2 Chronicleschapter 11
23 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
Those from every tribe of Israel who had set their hearts to seek the LORD their God followed the Levites to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
Introduction
Ezra, by tradition, History, 2 Chronicles Overview.
This chapter was written for a community gathered around an altar by people who had left settled lives to come to it. Tradition gives the book to Ezra. The kingdom has just split, and the writer shows the smaller half making ready. Listen for the word that stops a war and for how the army answers it. The list of fortified towns is a map, and it points toward the danger the king feared. Then watch who comes south across the new border and why they come.
Context
- Who
- A community whose strength was the people who came for worship's sake
- What
- Rehoboam's obedience to a prophet's word against war, his fortification of Judah, the migration of priests, Levites and faithful Israelites south, and his household.
- Where
- Jerusalem and fifteen fortified towns of Judah and Benjamin, with the Levite towns of the north left behind.
- When
- The first years of Rehoboam's reign, about 930 to 927 BC.
- Why
- To show that Judah's strength came from those who came to seek the LORD at His altar.
Historical context
A prophet stops the war before it starts. A hundred and eighty thousand men are mustered and sent home at a word, and the text records that they obeyed, which was worth recording.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The fortification list is a map of where the king expected trouble. Every one of the fifteen towns lies south or west of Jerusalem, facing Egypt and the Philistine plain. Rehoboam had just watched Egypt shelter Jeroboam, and Egypt is the direction the walls face. Each fort was stocked with officers, food, oil, wine, shields and spears.
The migration that follows is the important half of the chapter. Jeroboam set up his own shrines with golden calves at Bethel and Dan and appointed priests of his own choosing for the high places. The Levites in the northern towns lost their livelihood and their altars together, so they left their pasture lands and their property and came to Judah. Ordinary people from every tribe came with them, the ones who had set their hearts to seek the LORD.
Rehoboam's family arrangements close the chapter. He took many wives, named his heir, and dispersed his sons through the fortified cities with provisions and wives of their own. Spreading the princes out kept them useful and kept them from gathering in one place around a rival claim.
Significance
For three years, the text says, Judah walked in the way of David, and the reason it gives is the people who arrived from the north because they would not worship at a calf.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The first hearers were a community formed in exactly that way. They had left settled lives elsewhere and come to an inconvenient city because that was where the altar stood. This chapter told them their kind had strengthened the kingdom before.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
2 Chronicles is not read in the synagogue. Chronicles stands among the Writings in the Hebrew canon rather than among the Prophets the Haftarah is drawn from. The division into two books came in through the Greek. The book therefore carries neither a weekly Torah portion nor a Haftarah, and this site's own reading table records the same for all thirty-six chapters. Rehoboam's fortified cities and the priests who came south are met in the commentary and the midrash instead, and the rest of this card is drawn from them.
How it is read
The first note explains why Judah and Benjamin are named together and never apart. They stood together on the border, Jerusalem belonged to both, and the house was built on the line between them. Rashi points to the boundary section in Joshua, then to what the Rabbis said in Yoma and Megillah and Zevachim. "A strip protruded from the territory of Benjamin and entered the territory of Judah, upon which the altar was built" (Rashi on II Chronicles 11:1:1, the Judaica Press Tanach with Rashi, CC-BY). The two tribes are inseparable on this reading, and the altar itself is the reason. The prophet's word against the war he reads as a question rather than a command. Are they not your brothers, the sons of one man (Rashi on II Chronicles 11:4:1)?
The fortifications he reads as a response to the rebellion. Rehoboam built small cities and surrounded them with water for strength, which is what the Hebrew word carries, and Rashi proves the sense from Isaiah. This was needed "now" because Israel had rebelled against him (Rashi on II Chronicles 11:5:1). The captains he takes as chiefs and officers set to guard the towns (Rashi on II Chronicles 11:11:1). The stores of food and oil and wine were laid in against a siege, should the house of Israel march on them (Rashi on II Chronicles 11:11:2).
The priests and Levites moving south he explains from the other side of the border. They abandoned their open land throughout the territory of the ten tribes (Rashi on II Chronicles 11:14:1). Rashi asks why Jeroboam forced them out, and answers in one line, that he stationed pagan priests for the satyrs (Rashi on II Chronicles 11:15:1). Those who followed them out of the tribes of Israel he reads as following the priests and the Levites (Rashi on II Chronicles 11:16:1).
