Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/281

Rh in Jerusalem, the city which the 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. Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, after the manner of genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah his son reigned in his stead.

years old and twelve years he reigned. No importance however can be attached to this variation, for the passage which contains it is plainly midrashic in character.

the city which the had chosen] Though the Ten Tribes were lost to the house of David, the Lord kept his oath to David by securing to his seed the possession of the one holy city of Israel.

14. he set not his heart] The phrase implies steady purpose. The Chronicler concludes that Rehoboam must be classed as a king who was good but not entirely so. The considerations which chiefly influenced him in determining the character of this reign were perhaps two: on the one hand the invasion of Shishak was felt to be a fixed point, a disaster only to be accounted for in the Chronicler's view by some falling away from assiduous worship of Jehovah; and on the other hand it seemed incredible that the second direct descendant of David on the throne of Israel should have been seriously corrupt. The situation was met by representing Rehoboam as having been three years faithful (and therefore prosperous), and one year faithless (and therefore assailed by Shishak in the fifth year). The favourable aspect of his reign was further emphasised by the statement of ver. 16, and by the suppression of the three damaging passages in Kings, referred to in the head-note to xi. 5—23. It is very obvious that the resultant picture of the king is much less true to historical reality than the account in Kings; but it serves excellently to illustrate the Chronicler's contention that virtue prospers and vice is punished. And once more we may insist that the value of this writer for us lies supremely in the energy and the conviction with which he seeks to drive home this great moral and spiritual belief.

15. in the histories of ] See Introd. § 5.

Iddo] Cp. xiii. 22, and see note on ix. 29.

after the manner of genealogies] mg. in reckoning the genealogies; but lit. "to enrol themselves." This most obscure phrase is perhaps a meaningless fragment due to textual corruption. Another suggestion is that it has been misplaced and should be read at the end of xi. 16.