In 1934, Gerhard von Rad wrote an article entitled ‘The Levitical Sermon in I & II Chronicles’. In it, he noted that the Chronicler gives a number of speeches to some of his characters which do not appear in parallel passages in Samuel–II Kings, the so-called ‘Deuteronomistic History’. These speeches seldom fit the historical context in which they are placed, and all tend to use similar vocabulary to express similar truths. They share the characteristics of citation of, or at least allusion to, earlier legal and prophetic sayings, a general parenetic nature, and have many features of style in common. Von Rad claims that they ‘evince a distinct form-category of later origin, that of the “Levitical Sermon”’. This way of understanding the ‘speeches’ in Chronicles has commanded a great deal of support, which is still evident in many of the recent commentaries on Chronicles. Nevertheless, it has also received some strong criticism. On the other hand, some writers have claimed to find material similar to the ‘Levitical Sermons’ elsewhere in the post–exilic literature, especially in the prophetic books. In order to take the discussion further, it seems appropriate to base it on a fresh examination of the main speeches in Chronicles. In Part 1, therefore, after a brief mention of some of the critical issues affecting the approach to the Chronicler's work which occupy contemporary scholarly debate, we shall in Chapter 2 consider each of the speeches in turn.