The queen's name at the eighteenth verse opens the strangest tradition in this chapter. Rashi uses it to explain an old difficulty in the book of Samuel. Abihail was the daughter of Eliab, and Eliab was the brother Samuel almost anointed. Samuel erred, Rashi says, because he saw Eliab's daughter standing as Rehoboam's wife, the queen, and took the sight for the sign of the anointed. The error was itself a punishment. When Saul had asked which was the house of the seer, Samuel answered that he was the seer rather than answering with humility. God said to him, "By your life, you are destined to see, and you will not know what you see" (Rashi on II Chronicles 11:18:1). This is a saying of the rabbis carried inside the commentary, and it is reported here as theirs.
Two short notes close the chapter. Abijah was set as leader among his brothers in order to be made king (Rashi on II Chronicles 11:22:1). The dispersal of the sons he reads as a scattering through all the lands of Judah, with the same verb used in the first book (Rashi on II Chronicles 11:23:1).
Radak, Metzudat David and Malbim comment across this chapter as well. The corpus carries their refs with the reason that Sefaria holds no English version of them, so they stand here cited and unquoted. Metzudat David on II Chronicles 11:1:1, 11:3:1, 11:5:1, 11:10:1, 11:12:1, 11:13:1 and 11:17:1. Malbim on II Chronicles 11:4:1, 11:12:1, 11:13:1, 11:20:1 and 11:21:1. Radak on II Chronicles 11:19:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries two rabbinic locators for this chapter and the text of neither, which is the thinnest run in this range. Each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. Both are chronological, and both come from the same work.
The first verse, where Rehoboam musters a hundred and eighty thousand men to fight for the kingdom, carries Seder Olam Rabbah 15:2. The seventeenth, where Judah is strengthened for three years because the people walked in the way of David and Solomon, carries Seder Olam Rabbah 16:2. Seder Olam Rabbah is the early chronology of the rabbis, and its interest here is the dating of the reigns rather than the story. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on II Chronicles 11:1:1 to 11:23:1, eleven kept notes, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, CC-BY; Tractates Yoma, Megillah and Zevachim, the strip of Benjamin under the altar, reported inside Rashi on II Chronicles 11:1:1 as Yoma 12a, Megillah 26a and Zevachim 53b; Radak, Radak on II Chronicles 11:19:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on II Chronicles 11:1:1, 11:3:1, 11:5:1, 11:10:1, 11:12:1, 11:13:1 and 11:17:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on II Chronicles 11:4:1, 11:12:1, 11:13:1, 11:20:1 and 11:21:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/2-chronicles/11.json, the 2 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; This site's reading table, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed in this lane: 2-chronicles parashot total 0, haftarah uses total 0, hasSynagogueReading true for 0 of 36 chapters, festivalReadingForBook null.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Do not fight your brethren, for this thing is from Me
2 Chronicles 11:1-4
Rehoboam musters Judah and Benjamin, “180,000 chosen warriors,” to force the ten tribes back, and the passage runs word for word with 1 Kings 12:21-24. Chronicles keeps Shemaiah's oracle, “You are not to go up and fight against your brothers,” and the king obeys a prophet over an army mustered.
2 Chronicles 11:1
“Judah and Benjamin were not only resolved to continue their allegiance to him, but ready to give him the best assistance they could for the recovery of his right. Judah was his own tribe, that owned him some years before the rest did; Benjamin was the tribe in which Jerusalem, or the greatest part of it, stood, which perhaps was one reason why that tribe clave to him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Shemaiah the man of God: Through Shemaiah the word of the LORD reached Rehoboam, and Judah and Benjamin listened and turned back from the fight against their brothers. He returns at 12:5 when Shishak invades, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say he traced that calamity to the national apostasy. His records are named at 12:15.
all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin: The word reaches the king and all his people. Barnes reads Judah and Benjamin as the common name for the southern kingdom. He points to verses 12 and 23, where the same pair names the kingdom.
2 Chronicles 11:3
“He saw it was to no purpose to think of reducing those that had revolted. A few good words might have prevented their defection, but now all the forces of his kingdom cannot bring them back. The think is done, and so it must rest; it is his wisdom to make the best of it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
fight against your brothers: Calling the northern tribes brothers places the split inside one family. The oracle names the division as the LORD's own doing. Henry says good words might have prevented the revolt, but the thing was done, and it was Rehoboam's wisdom to make the best of it.
