2 Chronicles 11:1 - Exposition

He gathered of the house of Judah and Benjamin . The parallel ( 1 Kings 12:21 ) says more distinctly, "The house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin." They of Jeroboam ( 2 Chronicles 10:16 ) had flung it at Judah: "Now, David, see to thine own house." Rehoboam, of course, does this very thing. For the first time,formally, Benjamin is now introduced as throwing in its lot with Judah, and the acted prophecy of Ahijah is seen fulfilled; the chiefest of the tribes, and the tribe that came of the youngest and most petted of old Jacob's sons, are now wedded to the end. The tribe of Benjamin lay hemmed in between Ephraim, to which it had once much leaned, and to which (as Benjamin was the blood-uncle of Ephraim) it was more closely related, and Judah, with which it had once been at variance ( 2 Samuel 2:12-32 ; 2 Samuel 3:1-27 ; 2 Samuel 20:1 ). But exactly on the border-line of Judah and Benjamin rose the city Jerusalem and the temple ( Joshua 15:8 ; Joshua 18:16 ; Jeremiah 20:2 ); and, beyond doubt, this fact had helped to bring about the much more friendly feeling, if not absolutely close union, that now for some time had existed between these two tribes in their contiguous allotments. A hundred and four-score thousand chosen men, which were warriors. According to Joab, in David's time the men able to bear arms of Judah alone were five hundred thousand ( 2 Samuel 24:9 ). Compare the numbers in the next reign ( 2 Chronicles 13:3 ), and, later on still, in Jehoshaphat's ( 2 Chronicles 17:14-18 ). Both of these show that Abijah and Jehoshaphat respectively had improved the time given to training much larger armies, whereas now Rehoboam was taken by surprise.