2 Chronicles 11:14

_FOR THE LEVITES LEFT THEIR SUBURBS AND THEIR POSSESSION, AND CAME TO JUDAH AND JERUSALEM: FOR JEROBOAM AND HIS SONS HAD CAST THEM OFF FROM EXECUTING THE PRIEST'S OFFICE UNTO THE LORD:_ No JFB commentary on this verse....

13-23 When the priests and Levites came to Jerusalem, the devout, pious Israelites followed them. Such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel, left the inheritance of their fathers, and went to Jerusalem, that they might have free access to the altar of God, and be out of the temptation to worship the calves. That is best for us, which is best for our souls; in all our choices, religious advantages must be sought before all outward conveniences. Where God's faithful priests are, his faithful people should be. And when it has been proved that we are willing to renounce our worldly interests, so far as we are called to do so for the sake of Christ and his gospel, we have good evidence that we are truly his disciples. And it is the interest of a nation to protect religion and religious people....

Verse 2 Chronicles 11:14. _THE LEVITES LEFT THEIR SUBURBS_] They and the priests were expelled from their offices by Jeroboam, lest they should turn the hearts of the people to the true God, and then they would revolt to Judah, 1 Kings 12:26; and therefore he established a new worship, and made new gods....

Jeroboam probably confiscated the Levitical lands for the benefit of this new priesthood. Under these circumstances the priests and Levites emigrated in large numbers to the southern kingdom; an act which was followed by a general emigration of the more pious Israelites 2 Chronicles 11:16....

EXPOSITION The first four verses of this chapter would have been better placed as the conclusion of the previous chapter. They correspond with 1 Kings 12:21-11; and they tell how Rehoboam was restrained from making bad worse, in a hopeless attempt to recover the seceding ten tribes, by war that would have been as bloody as foredoomed to failure. "The word of the Lord" to this intent came to the Prophet Shemaiah, and through him to Rehoboam. The remaining verses of the chapter are new matter, and belong to Chronicles alone. They tell how Rehoboam set to work to fortify his towns, or rather many of them (1 Kings 12:5); how he received priests and others from the kingdom of the ten tribes ...

FOR THE LEVITES LEFT THEIR SUBURBS AND THEIR POSSESSION,.... The cities and the fields adjacent to them, which were given them in the several tribes, and were in all forty eight; see Joshua 21:1 and came to Judah and Jerusalem; to the cities of Judah, which belonged to the Levites; and to Jerusalem, where they exercised their functions: FOR JEROBOAM AND HIS SONS HAD CAST THEM OFF FROM EXERCISING THE PRIEST'S OFFICE UNTO THE LORD; neither suffering them to go to Jerusalem in their courses, as they used to do by turns, nor to perform their office in their own dwellings, according to the law of God, in teaching and instructing the people....

Let us read, for our instruction, part of the story of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. 2 Chronicles 11:1. _And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he gathered of the house of Judah and Benjamin an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against Israel, that he might bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam. But the word of the LORD came to Sheniuiah the man of God, saying, Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: return every man to his house: for this thing is done of me. And they obeyed the words of the LORD, and returned from going against Jeroboam._ So far, so good. There was some degree of the fear of God in the minds of men when, at the bidding of a single prophet, a king would disband his

III. THE HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH:EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE CAPTIVITY 1. Decline and Apostasy under Rehoboam, Abijah and Asa CHAPTER 11 Rehoboam's Reign _ 1. The forbidden war (2 Chronicles 11:1)_ 2. The national defence (2 Chronicles 11:5) 3. Jeroboam's wickedness and Rehoboam's strength (2 Chronicles 11:13) 4. Rehoboam's family (2 Chronicles 11:18) The provocation to go to war with the tribes which had revolted was great. Rehoboam was ready to start the civil war. He gathered 180,000 men of Judah and Benjamin to fight against Israe

SHEMAIAH RESTRAINS REHOBOAM FROM ATTACKING JEROBOAM (see notes on 1 Kings 12:21). The variations between the two records are unimportant. 2 CHRONICLES 11:5. REHOBOAM ESTABLISHES HIMSELF IN JERUSALEM. There is nothing corresponding to this section in 1 K. 2 Chronicles 11:5. Rehoboam's cities of defence. Although these are not enumerated in 1 K. there is no reason to doubt that the Chronicler got the list of them from an authentic source. 2 Chronicles 11:13. This account of how the priests and Levites joined Rehoboam was probably inserted by the Chronicler,

The Prosperity of Rehoboam This section has no corresponding section in 1 Kin. On the other hand the Chronicler omits three important sections of 1 Kings 12:25-33 (the setting up of the golden calves), 2 Chronicles 13:1-22 (the episode of the prophet who cried against the altar in Beth-el) and 2 Chronicles 14:1-15 (the death of the son of Jeroboam)....