| 2 CHRONICLES |
| Explanatory Footnotes - page 2 |
| 8:11 Inconsistent Ethics Solomon scrupulously kept Pharaoh's daughter, a Gentile foreigner, apart from the Jewish sacred places. Yet as the book of Kings shows, he eventually allowed his foreign wives to bring in their own idols, which had a disastrous effect on Israel. 9:12 An Unfounded Rumor The Queen of Sheba has mistakenly gone down in legend as one of Solomon's lovers. The king had 700 wives and 300 concubines, but the Queen of Sheba was not among them. The Queen's personal visit from hundreds of miles away shows Jerusalem's reputation as the sumptuous showpiece of the Middle East. She was probably on a high-level diplomatic mission. Solomon's kingdom represented a huge trade monopoly over the land route through Israel. Solomon financed his building projects through iron and copper-smelting industries. He traded these products to Arabia and Africa for gold, silver, ivory, and exotic animals. Evidently, he and the queen reached an agreement. 10:19 Playing Down the Rebellion Second Chronicles pays little attention to the rebellion of the ten northern tribes against the two tribes in Judah. As the book of Kings shows, the two kingdoms existed side by side, and the North, Israel, often achieved more power than the South. But Chronicles, written to survivors in the South, virtually ignores the history of the North. In fact, in several places it uses the word Israel to refer to the South, Judah. 13:4 A Brighter Outlook Typically, Chronicles paints a rosy picture of Judah's kings. The account of Abijah in Kings, for example, tells nothing of this speech and dismisses his reign as wicked (1 Kings 15:1-8). |
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