002_cudworth_498_523 24/02/15 11:51 Pagina 505 THE DIVISION OF ISRAEL’S KINGDOM IN CHRONICLES 505 earlier at the end of Solomon’s reign (9,30) also makes this meaning clear. The Chronicler uses the phrase “all Israel” with specific ref- erence to just the northern kingdom in Abijah’s speech later (cf. 13,4), but this becomes obvious only because the kingdom was divided by that point (see comments below on 2 Chr 10,17-19 and 11,3). So even though the group at Shechem likely represents disgruntled delegates from the northern tribes in 1 Kings 12, the Chronicler avers that the group embodies all the people. Further to the point, the rest of the episode makes absolutely no sense unless all Israel made a legitimate claim. First of all, Rehoboam certainly would not have given consideration to a false accusation, especially if it represented only a small number of people (as Japhet supposes) and the majority were on his side (v. 5) 23. Second, at no point did he deny the harsh conditions set by Solomon, yet the older (i.e. wiser) counsel confirmed that the good thing for him to do would be to please the people (v. 7) 24. Third, instead of making any attempt to appease the people, he incited them to anger by promising even more oppressive measures than his father (v. 11). Lastly, after the northerners had completely cut their ties to the south, Rehoboam still made one final attempt to carry out his plan by sending Hadoram, the taskmaster over the forced labor (v. 18). Hence, even if the people’s claim were illegitimate, this would effectually make Rehoboam worse since he would now be the initiator of oppressive reforms. Rather than call all these features inconsistencies, it seems easier to say that the Chronicler attributes to the people a legitimate claim, as does the text in 1 Kings 12 25. 23 Japhet refers to them as a small group in light of 2 Chr 13,7; see below. Of course, if on the other hand the group represented the majority, a sense the phrase “all Israel” seems to imply, then it is even less likely that a large group would act together in a lie. 24 Interestingly, the Chronicler’s retention of the word bz[ (vv. 8.13; “he abandoned the counsel of the old men”) places Rehoboam squarely into one of his dominant themes for unfaithful kings. See later at 2 Chr 12,1.5. 25 The Chronicler’s retention of Shechem in 10,1 as the meeting place does not have the same effect as in 1 Kgs 12,1, since he gives no hint that dissension might have existed among any of the tribes before this point.