1 and 2 Chronicles for Normal People

Together, 1 and 2 Chronicles have ruined more attempts to read the Bible in a year than any other force on Earth. And we can understand why: the Bible’s retelling of the rise of the monarchy in the tenth century BCE to the end of the Babylonian exile in 539 BCE covers much of the same ground as 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, minus the cinematic bits.

Gone is the battle between David and Goliath. Gone is the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. And King Manasseh whose wickedness provoked the Babylonian exile? In 1 and 2 Chronicles, he’s not that bad.

In place of high-drama scenes featuring highly questionable but undeniably compelling heroes, 1 and 2 Chronicles gives us genealogies. And extensive descriptions of temple building. And a God who gives second chances.

Wait, what?

If you’ve ever wondered how the Bible’s ancient stories might inform a modern faith, you are not alone. If you’ve ever struggled to reconcile biblical portrayals of the divine with your own understanding of God, you are not alone. If you’ve ever wanted to rewrite bits of the Bible for the times you live in, you are not alone. The writers of 1 and 2 Chronicles have been there, too.

Set aside everything you think you know about 1 and 2 Chronicles and join Dr Aaron Higashi as he shows us why the most boring books of the Bible aren't actually that boring. That they are, in fact, among the most bold and daring books in the Bible.

Dr. Aaron Higashi is an adjunct instructor at Grand Canyon University. He received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (2008), his M.A. in biblical studies from Providence College (2010), his S.T.M. from Chicago Theological Seminary (2011), and his Ph.D. in Bible, culture, and hermeneutics with an emphasis in Hebrew Bible from Chicago Theological Seminary (2021). Aaron is interested in the relationship between ideology, moral philosophy, and biblical interpretation, and shares biblical scholarship with a popular audience @abhbible on TikTok. Aaron lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with his pediatrician wife and three young daughters, where he does jiu-jitsu, drinks too much coffee, plays video games, and tries to discuss biblical interpretation at parties and other social events where it's probably not cool to do so.