2 Chronicles 12

Shishak Attacks Jerusalem

1 After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel^[a] with him abandoned the law of the LORD.

2 Because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam.

3 With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites^[b] that came with him from Egypt,

4 he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

5 Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the LORD says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.’ ”

6 The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is just.”

7 When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.

8 They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.”

9 When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made.

10 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.

11 Whenever the king went to the LORD’s temple, the guards went with him, bearing the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.

12 Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD’s anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.

13 King Rehoboam established himself firmly in Jerusalem and continued as king. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite.

14 He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the LORD.

15 As for the events of Rehoboam’s reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that deal with genealogies? There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

16 Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king.

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.

Cross References

• 1. ver 13; 2 Chronicles 1:1
• 2. 2 Chronicles 11:17
• 3. S 1 Chronicles 9:1
• 4. S 2 Chronicles 7:19
• 5. 1 Kings 14:22-24; S 1 Chronicles 5:25
• 6. 1 Kings 11:40
• 7. Daniel 11:43
• 8. S Genesis 10:6; 2 Chronicles 14:9; 2 Chronicles 16:8; Isaiah 18:2; Amos 9:7; Nahum 3:9
• 9. S 2 Chronicles 11:10
• 10. 2 Chronicles 11:2
• 11. S Deuteronomy 28:15; 2 Chronicles 15:2
• 12. S Leviticus 26:41; S 2 Chronicles 6:37
• 13. Exodus 9:27; Ezra 9:15; Psalms 11:7; Psalms 116:5; Daniel 9:14
• 14. 1 Kings 21:29; Psalms 78:38
• 15. Deuteronomy 9:19; Psalms 69:24; Jeremiah 7:20; Jeremiah 42:18; Ezekiel 5:13
• 16. Deuteronomy 28:48
• 17. 2 Chronicles 9:16
• 18. S 2 Chronicles 6:37
• 19. S 1 Kings 14:13; 2 Chronicles 19:3
• 20. S ver 1; S 1 Kings 2:12
• 21. S Exodus 20:24; Deuteronomy 12:5; 2 Chronicles 6:6
• 22. S 2 Chronicles 9:29; 2 Chronicles 11:2
• 23. S 1 Chronicles 3:10
• 24. S 2 Chronicles 11:20

Footnotes

• [a]. That is, Judah, as frequently in 2 Chronicles
• [b]. That is, people from the upper Nile region

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.