The Priestly Tent of Meeting in Chronicles: Pro-Priestly or Anti-Priestly?

Abstract

This paper examines how the Chronicler treats the Pentateuchal tradition of the priestly Tent of Meeting. The Chronicler consistently mentions the Tent of Meeting, but its cultic significance is reduced and put in an inverse relationship to the Davidic cultic system in Jerusalem. Such ambivalent treatment of the Tent of Meeting in Chronicles can be understood in the socio-historical context of the Persian period, especially within the Levites’ ideological struggle against the dominant, Zadokite priestly group.