and apes, and peacocks'; whereas the voyage to and from the coast of Spain would have taken only a few months, and 1K.x.22 merely says that Solomon had at sea ships of Tharshish': large merchant-men, such as went on long voyages to Tharshish or elsewhere, comp. ' Indiamen,' and in this case, perhaps, the fleet rounded the Cape, and at all events made their voyage once in three years.26

In v.29-31 he repeats the concluding statement as to Solomon's reign, 1K.xi.41-43, but omits v.1-40, which reflects discredit on his fame and character, mentioning his multitude of heathen wives and concubines, his idolatries, the enemies raised up against him, his loss of territory, certainly of Syria and probably of Edom, Jeroboam's attempt at a rebellion, for which Solomon sought to kill him, and Ahijah's prediction that 'the kingdom should be rent out of the hand of Solomon,' i.e. out of his son's hand.

In v.28 he says that Solomon imported horses 'out of Egypt and out of all lands,' 27 instead of 'out of Egypt' only, as in 1K.x.28,29.

In v.29, instead of referring for the rest of the acts of Solomon' to the book of the acts of Solomon,' 1K.xi.41, he refers to

'the words of Nathan the Prophet, and the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the visions of Iddo the Seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat'—

meaning probably certain sections in 1Kings, viz. 1K.i,ii (Nathan), xi.1-40, comp. xii.15 (Ahijah), and xiii (in which later tradition identifies the unnamed prophet with Iddo). At any rate, he seems to have made no use whatever in his narrative of any additional information contained in these books beyond what he had before him in 1Kings; and GRAF concludes, p.134

Consequently, in 2Ch.i-ix, except viii.3 [see on viii.3 (351)], there is no indication anywhere of the use of any other source than 1K.iii-x, and in all the variations and additions we recognize everywhere only C's hand, modifying each description from his own point of view and according to the conceptions and explanations of his own time.

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CHAPTER XVIII.

THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES (REHOBOAM, ABIJAH, ASA, JEHOSHAPHAT).

REHOBOAM, 2Ch.X-XII.

353. In x-xii C repeats almost word for word from 1K.xii, xiv, making some additions, and omitting all which exclusively concerns Jeroboam, viz. 1K.xii.20,25-33, xiii, xiv.1-20.

In x.15 he copies heedlessly 1K.xii.15, referring to the 'prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite,' 1K.xi.31,&c., which, however, he has omitted.

In xi.5-12 he describes Rehoboam's fortresses and stores of provisions and armour, which, says GRAF, p.136, rests on another source than the Book of Kings.' But this passage only expands the statement of 1K.xii.21-24,-an insertion of the LL (165) in the original narrative—that Rehoboam thought of crushing the rebellion, but was deterred by a Divine admonition; and v.10,12, betrays the same mistake as we find in v.1,3 (1K. xii.21,23), viz. that of making Rehoboam's people consist of two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, instead of Judah only, 1K.xii.20, comp. xi.13,32. In fact C only gives here a list of towns which he may have written down for himself from mere conjecture (358), without the help of any ancient document, of which we have seen no traces as yet in his narrative. The passage also betrays the style of C himself (App.141).

354. In xi.13-17 he tells us that-because of Jeroboam's proceedings

the Priests and the Levites out of all Israel presented themselves to Rehoboam out of all their coasts; for the Levites forsook their suburbs and their possession (J.xxi,LL), and came to Judah and to Jerusalem'—

and all the pious Israelites of the Ten Tribes came after them to Jerusalem to seek Jahveh and to sacrifice to Him, v.16, by which means Rehoboam and Judah were strengthened for 'three years,' during which they walked in the way of David and Solomon,' v.17. This last statement is directly at variance with 1K.xiv.22-24; and, in fact, it was not very likely that Rehoboam, guided by the counsels of his younger companions, would renounce the idolatries which his father practised in his old age, if not indeed during all his life, 1K.xi.1-13, though C suppresses all mention of these, and speaks here of the way of Solomon' as an excellent example for his son to follow. The whole passage is merely a free expansion by C from his own point of view of 1K.xii.28–31, xiii.33, setting forth as strongly as possible the contrast between the (supposed) pure worship in Judah and the calf-worship in Ephraim, and the self-sacrificing devotedness of the Priests and Levites-of the latter especially, since they had to forsake all their possessions, the Levitical cities and their suburbs being all situated in the northern kingdom, according to J.xxi.5-8 (LL), whereas the Priests had their cities conveniently allotted to them centuries beforehand within the realm of Judah, in the immediate neighbourhood of the future Temple, v.4.

