Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Argumentum
St. Jerome, in his epistle to Paulinus, which is prefixed to the Bible: 'The book of Paralipomenon,' he says, 'that is, the epitome of the Old Testament, is of such greatness and quality that without it, if anyone should presume to claim knowledge of the Scriptures for himself, he would make a laughingstock of himself. For through each individual name, and the connections of words, histories passed over in the Books of Kings are touched upon, and innumerable questions of the Gospel are explained.'
Therefore this book is an epitome or compendium of the deeds of the Kings of Judah, but not of the Kings of Israel, since they were schismatics and idolaters. In Hebrew it is entitled דברי הימים dibre Haiamim, that is 'words of the days,' as if to say a Diary, or Chronicle briefly narrating the deeds of David and the subsequent Kings of Judah, as though day by day, that is through each period and age. By the Septuagint this book is entitled παραλιπομένων, that is 'of things left out' or 'of things remaining,' as St. Jerome says in his epistle to Domnion, because it supplies and historically reviews what was omitted in the Books of Kings. However, it repeats many things which we heard in the Books of Kings. Therefore, passing over those, I will explain the few things that are left to and proper to this book. For some things that were briefly stated there are treated more fully here; and some things written more obscurely there are explained more clearly here.
The author or compiler, as the Rabbis, Lyranus, Sixtus Senensis, Driedo, and others believe, was Ezra, who compiled it from the public Annals or Diaries. They conclude this from the fact that the last words of the Book of Paralipomenon are exactly the same as the first words of the Book of Ezra. See what was said in the preface to the Books of Kings. Likewise what is said in chapter IX, verse 2 and following is the same as what Ezra has in Book II, chapter XI. I will note more similar things in the course of the book itself. Finally, the Catalogues of genealogies and persons, which are woven at length in the first ten chapters here, are similar to the Catalogues of Ezra, chapters II, VIII, XII and following.