Fifteen cities fortified in Judah and Benjamin
2 Chronicles 11:5-10
he built up cities for defense in Judah: Chronicles alone preserves this roster: fifteen cities across Judah and Benjamin, Bethlehem, Etam and Tekoa, running south and west toward the Philistine and Egyptian frontier. Kings never lists them; the material is the Chronicler's own, likely drawn from the royal archive he names elsewhere as his source.
2 Chronicles 11:5
“Rehoboam was between two dangers: on the north he might be attacked by Jeroboam, on the south by Jeroboam’s ally, Egypt. From this side was the greater peril, and therefore out of the 15 cities fortified, all but three were on the southern or western frontier, where Egypt would be most likely to attack.”
He built up Bethlehem: Gill places Bethlehem about six miles from Jerusalem and Tekoa about twelve, and names Tekoa as the home of the prophet Amos. Etam had a fountain that, according to Jewish writings, fed a pool at Jerusalem. Gill also names the rock of Etam at Judges 15:8.
2 Chronicles 11:6
“He built even Bethlehem,.... The place of our Lord's birth, about six miles from Jerusalem: and Etam; another city in the tribe of Judah; see 1Ch 4:32, there was a rock of this name, Jdg 15:8 and a fountain from whence waters were conveyed into the pool at Jerusalem, spoken of in Jewish writings (b): and Tekoah; of which place Amos the prophet was, and which was about twelve miles from Jerusalem.”
Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam: Gill places all three in the tribe of Judah. Barnes sets Adullam near Socoh, a place of great antiquity whose site is unknown. He counts all but three of the fifteen fortified cities on the southern or western frontier, where Egypt was most likely to attack.
2 Chronicles 11:7
“And Bethzur, and Shocho, and Adullam. All in the tribe of Judah, of which see Jos 15:35.”
Gath, Mareshah, Ziph: Rehoboam built up Gath, and Gill takes it as a town of Judah, probably the Moresheth-gath of Micah 1:14. Barnes takes it as the Philistine Gath, whose king Achish ruled as a vassal of Solomon. Gill names Mareshah as the birthplace of the prophet Micah.
2 Chronicles 11:8
“For Gath, see Jos 13:3 note. Its native king, Achish 1Ki 2:39, is to he regarded, not as an independent monarch, but as one of the many vassal-kings over whom Solomon reigned 2Ch 9:23. For Mareshah, see Jos 15:44, for Ziph, Jos 15:55.”
Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah: Rehoboam built up all three as fortified cities. Barnes calls the site of Adoraim uncertain, and Gill identifies it with the Adora that Josephus names beside Mareshah. Lachish, once a royal city of the Canaanites, fell to Judah, and Azekah lay in the plain of Judah.
2 Chronicles 11:9
“The site of Adoraim is uncertain. For Lachish, see Jos 10:3; Azekah, Jos 10:10; Zorah, Jos 15:33; Aijalon, Jos 10:12; Hebron, Jos 14:15. No one of the cities was really within the limits of the tribe of Benjamin. The writer uses the phrase “Judah and Benjamin” merely as the common designation of the southern kingdom (compare 2Ch 11:12 and 2Ch 11:23).”
Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron: Gill notes an Aijalon in Dan, where the moon stood still in Joshua 10:12, and leaves open whether this is the same town. Rehoboam built up Hebron, a city of refuge about twenty miles from Jerusalem, as one of the fortified cities. Zorah is the Zoreah of Joshua 15:33.
2 Chronicles 11:11-12
He strengthened their fortresses: Rehoboam strengthens the fortresses, puts officers in them “with supplies of food, oil, and wine,” and arms every city with shields and spears. The defense is limited to the south, and nothing here moves against Jeroboam, in keeping with Shemaiah's word at verse 4.
2 Chronicles 11:11
“Store of victual - In these places he laid up stores of provisions, not only to enable them to endure a siege; but also that they might be able, from their situation, to supply desolate places.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
shields and spears in all: Weapons joined the food, oil and wine of verse 11. Gill takes the shields and spears as standing for every kind of armour. He reads the last clause as the two tribes holding to each other, to the house of David and to the true religion.
2 Chronicles 11:12
“And in every several city he put shields and spears,.... Furnished them with these and perhaps other pieces of armour, these being put for all, to defend themselves with against an enemy, and to annoy them: and made them exceeding strong; so that they could not be easily taken: having Judah and Benjamin on his side: which tribes cleaved to one another, and to Rehoboam, and to the kings of the house of David, in later times, as well as to the true religion.”
