And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his children throughout all the countries of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fenced city: and he gave them victual in abundance. And he desired many wives.
He dealt wisely - i:e., with deep and calculating policy (Exodus 1:10).
And dispersed of all his children ... unto every fenced city. The circumstance of 28 sons of the king being made governors of fortresses would, in our quarter of the world, produce jealousy and dissatisfaction. But Eastern monarchs ensure peace and tranquillity to their kingdom by bestowing government offices on their sons and grandsons. They obtain an independent provision, and being kept apart, are not likely to cabal in their father's lifetime. Rehoboam acted thus: and his sagacity will appear still greater if the wives he desired for them belonged to the cities where each son was located, These connections would bind them more closely to their respective places. In the modern countries of the East, particularly Persia and Turkey, younger princes were, until very lately, shut up in the harem during their fathers lifetime; and to prevent competition were blinded or killed when their brother ascended the throne. In the former country the old practice of dispersing them through the country, like Rehoboam, has been again revived.