2 Chronicles 12:1-12

Shishak's Invasion

1 When Rehoboam had established his sovereignty and royal power, he abandoned the law of the Lord-he and all Israel with him.
2 Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt went to war against Jerusalem[a]
3 with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 cavalrymen, and countless people who came with him from Egypt-Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians.[b]
4 He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.
5 Then Shemaiah the prophet went to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them: "This is what the Lord says: 'You have abandoned Me; therefore, I have abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.' "[c]
6 So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The Lord is righteous."
7 When the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the Lord's message came to Shemaiah: "They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them but will grant them a little deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.
8 However, they will become his servants so that they may recognize [the difference between] serving Me and serving the kingdoms of the land."
9 So King Shishak of Egypt went to war against Jerusalem.[d] He seized the treasuries of the Lord's temple and the treasuries of the royal palace. He took everything. He took the gold shields that Solomon had made.[e]
10 King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and committed them into the care of the captains of the royal escorts[f] who guarded the entrance to the king's palace.
11 Whenever the king entered the Lord's temple, the royal escorts would carry the shields and take them back to the royal escorts' armory.[g]
12 When Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord's anger turned away from him, and He did not destroy [him] completely. Besides that, conditions were good in Judah.

2 Chronicles 12:1-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 12

Rehoboam and his people forsaking the law of the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt is allowed by God to invade his land, and take his fenced cities, 2Ch 12:1-4, upon which a prophet of the Lord was sent to him and his princes, to show them the reason of it; whereupon they humbled themselves, and the Lord was pleased not to allow the enemy utterly to destroy them, yet to reduce them to servitude, and take away their riches, 2Ch 12:5-12, and the chapter is closed with an account of the reign and death of Rehoboam, 2Ch 12:13-16.

Footnotes 7

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