Editing Books of Chronicles (section)

==Themes==
[[Presbyterian Church (USA)|Presbyterian]] theologian Paul K. Hooker argues that the generally accepted message the author wished to give to his audience was a theological reflection, not a "history of Israel":
# God is active in history, and especially the history of Israel. The faithfulness or sins of individual kings are immediately rewarded or punished by God. (This is in contrast to the theology of the [[Books of Kings]], where the faithlessness of kings was punished on later generations through the Babylonian exile).{{sfn|Hooker|2000|p=6}} 
# God calls Israel to a special relationship. The call begins with the genealogies,<ref>chapters 1–9 of 1 Chronicles</ref> gradually narrowing the focus from all mankind to a single family, the Israelites, the descendants of [[Jacob]]. "True" Israel is those who continue to worship [[Yahweh]] at the Temple in [[Jerusalem]] (in the southern [[Kingdom of Judah]]), with the result that the history of the historical [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] is almost completely ignored.{{sfn|Hooker|2000|p=7-8}} 
# God chose David and his dynasty as the agents of his will. According to the author of Chronicles, the three great events of David's reign were his bringing the [[Ark of the Covenant]] to Jerusalem, his founding of an eternal royal dynasty, and his preparations for the construction of the Temple.{{sfn|Hooker|2000|p=7-8}} 
# God chose a site in Jerusalem as the location for the Temple, the place where God should be worshiped. More time and space are spent on the construction of the Temple and its rituals of worship than on any other subject. By stressing the central role of the Temple in pre-exilic Judah, the author also stresses the importance of the newly rebuilt Persian-era [[Second Temple]] to his own readers.
# God remains active in Israel. The past is used to legitimize the author's present: this is seen most clearly in the detailed attention he gives to the Temple built by Solomon, but also in the genealogy and lineages, which connect his own generation to the distant past and thus make the claim that the present is a continuation of that past.{{sfn|Hooker|2000|p=6-10}}