=1‒4= (= 1 Kings xii. 21‒24).
SHEMAIAH FORBIDS CIVIL WAR.
The Chronicler here omits the elevation of Jeroboam to be king over
Israel (1 Kings xii. 20).
¹And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled the
house of Judah and Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand
chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against Israel, to
bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam.
=1.= _an hundred and fourscore thousand_] The number is small compared
with the Judean armies mentioned in xiii. 3, xiv. 7, xvii. 14; yet
it is far greater than is credible. The word rendered _thousand_ may
originally have been used to denote a tribal division, thus including
women and children and old men. If so, the actual warriors represented
by 180 such “thousands” would be about 30,000, a very large number for
so small a state, yet not impossible. But, however that may be for the
early days, there is little or no doubt that the Chronicler understood
the word in its strict sense: a literal thousand. See the note on
xvii. 14.
²But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God,
saying,
=2.= _Shemaiah_] See xii. 5, 15.
³Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and
to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, ⁴Thus saith the
LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren:
return every man to his house; for this thing is of me. So they
hearkened unto the words of the LORD, and returned from going
against Jeroboam.
=3.= _to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin_] The Chronicler does not
hesitate to use the term “Israel” in speaking of Judah. Thus the
princes of the Southern Kingdom are called “the princes of Israel”
(xii. 6, xxi. 4), the populace as a whole is called “Israel” (xii. 1,
xv. 17), Jehoshaphat and Ahaz are each called “king of Israel” (xxi. 2,
xxviii. 19), and the sepulchres of the kings at Jerusalem are called
the “sepulchres of the kings of Israel” (xxviii. 27). _Israel_ in
Chronicles then = the covenant-people. In Kings, on the contrary,
_Israel_ generally means the Northern Kingdom.
=5‒23.=
THE PROSPERITY OF REHOBOAM.
These verses have no corresponding section in 1 Kings On the other hand,
the Chronicler omits three important sections of 1 Kings, _viz._ xii.
25‒33 (the setting up of the golden calves), xiii. 1‒32 (the episode of
the prophet who cried against the altar in Beth-el) and xiv. 1‒18 (the
death of the son of Jeroboam).
⁵And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defence
in Judah.
=5.= _built cities for defence_] This does not mean that all these
cities were then built for the first time; certainly Beth-lehem,
Tekoa, and Hebron were ancient places. Rebuilding, strengthening, and
fortifying are included in the meaning of the Hebrew verb _bānāh =
build_. The cities mentioned were situated some in the hill country
of Judah, some in the Shephelah. It is probable that they were
strengthened as a measure of defence against Egypt. Less likely is
the suggestion that they were fortified chiefly to prevent or suppress
insurrection against Rehoboam in Judah. See also Introduction § 7,
p. xlviii.
⁶He built even Beth-lehem, and Etam, and Tekoa,
=6.= _Etam_] Probably represented by some ruins a little to the
south-west of Beth-lehem, by which is a spring called _Ain ‘Atān_.
Compare 1 Chronicles iv. 3. Bädeker, _Palestine_⁵, p. 109.
⁷and Beth-zur, and Soco, and Adullam,
=7.= _Beth-zur_] Represented by the ruin _Burj Ṣūr_ to the north of
Hebron. Compare Joshua xv. 58. Bädeker, _Palestine_⁵, p. 112.
_Soco_] The cities hitherto mentioned were situated in the hill
country, but the position of the _Soco_ here mentioned and _Adullam_
is uncertain. Two places bore the name _Soco_ or _Socoh_, one situated
in the Shephelah (Joshua xv. 35; 1 Samuel xvii. 1, Revised Version),
and one in the hill country (“the mountains,” Joshua xv. 48)――see note
1 Chronicles iv. 18. For Adullam compare Joshua xv. 35; 1 Chronicles
xi. 15 (note on _the cave of Adullam_).
⁸and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph,
=8.= _Gath_] compare 1 Chronicles xviii. 1.
_Mareshah_] In the Shephelah south of the modern _Beit Jibrin_. Compare
xiv. 9, xx. 37.
_Ziph_] Probably _Tell Zif_ south of Hebron.
⁹and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah,
=9.= _Adoraim_] The modern _Dora_ west of Hebron.
_Azekah_] In the Shephelah, mentioned along with Socoh in Joshua xv. 35.
¹⁰and Zorah, and Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in
Benjamin, fenced cities. ¹¹And he fortified the strong holds,
and put captains in them, and store of victual, and oil and wine.
=10.= _Zorah_] Joshua xv. 33 (Revised Version). It was situated in the
Shephelah.
_Aijalon_] The modern _Yalo_, a little north of the Jaffa road about
midway between Ramleh and Jerusalem. It is an ancient place mentioned
in the Tell el-Amarna letters. Compare xxviii. 18 and 1 Chronicles vi.
69; also Smith, _Historical Geography of the Holy Land_ pp. 210‒213.
_and in Benjamin_] None of the fifteen cities seems to have been in
Benjamin. Zorah and Aijalon were in Dan (Joshua xix. 41, 42, Revised
Version), while the remaining thirteen were in Judah. Compare verse 5.
Benjamin, in reality, belonged to the Northern Kingdom until, after
the fall of Samaria, its territory was included in the Judean kingdom
(see 1 Kings xii. 20). Later, the idea prevailed that it had been
one with the Southern Kingdom from the beginning――as appears here,
and apparently in 1 Kings xi. 31. At any rate the phrase, Judah and
Benjamin, came to be used as a general expression denoting the Southern
Kingdom. How long any sense of its partial inaccuracy remained is
uncertain.
