¹²And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from him, that he would not destroy him altogether: and moreover in Judah there were good things _found_. =12.= _in Judah were good things_ found] i.e. piety, compare xix. 3. This is said as giving an additional reason for the mercy which God had showed (verse 7). Doubtless it is also intended to emphasise the religious superiority of the South over the North; compare the note on xi. 20. =13‒16= (compare 1 Kings xiv. 21, 29‒31). SUMMARY OF REHOBOAM’S REIGN. ¹³So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. =13.= _strengthened himself_] See note on i. 1. The immediate reference is to a recovery of strength after the departure of Shishak; the further reference is to xi. 5. _forty and one years old ... and he reigned seventeen years_] So read both the Hebrew and LXX. here and in 1 Kings xiv. 21, but in the additional passage which follows 1 Kings xii. 24 in LXX. (B, not A) we read, _sixteen_ _years old ... and twelve years he reigned_. No importance however can be attached to this variation, for the passage which contains it is plainly midrashic in character. _the city which the LORD had chosen_] Though the Ten Tribes were lost to the house of David, the Lord kept his oath to David by securing to his seed the possession of the one holy city of Israel. ¹⁴And he did that which was evil, because he set not his heart to seek the LORD.