{"id":11450,"date":"2022-09-24T04:02:56","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T09:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-2-chronicles-121\/"},"modified":"2022-09-24T04:02:56","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T09:02:56","slug":"exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-2-chronicles-121","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-2-chronicles-121\/","title":{"rendered":"Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 12:1"},"content":{"rendered":"

And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him. <\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

Ch. 2Ch 12:1-12<\/span> (cp. 1Ki 14:22<\/span>; 1Ki 14:25-28<\/span>). The Invasion of Shishak<\/p>\n

1. all Israel<\/em> ] i.e. all the Southern Kingdom; cp. note on 2Ch 11:3<\/span>. The details of Judah’s apostasy are given, 1Ki 14:22-24<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

All Israel with him – <\/B>i. e., all Judah and Benjamin – all the Israelites of those two tribes.<\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2Ch 12:1-2<\/span><\/p>\n

He forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Rehoboam, first king of Judah<\/strong><\/p>\n

Individual lives attract and reward attention; hence the interest and fascination of fiction and history. What others have experienced and done comes to us as a revelation of a life in which we share.<\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>Its waste of opportunities exceptionally grand.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>He was the first king of Judah. Unless forfeited by misconduct, special honour and grateful appreciation are the inheritance of the founders of a dynasty. Conspicuous in time and relative position, they have an acknowledged leadership, though dead for centuries.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>He inherited institutions and traditions of a prestige sacred and commanding. His was the city of David, with all its history, radiant with the Divine presence; his the temple, of which God was the architect and his father the master builder; his the unbroken priesthood, exalted to a genuine mediatorship between God and His people; his all the costly and sacred relics upon which the Queen of Sheba looked with amazement; about himself centred the hope of a coming prophet, ruler; his the sole honour of continuing the royal line.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>He was of mature age and superior abilities.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>He had the best material of all Israel as well. Jeroboam and his sons had cast off the Levites from executing the priests office unto the Lord, and they emigrated to Jerusalem in a body, and after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel, came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers. Thus all the land of Canaan was sifted for his benefit.<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>The very smallness of Judah was an element of strength. He could and did intrench himself in his central fortress on Zion, and surround himself with a chain of fortresses mutually supporting from their proximity. His people were homogeneous, and not liable to the jealous rivalries which imperilled the ten divisions of Israel. But alas! the example of Rehoboam reveals the insufficiency of opportunities, however golden, to command a wise improvement.<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>His inability to Bear prosperity. When strengthened in his little kingdom of Judah, he at once repeated the folly which had only recently dispossessed him of the grand unbroken empire left by Solomon. Like multitudes, before and since, he was willing to use Gods help when in extremity, but when successful, when apparently sailing in smooth waters, he and all Israel forsook the law of the Lord. How inexplicable that blindness which increases with added light, that moral and spiritual weakness which grows when supplemented with all Divine help, that confidence in self built out of dependence and gracious gifts! Rehoboam and his numberless imitators in all time illustrate this. Left to himself, he mars and almost ruins the grandest schemes of infinite wisdom, and foils the gracious designs of a long-suffering God for his own rescue and elevation.<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>Chastisement brought partial repentance and humility. There is such a thing as final permanence of character, upon which all Divine warnings or dealings are unavailing except to harden. All moral character is voluntary, but the absoluteness of moral inability is only the measure and result of obdurate wilfulness. We are inclined to credit the humility of Rehoboam, because it vindicated God in the midst of His judgments. He and his princes said, The Lord is righteous. Their lips, and possibly their hearts, may have been free from murmuring when city after city crumbled before invading hosts. Repentance is safe to the degree in which it acknowledges and enthrones God. We cannot omit passing mention of the superior inheritance of those who submissively suffer. The tragedy of life comes from hopeless, helpless opposition to the irresistible.<\/p>\n


IV. <\/strong>Nevertheless, religion was not its controlling influence. Though he never quite cast off God, he did evil because he fixed not his heart to seek the Lord. When the service of God dominates affections, plans, and deeds, then, and not until then, is true and steady progress possible. There can be no harmony, no worthy enthusiasm, nor any noble elevation to life which enthrones self. We live in a time of special peril, because of its wealth of opportunity. Never were the resources of the world so placed at mans disposal. But this wealth of opportunity brings a corresponding peril. Nothing but a heart fixed to seek the Lord can withstand its temptations to indulgence, to pride of power, to high looks and vain imaginations.<\/p>\n


V. <\/strong>A change of masters for the worse. This change of masters, and <\/strong>opportunity to compare their respective service, which was thus true of Rehoboam, has a perfect parallel in the lives of all wanderers from God. Man will have some master, and he cuts loose from glad allegiance to God–the only true liberty–only to give servile obedience to a tyrant. It is one of the reassuring signs of progress to-day that man as an individual–his rights, his essential worth, and <\/strong>dignity–is valued and talked about more than the collective State or nation; but danger lurks in the shadow of the gain. That individuality is in danger of becoming overweening and imperious. The ego <\/em>may, and sometimes does, glory in a self-sufficiency that looks almost patronisingly upon the Divine existence, or denies it altogether. Virtue is a queen whose subjects note her faintest wish, but their service is perfect liberty. It springs from the gladness of pure hearts, and knows no compulsion but sweet willingness. (Monday Club Sermons<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Established in life<\/strong><\/p>\n

An accursed word is that sometimes–established or strengthened, or prospered, or succeeded. It was the mark of the place where we turned hell-ward. We prayed when we were poor. We went to the sanctuary when we were weak. Who can stand fatness, sunshine, all the year round? Where are the rich? How delicate in health they became when their riches multiplied! How sensitive to cold when they rolled round in gorgeous chariot drawn by prancing and foaming steeds! How short-tempered when they became long-pursed! What a change in their public prayers when they became the victims of social status and reputation! <\/em>(J<\/em>. Parker, D<\/em>.D<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Because they had transgressed against the Lord.<\/strong>—<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Transgression against the Lord<\/strong><\/p>\n

See how religious the Bible is! We should now say that men are punished because they have transgressed the laws of nature; men are suffering because they have transgressed the laws of health; men are in great weakness because they have tempted debility, and brought it upon themselves by neglect or by indulgence. Even atheists have explanations. They cannot treat life as a piece of four-square wood, the whole of which can be seen at once; even they have laws, ministries, spectral actions, physiological explanations; it would seem as if the Bible gathered up all these and glorified them with a Divine name, and said, This is the Lords doing. (J<\/em>. Parker, D<\/em>.D<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

CHAPTER XII <\/P>

Rehoboam and his subjects, forsaking the Lord, are delivered<\/I><\/P>

into the hands of Shishak, king of Egypt<\/I>, 1-4.<\/P>

Shemaiah the prophet remonstrates with them, and they humble<\/I><\/P>

themselves, and Jerusalem is not destroyed; but Shishak takes<\/I><\/P>

away all the treasures, and the golden shields, instead of<\/I><\/P>

which Rehoboam makes shields of brass<\/I>, 5-12.<\/P>

He reigns badly<\/I> seventeen years, dies, and is succeeded by his<\/I><\/P>

son Abijah<\/I>, 13-16. <\/P>

NOTES ON CHAP. XII<\/P>

<\/P>

Verse 1<\/span>. He forsook the law of the Lord<\/B><\/I>] This was after the three<\/I> years mentioned 2Ch 11:17<\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

1. when Rehoboam had established thekingdom, and had strengthened himself<\/B>(See on 2Ch11:17<\/span>). During the first three years of his reign his royalinfluence was exerted in the encouragement of the true religion.Security and ease led to religious decline, which, in the fourthyear, ended in open apostasy. The example of the court was speedilyfollowed by his subjects, for “all Israel was with him,”that is, the people in his own kingdom. The very next year, the fifthof his reign, punishment was inflicted by the invasion of Shishak.<\/P><\/p>\n

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom<\/strong>,…. Or when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established; the tribes of Judah and Benjamin being firmly attached to him, and great numbers from the other tribes coming over to him, and things going on peaceably and prosperously during the three years that he and his people abode by the pure worship of God:<\/p>\n

and had strengthened himself<\/strong>; built fortified cities for the defence of himself and kingdom, 2Ch 11:5<\/span>, he forsook the law of the Lord; after he had reigned three years, and was become strong, and thought himself safe and secure on the throne, trusting to his strength:<\/p>\n

and all Israel with him<\/strong>; the greater part of them following the example of their king; of this defection, and the sins they fell into, see<\/p>\n

1Ki 14:22<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Rehoboam’s defection from the Lord, and his humiliation by the Egyptian king Shishak<\/em>. – 2Ch 12:1<\/span>. The infinitive , “at the time of the establishing,” with an indefinite subject, may be expressed in English by the passive: when Rehoboam’s royal power was established. The words refer back to 2Ch 11:17<\/span>. , “when he had become strong” ( is a nomen verbale: <\/em> the becoming strong; cf. 2Ch 26:16<\/span>; 2Ch 11:2<\/span>), he forsook the Lord, and all Israel with him. The inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah are here called Israel, to hint at the contrast between the actual conduct of the people in their defection from the Lord, and the destiny of Israel, the people of God. The forsaking of the law of Jahve is in substance the fall into idolatry, as we find it stated more definitely in 1Ki 14:22<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Abijah’s Reign over Judah.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD>

B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 970.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE>

      1 And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD<\/B>, and all Israel with him.   2 And it came to pass, that<\/I> in the fifth year of king Rehoboam Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the LORD<\/B>,   3 With twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people were<\/I> without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians.   4 And he took the fenced cities which pertained<\/I> to Judah, and came to Jerusalem.   5 Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam, and to<\/I> the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the LORD<\/B>, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.   6 Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The LORD<\/B> is<\/I> righteous.   7 And when the LORD<\/B> saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD<\/B> came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; therefore<\/I> I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.   8 Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.   9 So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD<\/B>, and the treasures of the king’s house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made.   10 Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed them<\/I> to the hands of the chief of the guard, that kept the entrance of the king’s house.   11 And when the king entered into the house of the LORD<\/B>, the guard came and fetched them, and brought them again into the guard chamber.   12 And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD<\/B> turned from him, that he would not destroy him<\/I> altogether: and also in Judah things went well.<\/P>

      Israel was very much disgraced and weakened by being divided into two kingdoms; yet the kingdom of Judah, having both the temple and the royal city, both the house of David and the house of Aaron, might have done very well if they had continued in the way of their duty; but here we have all out of order there.<\/P>

      I. Rehoboam and his people left God: He forsook the law of the Lord,<\/I> and so in effect forsook God, and all Israel with him,<\/I> v.<\/span> 1<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. He had his happy triennium, when he walked in the way of David and Solomon (ch.<\/I><\/span> xi. 17<\/span>), but it expired, and he grew remiss in the worship of God; in what instances we are not told, but he fell off, and Judah with him, here called Israel,<\/I> because they walked in the evil ways into which Jeroboam had drawn the kingdom of Israel. Thus he did when he had established the kingdom and strengthened himself.<\/I> As long as he thought his throne tottered he kept to his duty, that he might make God his friend; but, when he found it stood pretty firmly, he thought he had no more occasion for religion; he was safe enough without it. Thus the prosperity of fools destroys them. Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked.<\/I> When men prosper, and are in no apprehension of troubles, they are ready to say to God, Depart from us.<\/I><\/P>

      II. God quickly brought troubles upon them, to awaken them, and recover them to repentance, before their hearts were hardened. It was but in the fourth year of Rehoboam that they began to corrupt themselves, and in the fifth year the king of Egypt came up against them with a vast army, took the fenced cities of Judah, and came against Jerusalem,<\/I>2Ch 12:2<\/span>; 2Ch 12:3<\/span>; 2Ch 12:4<\/span>. This great calamity coming upon them so soon after they began to desert the worship of God, by a hand they had little reason to suspect (having had a great deal of friendly correspondence with Egypt in the last reign), and coming with so much violence that all the fenced cities of Judah,<\/I> which Rehoboam had lately fortified and garrisoned and on which he relied much for the safety of his kingdom, fell immediately into the hands of the enemy, without making any resistance, plainly showed that it was from the Lord, because they had transgressed against him.<\/P>

      III. Lest they should not readily or not rightly understand the meaning of this providence, God by the word explains the rod, v.<\/I><\/span> 5<\/span>. When the princes of Judah had all met at Jerusalem, probably in a great council of war, to concert measures for their own safety in this critical juncture, he sent a prophet to them, the same that had brought them an injunction from God not to fight against the ten tribes (ch.<\/I><\/span> xi. 2<\/span>), Shemaiah by name; he told them plainly that the reason why Shishak prevailed against them was not because they had been impolitic in the management of their affairs (which perhaps the princes in this congress were at this time scrutinizing), but because they had forsaken God. God never leaves any till they first leave him.<\/P>

      IV. The rebukes both of the word and of the rod being thus joined, the king and princes humbled themselves before God for their iniquity, penitently acknowledged the sin, and patiently accepted the punishment of it, saying, The Lord is righteous,<\/I> v.<\/span> 6<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. “We have none to blame but ourselves; let God be clear when he judgeth.” Thus it becomes us, when we are under the rebukes of Providence, to justify God and judge ourselves. Even kings and princes must either bend or break before God, either be humbled or be ruined.<\/P>

      V. Upon the profession they made of repentance God showed them some favour, saved them from ruin, and yet left them under some remaining fears of the judgment, to prevent their revolt again.<\/P>

      1. God, in mercy, prevented the destruction they were now upon the brink of. Such a vast and now victorious army as Shishak had, having made themselves masters of all the fenced cities, what could be expected but that the whole country, and even Jerusalem itself, would in a little time be theirs? But when God saith, Here shall the proud waves be stayed,<\/I> the most threatening force strangely dwindles and becomes impotent. Here again the destroying angel, when he comes to Jerusalem, is forbidden to destroy it: “My wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem;<\/I> not at this time, not by this hand, not utterly to destroy it,” 2Ch 12:7<\/span>; 2Ch 12:12<\/span>. Note, Those that acknowledge God righteous in afflicting them shall find him gracious. Those that humble themselves before him shall find favour with him. So ready is the God of mercy to take the first occasion to show mercy. If we have humbled hearts under humbling providences, the affliction has done its work, and it shall either be removed or the property of it altered.<\/P>

      2. He granted them some deliverance, not complete, but in part; he gave them some advantages against the enemy, so that they recruited a little; he gave them deliverance for a little while,<\/I> so some. They reformed but partially, and for a little while, soon relapsing again; and, as their reformation was, so was their deliverance. Yet it is said (v.<\/I><\/span> 12<\/span>), in Judah things went well,<\/I> and began to look with a better face. (1.) In respect of piety. There were good things in Judah<\/I> (so it is in the margin), good ministers, good people, good families, who were made better by the calamities of their country. Note, In times of great corruption and degeneracy it is some comfort if there be a remnant among whom good things ar found; this is a ground of hope in Israel. (2.) In respect of prosperity. In Judah things went ill when all the fenced cities were taken (v.<\/I><\/span> 4<\/span>), but when they repented the posture of their affairs altered, and things went well. Note, If things do not go so well as we could wish, yet we have reason to take notice of it with thankfulness if they go better than was to have been expected, better than formerly, and better than we deserved. We should own God’s goodness if he do but grant us some deliverance.<\/P>

      3. Yet he left them to smart sorely by the hand of Shishak, both in their liberty and in their wealth.<\/P>

      (1.) In their liberty (v.<\/I><\/span> 8<\/span>): They shall be his servants<\/I> (that is, they shall lie much at his mercy and be put under contribution by him, and some of them perhaps be taken prisoners and held in captivity by him), that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.<\/I> They complained, it may be, of the strictness of their religion, and forsook the law of the Lord<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 1<\/span>) because they thought it a yoke to hard, too heavy, upon them. “Well,” saith God, “let them better themselves if they can; let the neighbouring princes rule them awhile, since they are not willing that I should rule them, and let them try how they like that. They might have served God with joyfulness and gladness of heart,<\/I> and would not; let them serve their enemies then in hunger and thirst<\/I> (Deu 28:47<\/span>; Deu 28:48<\/span>), till they think of returning to their first Master, for then it was better with them,<\/I>” Hos. ii. 7<\/span>. This, some think, is the meaning of Eze 20:24<\/span>; Eze 20:25<\/span>. Because they despised my statutes, I gave them statutes that were not good.<\/I> Note, [1.] The more God’s service is compared with other services the more reasonable and easy it will appear. [2.] Whatever difficulties or hardships we may imagine there are in the way of obedience, it is better a thousand times to go through them than to expose ourselves to the punishment of disobedience. Are the laws of temperance thought hard? The effects of intemperance will be much harder. The service of virtue is perfect liberty; the service of lust is perfect slavery.<\/P>

      (2.) In their wealth. The king of Egypt plundered both the temple and the exchequer, the treasuries of both which Solomon left very full; but he took them away;<\/I> yea, he took all,<\/I> all he could lay his hands on, v.<\/I><\/span> 9<\/span>. This was what he came for. David and Solomon, who walked in the way of God, filled the treasuries, one by war and the other by merchandise; but Rehoboam, who forsook the law of God, emptied them. The taking away of the golden shields, and the substituting of brazen ones in their place (v.<\/I><\/span> 9-11<\/span>), we had an account of before, 1 Kings xiv. 25-28<\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

See note on 1Ki 14:19<\/span><\/p>\n

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES<\/strong><\/p>\n

IN discussing the First Book of Chronicles we called attention to the fact that according to Usshers chronology, the two Books, not reckoning the table of genealogy, covered a space of 468 years of history; the First Book only 41 of these, and this second, 427. As to the authorship of these Books, Ezra is commonly accepted.<\/p>\n

The analysis of any book is largely the presentation of a personal view. One man divides this Second Book of Chronicles into two portions: The Reign of Solomon, chapters 1 to 9, and The Kings of Judah, chapters 10 to 36.<\/p>\n

Scofield in his reference Bible, says of this Book: It falls into eighteen divisions, by reigns, from Solomon to the captivities; records the division of the kingdom of David under Jeroboam and Rehoboam, and is marked by an ever growing apostasy, broken temporarily by reformations under Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah.<\/p>\n

It is our purpose to follow neither of these divisions, however natural they may be, but to discuss the volume under three heads: Solomon and the Temple; Rehoboam and the Division, and the History of Judah.<\/p>\n

<\/span>SOLOMON AND THE TEMPLE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Book opens with a declaration concerning the new king, And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly (2Ch 1:1<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n

The history that follows gives occasion to say several things concerning this marvelous man of immortal reputation:<\/p>\n

First, Solomons kingship enjoyed an auspicious beginning. <\/strong>The man who ascends the throne under the favor of the Lord necessarily begins a reign of promise. If, as in Solomons case, he sensibly recognizes his responsibility and seeks wisdom from the only sufficient source, he adds greater certainty to his success. When, in addition to this, his objectives are high and God-honoring, the glory of his kingdom advances accordingly. Certainly, Solomons preparation to build the temple was not only a noble objective, but one in line with his kingly fathers purpose and prayers, and the great Heavenly Fathers will for him.<\/p>\n

The interesting history here of gathering materials and appointing men for this marvelous construction is made more interesting still by the kings personal supervision and spiritual interest. It takes some courage to conduct war, and we believe it takes almost more courage and even a clearer sense of God, to build sanctuaries, make their appointments according to the Divine pleasure, and call the people to worship within the spacious rooms of the same. Yet, when you have read but five chapters of this Book, you find such a work complete, and are not in the least amazed or even surprised to read, The glory of the Lord had filled the house of God (2Ch 5:14<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n

It is doubtful whether any company of men have done more for the establishment of spirituality in the earth and for the strengthening of the souls of their fellows, than have those who brought sanctuaries into existence and led congregations of people to a genuine worship of the most high God.<\/p>\n

The on-going of this Book reveals Solomons conscious dependence. <\/strong>When the altar was erected he stood by it with outstretched hands (2Ch 6:12<\/span><\/em>).<\/em> That is the attitude of prayer and possibly of adoration. When his lips parted to speak, he says,<\/p>\n

O Lord God of Israel, there is no God tike Thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their hearts:<\/em><\/p>\n

Thou which hast kept with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him; and spakest with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with Thine hand, as it is this day.<\/p>\n

Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in My Law, as Thou hast walked before Me (2Ch 6:14-16<\/em><\/span>).<\/em><\/p>\n

Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let Thy Word be verified, which Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant David (2Ch 6:17<\/em><\/span>).<\/em><\/p>\n

Then follows an appeal that Gods eyes should be open upon their house day and night; that His ears should hearken to the prayers made in that place, and if sin were committed, that forgiveness should be granted, and if the people fail before the face of the enemy because of sin that they also should be pardoned; that if heaven be shut up on the same ground, upon repentance the dearth should end.<\/p>\n

Then he concludes in a more personal petition to Him:<\/p>\n

Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all Thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:<\/em><\/p>\n

Then hear Thou from Heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive (2Ch 6:29-30<\/em><\/span>).<\/em><\/p>\n

These are only samples of the long petition that followed the dedicatory sermon. They wind up with a sentence like this: O Lord God, turn not away the face of Thine anointed: remember the mercies of David Thy servant (2Ch 6:42<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em> It is a model prayer; it is the petition of a sincere soul; it is the cry of one who knows that the mercy and love of God are the only grounds of hope.<\/p>\n

The further text records Solomons fame and death. <\/strong>That fame was based upon Solomons wisdom, accentuated doubtless by the magnificence of the temple, but made more honorable still in the extent of his organization, the luxury of his court and the wealth of his treasury.<\/p>\n

Evidently, among the rulers of the earth, the queen of Sheba held conspicuous place, and when the fame of Solomon reached her, she came to prove him with her questions, and impress him with her own riches and glory. The difficult questions were satisfactorily answered, the temple was adequately shown, the table of the king groaned with its good meats, the apparel of the servants was profoundly impressive, and the queen said to the king,<\/p>\n

It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:<\/em><\/p>\n

Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.<\/p>\n

Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, winch stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.<\/p>\n

Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God (2Ch 9:5-8<\/em><\/span>).<\/em><\/p>\n

The compliment to the king is followed with a statement of Solomons annual income, the magnificence of his throne, the rich appointments of the palace, the extensive commercial importance of his kingdom, and the willing tributes of the earths lesser lords.<\/p>\n

Then, as if the task of telling all was too great, we have this record,<\/p>\n

Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the Prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?<\/em><\/p>\n

And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.<\/p>\n

And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead (2Ch 9:29-31<\/em><\/span>).<\/em><\/p>\n

It is a surprising end, and yet strangely true to human history. How many men spend all their days in preparing to live, and when the preparation seems almost complete, proceed to die? The last enemy is no respecter of persons. His bow is drawn against the great as well as the humble, the rich as well as the poor, the wise as well as the ignorant. Death respects neither thrones nor kings; he holds the key to the palace room, and even to the throne room. Kings may command their humbler fellows, and even counsel their equals; but where death calls, they also obey.<\/p>\n

REHOBOAM AND THE DIVISION<\/strong><\/p>\n

The emptying of a throne is forever fraught with perils. The eternal and pertinent question is this, Who shall come after the king? The tenth chapter answered that concerning the throne of Israel. The answer was an ill omen! Rehoboams tyrannical spirit split the kingdom. <\/strong>When Jeroboam and all Israel came to him, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee (2Ch 10:4<\/em><\/span><\/em>), <\/em>they delicately referred to the increased taxation to which the luxurious court and the personal orgies of Solomon had given rise. They thought, as people commonly do, that the new rule would prove the peoples friend. Their hope was in vain.<\/p>\n

The old men, former counselors of Solomon, advised kindness and compassion; but the young bloods, spoiled by their fellowship with royalty, counseled increased oppression; and under their influence he said,<\/p>\n

My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions (2Ch 10:14<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n

It was enough. The war was on; and that war has never ended until this day, for Israel and Judah are not yet one. A man who divides brethren and sets them to battle, little understands the infinite reach of his mischief. The father of Modernism in America, when he fell asleep at a comparatively early age, little dreamed that he had set influences to work that would divide every denomination on the continent, destroy the fellowship of men who loved one another as twins are commonly supposed to love, wreck schools and churches by the thousand, and start a war that may easily exceed the famous Hundred Year War of history.<\/p>\n

Israel and Judahblood brothersbecame the bitterest of enemies. <\/strong>For some reason Second Chronicles pays little attention to Israel, but proceeds to trace Judahs history to the year of Cyrus, king of Persia, or through a period of almost a half millennium. The family feud occasionally projects itself into the record, but for the most part, Israel is forgotten, and the doings of Judah are recorded in detail.<\/p>\n

The explanation of this is found in the circumstance that Jeroboam rejected the worship of Jehovah (2Ch 11:14-15<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em> When God is once put away, when Gods priest is disposed of, and His minister is heard no more, then degeneracy compels a declining record.<\/p>\n

Unitarianism three quarters of a century ago denied the Lord. Its history has amounted to little; and if it were recorded, it would simply prove, as the Jeroboam movement, a breeding place of apostasy; and yet this record regards not one apostasy only, but two.<\/p>\n

The man of many favors may forget God.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him (2Ch 12:1<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n

What a sad commentary on the uncertainty and unstability of human nature! The explanation of Rehoboams failure has fitted thousands, yea millions of cases. He did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord (2Ch 12:14<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em> Of all disappointments, none exceed thisto begin well and end badly; to give promise and create disappointment; to be the subject of Divine favor, and become the slave of Gods adversary.<\/p>\n

