Overview of 2 Chronicles 29:1–36:23

While not often mentioned in the text, the oppressive shadow of Assyria and then Babylon hovers over these chapters, to be alleviated by yet another great power, Persia. The story of God’s people and their kings will be one of striking oscillation between faithful temple worship and failure to serve the Lord alone. The narrative will proclaim the Lord’s involvement and illustrate how each generation is responsible for its own actions (cf. Ezekiel 18).

During the reign of Ahaz, both Judah and Israel had become vassals of Assyria. When Hoshea, king of Israel, rebelled, Assyria attacked, the capital Samaria fell (722 BC), and the north became a province of the Assyrian Empire (2 Kings 17). The Chronicler provides some details in his genealogies of the Transjordanian tribes (cf. comment on 1 Chron. 5:23–26), but the narrative simply assumes the end of the northern kingdom (allusions are in the comment of “certain chiefs . . . of the men of Ephraim” that “there is fierce wrath against Israel” [2 Chron. 28:12, 13] and in mention of Assyrian “captors” and “desolation” [30:6–9]). The Chronicler’s interest is solely in the continuing Davidic kingdom and in ways in which people of the northern tribes were welcomed to participate in the temple worship in Jerusalem (e.g., 30:1, 10–11, 18; 34:9).

Judah continued, but Jerusalem too fell, 135 years later, despite two periods of reform and Passover celebration led by Hezekiah (chs. 29–32) and Josiah (chs. 34–35). In between those two kings came the “evil” reign of Manasseh; he was the worst king in the Kings narrative (cf. 2 Kings 21:1–16), but the Chronicler recounts his repentance, affirming that there is hope for all who “humble themselves” (2 Chronicles 33). After Josiah’s death (609 BC), the “evil” reigns of successive kings (36:1–21; cf. Jeremiah) saw Judah caught between the powerful forces of Egypt from the south and Babylon from the north, leading ultimately to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and to the exile of many. Devastation was not simply the result of an international power play but fell because the people had persistently despised the prophets, who spoke as God’s messengers; thus “the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy” (36:16).

That was not the end, however, for, in fulfillment of another prophetic word, return to the land and its renewal became possible because of the decree of the Persian emperor. The book ends with his command, “Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up” (36:20–23).