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

by Sara Japhet

The heavy yoke of service which Solomon imposed on the people is a point which the Chronicler systematically suppressed (cf. I Kings 5.13–14 [MT 27–28]; ‘and this is the account of the forced labour which king Solomon levied’ in I Kings 9.15 – all omitted in Chronicles). Even administrative arrangements for the supplying of food for the royal table by twelve officers (I Kings 4.7–19) are absent from Chronicles, as well as the extravagant descriptions of Solomon’s provisions (I Kings 4.22–23). If we base ourselves on the history of Solomon as told in Chronicles, the people’s complaint has no basis whatsoever and is merely a false provocation, an excuse for rebellion which should never have been humoured. Indeed, this is the situation described in the Chronicler’s own account through Abijah’s speech in II Chron. 13.6–7.