355. In xi.17 he makes Rehoboam faithful, and therefore also prosperous, only for three years, because Shishak king of Egypt captured and pillaged Jerusalem and the Temple in the fifth year of Rehoboam, 1K.xiv.25,26, and C wishes to represent this as a chastisement for his declension in the fourth year, xii.1-5, &c.

In v.21. Rehoboam's 18 wives, 60 concubines, 28 sons, and 60 daughters, comp. v.23b, are probably an addition by C, comp. xiii.21.

In xii.1-8,12,13, he uses Shishak's invasion for admonitory purposes, the words of Shemaiah the prophet, v.7,8, giving plain evidence of his own peculiar style (App.141).

In v.14 he changes the account of Israel's 'doing evil in the eyes of Jahveh,' 1K.xiv.22-24, into the statement that Rehoboam personally did evil, for he prepared not his heart to seek Jahveh.'

6

ABIJAH, 2Ch.XIII.

356. In xiii.3-20 C expands the simple statement in v.2b (=1K.xv.7), there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam,' into a circumstantial account how Abijah marched with 400,000 warriors against Jeroboam with 800,000, mighty-men of force,' v.3, and made a long speech to 'Jeroboam and all Israel' from Mount Zemaraim, v.4, though it is difficult to conceive how he could have got a hearing from them for an address of this character, as they were not his own soldiers, and there is no room here for the usual resource of supposing him to speak to a mere deputation of elders or other representatives. In this address he first claims the kingdom for David and his sons for ever, as a Divine gift, v.5; he then denounces Jeroboam's rebellion against his lord,' v.6, giving an entirely different colouring to it in v.7 from that which it has in 1K.xii, and styling Jeroboam's followers men of Belial,' accusing them of idolatry, v.8, and of having cast-out the Priests and Levites, and made their own Priests like other nations, v.9; and, lastly, he asserts for himself and his people that they cleave to Jahveh,' and have the Priests and Levites ministering among them, v.10, who carry out all the ordinances of the Law, v.11; and lo! Jahveh is their captain, and His Priests blow the trumpets for the charge, and so he defies the men of Ephraim, v.12. Of course, Abijah, though attacked before and behind, yet by Divine help, the Priests sounding with the trumpets and his

6

6

people shouting, v.14,15, routs Jeroboam thoroughly, and his 400,000 slay-i.e. perhaps, kill and wound-500,000 chosen men of Israel! v.17.28

357. As Abijah only reigned three years altogether, v.2, and C himself tells us that his son Asa

'took away the altars of the strange Elohim, and the high places, and brake-down the statues, and cut-down the asheras,' xiv.3—

which must consequently have existed in Abijah's time, it is plain that Abijah's boast about the purity of religion in Judah, and this whole extravagant story, is altogether fictitious,—not to speak of 1K.xv.12,13, which says that Asa also

'took away the sodomites (male devotees) out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made'

nay, that he removed for her idolatry his mother Maachah, Abijah's wife, from being queen, and burnt the phallus which she had made, a statement which C actually copies in xv.16, comp. also xv.8, besides which 1K.xv.3 tells us that Abijah 'walked in all the sins of his father,' though C omits this. And the language of this passage throughout is not that of an older document, but C's own (4pp.141).

358. In xiii.7 he makes Abijah say that his father Rehoboam was young and tender of heart,' and on that account could not stand against Jeroboam; whereas Rehoboam was 41 years old when he began to reign, 2Ch.xii.13 (from 1K.xiv.21),29 and he could muster 180,000 chosen warriors to fight with Jeroboam, according to 2Ch.xi.1 (from 1K.xii.21, LL).

In v.19 he makes Abijah pursue Jeroboam and take three cities from him which are mentioned by name, viz. 'Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephrain.' But this pursuit of Jeroboam is manifestly as fictitious as the rest of the narrative; and in fact he afterwards ascribes the capture of these cities to Abijah's son Asa, xv.8, xvii.2. And thus we see that C, when his story requires it, can write down names of places or (?) persons out of his own