21
Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ū·rə·ḥaḇ·‘ām ben- šə·lō·mōh mā·laḵ bî·hū·ḏāh rə·ḥaḇ·‘ām ’ar·bā·‘îm wə·’a·ḥaṯ šā·nāh ben- bə·mā·lə·ḵōw mā·laḵ ū·šă·ḇa‘ ‘eś·rêh šā·nāh bî·rū·šā·lim hā·‘îr Yah·weh bā·ḥar mik·kōl šiḇ·ṭê yiś·rā·’êl ’ă·šer- lā·śūm ’eṯ- šə·mōw šām ’im·mōw wə·šêm na·‘ă·māh hā·‘am·mō·nîṯ
Word by word31 · parsed
√ Rᵉchabʻâm — Rechabam, an Israelite kingConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular
√ mâlak — to reignVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
mâlak — to reign (Qal perfect) The perfect states the reign as an accomplished whole before any evaluation is offered. Note what is not said: the formula that governs this second half of the book normally adds a verdict, and here the verdict is withheld until verse 22, where it falls not on Rehoboam but on Judah.
√ Yᵉhûwdâh — Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five IsraelitesPreposition-bNounpropermasculine singular
√ Rᵉchabʻâm — Rechabam, an Israelite kingNounpropermasculine singular
√ ʼarbâʻîym — fortyNumbercommon plural
√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iConjunctive wawNumberfeminine singular construct
√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine singular
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
bên — a son, in the widest sense The age idiom, a son of forty and one year. Poole and Gill both press the arithmetic: born a year before Solomon's accession, "he was old enough to have been wiser" (Poole). Cambridge records the counter-pressure, that 2 Chronicles 13:7 calls him young and tender-hearted, and that a few manuscripts read 21; the Hebrew before us reads 41 and we have kept it.
√ mâlak — to reignPreposition-bVerbQalInfinitive constructthird person masculine singular
√ mâlak — to reignVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
√ shebaʻ — seven (as the sacred full one)Conjunctive wawNumberfeminine singular construct
√ ʻâsâr — ten (only in combination), iNumberfeminine singular
√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine singular
√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)ArticleNounfeminine singular
ʻîyr — a city, a place guarded by a watch The one noun the historian pauses over, and he pauses by piling four clauses on it: the city, which YHWH chose, out of all the tribes, to set His Name there. Ellicott measures what that meant politically, that in the north "one capital succeeded another; Shechem, Tirzah, Samaria, Jezreel, became rival cities," while in Judah no city could stand beside Jerusalem. The weight of the noun is borrowed entirely from the verb that follows it.
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
√ bâchar — properly, to try, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
bâchar — to choose, properly to try The theological pivot of the verse. YHWH is the subject of the only verb in the sentence that is not about Rehoboam. Pulpit draws the consequence: Bethel and Dan were no sanctuaries of God's choosing, and however shrunken the realm, Rehoboam still reigned in the capital of God's choice. K&D reads the same clause as a deliberate contrast with the idolatry of verse 23 rather than only a jab at the ten tribes.
√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct
√ shêbeṭ — a scion, iNounmasculine plural construct
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
√ sûwm — to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
sûwm — to put, to set Qal infinitive construct with lᵉ: the purpose of the choosing. The city is not chosen for its site or its king but as the place where a Name is deposited. Everything the next three verses report happens inside that purpose clause.
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
shêm — an appellation, a mark or memorial of individuality His Name is marked as a definite direct object by אֶת־, as if the Name were a thing set down in a place. The same noun returns four words later for Naamah's name, so the verse closes by setting the Name God put in Jerusalem beside the name of the Ammonite queen mother in the palace.
√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb
√ ʼêm — a mother (as the bond of the family)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular
ʼêm — a mother, as the bond of the family K&D denies that she is named because she seduced the king, and grounds the notice in the standing influence of the queen mother, since the mother is named for every king of Judah. JFB and Gill read it the other way, as an explanation of Rehoboam's drift. The text itself only names her.
√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
√ Naʻămâh — Naamah, the name of an antediluvian woman, of an Ammonitess, and of a place in PalestineNounproperfeminine singular
√ ʻAmmôwnîy — an Ammonite or (the adjective) AmmonitishArticleNounproperfeminine singular
ʻAmmôwnîy — an Ammonite, Ammonitish Poole presses the law: a people "shut out of the congregation of his people for ever, Deu 23:3." The final word of a verse about the city God chose is the nationality God had excluded.