THE HISTORY OF JUDAH<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chapters 11 to 36 contain the roster of kings. The<\/strong> fortunes of the country answer accurately and inevitably to the characters of their rulers.<\/strong> On the whole, the history is a down-grade. In that respect, it runs true to form. The doctrine of evolution may find an illustration in national life if it goes from the simple to the complex, but in so far as it contends for improvement, history fails to illustrate it. Degeneracy of nations has more often taken place than has social and moral progress.<\/p>\n

The foundations of Judah were laid under David; the kingdoms glory appeared under Solomon. From that moment until this, one word expresses Judahs coursedecline.<\/p>\n

Africa was once an advanced nation, now a heathen one; Italy once ruled the world, now she holds an inconspicuous place; Greece once represented the climax of physical and mental accomplishment, now she boasts neither. The reasons for decline are varied, but in Judah they were one the God who had made her great was too often forgotten, too willingly offended. When the nations neglect the source of their strength, weakness naturally ensues. Judahs strength was in the Lord, and when her kings forgot Him, despised His Word, entered into unholy alliances that were followed by the people, her fame declined, and her land fainted.<\/p>\n

The mixed social condition manifested her sinfulness. <\/strong>We have a phrase, Like people, like priest. We can paraphrase that, Like princes, like people. The study of these kings results in no compliment to human nature. Some of them were utterly evil; most of them were a mixture of the good and bad; two or three of them were sound. Among the utterly evil ones, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Manasseh, Amon and Jehoiakin held first place. The ones that represent a mixture of good and bad were Jeroboam, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jehoiakim; while the truly good consisted of Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah. In all probability the reign of each of these good kings was profoundly affected and made spiritually fruitful by the ministry of Isaiah, the greatest preacher among Old Testament Prophets. It is perhaps a fact of history that no rulers have ever proven faithful to God without the stimulating and salutary influence of the Gospel ministry.<\/p>\n

The judgments and mercies of Second Chronicles alike vindicate Jehovah.<\/strong> In this record wickedness does not go unpunished; and yet it is a marvelous revelation of Divine mercy.<\/p>\n

There is never the least sign of penitence on the part of the ruler and the people without an immediate and generous response from Jehovah.<\/p>\n

When Jehoshaphat declined in his loyalty and effected a sinful coalition with Ahab, judgment fell; but instantly upon his repentance, mercy was shown. Judgment is always and everywhere Gods strange work, the work in which He takes no pleasure. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze 33:11<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n

Mercy is His nature, His essential character, for to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Pro 28:13<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

CRITICAL NOTES.] This chapter parallel with 1Ki. 14:21-31<\/span>, but considerably enlarges the narrative contained in that passage. The account of Shishaks chariots and horsemen, the composition of his army, the warning and the promise of Shemaiah are wholly new features [Speak. Com.<\/em>].<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:1-12<\/span><\/em>.The invasion of Shishak. Forsook<\/em>, details in Kings. All Isa., i.e.<\/em>, all Judah and Benjaminall Israelites of these tribes. Shishak<\/em> (Shishonk), first king of 22nd or Bubastic dynasty, which, after the fall of Thebes from proud position of capital, 990 B.C., succeeded to the sovereignty of the whole country [Jam.<\/em>]. Came<\/em> to resent provocation or carry out ambitious design, with great number of foreign auxiliaries. 2Ch. 12:3<\/span>. Lubim<\/em>, Libyans west of Egypt (cf.<\/em> ch. 2Ch. 16:8<\/span>; Neh. 3:9<\/span>). Suk.<\/em>, called Troglodytes<\/em>, cave-dwellers, by Sept. Some think they are Semitio Arabs, dwellers in tents. Ethiop.<\/em>, Heb. Cushim<\/em>, from south of Egypt. 2Ch. 12:4<\/span>. Fenced<\/em> (ch. 2Ch. 11:5-12<\/span>), fortified with so much trouble. Shem.<\/em> (ch. 2Ch. 11:2<\/span>). The message not in Kings; addressed to Rehoboam and princes while Shishak before Jerusalem. 2Ch. 12:6<\/span>. Humbled<\/em>, bowed themselves (chs. 2Ch. 7:14<\/span>; 2Ch. 13:18<\/span>; 2Ch. 32:26<\/span>). Jehovah is just<\/em> (Ezr. 9:15<\/span>; Neh. 9:33<\/span>). 2Ch. 12:7<\/span>. Some deliverance, i.e.<\/em>, deliverance in a little or short time (cf.<\/em> Ezr. 9:8<\/span>); respite from total destruction, yet tributary to Egypt. 2Ch. 12:8<\/span>. Know<\/em> the difference between Gods rule and foreign yoke. 2Ch. 12:9-11<\/span>. Came up, &c.<\/em>, resumes description of attack upon Jerusalem. Took<\/em> everything valuable. Shields<\/em> borne like maces by owners or guard of the palace when they attended the King in public procession. 2Ch. 12:12<\/span>. Instead of destruction, lit., these were good words;<\/em> signs of national repentance and amendment; good things, purposes, and practices to which God had regard. Ver. 12. Concludes the narrative, is additional to Kings and characteristic. It aptly terminates the writers history of the invasion, which he has presented to us throughout in a strictly moral and didactic aspect [Speak. Com.<\/em>].<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:13-16<\/span><\/em>.Rehoboams reign and death. Strengthened<\/em>, new life and vigour after invasion; revival of religion and long reign. Years<\/em>, on age of Rehoboam (cf.<\/em> 1Ki. 12:8<\/span>; 1Ki. 14:21<\/span>). Naamah<\/em>, probably a daughter of Nahash (1Ch. 19:1<\/span>). Evil<\/em>, through unhappy influence of his mother, a heathen foreigner, he received a bias towards idolatry. Prepared not<\/em>, fixed not; lacked earnestness and consistency. Book<\/em>, refers to authorities of the reign of which he gives account. Wars<\/em>, not open war, but incursions and skirmishes on borders for plunder.<\/p>\n

HOMILETICS<\/em><\/p>\n

NATIONAL IDOLATRY AND NATIONAL PUNISHMENT.2Ch. 12:1-3<\/span><\/em>; <\/em>2Ch. 12:9-12<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Rehoboam did not check introduction of heathen abominations. The lascivious worship of Ashtoreth allowed to exist by side of true religion. Images of Baal and fellow-divinities set up, and the worst corruptions tolerated. For fuller account see 1Ki. 14:22-24<\/span>. These evils punished and put down by terrible calamity of Egyptian invasion. <\/p>\n

I. The national Sins.<\/strong> They had transgressed against the Lord. <\/p>\n

1. In provoking him to jealousy<\/em>. God announced Himself to be a jealous God (Exo. 20:5<\/span>); a God whose name is jealous. A figure of marriage, in which God, like a husband of his people, is provoked to jealousy by the unfaithfulness of his wife. A strong, suggestive term. <\/p>\n

2. In public worship of idols<\/em>. Altars and high places built, woods planted, gods and graven images publicly patronised in utter disobedience to Gods command. <\/p>\n

3. In rapid spread of immorality<\/em>. There were also Sodomites in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations, &c. (1Ki. 14:24<\/span>). Paramours consecrated to the gods, a degraded class who practised immorality, traded in wickedness under the sanction of religion. Judahs abominations worse than former days. The splendour of the temple and the pomp of the priesthood; secular privileges and religious teachers restrained not. Their sins were grievous and universal; sins above all that their fathers had done. <\/p>\n

II. The national punishment.<\/strong> Shishak, king of Egypt, incited by Jeroboam, or ambitious of conquest, invaded the land and humbled the nation in a successful campaign. <\/p>\n

1. The capital was disgraced<\/em>. Jerusalem entered and pillaged by a heathen army! A national disgrace for a city to be broken down, without walls or defence (Pro. 25:28<\/span>; Neh. 2:17<\/span>). <\/p>\n

2. The cities were taken<\/em>. Places on which he spent such time and treasure to repair and defend. Great Canaanite towns and Levitical cities east and west of Jordan fell without a struggle. High towers and fortified places no defence against wickedness. A man shall not be established by wickedness. <\/p>\n

3. The treasures carried away<\/em>. The palace and the temple robbed. The shields of gold and everything valuable taken away. Deep humiliation, grievous bondage the price of ignominious peace and the retribution of a watchful providence! I also left you in the hand of Shishak.<\/p>\n

THE BELEAGURED COURT.2Ch. 12:5-8<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

While Shishak was before the city, Rehoboam and the princes were deliberating in solemn assembly. Warned of sin and punishment, and spared on account of repentance. Notice<\/p>\n

I. The sins committed.<\/strong> Ye have forsaken me. This the gravamen<\/em> of offence. Though possessing the temple and the priesthood, yet idolatry mixed with worship of Jehovah. Impure rites and unchecked licence. <\/p>\n

II. The danger threatened.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

1. Forsaken of God<\/em>. Therefore have I also left you. Many would think this through negligence in preparations, impolicy in government. Bereft of strength and defence because God had forsaken them. <\/p>\n

2. Besieged by Shishak<\/em>. In the hand of Shishak. A hand strong and oppressive. This a natural result. When God forsakes, we are unable to resist, and the enemy conquers. <\/p>\n

III. The humiliation produced.<\/strong> Calamity traced to national sins, repentance and contrition followed. When rebuked we should be humbled, justify God, and judge ourselves. Even kings and princes must bend or brake before God, either be humbled or be ruined. <\/p>\n

IV. The deliverance granted.<\/strong> I will grant them some deliverance. A short space was given for amendment, wrath was not poured out like a flood upon the city, yet suzerainty of Egypt had to be accepted. Punishment delayed, not escaped. Destruction of Jerusalem reserved for Nebuchadnezzar. Escape only through Christ and righteous conduct.<\/p>\n

SHEMAIAHS PREACHING.2Ch. 12:7-12<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I. It was divinely taught in its matter.<\/strong> The word of the Lord came to Shemaiah. Not truth from second-hand or traditional forms. The message not argument nor speculation; but simple, entire word of God. The preaching that I bid thee was the command to Jonah. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. <\/p>\n

II. It was direct in its aim.<\/strong> A simple, clear utterance, direct as an arrow to its end. Preaching toned down, lacks point, goes not from the heart to the heart. The end missed for want of vitality and definite aim. We must not merely arouse emotion to find vent in action; but preach to save sinners. Chrysostoms hearers admired and applauded; he rebuked and desired amendment of life. Show your approbation by obedience; that is the only praise I seek. Massillons hearers felt the word to strike and stick. Peters audience were pricked to the heart by his earnest appeal. <\/p>\n

III. It was practical in its results.<\/strong> Very great and encouraging; illustrating the power of the Divine word faithfully preached. <\/p>\n

1. In the minds of the people<\/em>. Why not? Are there not laws in the moral, like chemical affinities in the natural world; between religious truth and the deepest feelings of the human heart? Where one is spoken, why should not the other respond? (a<\/em>) In acknowledgment of guilt<\/em>. They said, The Lord is righteous. (b<\/em>) In contrition of spirit<\/em>. They have humbled themselves. <\/p>\n

2. In the procedure of God<\/em>. (a<\/em>) Divine decree revoked. The wrath of the Lord turned from him, that he would not destroy altogether. (b<\/em>) Certain deliverance given. I will grant them some deliverance. (c<\/em>) Measure of prosperity restored. Also in Judah things went well (2Ch. 12:12<\/span>). With results like these pulpit power will never decay. The revivals of Pentecost, of Whitfield and Wesley, may be accomplished again by right men. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet.<\/p>\n

BRASS FOR GOLD, OR COUNTERFEIT PRINCIPLES.2Ch. 12:9-11<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

In the plunder of Egyptian king were golden shields, splendid insignia of Solomon. Old court etiquette kept up notwithstanding its loss, on public and solemn occasions. Inferior metal replaced the gold. This typical of counterfeits in personal conduct, Christian worship, and Christian organisations. <\/p>\n

I. Worthless profession instead of real piety in personal life.<\/strong> Form of godliness without power. Profession sounding brass or tinkling cymbal, hollow, vain, and useless. Professors degenerate in character, influence, and solid worth. Thy silver is become dross. Worse even than this, for baser and harder metals express debased and degenerate life. They are brass and iron (Jer. 6:28<\/span>). <\/p>\n

II. Idolatrous practices instead of pure worship of God.<\/strong> Men exchange the glory of God for idols of gold and silver. The ritual takes the place of the spiritual. God is forgotten, and images and saints are adored; Mammon and the world worshipped. They changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image like to corruptible man (Rom. 1:23<\/span>)(The infinite, spiritual, and divine changed into something finite, material, and human). <\/p>\n

III. False representations by which institutions hide their decline.<\/strong> What folly for Rehoboam to carry shields of brass in customary procession! Vain and proud, he was anxious not to appear degraded by absence of gold shields! In churches deadness and divisions cannot be hidden by noise, numbers, and display. In kingdoms rottenness and decay will not be healed by bribery, court splendour, and successful war. How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed!<\/p>\n

REHOBOAM THE UNREADY.2Ch. 12:12<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This is the summing-up of Rehoboams life. He was not so bad as some, but did evil in various ways, not from design as from neglect. Evil effects of the fathers sin and mothers idolatry seen in their son; yet another cause, viz., a want of heart. He was not thoroughly consecrated to worship of Jehovah. <\/p>\n

I. He did not begin life with seeking the Lord.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

1. He was young, should have sought wisdom; but went to Shechem without prayer or sacrifice. That which commences without God will end in failure.
2. He leaned on counsellors, saying, What advice give ye? Of those counsellors, he chose worst, younger and prouder nobles. Those who reject divine wisdom generally refuse all other Wisdom
3. He committed great folly by threatening the people and refusing just demands; and that before he was accepted as their king. None of his fathers wisdom. How can they act prudently and prosperously who are not guided of the Lord? <\/p>\n

II. He showed no heart in<\/strong> seeking the Lord afterwards.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

1. He obeyed the voice when the man of God forbade him to fight with Israel; yet afterward forsook the law (2Ch. 12:1<\/span>). He is said to have been young and tender-hearted, which means soft<\/em> (2Ch. 13:7<\/span>). <\/p>\n

2. He winked at most horrible crimes among people whom he ought to have judged (1Ki. 14:24<\/span>). <\/p>\n

3. He fell into his fathers sins. <\/p>\n

4. He busied himself more for the world than for God. We hear nothing of his worship, but much of his building; nothing of his faith, but much of his fickleness (2Ch. 11:5-12<\/span>). <\/p>\n

III. He was not fixed and persevering in seeking the Lord.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

1. For three years loyalty to God made him prosper, by bringing better sort from calf worship into Judah (2Ch. 11:13-17<\/span>), yet he forsook the Lord who prospered him. <\/p>\n

2. He grew proud; and God handed him over to Shishak.
3. Humbled himself, was pardoned, yet stripped the Lords house to buy off King of Egypt. <\/p>\n

4. Wrought no great reforms, celebrated no great passover, yet owned the Lord is righteous (2Ch. 12:6<\/span>). <\/p>\n

IV. He had no care to seek the Lord thoroughly.<\/strong> Yet no man good by accident; no one goes right without intention to do so. Without heart religion must die. <\/p>\n

1. Human nature departs from the right way, especially in kings tolerated in more sin than others.
2. Courtiers usually run the wrong way, especially young, proud, and frivolous. Rehoboam lived gay and proud, and gave himself up to their lead.
3. Underlings apt to follow us and applaud if we go in an evil path, even as Judah followed Rehoboam. Thus those who should lead are led.<\/p>\n

The kind of preparation required in diligent and acceptable seeking of the Lord. To feel and confess need in whole of life. Cry unto him for help and wisdom. Yield to his guidance and not follow counsel of vain persons. Be anxious to be right in everything, searching the Scriptures and seeking by prayer to know what to do. Serve the Lord carefully and earnestly, leaving nothing to chance, fashion, or whim. Are there any professors like Rehoboam? Any hopeful young men who lack whole-hearted devotion to the Lord? Any older men who have suffered for vacillation, hesitation, or double-mindedness? Any just escaped from such trouble, but are not firm and ready even now? Oh, for a clear sense of the evil and folly of such a condition! Oh, for the confirming power of the Holy Ghost! Oh, for vital reunion with the Lord Jesus [Spurgeon<\/em>].<\/p>\n

HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS<\/em><\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:1<\/span>. Strong, and forsook the law<\/em>. No danger, no watchfulness. Prosperity leading to apostasy. In poverty men pray, in weakness and affliction attend Gods house, &c. Established and strengthened leads to say, Depart from us. The prosperity of fools destroys them. All Israel with him<\/em>. <\/p>\n

1. The force of bad example.
2. The readiness of men to follow it.
3. The guilt of those who follow, when they should reprove. Example contagious; beneficially or perniciously men influence others; raise them up or bring them down. Be not partaker of other mens sins.<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:5<\/span>. Forsaken me<\/em>. Conditions of enjoyment, prosperity and success. Awful results of abandonment by God<\/em>. Prevalent corruption, deeper disgrace, and national disaster.<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:7<\/span>. Humiliation the means of deliverance<\/em>. From the message which was sent them from the Lord we properly observeI. That sin will surely bring the judgment of God upon us. Nor is there any possibility of escape but by repentance, since God has ordainedII. That sin, in order to its being forgiven, must be repented of. It is, however, no little consolation to knowIII. That sin, truly repented of, shall assuredly be forgiven. Application<\/p>\n

1. Have you repented?
2. Are you pardoned? [C. Simeon, M.A.<\/em>]. Wrath of God<\/em>. <\/p>\n

1. Its reality.
2. Its cause.
3. Its agencies.
4. Its suspense. In the midst of judgment God remembers mercy.<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:8<\/span>. Know<\/em>. The discipline of punishment, or great contrasts. <\/p>\n

1. Between the Theocracy, or rule of God, and foreign rule or servants of Shishak.
2. Between the freedom of Christ and the bondage of sin.
3. Between correction of providence and left alone in folly.<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:12<\/span>. Went well<\/em>. <\/p>\n

1. Many good men<\/em> in general defection in whom good things were found (1Ki. 14:13<\/span>). <\/p>\n

2. Many good things<\/em>, in prevalent corruption. Temple, priesthood, sacrifices and ordinances. A few may be the holy seed, the substance thereof, the preserving principle. Few in Sardis (Rev. 3:4<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:14<\/span>. Prepared not<\/em>. Learn<\/p>\n

1. That serving God will prevent from evil.
2. That for Gods service the heart should be prepared and fixed.
3. That when the heart is not fixed or prepared men are easily drawn away.
4. That when men are drawn away from God into evil, consequences are fearful. Weakness ensues, corruptions spread, temptations increase, enemies prevail, and ruin inevitable!<\/p>\n

And he that will<\/em> be cheated to the last,<\/p>\n

Delusions strong as hell shall bind him fast.<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:15<\/span>. Book of Shem.<\/em> Not now extant, though God, if he had pleased, could as well have preserved those books for the use of the church, as he did the holy vessels of the temple from the spoil of Shishak [Trapp<\/em>]. Providence and goodness of God in preserving and handing down Scriptures to our times. Why not lost, like many classic authors, amid the ruins of the barbarians? From the whole chapter we see<\/p>\n

1. Rehoboam forsaking the law.
2. Rehoboam punished for his defection.
3. Rehoboam spared on repenting.
4. Rehoboam ruined at last for want of decision in religion [Ing. Cobbin<\/em>].<\/p>\n

But evil is wrought for want of thought
As well as want of heart [Hood<\/em>].<\/p>\n

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 12<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:1<\/span>. Forsook<\/em>. A man cannot have been three years wise and then have returned to old courses without his return being marked by aggravations of evil. The last state of the man is worse than the first. The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. To have been halfway to heaven, and then to have been thrown downwhat agonies of recollection! [Dr. Parker<\/em>].<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:5-8<\/span>. Shemaiah the prophet<\/em>. Ministers of the gospel should be gentle, tender, and affectionate. They should be kind in feeling and courteous in manner, like a father or mother. Nothing is ever gained by a sour, harsh, crabbed, dissatisfied manner. Sinners are never scolded either into duty or into heaven [A. Barnes.<\/em>] I never was fit to say a word to a sinner except when I had a broken heart myself; when I was melted into penitency, and felt as though I had just received pardon to my soul, when my heart was full of tenderness and pity [Payson<\/em>].<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:6<\/span>. Humbled themselves<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If hearty sorrow<\/p>\n

Be a sufficient ransom for offence,
I tender it here; I do as truly suffer
As eer I did commit [Shaks.<\/em>].<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:8<\/span>. Servants<\/em>. It is not in mans nature to be out of all service, and to be self-dependent. We may choose our master, but God or mammon we must serve. We cannot possibly be in a neutral or intermediate state. Such a state does not exist. If we will not be Christs servants we are forthwith Satans, and Christ set us free from Satan only by making us His servants [J. H. Newman<\/em>].<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:10<\/span>. Shields of brass<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Thus men go wrong with an ingenious skill,
Bend the straight rule to their own crooked will,
And with a clear and shining lamp supplied,
First put it out, then take it for a guide [Cowper<\/em>].<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:12<\/span>. Things went well<\/em>. We are called upon to observe the relation and progress of events and to inquire into the moral reasons which explain either their ill-going or their happy advancement. We often speak of things going well in too narrow a sense, simply meaning that property increases, that health is continued, and that the whole outward environment is comfortable and satisfactory. That is not a proper estimate of the whole question. Things can only go well when the heart goes well. When things do not go well we should inquire into moral reasons; why this affliction, why this loss, why this discontent? Out of such faithful self-dealing will come the humbleness, the penitence which are always followed by pardon, restoration, and spiritual harmony [Dr. Parker<\/em>].<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:15<\/span>. Wars<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Then time turns torment when man turns a fool [Young<\/em>].<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2. THE REIGN OF REHOBOAM (1112)<\/p>\n

TEXT<\/strong><\/p>\n

2Ch. 11:1<\/span>. And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, that were warriors, to fight against Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam. 2. But the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah the man of God saying, 3. Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, 4. Thus saith Jehovah, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: return every man to his house; for this thing is of me. So they hearkened unto the words of Jehovah, and returned from going against Jeroboam.<\/p>\n

And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah. 6. He built Beth-lehem, and Etam, and Tekoa. 7. and Beth-zur, and Soco, and Adullam, 8. and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph, 9. and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah, 10. and Zorah, and Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin, fortified cities. 11. And he fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of victuals, and oil and wine. 12. And in every city he put shields and spears, and made them exceeding strong. And Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.
13. And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their border. 14. For the Levites left their suburbs and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priests office unto Jehovah; 15. and he appointed him priests for the high places, and for the he-goats, and for the calves which he had made. 16. And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek Jehovah, the God Of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice unto Jehovah, the God of their fathers. 17. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years; for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.
18. And Rehoboam took him a wife, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse; 19. and she bare him sons: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham. 20. And after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom; and she bare him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith. 21. And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines (for he took eighteen wives and threescore concubines, and begat twenty and eight sons and threescore daughters). 22. And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, even the prince among his brethren; for he was minded to make him king. 23. And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fortified city: and he gave them victuals in abundance. And he sought for them many wives.<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:1<\/span>. And it came to pass, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him. 2. And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had trespassed against Jehovah, 3. with twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen. And the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians. 4. And he took the fortified cities which pertained to Judah, and came unto Jerusalem. 5. Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, Ye have forsaken me, therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak. 6. Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, Jehovah is righteous. 7. And when Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves: I will not destroy them; but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8. Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.<\/p>\n

9. So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the kings house; he took all away: he took away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 10. And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, that kept the door of the kings house. 11. And it was so, that, as oft as the king entered into the house of Jehovah, the guard came and bare them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber. 12. And when he humbled himself, the wrath of Jehovah turned from him, so as not to destroy him altogether: and moreover in Judah there were good things found.
13. So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Jehovah had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mothers name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 14. And he did that which was evil, because he set not his heart to seek Jehovah.
15. Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, after the manner of genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 16. And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah his son reigned in his stead.<\/p>\n

PARAPHRASE<\/strong><\/p>\n

2Ch. 11:1<\/span>. Upon arrival at Jerusalem, Rehoboam mobilized the armies of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 strong, and declared war against the rest of Israel in an attempt to reunite the kingdom. 2. But the Lord told Shemaiah the prophet, 3. Go and say to King Rehoboam of Judah, Solomons son, and to the people of Judah and of Benjamin: 4. The Lord says, Do not fight against your brothers. Go home, for I am behind their rebellion. So they obeyed the Lord and refused to fight against Jeroboam.<\/p>\n

