2 Chronicles 11 Study Notes

11:1 Rehoboam assumed (without consulting the Lord) that he should fight to restore the kingdom.

11:2-4 Since God had brought about the split of the kingdom as a punishment, he informed Rehoboam through a prophet named Shemaiah that the king should give up any thought of invading and restoring the northern tribes. This was not the time for a civil war; the people of Judah and Benjamin needed to go home and settle in under the new conditions. Thus, the army was disbanded and a war was avoided. The Chronicler mentions Jeroboam as head of the north, leaving it to the reader to infer that Jeroboam had indeed been crowned as king of the ten northern tribes.

11:5-12 Instead of carrying out an invasion, Rehoboam assumed a defensive posture and fortified cities throughout the territory of Judah and Benjamin. Solomon had created large fortifications all over his kingdom, but many of those installations now belonged to the northern kingdom. Rehoboam needed to establish a smaller circle around Jerusalem. Cities that previously had not been that important, such as Bethlehem, now became crucial defensive posts. Not only did Rehoboam see to it that they were physically reinforced, but also that each of those places had a leader, a supply of food, oil, and wine, and large shields and spears. Having started off on the wrong foot, Rehoboam attempted to make up for his blunder by making sure that what remained of his kingdom was not vulnerable to attack.

11:13-16 Meanwhile, Jeroboam in the north was faced with a serious problem of his own. The mind-set of the people over whom he was supposed to rule made it almost impossible for him to be an effective king. He had broken away from Rehoboam and Jerusalem, but the temple was in Jerusalem, and the priests and Levites were still loyal to the temple. Prior to the building of the temple by Solomon, it was permissible for priests to perform sacrifices anywhere in the country, but the priests were not willing to return to that practice, and Jeroboam did not permit priests of the Jerusalem-bound religion to officiate in his new territory. From all over the northern kingdom, they migrated to Jerusalem to participate in the true worship of the Lord. Thus, under Jeroboam’s direction, the new kingdom of the north was rooted in idolatry right from the beginning. Jeroboam replaced the worship of God with the worship of goat-demons and two golden calves, one in the northern section of his kingdom at Dan, and the other in the south close to the border with Judah at Bethel. He also installed a new priesthood of those who were willing to serve these idols rather than the Lord. There were many laypersons within the northern tribes who were committed to serving the Lord, and they also relocated to Jerusalem so they could worship at the temple as the law required.

11:17 During the first three years, both kingdoms looked inward to strengthen themselves. The south rallied around the temple and the service of the Lord, while the north focused on the cult of idolatry instigated by Jeroboam.

11:18-21 Rehoboam had eighteen wives, many of them from within his wider circle of blood relations. Mahalath was his half cousin, Abihail was his great aunt, unless some intervening generations have not been mentioned. His favorite wife, Maacah (also called Micaiah), was probably Absalom’s granddaughter by his son or son-in-law Uriel (13:2). She would become influential in leading the people into idolatry.

11:22-23 There was one matter in which Rehoboam proved to be a wiser ruler than either David or Solomon. Both of his predecessors had left their sons in Jerusalem, where they had been given important titles but not much responsibility. Having spent the first forty-one years of his life in limbo, Rehoboam made sure that his sons had a meaningful purpose. He put them in charge of many of the newly fortified cities and provided them with numerous wives.