A Response to Dr. Robert Lo's Review of 1 & 2 Chronicles

A Response to Dr. Robert Lo's Review of 1 & 2 Chronicles

Wong Fook Kong

This article is a response to Dr. Lo's review that appeared in the previous issue of Hill Road. The review was about the author's book on Chronicles published by the Chinese Christian Literature Council in 2003. In summary the author believes that a commentary targeted at the Christian laity should be scholarly, without being overly bogged down by academic arguments, and devotional in nature . Homiletical and theological reflections should be drawn from a Christian canonical perspective rather than from an alleged “original” meaning of the text alone. Specific points of disagreement raised in the review and in this response include arguments over the meaning of the phrase, “before YHWH" in 1 Chronicle 11: 3 and 2 Chronicle 28: 1, whether it is helpful to include medieval Jewish interpretations in the author's discussions of 2 Chron. 28: 1, the author's short comment on the name Ahaz, and the use of Biblical and extra-Biblical sources for historical reconstruction of the reign of Hezekiah.