Priests and Levites leave the north for Jerusalem
2 Chronicles 11:13-14
the priests and Levites from all their districts: The priests and Levites “from all their districts throughout Israel” stand with Rehoboam. Verse 14 gives the reason: “because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD”. Kings records Jeroboam's priests at 1 Kings 12:31, and Chronicles alone tells of the Levites' move south.
2 Chronicles 11:13
“The priests and Levites, refusing to take part in the idolatrous ceremonies, were ejected from their living [2Ch 11:13, 14]. Along with them a large body of the people who faithfully adhered to the instituted worship of God, offended and shocked by the impious innovations, departed from the kingdom.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 11:13
“Thither they came because it was their business to attend at the times appointed. (1.) It was a mercy to them that they had a place of refuge to flee to, and that when Jeroboam cast them off there were those so near that would entertain them, and bid them welcome, and they were not forced into the lands of the heathen.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the Levites left their pasturelands: Clarke says Jeroboam expelled them for fear they would turn the people back to God and so to Judah. Wesley says they refused to serve the calves and gave up their inheritance for God's sake. Henry says they fled temptation as well.
2 Chronicles 11:14
“The Levites left their suburbs - They and the priests were expelled from their offices by Jeroboam, lest they should turn the hearts of the people to the true God, and then they would revolt to Judah, 1Ki 12:26; and therefore he established a new worship, and made new gods.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 11:14
“Cast them off - They would not suffer them to instruct the Israelites in the worship of God, nor to go up to Jerusalem to worship in their courses: and these priests would not join with them in the worship of the calves, as they were commanded to do; and therefore they, willingly forsook all their patrimonies and possessions for God's sake.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places: Jeroboam appoints his own priests “for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made”. The word behind goat demons is se'irim, the hairy ones, the term Leviticus 17:7 uses for the goat demons. Jeroboam's priests stand outside the line given to Aaron's sons alone.
2 Chronicles 11:15
“The high places - i. e., the two sanctuaries at Dan and Bethel. For the devils - literally, “for the goats:” probably the word is used (as in Lev 17:7) for objects of idolatrous worship generally.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Chronicles 11:15
“High places - Or, for the high places, both for the devils (the Baals, or false gods, which divers of his people worshipped, whom he encouraged to do so, giving them liberty to do anything but to serve God at Jerusalem) and for the calves. So he erected two sorts of high places, some for Baal, and some for the true God, whom be pretended to worship, in and by the calves.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 Chronicles 11:15
“But here it is applied distinctively to the goat deities, which were probably worshipped chiefly in the northern parts of his kingdom, where the heathen Canaanites still abounded. for the calves which he had made--figures of the ox gods Apis and Mnevis, with which Jeroboam's residence in Egypt had familiarized him.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 Chronicles 11:16-17
set their hearts to seek: Seeking is the verb Chronicles uses from 1 Chronicles 16:10-11 to 15:2, “If you seek Him, He will be found by you”. They strengthen Judah for three years, and Barnes marks the count: the fourth year brings Rehoboam's apostasy at 12:1 and the fifth brings Shishak.
2 Chronicles 11:16
“Such as set their hearts to seek the Lord - All the truly pious joined him out of every tribe, and the whole tribe of Levi, being deprived of their functions, joined him also. Thus he had Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, and probably a part of Simeon; for he had Etam, which was in that tribe, and the truly religious out of all the other tribes, for they could not bear Jeroboam’s idolatry.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
strengthened the kingdom of Judah: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown describe a large body of faithful people who left the north with the Levites and came to Jerusalem. They strengthened Judah and supported Rehoboam for three years. Barnes dates the end: apostasy came in the fourth year and the invasion of Shishak in the fifth.
2 Chronicles 11:17
“Three years - i. e., during the first three years of Rehoboam’s reign. In the fourth year an apostasy took place, which neutralized all the advantages of the immigration (marginal reference). In the fifth the apostasy was punished by the invasion and success of Shishak 2Ch 12:2.”
Rehoboam's wives, his sons, and a shrewd scattering
2 Chronicles 11:18-19
Rehoboam married Mahalath: Rehoboam's first named wife comes from David's family: Mahalath is “the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab”. The marriage ties the throne's new branch by blood to the old one on both sides, a family record Kings does not carry.
