seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Chronicles 11:18 Rehoboam married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab. 19 She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah and Zaham. 20 Then he married Maakah daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith. 21 Rehoboam loved Maakah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
22 Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maakah as crown prince among his brothers, in order to make him king. 23 He acted wisely, dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and took many wives for them.
The easy English had a lot to say about Solomon's son. Jesse had 8 sons. Eliab was the oldest of these sons (1 Samuel 17:13). He had a daughter or, more probably, a granddaughter called Abihail. David was another son of Jesse. David had a son called Jerimoth. Jerimoth and Abihail married and they had a daughter. And Mahalath married Rehoboam. By Mahalath, Rehoboam had three sons Jeush, Shemariah and Zaham.
Absalom, a son of David, had three sons and one daughter called Tamar (2 Samuel 14:27). The three sons died before their father Absalom (2 Samuel 18:18). Maacah was probably the daughter of Tamar. Tamar was the wife of Solomon’s son, Uriel (13:2).
Rehoboam married Maacah and she was his favourite wife. They had 4 children. One of these was Abijah who later became king.
God said that the king must not have many wives (Deuteronomy 17:17). Solomon did not obey this command and he had 700 wives of first rank and 300 other wives. These wives caused him to turn away from the LORD (1 Kings 11:3-4). Rehoboam was not as bad as his father was. But, like his father, he did not obey the LORD’s command. He had 18 wives of first rank and 60 other wives.
Rehoboam loved Maacah more than he loved Mahalath. And he gave to Abijah, son of Maacah, the position that he should have given to his first son Jeush. In this, he did not obey God’s law (Deuteronomy 21:15-17).
The choice of Abijah as the chief prince might mean that Abijah ruled with his father. In the same way, David made Solomon king while David was still alive (1 Chronicles 23:1).
Such a decision might have caused a lot of trouble in the family. Rehoboam was wise to send his sons to different parts of his kingdom. He gave to them authority over cities. He provided them with all that they needed. He even found wives for them. In this way, he made sure that they would not oppose his choice of Abijah.
Now.... I have a problem with the commentary. At the end of the second paragraph.Tamar was the wife of Solomon's son, Uriel (2 Chronicles 13:2)
2 Chronicles 13:2 and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maakah,[a] a daughter[b] of Uriel of Gibeah.
There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
Footnotes:
a. 2 Chronicles 13:2 Most Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also 11:20 and 1 Kings 15:2); Hebrew Micaiah
b. 2 Chronicles 13:2 Or granddaughter
a. 2 Chronicles 13:2 Most Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also 11:20 and 1 Kings 15:2); Hebrew Micaiah
b. 2 Chronicles 13:2 Or granddaughter
Now I have italicized the three words I'm having a problem with "Solomon's son, Uriel". I don't know how many times I have asked the questions.... why did Solomon have 700 wives and 300 concubines and only four children? Then when we got down to the four children.... turned out there were two boys and two girls. One of the two boys was supposed to be the son of the Queen of Sheba.... so he wasn't around... and the other son was Rehoboam. So this can Uriel could not be Solomon's son.... right?
Well I googled "Uriel in the Bible" and the google results led me to an angel in an apocryphal book "Second Book of Esdras". Well I figure if an angel was married to Tamar, there would be a whole lot more about it. So I went back to the scripture the commentary used and found that I should be googling "Uriel of Gibeah in the Bible".
So this commentary from Studylight.org made it a little clearer for me.
1. A Kohathite Levite, son of Tahath and father of Uzziah (1 Chronicles 6:24; apparently the same in Zephaniah (2 Chronicles 6:36). B.C. cir. 1550.
2. Chief of the Kohathites of the family of Korah in the reign of David, who assisted, together with one hundred and twenty of his brethren, in bringing the ark from the house of Obededom (1 Chronicles 15:5; 1 Chronicles 15:11). B.C. 1043.
3. Uriel of Gibeah was the father of Maachah, or Michaiah, the favorite wife of Rehoboam, and mother of Abijah (2 Chronicles 13:2). B.C. ante 973. In 11:20 she is called "Maachah the daughter of Absalom;" and Josephus (Ant. 8, 10,1) explains this by saying that her mother was Tamar, Absalom's daughter. Rashi gives a long note to the effect that Michaiah was called Maachah after the name of her daughter-in-law, the mother of Asa, who was a woman of renown, and that her father's name was Uriel Abishalom. There is no indication, however, that Absalom, like Solomon, had another name, although in the Targum of R. Joseph on Chronicles it is said that the father of Maachah was called Uriel, that the name of Absalom might not be mentioned.
4. Uriel is also named in the Apocrypha (2 Esdras 4:1; 2 Esdras 4:36; 2 Esdras 5:20; 2 Esdras 10:28) as an angel or archangel; and in the book of Enoch he is described as "the angel of thunder and lightning" (ch. 20), and as being "placed over all the lights of heaven" (75:3).
So I guess the commentary had everything in order.... the point is.... Rehoboam loved his son Abijah more because Rehoboam loved Abijah's mother most of all. We've seen this before with Rebecca and Rachel. Some women are just special. Uriel was not the angel Uriel.... so everything is legal. He split his kids up all over Judah and kept the arguments to a minimum.
