Several
historical differences between the text of the early books and the book of
Chronicles stem from the Chronicler’s lack of awareness of the use of certain
technical idioms and unchanging linguistic structures and his lack of awareness
of the real historical and geographical facts of the period of the Monarchy.
These are some of the signs of the time gap separating the later historian, who
lived in the Persian period, and the early sources at his disposal in his book
on the history of the First Temple period. In other words, despite the
Chronicler’s many literary and historiographical talents, his work is not free
of errors and misunderstanding.
This
phenomenon is also observable in other historiographical sources—for example,
in the historiography of the Hasmonean revolt:
(a) In 1
Macc 1:29 we are told: “two years later the king sent a minister of taxation (αρχουνα φρονολογιας) to the cities of Judah.” This is apparently a
reference to Appollonius, who was called “captain of the Mysians” in 2 Macc 5:24
because he was in command of the mercenary force from the land of Mysia (Μυσια), in
northwest Asia Minor. The Greek translator of 1 Maccabees was apparently
unfamiliar with this geographical term and with the military title derived from
it, so he paraphrased it, explaining: מוסים ‘Mysians’ = מסים ‘taxes’.
(b) In 1
Macc 3:13, Seron is termed “commander of the army of Syria” (αρχων τηνς δυναμεως Συριας). However,
it is clear from v. 14 that Seron was not the head of the Seleucid army: “He
[Seron] said: ‘I will make a name for myself and become a noble of the kingdom,
for I will wage war against Judas and his companions, who ridicule the word of
the king.’” Only the Seleucid king himself was the commander-in-chief of the
army, and the commanding officer of the various expeditions were determined by
him. Later, when Josephus made use of this source (Ant. 12.288), he
paraphrased it erroneous, apparently using the term accepted in his day for
“commander of the army of Syria” and describing Sermon as “commander of the
armies of Coele-Syria” (σταρατηγος της κοιλης Συριας). (Isaac Kalimi, The
Reshaping of Ancient Israelite History in Chronicles [Winona Lake, Ind.:
Eisenbrauns, 2005], 392-93)