2 Chronicles 11:18
“And Rehoboam took him Mahalath, the daughter of Jerimoth, the son of David, to wife,.... Of which son of David we nowhere else read; perhaps he might be the son of one of his concubines, or he might have two names: and Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse; who was David's eldest brother. 1Sa 17:13. She must be a granddaughter or great-granddaughter of his.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 11:18
“This is probably an extract from the “genealogies” of Iddo 2Ch 12:15. As Jerimoth is not mentioned among the legitimate sons of David 1Ch 3:1-8; 1Ch 14:4-7, he must have been the child of a concubine. Abihail was probably the “grand-daughter,” not “daughter,” of Eliab 1Sa 16:6; 1Sa 17:13; 1Ch 2:13.”
She bore sons to him: Gill observes that the bearing of sons is said of one wife only, and he allows that it may refer to Abihail, the last named. The sons were Jeush, Shemariah and Zaham. Gill suggests they died in their father's lifetime, since Abijah son of Maacah, a later wife, became king.
2 Chronicles 11:19
“Which bare him children,.... Or, "and she bore him" (d); for it is said only of one of them, the other perhaps died without children; this may refer to the last mentioned, Abihail, whose children were Jeush, and Shamariah, and Zaham; who perhaps all died in their father's lifetime, since the firstborn of a later wife succeeded him. (d) ותלד "peperit", Pagninus, Montanus.”
2 Chronicles 11:20-21
he married Maacah daughter of Absalom: Maacah daughter of Absalom bears Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith, and Rehoboam loves her “more than all his wives and concubines”. The verse totals the household, “eighteen wives and sixty concubines,” with twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters, the multiplied wives Deuteronomy 17:17 forbade a king.
2 Chronicles 11:20
“Maachah the daughter of Absalom - See the note on 1Ki 15:10. She is called Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel, 2Ch 13:2. For this the Targum gives the following reason: “Abijah reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Michaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeatha. She is the same as Michah, the daughter of Absalom; but, because she was an upright woman, her name was changed into the more excellent name Michaiah, and her fathers name into that of Uriel of Gibeatha, that the name of Absalom might not be remembered.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
eighteen wives and sixty concubines: Gill traces the eighteen wives and sixty concubines to the example of Solomon, against the command of Deuteronomy 17:17. He counts many children a blessing in Israel. He calls the manner of getting them dishonourable.
2 Chronicles 11:21
“And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines, &c. Who is called Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel, 2Ch 13:2, for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines; led thereunto by the example of his father Solomon, contrary to the command of God, Deu 17:17. and begat twenty eight sons and sixty daughters; to have many children was reckoned a great blessing, but it was not honourable to have them in such a way.”
2 Chronicles 11:22-23
Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah: Rehoboam makes Abijah son of Maacah “chief prince among his brothers, intending to make him king,” though Scripture never calls him the firstborn. Deuteronomy 21:15-17 guards the firstborn's right whichever wife a father loves best. He “acted wisely” with the rest, dispersing his sons through the fortified cities.
2 Chronicles 11:22
“Made Abijah - the chief - Abijah certainly was not the first-born of Rehoboam; but as he loved Maachah more than any of his wives, so he preferred her son, probably through his mother’s influence. In Deu 21:16, this sort of preference is forbidden; but Rehoboam had a sort of precedent in the preference shown by David to Solomon.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Rehoboam also acted wisely: Barnes names the danger the dispersal avoided: brothers gathered in Jerusalem might plot against Abijah, as Adonijah had plotted against Solomon. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that Eastern kings kept their sons apart with offices of their own. The Berean reads the wives as sought for the sons.
