2 Chronicles 12

Shishak of Egypt Invades Jerusalem

1 And when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and when he was strengthened, he forsook the law of Yahweh, and all Israel with him.

2 And it happened [that] in the fifth year of King Rehoboam (for they had acted unfaithfully against Yahweh), Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem

3 with one thousand two hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen. And there was no number to the people who came up with him from Egypt--Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites.

4 And he took the fortified cities that belonged to Judah, and he came up to Jerusalem.

5 Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem from before Shishak. And he said to them, "Thus says Yahweh: 'You yourselves have abandoned me, and I myself have surely abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.'"

6 Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "Yahweh [is] righteous."

7 And when Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy. I will give to them some way of escape, that my anger not be poured out against Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

8 However, they shall be his servants, that they might know my service and the service of the kingdoms of [other] countries."

9 Then Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and he took the treasures out of the house of Yahweh and the treasures out of the king's house. He took everything. He also took the small shields of gold that Solomon had made.

10 And King Rehoboam made small shields of bronze in their place and committed them into the hand of the commanders of the guards who were keeping the entrance of the house of the king.

11 And whenever the king went into the house of Yahweh, the guards came and carried them, and then they returned them to the alcove of the guards.

12 And when he humbled himself, the anger of Yahweh was turned away from him, so that he did not destroy [the city] completely. Moreover, matters were well in Judah.

The Death of Rehoboam

13 So King Rehoboam was strengthened in Jerusalem, and he reigned [there]. Now, Rehoboam [was] forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where Yahweh had chosen to put his name out of all the tribes of Israel. And the name of his mother [was] Naamah the Ammonite.

14 And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek Yahweh.

15 Now the words of Rehoboam [from] the first to the last, are they not written in the chronicles of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer as a record? And [there were] battles [between] Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

16 And Rehoboam slept with his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of David, and Abijah his son reigned in his place.

2 Chronicles 12 Commentary

Chapter 12

Rehoboam, forsaking the Lord, is punished.

- When Rehoboam was so strong that he supposed he had nothing to fear from Jeroboam, he cast off his outward profession of godliness. It is very common, but very lamentable, that men, who in distress or danger, or near death, seem much engaged in seeking and serving God, throw aside all their religion when they have received a merciful deliverance. God quickly brought troubles upon Judah, to awaken the people to repentance, before their hearts were hardened. Thus it becomes us, when we are under the rebukes of Providence, to justify God, and to judge ourselves. If we have humbled hearts under humbling providences, the affliction has done its work; it shall be removed, or the property of it be altered. The more God's service is compared with other services, the more reasonable and easy it will appear. Are the laws of temperance thought hard? The effects of intemperance will be found much harder. The service of God is perfect liberty; the service of our lusts is complete slavery. Rehoboam was never rightly fixed in his religion. He never quite cast off God; yet he engaged not his heart to seek the Lord. See what his fault was; he did not serve the Lord, because he did not seek the Lord. He did not pray, as Solomon, for wisdom and grace; he did not consult the word of God, did not seek to that as his oracle, nor follow its directions. He made nothing of his religion, because he did not set his heart to it, nor ever came up to a steady resolution in it. He did evil, because he never was determined for good.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "words"
• [b]. Or "the"
• [c]. Or "fathers"

Chapter Summary

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.