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

Janzen, David

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Abstract

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.

Citation

Janzen, D. (2018). A Monument and a Name: The Primary Purpose of Chronicles' Genealogies. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 43(1), 45-66. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309089215702885

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 17, 2017
Online Publication Date Oct 17, 2018
Publication Date Sep 30, 2018
Deposit Date Feb 17, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Print ISSN 0309-0892
Electronic ISSN 1476-6728
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 43
Issue 1
Pages 45-66
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0309089215702885

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Copyright Statement
Janzen, David (2018). A Monument and a Name: The Primary Purpose of Chronicles' Genealogies. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 43(1): 45-66. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.





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