2 Chronicles 12

2Ch 12:1-12.

REHOBOAM,

FORSAKING

GOD,

IS

PUNISHED BY

SHISHAK.

1. when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened

himself--(See on

2Ch 11:17).

During the first three years of his reign his royal influence was

exerted in the encouragement of the true religion. Security and ease

led to religious decline, which, in the fourth year, ended in open

apostasy. The example of the court was speedily followed by his

subjects, for "all Israel was with him," that is, the people in his own

kingdom. The very next year, the fifth of his reign, punishment was

inflicted by the invasion of Shishak.

2. Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem--He was the first

king of the twenty-second or Bubastic Dynasty. What was the immediate

cause of this invasion? Whether it was in resentment for some

provocation from the king of Judah, or in pursuance of ambitious views

of conquest, is not said. But the invading army was a vast horde, for

Shishak brought along with his native Egyptians an immense number of

foreign auxiliaries.

3-5. the Lubims--the Libyans of northeastern Africa.

the Sukkiims--Some think these were the Kenite Arabs, dwellers in

tents, but others maintain more justly that these were Arab

troglodytes, who inhabited the caverns of a mountain range on the

western coast of the Red Sea.

and the Ethiopians--from the regions south of Egypt. By the

overwhelming force of numbers, they took the fortresses of Judah which

had been recently put in a state of defense, and marched to lay siege

to the capital. While Shishak and his army was before Jerusalem, the

prophet Shemaiah addressed Rehoboam and the princes, tracing this

calamity to the national apostasy and threatening them with utter

destruction in consequence of having forsaken God

(2Ch 12:6).

6. the princes of Israel--(compare

2Ch 12:5,

"the princes of Judah").

7, 8. when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves--Their repentance

and contrition was followed by the best effects; for Shemaiah was

commissioned to announce that the phial of divine judgment would not be

fully poured out on them--that the entire overthrow of the kingdom of

Judah would not take place at that time, nor through the agency of

Shishak; and yet, although it should enjoy a respite from total

subversion, [Judah] should become a tributary province of Egypt in

order that the people might learn how much lighter and better is the

service of God than that of idolatrous foreign despots.

9. So Shishak . . . came up against Jerusalem--After

the parenthetical clause

(2Ch 12:5-8)

describing the feelings and state of the beleaguered court, the

historian resumes his narrative of the attack upon Jerusalem, and the

consequent pillage both of the temple and the palace.

he took all--that is, everything valuable he found. The cost of

the targets and shields has been estimated at about £239,000

[NAPIER, Ancient Workers in Metal].

the shields of gold--made by Solomon, were kept in the house of the

forest of Lebanon

(2Ch 9:16).

They seem to have been borne, like maces, by the guards of the palace,

when they attended the king to the temple or on other public

processions. Those splendid insignia having been plundered by the

Egyptian conqueror, others were made of inferior metal and kept in the

guard room of the palace, to be ready for use; as, notwithstanding the

tarnished glory of the court, the old state etiquette was kept up on

public and solemn occasions. An account of this conquest of Judah, with

the name of "king of Judah" in the cartouche of the principal captive,

according to the interpreters, is carved and written in hieroglyphics

on the walls of the great palace of Karnak, where it may be seen at the

present day. This sculpture is about twenty-seven hundred years old,

and is of peculiar interest as a striking testimony from Egypt to the

truth of Scripture history.

12. when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him--The

promise

(2Ch 12:7)

was verified. Divine providence preserved the kingdom in existence, a

reformation was made in the court, while true religion and piety were

diffused throughout the land.

2Ch 12:13-16.

HIS

REIGN AND

DEATH.

13, 14. Rehoboam strengthened . . . and reigned--The

Egyptian invasion had been a mere predatory expedition, not extending

beyond the limits of Judah, and probably, ere long, repelled by the

invaded. Rehoboam's government acquired new life and vigor by the

general revival of true religion, and his reign continued many years

after the departure of Shishak. But

he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord--that is, he did not adhere

firmly to the good course of reformation he had begun, "and he did

evil," for through the unhappy influence of his mother, a heathen

foreigner, he had no doubt received in his youth a strong bias towards

idolatry (see on

1Ki 14:21).