Family Genealogies and Religious Ideology

Abstract

The Chronicler starts his historiographical work with nine chapters of family and name lists. Lay readers of the book often skip these “boring” chapters to get to the “real” narrative, starting with the death of Saul in chapter 10. Scholars have indicated, however, that these genealogies actually form a portal (“Vorhalle”) through which the Chronicler’s historiography should be approached. In the genealogies, we already find the basic themes of the book, and the ideologies operative in the book, introduced. A close study of the structure of the genealogies, as well as of the sources used in the genealogies, reveals that the family lists are not merely provided as a documentation of family relationships, but rather to give clear expression of the religious and identity ideologies which form the main focus of the whole book of Chronicles.