Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/274

210 every man to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So all Israel departed unto their tents. But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam 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 Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel rebelled against the house of David, unto this day. 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. But the word of the came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, Thus saith the, Ye shall not go up,

to your tents] See note on vii. 10.

17. The order is much improved if this verse be read after ver. 19.

18. Hadoram] Called "Adoram" in the parallel passage (1 Kin. xii. 18) and "Adoniram" (1 Kin. iv. 6, v. 14 [28, Heb.]).

1—4 (= 1 Kin. xii. 21—24).&emsp;

The Chronicler here omits the elevation of Jeroboam to be king over Israel (1 Kin. xii. 20).

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.

2. Shemaiah] See xii. 5, 15.

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 Chron. then