- 143-
idolatrous reigns of Joash and Amaziah. See Keil, Bibl. Commentar, vol. iii., pp. 137,
138.
(^178) Jewish commentators expressly account for the gathering of the ten tribes at
Shechem on the ground of their intention to make Jeroboam their king.
(^179) The LXX version has here several additions about the mother of Jeroboam, his stay
in Egypt, his conduct after his return, etc. This is not the place to discuss them in detail,
but they may safely be rejected as legendary, and, indeed, quite in the spirit of later
Jewish tradition.
(^180) Probably Jeroboam returned of his own account, but did not go to Shechem until he
was sent for by the deputies of Israel. This accords with the two versions. There is no
need further to discuss here the reading, or rather the proper punctuation of 1 Kings
12:2, 3.
(^181) So literally.
(^182) So literally.
(^183) As three persons of that name are mentioned (2 Samuel 20:24; 1 Kings 5:6; 12:18)
who must have lived at different times, may not "Adoram" be the appellation of the
office?
(^184) The one Hebrew word means both - and probably the two belonged to the same
department of royal dues.
(^185) This is implied in ver. 18; see the marginal rendering.
(^186) In point of fact, 2 Chronicles 11:16 does not necessarily imply any settlement of the
pious laity in Judah; and even the evidence for that of the priests and Levites is not
quite convincing (see the next chapter).
(^187) Compare Mr. Poole's admirable article on "Shishak," in Smith's Dictionary of the
Bible, vol. Iii. pp. 1287-1295.
(^188) The LXX has 120,000, but the number in the Hebrew text is moderate (comp. 2
Samuel 24:9).
(^189) From 2 Chronicles 12:15 we learn that Shemaiah wrote a history of the reign of
Rehoboam.
(^)