510. Rehoboam stayed in Jerusalem and fortified these cities of Judah with walls and gates to protect himself: Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. 11. He also rebuilt and strengthened the forts, and manned them with companies of soldiers under their officers, and stored them with food, olive oil, and wine. 12. Shields and spears were placed in armories in every city as a further safety measure. For only Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to him.
13, 14. However, the priests and Levites from the other tribes now abandoned their homes and moved to Judah and Jerusalem, for King Jeroboam had fired them, telling them to stop being priests of the Lord. 15. He had appointed other priests instead who encouraged the people to worship idols instead of God, and to sacrifice to carved statues of goats and calves which he placed on the hills. 16. Laymen, too, from all over Israel began moving to Jerusalem where they could freely worship the Lord God of their fathers, and sacrifice to him. 17. This strengthened the kingdom of Judah, so King Rehoboam survived for three years without difficulty; for during those years there was an earnest effort to obey the Lord as King David and King Solomon had done.
18. Rehoboam married his cousin Mahalath. She was the daughter of Davids son, Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Davids brother Eliab. 19. Three sons were born from this marriageJeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. 20. Later he married Maacah, the daughter of Absalom. The children she bore him were Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 21. He loved Maacah more than any of his other wives and concubines (he had eighteen wives and sixty concubineswith twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters). 22. Maacahs son Abijah was his favorite, and he intended to make him the next king. 23. He very wisely scattered his other sons in the fortified cities throughout the land of Judah and Benjamin, and gave them large allowances and arranged for them to have several wives apiece.<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:1<\/span>. But just when Rehoboam was at the height of his popularity and power he abandoned the Lord, and the people followed him in his sin. 2. As a result, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboams reign, 3. with twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand cavalrymen and an unnumbered host of infantrymenEgyptians, Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. 4. He quickly conquered Judahs fortified cities and soon arrived at Jerusalem. 5. The prophet Shemaiah now met with Rehoboam and the Judean leaders from every part of the nation (they had fled to Jerusalem for safety), and told them, The Lord says, You have forsaken me, so I have forsaken you and abandoned you to Shishak. 6. Then the king and the leaders of Israel confessed their sins and exclaimed, The Lord is right in doing this to us! 7. And when the Lord saw them humble themselves he sent Shemaiah to tell them, Because you have humbled yourselves, I will not completely destroy you; some will escape. I will not use Shishak to pour out my anger upon Jerusalem. 8. But you must pay annual tribute to him. Then you will realize how much better it is to serve me than to serve him!<\/p>\n

9. So King Shishak of Egypt conquered Jerusalem and took away all the treasures of the Temple and of the palace, also all of Solomons gold shields. 10. King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields and committed them to the care of the captain of his bodyguard. 11. Whenever the king went to the Temple, the guards would carry them, and afterwards return them to the armory. 12. When the king humbled himself, the Lords anger was turned aside and he didnt send total destruction; in fact, even after Shishaks invasion, the economy of Judah remained strong.
13. King Rehoboam reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city God had chosen as his residence after considering all the other cities of Israel. He had become king at the age of forty-one, and his mothers name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 14. But he was an evil king, for he never did decide really to please the Lord.
15. The complete biography of Rehoboam is recorded in the histories written by Shemaiah the prophet and by Iddo the seer, and in The Genealogical Register. There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 16. When Rehoboam died he was buried in Jerusalem, and his son Abijah became the new king.<\/p>\n

COMMENTARY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rehoboam decided to use military power against the northern tribes to bring them under subjection. The murder of Hadoram was a defiant rejection of Rehoboams authority. One hundred and eighty thousand warriors out of the south were readied for this civil war between Judah and Israel. Jehovah had determined that the division between Judah and Israel should be accomplished at this time. Shemaiah is called a prophet and aman of God. There are references to many false prophets in the Old Testament; but one never meets a false man of God. In 2Ch. 12:5<\/span> Shemaiah declared the word of Jehovah to Rehoboam concerning Shishak and the Egyptians. Shemaiah also is credited with writing the history of the life and times of Rehoboam (2Ch. 12:15<\/span>). When Rehoboam faced this crisis and was about to send this large army into Israel, Jehovah sent Shemaiah to the king of Judah and all the people who submitted to his reign. Jehovahs word was, Dismiss this army. The statement, This thing is of me, underscored the divine purpose. Rehoboam and his people obeyed Jehovah in this matter.<\/p>\n

A brief summary of Rehoboams reign follows. Probably because he feared threats against the security of Judah especially from Egypt, he fortified several villages in Judah and Benjamin. The relative locations of the villages which concerned the king are indicated here.
BethlehemAbout five miles south of Jerusalem, EthamTen miles west of Hebron, TekoaSeven miles south east of Bethlehem, Beth-zurFive miles north of Hebron, SocoThirteen miles west of Bethlehem, AdullamFourteen miles north west of Hebron, GathTwenty miles north west of Hebron, MareshahFifteen miles north west of Hebron, ZiphFour miles south of Hebron, AdoraimFive miles west of Hebron, LachishTwenty miles west of Hebron, AzekahTen miles north west of Hebron, HebronTwenty miles south of Jerusalem, ZorahFifteen miles west of Jerusalem, AijalonThirteen miles north west of Jerusalem. The distances stated here are not measured with absolute accuracy. The key cities were Jerusalem and Hebron. All of these villages were equipped with soldiers, weapons, and food supplies.<\/p>\n

2Ch. 11:13-17<\/span> describe the migration of priests and Levites into the southern kingdom. The primary reason for this development was Jeroboams rejection of Jehovah worship. Jeroboam was Jehovahs choice to be king of Israel. He certainly had the potential to become an effective leader. According to 1Ki. 11:26-28<\/span>, Jeroboam had been a servant of Solomon. He had charge over the house of Joseph in the fortification of Jerusalem, working on the citadel of Millo. He was described as a very industrious person and as a mighty man of valor. He had the credentials to become a great king; but when the time came for his kingdom to be set up, he feared Rehoboam and his efforts to unify the kingdom. Jeroboam set up Baal worship in Bethel (southern border of his kingdom) and Dan (northern frontier of the kingdom). He determined to make religion convenient for his people. He did not want them to return to the Temple in Jerusalem. He made priests out of any who wanted to serve without regard to Levitical connection (1Ki. 12:28-33<\/span>). He changed the date for the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles from the seventh month and the fifteenth day to the eighth month and the fifteenth day. He set up idolatry throughout his kingdom. Reacting to these developments, priests and Levites and a remnant of representatives from the northern tribes moved into Judah and the southern kingdom. This influx of Hebrews with deep religious convictions provided a certain stability to Rehoboams government for about three years. Even Rehoboam himself, ruled wisely through these fleeting months. The way of David and Solomon in this context refers to a genuine concern for Jehovahs will.<\/p>\n

2Ch. 12:1<\/span> reports Rehoboams forsaking the law of Jehovah. His subjects made no attempt to put him off the throne. They followed his leadership. Rehoboam married Mahalath who was the daughter of Jerimoth, son of David. In the lists of Davids sons Jerimoth is not named. He could have been the son of one of Davids concubines. Jerimoth could have been another name for Ithream who is listed among Davids sons. Abihail was a second cousin to Mahalath and she was also Mahalaths mother. Eliab was Jesses eldest son. The sons of Rehoboam through Mahalath were Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. Rehoboam also married Maacah who was Absaloms grand-daughter. Maacahs mother was Tamar, Absaloms daughter. The relationships of son and daughter are not always used as exactly as we use them. They do indicate a direct lineal descent. Absalom was Davids rebel son. Rehoboams sons through Maacah were Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. Rehoboam broke Jehovahs law respecting Hebrew kings and the multiplication of wives (Deu. 17:17<\/span>). He went his own way. Eighteen wives, sixty concubines, twenty eight sons, and sixty daughters composed the kings harem and family. Of all the wives, he loved Maacah best. Her son, Abijah, was groomed by Rehoboam to be his successor of Judahs throne. Rehoboam demonstrated human wisdom in placing his sons in positions of trust throughout the kingdom and in making liberal material provisions for them. Rehoboam failed Jehovah and would have to suffer the consequences of his failures.<\/p>\n

LESSON SEVENTEEN 1214<\/strong><\/p>\n

EGYPT INVADES ISRAEL, JEROBOAM, AND THE NORTHERN KINGDOM ASA AND THE ETHIOPIANS.
2. THE REIGN OF REHOBOAM-Continued (1112)<\/p>\n

INTRODUCTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

The shields of gold were exchanged for shields of brass as Rehoboam had trouble with the Egyptians. Jeroboam set up the golden calves and led his people away from God. Asa, king of Judah, blessed by Jehovah, repulsed an Ethiopian attack.<\/p>\n

TEXT<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Scripture text<\/strong> in Lesson Sixteen)<\/p>\n

PARAPHRASE<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Scripture text<\/strong> in Lesson Sixteen)<\/p>\n

COMMENTARY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Three chapters in this record describe the life and times of Rehoboam. His kingship covered a very critical period in Hebrew history. Solomons sins and Rehoboams foolishness brought Israel to a tragic turning point resulting in the division of the kingdom. In the early part of his reign Rehoboam showed some concern for the genuine Hebrew religion. The presence of the Temple in Jerusalem and the migration of priests and Levites into the borders of Judah were beneficial in this regard. Chapter 2Ch. 12:1<\/span> describes Rehoboams course of action. He established his kingdom, fortified numerous villages, set up an extensive harem, made expensive provisions for his children and forsook the law of Jehovah. If what he had done would have affected only himself, the results would not have been so serious. All of his people followed the leadership of the king. About 925 B.C. Jehovah allowed Shishak, king of Egypt, to come into Judah with a great army. Jeroboam, king of Israel, had found refuge in Egypt under Shishak (1Ki. 11:40<\/span>). As the Egyptians came into Rehoboams territory at this time they intended to take Jerusalem. Rehoboam and his people Had trespassed against Jehovah (2Ch. 11:2<\/span>). They had forsaken God (2Ch. 11:5<\/span>). Shishak brought allies with him. The Lubim were the Libyan people who lived on the northern coast of Africa. The Sukkiim probably were Arabs living in North Africa. The Ethiopians lived within the limits of Shishaks territory as Ethiopia bordered Egypt on the south. The enemy came with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen, and an army of foot soldiers that was not numbered. Without opposition Shishak took all of the villages in Judah (2Ch. 11:5-12<\/span>) which had been fortified against such an invasion.<\/p>\n

Again, the history of Judah was delicately balanced. Shemaiah, the prophet who had told Jeroboam that he would be a king, appeared before Rehoboam and his princes to charge them with forsaking Jehovah. Gods great mercy was exercised once more. Rehoboam and his counselors were convicted of their sins and confessed the righteousness of Jehovahs judgment. Jehovahs decision not to bring Judah to a full end was communicated to Shemaiah who, most likely, made this known to the king. However, Rehoboam and his people would have to pay tribute to Egypt and through this they should know that they were being judged for their sins against Jehovah. God did not grant permanent immunity to Jerusalem, He said that Shishak would not destroy the city. When Jehovahs people humble themselves, He forgives (2Ch. 7:14<\/span>).<\/p>\n

In the days of David and Solomon the treasures of the nations poured into Jerusalem. This happy circumstance was reversed in the days of Rehoboam. Shishak would have taken Jerusalem at this time if Jehovah had allowed him to do so and if the Hebrew leaders had not been able to buy temporary freedom with the treasures. Some of the precious things were brought out of the Temple and some out of other buildings where they were housed. The diminishing glory of the kingdom is most graphically described in the exchange of shields of gold for shields of brass. Solomon had fashioned the golden shields (2Ch. 9:15-16<\/span>) to demonstrate the wealth and splendor of his kingdom. Those who knew this former glory surely were heart broken when they had to look upon Rehoboams shields of brass. The glory had departed. The self-humiliation of the king was the only redeeming consideration. There were still some people in Judah who loved God; but the spiritual climate was far from ideal.<\/p>\n

Rehoboam was more concerned about making a name for himself as a king than he was about being a spiritual leader for his people. His reign of seventeen years offered many opportunities for him to strive for the ideal established in Deu. 17:14-20<\/span>. He was forty one years old when he became king. He had a remarkable heritage. In large measure Rehoboam failed. He did not set his heart to seek Jehovah.<\/p>\n

Shemaiah and Iddo prepared written accounts of Rehoboams reign. There was constant civil strife between the southern and the northern kingdoms. Rehoboam was buried in the royal cemetery established in Davids day. He was succeeded on the throne by his son, Abijah.<\/p>\n

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

(1) When Rehoboam had established the<\/strong> kingdom.<\/strong>Rather, when Rehoboams kingdom had been established.<\/em> The construction is impersonal: when one had established Rehoboams kingdom.<\/em> The narrative is resumed from 2Ch. 11:17<\/span>.<\/p>\n

And<\/strong> had strengthened himself.<\/strong>And when he had become strong<\/em> (hezqh,<\/em> an infinitive, used again at 2Ch. 26:16<\/span>; Dan. 11:2<\/span>, and nowhere else).<\/p>\n

He forsook the law of the Lord<\/strong>i.e.,<\/em> lapsed into idolatry. (See 1Ki. 14:22-24<\/span>, where the offence is more precisely described.)<\/p>\n

All Israel.<\/strong>The southern kingdom being regarded as the true Israel. (Comp. 2Ch. 12:6<\/span>.)<\/p>\n

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2Ch 12:7-8<\/span> Comments God’s Omniscience – <\/em><\/strong> God knows the hearts of men and He does as He pleases to them (Psa 135:6<\/span>). <\/p>\n

Psa 135:6<\/span>, “Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.”<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:9-10<\/strong><\/span> <\/strong> Comments Rehoboam Replaces Brass for Gold – <\/em><\/strong> Kenneth Hagin teaches that Solomon used pure gold to build the Temple. When Rehoboam replaced the golden shields with shields of brass, he replaced God’s order of worship for a substitute. Brass is an alloy, a mixture of copper and zinc. As a type and figure for us today, when we worship the Lord in the flesh and not in the Spirit, we are substituting brass for gold. Note these words:<\/p>\n

“As Jesus and I were standing above the crown talking, He said to me, ‘In this Charismatic move, Christians have brought the brass of the world into the temple of the Lord as a substitute for pure gold. Therefore, I can only bless My people so far, because they’ve substituted brass for gold. They’ve brought the clapping and the dancing of the world into the temple.’” [40]<\/p>\n

[40] Kenneth Hagin, Plans Pursuits and Purposes <\/em> (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1988, 1993), 85, 93.<\/p>\n

The pure gold represented the worship of God in the Spirit from a pure heart. The brass represents the flesh. But the two look very much alike. You have to look closely in order to tell the difference. We cannot go back to the Old Testament and pick up their dances and worship as they did under the Old Covenant. Hagin notes that there in no mention of dancing in the New Testament. However, there are times when the Holy Spirit moves upon someone to dance “in the Spirit”. But often times, when people move out into the aisles to dance, they are just putting on a show in the flesh. Dancing done in the Spirit blessing everyone and allows the Spirit to move in the meeting. Dancing in the flesh quenches the Spirit. Hagin quotes what Jesus said to him:<\/p>\n

“It is unscriptural to dance before the Lord in the New Testament. But it is scriptural to dance in the Spirit.” [41]<\/p>\n

[41] Kenneth Hagin, Plans Pursuits and Purposes <\/em> (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1988, 1993), 97.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/strong> Rehoboam Subdued by Shishak<\/p>\n

v. 1. And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself,<\/strong> his encouragement of the right worship of Jehovah bringing him many people from the northern kingdom, 2Ch 11:16-17<\/span>, and causing his undertakings to be attended by the blessings of God, he forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him,<\/strong> luxury, security, and ease led to religious decline, an experience which is not unusual, and the people in his own kingdom very readily followed him in his apostasy, thereby causing the designation “Israelites” to be applied to them, to their shame and disgrace. <\/p>\n

v. 2. And it came to pass that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam,<\/strong> the very next year after his defection, Shishak, king of Egypt,<\/strong> stirred up probably by Jeroboam, with whom he was united in friendship, 1Ki 11:40<\/span>, came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord,<\/strong> the punishment of Jehovah coming upon the apostate king and people very quickly in this case, <\/p>\n

v. 3. with twelve hundred chariots and threescore thousand horsemen,<\/strong> his cavalry being the strongest part of his army; and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt,<\/strong> a vast horde: the Lubims, the Libyans<\/strong> of the country northwest of Egypt proper, the Sukkiims,<\/strong> probably the inhabitants of the mountains of Eastern Egypt, and the Ethiopians,<\/strong> the Abyssinians, all of these being allies of the Egyptian king. <\/p>\n

v. 4. And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah,<\/strong> the fortresses built by Rehoboam proving too weak to withstand the onslaught of his immense forces, and came to Jerusalem. <\/p>\n

v. 5. Then came Shemaiah, the prophet,<\/strong> the same man who had issued the warning against civil war, 2Ch 11:3<\/span>, to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak,<\/strong> having sought the security of the capital before the advance of the Egyptian army, and said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Ye have forsaken Me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak,<\/strong> the calamity which had befallen them was directly due to their apostasy, and therefore they might expect the subjection of their entire country if they continued in their evil way. <\/p>\n

v. 6. Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves,<\/strong> they acknowledged their transgression in deep humility and contrition; and they said, The Lord is righteous,<\/strong> they admitted the justice of the punishment which He had sent upon them. <\/p>\n

v. 7. And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves,<\/strong> that their repentance was of the right kind, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves,<\/strong> the Lord, who searches the heart, saw the sincerity of their sorrow; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance,<\/strong> let relief come to them to some extent; and My wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak,<\/strong> the capital would not be entirely destroyed at this time. <\/p>\n

v. 8. Nevertheless, they shall be his servants,<\/strong> be tributary to him for awhile, that they may know My service,<\/strong> realize that true service of the Lord requires all the heart at all times, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries,<\/strong> finding out what the oppressive rule of a heathen sovereign meant. <\/p>\n

v. 9. So Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem,<\/strong> the capital being obliged to open its gates to him, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took all,<\/strong> many millions of dollars worth of precious metals. He carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made,<\/strong> 1Ki 10:16-17<\/span>, whose value has been estimated at between $1,200,000 and $1,500,000. <\/p>\n

v. 10. Instead of which King Rehoboam made shields of brass,<\/strong> of inferior metal, but brightly burnished, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard that kept the entrance of the king’s house,<\/strong> ready for use, especially on public and solemn occasions. <\/p>\n

v. 11. And when the king entered into the house of the Lord,<\/strong> by a special gate leading there from his palace, the guard came and fetched them, and brought them again into the guard chamber. <\/p>\n

v. 12. And when he humbled himself,<\/strong> proved that his repentance was of the right and lasting kind, the wrath of the Lord turned from him that He would not destroy him altogether,<\/strong> His promise thus being made true and the kingdom preserved in existence; and also in Judah things went well,<\/strong> literally, “and also in Judah there were good things,” many of the people serving the Lord in all sincerity, with good works, such as pleased Him. The Lord is long-suffering and of tender mercies and glad to turn back to His children in kindness if they will but acknowledge their transgressions in true sorrow. <\/p>\n

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

EXPOSITION<\/strong><\/p>\n

This chapter finishes for us the history of Rehoboam, his “acts” and his character; and, with the preceding two chapters, it may be counted among the masterpieces of Scripture biography. In so short a compass, how well marked, how distinctly limned, are the features of the man! The name of Rehoboam is, undoubtedly, one of the more important, if not taking rank among the most important, of Scripture, and no one can rise from the study of the fifty-eight verses of these three chapters without a very satisfactory conception of the man Rehoboam and what he was. It will be seen from the language of the second verse, compared with 2Ch 11:17<\/span>, that, roughly speaking, this chapter stretches over the last sad and evil twelve of the whole seventeen years of Rehoboam’s reign. This, however, does not negative the possibility of the anticipation in 2Ch 11:1-23<\/span>. of what, in point of chronology, belongs to this 2Ch 12:1-16<\/span>. The parallel of this chapter is 1Ki 14:21-31<\/span>, which gives us more than our 1Ki 14:1, 1Ki 14:6<\/span>, 1Ki 14:12<\/span>, 1Ki 14:14<\/span>, of what is personal to the evil-doing of Rehoboam, but much less than our text respecting Shishak and his army, and Shemalah and his messages.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:1<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When Rehoboam had established the kingdom strengthened himself<\/strong>; i.e.<\/em> while insecure and full of apprehensions, Rehoboam walked humbly and surely, but when he thought his object, simply safety, <\/em>was gained, his true and worse self appeared or reappeared, and, clothed with self-confidence, he forsakes the “Law,” to bring sure retribution on himself. All Israel with him. When we turn to the fuller statements of the parallel (1Ki 14:22-24<\/span>), we see that the sins that were at work were not those of king merely, but of people, especially in abominations such as those of sodomy and the immoral practices of the “groves,” as well as the ecclesiastical and irreligious iniquities of “high places” and “image” worship!<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:2<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Shishak<\/strong>; Hebrew, ; Septuagint, ; <\/em>Shishak, Sheshonk, Sesonchis, the Sheshenk I. or Shashank I. of the monuments, son of an Assyrian king called Nimrod or Nemaruth, became King of Egypt as first of six kings who lasted in all a hundred and seventy years, of the twenty-second dynasty of Manetho, reigning in Bubastis. To him Jeroboam had fled for refuge from Solomon (1Ki 11:40<\/span>). He reigned An. Sac. 3830 to 3851 or 3863. This makes Solomon’s reign A.S. 3799 to 3839. Shishak’s invasion, therefore, in aid of Jeroboam, was A.S. 3844. A representation of it exists in relief sculptured on the south external wall of the temple of Amen, at Karnak, Thebes; and, together with this, an elaborate list of countries, cities, tribes, conquered by Sheshenk or tributary to him, a hundred and thirty-three in number. Among these are some of the very fifteen fenced cities (see our 2Ch 12:4<\/span>) which Rehoboam built or fortified, viz. the three, Shoco, Adoraim, and Aijalon, while the erasure of fourteen names just where these are found accounts, no doubt, for the non-appearance of others of them. There are also the names of Levitical and Canaanite cities, situated in the kingdoms of the ten tribes, but belonging to the Levites who had been compelled to migrate into Judah. The dates given above are those accepted by Conder, in his ‘Handbook to the Bible’, and do not quite agree with those adopted in Smith’s ‘Bible Dictionary,’ 3.1287-1294. Both of these most interesting articles will well repay perusal, as well as the article “Thebes” in the latter work, 3.1471-1475. <\/p>\n

2Ch 12:3<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Twelve hundred chariots<\/strong>. The parallel does not give the numbers. These are <\/strong>large, but not inconsistent with those mentioned in other connections, whether those of Solomon, or, going further back, of Pharaoh. Lubims<\/strong>. The letter s<\/em> is orthographically redundant in this, as also in the following names, the forms being already plural. The Lubim<\/em> mean the Libyans, west of Egypt. They are probably the people represented on the Egyptian monuments as Lebu, <\/em>of Semitic type, subjugated by Egypt’s kings in the thirteenth century B.C.<\/strong> They were among the oldest of colonists, that drifted along the coast of Africa, north of <\/strong>the Great Desert, from the East, and are perhaps the same as the Lehabim (Gen 10:13<\/span>; 2Ch 16:8<\/span>; Nah 3:9<\/span>; Dan 11:43<\/span>; Jer 46:9<\/span>; Eze 38:5<\/span>). Sukkiims<\/em>. Probably an Arab tribe, though the Septuagint Version gives , <\/em>as though taking them for Troglodytes in the hills west of the Red Sea; so, too, the Vulgate. Gesenius at once renders the tent-dwellers, and sets the people in question down for some African tribe. They are not mentioned elsewhere so as to be recognized. Ethiopians<\/strong>. These were ethnically Cushites, but the territorial application of the term was confined to the African Cushite settlers. It is remarkable that, in 2Ch 21:16<\/span>, Ethiopians are classed with Arabians, but otherwise with African peoples, and in particular Egypt (Psa 68:31<\/span>; Isa 20:3<\/span>, Isa 20:4<\/span>; Isa 43:3<\/span>; Isa 45:14<\/span>; Jer 46:9<\/span>; Eze 30:5<\/span>; Eze 38:5<\/span>). They were many-tribed, and the Sabaeans were a leading tribe of them. It is evident that Shishak could draw from a large and varied dominion subject to his dynasty at <\/strong>this time.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:5<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Shemaiah<\/strong> (see Exposition, 2Ch 11:2<\/span>). The princes<\/strong>. These seem to have been a fruit of some original organization with Solomon, as they are not found with David (1Ki 4:2-6<\/span>). Ye have forsaken me therefore have I also left you<\/strong>. The same Hebrew verb is employed in both members of this sentence, and the rendering should follow in like manner (see 2Ch 7:19-22<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:6<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Note, as very apt parallel passages, Jer 13:15<\/span>, Jer 13:18<\/span>; Exo 9:27<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:7<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Some deliverance<\/strong>. The Hebrew for “some” here is . There is plain authority (Rth 2:7<\/span>; Psa 38:10<\/span>) for translating this word as of time, and the rendering “a little while” of the margin, will, therefore, seem preferable. But see next note, and the” altogether” of 2Ch 12:12<\/span>. It has often been most justly remarked what grateful note should be taken of the fact that God always is recorded as turning such a wistful, loving eye to any symptom of repentance (1Ki 21:27-29<\/span>; Jon 2:5-9<\/span>). Who can estimate the loss of men, that the symptoms have been so frequent, so comparatively easily found as compared with the reality of lastingness?<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:8<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The genius of this verse, nevertheless, will quite admit of the Authorized Version rendering, proposed to be superseded in the last verse. This says life shall be spared, but still severe moral reckoning (that of servitude in a sense and tributariness) shall be taken with the transgressors and forsakers of the Lord! The contrast of God’s service and that of men and the world again touchingly recalls the words of Christ (Mat 11:28-30<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:9<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Words do not tell in this verse the “humbled service” of Rehoboam and the princes; but the position <\/em>speaks, speaks volumes of itself. Where did Rehoboam hide himself, where would he not have been glad to hide himself, while the treasures of the house of the Lord<\/strong>, and those of his own house, were coolly taken by the foreign soldiery, none forbidding them, nor resisting, nor even making afraid?<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:10<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead of which King Rehoboam made shields of brass<\/strong>. A most humbling reversal of the glowing promise afterwards given, “For brass I will bring gold” (Isa 9:17<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:12<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This verse is not in the parallel, but is particularly proper to Chronicles and its uniform tenor. And also in Judah things went well<\/strong>. The obvious meaning, “and still some good was left in Judah.” There was some hopefulness in the situation, and reason for striving mightily “to be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die” (Rev 3:2<\/span>). The occurrence of is somewhat against the rendering of “some” in 2Ch 12:7<\/span> as an adverb of time.<\/em><\/p>\n

