[1][2] The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by modern scholars as "the Chronicler", and had the final shape established in late fifth or fourth century BCE.

[7][a] The whole chapter belongs to an arrangement comprising 1 Chronicles 2:3–8:40 with the king-producing tribes of Judah (David; 2:3–4:43) and Benjamin (Saul; 8:1–40) bracketing the series of lists as the priestly tribe of Levi (6:1–81) anchors the center, in the following order:[12] This section begins with explanation (a kind of midrash) that Reuben did not receive the rights of a firstborn son of Jacob because he slept with Bilhah, his father's concubine (Genesis 35:22; cf.

The firstborn rights were passed on to the two sons of Joseph, whereas the leadership was given to Judah (underlined in verse 2 and reflected in its prominence in the lists of tribes themselves) with an unnamed "chief ruler" (certainly pointing to David).

[21] The sources of the genealogies of the descendants of Gad are the documents compiled during the reign of Jotham, King of Judah (c. 750–735 BCE), and Jeroboam, King of Israel (c. 793–753 BCE), that bear no resemblance to other parts of the Bible (cf.

[26] This section focuses on the half-tribe of Manasseh, which settled in the area east of the Jordan river ("Transjordan"), along with the tribes of Reuben and Gad.