Chiasm and Meaning in 1 Chronicles

Abstract

This study proposes that chiastic structures encompass at least the first half of 1 Chronicles, helping to underscore the rejection of Gibeon and the Saulides in favor of Jerusalem and the line of David. This approach offers promising solutions to several long-standing difficulties regarding the Chronicler’s choice and arrangement of material. Of methodological consequence, it emerges that the Chronicler relied heavily upon design in order to generate new meaning from texts already in circulation.