=15.= _the he-goats_] The heathen Arabs believed in the existence of demons (called _jinn_) having various animal forms and inhabiting deserted places, and this belief was shared by the Hebrews (compare Isaiah xiii. 21). In this verse and in Leviticus xvii. 7, the writers seem to identify the gods worshipped by the heathen with these demons. (Compare W. R. Smith, _Religion of the Semites_², pp. 120 ff.) _the calves_] Not previously mentioned in Chronicles; 1 Kings xii. 28. ¹⁷So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years: for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon. =17.= _three years_] There were three years of prosperity, in the fourth year Judah fell away into idolatry, and in the fifth year chastisement overtook them by the hand of Shishak (xii. 1‒3). For the significance of this, see the note on xii. 14. _of David and Solomon_] The Chronicler here as elsewhere ignores the fall of Solomon. In 1 Kings xi. 4‒6 an express distinction is made between the way of David and the way of Solomon. ¹⁸And Rehoboam took him a wife, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, _and of_ Abihail¹ the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse; ¹⁹and she bare him sons; Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham. ¹ Or, and _Abihail_. =18.= _Jerimoth_] Nothing is known regarding a son of David of this name. He may have been the son of a concubine (1 Chronicles iii. 9). and of _Abihail_] i.e. Mahalath’s father was Jerimoth, her mother Abihail. The Authorized Version “and Abihail” wrongly implies that Abihail was, like Mahalath, a wife of Rehoboam. _Eliab_] David’s eldest brother; 1 Samuel xvi. 6, xvii. 13. ²⁰And after her he took Maacah¹ the daughter of Absalom; and she bare him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines, and begat twenty and eight sons and threescore daughters.) ²²And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, _even_ the prince among his brethren: for _he was minded_ to make him king. ¹ In chapter xiii. 2, _Micaiah the daughter of Uriel_. =20.= _Maacah_] Perhaps the _grand_-daughter of Absalom, since she is called the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah in xiii. 2 (where, with LXX., read “Maacah” for “Michaiah”; and see the note there). According to 2 Samuel xviii. 18 Absalom had “no son to keep his name in remembrance” but he may have had a daughter who married Uriel and became the mother of this Maacah; and further in 2 Samuel xiv. 27 it is said that Absalom had three sons and a daughter named _Tamar_. These sons may all have died young, but perhaps xiv. 27 is another tradition differing from xviii. 18. _Abijah_] Called “Abijam” 1 Kings xv. 1.