¹²And in every several city _he put_ shields and spears, and
made them exceeding strong. And Judah and Benjamin belonged to
him.
=12.= _And Judah and Benjamin belonged to him_] If the view, discussed
in the note on verse 5, that Rehoboam’s military precautions were
carried through to suppress or prevent rebellion in Judah, then this
phrase should be rendered =And so Judah and Benjamin became his=.
¹³And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel
resorted to him out of all their border.
=13.= _resorted to him_] Literally _took their stand by him_.
¹⁴For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and
came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons cast them
off, that they should not execute the priest’s office unto the
LORD:
=14.= _suburbs_] See note on 1 Chronicles v. 16.
_cast them off, that they should not execute the priest’s office unto
the LORD_] The point is in the concluding words “_unto the LORD_”
(i.e. _Jehovah_). Jeroboam did not abandon the worship of Jehovah,
although later generations thought so and could not conceive that the
famous “calves wherewith he made Israel to sin” were images symbolic
of Jehovah. The Chronicler regards him as having lapsed into gross
idolatry (see verse 15) and as having ejected all the Levites from his
kingdom. A less stringent opinion as to his treatment of the priests of
Jehovah is expressed in 1 Kings xii. 31, xiii. 33 where it is not said
that Jeroboam rejected the tribe of Levi, but only that he allowed men
of any tribe to become priests; “he ... made priests from among all the
people” (Revised Version). Comparison of Kings and Chronicles is here
very valuable as an illustration of the care with which the history in
Chronicles has been adapted to indicate that the Northern Kingdom was
wholly wicked and apostate from the start. The Chronicler’s hostility
to the North is really directed against the Samaritans: see
Introduction § 6.
¹⁵and he appointed him priests for the high places, and for
the he-goats¹, and for the calves which he had made. ¹⁶And
after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their
hearts to seek the LORD, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem
to sacrifice unto the LORD, the God of their fathers.
¹ Or, _satyrs_ See Leviticus xvii. 7.
=15.= _the he-goats_] The heathen Arabs believed in the existence
of demons (called _jinn_) having various animal forms and inhabiting
deserted places, and this belief was shared by the Hebrews (compare
Isaiah xiii. 21). In this verse and in Leviticus xvii. 7, the writers
seem to identify the gods worshipped by the heathen with these demons.
(Compare W. R. Smith, _Religion of the Semites_², pp. 120 ff.)
_the calves_] Not previously mentioned in Chronicles; 1 Kings xii. 28.
¹⁷So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam
the son of Solomon strong, three years: for they walked three
years in the way of David and Solomon.
=17.= _three years_] There were three years of prosperity, in the
fourth year Judah fell away into idolatry, and in the fifth year
chastisement overtook them by the hand of Shishak (xii. 1‒3). For the
significance of this, see the note on xii. 14.
_of David and Solomon_] The Chronicler here as elsewhere ignores the
fall of Solomon. In 1 Kings xi. 4‒6 an express distinction is made
between the way of David and the way of Solomon.
¹⁸And Rehoboam took him a wife, Mahalath the daughter of
Jerimoth the son of David, _and of_ Abihail¹ the daughter of
Eliab the son of Jesse; ¹⁹and she bare him sons; Jeush, and
Shemariah, and Zaham.
¹ Or, and _Abihail_.
=18.= _Jerimoth_] Nothing is known regarding a son of David of this
name. He may have been the son of a concubine (1 Chronicles iii. 9).
and of _Abihail_] i.e. Mahalath’s father was Jerimoth, her mother
Abihail. The Authorized Version “and Abihail” wrongly implies that
Abihail was, like Mahalath, a wife of Rehoboam.
_Eliab_] David’s eldest brother; 1 Samuel xvi. 6, xvii. 13.
²⁰And after her he took Maacah¹ the daughter of Absalom; and
she bare him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹And
Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his
wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and
threescore concubines, and begat twenty and eight sons and
threescore daughters.) ²²And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son
of Maacah to be chief, _even_ the prince among his brethren: for
_he was minded_ to make him king.
¹ In chapter xiii. 2, _Micaiah the daughter of Uriel_.
=20.= _Maacah_] Perhaps the _grand_-daughter of Absalom, since she is
called the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah in xiii. 2 (where, with LXX.,
read “Maacah” for “Michaiah”; and see the note there). According to 2
Samuel xviii. 18 Absalom had “no son to keep his name in remembrance”
but he may have had a daughter who married Uriel and became the mother
of this Maacah; and further in 2 Samuel xiv. 27 it is said that Absalom
had three sons and a daughter named _Tamar_. These sons may all have
died young, but perhaps xiv. 27 is another tradition differing from
xviii. 18.
_Abijah_] Called “Abijam” 1 Kings xv. 1.
²³And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout
all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fenced city: and
he gave them victual in abundance. And he sought _for them_ many
wives¹.
¹ Or, _sought a multitude of wives_.
=23.= _all the lands_] i.e. the territory of Judah; compare
1 Chronicles xiii. 2 (margin).
_And he sought_ for them _many wives_] More exactly, as margin, _And
he sought a multitude of wives_. It is difficult to say whether or not
the Chronicler has Deuteronomy xvii. 17 in his mind and is implicitly
blaming the king. In any case he goes on in the next verse to say that
Rehoboam forsook the law of the Lord. It is however probable that there
is a slight error in the Hebrew and that the text ran originally thus,
_And he took for them_ (i.e. for his sons) _a multitude of wives_.
Rehoboam’s own conjugal affairs have been already described in verse 21.