Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 11:42

"And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years." — 1 Kings 11:42 (ASV)

Forty years. —Solomon's reign was thus of the same length as his father's. (See 1 Kings 2:11.) The coincidence is curious, but the accurate historical character of the whole narrative forbids the idea that the numbers given are merely round numbers signifying long duration. Josephus gives eighty years—either by an error in his Hebrew text or perhaps by confusing the duration of the two reigns.

NOTE. —The insertion in the Septuagint version, found in the Vatican manuscript after 1 Kings 12:24, runs as follows:—

And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, a servant of Solomon, and his name was Jeroboam; and his mother’s name was Sarira, a woman who was a harlot. And Solomon made him taskmaster [literally, “master of the staff,” or “scourge”] over the burdens [forced labours] of the house of Joseph; and he built for Solomon Sarira, which is in Mount Ephraim; and he had three hundred chariots. It was he who built the citadel [the “Millo”], by the labours of the house of Ephraim, and completed the fortification of the city of David. And he was exalting himself to seek the kingdom. And Solomon sought to put him to death; so he feared, and escaped to Sousakim [Shishak], king of Egypt, and was with him until the death of Solomon.

And Jeroboam heard in Egypt that Solomon was dead, and he spoke in the ears of Sousakim, king of Egypt, saying, Send me away, and I will go back to my own land. And Sousakim said to him, Ask a request of me, and I will give it to you. And he gave to Jeroboam Ano, the elder sister of his own wife Thekemina [Tahpenes] to be his wife. She was great among the daughters of the king, and bore to Jeroboam Abias [Abijah] his son. And Jeroboam said to Sousakim, Send me away now, and I will go back. And Jeroboam departed from Egypt, and came to the land of Sarira, in Mount Ephraim, and there gathered together to him the whole strength of Ephraim. And Jeroboam built a fortress there.

Then follows, with variations of detail, the story of the sickness of Abijah, the visit of Jeroboam’s wife to Ahijah, and the message of judgment, corresponding to 1 Kings 14:1–18. The narrative then continues thus:—

And Jeroboam went his way to Shechem, in Mount Ephraim, and gathered together there the tribes of Israel; and Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, went up there. And the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, the Enlamite, saying: Take to yourself a new garment, which has never been in water, and tear it in ten pieces; and you shall give them to Jeroboam, and shall say to him, Take for yourself ten pieces, to clothe yourself with them. And Jeroboam took them; and Shemaiah said, These things says the Lord, signifying the ten tribes of Israel.

The whole concludes with an account, given with some characteristic variations, of the remonstrance with Rehoboam, the rebellion, and the prohibition by Shemaiah of the intended attack of Rehoboam, corresponding to 1 Kings 12:1–24.

This half-independent version of the history is interesting, but obviously far inferior in authority to the Hebrew text. The incidents fit less naturally into each other; the warning of Ahijah as to the destruction of the house of Jeroboam is obviously out of place. By the ascription to Shemaiah of the prophecy of Jeroboam’s royalty, the striking coincidence of the authorship of the two predictions of prosperity and disaster is lost.

The record of Shishak’s dealings with Jeroboam is apparently imitated from the history of Hadad at the court of the earlier Pharaoh, and the circumstances of Jeroboam’s assumption of royal pretensions are improbable. Josephus, moreover, ignores this version of the story altogether, nor is it found in any other version.

Its origin is unknown, and its growth curious enough. But it does not seem to throw much fresh light on the history.