predominantly male-centred can be read from a gender perspective, specifically in view of submitting them to a critical post-secular discourse on the Hebrew Bible and beyond.