2Ch 12:13<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The parallel to the remaining verses of this chapter is found in 1Ki 14:21<\/span>, 1Ki 14:22<\/span>, 1Ki 14:29-31<\/span>. In Jerusalem<\/strong>. Possibly, considering the words of 2Ch 11:5-12<\/span>, 2Ch 11:17<\/span>, this may indicate that Rehoboam was brought down to thinking almost more of the safety of Jerusalem and himself than of the kingdom in its length and breadth. One and forty years old <\/strong>(see <\/strong>our note, 2Ch 10:8<\/span>, <\/strong>towards the end, and compare our 2Ch 13:7<\/span>, as well as the parallel places, 1Ki 12:8<\/span> and 1Ki 14:21<\/span>). It cannot be held as conclusively shown that the age of forty-one is incorrect. An Ammonitess<\/strong> (see 1Ki 11:1-9<\/span>). Rehoboam’s mother’s name and nationality are noted also, and twice in the parallel (1Ki 14:21<\/span>, 1Ki 14:31<\/span>). Naamah was possibly the daughter of Nahash (1Ch 19:1-20:3<\/span>). The briefness but decidedness of the notifications made as to this mother of Rehoboam leaves us without doubt that there is not lacking significance in them. Schulz (in his ‘ Scholia in Ver. Test.,’ vol. 3.) says the reason is “quia ca filio idololatriae ansam dedisse videtur;” Keil and Bertheau think that, though there was evidence of this in the case of the mention of Asa’s mother (1Ki 15:13<\/span>), the explanation here is that Naamah “appears” to have had, as queen-mother, considerable influence in the government. They do not specify where they find this to “appear” with any marked plainness. It is quite true that, in the successive accounts of the Jewish kings, the name of each mother is mentioned (1Ki 15:2<\/span>; 2Ch 13:2; 1Ki 22:42<\/span>; 2Ch 20:32<\/span>, etc.). We should say it is like the book, so Divine and human, called the Bible, to do so far-seeing and far-reaching a thing as to give the mother’s name; and practically to say that Solomon and Naamah were (in special sense for Judah) a repetition of Adam and Eve. How far Judah and her line of kings may have correctly said, they <\/em>were answerable for “death and all our woe,” the sacred historians say (1Ki 11:4<\/span>, 1Ki 11:9-11<\/span>, 1Ki 11:14<\/span>, 1Ki 11:23<\/span>, 1Ki 11:26, 1Ki 11:31<\/span>, 1Ki 11:33<\/span>, 1Ki 11:36; 1Ki 12:24<\/span>; 2Ch 11:4<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:14<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

These summarizing moral estimates of the character of the succeeding kings are, indeed, common to the compilers of both Chronicles and Kings, though absent, in the case of Rehoboam, from the parallel.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:15<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The authority quoted by the writer of Kings (14:29, 30) is “the book of the Chronicles [literally, the book of the acts of the days, <\/em>i.<\/em>q. the title of our ‘Chronicles’] of the kings of Judah,” on which follows in the next verse the substantive statement, “And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.” The authorities quoted here are the works of Shemaiah and of Iddo, and it is possible that the following words touching the continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, which have not the substantive verb among them, may have been part of the title of Iddo’s work, although it is more probable that his work on ‘Genealogies’ would retain the character of a specialty. We subjoin for English readers a literal translation of this verse: “And the words (acts) of Jeroboam first and last, are they not written in the words (acts) of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer touching genealogies” [but Gesenius, sub voce,<\/em>“ <\/em>in the manner of a genealogical table”] “and wars of Rehoboam and Jeroboam perpetual.” We think that neither our Authorized Version nor Gesenius’s rendering probably convey the correct meaning. The hithp, of would be better satisfied by the rendering, “to make a register,” i.e. <\/em>“to preserve a continued register of David’s genealogy.”<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:16<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the city of David<\/strong>; i<\/em>.e <\/em>on Mount Zion, an eminence on the northern part of Mount Moriah. Here was the bury-lug-place of the kings, chambers with recesses for the successive kings. To this place of royal sepulture some of the kings were not permitted to be brought (2Ch 21:20<\/span>; 2Ch 24:25<\/span>; 2Ch 28:27<\/span>; 2Ki 15:7<\/span>). The chief cemetery of the city was on the slopes of the valley of the Kidron (1Ki 15:13<\/span>; 2Ki 23:6; 2Ch 29:5<\/span>, 2Ch 29:16<\/span>); another, probably, was south of the city on the sides of the ravine of Hinnom (Jer 7:32<\/span>). In the king’s sepulchres eleven out of Judah’s twenty-two kings were laidDavid, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Ahaziah, Amaziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, Josiah. For Asa (2Ch 16:14<\/span>) and Hezekiah (2Ch 32:33<\/span>) places of special honour were found. The good priest Jehoiada also had burial in the king’s burial-place (2Ch 24:16<\/span>). Kings Jehoram (2Ch 21:20<\/span>) and Joash (2Ch 24:25<\/span>) were buried in the “city of <\/strong>David,” but not in the above sepulchres Uzziah, because a leper, was buried in the <\/strong>“field of the burial of the kings” (2Ch 26:23<\/span>). It is all but certain that these royal sepulchres were in the enclosure now called <\/strong>the “Haram area.” (For other interesting and important references, see Neh 3:16<\/span>; Eze 43:7<\/span>, Eze 43:9; 2Ki 21:18<\/span>, 2Ki 21:26<\/span>; 2Ch 33:20<\/span>; 2Ch 28:27<\/span>.) While Rehoboam was laid thus to sleep with his fathers, Jeroboam’s reign had yet four years to run.<\/p>\n

HOMILETICS<\/strong><\/p>\n

2Ch 12:1-16<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A model instance of Divine goodness and opportunity prolonged to one who annulled all, and vitiated every highest privilege vouchsafed to him, by the one fact of his own infidelity of heart.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are strikingly taught, and we vividly recall from the contents of this chapter, the following lessons and facts.<\/p>\n

I.<\/strong> HOW<\/strong> VERY<\/strong> PRONE<\/strong> FORGETFULNESS<\/strong> OF<\/strong> OUR<\/strong> PAST<\/strong> SINS<\/strong> IS<\/strong> TO<\/strong> FOLLOW<\/strong> WITH<\/strong> SWIFT<\/strong> RAPIDITY<\/strong> ON<\/strong> PRESENT<\/strong> RESPITE<\/strong> FROM<\/strong> FEAR<\/strong>, RELIEF<\/strong> FROM<\/strong> SUFFERING<\/strong>, REMISSION<\/strong> OF<\/strong> PUNISHMENT<\/strong>, RESTORATION<\/strong> OF<\/strong> OUR<\/strong> FORMER<\/strong> STATUS<\/strong>, IN<\/strong> WHATSOEVER<\/strong> KIND<\/strong>! Yet retentive memory of that sin would constitute our duty, our best wisdom, one of our surest cautions for the future, one of the likeliest fertilizings of penitence, and springs of humble gratitude.<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> HOW<\/strong> VERY<\/strong> PRONE<\/strong> SECURITY<\/strong>, ABSOLUTE<\/strong> CONFIDENCE<\/strong> IN<\/strong> SELF<\/strong>, AND<\/strong> THE<\/strong> SPIRIT<\/strong> OF<\/strong> EITHER<\/strong> DEFIANCE<\/strong> OR<\/strong> RECKLESS<\/strong> DISREGARD<\/strong> TOWARDS<\/strong> WHAT<\/strong> MAY<\/strong> AGAIN<\/strong> INVADE<\/strong>, IN<\/strong> FEAR<\/strong>, IN<\/strong> PAIN<\/strong>, IN<\/strong> PUNISHMENT<\/strong>, IN<\/strong> LOSS<\/strong> OF<\/strong> EVEN<\/strong> THE<\/strong> EARTHLY<\/strong> POSITION<\/strong> WE<\/strong> LOVE<\/strong> SO<\/strong> WELL<\/strong>, ARE<\/strong> TO<\/strong> FOLLOW<\/strong> QUICKLY<\/strong> ON<\/strong> PRESENT<\/strong> RELIEF<\/strong>! Too often, when the deeply useful memory of the sin is put far away out of sight and out of memory, it is but the precursor of the springing up of a very crop of positively harmful growth. The ground that is unoccupied by sweet pasture will be sure to seed itself, of all floating ill weeds; and to bring forth even of its own self, and own emptiness, or own pravity, the baneful, the noxious, the poisonous herb!<\/p>\n

III.<\/strong> HOW<\/strong> KIND<\/strong> THE<\/strong> PUNISHMENTS<\/strong> OF<\/strong> GOD<\/strong> ARE<\/strong>! They are essentially <\/em>so. Their intent <\/em>is to recover, to reform, to improve. With lesson in them, with suggestion in them, with caution and warning in them, with course and system of discipline, <\/em>they offer exactly what it were impossible to get of self, or to get of others, or to get from anywhere except from the touch of the hand or the finger, or the rod of that tenderest to smite, the all-knowing Father of us all! So 2Ch 12:8<\/span> says deliberately, distinctly, that God would teach Rehoboam and condescendingly wait near him some while, to <\/em>teach him, the comparison of services, <\/em>the difference by experience of his yoke, burden, and service most ennobling, and those <\/em>of such a one as Shishak King of Egypt. Rehoboam would find a greater difference between the two than that of his own well-known figurative language, the “whip” and the “scorpion.” In tenderer connection, equally truly and sweet, did Caroline Fry, once on a time, teach every chastened child of God, and of sorrow, and of smart, and of even woe, to sing<\/p>\n

“Often the clouds of deepest woe<\/p>\n

So sweet a message bear,<\/p>\n

Dark though they seem, ’twere hard to find<\/p>\n

One frown of anger there!<\/p>\n

“It needs our hearts be weaned from earth,<\/p>\n

It needs that we be driven,<\/p>\n

By loss of every earthly stay,<\/p>\n

To find our hope in heaven!”<\/p>\n

IV.<\/strong> How READY<\/strong> TO<\/strong> FORGIVE<\/strong>, TO<\/strong> GRANT<\/strong> RESPITE<\/strong> AND<\/strong> FURLOUGH<\/strong>, TO<\/strong> GIVE<\/strong> “ROOM<\/strong> AND<\/strong> SPACE<\/strong> FOR<\/strong> REPENTANCE<\/strong>,” THE<\/strong> LORD<\/strong> GOD<\/strong> OF<\/strong> US<\/strong> ALL<\/strong> IS<\/strong>! Fully thirteen years, as it appears, did such manner of long-suffering, of forgivingness, even when it could not be precipitated into objective forgiveness, hold outsparing, pitying, prolonging probation, repeating trial, accepting the words, the posture, the fastings, the tears, the petitions of humiliation, the partial and transient amendments of life and conduct, in case anything real, deep, lasting, might haply come of them. Fully thirteen years (see 2Ch 12:2<\/span>, 2Ch 12:13<\/span>) was Rehoboam kept on the throne, and all this long-suffering, considerate mercy shown to him, as though for him alone, or for him first, or for him chiefly, it bad been written, “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust”who all the while <\/em>was neutralizing and cancelling Divine goodness, gift, opportunity, by the one <\/em>damning vice that wrote itself as his epitaph, itself <\/em>history’s last memorandum of him, the lamentable summary in a sentence, “Because he fixed<\/em> not his heart to seek the Lord!”<\/p>\n

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON<\/strong><\/p>\n

2Ch 12:1<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The peril of security.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The King of Judah, whose career had been marked By such a strange admixture of good and evil, of wisdom and folly (see homily on 2Ch 11:18-23<\/span>), here takes another turn in his varied course, and this time a decisive one; but we mark first<\/p>\n

I.<\/strong> THE<\/strong> GOOD<\/strong> WORK<\/strong> OF<\/strong> CONSOLIDATION<\/strong>. He “had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself.” The reference is, principally though not perhaps exclusively, to the action chronicled in the previous chapter (2Ch 12:5-12<\/span>, 22, 23). When he found that it was not open to him to regain the seceded tribes by force of arms, he set himself, like a wise man, to secure the fraction that was left him. He may have consoled himself with the thoughtwhich is not only a thought but a truththat a small estate that is well governed and well kept is far better than a large one that is ill managed, and that, consequently, soon shows signs of feebleness and decline. Those three years of consolidation, spent in the service of Jehovah, and under the sanction of his priests and prophets, were years of real worth to the country, and probably of happiness to Rehoboam. In the conduct of our estate, whether that be some business in which we are engaged, or some institution or Church we are serving, or some character (another’s or our own) that we are building up, we spend our time and our strength well in the work of “establishing and strengthening.” In the supreme matter of human character we can hardly lay too much emphasis on this matter of consolidation. Character must be fortified by knowledge, by the understanding and the cordial acceptance of Christian principles, by exercise, by the nourishment and growth of a strong love for what is pure and true and generous, and by a hearty hatred of all that is corrupt and mean and false.<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> THE<\/strong> TEMPTATION<\/strong> OF<\/strong> SUPPOSED<\/strong> SECURITY<\/strong>. When Rehoboam had attained to a position in which he felt himself secure, then he relaxed his hold on his early convictions, he surrendered his trust in God, he abandoned the faith and practice of his fathers. While conscious of danger from without, be was glad to be able to look for help to the lower that was above, and he remained loyal to Jehovah; as soon as he felt or fancied himself secure within his ramparts, he flung away his spiritual support. Here we have guilt and folly in equal measureguilt, <\/em>for it was singularly ungrateful of him to forsake the God who had so clearly placed his dynasty on the throne, and impious of him to turn from the worship of him whom he believed to be the one true and living God; folly, <\/em>for he might have known that his material defences would avail him nothing if the anger of the Lord was enkindled and the hand of the Lord directed against him. Supposed security is a strong temptation.<\/em><\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. When we believe ourselves to be possessed of a sufficiency of material treasure, we think we can afford to be independent of the aid of the Divine provision.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. When we think we have surrounded ourselves with all needful sources of earthly and human joy, we are apt to think we can dispense with the consolations and the satisfactions which are in Jesus Christ; when we have attained to some strength of mind and of will, to some measure of maturity, we are tempted to suppose that there is less necessity, if any at all, to look upward for Divine support, to lean on the Divine arm. To yield to this temptation is to err sadly, to sin grievously.<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> To err sadly; <\/em>for we shall find that no defences or securities that are of earth or that are of man will avail us against all the difficulties and hazards that are around and against us, without the aid of an almighty arm; and the end will be failure and dishonour.<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> To sin grievously; <\/em>for God is demanding of us, in terms we cannot fail to understand and with a frequency we cannot fail to mark, that we should put our trust in him, <\/em>and not in man; in him, and not in ourselves; in him, and not in “the chariots and horses” of this world.<\/p>\n

III.<\/strong> THE<\/strong> RESPONSIBILITY<\/strong> OF<\/strong> HIGH<\/strong> POSITION<\/strong>. Rehoboam “forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.<\/em>“ <\/em>His people were not unaccountable for following him, but how weighty was his responsibility for leading them astray!C.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:2-12<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Penalty, penitence, and forgiveness.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was not many months before Rehoboam found out the heinousness of his offence, the magnitude of his mistake; for in the path of sin comes penalty, and behind penalty steals shame. Happily for him there was mercy behind that. We look at this succession<\/p>\n

I.<\/strong> AS<\/strong> EXPERIENCED<\/strong> BY<\/strong> THE<\/strong> KING<\/strong> OF<\/strong> JUDAH<\/strong>. First of all, following fast on his transgression, came:<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. Divine displeasure and humiliating defeat. <\/em>There came in to his palace-gates the stern spokesman for God, the prophet of Jehovah, with the <\/strong>language of cutting censure on his lips, “Thus saith the Lord, Ye have forsaken me, therefore have I also left you,” etc. (2Ch 12:5<\/span>); and with this anger of the Lord came disgraceful defeat on the field of battle. Those strong places he had so carefully fortified, of which he was so proud, and on which he so much relied, went down one after the other at the approach of the enemy, and left the capital at his mercy (2Ch 12:3<\/span>, 2Ch 12:4<\/span>). Then came:<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. Spiritual agitation. <\/em>Shame, fear, confession. Rehoboam was ashamed of his great folly; he was afraid for the safety of Jerusalem, and even for his <\/strong>own liberty or life; he made a humble confession of his sin. He and his princes “humbled themselves” before God (2Ch 12:6<\/span>). And then came:<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. The Divine clemency.<\/em><\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> God took him back into his forgiving favour (2Ch 12:7<\/span>). “The wrath of the Lord turned from him” (2Ch 12:12<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> He promised him deliverance in a short time, and he graciously fulfilled his word; for Shishak went back without destroying or sacking the <\/strong>capital, and without taking the life or liberty of the king.<\/p>\n

(3)<\/strong> His mercy included discipline. God let Rehoboam be subject to the Egyptian king for a while that he <\/strong>might know the difference between a degrading servitude and an ennobling service (see next homily); and he suffered Jerusalem to be stripped of some of its proud treasures, that the king and his princes might learn that their strength and wealth were as nothing in comparison with the favour of God, and would be forfeited by their disobedience and disloyalty. God’s mercy was of such a kind as to justify repentance, but <\/strong>to discourage rebellion and wrong-doing.<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> IN<\/strong> OUR<\/strong> OWN<\/strong> EXPERIENCE<\/strong>. Following our sin against the Lord, whether this be <\/strong>some special act of transgression, or whether it be the condition of estrangement and separation from him, is:<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. The Divine rebuke. <\/em>This comes to our heart through the <\/strong>written or uttered Word of God, or through the pricking and piercing of our own conscience, or through the coming of God to the individual soul by his Divine providence. In some form or other God says to us, “Thou hast sinned, and done evil m my sight.”<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. Spiritual agitation and return. <\/em>Our heart is humbled; <\/em>we are <\/strong>conscious that we have violated the Law and grieved the Spirit of God, and our soul is filled with a holy and a manly shame. And then our heart turns toward <\/em>God; we “set our hearts to seek the Lord God,” our Father and our Saviour and our Friend; we earnestly desire to be taken into his service. And then comes:<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. Divine forgiveness. <\/em>God receives us fully into his favour; he takes us back to his heart and to his home, so that we are no longer aliens or enemies, but children at his hearth and table. Yet he makes us to know that our past sin has left some of its marks behind it. It has robbed us of some treasure; it has injured us, perhaps in our circumstances; certainly in <\/strong>our soul. We cannot break his righteous Law, we cannot oppose his holy and loving will, we cannot violate the laws of our own spiritual nature, without being something the poorer for our folly and our guilt. Nevertheless, the capital is not taken, the enemy withdraws; we have left us our liberty, and our power to serve the righteous and the loving Saviour.C.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:8<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Servitude and service.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“They shall be servants to him <\/em>[for a short time], that they may discern my service and the service of the kingdoms of the lands; i.e.<\/em> that they may see that my rule is not so oppressive as that of foreign kings” (Keil). God would let Rehoboam and the princes of Judah be for a time subject to Shishakbe in his power, be at his mercy, be compelled to go through the miserable humiliation of buying him offthat he might be able to contrast the honourable and happy service which he had known for three years (2Ch 11:17<\/span>) with the unendurable subjection to which he was now reduced. He should feel and know that the way of transgressors is hard; that between the bonds of the Lord and the yoke of the stranger there was all the difference between blessedness and misery, between a holy service and a degrading servitude.<\/p>\n

I.<\/strong> THE<\/strong> DEGRADING<\/strong> SERVITUDE<\/strong>. “Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants [or, ‘slaves’] ye are to whom ye obey?” “Ye were the servants [slaves] of sin; Being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” (Rom 6:16-18<\/span>).<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. Sin is a foreign power. It is a stranger; it is an interloper; it has stepped in between ourselves and God; it is like the Egyptian forces that came up against Judah and Jerusalem, and sought to bring the people of God into captivity. Sin is our natural enemy, whom we have greatest reason to dread.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. Sin proves a hard master, and forces to a cruel bondage. It is the ultimate source of poverty, <\/em>and that is a hard master; it leads to vice, <\/em>and that holds its victims in the most degrading thraldom; it throws around its subjects the coils of procrastination, <\/em>and these hold the spirit in an evil circle from which it tries vainly to escape; it takes men further and further away from God, and leads them down to sources of satisfaction that are sure to fail and to end in disappointment and heart-ache; it is a sorry servitude in which to suffer; it is in very striking contrast to<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> THE<\/strong> HOLY<\/strong> SERVICE<\/strong> OF<\/strong> THE<\/strong> SAVIOUR<\/strong>. TO<\/strong> recognize the claims of our Divine Father and Redeemer, to yield ourselves in glad self-surrender to him, to spend our days and powers in his servicewhat is this?<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. It is the one right<\/em> thing to do. It is to be fulfilling the greatest and strongest of all obligations.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. It is the path of true liberty. <\/em>Every servant of a Divine Saviour can say and sing<\/p>\n

“In a service which thy love appoints<\/p>\n

There are no bonds for me,<\/p>\n

A life of self-renouncing love<\/p>\n

Is a life of liberty.”<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> It is the secret and the source of lasting peace and of abiding joy.<\/p>\n

4<\/strong>. It is the commencement of that life which is “life <\/em>indeed,” which is the beginning and foretaste of “eternal <\/em>life”the life which is of God, for God, with God, in God.C.<\/p>\n

HOMILIES BY T. WHITELAW<\/strong><\/p>\n

2Ch 12:1<\/span><\/strong>, <\/strong>2Ch 12:2<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The apostasy of Rehoboam.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I. EARLY<\/strong> IN<\/strong> ITS<\/strong> COMMENCEMENT<\/strong>. After the three years already mentioned (2Ch 11:17<\/span>). Rehoboam’s piety was short-lived, like the morning cloud and early dew (Hos 6:4<\/span>), and like the seed upon stony ground (Mat 13:5<\/span>). Want of stability and permanence is a chief defect in man’s goodness. Many begin well who neither continue long nor end aright.<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> PRESUMPTUOUS<\/strong> IN<\/strong> ITS<\/strong> SPIRIT<\/strong>. Rehoboam’s declension began after he had established the kingdom and strengthened himself. His fit of reforming zeal continued <\/em>no longer than the fear which caused it. When this expired that vanished. So long as the country was defenceless, <\/em>Rehoboam deemed it prudent to have Jehovah on his side, and with that end in view he patronized Jehovah’s altars. The moment his garrisons were erected, manned, and stored, he began to reckon that Jehovah’s aid was not so indispensable, and that his reforming zeal need not be so extremely hot. So men still think of God, and assume a semblance of religion when they feel themselves in peril, but the instant peril passes they doff the cloak of piety they have erstwhile wornlike Pharaoh (Exo 8:8<\/span>, Exo 8:15<\/span>; Exo 9:27<\/span>, Exo 9:34<\/span>), like the Israelites (Num 21:7<\/span>; Num 25:1<\/span>; Psa 78:31<\/span>; Psa 106:6<\/span>), like Ahab (1Ki 21:29<\/span>), and others.<\/p>\n

III.<\/strong> THOROUGH<\/strong>–GOING<\/strong> IS<\/strong> ITS<\/strong> CHARACTER<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. Negative. <\/em>He forsook the Law of the Lord, probably by violating its moral precepts and discontinuing its ceremonial rites, by abandoning the worship and deserting the altars of Jehovah.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. Positive. <\/em>He returned to the heathen idolatries which for three years he had neglected (1Ki 11:7<\/span>, 1Ki 11:8<\/span>), like a dog to his vomit, etc. (2Pe 2:22<\/span>). So a merely negative declension in religion is impossible. He who abandons the service of God cannot stop short of serving the devil. No man can serve two masters (Mat 6:24<\/span>); but every man must serve one.<\/p>\n

IV.<\/strong> CONTAGIOUS<\/strong> IN<\/strong> ITS<\/strong> INFLUENCE<\/strong>. As Achan perished not alone in his iniquity (Jos 22:20<\/span>), so Rehoboam sinned not alone in his apostasy, but by means of his royal example or command drew all Israel after him. “One sinner destroyeth much good” (Ecc 9:18<\/span>); “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (1Co 5:6<\/span>). One asks, where were the priests and Levites who had so bravely, resisted the profanations of Jeroboam, and rather sacrificed their suburbs and possessions than defile their consciences (2Ch 11:14<\/span>)? and where were the pious Israelites who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel (2Ch 11:16<\/span>)? In one short year their fervour had been quenched, their fidelity shaken, their courage damped.<\/p>\n

