I've been reading through Chronicles along with Scott Hahn's magisterial commentary The Kingdom of God as Liturgical Empire: A Theological Commentary on 1-2 Chronicles. In it, Hahn includes this remarkable quote from St. Jerome concerning Chronicles.
"The book of Paralipomenon [the name given to Chronicles in the Septuagint] is an epitome of the Old Testament and is of such scope and quality that anyone wishing to claim knowledge of scripture without it should laugh at himself. For because of the individual names mentioned and the composition of words, both historical events omitted in the books of Kings are touched on and innumerable questions pertinent to the gospel are explained." (Epistle 53.8)
Well if that doesn't make you feel intellectually small . . . I don't know what will. I'm sure you're like me and have never devoted any time to reading much less understanding Chronicles. What's more, St. Jerome's statement can't easily be brushed aside because his entire life was given to the Scriptures in its original languages in the creation of the Latin Vulgate. When a man so immersed in the Scriptures makes a statement like the one above, we should perk up and listen to his wisdom. Maybe the church could use a dose of Chronicles since, as St. Jerome notes, that in it "innumerable questions pertinent to the gospel are explained."
BD
"The book of Paralipomenon [the name given to Chronicles in the Septuagint] is an epitome of the Old Testament and is of such scope and quality that anyone wishing to claim knowledge of scripture without it should laugh at himself. For because of the individual names mentioned and the composition of words, both historical events omitted in the books of Kings are touched on and innumerable questions pertinent to the gospel are explained." (Epistle 53.8)
Well if that doesn't make you feel intellectually small . . . I don't know what will. I'm sure you're like me and have never devoted any time to reading much less understanding Chronicles. What's more, St. Jerome's statement can't easily be brushed aside because his entire life was given to the Scriptures in its original languages in the creation of the Latin Vulgate. When a man so immersed in the Scriptures makes a statement like the one above, we should perk up and listen to his wisdom. Maybe the church could use a dose of Chronicles since, as St. Jerome notes, that in it "innumerable questions pertinent to the gospel are explained."
BD