The End of Rehoboam: Rehoboam’s story, begun in chapter 12, has been delayed until Jeroboam’s is over. We now return to find out what has happened in Judah in the meantime, and we shall, in fact, hear of three kings of Judah (1 Kgs. 14:21–15:24) before we are told again of Jeroboam’s son Nadab (1 Kgs. 15:25–32). The way in which their story is told before we read of his will make quite apparent the different ways the kings of Israel and Judah are being treated by God.

14:21–24 It is a feature of the regnal formulas of Kings (cf. the introduction) that each king is evaluated in terms of his commitment to the LORD as evidenced by his religious policies. The case of Rehoboam is, however, unusual; for here we are told (v. 22), not that Rehoboam did evil in the eyes of the LORD, but that Judah d…