V.<\/strong> DISASTROUS<\/strong> IN<\/strong> ITS<\/strong> CONSEQUENCE<\/strong>. “Evil pursueth sinners” (Pro 13:21<\/span>), and in two years Nemesis overtook Rehoboam in the shape of an Egyptian invasion. Of all sinners it is true, “their feet shall slide in due time” (Deu 32:35<\/span>); of apostates it is written, “I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord” (Eze 11:21<\/span>).<\/p>\n

Learn:<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. The sin of apostasy.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. The danger of prosperity.<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. The impossibility of neutrality.<\/p>\n

4<\/strong>. The fickleness of crowds in religion as in politics.<\/p>\n

5<\/strong>. The corrupting influence of evil example.<\/p>\n

6<\/strong>. The certainty of retribution.W.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:2-4<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Shishak’s invasion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I. THE<\/strong> INVADER<\/strong>. Shishak King of Egypt, the Sesonchis of Manetho, the Shashanq I. of the monuments. Originally the son of an Assyrian king named Nimrod, “who had met his death in Egypt and been buried at Abydos,” Shashanq I. of the twenty-second dynasty established his seat of royalty at Bubastis, in Lower Egypt. His mother’s name was Tentespeh, his wife’s Tahpenes (1Ki 11:19<\/span>). One of his wife’s sisters married Hadad the Edomite; another became the wife of Jeroboam (Stanley, ‘Jewish Church,’ 2.275; Ewald, ‘History of Israel,’ 3.217; 4.32).<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> THE<\/strong> ARMY<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. Chariots. <\/em>In ancient times a common instrument of war (Exo 14:9<\/span>; 2Sa 15:1<\/span>; 1Ki 20:1<\/span>). Shishak had twelve hundred, or twice the number of Pharaoh’s chosen chariots in the time of Moses (Exo 14:7<\/span>). The Philistines once collected against Israel thirty thousand (1Sa 13:5<\/span>). Solomon had fourteen hundred (1Ki 10:26<\/span>), Rehoboam likely not so many in consequence of the disruption of the kingdom.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. Horsemen. <\/em>Sixty thousand; five times as many as had belonged to Solomon (1Ki 4:26<\/span>), and twelve times as many as the Philistines had brought against Israel (1Sa 13:5<\/span>). Forty thousand mounted warriors once fell before David’s troops (2Sa 10:18<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. Infantry. <\/em>Without number, composed of native forces and mercenaries or foreign troopsLubims, Sukkims, and Ethiopians.<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> The Lubims, or Libyans (2Ch 16:8<\/span>; Dan 11:43<\/span>), the Lehabim of Gen 10:13<\/span>, the Temhu, or Tehennu, or more accurately the eastern portion of this people, the Lubu of the monuments, were the inhabitants of the districts of Marcotis and Libya west of the Canopic arm of the Nile (Knobel), or in the larger sense the Liby-AE<\/strong>gyptii of the ancients (Keil), the people dwelling between Lower Egypt and the Roman province of Africa (Kautzsch in Riehm, art. “Libyer”).<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> The Sukkim were aborigines of Africa, “cavemen,” troglodytes (LXX<\/strong>; Vulgate), “probably the Ethiopian troglodytes upon the mountains on the west coast of the Arabian Gulf” (Bertheau), whom Strabo and Pliny mention, the latter speaking of a troglodyte city Suche, <\/em>which has been identified with Suakim (Kautzsch).<\/p>\n

(3)<\/strong> The Ethiopians, or Cushites, introduced among the forces of Shishak (cf. Nab. Gen 3:9<\/span>) were drawn from the African territory south of Egypt.<\/p>\n

III.<\/strong> THE<\/strong> REASON<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. Shishak<\/em>‘s. <\/em>Perhaps to assist Jeroboam in his measures of hostility against Rehoboam, and eventually to secure the supremacy of Judah, possibly also of Israel as well.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. Jehovah<\/em>‘s. <\/em>To punish Rehoboam and Judah for their apostasy. Though second causes need not be overlooked, they must not be permitted to obscure, far less to deny, the first. Had Rehoboam remained faithful to Jehovah, all the intrigues of Jeroboam would have failed to start Shishak on the extradition here reported.<\/p>\n

IV.<\/strong> THE<\/strong> PROGRESS<\/strong>. Shishak captured all the fenced cities of Judah in which Rehoboam trusted (2Ch 11:5-9<\/span>), and encamped his army before the walls of Jerusalem. Vain, after all, had been Rehoboam’s confidence. His garrisons and soldiers had yielded the first assault, The props on which men lean often prove broken reeds. The shelters to which sinners run in the day of calamity mostly turn out refuges of lies (Isa 28:17<\/span>).<\/p>\n

Lessons.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. The certainty of sin being sooner or later overtaken by retribution (Num 32:23<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. The weakness of all defences, whether for nations or for individuals, when God is not within them (Psa 127:1<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. When God has a sinner to chastise he can easily find an instrument wherewith to do it (Isa 10:5<\/span>).W.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:5-8<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Two messages from Jehovah.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I. <\/strong>A MESSAGE<\/strong> OF<\/strong> WARNING<\/strong>. (2Ch 12:5<\/span>, 2Ch 12:6<\/span>.)<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. By whom sent. <\/em>Shemaiah the prophet, or man of God (2Ch 11:2<\/span>). When Jehovah has a message for any age, people, or individual, he can always find a messenger to bear ita Moses to go to Pharaoh, a Samuel to speak to Saul, a Nathan to send to David, an Elijah or a Micaiah to warn Ahab, a John the Baptist to preach to Israel and testify against Herod. The hour never comes without the man. When a Paul or a Polycarp, an Athanasius or an Augustine, a Calvin or a Luther, a Knox or a Wesley, is needed in the New Testament Church, he appears at the moment when most required.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. To whom addressed. <\/em>To Rehoboam and the princes of Judah whom Shishak’s invasion had caused to convene in Jerusalem. They had come together to consult about the safety of the capital; they had not called Jehovah to the council. They had not realized that in such a crisis as had arisen “vain was the help of man,” and “through God alone could they do valiantly” (Psa 60:11<\/span>, Psa 60:12<\/span>); that unless God kept the city, they the watchers would watch in vain (Psa 127:1<\/span>). Yet they seem to have discerned that their best efforts would prove ineffectual, and they were filled with fear. Happily Jehovah thought of them, though they forgat him.<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. In what terms it ran.<\/em><\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> It intimated a fact: “Ye have forsaken me.” This showed that Jehovah had been cognizant of all that had taken place since Rehoboam got his garrisons erected, had witnessed the idolatries and unspeakable abominations of the faithless king and his coward princes, though perhaps they had reasoned that, as God was in the height of heaven, he could not know what transpired upon the earth (Job 22:12-14<\/span>). But though they had not seen him, he had observed them (Pro 15:3<\/span>; Amo 9:8<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> It announced a consequence: “Therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.” Thus did Jehovah signify that it was he himself even more than Shishak that had come up against Rehoboam and his princes; Shishak had not appeared before their gates without his permission; and without his assistance nothing they could do would prevent them falling into Shishak’s hand. Jehovah, indeed, could avert that calamity. He could put a hook into Shishak’s nose and lead him back by the way he came, as he afterwards did to Sennacherib (2Ki 19:28<\/span>; Isa 37:29<\/span>); but in the mean time, as they had left him for the calves of Egypt, he had left them to be the prey of Egypt’s lord.<\/p>\n

4<\/strong>. What effect it produced.<\/em><\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> Contrition, or at least seeming contrition: “They humbled themselves.” To be sure, their penitence, like their previous reformation, was only skin deep. Nevertheless, it had the semblance of reality, and God accepted it as such.<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> Confession: “They said, The Lord is righteous,” i.e. <\/em>in punishing them as he had done; in which was implied an acknowledgment that they had sinned. This the design of all God’s chastisements, whether national or individual, to excite personal humiliation and hearty recognition of the holiness and justice of God (Deu 8:5<\/span>, Deu 8:16<\/span>; Eze 20:37<\/span>, Eze 20:43<\/span>; Hos 5:15<\/span>). Only confession may be on the lip where no real contrition is in the heart.<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> A MESSAGE<\/strong> OF<\/strong> MERCY<\/strong>. (2Ch 12:7<\/span>, 2Ch 12:8<\/span>.)<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. Its occasion. <\/em>The success of the first message in the (at least seeming) penitence of the king and his princes. “God speaketh once, yea twice (Job 33:14<\/span>), to men, even to his people, who often fail to understand his first voice, or understand but refuse to hear (Isa 65:12<\/span>), though occasionally also they listen and submit (Jon 3:5<\/span>). In the first case, his second speaking may be nothing more than a repetition of the first, or an explanation of its contents; in the second, it commonly assumes the form of increased warnings and severer threatenings; in the thirds it is usually a voice of mercy following on a voice of judgment. It was so with Rehoboam and the princes of Judah.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. Its contents.<\/em><\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> Their humiliation had been observed and accepted: “They have humbled themselves.” So God still sees and regards with favour all who abase themselves before him (Jer 31:18<\/span>; Psa 9:12<\/span>; Psa 10:17<\/span>; 1Ki 21:29<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> A degree, at least, of clemency would be extended towards them: “I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and. my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.” So God delights to meet the first advances of returning penitents with such foretastes of mercy as will lure them on to desire its full fruition.<\/p>\n

(3)<\/strong> Nevertheless, a measure of correction would be laid upon them. Though Shishak should not be suffered to work his will either upon them or their city, they would, nevertheless, fall into his hand. They’ should be his servants, either as captives or as tributaries; and would learn the difference between Jehovah’s rule and the domination of foreign kings. So God still deals with his peopleforgives them, but permits them to reap the temporal fruits of their transgression, that they may know what an evil and bitter thing it is to forsake God (Jer 2:19<\/span>), and how much more easy is Christ’s yoke (Mat 11:29<\/span>, Mat 11:30<\/span>) than that of sin (Lam 1:14<\/span>).<\/p>\n

Learn:<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. The omniscience of God: “All things are naked,” etc. (Heb 4:13<\/span>),<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. God’s compact with the soul: “The Lord is with us,” etc. (2Ch 15:2<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. The mercifulness of God: he is “long-suffering, and slow to wrath” (Exo 34:6<\/span>; Psa 78:38<\/span>).<\/p>\n

4<\/strong>. The misery of sin: it ever entails sorrow (Psa 32:10<\/span>).<\/p>\n

5<\/strong>. God’s ability to execute his own sentences: “It is a fearful thing,” etc. (Heb 10:31<\/span>); “Though <\/em>hand join in hand,” etc. (Pro 11:21<\/span>).W.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:9<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first sacking of Jerusalem.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I.<\/strong> ITS<\/strong> HISTORIC<\/strong> CERTAINTY<\/strong>. That Shishak gradually drew his lines closer round the capital, and in the end stormed its citadel, has received confirmation from the monuments.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. In the temple of Karnak, at Thebes, on the walls of which Soti I. and Rameses II<\/strong>. had by means of pictorial representations and hieroglyphic inscriptions preserved a record of their victories, Sheshonq, on returning from Palestine, caused a bas-relief to be executed in commemoration of his expedition.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. On the south wall, behind the picture of the victories of Rameses II<\/strong>; to <\/em>the east of the hall of the Bubastids, appears a colossal image of the Egyptian sovereign, arrayed in warlike costume and dealing heavy blows with a club or iron mace upon his captives, who are Jews or, at least, Asiatics, whom he grasps.by the hair of their heads.<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. In another representation he is depicted as leading captive a hundred and thirty-three cities or tribes, each one of which is personated by the figure of a chief whose name is written on an embattled shield, and whose physiognomy has been supposed (Lenormant) to declare them Jews, though this is probably imagination.<\/p>\n

4<\/strong>. In the lists of names occur those of<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> cities of Judah proper, as e.g. <\/em>Adoraim (Adurma<\/em>), <\/em>Aijalon (Ajulon<\/em>), <\/em>Shoco (Shauke<\/em>), <\/em>Gibeon (Qebeana<\/em>), <\/em>etc;<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> Levitical cities of Israel, as e.g. <\/em>Taanach (Ta<\/em>‘ankau<\/em>), <\/em>Rehob (Rehabau<\/em>), <\/em>Mahanaim (Mahanema<\/em>), <\/em>etc.; and<\/p>\n

(3)<\/strong> Canaanitish cities, as e.g. <\/em>Bethshan (Beithshanlan<\/em>), <\/em>Megiddo (Makethu<\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n

5<\/strong>. Among the names is one styled Judah-Malek; not “the King of Judah” (Stanley), but “the kingly Judah” (Ebers), or “Judah a kingdom’ (Rawlinson), which is supposed to point to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

6<\/strong>. The conquered nations are designated as the “‘Am of a distant land,” and the Fenekh or the Phoenicians. The former expression, “‘Am,” answers exactly to the Hebrew word for “people,” and may have been intended to denote the Jews.<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> ITS<\/strong> ACTUAL<\/strong> EXTENT<\/strong>. Whether Shishak ravaged the city is doubtful. The plundering reported suggests that he did (Bertheau, Keil), but, “like Hezekiah on the occasion of Sennacherib’s invasion (2Ki 18:13-16<\/span>), Rehoboam may have surrendered his treasures (1Ki 14:26<\/span>) “to save his city from the horrors of capture” (Rawlinson). In any case, Shishak carried off valuable spoil.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. The treasures of the temple, <\/em>or house of the Lord, the sacred utensils employed in worship, which were then material, and the loss of which greatly hindered the observance of religiona calamity which cannot now befall the Church of God in gospel times, since in Christian worship the outward ritual is nothing, but the inward spirit everything.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. The treasures of the palace, <\/em>or king’s house in the city of David, i.e.<\/em> the regalia or crown jewels, which are always more or less an object of desire to victorious generals and armiesa smaller calamity than the former, as the destruction of a nation’s wealth is a lesser evil than the extinction or suppression of its religion.<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. The golden shields <\/em>in the house of the forest of Lebanon (2Ch 9:16<\/span>), which Solomon had made, <\/em>the LXX<\/strong>. (1Ki 14:26<\/span>) adding that he likewise carried off the golden armour David had taken as spoil from the King of Zobah (1Ch 18:7<\/span>)the least calamity of the three, the shields being luxuries of which king or nation might be deprived without hurt, and the armour spoil of which either might be deprived without wrong.<\/p>\n

III.<\/strong> ITS<\/strong> SPEEDY<\/strong> REPARATION<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. The nation<\/em>‘s loss concealed. <\/em>Rehoboam covered up as far as he could the damage wrought, especially in his palace, by constructing shields of brass to take the place of those of gold which had been abstracted (see next homily).<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. The king<\/em>‘s vanity soothed. <\/em>He also endeavoured to heal his own wounded vanity, by causing these brazen shields to be borne before him in state procession every time he entered the temple. Just as they had done before with the golden shields, the guards fetched out their spurious substitutes with solemn pomp on every ceremonial day, and when the show was concluded replaced them in the guard-chamber, the spectators probably not being aware of the imposition.<\/p>\n

LESSONS<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1. The instability of earthly things. A greater king than Shishak will one day plunder kings and common men alike of their material possessions.
2. The facility with which men impose upon themselves, the efforts they make, and the stratagems they resort to, to prop up their fallen greatness or restore their faded glory. Solomon’s weak and vain son not the only man who has made brass shields do duty for golden ones.
3. The historic credibility of Scripture. The Shishak invasion is not the only instance in which the monuments have surprisingly corroborated Bible history.W.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:10<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Brazen shields for golden.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I. <\/strong>A VIRTUE<\/strong>. <\/em>To content one’s self with shields of brass when shields of gold cannot be got. “Be content with such things as ye have” (Heb 13:5<\/span>).<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> A HYPOCRISY<\/strong>. To pretend that brazen shields are golden, either:<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. To hide the truth, <\/em>that our shields of gold have been stolen, lost, or never had an existence: “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees,” etc. (Luk 12:1<\/span>, Luk 12:2<\/span>); or:<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. To keep up appearances, <\/em>and so gratify our vanity by seeming richer or more socially exalted than we are: “Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes,” etc, (Luk 20:46<\/span>).<\/p>\n

III.<\/strong> A SERMON<\/strong><\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. To such as serve God with brass when they should do so with goldan <\/em>exhortation to liberality.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. To those who serve God with the appearance of<\/em>‘ gold when the inward reality is awantinga <\/em>discourse upon sincerity.<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. To them who would serve God with gold but have only brassa <\/em>promise of better days when Jehovah’s word shall be fulfilled, “For brass I will bring gold” (Isa 60:17<\/span>).W.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:12<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Good things in Judah.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I. <\/strong>A PENITENT<\/strong> MONARCH<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

II. <\/strong>A MERCIFUL<\/strong> GOD<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

III. <\/strong>A RESTRAINED<\/strong> ENEMY<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

IV. <\/strong>A PROSPEROUS<\/strong> PEOPLE<\/strong>.W.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:13-16<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The biography of Rehoboam.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I. HIS<\/strong> ANCESTRY<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. The son of<\/em> Solomon, <\/em>the son of David.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. The son of<\/em> Naamah <\/em>the Ammonitess, the daughter of Hanun the son of Nahash (2Ch 10:1<\/span>).<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> HIS<\/strong> KINGDOM<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. Its extent. <\/em>Judah, with a portion of Benjamin.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. Its capital. <\/em>Jerusalem, the city of the great King.<\/p>\n

III.<\/strong> HIS<\/strong> REIGN<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. The beginning <\/em>of it. When he was forty years of age.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. The length <\/em>of it. Seventeen years; short in comparison with that of Solomon.<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. The character <\/em>of it.<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> Vigorous: “he strengthened himself” (2Ch 12:13<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> Idolatrous: “he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord” (2Ch 12:14<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(3)<\/strong> Troubled: “there were wars continually between him and Jeroboam” (2Ch 12:15<\/span>).<\/p>\n

4<\/strong>. The end of it. Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.<\/p>\n

IV.<\/strong> HIS<\/strong> ACTS<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. All written. <\/em>From first to last (2Ch 12:15<\/span>). What a calamity to any man it would be to have all his deeds recorded on the page of history! Yet first and last every action of every man is being engrossed upon the page of God’s book of remembrance.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. Where<\/em> written<\/em>? In the book of Shemaiah the prophet, and in that of Iddo concerning genealogies. A small honour compared to being written in the book of life. Not so serious a matter to have one’s deeds inscribed upon a perishing page by a human biographer as to have them graven “as with a pen of iron in the <\/strong>rock for ever,” by the hand of God’s recording angel upon the tablets of eternity.<\/p>\n

V.<\/strong> HIS<\/strong> SUCCESSOR<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. His name. <\/em>Abijah, or Abijam (2Ch 13:1<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. His rotgut. <\/em>In Rehoboam’s stead. An honour to Rehoboam that he had a son like Abijah; a mercy to Judah that Abijah was better than his father.W.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

3. THE KINGS OF THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH FROM REHOBOAM TO ZEDEKIAH.Ch. 1036 <\/p>\n

a<\/em>. Rehoboam. The Prophet Shemaiah.Ch. 1012<\/p>\n

. Revolt of the Ten Tribes from the House of David:<\/em> 2Ch 10:1<\/span> to 2Ch 11:4<\/span><\/p>\n

2Ch 10:1<\/span>.And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for to Shechem was all Israel come to 2make him king. And when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it, and he in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of Solomon the king, then Jeroboam returned out of Egypt. 3And they sent and called him: and Jeroboam and all Israel came; and they spake to Rehoboam, saying, 4Thy father made our yoke grievous: and now ease thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee. 5And he said unto them, Yet three days hence return unto me: and the people departed.<\/p>\n

6And King Rehoboam took counsel with the elders that stood before Solomon his father when he was living, saying, How do you advise me to return answer to this people. 7And they spake unto him, saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they 8will serve thee all thy days. And he forsook the counsel of the old men which they gave, and took counsel of the young men that grew up with him, who stood before him. 9And he said unto them, What do ye advise, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Ease thou the yoke which thy father put upon us? 10And the young men that grew up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou say unto the people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but do thou ease our yoke: thus shalt thou say to them, My little finger is thicker than my 11fathers thighs. And now my father laid a heavy yoke upon you, but I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.<\/p>\n

12And Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had spoken, saying, Come again to me on the third day. 13And the king answered them roughly: and King Rehoboam forsook the counsel of 14the old men. And he spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy,1<\/span> but I will add thereto: my father 15chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. And the king hearkened not to the people; for the cause was of God, that the Lord might accomplish His word, which He spake by Ahijah of Shiloh to Jeroboam 16the son of Nebat. And all Israel saw2<\/span> that the king hearkened not unto them: the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to your tents, O Israel: now look to thy house, David. And all Israel went to his tents. 17And the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned 18over them. And King Rehoboam sent Hadoram,3<\/span> who was over the socage; and the sons of Israel stoned him with stones, that he died: and King 19Rehoboam hastened to get up into his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. And Israel revolted from the house of David unto this day.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:1<\/span> And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, and assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors, to fight with 2Israel, to bring back the kingdom to Rehoboam. And the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 3Speak unto Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, 4Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight with your brethren: return every man to his house; for this thing is come from me: and they hearkened to the words of the Lord, and returned from going against Jeroboam.<\/p>\n

. Reign of Rehoboam:<\/em> 2Ch 11:5<\/span> to 2Ch 12:16<\/span><\/p>\n

5And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defence in Judah. 6, 7And he built Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa. And Beth-zur, and Socho, 8and Adullam. And Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph. 9And Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah. 10And Zorah, and Ajalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and Benjamin, fenced cities. 11And he fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of food, and oil, and wine. 12And in every several city shields and spears, and made them very strong: and he had Judah and Benjamin.<\/p>\n

13And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their border. 14For the Levites left their suburbs, and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priests office unto the Lord. 15And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the he-goats, and for the calves which he made. 16And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their heart to seek the Lord God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the 17Lord God of their fathers. And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and upheld Rehoboam son of Solomon three years; for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.<\/p>\n

18And Rehoboam took him to wife Mahalath, daughter4<\/span> of Jerimoth son of 19David, and of Abihail5<\/span> daughter of Eliab son of Jesse. And she bare him sons: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham. 20And after her he took Maachah daughter of Absalom, and she bare him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith. 21And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines: for he took eighteen wives and sixty6<\/span> concubines; and begat twenty and eight sons, and sixty daughters. 22And Rehoboam made Abijah son of Maachah the chief, to be ruler over his brethren: for he thought to make him king. 23And he dealt wisely, and distributed of all his sons in all the countries of Judah and Benjamin, unto all fenced cities; and gave them victual in abundance: and he desired for them many wives.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:1<\/span>.And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. 2And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord. 3With twelve hundred chariots, and sixty thousand riders: and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt; Lubites, Succites, and Cushites. 4And he took the fenced cities which pertained 5to Judah, and came to Jerusalem. And Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and the princes of Judah that were gathered into Jerusalem before Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Ye have forsaken 6me, and I also have forsaken you in the hand of Shishak. And the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves, and said, The Lord is righteous. 7And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, but I will soon grant them deliverance; and my wrath shall 8not be poured out upon Jerusalem by Shishak. But they shall be his servants: that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the lands.<\/p>\n

9And Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the kings house; he took the whole; and he took the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 10And instead of them King Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed them into the hand of the captains of the runners, who kept the entrance of the kings house. 11And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, the runners came and carried them, and brought them again into the chamber of the runners. 12And when he humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned from him, and he would not destroy him altogether: and in Judah also there were good things.<\/p>\n

13And King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned; for Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen to put His name there out of all the tribes of Israel: and his mothers name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 14And he did evil; for he did not direct his heart to seek the Lord. <\/p>\n

15And the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the words of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer for the register? and the wars of Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continual. 16And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah reigned in his stead.<\/p>\n

EXEGETICAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

Preliminary Remark.The Chronist presents only the first section of the history of Rehoboam, relating to the revolt of the ten tribes and the division of the kingdom, in exact, mostly literal, agreement with the account of the books of Kings (comp. 2Ch 10:1<\/span> to 2Ch 11:4<\/span> with 1Ki 12:1-24<\/span>). The proper history of his reign he treats with considerable enlargement, by the addition of several statements, wanting in the parallel text, concerning his building of forts, reception of the priests and Levites from the northern kingdom, and his family affairs (2Ch 11:5-23<\/span>). He also reports at length the history of the invasion of Shishak, and the subjection of Rehoboam, and records the words spoken by the prophet Shemaiah at the divine command (2Ch 12:1-12<\/span>; comp. 1Ki 14:25-28<\/span>). He refers even to the notes of this Shemaiah as his source for this enlarged account (2Ch 12:15<\/span>).<\/p>\n

1. The Revolt of the Ten Tribes: 2 Chronicles 10<\/span>; comp. the explanations of Bhr on 1 Kings 12<\/span> Here we have only to remark some deviations from the text of Kings.<\/p>\n

2Ch 10:2<\/span>.And when Jeroboam . . . and he in Egypt.<\/em> 1 Kings: and he was yet in Egypt ( our narrator omits, because he had related nothing of Jeroboams flight from Solomon into Egypt; comp. 1Ki 11:26-40<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2Ch 10:5<\/span>. Yet three days<\/em> (wait). 1 Kings: Go () yet three days.<\/p>\n

