I And II Chronicles: A Commentary (The Old Testament Library)

by Sara Japhet

‘Riches’ and ‘strength’ – although of great positive significance in the Chronicler’s appraisal of Judean kings – are also a hidden test and may lead to disaster. This is shown in Chronicles by the examples of Rehoboam: ‘When the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong he forsook the law of the Lord’ (12.1), and even more of Uzziah: ‘But when he was strong he grew proud . . . For he was false to the Lord’ (26.16). Even Hezekiah did not withstand temptation (32.25). Both Uzziah and Hezekiah, when they waxed strong, fell into the pitfall of pride. Although the same phrase is used for Jehoshaphat, he alone escaped the moral danger of conceit. ‘His heart was proud (wayyigbah libbō, RSV ‘courageous’)’, not in his own achievement but ‘in the ways of the Lord’; what might have been a curse became a blessing.