The Prophetic Speeches in Chronicles: Speculation, Revelation, and Ancient Historiography

Scholars have for some time recognized that the Chronicler's prophetic speeches are his own compositions rather than materials that he has culled from source materials. The fictive nature of these speeches raises important questions regarding both the nature of Hebrew historiography and also the nature of the Chronicler's work as scripture. When the Chronicler's use of speeches is compared to a similar use of speeches in Greek historiography, it becomes clear that his fictive contributions to the history are a legitimate means to bring his theological Tendenz to bear on the narrative. A close reading of the speeches also shows that their theology has been exegetically derived from the Chronicler's canonical texts.