2Ch 10:14<\/span>. On the reading deviating from 1 Kings, see the Crit. Note.<\/p>\n

2Ch 10:15<\/span>. For the cause was of God, literally,<\/em> for it was a decree (turning) of God. Both and its parallel in 1 Kings are .<\/p>\n

2Ch 10:16<\/span>. And all Israel saw.<\/em> If were to be cast out of the text, according to most ancient testimonies (see Crit. Note), it must be translated: and all Israel (or as to all Israel), when the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered.What portion have we in David?<\/em> What have we to do with the house of David ? it may take care of itself. See again the fourth line of the strophically – arranged speech.<\/p>\n

2Ch 10:18<\/span>. On the probable identity of the taskmaster (Luther: receiver of rents) Adoram, or, as our author writes, Hadoram, with the Adoniram of 1Ki 4:6<\/span>, see Bhr on 1Ki 12:18<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 10:19<\/span>. Unto this day;<\/em> comp. 1Ch 4:41<\/span>; 1Ch 4:43<\/span>; 1Ch 5:26<\/span>, and the remarks in the Introd. 5, I. p. 16.<\/p>\n

2. Prevention of the War of Rehoboam with Jeroboam by the Prophet Shemaiah: 2Ch 11:1-4<\/span>. This incident also, that belongs to the history of the revolt of the ten tribes, is recorded by our author in substantial agreement with the author of 1 Kings; comp. 1Ki 12:21-24<\/span>, and Bhr on the passage. Only to 1Ki 12:20<\/span> (Jeroboam is raised by the ten tribes, in solemn assembly, to the throne of the northern kingdom) no parallel is found in our text, because the Chronist sedulously avoids all particulars concerning the history of the kingdom of Israel.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:3<\/span>. Speak unto Rehoboam . . . and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin.<\/em> Observe the peculiar depth, almost New Testament (reminding us of Gal 6:16<\/span>; Rom 2:29<\/span>; Rom 4:12<\/span>) depth of the sense which our author here attaches to the name Israel. It is otherwise, certainly, 2Ch 11:1<\/span>, and again 2Ch 11:16<\/span> a<\/em>, where he specially designates the northern kingdom by Israel; yet in 2Ch 11:16<\/span> follows immediately after the name Israel, again in that evangelical, deeper, and more universal sense; so 2Ch 12:1<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:4<\/span>. For this thing is come from me,<\/em> I have decreed the revolt of the disloyal tribes as a punishment for the disobedience of the house of David; comp. 2Ch 10:15<\/span>. The there mentioned revelation by Ahijah the prophet of Jeroboam is here confirmed by Shemaiah the prophet of Rehoboam.And returned from going against Jeroboam.<\/em> For this 1Ki 12:24<\/span> has: and turned home, according to the word of the Lord, a deviation arising perhaps from a mere omission in writing. Our text has probably the original; for the twofold mention of the word of Jehovah shortly after one another is somewhat drawling, leading us to suspect a corruption of the text.<\/p>\n

3. Building of Forts by Rehoboam: 2Ch 11:5-12<\/span> (without parallel in Kings).And built cities for defence in Judah,<\/em>, for a fort. Judah is here the name, not of the tribe (2Ch 11:10<\/span>), but of the whole southern kingdom; for a part of the fifteen forts now to be named lay in Benjamin.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:6<\/span>. And he built Bethlehem and Etam.<\/em> That Bethlehem was a fort, for which it was fitted by its tolerably high situation on a rocky eminence, we learn only from this passage. On the here mentioned Etam, as different from the more southern one in the tribe of Simeon, see on 4:32. Tobler (Dritte Wanderung,<\/em> etc., p. 89) has again pointed out our Etam in the Ain Attn, a side glen south-west of Urts, or Arts, the well-known starting-point of Solomons aqueduct for Jerusalem. For Tekoa, now Tekua, a hilltop covered with ruins, two hours south of Bethlehem, see the Expl. on Jos 15:59<\/span> and on Amo 1:1<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:7<\/span>. For Beth-zur (now Beit-Sur, between Urts and Hebron), comp. Fay on Jos 15:58<\/span>; for Socho (now Shuweike, three and a half hours south-west of Jerusalem) and Adullam (perhaps = Dula, six miles east of Beit-jibrin), see the same on Jos 15:35<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:8<\/span>. Gath<\/em> (comp. 1Ch 18:1<\/span>; 1Ki 2:39<\/span>); its situation is not yet exactly ascertained; it is perhaps near Ascalon, where is now found a Wady el Gat<\/em>, north of the ruins of this city (K. Furrer, Wanderungen,<\/em> etc., 1865, p. 133); according to others (for example, C. Schick) = the conical hill Tel Safieh<\/em> in the Shephelah west of Ascalon.Mareshah<\/em> = the later Marissa (between Hebron and Philistia) and the present Marash, a ruin twenty-four minutes south of Beit-jibrin or Eleutheropolis; comp. Fay on Jos 15:44<\/span>; and for Ziph (on the hills of Judah, one and a quarter hour south-east of Hebron), comp. the same on Jos 15:24<\/span>; Jos 15:55<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:9<\/span>. Adoraim<\/em> = the Iduman city , 1Ma 13:20, or , Josephus, Antiq.<\/em>xiii. 15. 4, now Dura, two and a half hours west of Hebron (Robinson, iii. 209).Lachish<\/em> = Um Lakish, on the road from Gaza to Hebron; comp. on Jos 10:3<\/span>; Jos 15:39<\/span>.Azekah,<\/em> according to 1Sa 17:1<\/span>, Jos 10:10<\/span>, not far from Socho, but not yet fully ascertained.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:10<\/span>. And Zorah and Ajalon,<\/em> both originally (Jos 19:41<\/span>) cities belonging to the tribe of Dan, which afterwards, on the migration of the Danites to North Palestine (Jdg 18:1<\/span>), were probably occupied by the Benjamites, and thenceforth reckoned to the tribe of Benjamin. For the situation of Zorah, see on 1Ch 2:53<\/span>; for Ajalon (now Jalo), the expositors on Jos 10:12<\/span>. These two Benjamite cities are perhaps the most northerly of the fifteen cities fortified by Rehoboam. All the others, including Hebron, which closes the list (formerly Kiriath-arba, now el-Khalil, the ancient patriarchal city), lie south or south-west of Jerusalem, in the middle or south of the tribe of Judah. It follows, perhaps, from this position of the line of forts on the south border of the kingdom of Judah, and thus in the main directed toward Egypt, that Rehoboam began to establish them after the invasion of Shishak (Keil). So far as the arrangement of our section follows a material rather than a chronological principle of division, nothing seems to stand in the way of this assumption; but it can scarcely be reconciled with 2Ch 7:4<\/span>; see on this passage.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:11<\/span>. And he fortified the strongholds,<\/em> put them in a good state of defence by nominating captains (), properly, princes, leaders), provisioning them and (2Ch 11:12<\/span>) arming them properly.And he had Judah and Benjamin.<\/em> This notice, forming the close of the statement concerning the measures of Rehoboam for the security of his kingdom, leads directly to the following section, which describes the Levitical and priestly followers of Rehoboam as flowing not merely from Judah and Benjamin, but from the whole kingdom.<\/p>\n

4. Adhesion of the Levites out of all Israel to the Kingdom of Rehoboam: 2Ch 11:13-17<\/span>as is to be expected, a notice peculiar to the Chronist, to which, however, the author of 1 Kings affords an indirect confirmation, in so far as he twice refers to the institution of a new non-Levitical priest-hood on the part of Jeroboam, 1Ki 12:31<\/span>; 1Ki 13:33<\/span> f.And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him,<\/em> placed themselves before him to receive his commands, placed themselves at his disposal; comp. Job 1:6; Job 2:1<\/span>; Zec 6:5<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:14<\/span>. For the Levites left their suburbs,<\/em> their commons or pasture grounds as in 2Ch 6:40<\/span> ff; 2Ch 13:2<\/span>; Num 35:2-8<\/span>).For Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priests office.<\/em> See the fuller account of the erection of the impure worship of Jehovah with a new non-Levitical priesthood in the kingdom of Jeroboam, 1Ki 12:26-31<\/span>. By the sons of Jeroboam our passage naturally means his successors, none of whom rejected the impure worship which he had introduced. They were also in so far his sons in a spiritual sense, although, with the exception of his immediate successor Nadab, they belonged to other dynasties.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:15<\/span>. And he ordained him priests.<\/em> This continues the proof begun with the second in 2Ch 11:14<\/span>.For the high places<\/em> (in Dan and Bethel, 1 Kings12<\/span>:), and the he-goats,<\/em> etc., the idols of the form of he-goats, after the pattern of the Egyptian Pan, to whom, though not Jeroboam himself, yet his later successors, sinking into a still grosser idolatry, offered sacrifice; comp. Lev 17:7<\/span>, whence the term is taken. The calves named in the third place are the representatives of Jehovah under the form of a calf, as Jeroboam (after the example of Aaron, Exodus 32<\/span>) had made them, 1Ki 12:28<\/span>, and as they retained their places of worship during the whole period of the northern kingdom in Dan, Bethel, and perhaps elsewhere. According to this state of things, the calves should properly have been named before the he-goats. That the author makes no note of the gradual sinking into grosser idolatry in the development of the northern kingdom, is explained by his theocratic zealous abhorrence of idolatry in general, the various forms and steps of which appear to him all equally bad.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:16<\/span>. And after them such as set their heart,<\/em> etc. On , comp. 1Ch 22:19<\/span>. What is here related of the emigration of theocratic pious Israelites from the other tribes to Judah and Benjamin is repeated afterwards under Asa (2Ch 15:9<\/span>) and Hezekiah (2Ch 30:11<\/span>). That, moreover, the time during which the reign of Rehoboam gathered and attracted the true worshippers of Jehovah in other tribes amounted only to three years, and afterwards made way for an inclination to foreign and idolatrous customs (on which that accession of pious Israelites from the neighbouring kingdom ceased), is manifest from 2Ch 11:17<\/span>; comp. with 2Ch 12:1<\/span> ff.<\/p>\n

5. Domestic Affairs of Rehoboam: 2Ch 11:18-23<\/span>; again without parallel in the books of Kings, and wanting also in the Syr. version of Chronicles (which arises merely from an oversight).Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth.<\/em> The name of the father-in-law of Rehoboam is wanting in the list of the sons of David (1Ch 3:1-8<\/span>). might possibly be corrupted from , or be a by-form of this name; it is easier to suppose that he was one of the many sons of David by the concubines.And of Abihail daughter of Eliab son of Jesse.<\/em> As necessary as the supply of the wanting before (see Crit. Note) is the taking of this name as the genitive, thus (contrary to the Sept. and Vulg., which rather make her a second wife of Rehoboam) as the name of the mother of Mahalath. For1. 2Ch 11:19<\/span> shows that only one wife of Rehoboam, the mother of the three there named otherwise unknown sons, should be named; 2. Along with the obscure father of Mahalath we expect the name of her mother, who is more celebrated, because she descends from Eliab the brother of David; 3. A daughter of Eliab the eldest brother of David (1Ch 2:13<\/span>; 1Sa 17:13<\/span>) could scarcely have been a wife of Rehoboam the grandson of David; even as granddaughter of Eliab (comp. 2Ch 11:20<\/span>), Abihail suited better in age a son of David than a son and successor of Solomon.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:20<\/span>. And after her he took Maachah daughter of Absalom.<\/em> This second wife of Rehoboam is perhaps to be regarded, not strictly as the daughter, but the granddaughter of Absalom, the daughter of Tamar, the only daughter, and perhaps only child, of this unlucky prince; comp. 2Sa 14:27; 2Sa 18:18<\/span>, and Josephus, Antiq.<\/em>viii. 10. 1, as well as 2Ch 13:2<\/span> of our book.And she bare him Abijah.<\/em> Only this first-born of Maachah, whose name, moreover, is constantly written Abijam () in 1 Kings, is more particularly known to us as the successor of Rehoboam; the three younger sons, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith, do not occur elsewhere.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:21<\/span>. For he took eighteen wives<\/em> (, as in 2Ch 13:21<\/span>) and sixty concubines<\/em>. On account of the number of daughters immediately after given as sixty, it is not improbable that Josephus, who tells only of thirty concubines, deserves the preference; comp. Crit. Note.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:22<\/span>. To be ruler among his brethren;<\/em> to this explanatory apposition to is added the following , as a further determination of that which the king meant by Abijahs elevation to be chief. On the breviloquence here, comp. Ew. 351, c<\/em>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 11:23<\/span>. And he dealt wisely, and distributed of all his sons in all the countries of Judah and Benjamin;<\/em> he showed his prudence as sovereign and as father by appointing his numerous sons as captains in the several forts of his kingdom, employing them usefully, and separating them from one another, to prevent any attempts at rebellion among them.And he desired for them many wives,<\/em> made many marriages between them and the daughters of the land, both to make them contented and to make firmer connections between his house and the inhabitants of the land. The desiring or asking () of wives for his sons became him as their father and natural guardian: the author will scarcely charge him with an immoral, pimp-like gratification of the lusts of his sons.<\/p>\n

6. The Invasion of Shishak: 2Ch 12:1-12<\/span>; comp. the briefer narrative of 1Ki 14:25-28<\/span>.And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and strengthened himself<\/em>, literally, at the time of the establishing (, inf. act. with indefinite subject), and on the strengthening of him or it (, from the nom. verbale<\/em>, strengthening; comp. 2Ch 26:16<\/span>; Dan 11:2<\/span>).He forsook the law of the Lord<\/em> (by a partial falling into idolatry; comp. 1Ki 14:22<\/span> ff.), and all Israel with him<\/em>, all the inhabitants of the southern kingdom, who are here, somewhat to their shame, designated Israelites; comp. 2Ch 12:6<\/span> and 2Ch 11:3<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:2<\/span>. And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam<\/em>, thus soon but not immediately after his apostasy from the Lord. Concerning Shishak (= Sheshonk, Sesonchis, the first king of the 22d dynasty of Manetho), and the relievo proceeding from him, celebrating the present campaign against the Jews, and victory over Rehoboam, that probably exhibits Rehoboam himself among his captives, see Thenius on 1Ki 11:40<\/span>, and Bhr on 1Ki 14:25<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:3<\/span>. With twelve hundred chariots, and sixty thousand riders<\/em>. In 1 Kings these data concerning the strength of the Egyptian army are wanting, though they are by no means incredible. Of the auxiliaries of Shishak, the Lubites () are certainly those Egyptian Libyans (the Libygyptii<\/em> of the ancients) who are also named with the Egyptians in 2Ch 16:8<\/span>, Nah 3:9<\/span>, Dan 11:43<\/span>, and from whom the Lehabim of the Mosaic table of nations are perhaps not different; comp. Knobel on Gen 10:13<\/span>. The Succites () are, according to the Sept. and Vulg., troglodyt<\/em>, cavedwellers, to which the Hebrew etymon seems to point, dwellers in holes of the earth, probably of Ethiopian origin, and inhabiting the mountains of Eastern Egypt. The Cushites are probably inhabitants of Ethiopia proper, that is, Abyssinia, as they are also named, Nah 3:9<\/span>, as allies of Egypt (along with Put and Lubim).<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:4<\/span>. And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah<\/em>; comp. 2Ch 11:5<\/span> ff. These may not yet have been very strong, or their works proved insufficient against the military force of Egypt; comp. on 2Ch 11:10<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:5-8<\/span>. The Prophetic Mission of Shemaiah, and the consequent Submission of the Jews and Mitigation of their Punishment,a section quite wanting in 1 Kings.But I will soon grant them deliverance<\/em>. , properly, for a little, that is, in, a short time, soon; comp. Ezr 9:8<\/span> (rightly Berth., Keil, etc., against Kamph., who translates: a small deliverance).And my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by Shishak<\/em>. No judgment of full extirpation shall overtake the capital; comp. 2Ch 34:25<\/span>.That they may know my service and the service of the kings of the lands<\/em>; that they may experience what a difference there is between the government of the Lord in the theocracy of Israel, and the so much more oppressive rule of heathen kings.On 2Ch 12:9-11<\/span>, comp. Bhrs remarks on 1Ki 14:26-28<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:12<\/span>. And when he humbled himself<\/em>, literally, and in his self-humiliation. On the following elliptical phrase: , and not to destroy (did Jehovahs wrath turn itself), comp. the like breviloquence in 2Ch 11:12<\/span>, and the passage there quoted from Ew.And in Judah also there were good things<\/em>. This was a further motive to the Lord to restrain his wrath, in addition to the first motive, consisting in the repentance of Rehoboam.<\/p>\n

7. Close of the History of Rehoboam: 2Ch 12:13-16<\/span> (comp. 1Ki 14:21-22<\/span>; 1Ki 14:29-31<\/span>).And King Rehoboam strengthened himself<\/em>; comp. 2Ch 1:1<\/span>; 2Ch 13:21<\/span>; concerning the following note of age, which it seems necessary to change into twenty-one years, comp. Bhr on 1Ki 14:21<\/span>.Naamah the Ammonitess<\/em>, the daughter of the Ammonite King Nahash (1Ch 19:1<\/span>), according to a probable note of the Sept. after 1Ki 12:24<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:14<\/span>. For he did not direct his heart<\/em>. For this phrase, comp. 2Ch 19:3<\/span>; 2Ch 30:19<\/span>; Ezr 7:10<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:15<\/span>. Are they not written in the words of Shemaiah the prophet<\/em>. On this quotation, and especially on the obscure phrase for the register (), see Introd. 5, II.And the wars of Rehoboam and Jeroboam<\/em>, their smaller dealings and disputes, in which their continued hostile disposition showed itself; see Bhr on 1Ki 14:30<\/span>.<\/p>\n

EVANGELICAL AND MORAL REFLECTIONS ON CH. 1012<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. In the reign of Rehoboam, as the Chronist represents it, is signalized above all the tendency to keep the kingly ideal of David and Solomon pure from the dark stains of untheocratic opinion and destructive apostasy into idolatry. Some time after the beginning of his reign, this corrupt influence comes out distinctly and clearly, accompanied with divine punishments as its evil effect (2Ch 12:1<\/span> ff.), though in the first three years Rehoboam and his subjects walked in the way of David and Solomon (2Ch 11:17<\/span>). Yet in the first half of the section, the account of the secession of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, several expressions betray the acquaintance of the author with the fact that corruption had begun already under Solomon. The polygamy and idolatry of this glorious king, and the consequent divine corrections and threatenings of punishment, he had not mentioned in his representation of the history of Solomon (comp. the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections on 2 Chronicles 1-9.). But now in Rehoboam there is express reference to that which had been prophesied on account of those errors of Solomon by Ahijah the Shilonite against him, and in favour of Jeroboam (2Ch 10:15<\/span>; comp. 1Ki 11:29-39<\/span>). And this part of our authors narrative indicates that his religious and moral fall had already been productive of many immediate evils in his kingdom, that his government had become latterly quite a misgovernment (comp. 1Ki 11:14<\/span> ff.), by the mention of the repeated request of the dissatisfied people: lighten the heavy yoke which thy father laid on us (2Ch 10:4<\/span>; 2Ch 10:9-10<\/span>; comp. 2Ch 12:15<\/span>), and by the report of the words of the ten tribes betraying an already deepseated dissatisfaction with the previous government; What portion have we in David ? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse (2Ch 12:16<\/span>). Thus, according to our author, the ideal time of David and Solomon closes with this, that it presents at last the germs of a growing and grasping corruption, while that which had to be recorded concerning it is first introduced in the section belonging to Rehoboam, and therefore chiefly in the form of an appendix to the already concluded history of Solomon. Indeed, to our author, the evangelical result of the reign of Solomon is simply that which is brought forward in 1 Kings 11<\/span>. Along with a great outgrowth of public prosperity, we observe a gangrene commencing, that gnaws unceasingly, and destroys the religion of the people, the condition of their salvation, and this salvation itself. It becomes manifest that the peace, which a merely human ruler can give, bears in itself the germ of decay, that it brings with it temptations, which a lesser anointed of the Lord (like David or Solomon) cannot give the power to withstand. The result of the whole brilliant period is a Kyrie Eleison and an: O that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down! (Hengstenberg, Gesch. des Reiches Gottes unter dem Alten Bunde<\/em>, ii. 2, 146 f.)<\/p>\n

2. Thus the Chronist partly only places Rehoboam, with respect to the beginning of his reign, in an unfavourable contrast with the brilliant reign of his father Solomon. In a certain respect (particularly with regard to the tendency to tyrannical cruelty and domineering pride; see 2Ch 10:10<\/span>; 2Ch 10:14<\/span>) he puts them on a par, and makes the son only gradually different from the father, by descending a step lower. So with regard to the further course of Rehoboams reign. At first Rehoboam continues the effort of his father, if not to enlarge, at least to establish the kingdom (comp. 2Ch 11:5-12<\/span> with 2Ch 1:14<\/span> ff., 2Ch 8:1-10<\/span>, 2Ch 9:25-28<\/span>). But certainly his fortifications are of no avail to ward off the war-storm bursting on the country from Egypt, no more than his defiant threat of a warlike attack could have hindered the dismemberment of the kingdom that still held together under his father (comp. 2Ch 10:15<\/span> ff., 2Ch 11:1<\/span> ff.). He likewise applied himself during the first three years of his reign to the theocratically pure and correct principles of government which were followed by his father, if not to the last yet during the greater part of his reign, with so much blessing to himself and his people. He thereby makes Jerusalem and the southern kingdom for a time the refuge and gathering-place of the pious worshippers of the Lord of priestly and non-priestly descent from the whole kingdom, and, so to speak, effects the transfer of the tribe of Levi to his sway, so far only as those of them who were scattered among all the tribes can find a settlement in Judah and Benjamin. But this attractive power in the sense of forming and consolidating a theocracy (2Ch 11:13-17<\/span>) did not last long. After three years, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him (2Ch 12:1<\/span>). What Solomon was able to do during at least two-thirds of his reign of forty years, to maintain the hearing heart and the true wisdom with which the Lord had endowed him, this Rehoboam was scarcely able to do during a sixth part of his reign of seventeen years. In this also he resembles his father; but he behaves much worse, and seems to surpass him in a bad sense. Hence he has to endure much greater shame and humiliation; for if the Lord had only to threaten Solomon thus: I will humble the seed of David, but not for ever (1Ki 11:39<\/span>), this prophetic threat pronounced by Ahijah is now fulfilled in bitter earnest on him and his people (2Ch 12:2<\/span> ff.); and what the prophetic interpreter says in behalf of a right understanding of the misfortune that had befallen them (2Ch 12:7-8<\/span>) is certainly not altogether comfortless, but at the same time not unconditionally promising. The punishment shall be mild, not of long endurance; but for a time its bitterness shall be required, that they may understand what it is to prefer the rule of a heathen king to the mild sway of God.<\/p>\n

3. There is something peculiar in the position which the Chronist gives to the family history of Rehoboam (2Ch 11:18-23<\/span>). He tells of his eighteen wives and sixty (or, if the number is to be reduced according to Josephus, thirty) concubines with objective candour, without adding a judgment unfavourable to the moral character of the king. While he passes with significant silence over the extravagant polygamy of the latter years of Solomon, to spare the great and wise king, and even thereby indicates the un-theocratic and immoral character of an immoderate harem, he seems to find the married life of Rehoboam not more offensive than that of David, of whom he expressly named at least seven lawful wives, and mentioned besides the possession of an indefinite number of concubines, without expressing any disapprobation. The manner also in which Rehoboam procured for his sons many wives from the daughters of the land (2Ch 11:23<\/span>), he adduces merely as a proof of his prudent dealing, not in the tone of serious blame or moral disapprobation. He places this statement also before the account of his fall into idolatry, without noticing in the way of censure the manifest connection of the two things, the polygamy of himself and his sons, and his giving way to the worship of foreign gods. He almost appears, indeed, as afterwards in the case of Abijahs fourteen wives and thirty-eight children (2Ch 13:21<\/span>), to have regarded the taking of many wives and begetting of numerous children as something laudable, serving to multiply and perpetuate the house of David. This manner of thinking is characteristic of the strict theocrats of the later times, that form the transition to the Pharisaic orthodoxy of the New Testament epoch (comp. Introd. 6). Because the law does not directly forbid polygamy, he readily allows on this point an almost unlimited compliance with the lusts of the flesh, while he censures with strictness the as it were only theocratic error of which the same king becomes guilty by falling into idolatry in the fourth year of his reign, as he had before shown his abhorrence of that still greater idolatrous error of the king and subjects of the northern kingdom in the strongest, indeed almost hyperbolical, terms (2Ch 11:15<\/span>). We meet here the same rather externally orthodox than morally strict tendency, which our author discovers also in many other points. It is the ethically imperfect and crude, not yet evangelically consecrated and glorified, stage of the legal standpoint of the Old Testament, which is expressed in this lax position of the Chronist with regard to the custom of polygamy. New Testament statements, such as those relating to Moses regard to the hard-heartedness of the Jews, to the killing power of the letter of the law, to the shadowy and not essential character, to the weakness and impotence of the law (Mat 19:8; 2Co 3:6<\/span>; Rom 8:3<\/span>; Col 2:17<\/span>; Heb 10:1<\/span>, etc.), first receive their full light and deeper meaning by a phenomenon like this (comp. also Joh 1:17<\/span>; Gal 2:16<\/span> ff; Gal 3:10<\/span> ff; Gal 4:3<\/span>; Gal 4:9<\/span> ff.).<\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/span>For , my father made heavy (so also 1Ki 12:14<\/span>), the best mss. and some old prints (1 Soncin., Complut<\/em>.): , I will make heavy your yoke, and will now add to it. Nordi, Berth., etc., give the latter reading the preference.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/span> is certainly wanting in most mss., in the old translations (Sept., Vulg, Chald., though not Syr. and Arab.), and in the older polyglots, but can scarcely be spared.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/span>For 1Ki 12:18<\/span> presents (comp. 2Sa 20:24<\/span>). So also Sept. cod<\/em>. <\/em>Al<\/em>. in our passage, whereas cod<\/em> <\/em>Vat<\/em>. writes (comp. 1Ki 4:6<\/span>), probably correct as to the fact; see Exeg. Expl.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/span>With the Keri<\/em>, which alters into , agree several mss., as well as the Sept. and Vulg. (in the Syr. version the passage 2Ch 11:18-23<\/span> is altogether wanting).<\/p>\n

