¹⁷So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years: for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.
17. three years] There were three years of prosperity, in the fourth year Judah fell away into idolatry, and in the fifth year chastisement overtook them by the hand of Shishak (xii. 1–3). For the significance of this, see the note on xii. 14.
of David and Solomon] The Chronicler here as elsewhere ignores the fall of Solomon. In 1 Kings xi. 4–6 an express distinction is made between the way of David and the way of Solomon.
¹⁸And Rehoboam took him a wife, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail[¹] the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse; ¹⁹and she bare him sons; Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham.
[¹] Or, and Abihail.
18. Jerimoth] Nothing is known regarding a son of David of this name. He may have been the son of a concubine (1 Chronicles iii. 9).
and of Abihail] i.e. Mahalath’s father was Jerimoth, her mother Abihail. The Authorized Version “and Abihail” wrongly implies that Abihail was, like Mahalath, a wife of Rehoboam.
Eliab] David’s eldest brother; 1 Samuel xvi. 6, xvii. 13.
²⁰And after her he took Maacah[¹] the daughter of Absalom; and she bare him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines, and begat twenty and eight sons and threescore daughters.) ²²And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, even the prince among his brethren: for he was minded to make him king.
[¹] In chapter xiii. 2, Micaiah the daughter of Uriel.