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Boasting
Reading 2 Chronicles 9, you pick up the following words.. “Solomon’s reputation, to test him, impressing people, giving gifts, give anything they ask for, having influence, having great riches..” This is a reminder of the story of Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 32:25 – who was a good king, just like Solomon, also meaning good and following YHWH’s ways. But the boasting in the wealth and kingdom made YHWH angry, and in the end all the riches were taken away.
In 2 Chronicles 10, we read that actually Solomon made the people also work very hard and laid heavy taxes on the people. This is part of the reason whey the kingdom was split after Solomon – between Jeroboam and Rehoboam – the North and South – Israel and Judah.
Non-canonical books
2 Chronicles 9:29 “And the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Aḥiyah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Yaroḇ‛am son of Neḇat?”
2 Chronicles 12:15 “And the acts of Reḥaḇ‛am, the first and the last, are they not written in the book of Shemayah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies?”
Reading further in 2 Chronicles, a few of these “books” are mentioned. We covered the list of books that are mentioned all throughout Scripture in 1 Kings 15-17 (click here to read more). These books are called non-canonical books – which means it was decided not to include these books in Scripture (most common bible translations today) – however they are mentioned in Scripture and were read and used before.
Kingdom Division
2 Chronicles 10:1-2 “And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for to Shechem were all Israel come to make him king. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of Solomon the king, heard it, that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.”
Rehoboam and Jeroboam were key figures in the division of the Israelite kingdom after the death of Solomon. Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, ruled the southern kingdom of Judah, while Jeroboam became the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel.
Both person’s names have “am” at the end, which in Hebrew is H5971 – ʿam, meaning people or nation. Jeroboam’s name begins with Ye-Rib, where Rib H7378 – rîḇ means to strive, contend with or plead with. Rehoboam begins with Rahab H7337 – rāḥaḇ, meaning to enlarge, widen or make place for. Both these kings had their own ideas and will in mind, and caused the split among Israel and Judah. Rehoboam H7346 = “a people has enlarged”, or even boastful enlarged by themselves, and Jeroboam H3379 = “the people will contend”, contending among each other and with YHWH.
In 1 Kings 11-12, we can read more about the kingdom split:
12 Tribes Split, 2 Kingdoms: https://shalom-everlasting.com/scripture-daily-reading-plan/kings1-10-11/
New Religious System: https://shalom-everlasting.com/scripture-daily-reading-plan/kings1-12-14/
