II Chronicles 11:21
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Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Rehoboam's defection from the Lord, and his humiliation by the Egyptian king Shishak. - Ch2 12:1. The infinitive כּהכין, "at the time of the establishing," with an indefinite subject, may be expressed in English by the passive: when Rehoboam's royal power was established. The words refer back to Ch2 11:17. כּחזקתו, "when he had become strong" (חזקה is a nomen verbale: the becoming strong; cf. Ch2 26:16; Ch2 11:2), he forsook the Lord, and all Israel with him. The inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah are here called Israel, to hint at the contrast between the actual conduct of the people in their defection from the Lord, and the destiny of Israel, the people of God. The forsaking of the law of Jahve is in substance the fall into idolatry, as we find it stated more definitely in Kg1 14:22.
Open source ↗We are here going on with the history of Rehoboam. I. His attempt to recover the ten tribes he has lost, and the letting fall of that attempt in obedience to the divine command (Ch2 11:1-4). II. His successful endeavours to preserve the two tribes that remained (Ch2 11:5-12). III. The resort of the priests and Levites to him (Ch2 11:13-17). IV. An account of his wives and children (Ch2 11:18-23).
Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.
Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.
He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.
After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.
Rehoboam also acted wisely by dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and sought many wives for them.