are their essential differences on Kings 1&2 and Chronicles 1&2 of the Bible?

Question

1st and 2nd kings were long, and the next book is first and second Chronicles. Since they are the same stories just in a different point of view, is it ok if i skip it or there are importan information in chronicles that were not mentioned in the book of kings?

Answer 1

They are from different perspectives. There might be a few prayers that are in Chronicles that weren't in the Samuels or the Kings, but my advice would be to skip it now...and come back to it later. It would be less likely to bog you down if you were to go ahead and read some of the other books...I'm presuming you're trying to read the Bible through in order...next and then perhaps before going into the prophecy books go back to 1 and 2 Chronicles. You'll find it refreshes your memory as to who the kings are which will be useful for when you're reading the prophets.

Answer 2

1&2 Chronicles covers the same material as 1&2 Samuel and 1&2 Kings. They are (of course) by different authors and so there are some differences in what events are covered. (For instance, Chronicles makes no mention of David's adultery).

When reading through Samuel, it is obvious that most of the material about David was recorded by someone who knew him personally. It has a lot of depth of personality and detail.

Chronicles was compiled at a later date. (All six books had to be "compiled" at some point. No one person could have recorded everything as the books over a 500 year period - he would have had to live a long time) It is the "official" record, so it drier, has long list of names and genelogy, etc. not included in Samuel and Kings.

If you are just doing a "read through", Chronicles is one you can "skip" without losing the plot. At some point it is worth reading just to notice the differences in what the personal and the offical recorders choose to tell about the kings.