## 1 Kings

J. N. Darby.

<42030E> 199

(Notes and Comments Vol. 2.)

1 Kings 6

- 1. I have no doubt at all that this applies to their being settled in the land. The Judges were three hundred and ninety years - rest two hundred and seventy nine, oppressions one hundred and eleven years - Samuel, up to Mizpeh, twelve - 402 years; Saul forty, David forty - 482, not taking into account overlapping of years of judges or reigns. Samson and the Philistines must not be counted apart, nor Eli; they were in the time of the oppression of the Philistines.

1 Kings 8

- 30. The whole of this prayer is founded on the direct government of God on the earth - does not go beyond the promises made to Moses.

- 66. This eighth day I suppose was at the end. It would seem from 2 Chronicles 7, 8, 9, that the Tabernacles was last, the dedication of the altar first. They went away at the end of the day of restraint.

1 Kings 9

- 25. Solomon also offered incense, and burnt offerings and peace offerings three times a year.

1 Kings 15

There is certainly confusion here, as verse 6 comes in after Abijam. It is some question to me if Maachah was Absalom's daughter or granddaughter. If Absalom's daughter, allowing only five years from Absalom's death, she must have been six years old at David's death; the common chronology gives eight. Rehoboam was a year old when Solomon began to reign, so that she was five or seven years older than Rehoboam if Absalom's daughter, supposing her born within a year before his death - the shortest possible almost. Solomon reigned forty years, this makes her forty-six or forty-eight at Rehoboam's accession. It is possible she may have been Absalom's granddaughter, as in Chronicles it is not said his mother was Maachah. If 2 Chronicles 11:20, 21, 22, be directly connected, it is clearly so. The mother's place was, and is a kind of official one in the East, not the wife's.

200 There remains 2 Chronicles 13:2, which, if not a mere misreading, must be compared with chapter 11:20-22; and, if the same Abijah, raises further the question of Absalom or Abishalom - is Absalom the son of David? The fact of 1 Kings 15:2 and 10, shows that something is to be sought out, some key I mean to it. The author of Kings and Chronicles cannot contradict themselves, nor each other, in the same passage, and both on the same point.

I think it is evident that it was not Absalom's daughter - it might be his granddaughter but it is very doubtful. Maachah may have been Abijah's grandmother. But there seems little doubt Abijah's mother was of Benjamin; it may be she was called Michaiah, and Maachah as the change of name is the commonest thing possible. Uriel and Abishalom were both known. One Uriel, I suppose, her father, the other a wellknown ancestor. So Abihail, 2 Chronicles 11:18, is evidently only a descendant of Eliab's. It is thus possible, though I doubt it, that Maachah may have been a granddaughter of Absalom, and daughter of Uriel. What adds to the probability of this is that Absalom was son of Maachah, so that the name may have been kept in the family; 1 Chron. 3:2. Uriel was a Benjamite, and called his daughter Michaiah; Maachah was given in Judah where David's family connection was naturally kept up.

1 Kings 18

- 36. Elijah cries, as Moses did, to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Who was happiest and nearest the Lord? It is not in the worst times, at any rate, we are always farthest from God. The people took no heed when the question was on their faith in the God of Abraham; on the proposition of a sign they say "It is good." This shows their state - it was a sad but a misled one; the rulers of this people caused them to err - a pitiable one, but what a sign of the power of Satan.

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