but sketched and composed by the historian according to a truthful tradition of the fundamental thoughts. For although, in all the speeches of the Chronicle, certain current and characteristic expressions and phrases of the author of this book plainly occur, yet it is just as little doubtful that the speeches of the various persons are essentially different from one another in their thoughts, and characteristic images and words. By this fact it is placed beyond doubt that they have not been put into the mouths of the historical persons either by the chronicler or by the authors of the original documents upon which he relies, but have been composed according to the reports or written records of the ear-witnesses. For if we leave out of consideration the short sayings or words of the various persons, such as 1Ch 11:1., 1Ch 12:12., 1Ch 15:12., etc., which contain nothing characteristic, there are in the Chronicle only three longer speeches of King David (1Ch 22:7-16; 1Ch 28:2-10, 1Ch 28:19-21, and 1Ch 29:1-5), all of which have reference to the transfer of the kingdom to his son Solomon, and in great part treat, on the basis of the divine promise (2 Sam 7 and 1 Chron 17), of the building of the temple, and the preparations for this work. In these speeches the peculiarities of the chronicler come so strongly into view, in contents and form, in thought and language, that we must believe them to be free representations of the thoughts which in those days moved the soul of the grey-haired king. But if we compare with these David's prayer (1Ch 29:10-19), we find in it not only that multiplication of the predicates of God which is so characteristic of David (cf. Ps 18), ), but also, in 1Ch 29:11, 1Ch 29:15, definite echoes of the Davidic psalms. The speech of Abijah, again, against the apostate Israel (2Ch 13:4-12), moves, on the whole, within the circle of thought usual with the chronicler, but contains in 2Ch 13:7 expressions such as רקים אנשׁים and בליּעל בּני, which are quite foreign to the language of the Chronicle, and belong to the times of David and Solomon, and consequently point to sources contemporaneous with the events. The same thing is true of Hezekiah's speech (2Ch 32:7-8), in which the expression בּשׂר זרוע, “the arm of flesh,” recalls the intimacy of this king with the prophet Isaiah (cf. Isa 31:3). The sayings and speeches of the prophets, on the contrary, are related much more in their original form. Take, for instance, the remarkable speech of Azariah ben Oded to King Asa (2Ch 15:1-7), which, on account of its obscurity, has been
