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The next notice concerns the family relations of Rehoboam. It appears that he had
eighteen wives and sixty concubines (thirty, according to Josephus, Ant. 8. 10, 11),
following in this respect the evil example of Solomon. Of his wives only two^191 are
named, his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of Jerimoth, a son of David (either the same
as Ithream, 1 Chronicles 3:3, or the son of one of David's concubines, 1 Chronicles
3:9), and of Abihail, the daughter of Eliab, David's eldest brother; and Maachah, the
daughter, or rather, evidently, the granddaughter of Absalom,^192 through his only child,
Tamar (2 Samuel 14:27; 18:18; comp. Jos. Ant. 8. 10, 11), who had married Uriel of
Gibeah (2 Chronicles 13:2).
Maachah, named after her paternal great-grandmother (the mother of Absalom, 1
Chronicles 3:2), was the favorite of the king, and her eldest son, Abijah, made "chief
among his brethren," with succession to the throne. As already noticed, Rehoboam
took care to locate his other sons in the different districts of his territory, giving them
ample means for sustaining their rank, and forming numerous and influential alliances
for them.^193 Altogether Rehoboam had twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
From these general notices, which must be regarded as referring not to any single
period, but to the whole reign of Rehoboam, we pass to what, as regards the Scripture
narrative, is the most important event in this history. The fact itself is told in fullest
detail in the Book of Kings (1 Kings 14:22- 24); its punishment at the hand of God in
the Book of Chronicles (2 Chronicles 12:2, 12).
After the first three years of Rehoboam's reign a great change seems to have come over
the religious aspect of the country. Rehoboam and Judah did not, indeed, openly
renounce the worship of Jehovah. On the contrary, we find that the king continued to
attend the house of the LORD in royal state, and that after the incursion of Shishak
there was even a partial religious revival^194 (2 Chronicles 12:11, 12).
Still the general character of this period was, that "Rehoboam forsook the law of
Jehovah, and all Israel with him," that "he did evil in that he did not set his heart on
seeking Jehovah" (2 Chronicles 12:1, 14, lit.), and, lastly, that "Judah did the evil in the
sight of Jehovah, and provoked Him to jealousy (viewing the relation between the
LORD and Israel as one of marriage, Numbers 5:14) - more than anything which their
fathers had done by their sins which they sinned" (1 Kings 14:22). These sins consisted
in building Bamoth, or "high places," i.e., altars on every high hill, and setting up in
every grove Mazzeboth, or memorial-stones and pillars dedicated to Baal, and
Asherim, or trunks of trees dedicated to Astarte (with all the vileness which their
service implied).^195
(^)