[529] LXX., 2 Sam. viii. 7; 1 Kings x. 17. A timely humiliation saved Rehoboam from extinction, but he practically became a vassal of Egypt (2 Chron. xii. 5).

[530] תָּא (Ezek. xl. 7).

[531] Ratzim; comp. "Celeres," Liv., i. 14. We hear no more of Cherethites and Pelethites. The later kings could not afford to keep up these mercenaries.

[532] Jewish Church, ii. 385.

[533] Renan.

[534] 2 Chron. xii. 16; comp. Abiel (1 Sam. ix. 1).

[535] Abijam seems to mean "father of the sea"; vir maritimus, Gesenius.

[536] So perhaps, for the same reason, Jehoahaz was shortened into Ahaz. See Canon Rawlinson on 2 Kings xv. 38 (Speaker's Commentary). But Simonis, Onomasticon, regards the final m as intensive.

[537] 2 Chron. xi. 18-23. Rehoboam had eighteen wives, sixty concubines, twenty-eight sons, and sixty daughters. A fragment of the Stemma Davidis may make things clearer to the reader:—

Jesse.
|
+----------+------------+
Eliab. David.
| |
| +------+--------+
Abihial. Solomon. Absalom.
| |
+--+ |
| |
Abihail = Rehoboam = Maachah. Tamar = Uriel.
| |
Abijah. Maachah.