ABSTRACT
A fundamental purpose of ancient historiography is to establish continuity of identity, ideology and institutions. For the Chronicler, the temple in Jerusalem stands at the heart of the true community of Israel, the people of God, and his concern is to establish this sense of continuity through his treatment of the building of the temple by Solomon. The sheer quantity of space given to this subject in his work is ample testimony to the importance he attributed to the temple as the foundation of this community. At the same time the demonstration of continuity for Jerusalem’s temple underscores a discontinuity for rival sanctuaries and communities and their respective claims to represent the true Israel, as in the case of the Samaritan temple community of Gerizim.1
