1. Judah (2:3-4:23)

The chronicler emphasizes David’s ancestral heritage and the continuity of this line through the Exile and into his contemporaneous era. He will discuss God’s promise of this Davidic line in greater detail in the following narrative.

At times this theme is interrupted by seemingly irrelevant or highly tangential material. For example, who is Jabez in 4:9-10? His connection to the preceding lists is unclear. Nevertheless, Jabez’s use of prayer, his specific requests for protection and increased land, are familiar themes in the OT and significant for Chronicles. A divine grant of protection and land was crucial to the chronicler’s readers, who learn that God honored Jabez’s request (see discussion of 2Ch 7:14).