002_cudworth_co_498_523 13/02/15 11:26 Pagina 511 THE DIVISION OF ISRAEL’S KINGDOM IN CHRONICLES 511 first to last […]”), where he even directs the reader to a record called “the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite” (v. 30), presumably an account that included information on the heavy work that Solomon imposed on the people (cf. 1 Kgs 11,26-39). For these reasons, such omissions by the Chronicler (i.e. an argument from silence) cannot necessarily speak in the way Japhet would like them to. Any notion of Solomon subjecting Israelites to heavy labor sim- ply does not support his primary objective (i.e. the temple), and so he leaves it out. Along the same lines as Japhet, Klein has put forward a more robust argument on the basis of 2 Chr 2,16-17 and 8,7-10 as evi- dence that Solomon never imposed a heavy yoke on his subjects 42. With the first text, Klein avers that the Chronicler has reversed the draft of Israelites in 1 Kgs 5,27-28 to include only resident aliens in 2 Chr 2,16 43. However, it is difficult to see the similarity between the two since the 1 Kings passage refers to groups of 10,000 men with a total of 30,000, whereas these numbers do not appear at all in 2 Chronicles 2. The Chronicler does borrow the material from the distinct, subsequent list in 1 Kgs 5,29 and applies this to the resident aliens in 2 Chr 2,16-17, but still, neither these verses nor any of 2 Chronicles 2 say anything about the people of Israel 44. Rather than deny that Israelites took part in preparations for the temple, the Chronicler seems to assume it. In 2,16 he asserts that Solomon gathered the resident aliens “following the census David his father had taken […]”. Throughout 1 Chronicles 11– 29, the Chronicler had at many points shown how David tried to involve as many people as possible in the temple project (see above). Even after David had gathered all Israel, the Chronicler illustrated how that support grew still greater with the help of those who were not part of all Israel, the resident aliens (cf. 1 Chr 22,2). In the same vein, since Solomon had already obtained the complete backing of all Israel in 2 Chr 1,1-6, the Chronicler 42 KLEIN, 2 Chronicles, 158. Japhet seems to assume this at different points in her commentary. Cf. JAPHET, I & II Chronicles, 546, 624-625. 43 KLEIN, 2 Chronicles, 158 note 29. Elsewhere in his commentary, Klein suggests that the Chronicler omitted 1 Kgs 5,27-28 to relieve the contradiction with 9,20-22 and to salvage Solomon’s reputation (39). 44 Even if the notices in 1 Kgs 5,27-30 all apply to Israel, my main point re- mains that the Chronicler does not mention Israelites at all in 2 Chronicles 2.