2 Chronicles 9:29

f. Death of Solomon and the accession of Rehoboam:

"Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead."

The important thing here is the Chronicler's mention of several of his sources. (See our Introduction to this volume for a more complete list of these.) We reject as worthless the allegation of some critics that the Chronicler invented or composed much of his material; for it is quite evident that he followed all of his sources very accurately, a fact indicated by the truth that he was careful in the use of 1Kings, a source that we know he used.

As often noted, the only reason for the critic's rejection of much of the material in Chronicles is the havoc that it plays with a number of their favorite fairy tales, such as (1) the gradual evolution of Israel's conception of the person and nature of God, (2) the discovery of that alleged Deuteronomic document in the reign of Josiah, and (3) the late dating of the Mosaic Pentateuch.

The death of Solomon and the accession of his harem-bred son Rehoboam marked the end of the united kingdom and the beginning of a long chain of tragic events that would result in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the Babylonian captivity of the People of God.