2 Chronicleschapter 11
23 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
Key verse
For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest’s office unto the Lord:
It stands in Priests and Levites leave the north for Jerusalem, verses 13 to 17.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Rehoboam musters a hundred and eighty thousand men to win the north back by force, and the word of God comes through Shemaiah: 'Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren… for this thing is of me.' They obey and go home: a rare act of restraint. He fortifies fifteen cities with victuals and shields. Then a migration the Chronicler cares about: the priests and Levites throughout all Israel resort to him, because Jeroboam cast them off and made his own priests for the high places and the calves, and with them come those who set their hearts to seek Jehovah. They strengthened the kingdom of Judah three years, walking in the way of David and Solomon.
Context
History · Ezra · 2 Chronicles overview
The world behind this chapter
2 Chronicles 11The history
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.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
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.
What it meant to them
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.
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.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
Where the chapter sits
2 Chronicles 11 falls in Kings of Judah: Rehoboam to Ahaz (chapters 10–28). The divided kingdom narrated from Judah's side only; reform kings (Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Uzziah, Jotham) and evil kings; prophetic interventions unique to Chronicles (Azariah, Hanani, Zechariah son of Jehoiada).
Before it: Solomon's reign, chapters 1–9. After it: Hezekiah to the exile, chapters 29–36.
The whole shape of 2 Chronicles→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Do not fight your brethren, for this thing is from Mevv. 1-4
an hundred and fourscore thousand: Rehoboam gathers Judah and Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen warriors, to force the ten tribes back by the sword, and this passage runs almost word for word with 1 Kings 12:21-24. Chronicles keeps Shemaiah's oracle exactly, ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: return every man to his house: for this thing is done of me, and the king obeys a prophet over an army already mustered. The Chronicler adds nothing to the scene itself; his own material about this reign starts at the next verse, with the cities Rehoboam builds instead of the war he does not fight.
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
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
B. Fifteen cities fortified in Judah and Benjamin
1. (vv. 5-10)
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.”
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.”
2 Chronicles 11:7
“And Bethzur, and Shocho, and Adullam. All in the tribe of Judah, of which see Jos 15:35.”
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.”
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).”
built cities for defence in Judah: Chronicles alone preserves this roster: fifteen cities across Judah and Benjamin, Bethlehem, Etam and Tekoa among the first three, 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. Bethlehem's presence in a defense list, centuries before the child born there, is passed without comment, one more name doing its ordinary work in its own day.
2. (vv. 11-12)
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
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.”
fortified the strong holds: Rehoboam fortifies the strong holds, sets captains and stores of victual, oil and wine in them, then arms every city with shields and spears. The unit closes with having Judah and Benjamin on his side, the same two tribes named at verse 1 and again at verse 10, holding the kingdom together by loyalty as much as by walls. The defense is real but limited to the south; nothing here moves against Jeroboam, in keeping with Shemaiah's word at verse 4.
C. Priests and Levites leave the north for Jerusalem
1. (vv. 13-14)
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
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
resorted to him out of all their coasts: The priests and the Levites resort to Rehoboam out of all their coasts, leaving the ten tribes entirely rather than serve at Jeroboam's altars. Verse 14 gives the reason: they leave their suburbs and their possession, the pasture lands and property assigned them under Joshua, because Jeroboam had cast them off from executing the priest's office unto the Lord. This is Chronicles-only material; Kings records Jeroboam's calves and his ordinary-Levite priests at 1 Kings 12:31 but never follows the displaced tribe of Levi south, so the migration itself is preserved here alone.
2. (v. 15)
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 more voices on this verse
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 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
for the high places, and for the devils: Jeroboam ordains his own priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made. The word rendered devils is se'irim, literally the hairy ones or goat-demons, the same term Leviticus uses for the goat-idols Israel is forbidden to sacrifice to at Lev 17:7. The commentators read it either as another name for the calf cult itself or for a separate goat-worship kept alongside it, and the text does not settle which; either way Jeroboam's clergy stands outside the line Aaron's sons alone were given.
3. (vv. 16-17)
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
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.”
set their hearts to seek: After the priests, the faithful of the other tribes follow: such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel come to Jerusalem to sacrifice, the verb Chronicles uses to measure every reign, already planted at 1 Chr 16:10-11 and returning through the book to 2 Chr 15:2, if ye seek him, he will be found of you. Their arrival strengthens the kingdom of Judah for three years, during which they walked in the way of David and Solomon. Albert Barnes notes the count matters: the fourth year brings Rehoboam's own apostasy at 12:1, and the fifth brings Shishak, so the three good years are bounded on both sides by the reign the Chronicler actually measures him by.
D. Rehoboam's wives, his sons, and a shrewd scattering
1. (vv. 18-19)
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.”
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.”
took him Mahalath the daughter: Rehoboam's first two named wives are both inside David's own family: Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth, a son of David not listed among his legitimate sons in 1 Chr 3 and so likely born to a concubine, and Abihail, daughter of Eliab, David's eldest brother. The marriages keep the throne's new branch tied by blood to the old one on both sides. Chronicles preserves this genealogy nowhere paralleled in Kings, part of the family record the book alone carries forward from 1 Chr 1-9.
2. (vv. 20-21)
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
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.”
bare him Abijah, and Attai: Maachah, daughter of Absalom, bears Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith, and Rehoboam loves her above all his other wives and concubines. The parenthesis totals the household: eighteen wives, threescore concubines, and twenty and eight sons, and threescore daughters, the same pattern of multiplied wives Deut 17:17 forbade a king of Israel to pursue, though less extreme than his father Solomon's. 2 Chr 13:2 later calls this same woman Michaiah, daughter of Uriel, a discrepancy the commentators resolve by a second name or a grandfather counted as father, without agreement on which.
3. (vv. 22-23)
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
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
made Abijah the son of: Rehoboam makes Abijah the son of Maachah chief among his brothers, intending him for the throne, though Scripture never calls him the firstborn and Deut 21:15-17 protects a firstborn's right regardless of which wife a father loves best. He deals wisely with the rest, dispersing his sons through the fenced cities of Judah and Benjamin with victual in abundance, a precaution against the kind of rivalry that had troubled Solomon's own succession. The chapter's last clause, he desired many wives, closes the reign's family record on the same note it opened, a king following his father's pattern rather than correcting it.
This page carries no textual note on 2 Chronicles 11. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
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 exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.