[Hob. "chamber of the runners-'.' Solomon's to Jerusalem (eh. xi. 7), and that she golden shields were kept " in the house of exercised a sinister influence upon her son . the forest of Lebo.non" (eh. x. 17). These .A,J she is twice ea.lied " the Ammoniteas" it shields of brass were of so little va.luo that can hardly be doubted that she waa one of the guard cha.mber sufficed fortheircustody. the "Ammonitesses" \ch. xi. 1, Heh.) who Ver. 29.-Now the rest of the acts of turned away Solomon's heart ; and it is Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they also certain that Rehoboam did not inherit not written 1n the book of the chronicles of his folly from his father. At the same the kings of Judah 7 [Sec on ver. 19.J time these words are more easily accounted Ver. 30. - And there was war [cf. 2 for on the supposition that the historian Chron. xii. 15, "wars." Keil argues from found them in this position in one or more the prohibition of war by Shemaia.h (eh. of the documents from which he compiled his xii. 1!3) that this must mean "hostility, history. It is also to be remembered that enmity.'' But i11i':1?t? surely implies more some of these chronological statements are manifestly by a later hand, and have been than angry feelings or a hostile attitude; transferred from the margin to the text. See and it is highly probable that, even if there on eh. vi. 1.] And Abljam [elsewhere ea.lied were no organized campaigns, a desultory Abijah (2 Chron. xii. 16; xiii. 1), or Abijahu warfare was constantly carried on on the (2 Chron. xiii. 21, Heh,) Some MSS. have borders of the two kingdoms. It is also Abijah here. The variation is not easily possible that Jeroboam took a part in the accounted for except as a clerical error. war of Shishak] between Rehoboam and The supposition of Lightfoot that the name Jeroboam all their days. we.a designedly altered by the historian to Ver. 31.-And Rehoboam slept with his avoid the incorporation of the sacred J AII fathers [The same formula as in eh. ii. 10; into the name of a. bad man is too fanciful, xi. 43 ; xv. 8, 24, &o. It is used of nearly the more so as Abijam was by no means a.n all the kings of JudahJ , and was buried with exceptionally bad king. It is, however, his fathers [These words go to prove, against approved by Bii.h.r a.nd Rawlinson. But it Geseni us, that the phrase " slept (Ii t., lay is as little probable that Abija.m is the down) with his fathers" is not to be in- original form of the name (Keil). The form terpreted of Sheol, but of the grave; see on Abijahu, the LXX. 'A/3,ov, and the analogy eh. ii. 10] 1n the city of David. And hie of Abiel (1 Sam. ix. 1) all make against mother's name was Naamah, an Ammon- this idea. On the whole, it is more likely ltess. [Same words as in ver. 21. The repe- that Abijam .results from an error of trans- tition can hardly be, as Bahr, Wordsworth, oription, i1 and the final C being easily con- al., imagine, designed, in order to show that founded] his son reigned 1n his stead. the worship of Moloch was brought by her
HOMILETICS. Ver. 25.-The Invasion of Shiahak. Three years after the death of David, the foundations of the temple, the glory of that age-some have called it OTbia mira- culum, the marvel of every age-were la.id. Four years after the death of Solomon his son-some forty years, that is to say, after its foundation, three and thirty years after its completion, according to some only twenty years after its dedication-the treasures of that temple, its gold and gems, were carried off by an invader. A short time after his accession, age.in, Solomon made alliance with the strongest and proudest of the empires of that age, with Egypt, and a Hebrew, one whose fore- fathers were Pharaoh's bondmen, was gladly recognized as great Pharaoh's son-in- law. A short time after his death, this se.me Egyptian kingdom is become an assailant of Solomon's son, and Pharaoh is turned to be the oppressor and plun- derer of his realm. For a. great part of Solomon's reign it was the boast of the people that an Egyptian princess ocoupied one of his splendid palaces in Jerusalem, but he has not been long dead before those same palaces are rifled by Egyptian princes, and Jerusalem is environed by the legions of Shisha.k. And yet that temple, the magnificenoe of which ha.a been so short-lived, which was hardly completed ere it we.a despoiled, was built to the name of the Lord, and as a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. And as such it was aooepted by Him. That house had had a. greater glory and consecration than of gold 11,nd precious stones, for "the glory of the Lord had fill~-l the house of the Lord'' (oh. viii. 11). Why, then, is it, we may well ask, as the men of that 1.184 THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. [oB. XIV, 21-81,