2 Chronicles 11:23
“Rehoboam’s wisdom was shown: (1) In dispersing his other sons instead of allowing them to remain together in Jerusalem, where they might have joined in a plot against Abijah, as Adonijah and his brothers had done against Solomon 1Ki 1:5-10; (2) In giving his sons positions which might well content them and prevent them from being jealous of Abijah. He desired many wives - (Compare 2Ch 11:21). Some prefer to connect the words with the preceding words. If so, they denote another point in which Rehoboam was careful to please his sons.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 11:23
“But Eastern monarchs ensure peace and tranquillity to their kingdom by bestowing government offices on their sons and grandsons. They obtain an independent provision, and being kept apart, are not likely to cabal in their father's lifetime.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
How this psalm is built
The form: Regnal narrative carrying three blocks of material found in this book alone: a fortification roster, a migration of the Levites, and a royal family record, as Chronicles classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Fifteen cities named in order | Verses 6 to 10 name the fortified cities one after another, from Bethlehem and Etam and Tekoa through Lachish and Azekah to Hebron. John Gill and Albert Barnes both read the list as archival material the Chronicler holds and Kings never carries. The line of the list runs south and west, toward Egypt and the Philistine plain.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 2 Chronicles 11:5. | 2 Chronicles 11:6, 2 Chronicles 11:7, 2 Chronicles 11:8, 2 Chronicles 11:9, 2 Chronicles 11:10 |
| The hairy ones | Verse 15 lists the priests Jeroboam appointed for the high places, for the goat demons and for the calves. The word behind goat demons is se'irim, literally the hairy ones, the same term Leviticus 17:7 uses for the goat idols Israel was forbidden to sacrifice to. Albert Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read it either as a second name for the calf cult or as a separate goat worship kept beside it.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, 1832 to 1869, on 2 Chronicles 11:15. | 2 Chronicles 11:15 |
| Those who set their hearts to seek | Verse 16 uses the verb this book measures every reign by. The same seeking stands at 1 Chronicles 16:10 and returns at 2 Chronicles 15:2, and its failure is what verse 14 of the next chapter writes against Rehoboam. Albert Barnes notes that the three good years of verse 17 are bounded on both sides, by the apostasy of 12:1 and by Shishak in the fifth year.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, 1832 to 1869, on 2 Chronicles 11:17. | 2 Chronicles 11:16, 2 Chronicles 11:17 |
| The household counted out | Verses 18 to 23 give the wives, the sons and the arrangement made for them. Two of the wives are from David's own family, Mahalath through Jerimoth and Abihail through Eliab, so the new branch of the throne is tied by blood to the old one on both sides. The totals follow at verse 21 and the dispersal of the sons through the fortified cities at verse 23.Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on 2 Chronicles 11:18. | 2 Chronicles 11:18, 2 Chronicles 11:20, 2 Chronicles 11:21, 2 Chronicles 11:23 |
The historical value
12 more paragraphs on the patterns
The city list is a map of where Rehoboam expected trouble. Every town in verses 6 to 10 lies south or west of Jerusalem, on the approaches from Egypt and from the Philistine plain, and none of them faces north toward Jeroboam. Egypt had just sheltered Jeroboam, and Egypt is the direction the walls face.
Several of the names are excavated sites with long records of their own, Lachish, Azekah, Mareshah and Hebron among them. The list also carries Bethlehem, in a defence roster, centuries before the birth that made the name known, doing ordinary work in its own day.
The migration of the Levites has an economic shape that the text states plainly. Verse 14 says they left their pasture lands and their possessions, which is the property assigned to them under Joshua, because Jeroboam had rejected them as priests. A clergy displaced from its livelihood moves to where its altar is.
The debated concept
Verse 20 names Maacah daughter of Absalom as the mother of Abijah. 2 Chronicles 13:2 names the mother of the same king Micaiah daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. The commentators divide over how the two verses stand together, and the text settles nothing.
John Gill and Adam Clarke record the reading that one woman carried two names, which was ordinary enough in the period and leaves both verses standing as written.
The other reading takes Absalom as the grandfather counted as father, which is regular Hebrew usage, with Uriel of Gibeah the actual father and Tamar the link between the two houses. On this reading the two verses name different generations of the same descent.
Both readings are held by men who accept the text as it stands, and this row keeps them side by side without a verdict.
A second open question stands at verse 15. Albert Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the goat demons either as a second name for the calf cult or as a separate worship kept alongside it. The verse gives no way to decide.
The divine connection
The first four verses show a prophet's word doing what an army could not. Shemaiah is sent to the king and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, the word forbids the campaign and calls the northern tribes brothers, and the muster disperses.
The claim is modest and the text makes it plainly. The war that would have been fought at the birth of the divided kingdom was stopped by a sentence, and the men who stopped were the ones already armed.
Keep studying
Studies2
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
the compiler of Chronicles, the city list at 2 Chronicles 11:5 to 12, the migration at 11:13 to 17 and the household record at 11:18 to 23, none of which stands in 1 Kings; the compiler of Chronicles, read against the compiler of Kings, 2 Chronicles 11:1 to 4, read with 1 Kings 12:21 to 24 and the site's own guide to this book, src/components/book/guides/2-chronicles/Book2ChroniclesGuide.tsx, the LEDGER table, Rehoboam at 10:1 to 12:16.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.