Who wrote it?
We don't know. Ezra has been suggested, given how prominent his leadership was in this period, but since we can't be certain most scholars simply call the author "the Chronicler."
Who was listening?
Chronicles was written to the restoration community during the days of Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, and Nehemiah — sometime between 520 and 400 BC. These were the Israelites who had returned from exile after Babylon fell to the Persian Empire. Cyrus, the Persian king, took a different approach than the Babylonian emperors before him: rather than stamping out the religious convictions of the peoples he conquered, he encouraged religious freedom and sent the exiles back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
The initial excitement didn't last. Opposition from outside and conflict from within stalled the project and divided the people. Apathy, discouragement, and hopelessness settled in. What they had managed to build came nowhere close to the glorious restoration the prophets had painted. And so they began to wonder: Is this worth it? Are we kidding ourselves? Did we really think our little community and our little project was THE new beginning? Who are we, really? How can we keep going?
Chronicles was written to answer those questions.
Where Chronicles fits in the big story
A retelling of redemptive history. Chronicles is the last book in the traditional ordering of the Hebrew Bible, written as a kind of open-ended conclusion to the Old Testament story — look at how it ends, in 2 Chronicles 36:23. By retelling Israel's history from Adam (1:1) all the way to the return from exile, the author calls his people to renewed hope: God has not forgotten his promise, and his gracious plan of redemption is not lost. Jerome called Chronicles a chronicle of all sacred history, which is where our present-day title comes from. That God inspired a retelling of his story for the needs of a new generation reminds us that we are constantly in need of telling and re-telling the one true Story, and its call to faithfulness and mission, to every generation.
The centrality of worship. "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." Chronicles' central theme is that life's central matter is worship, and it makes that case through its focus on the temple. Before the real economic, military, and social concerns of the community, the theological must take priority. Chronicles reminds us that all matters of life revolve around what we place at the center of our lives together.
The big theme
No matter what we've done or what obstacles we face, God's people can always find renewal through seeking God in wholehearted worship. When we are discouraged, we can remember that God's presence is always with us when we give ourselves to building his kingdom.
How the book is put together
Part One — Who are we? (1 Chronicles 1–9)
We are still God's people: Adam to Israel (1–2)
We are all Israel (2:3–9:1)
We are called to carry on the mission: the restoration community (9:1–34)
Part Two — What should we do? (1 Chronicles 9:35 – 2 Chronicles 9:31)
Saul (9:35–10)
David's focus: preparing the temple (11–29)
Solomon's focus: building the temple (2 Chronicles 1–9)
Part Three — How do we persevere? (2 Chronicles 10–28)
The divided kingdom: dealing with failure and pursuing faithfulness
Part Four — How can we hold on to hope? (2 Chronicles 29–36)
The reunited kingdom: the exile is not the end
What to listen for
Listen for how the question of identity comes first. Chronicles reminds its readers who they are and where they came from — compare how the New Testament letters almost always open with a reminder of our identity in the gospel.
Listen for how God's purpose for the world (Adam), his promise of blessing to and through Israel (Abraham and Jacob), and his plan to accomplish it through a faithful king like David have not been cancelled by the exile.
Listen for how God addresses us in times of discouragement and doubt to remind us what matters most.
Listen for the significance of every single person in the genealogies. Chronicles tells this small restoration community: the story has now come to you — the faltering restoration community of God. The mission is yours and the promises are yours, because you are God's people.
Listen for how memory and story form identity and purpose. What this discouraged and apathetic community needed was not a new set of commands or more information. They needed to hear a fresh retelling of their story.
Listen for the positive portraits of David and Solomon. No Bathsheba, no Absalom, none of Solomon's hundreds of wives, no mention of his later fall into idolatry. Why? Because there's a time to look back and ask "How did I get here?" (that's Kings) and a time to ask "How do I move forward?" (that's Chronicles).
Listen for a picture of wholehearted worship — a life with God at the center. Chronicles gives us a vocabulary for it: seeking, humble repentance.
Listen for how God responds to the repentant. Even Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:10–16).
Listen for the significance of Hezekiah, who reunited a divided people and reached out to the outcasts and exiles of the north (2 Chronicles 30:18–19).
Listen for how God blesses our efforts to build his kingdom and honor his name.
Listen for how God's fatherly discipline works. At the time it isn't pleasant but painful — yet when we are trained by it, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace (see Hebrews 12:11–14, and watch for this especially in parts three and four).
Before you start
Chronicles is Old Testament narrative, which rewards a particular kind of attention. Read How to listen to Old Testament narrative before you begin.