=14.= _he set not his heart_] The phrase implies _steady purpose_. The Chronicler concludes that Rehoboam must be classed as a king who was good but not entirely so. The considerations which chiefly influenced him in determining the character of this reign were perhaps two: on the one hand the invasion of Shishak was felt to be a fixed point, a disaster only to be accounted for in the Chronicler’s view by _some_ falling away from assiduous worship of Jehovah; and on the other hand it seemed incredible that the second direct descendant of David on the throne of Israel should have been seriously corrupt. The situation was met by representing Rehoboam as having been three years faithful (and therefore prosperous), and one year faithless (and therefore assailed by Shishak in the fifth year). The favourable aspect of his reign was further emphasised by the statement of verse 16, and by the suppression of the three damaging passages in Kings, referred to in the head-note to xi. 5‒23. It is very obvious that the resultant picture of the king is much less true to historical reality than the account in Kings; but it serves excellently to illustrate the Chronicler’s contention that virtue prospers and vice is punished. And once more we may insist that the value of this writer for us lies supremely in the energy and the conviction with which he seeks to drive home this great moral and spiritual belief. ¹⁵Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the histories¹ of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, after the manner of genealogies²? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. ¹⁶And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah his son reigned in his stead. ¹ Hebrew _words_. ² Or, _in reckoning the genealogies_. =15.= _in the histories of ..._] See Introduction § 5. _Iddo_] compare xiii. 22, and see note on ix. 29. _after the manner of genealogies_] margin _in reckoning the genealogies_; but literally “_to enrol themselves_.” This most obscure phrase is perhaps a meaningless fragment due to textual corruption. Another suggestion is that it has been misplaced and should be read at the end of xi. 16. CHAPTER XIII. =1, 2= (= 1 Kings xv. 1, 2). ABIJAH SUCCEEDS. ¹In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. =1.= _Abijah_] Called _Abijam_ in 1 Kings (LXX. Ἀβιού, i.e. Abijahu). ²Three years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.