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A. 1 Kings 12.

(Continued.)

What counsel give ye, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke that thy father did put upon us lighter? 10 And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou say unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou speak unto them, My little finger is thicker than my father's 11 loins. And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I [will chastise you] 12 with scorpions. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying, Come to me 13 again the third day. And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook

the counsel of the old men [which they had given him]; 14 and spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke my father chastised you with whips, but I [will chastise you] with 15 scorpions. So the king hearkened not unto the people; for it was brought about of the LORD, that he might establish his word, which the LORD spake by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jero16 boam the son of Nebat. And when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David d? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse :

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to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So . . Israel departed

B. 2 Chron. 10. (Continued.)

What counsel give ye, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke that thy father did put upon us lighter? 10 And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou say unto the people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke : my father chastised you with whips, but I

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12 with scorpions. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying, Come to me 13 again the third day. And the king answered them roughly; and [king Rehoboam] forsook the counsel of the old men,

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14 and spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto : my father chastised you with whips, but I with 15 scorpions. So the king hearkened not unto the people; for it was brought about of God, that the LORD might establish his word, which he spake by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jero16 boam the son of Nebat. And when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: [every man] to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So [all] Israel departed

A. MD. B. D. Neither form occurs elsewhere.

d B. here spells In

David 77 (as A. always does) instead of 77. It is probably an accident. the latter part of the verse we find the usual 77.

A. 1 Kings 12.

(Continued.)

17 unto their tents.

But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam 18 reigned over them. Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the levy; and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. And king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel rebelled against the

house of David, unto this day'. 20 [And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was returned, that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.]

B. 2 Chron. 10, 11.
(Continued.)

17 unto their tents. But as for the
children of Israel which dwelt in
the cities of Judah, Rehoboam
18 reigned over them. Then king
Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was
over the levy; and the children of
Israel stoned him with stones,
that he died. And king Reho-
boam made speed to get him up
to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.
19 So Israel rebelled against the
house of David, unto this day.

21 And when Rehoboam was come 11
to Jerusalem, he assembled [all]
the house of Judah, and [the
tribe of] Benjamin, an hundred
and fourscore thousand chosen
men, which were warriors, to
fight against [the house of] Israel,
to bring the kingdom again to
Rehoboam [the son of Solomon].
22 But the word of God came unto

Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 23 Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, [and to the rest of the 24 people,] saying, Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren [the children of Israel]: return every man to his house; for this thing is of me. So they hearkened unto the word of the LORD, and returned and went their way, according to the word of the LORD.

And 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.

2 But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 3 Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin,

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4.
saying, Thus 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.

A.".

B. ".

f B. retains the phrase from his copy, though it was hardly suitable to his own time. It is really a note by the A. compiler, written some time probably after the date of the contemporary materials on which he bases his history. Compare the note above v. 15.

common as B.'s, being chiefly in Sam. and Kings.

is not so מלוכה .s A

(§ 27.)

21

22

A. 1 Kings 14.

(History of Jeroboam and Abijah, kings of Israel.)

B. 2 Chron. 12.

(Rehoboam's cities and wives; Le. vites and others resort to Jerusa lem.)

[And Rehoboam the son of Solo- 12 13 mon reigned in Judah.]

Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

[And Judah did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that 23 their fathers had done. For they

also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green 24 tree; and there were also sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD drave out before the children of Israel.]

25 And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem":

14

[And king

Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned. For] Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. [And he did that which was evil, because he set not his heart to seek the LORD.]

:

1 [And it came to pass, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.]

2

And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, [because they had trespassed against the LORD, 3 with twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubim, the 4 Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians. And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah, and came 5 unto Jerusalem. Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Ye have forsaken me, therefore

§ 27.-NOTE. Some verses in B. are displaced. They are restored to their

proper place here for the sake of comparison.

a There has been apparently a copyist's omission from the text.

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took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house; he [even] took away all: and he took away [all] the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 27 And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, which kept the door of the king's house. 28 And it was so, that as oft as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.

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B. 2 Chron. 12.

(Continued.)

have I also left you in the hand 6 of Shishak. Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The 7 LORD is righteous. And when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them: but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of 8 Shishak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. 9 So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem,] and he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house; he took away all: and he took away the shields of gold which Solomon had made. And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, which kept the door of the king's house. 11 And it was so, that as oft as the king entered into the house of the LORD, the guard [came and] bare them, and brought them back 12 into the guard chamber. [And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from him, that he would not destroy him altogether: and moreover in Judah there were good things found.]

10

15

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Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? And

b The book of the chronicles of Judah would be of the nature of annals kept by the official scribes or remembrancers; but A.'s work does not profess to be chronicles. It is a religious document, and it doubtless owes its materials to the contemporary prophets mentioned by B. A chain of prophetic writers is thus established from Samuel onwards, and we have no reason to doubt that the rest of A.'s history is based on the work of contemporary prophets, and that it

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[Now] in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam [the son of Nebat] began Abijam to reign over 2 Judah. Three years reigned he in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Maacaha the daughter 3 of Abishalom. [And he walked

in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of 4 David his father. Nevertheless for David's sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, 5 and to establish Jerusalem: because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the

(Continuous.)

. In the eighteenth year

of king Jeroboam.

began Abijah to reign over 2 Judah. Three years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

Note also that a genealogical treatise The R.V. rendering, 'after the manner of

may practically be taken as their work.
was prepared by Shemaiah.
genealogies,' is hardly correct.

§ 28.- Maacah was Abijam's mother and Absalom's daughter, not only according to A., but definitely according to 2 Chron. 11. 18–22. B.'s statement in the present text may have crept in through the substitution of Micaiah for Maacah. The matter is further complicated by the statement of A. (§ 29) that this same Maacah was Asa's mother, in which B. concurs. There were probably two Maacah's. So LXX. Josephus (Ant. 8. 10, 1) says that Maacah was Rehoboam's second wife, and was daughter of Absalom by Tamar.

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