The Role of the Altar in the Book of Chronicles

Abstract

In the book of Chronicles, in several passages that relate the establishment of the temple, we find an emphasis on—and an elevation of the status of—the altar and the sacrifices offered on it. To compare, we do not find this elevation of the altar’s status in the accounts of Samuel and Kings. This article examines this phenomenon and suggests that this shift is part of the Chronicler’s coping with a fundamental theological problem regarding the Second Temple.