Part 369

14:21. And Roboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Juda: Roboam was one and forty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naama, an Ammonitess.

14:22. And Juda did evil in the sight of the Lord, and provoked him above all that their fathers had done, in their sins which they committed.

14:23. For they also built them altars, and statues, and groves, upon every high hill, and under every green tree:

14:24. There were also the effeminate in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the people, whom the Lord had destroyed before the face of the children of Israel.

The effeminate. . .Catamites, or men addicted to unnatural lust.

14:25. And in the fifth year of the reign of Roboam, Sesac, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem.

14:26. And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the king's treasures, and carried all off: as also the shields of gold which Solomon had made:

14:27. And Roboam made shields of brass instead of them, and delivered them into the hand of the captains of the shieldbearers, and of them that kept watch before the gate of the king's house.

14:28. And when the king went into the house of the Lord, they whose office it was to go before him, carried them: and afterwards they brought them back to the armoury of the shieldbearers.

14:29. Now the rest of the acts of Roboam, and all that he did, behold they are written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda.

14:30. And there was war between Roboam and Jeroboam always.

14:31. And Roboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with them, in the city of David: and his mother's name was Naama, an Ammonitess: and Abiam, his son, reigned in his stead.

3 Kings Chapter 15

The acts of Abiam and of Asa kings of Juda. And of Nadab and Baasa kings of Israel.

15:1. Now in the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, Abiam reigned over Juda.

15:2. He reigned three years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Maacha, the daughter of Abessalom.

Maacha, etc. . .She is called elsewhere Michaia, daughter of Uriel; but it was common in those days for the same person to have two names.

15:3. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David, his father.

15:4. But for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem:

15:5. Because David had done that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from any thing that he commanded him, all the days of his life, except the matter of Urias, the Hethite.

15:6. But there was war between Roboam and Jeroboam all the time of his life.

15:7. And the rest of the words of Abiam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? And there was war between Abiam and Jeroboam.

15:8. And Abiam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa, his son, reigned in his stead.

15:9. So in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, reigned Asa, king of Juda,

15:10. And he reigned one and forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacha, the daughter of Abessalom.

His mother, etc. . .That is, his grandmother; unless we suppose, which is not improbable, that the Maacha here named is different from the Maacha mentioned, ver. 2.

15:11. And Asa did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, as did David, his father:

15:12. And he took away the effeminate out of the land, and removed all the filth of the idols, which his fathers had made.