[5]<\/span>The before is certainly wanting in all copies of the Hebrew text, but was read by the Sept., and cannot be dispensed with.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/span>All the mss. and versions certainly testify to the number sixty; but internal grounds of probability speak for the number, given by Josephus, Antiq.<\/em> viii. 10. 1, of only thirty concubines; comp. the Exeg. Expl.<\/p>\n

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

CONTENTS<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

We have an awful sequel to the life of Rehoboam in this chapter. The lustful king forsaking God is left in the hand of the king of Egypt. His death.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:1<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Reader would do well to consult the parallel history, 1Ki 14<\/span> . From the entrance of Rehoboam on his government to the close of it, nothing can be more evident than that his heart was not right in the sight of God. Towards the close of his reign he gave more awful proofs of his corruption.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2Ch 12:1-12<\/span> .<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

1. And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom [rather, “when Rehoboam’s kingdom had been established”], and had strengthened himself [when he had become strong], he forsook the law of the Lord.<\/p>\n

[On this point the narrative in Kings is the fuller of the two. There we ( Speaker’s Commentary<\/em> ) are told that the apostacy of Rehoboam and his people consisted in their setting up high places, images, and groves, and in their encouragement of “Sodomites” and other Gentile abominations ( 1Ki 14:23-24 )].<\/p>\n

2. And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of king Rehoboam Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed [The writer speaks, of course, from a divine, not a human point of view. Shishak’s motive in coming up was to help Jeroboam, and to extend his own influence], against the Lord [“for they had been unfaithful to Jehovah”].<\/p>\n

3. With twelve hundred chariots [probably round numbers; a rough estimate], and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians.<\/p>\n

[Upon this verse, Canon Barry says: Rather, Lybians, Sukkyans, and Cushites (without the definite article). These were “the people” i.e.,<\/em> the footmen. The Lybians and Cushites are mentioned together as auxiliaries of Egypt in Nah 3:9<\/span> . (Comp. chap. 2Ch 16:8<\/span> .) The Sukkyans are unknown, but the LXX. and Vulg. render Troglodytes,<\/em> or cave-dwellers, meaning, it would seem, the Ethiopian Troglodytes of the mountains on the western shore of the Arabian gulf (comp. Sukk,<\/em> “his lair,” Psa 10:9 ).]<\/p>\n

4. And he took the fenced cities [those very cities which Rehoboam had fortified as bulwarks against Egypt (chap. 2Ch 11:5-12 )] which pertained to Judah, and came to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

5. Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.<\/p>\n

6. Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The Lord is righteous [they acknowledged, that is, the justice of the sentence which had gone forth against them].<\/p>\n

7. And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves: therefore I will not destroy them [comp. the repentance of Ahab ( 1Ki 21:17-29 ) and that of the Ninevites ( Jon 2:5-10 ) which produced similar revocations of the divine decrees that had been pronounced by the mouth of a prophet], but I will grant them some deliverance [rather, deliverance for a short space]: and my wrath shall not be poured out [or, pour itself out, wreak itself] upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. [The destruction of Jerusalem was reserved for the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.]<\/p>\n

8. Nevertheless they shall be his servants [Rehoboam had not merely to make a sacrifice of treasure to obtain peace. He had to accept the suzerainty of Egypt], that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries [ i.e., <\/em> “that they may be able to contrast the light burthen of the theocracy with the heavy yokes of a foreign monarch”].<\/p>\n

9. So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made.<\/p>\n

10. Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard, that kept the entrance of the king’s house.<\/p>\n

11. And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, the guard came and fetched them, and brought them again into the guard chamber.<\/p>\n

12. And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him [in fulfilment of the promise of Nah 3:7 ] that he would not destroy him altogether: and also in Judah things went well.<\/p>\n

The Idolatry of Rehoboam<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

“And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him” (<\/em> 2Ch 12:1 ).<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

AN accursed word is that sometimes “established,” or “strengthened,” or prospered, or succeeded. It was the mark of the place where we turned hellward. We prayed when we were poor; we went to the sanctuary when we were weak. Who can stand fatness and sunshine all the year round? Who can understand the meaning of prosperity? Who can be modest, and great? Who can be humble, and rich? Who can be prayerful, and successful in business? The story thus comes to us with modernness of aspect and detail quite startling. Where are the rich? How delicate in health they became when their riches multiplied! How sensitive to cold when they rolled round in gorgeous chariot drawn by prancing and foaming steed! How short-tempered when they became long-pursed! What a change in their public prayers when they became the victims of social status and reputation! All the spirituality fled away from the prayer; the words were mechanically correct, and the sentences followed one another with some sequence; but the bloom, the fragrance, the tender delicate spirituality was gone. A man cannot have been three years wise, and then have returned to old courses, without his return being marked by aggravations of evil. The last state of the man is worse than the first. “The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” To have been half way to heaven, and then to have been thrown down what agonies of recollection! What a temptation to drown the agonising memory in any dissipation that will permit us to bathe in its depths! Is it possible for a man who has once tasted the heavenly gift, and who has turned away from the divine table, ever to be brought back again? “With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible.” In that word “possible” find the gospel which many a despairing heart needs as hunger needs bread.<\/p>\n

The Lord explains his way amongst men, <\/p>\n

“It came to pass that in the fifth year of king Rehoboam… [that the Lord punished him with this explanation]… because they had transgressed against the Lord” (<\/em> 2Ch 12:2 ).<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

How religious the Bible is! We should now say men are punished because they have transgressed the laws of nature: men are suffering physically because they have transgressed the laws of health; men are in great weakness because they have tempted debility, and brought it upon themselves by neglect or by indulgence. Even atheists have explanations. They cannot treat life as a piece of four-square wood, the whole of which can be seen at once; even they have laws, ministries, spectral actions, physiological explanations: it would seem as if the Bible gathered up all these and glorified them with a divine name, and said, This is the Lord’s doing: he has laid hold of the sinner, he has arrested the transgressor, the grip of eternity is upon the neck of sinful time. There is no reason to surrender this frankness or to conceal this divine and spiritual action in life.<\/p>\n

How did the Lord propose to punish Rehoboam and his kingdom? He said he would leave them in the hands of a certain man, <\/p>\n

“Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak” (<\/em> 2Ch 12:5 ).<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

That is all. But what an all it is! I have left you, abandoned you, handed you over: how can I give thee up? How can I cut thee off? How can I smite thee? Yet there is no alternative sometimes but to shut the door in the prodigal’s face, sometimes to tell him that his home is no longer at his service, sometimes to tell him that the old altar burns with a fire that will consume him should he draw nigh. Solemn words “therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak”; and when God leaves a people in the hand of the enemy, the hand of the enemy is by so much strengthened, because of the weakness of the people who are left. This is the explanation of national disaster, and of many elements and features connected with national history. We are seeking in mean politics for an explanation of this or that tremendous suffering, awful destitution, sense of orphanage: whereas the explanation of it lies in the sanctuary that is above; God has handed over his people to the hand of the enemy for a time.<\/p>\n

“So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard, that kept the entrance of the king’s house” (<\/em> 2Ch 12:9-10 ).<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

How deterioration walks in the steps of wickedness! Poor Rehoboam puts up brass instead of gold! He might have had all vessels of finest gold, gold seven times refined; but he failed, he fell back in a tremendous apostacy, and now that he wants shields he must have them made of brass. See how deteriora tion follows all character that goes down in its religious aspect. This deterioration marks the whole progress of human development. What songs we used to sing! How sweet in praise, how lofty in thought, how sacred in emotion! And now the song dies on our palsied and mumbling lips. How we used to preach with what burning passion, with what apostolic zeal, with what divine fury and madness! And now we apologise for referring to the kingdom of heaven; and the cross, once our boast and glory, we have written all over with “laws of nature,” “laws of mind,” “laws of progress,” “revelations of obedience: it used to be associated with mysterious blood; it used to be a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness: now it is a shadow in history, a spectre in the night-time of speculation: an uneasy, weird, unwelcome thing on the disc of progress. Is it not so with regard to all personal service? How ardent we once were! How devoted to the house of God, how punctual in attendance, how zealous in worship! How we longed for the hour of praise to double itself, for the sun to stand still and the moon, that we might have long intercourse with the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost! Now how soon we become restless; how we long to be released, how patience becomes sensitive, and yields in angry surrender, because too much tried! You never bring gold for brass when you leave God. The prodigal never brings any treasure back with him; he comes back naked, hungry, starved; he comes back a gaunt skeleton, without touch of quality or worth; a beggar, a mendicant, a suppliant that dare hardly pray, for he would seem to have no right in language when he has fouled and despoiled all thought. When Rehoboam returns he will bring with him a shield of brass in place of a shield of gold; when men go away intellectually from the Bible this is what they do they bring back brass for gold; when they leave the Bible morally they bring back brass for gold; when they leave sympathetically they bring back artifice for inspiration, mechanics for vital communion. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” There is a providence ruling all things; a great retributive law is at work in the universe. Men cannot do wrong, and the Lord leave them unpunished. “Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.” A serpent is on the other side of every hedge that God has planted. If we would enlarge our liberty by violating the hedge we shall be serpent-bitten. Let all human history say if this be not so.<\/p>\n

“And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, the guard came and fetched them, and brought them again into the guard chamber. And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, that he would not destroy him altogether: and also in Judah things went well” [literally, “Moreover in Judah there were good things”] (<\/em> 2Ch 12:11-12 ).<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

We are called upon to observe the relation and progress of events, and to inquire into the moral reasons which explain either their ill-going or their happy advancement. We often speak of things going well in too narrow a sense, simply meaning that property increases, that health is continued, and that the whole outward environment is comfortable and satisfactory. That is not a proper estimate of the whole question. Things can only go well when the heart goes well. In proportion as we are right with God we shall feel that all things are ours. The world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are ours; and we are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. Things may be going well externally whilst the very life is being poisoned or eaten out by some deadly cancer. When the king humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned from him, and he would not destroy him altogether. Then it is added, “also in Judah things went well,” the very structure of the sentence implying that what was a moral explanation in the one case was a moral explanation in the other. When the king humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned; then comes the word “also,” signifying that the thought of the Chronicler is still advancing along the same moral line, implying that in Judah also there was humbleness of mind, and a tender longing after God; so that all things within the kingdom went well. Things go well when they are right: contentment comes after obedience: a triumphant death comes after a faithful and consecrated life: an abundant harvest follows a seedtime that has been carefully studied and turned to its full degree of advantage. When things do not go well we should inquire into moral reasons: why this affliction, why this loss, why this discontentment, why this bitterness of soul? Do not spare the inquiries; use them as spears, and thrust them into the heart, for out of such faithful self-dealing will come the humbleness, the penitence, the brokenheartedness, which are always followed by pardon, restoration, and spiritual harmony.<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Almighty God, may we ever see thy hand working amongst us, shaping our life, pointing out our course, and writing for us lessons which we should lay to heart. We think all things move of themselves; we forget the inner life, the divine spring, the infinite purpose which lies behind and within all things seen and known. To be brought back to feel that thou art within the whole, working out a sovereign purpose, is to be deeply religious, is to be made solemn, calm, thankful, hopeful. We forget that there is a centre, a life, a throne; hence we become frivolous, and self-trustful, and self-idolatrous: when we remember the one, true, living, eternal God, we bethink ourselves, and come near to praying; when we see Jesus Christ seated upon the mountain, and hear him talking great words of life and wisdom and truth, we begin to ask solemn questions, and as we draw nearer to the Son of God we feel that he has yet somewhat to say unto us tenderer than we have yet heard; at the last he tells us as much as we can bear, he is going to lay down his life, and take it again; for a moment he will die, for ever he will live, and whilst he lives he will pray for the sons of men. Thus we are taken to great heights, we see distant horizons, far-away glittering pinnacles of cities infinite and everlasting, and we despise the earth, so small, so dark, only room in it for a grave. Our whole thought has been lifted up by thy Son: never man spake like this man! He knows what is in man; he touches the heart, he inspires the whole being, he subdues and sanctifies the will, he creates us anew in his own image, and we are his workmanship, bearing upon us everywhere traces of his infinite skill and power and wisdom. We are the sons of God. Once we did not know this, for we were prisoners of darkness, worshippers of ourselves, dead in trespasses and in sins, lost; but we have seen a great light, a marvellous light; we now know that we are thy workmanship, thy creatures, thy friends, thy sons, and we wish to love thee with deepest love evermore. Now, therefore, we see other things in their right light; we know their weight, their value; we estimate them properly; they are no longer worthy of our day-and-night quest; they have their uses, their conveniences, but we would so take them up as to mean to set them down again; we would throw our whole love in all its tenacity only around the cross of Christ. We see somewhat now of the mystery of life; there is light on the edges thereof, presently there will be light at the very centre, a great glory, and God shall be magnified in the revelation; we shall come to know the meaning of darkness and pain, uphill travelling, long night watching; hot, awful tears; heartache, penitence, contrition; all the mystery and tragedy of life; and in the harvest, infinite, golden, we shall thank God for the pain of the seedtime. Receive all our thanks, from the household hearth where we have seen thy mercy, in life given and life spared, and life restored and life blessed. Hear the little nursery hymn, in which children sing what they do not understand, but who will one day come to feel all its sweet meaning. Listen to the sighing of those that are ill at ease, to whom day is night, and night is sevenfold in darkness, and all life is a huge burden or a sharp pain. Make us wise, true, noble, gentle, charitable; give us those eyes of sanctified affection which see excellence and not defect in the character of others. Arrest all evil men in evil courses; drive them back in shame, and make them think of God and truth and heaven. Help all good men in noble toil; may their courage never go down, may their hope be as a burning lamp, and may their inspiration be renewed day by day. Be with those in trouble on the sea; with wandering ones in lands far-away; with missionaries trying to turn difficult language into heavenly music by filling it with the gospel of Christ. Thus the Lord put his arms around the little world, and say to us in tones of comfort, the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof, and his the fulness of the sea. Amen.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

III<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE TWO KINGDOMS<\/p>\n

1Ki 12:25-15:8<\/span><\/strong> ; 2Ch 11:5-13:22<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

The theme of this section is the beginnings of the two rival kingdoms, or the measures adopted by the rival kings to establish their respective kingdoms. This is a period of twenty-four years and covers the reigns of Jeroboam and his son Nadab) kings of Israel, and of Rehoboam and his son Abijah, kings of Judah.<\/p>\n

The initial measure adopted by Jeroboam to establish his kingdom was as follows: First, he built a city at Shechem, where the great popular assembly was held, and which was and had been since Jacob’s time, a holy place. That, he made his capital. Second, as a large part of his territory, including two and a half tribes, was across the Jordan, he built another city and fortified it at Penuel, so as to command the fords of the Jordan, and this secured his kingdom on both sides of this river. Third, he established his residence at Tirzah, first mentioned in the book of Joshua, and in Solomon’s Song we have the expression: “As beautiful as Tirzah.” It was also in the hill country of Ephraim, and it was a beautiful mountain palace.<\/p>\n

The initial measure of Rehoboam was to fortify and supply with provisions, garrisons, and munitions of war, fifteen cities on the southern and western frontiers, for a defense mainly against Egypt. A new dynasty had come to the front in Egypt. Shishak was a very formidable and vigorous opponent, not to be compared with the weak dynasty with which Solomon made an alliance by marriage. This Shishak was really a great man. Egypt was the power that Rehoboam and Judah feared.<\/p>\n

Other measures of Jeroboam were political expedients in, order to keep the ten tribes from going to Jerusalem to the great feasts. He saw what had been the great power of Jerusalem and its Temple and worship as a unifying force, and he said to himself, “If my people go every year to Jerusalem they will imbibe its spirit, and the result will be that they will ultimately turn back to Rehoboam the king of Judah and will kill me. Now, how am I to stop this annual pilgrimage of my people to Jerusalem?” And these were the expedients that he devised: First, he established calf worship. He had two molten calves put up, viz: one at Dan, in the extreme upper part of his territory and one at Bethel, the place where Jacob was converted and a holy place. It will be remembered that when the tribe of Dan left the territory allotted to them, they migrated to the very northern part of the country, captured the places there, and worshiped the images they had taken there from Micah. There had been, then, ever since the times of the judges, a place of worship at Dan, but it was an image worship.<\/p>\n

Second, he established a new order of priesthood. He refused to permit the Levites and their priests, left in the citiesin his territory, to minister for him; he was afraid of them. And so he created a new order of priesthood by taking any man from any tribe that pleased him and making him a priest. Third, he made a new feast to take the place of the Feast of Tabernacles. That feast the Jews generally attended, and millions would go every year, and they would dwell in tents. Now, he determined to have a feast to take the place of the Feast of Tabernacles, and as the season of the year was later in the northern part of the country, he made his feast just one month later than that of Tabernacles, as the record tells us: “He ordained a feast devised in his own heart.” The Feast of Tabernacles was on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and he put his feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, just a month later.<\/p>\n

Fourth, he established high places for worship of wooden images. In the book of Judges we learn how Gideon cut down the groves, that is, the forest of images. However, Jeroboam established what is called in the Revised Version, “he-goat worship.” What is meant by it? Among the Greeks it was the worship of Pan. Pan is an image with a man’s face and the form of a goat; these he-goats are sometimes called satyrs. These are heathen minor deities, and allusion is made to them in the book of Leviticus. They are sometimes called devils, and that is what they really were, i. e., demons: it was a kind of demon worship. Now, for his priesthood he made houses at Dan and at Bethel, and in all of these high places, and there this he-goat, or demon worship, was carried on. These were his political expedients.<\/p>\n

The calf worship that he established was a mixture of calf and Jehovah worship. When Moses stayed up in the mountain so long, the people asked Aaron to mold a calf for them to worship, as a symbol of Jehovah. It was not an entire abandonment of Jehovah worship, but it was the worship of Jehovah under the symbol of a calf, and they said of that calf that Aaron made, “Behold the god that brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” That was an express violation of the commandment, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven or molten image, in the likeness of anything in the heaven above or the earth beneath, and bow down and worship before it.”<\/p>\n

This fundamental innovation in religion weakened his kingdom and strengthened Judah. Now, 2Ch 11:16-17<\/span> tells us as follows: “And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice unto the Lord, the God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, strong, three years: for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.”<\/p>\n

The priests and the Levites were the teaching forces, as well as the guides in religion. When they banish religious teachers from a kingdom, or expatriate its best men, they do a great harm to that kingdom; they take away those who have the power to keep up the religious idea. That was a tremendous loss to the nation of Israel. These were laymen, too, the best people of the land. As I have already said, one of the peculiarities of the book of Chronicles is to record every secession from Israel back to Judah, and we will come to many a one before we get through, and thus we will see that a remnant of the ten tribes was saved.<\/p>\n

Now, it weakened Jeroboam in the following ways: It completely separated his people from God; second, it perpetuated a sin for 253 years that readily ate out the heart of the religious nature of the people and caused their ultimate downfall. Two passages of Scripture show how far-reaching the effect of this sin was. 1Ki 14<\/span> , commencing at 1Ki 14:15<\/span> reads as follows: “The Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers. . . . And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he hath sinned, and wherewith he has made Israel to sin.” Now, when we come to the end of the period of the divided kingdom, we will find the other passage, 2Ki 17:21-23<\/span> . This passage accounts for the downfall of the ten tribes. Commencing at 1Ki 14:21<\/span> : “For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam, the son of Nabat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight. . . . So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria, unto this day.” Now, we cannot overemphasize the magnitude of a sin that destroys a nation, and I do not know any sin but the sin of Adam more far-reaching in its consequences than the sin of Jeroboam.<\/p>\n

How often at the end of a reign of an Israelitish king does this refrain come: “He did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin”? We may say that this was the inscription on the tomb of every Israelitish king, not one of them a good man. I used to say that sin is like Bermuda grass, indestructible, and that no man can commit a single sin; that it is a great breeder, it makes other sins. I have used this illustration: A hunter may think that he sees just one quail, but when he flushes him there is always a pair or a covey. And I have used this passage from Longfellow’s “Hiawatha” to show the multiplying power of sin: Never swoops the soaring vulture Oil his quarry in the desert, on some Sick or wounded bison, but another vulture watching From his high aerial lockout Sees the downward plunge and follows. And a third pursues the second; Coming from the invisible ether, first a speck, And then a vulture, till the air is dark with pinions.<\/p>\n

All have witnessed the way in which buzzards flock to a car-cass. From these illustrations we get some conception of this multiplying power of sin. And I repeat that aside from the sin of Adam, no sin described in the Bible as I can now recall, has such a long fearful sweep as the sin of Jeroboam. Jehovah announced his displeasure by sending a man out of Judah, a man of God, it does not give his name and he came to Bethel on the day that the worship of the calf was to commence, and came into the presence of Jeroboam who was about to officiate as high priest and used these words (what solemn words they are): “Oh, Altar, Altar, Thus saith the Lord: Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall they burn upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.” How long before that was fulfilled? We have to turn forward to the reign of Josiah to find an exact fulfilment of it.<\/p>\n

Let us see how Jeroboam received this announcement of the prophet of God. In 1Ki 13:4<\/span> we have these words: “And it came to pass, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Beth-el, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him.” And his hand which he put forth toward the prophet became rigid (he could not move it) and it dried up. There he stood with that dried up, shriveled arm. He then begged the prophet to pray for him, and the prophet prayed for him and the hand was healed.<\/p>\n

The tragic end of the nameless prophet was as follows: Jeroboam asked this prophet to be his guest. He declined because God had told him not to go into anybody’s house, and not to tarry in that place, but to come straight back when he had delivered his message. The prophet refused to accept the invitation of Jeroboam. But there was an old man in Bethel, who was himself a prophet, there were schools of the prophets established over the land. Now, this prophet heard of the miracles performed by the prophet from Judah and sent after the man of God, urging him to come back and take bread with him. The nameless prophet said, “I have been commanded not to do that.” The other said, “I also am a prophet, and bid you to come back,” and he went back, and then came the warning to him that he should die. On leaving the house a lion met him and smote him from the ass upon which he was riding and killed him. The lion did not eat him he was not mangled but the people found his dead body there.<\/p>\n

I shall never forget that when I was a little bit of a child this was the Sunday school lesson, “The Fate of the Disobedient Prophet.” There was a picture of it in the Sunday school book. The old prophet that lived there at Bethel took him and buried him in a secret place, that his bones should not fall under the denunciation he had himself given. The old prophet said to his children, “When I die, bury me by the side of this man of God; I do not want my bones taken up and burned on that altar.”<\/p>\n

Jeroboam did not relent in his purpose on the announcement of this prophecy and its marvelous sign, for that very day the altar split wide open and the ashes fell out; and then there was the miracle of staying his hand, but he did not repent and give up his evil purpose. The record says, “After this thing Jeroboam returned not away from his evil ways, but made again from among all the people priests of the high places; whosoever would, he consecrated him that there might be priests of the high places. And this thing became a sin unto the house of Jeroboam,” and he destroyed it off the face of the earth. So this sin not only destroyed the people ultimately, but it destroyed him and all of his house. His policy in the main accompanied his object. The record tells us that the people, the main body of them, quit going to Jerusalem, but joined in this idolatrous worship that Jeroboam had prescribed. The effect on Jeroboam himself was destructive. The record says that the Lord smote him and all of his house perished not a man, woman, or child was left. This is voiced by Jehovah himself, and the occasion of it was that his son was sick, and he told his wife to go to the prophet, Ahijah, who had announced to him that he would get ten tribes in the division of the kingdom. He told his wife to disguise herself, and take presents with her, and go and ask that prophet that the child might live. But the Spirit of God informed the prophet of the disguise before the woman got there, and he met her with this terrible announcement: “And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. Go, tell Jeroboam, that because of this evil I will cut off every man child, him that is shut up and him that is left out, and I will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweepest away refuse, and him that dieth in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the fields shall the fowls eat. The Lord hath spoken. Rise and get thee to thine own house, and when thy feet enter into the city the child shall die. And all Israel shall mourn for him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s family shall come to the grave.” He is the only one of the family that shall ever receive burial. And then he goes on to say that this sin would destroy the entire nation. This is one of the most solemn utterances in the Bible.<\/p>\n

