Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Chronicles 11:18

"And Rehoboam took him a wife, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, [and of] Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse;" — 2 Chronicles 11:18 (ASV)

PARTICULARS CONCERNING REHOBOAM’S FAMILY (2 Chronicles 11:18–23).

This record also is missing in the Book of Kings. It appears to have been derived from the sources designated in 2 Chronicles 12:15.

The daughter. —Rightly, Septuagint, Vulgate, and many Hebrew manuscripts for the ordinary reading son.

Of Jerimoth the son of David —Jerimoth does not occur in the list of David’s sons (1 Chronicles 3:1–8), unless we suppose the name to be a corruption of “Ithream.” Probably he was one of the sons of the concubines (1 Chronicles 3:9).

And Abihail. —The and is not in the present Hebrew text, but is supplied by the Septuagint; “And of Abihail” is probably the meaning, so that both of Mahalath’s parents are named. The Septuagint and Vulgate make Abihail a second wife of Rehoboam; but 2 Chronicles 11:19–20, as well as the construction of the sentence, make it evident that only one wife is mentioned here. A daughter of David’s eldest brother could hardly become the wife of David’s grandson.

Eliab the son of Jesse. — 1 Samuel 17:13; 1 Chronicles 2:13.