Inconsistency in the Completion of “Elliptical Verses”
The
Chronicler did not always complete “elliptical phrases” that he found in
earlier books. For example, he used the words of 1 Kgs 8:9 in his book (2 Chr
5:10) just as they were : “where the Lord drew up with the Israelites” (meaning
“where the Lord drew up a covenant with the Israelites”). The same thing
occurs in the Chronicler’s version of 1 Kgs 9:5, “as I spoke of David, your
father.” In 2 Chr 7:18 the Chronicler altered the text but did not complete it,
stating, “as I drew up with David, your father” instead of “as I drew up a
covenant with David, your father.” He may have refrained from completing
these phrases because their intent was clear to the average reader. Nevertheless,
these examples do show that the Chronicler was not consistent in his reworking
of elliptical phrases found in the earlier texts.
Furthermore,
the Chronicler himself occasionally wrote elliptically. Thus, for example, in 2
Chr 13:10 (an “addition”) he wrote, “but we are_____ the Lord our God’s,
and we have not abandoned him,” instead of “but we are with the Lord our
God, and we have not abandoned him.” Several examples of this have to do with
the Hebrew idiom “to find strength.” For instance, in 2 Chr 20:37 (an
“addition”) he wrote, “they did not find _____ to travel to Tarshish”
instead of “they did not find strength to travel to Tarshish [= were not
able to travel to Tarshish].” In 2 Chr 14:10[11] ( an “addition”) he wrote, “in
your name we have come against this multitude; O Lord, you are our God; let no
mortal find _____ against you” instead of “Let no mortal find strength
against you [prevail against you],” just as in 2 Chr 13:20 (an “addition”),
“Jeroboam did not recover his strength”; and in 2 Chr 22:9 (“an
addition”), “the House of Ahaziah did not find strength to reign [had no
one able to rule the kingdom].”
2 Chr 1:2-3
(“an addition”) is elliptical: “Then Solomon said to all Israel, to the
captains of the thousands . . . to the heads of families _____. Then
Solomon, and all the crowd with him, went to the high place that was at
Gibeon.” In other words, he told them to go with him to the high place at
Gibeon, and then they went with him. Similarly, 2 Chr 2:2[3], “Then Solomon
sent word to Hiram, king of Tyre, ‘As you did with David my father and sent him
cedar to build himself a house to live in _____,’” is apparently an
elliptical verse that should be completed with “so do with me.”
In this
category also falls the lack of syntactical connection to 1 Chr 29:3 (“an
addition”), “in addition to everything I have prepared for the sacred House”
instead of “in addition to everything that (אשר) I have prepared for the
sacred House”; and in 2 Chr 32:31 (“an addition”), “to test him to know
everything in his heart” instead of “to test him to know everything that which
was in your heart.”
Perhaps the
best way to view the elliptical sentences appearing in the “additions” is that
they were a kind of high style that was an attempt to imitate earlier language
in order to provide the “addition” (or an emendation by the Chronicler himself)
with literary character that would be thought to be "early.” (Isaac
Kalimi, The Reshaping of Ancient Israelite History in Chronicles [Winona
Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2005], 384-85)
