Commentary

kom'-en-ta-ri (midhrash, "an investigation," from darash, "to search," "inquire," "explore"; the King James Version "story"): "The commentary of the prophet Iddo" (2Ch 13:22), "the commentary of the book of the kings" (2Ch 24:27). In these passages the word is not used exactly in its modern sense. The Hebrew term means "an imaginative development of a thought or theme suggested by Scripture, especially a didactic or homiletic exposition, or an edifying religious story" (Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament, 5, 497). In the commentaries (Midhrashim) mentioned by the Chronicler as among his sources, the story of Abijah's reign was presumably related and elaborated with a view to moral instruction rather than historic accuracy.

See CHRONICLES, BOOKS OF; COMMENTARIES, HEBREW.

M. O. Evans