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the Davidic kingship contains the preparations for the building of the temple, and the laying down of more permanent regulations for the ordering of the worship; and that which David had prepared for, and so earnestly impressed upon his son Solomon at the transfer of the crown, Solomon carried out. Immediately after the throne had been secured to him, he took in hand the building of the temple; and the account of this work fills the greater part of the history of his reign, while the description of his kingly power and splendour and wisdom, and of all the other undertakings which he carried out, is of the shortest. When ten tribes revolted from the house of David after his death, Rehoboam's design of bringing the rebellious people again under his dominion by force of arms was checked by the prophet Shemaiah with the words, “Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren, for this thing is done of me” (2Ch 11:4). But in their revolt from the house of David, which Jeroboam sought to perpetuate by the establishment of an idolatrous national worship, Israel of the ten tribes had departed from the covenant communion with Jahve; and on this ground, and on this account, the history of that kingdom is no further noticed by the chronicler. The priests and Levites came out of the whole Israelite dominion to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons expelled them from the priesthood. After them, from all the tribes of Israel came those who gave their hearts to seek Jahve the God of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Jahve the God of their fathers (2Ch 11:13-16), for “Jerusalem is the city which Jahve has chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name there” (2Ch 12:13). The priests, Levites, and pious people who went over from Israel made the kingdom of Judah strong, and confirmed Rehoboam's power, for they walked in the ways of David and Solomon (2Ch 11:17).
But when the kingdom of Rehoboam had been firmly established, he forsook the law of Jahve, and all Israel with him (2Ch 12:1). Then the Egyptian king Shishak came up against Jerusalem, “because they had transgressed against the Lord” (2Ch 12:2). The prophet Shemaiah proclaimed the word of the Lord: “Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak” (2Ch 12:5). Yet when Rehoboam and the princes of Israel humbled themselves, the anger of the Lord turned from him, that He would not destroy him altogether (2Ch 12:6, 2Ch 12:12). King Abijah reproaches