Matthew 1:7

Mat 1:7. And Solomon begat Roboam — From whose government ten of the tribes revolting, chose Jeroboam for their king, who, to prevent them from returning to their subjection to the house of David, introduced the worship of the golden calves, and led the whole nation into the dreadful crime of gross idolatry; a crime from which they were never totally reclaimed, and which was the chief source of their misery and ruin, bringing down the divine vengeance upon them in repeated punishments, till they were so reduced as to become an easy prey to the Assyrian monarchy.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:7 Asa (Greek Asaph): Probably the Old Testament king (1 Kgs 15:9-24; 1 Chr 3:10) and not the psalmist (Asaph; 1 Chr 6:39; 25:1-2; Pss 50, 73-83). Matthew’s focus is on the ancestral line from David to the Messiah.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 1:7. ἐγέννησε, begat) Bad men, even though they are useless to themselves in their lifetime, do not exist in vain; since by their means the elect even are brought into the world.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; 8. And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias--or Uzziah. Three kings are here omitted--Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah (Ch1 3:11-12). Some omissions behooved to be made, to compress the whole into three fourteens (Mat 1:17). The reason why these, rather than other names, are omitted, must be sought in religious considerations--either in the connection of those kings with the house of Ahab (as LIGHTFOOT, EBRARD, and ALFORD view it); in their slender right to be regarded as true links in the theocratic chain (as LANGE takes it); or in some similar disqualification.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And Solomon begat Roboam,.... Called Rehoboam, Kg1 11:43 of Naamah an Ammonitess, Kg1 14:21.

And Roboam begat Abia, sometimes called Abijam, as in Kg1 14:31, sometimes Abijah, Ch2 12:16 and sometimes, as here, Abia, Ch1 3:10. Him Rehoboam begat of Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom, Kg1 15:2 called Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel, Ch2 13:2. Maachah and Michaiah being the same name; or else she went by two names, as her father did.

And Abia begat Asa, who was a good king; his mother's name is the same with the name of his father's mother; and perhaps it is not his proper mother, but his grandmother who is meant in Kg1 15:10. He is wrongly called Asaph in the Persic and Ethiopic versions, and in one copy.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

7 And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;

Ver. 7. And Solomon begat Roboam] A child of forty years old, a soft spirited man; the Scripture notes him a פהי, easily drawn away by evil counsel. Green wood will, by nature warp. Of him it might be said, as once it was of a certain prince in Germany, Esset alias, si esset apud alios (Bucholcer). But a man would wonder, that by so many wives Solomon should have but one son, and him none the wisest either. Heroum filii noxae, He might (likely) bewail his own unhappiness in Rehoboam, Ecc 2:18-19, as he is thought to do in Jeroboam, Pro 20:21. His mother was an Ammonitess: the birth follows the belly: the conclusion follows the weaker proposition.

And Roboam begat Abia] A man not right, yet better than his father: and for this to be commended, that he held and pleaded the true worship and services of God as the beauty and bulwark of his kingdom: relying also upon God, he discomfited Jeroboam: Deo confisi, nunquam confusi.

And Abia begat Asa] A better son sprung of the seed of bad Abia, of the soil of worse Maachah, whom St Jerome makes to be a worshipper of that abominable idol Priapus, otherwise called Baalpeor, Num 25:5. For thus he translates that, 1Ki 15:13: Insuper et Maachan matrem suam amovit, ne esset princeps in sacris Priapi, et in luco eius. Nos, pudore pulso, stamus sub Iove, coelis apertis, said the worshippers of Priapus. The people that came thereto (the sacrifice being ended) all stepped into a thicket, which was always planted near the altar of this god; {Hos 4:13} and there, like brute beasts, they promiscuously satisfied their lusts; thereby, as they conceived, best pleasing their god (Hackwell’s Apolog.). This villany Maachah may seem to have been guilty of, and was therefore worthily removed by her son Asa from being queen. Sedes prima, et vita ima, suit not well together. Dignitas in digno est ornamentum in luto, saith Salvian. Honour in a dishonest man is as a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This exactly agrees with the history of the Old Testament, 1Ki 11:43 (where he is called Rehoboam); he reigned but seventeen years, and died. 1Ki 14:21,31. Abijam his son reigned in his stead; he is here called Abia; but we shall observe frequent alteration of names, both as to the final terminations, and where the quiescent letters in Hebrew fall into the name. Abia, or Abijam, reigned but three years, and was succeeded by Asa his son, 1Ki 15:2,8. Asa reigned forty-one years, 2Ch 16:13. So as these three princes reigned sixty years.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa

The word "was" is understood in both of these phrases. AT: "Rehoboam was the father of Abijah, and Abijah was the father of Asa" (See: Ellipsis)

translationWords

Solomon

ancestor

Rehoboam

Abijah

Asa

Jehoshaphat

Jehoram

Uzziah

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

(E) 7, 8. And Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asaph; and Asaph begat Joshaphat; and Joshaphat begai Joram.] Cf. 1Ch 3:10, 1Ch 3:11.—Ἀβιά] LXX. A B has Ἀβειά, Luc. Ἀβιά. Josephus Ἀβίας.—Ἀσάφ] In 1 Ch. LXX. A B Luc. has Ἀσά, Josephus Ἄσανος. But Ἀσάφ is a Septuagintal form. See Burkitt, Evangelion Da-Mepharreshe, 203. Ἰωσαφάτ and Ἰωράμ are Septuagintal forms. Josephus has Ἰωσάφατος and Ἰώραμος.

7. Ῥοβοάμ] So LXX. Josephus Ῥοβόαμος.—Ἀβιά] LXX. Ἀβειά, Ἀβιά; Josephus Ἀβίας.—Ἀσάφ] א B C D luc Ox i. 209, 543, 700, k al. LXX. has Ἀσά, Josephus Ἄσανος.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.