Chapter XI
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, Palestine⁵, 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, Palestine⁵, 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 Semites², 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.