Psalms in chronicles

Currents in Theology and Mission, August, 2005 by Ralph W. Klein

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The Chronicler's theology is monotheistic or at least strongly monolatrous: The gods of the people are idols, but Yahweh made the heavens (v. 26). Strength and joy are in his place (v. 27). While references to joy and rejoicing are frequent in Chronicles, also in chapter 16, this is the only time the Chronicler uses this particular Hebrew word for joy. The Chronicler uses "place" (v. 27) instead of "sanctuary" (Ps 96:6) because, in the Jerusalem of David's time, according to the Chronicler, there were no sacrifices at Jerusalem, no temple, but only the ark, with its tent, and the service of song (1 Chr 16:4-6, 37-38). Psalm 96 itself, of course, clearly presupposed the existence of the temple. This "place" is for the Chronicler only the location where Solomon's temple will one day stand in the future.

Verses 28-30 (Ascribe to Yahweh, O families of the peoples), as in Psalm 96:7-9, are addressed to the nations. Verses 28-30 explicitly invite the nations of the world to worship Yahweh. They are invited into Yahweh's presence (v. 29), not into his "courts" as in Ps 96:8, to avoid the anachronism of inviting foreigners at the time of David to worship in the temple that was first erected by Solomon. The offering they bring is a kind of tribute due to the divine king. As noted earlier, the Chronicler omitted Ps 96:10b: "He will judge the peoples with equity." He may not have wanted to alarm the Persians about Israel's international goals.

Cosmic Praise
31. Let the heavens rejoice,
    let the earth be glad,
    let them say among the nations,
      Yahweh is king!
32. Let the sea roar and its fullness,
      Let the field and everything in it exult.
33. Then the trees of the forest
      will give a ringing cry
    before Yahweh, for he comes to judge
      the world.

Let the heavens rejoice ... let the earth be glad ... let the sea roar ... (vv. 31-32). The Chronicler invites the whole tripartite cosmos--heaven, earth, and sea--to join in the celebration of Yahweh's kingship. He moves the last line in v. 31--"let them say among the nations, Yahweh is God"--to its present position and rewrites it because in Ps 96:10a it is an imperative addressed to Israel to bear witness to the nations. Now the nations themselves are to herald Yahweh's kingship. Let the field ... exult.... Then the trees of the forest will give a ringing cry" (vv. 32-33). Agricultural land and stands of trees in the forest, too, are urged in an apostrophe--a direct appeal to an animate or inanimate object--to join in the chorus that celebrates Yahweh's coming to judge, or rule, the earth.

Final Call to Thanksgiving
(vv. 34-36 = Ps 106:1, 47-48)
34. Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good,
      for his loyalty lasts forever.

To articulate this final exhortation, made to Israel, the Chronicler has reached into another psalm, the first verse and last two verses of Psalm 106, but the transition again is so smooth that we would not notice it without looking it up. All he had to omit was the opening "Hallelujah." He ends his new psalm in 1 Chronicles 16, as he had begun, with giving thanks to Yahweh who is good and whose loyalty lasts forever. Variations on this slogan appear again in v. 41 in this chapter and no less than six times in 2 Chronicles.

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Psalms in chronicles

Currents in Theology and Mission, August, 2005 by Ralph W. Klein

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