The next measure adopted by Jeroboam to establish himself was an alliance with Shishak. It will be remembered that he fled to Egypt in the days of Solomon, and married into the family of this very Shishak. He made an alliance with Shishak to invade Judah, of which we will speak presently. Jeroboam himself reigned twenty-two years; his son reigned after him two years; his dynasty, therefore, lasted twenty-four years. Rehoboam and his son Abijah, and his son Asa, came to the throne before Jeroboam died. The attitude of the two kingdoms toward each other was war continually, all the days of Jeroboam’s life and the life of his son. But Rehoboam prospered three years just as long as the people remained faithful unto God. His sin and the sin of his people we find in 1Ki 14:22-24<\/span> , and some of it is awful. Let us look at it: “And Judah did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord;… For they also built them high places on every high hill and under every green tree; and there were also Sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord drove out before the children of Israel.”<\/p>\n

This sin was punished. The record tells us that Shishak, the king of Egypt, invaded the land with a vast army, with much cavalry and many chariots of war. He easily broke through those fifteen cities of defense and came up to Jerusalem, and as his armies surrounded Jerusalem Rehoboam and all the peopie prayed to God and repented of their sins. Mark this difference between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. And God delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. But Shishak carried away all of those rich treasures that had been gathered by Solomon; the golden shields he took away with him, and made the land tributary to Egypt.<\/p>\n

Archeology throws some light on this invasion of Shishak. Not a great while ago, in uncovering the ruins of the temple of Karnak on the Nile, there was found the inscription of Shishak on his return from this invasion. It shows what cities he captured, and how he had taken away the treasures from Jerusalem. But the important light that it throws on the period is this: Among the cities captured it gives the names of the Levitical cities in Israel. He did not destroy any of the cities of Jeroboam, but all the Levitical or Canaanite cities that remained faithful to Judah he captured. That is shown in the inscriptions such of them as are discernible. Is it not strange that after thousands of years the spade keeps turning up proof of the truth of the Bible? When archeology first commenced the radical critics said that it would destroy the Bible. Inscriptions on monuments, deep carvings in rock that the dust of centuries has settled upon, are brought to light and demonstrate that this book does not deal in lies. We need to fear nothing as having the power to destroy the testimony of this book.<\/p>\n

The length of Rehoboam’s reign was seventeen years; that of his son was three years. The great event in Abijah’s reign was the war with Jeroboam. He raised an army of 4,000,000 men and went into Ephraim and met Jeroboam with 8,000,000 men, and Jeroboam divided his forces into two parts, to take them on two sides. But before the battle commenced there was a prelude that to me has always been interesting. We find it in 2Ch 13:4-12<\/span> , as follows: “And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel; ought ye not to know that Jehovah the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his Lord. And there were gathered unto him worthless men, base fellows, that strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of Jehovah in the land of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude) and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have ye not driven out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the people of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and we have priests ministering unto Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work; and they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense: the shewbread also they set in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken him. And, behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against Jehovah, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.”<\/p>\n

That was a very hard message, and in the battle which followed Abijah’s army killed more Israelites than there were in his own army he had only 40,000 men and he killed half a million. The effect of this battle was terrific. The record tells us that Jeroboam never recovered from that battle. But Abijah was a very strong man, yet not as faithful to Jehovah as he boasts to Jeroboam.<\/p>\n

The state of affairs at the end of the twenty-four years was as follows: Jeroboam was dead, smitten of God; his son, after an inglorious reign of two years, was murdered by Baasha, and only one of the family of Jeroboam ever received burial; Baasha killed every one of them that was alive. Now, in the other kingdom, Asa, one of the greatest of the kings of Judah, had come to the throne, and that is the way they stand at the end of the twenty-four years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

QUESTIONS<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. What was the time period of this chapter, who were the kings of Israel and Judah and the time each reigned respectively?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

2. What were the initial measures adopted by Jeroboam to establish his kingdom?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

3. What was the initial measure of Rehoboam and why this particular measure?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

4. What other measures, or political expedients, adopted by Jeroboam?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

5. What was the calf worship which he established?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

6. What was the effect of this fundamental innovation and how do you account for it?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

7. What was the sad refrain at the end of the reign of each of the Israelitish kings? Illustrate.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

8. How did Jehovah show his displeasure and what was the fulfilment of the prophecy of the “nameless prophet”?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

9. How did Jeroboam receive the message and what the result?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

10. Relate the tragic story of the nameless prophet.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

11. What was the effect of this great demonstration on Jeroboam?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

12. Did his policy in the main accomplish his object?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

13. What was the effect on Jeroboam himself?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

14. How was this voiced by Jehovah and what the occasion of it?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

15. What was the next measure adopted by Jeroboam to establish himself?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

16. How long did Jeroboam reign, how many kings of Judah during his reign, how long his dynasty and what its end?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

17. What was the attitude of the two kingdoms toward each other?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

18. How long did Rehoboam prosper?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

19. What was his sin and the sin of his people?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

20. How was this sin punished?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

21. What light does archeology throw on the invasion of Shishak?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

22. What was the length of Rehoboam’s reign, how long his son’s reign and what great event of Abijah’s reign?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

23. What was the effect of the battle between Abijah and Jeroboam?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

24. What were the characteristics of Abijah?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

25. What was the state of affairs in each kingdom, respectively, at the end of twenty-four years?<\/p>\n

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2Ch 12:1 And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.<\/p>\n

Ver. 1. When Rehoboam had established the kingdom.<\/strong> ] For the first three years of his reign, when the rent was but newly made, and he might well fear the loss of his kingdom, he seemed to have some goodness in him; but when he saw himself settled, he revolted from the Lord. <\/p>\n

“ Luxuriant animi rebus plerunque secundis:<\/p>\n

Nec facile est aequa commoda mente pati. ”<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And all Israel with him.<\/em><\/strong> ] Israel is here, and 2Ch 12:6<\/span><\/em> , put and meant for Judah.<\/p>\n

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2 Chronicles Chapter 12<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

“And it came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him” (2Ch 12<\/span> ) – for such is the manner of men, not so quick to follow in good, but so ready in evil. And so God sent an unexpected enemy upon him in the person of the king of Egypt, who took away the treasures that Solomon had amassed. Such was the righteous government of God, so that poor king Rehoboam was driven to make shields of brass instead of shields of gold, which were now being carried down into Egypt. “And when he humbled himself, the wrath of Jehovah turned from him that He would not destroy him altogether: and also in Judah things went well.” How gracious of the Lord! Every little act of repentance brought its blessing.<\/p>\n

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

he forsook. It is taken for granted that we know the details of 1Ki 14:22-24. <\/p>\n

all. Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Whole), put for the part (viz. the ten tribes). <\/p>\n

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Chapter 12<\/p>\n

It came to pass [chapter twelve], when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him ( 2Ch 12:1 ).<\/p>\n

As the king goes, so goes the nation. Having forsaken the Lord he led them in a path away from God. And there came from Egypt a pharaoh by the name of Shishak who began to invade the land of Judah and take the cities. Actually, the Lubims and the Ethiopians had come with him with a mighty host and they came to Jerusalem and began to besiege Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

And a prophet of the Lord came to Rehoboam and said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, You have forsaken me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak. Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The LORD is righteous ( 2Ch 12:5-6 ).<\/p>\n

So as Shishak was now coming towards Jerusalem, the prophet of God says, “Hey, you brought this on yourself. You’ve forsaken the Lord, now the Lord has left you.” And it is interesting that they acknowledged God is righteous and they humbled themselves.<\/p>\n

And the Lord saw they humbled themselves and He said, Because they have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries ( 2Ch 12:7-8 ).<\/p>\n

So he came up against Shishak. Shishak came up against Jerusalem, and then more or less bought him off. They took all of the gold that was in the temple, the golden shields and all of these things that Solomon had placed there, and they gave them unto Shishak, the king of Egypt. More or less just bought him out, and he plundered the city of Jerusalem of all of its gold, returning to Egypt.<\/p>\n

Now the archaeologists discovered in 1939 in Egypt an account of this invasion of Israel or Judah. In the archaeological account there that they have discovered, it declares that they took a 169 of the cities of Judah. They also found the sarcophagus in which Shishak was entombed. And it was encased in silver. Actually, it was a silver sarcophagus encased in gold, solid gold. Probably the same gold that he took from the temple in Jerusalem that Solomon had established there. So it’s an interesting sort of confirmation from the archaeologist’s spade of what God’s Word declares did indeed take place.<\/p>\n

The death of Rehoboam is listed in the latter part of the chapter. In verse 2Ch 12:14 it gives sort of a brief obituary, which is rather sad.<\/p>\n

And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD ( 2Ch 12:14 ).<\/p>\n

On his death his son Abijah began to reign over Judah. “<\/p>\n

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2Ch 12:1. And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.<\/p>\n

They prospered, at first, by adhering to Jehovah. The good people out of the neighbouring land of Israel emigrated to them, strengthening them but, as soon as they grew strong, they forsook the law of Jehovah.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:2. And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the LORD,<\/p>\n

Shishak did not know that fact, nor did he care about Jehovah. God so ruled in providence that, when his people cast him off, he soon found a rod with which to chasten them. The king of Egypt determined to conquer them. You do not know, my friends, how God will smite you; but if you err from his statutes, he will never be long without a rod. You will bring chastisement on yourself if you depart from the living God. You will have yourself to blame if some dire affliction happens to you.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:3. With twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians.<\/p>\n

This vast crowd ate up everything. The rule was to quarter on the enemy.<\/p>\n

They would devour every eatable thing throughout the whole country.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:4. And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah, and came to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

When God means to chasten a people, he does not take long to do it neither can their weakened strength successfully oppose their enemy.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:5. Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.<\/p>\n

The prophet gave them no invitation to repentance; but just an explanation of the sorrow which had come upon them.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:6. Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The LORD is righteous.<\/p>\n

That was well done. They had not yet become so confirmed in their rebellion as to reject the prophet of God, and to turn in willful, wanton, resolute disobedience against him.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:7. And when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves,<\/p>\n

Though it was not in a spiritual way, yet<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:7. The word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves: therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.<\/p>\n

He shall not storm the city; he shall not destroy it.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:8. Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.<\/p>\n

The Lords people were to know the difference between the service of God and the service of the kings of the countries round about them. It would be a very sharp contrast, and a very bitter one.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:9. So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, <\/p>\n

The temple was always very rich. Shishak came and stripped it. Everything there that was really valuable was taken away.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:9. And the treasures of the kings house; he took all: He could not very well take any more. <\/p>\n

That is generally the way with the devil. God is satisfied with tithes; but Shishak and Satan take all. <\/p>\n

2Ch 12:9-11. He carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made.Instead of which king Rehoboam, made shields of brass, and committed them, to of the hands of the chief of the guard, that kept the entrance of the kings house. And when the king entered into the house of the LORD, the guard came and fetched them, and brought them again into the guard chamber. <\/p>\n

That was a come-down indeed, from shields of gold to shields of copper; that is, I suppose, what is meant here by the brass. This is what the king suffered at the hands of Shishak; and it was an emblem of the condition of his people. The golden kingdom had became a brazen one.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:12. And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from him, that he would not destroy him altogether: and also in Judah things went well.<\/p>\n

Or, some behaved well. Even a measure of humiliation is acceptable with God; and though he did not save the nation from being plundered, yet he did rescue it from being altogether smitten. Alas for Rehoboam, he did a bad days work when he turned away from God!<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:13-14. So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam, was one and forty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there.And his mothers name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD. <\/p>\n

He was one of that fickle sort, neither here nor there; a compromising gentleman, not very definite in anything; he would go right if he were driven that way, and he would go wrong if he were led in that direction. Oh, how many there are who never prepare their hearts to seek the Lord! They are not determinately bad; they have not enough backbone in them to be leaders in evil; but they are never good for much, because they have never made up their minds to do the right at all costs; they have never had their heart prepared by the Holy Spirit to seek the Lord.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:15-16. Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah his son reigned in his stead.<\/p>\n

So they pass away. One generation dies, and another follows. God grant that, when we fall asleep, it may not be with the sin of Rehoboam lying upon us, neither may we be succeeded by evil sons; but may we serve God in our day, and be followed by those who shall serve him still better! The Lord grant it! Amen. <\/p>\n

This exposition consisted of readings from 1Ki 14:21-24 and 2 Chronicles 12.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2Ch 12:1-8<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:1-8<\/p>\n

REHOBOAM’S APOSTASY;<\/p>\n

THE INVASION OF SHISHAK;<\/p>\n

THE DEATH OF REHOBOAM;<\/p>\n

GOD’S PUNISHMENT OF ISRAEL BY SHISHAK<\/p>\n

“And it came to pass when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him. And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had trespassed against Jehovah, with twelve hundred chariots and threescore thousand horsemen. And the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians. And he took the fortified cities that pertained to Judah, and came unto Jerusalem. <\/p>\n

Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, Ye have forsaken me, therefore have I also left you in the hands of Shishak. Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, Jehovah is righteous. And when Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them; but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”<\/p>\n

“Because they had trespassed against Jehovah” (2Ch 12:2). The aggressive war of Shishak against Jerusalem is here stated to have been brought about by God Himself because of Israel’s rebellion against God’s law. It is the conviction of this writer that God still rules in the kingdoms of men, and that no nation that turns its back upon God’s teachings can escape the eventual and certain judgment against them by Almighty God.<\/p>\n

We live in a generation that appears no longer to believe this, despite the fact that all of the great leaders of America’s past believed it, as attested by George Washington’s kneeling in the snows at Valley Forge, a fact beautifully memorialized by Ward’s famous bronze plaque attached to the old Sub Treasury building of the United States across from the New York Stock Exchange building. Nevertheless, it still stands in the Eternal Word, “God rules in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will” (Dan 4:25). In the words of Rudyard Kipling,<\/p>\n

“LORD GOD OF HOSTS; BE WITH US YET,<\/p>\n

LEST WE FORGET; LEST WE FORGET.”<\/p>\n

“That they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries” (2Ch 12:8). This meant that Israel might find out the difference between serving God and serving Shishak! These verses are not parallel to Kings, but Shishak’s invasion is mentioned in 1Ki 14:25-26.<\/p>\n

E.M. Zerr:<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:1. The period of Rehoboam’s strength as a righteous king was described in 2Ch 11:17. It is again referred to in this verse, and the indications are that his greatness was misused. Instead of showing gratitude to God for his good fortune, he became vain and forsook the Lord. <\/p>\n

2Ch 12:2-4. It was a usual practice of God to punish his people by bringing some foreign nations against them. In the case of Rehoboam, the king of Egypt was suffered to come against Jerusalem with a large force of charioteers and other people. He took over the walled cities scattered over the territory of Judah, then went up even to the capital at Jerusalem. <\/p>\n

2Ch 12:5. Again the Lord used a prophet to communicate to the people. Shemaiah came to Jerusalem to explain to Rehoboam and his leading men why they were suffering the humiliation of the Egyptian invasion. They were told plainly it was because they had forsaken God, therefore they were left in the hands of Shishak. <\/p>\n

2Ch 12:6. The message of the prophet was received with respect. The people became penitent and acknowledged the righteousness of God’s dealings with them. <\/p>\n

2Ch 12:7. The penitence of man is never overlooked by the Lord. However, he will not go to the other extreme and release the disobedient entirely from just punishment. In this case he promised not to be as severe as he had intended. <\/p>\n

2Ch 12:8. Experience is a good teacher, and in many cases will rivet the lesson on the mind more closely than theory. By being in subjection to the king of Egypt for a while, the people of Judah were to learn the difference between serving God, and serving the foreign countries. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

The issue was that Rehoboam “forsook the law of the Lord.” The scourge came in the person of Israel’s ancient foe, the king of Egypt. The patience of God is ever manifest in His dealing with His people. The repentance of Rehoboam produced, as it always does, a stay of judgment. Yet the kingdom of Judah passed under the yoke of Egypt. Judah was saved, however, from complete destruction, not principally for the sake of the king, nor in answer to his repentance, but because “in Judah there were good things found.”<\/p>\n

God’s judgments are always characterized by fine discrimination. He never destroys the righteous with the wicked. The picture of Rehoboam’s substitution of brass for gold is unutterably pathetic. Yet how often do the people of Jehovah masquerade amid imitations because they have lost the things of pure gold through unfaithfulness and sin. <\/p>\n

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2Ch 12:8<\/p>\n

The history of life is made up of different services. Every man serves something. “Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?”<\/p>\n

I. In the service of the world you are always dealing with uncertainties. The things of God are sure and for ever. He who gives is the unchangeable Jehovah, who never recalls a gift, and all His gifts have in them eternity.<\/p>\n

II. In the service of the world nothing ever thoroughly satisfies; nothing meets all the aspirations of a man. In God’s service a man has just what his soul wants.<\/p>\n

III. The Christian service of religion does not work up to get its great objects. It has them. It does not work for wages, for it has received what it wants as a gift. It works out a salvation which it has.<\/p>\n

IV. The one service is a service of freedom, the other of bondage. It is bondage to serve where there is no affection. It is bondage to work for what you can get, and not even to be sure that you shall ever get it. But to feel that you are your Father’s child, that His eye is looking at you and His hand holding you while you work-that is liberty. It is the same service with that of those servants who serve Him indeed in heaven.<\/p>\n

J. Vaughan, Sermons, 10th series, p. 93.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:14<\/p>\n

Religion is not a matter that can be taken up in a loose, careless, slipshod manner. It claims the whole purpose and energy of the heart, and only then will it prove a blessing and a power in life, when a man makes it his first and supreme concern.<\/p>\n

I. The first condition of a fixed heart is a sight of the Cross.<\/p>\n

II. The next thing is to “look upon your broidered coat.” I want a faultless righteousness to cover me. With no merits of my own to plead, I want the perfect obedience of another laid to my account.<\/p>\n

III. In order to fix his heart, Bunyan’s pilgrim looked also oftentimes into the roll which he carried in his bosom. Habitual study of the Scriptures is indispensable to a healthy condition of the soul.<\/p>\n

IV. “When his thoughts waxed warm about whither he was going,” that gave fixedness to Christian’s heart. It could not do otherwise to one who was a pilgrim, passing through a strange land. If we were more mindful of our pilgrim state, we would think more of the better country.<\/p>\n

J. Thain Davidson, Forewarned-Forearmed, p. 47.<\/p>\n

These words contain, in a very short compass, a statement of our great duty in life, of the way in which alone it can be done, and of the certain consequence of neglecting it.<\/p>\n

I. “To seek the Lord.” This is the one duty of life. Not in the sense of an intellectual discovery; that is partly impossible and partly unnecessary. That which we can know is taught us; that which is not taught us we cannot know. The acquaintance with God which is the life and the glory of man is not an intellectual, but a personal, acquaintance. We must begin by feeling after God, as a man seeks in the dark for an object which he can only discern by touch. By degrees endeavour gives courage, and courage hope. The faith of the understanding passes into the faith of the heart.<\/p>\n

II. The text reminds us that there is a condition, a requisite, for this search after God, without which it will fail. “He prepared not his heart to seek the Lord.” A preparation of the heart is the condition of our search after God. To seek the Lord is a serious matter, in one sense a difficult and laborious matter; therefore the heart must be prepared, the mind made up, the cost counted beforehand, and the eye fixed steadfastly on an object, not of sight, but of faith.<\/p>\n

III. The result. “He did evil,” etc. Forgetfulness of God is itself sin. The state of a created being who has broken loose from the bonds of his Creator’s love, who is indifferent to his Creator’s honour, who is indisposed for his Creator’s presence-this is a state of sin, a life of evil; this man has the mark of God’s enemy upon his forehead, and shall be pronounced his servant in the day of the manifestation of the sons of God.<\/p>\n

C, J. Vaughan, Harrow Sermons, 2nd series, p. 469.<\/p>\n

Reference: 2Ch 13:8, 2Ch 13:12; 2Ch 13:15-Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Genesis to Proverbs, p. 96.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Sermon Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

CHAPTER 12 Rehoboams Apostasy, Punishment, and Death<\/p>\n

1. Rehoboams apostasy (2Ch 12:1)<\/p>\n

2. Punishment through Shishak (2Ch 12:2-12)<\/p>\n

3. Death of Rehoboam (2Ch 12:13-16)<\/p>\n

The kingdom had been established; Rehoboam had strengthened himself and lived in the indulgence of the flesh. Then followed the awful plunge into apostasy. He forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel with him. Idolatry in the high places and under every green tree was established and fostered by him. And there were also Sodomites in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel (1Ki 14:22-24).<\/p>\n

Then Shishak came from Egypt against Jerusalem with an immense army. He was the first king of the twenty-second, or Bubastic dynasty. In his army were the Lubims (Libyans), Sukkims (desert tribes) and the Ethiopians. The cities which Rehoboam had built and fortified could not keep him out, for the LORD had brought him to punish Jerusalem. When Jerusalem was threatened and the Egyptian hordes were about to proceed against Jerusalem, Shemaiah, the man of God, appeared once more. He brought the solemn message from the LORD, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I left you in the hand of Shishak. That for which the LORD always looks first of all, when His people have sinned and departed from Him, was done by the princes and the king. They humbled themselves. And when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves and were returning to Him, He had compassion on them. Some deliverance was granted and the wrath was not poured out upon the city. And He is still the same gracious LORD, always ready to forgive His people, when they return unto Him. However, the pride of Rehoboam had to be dealt with and, therefore, Shishak was permitted to take away the immense riches which Solomon had stored up in the treasures of the house of the LORD and in the kings house. The shields of gold were also carried away. Sad is the record of this son of Solomon: And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD. Had he prepared his heart to seek the LORD, he would not have done the evil which he did. The only thing which can keep from evil is to seek the LORD and walk in obedience to His Word. Rehoboams reign, with the exception of three years in which he walked in the way of David and Solomon, was a reign of trouble. Besides Shishaks invasion there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually (verse 15).<\/p>\n

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

am 3032, bc 972 <\/p>\n

when Rehoboam: 2Ch 12:13, 2Ch 11:17 <\/p>\n

he forsook: 2Ch 26:13-16, Deu 6:10-12, Deu 8:10-14, Deu 32:15, Deu 32:18, 1Ki 9:9, Jer 2:31, Hos 13:1, Hos 13:6-8 <\/p>\n

all Israel: 2Ch 11:3, 1Ki 12:17, 1Ki 14:22-24, 2Ki 17:19, Hos 5:10, Hos 5:11, Mic 6:16 <\/p>\n

Reciprocal: 2Ch 12:5 – Ye have forsaken me 2Ch 15:2 – if ye forsake 2Ch 17:1 – and strengthened 2Ch 32:5 – he strengthened 2Ch 34:14 – the law Psa 89:38 – wroth Mat 1:7 – Abia<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2Ch 12:1. When Rehoboam had established the kingdom Israel was very much disgraced and weakened by being divided into two kingdoms; yet the kingdom of Judah, having both the temple and the royal city, both the house of David and the house of Aaron, might have done very well if they had continued in the way of their duty: but here we have all out of order there. For Rehoboam forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him That is, all his people, all Judah, here called Israel, because they walked in the evil ways into which Jeroboam had drawn the kingdom of Israel. Of this defection from God and his service, see 1Ki 14:22-24. Observe, reader; as long as he thought his throne in an insecure state, he kept to his duty, that he might make God his friend; but when he judged that he was established in his kingdom, he acted as if he thought he had no more occasion for religion. Thus the prosperity of fools destroys them.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2Ch 12:1. Rehoboam forsook the law of the Lord. His juvenile council, his harem of eighteen queens and sixty concubines, are lamentable proofs of the imbecility of his mind. The apple-tree seldom bears two years alike.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:2. Shishak is called Sesac by Josephus, He is named by Herodotus, lib. 2., by Diodorus, and by Eusebius, and is called successively Sasochis, and Sebacus, and Asychis, and Sesostris. Being a great conqueror by sea and by land, he had no need to bring so great an army against Rehoboam, who was more like a woman than a man. Thus in little more than four years, the glory of Solomons kingdom came to the mercy of a foreign king! All is vanity, and vexation of spirit.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:7. Shemaiah was a great prophet in the reign of Solomon and of Rehoboam; his addresses brought the nation to repentance, and saved Jerusalem from destruction. Like Samuel, Nathan, and Gad, he left a book of his labours connected with the history of his own times, 2Ch 12:15. He was enrolled by the Jews amongst the forty eight prophets sent of God to their nation. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2Ch 12:1-16. Shishak invades Judah; Summary of Rehoboams Reign; his Death (see notes on 1Ki 14:21 f., 1Ki 14:25-28, 1Ki 14:29-31).The words in 2Ch 12:2 b (because they had trespassed . . .) to the end of 2Ch 12:8, which do not figure in 1 K., are regarded by many commentators as a midrash (see note on 2Ch 13:22) which the Chronicler either wrote himself or incorporated from some source to which he had access.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:3. Sukkilm: not mentioned elsewhere; the LXX renders troglodytes (cave-dwellers), but the Hebrew word rather suggests dwellers in booths.<\/p>\n

2Ch 12:15. the histories . . . the seer: see note on 1Ch 29:29.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

EGYPT ATTACKS JUDAH <\/p>\n

(vv.1-9)<\/p>\n

Rehoboam’s prosperity however became his downfall. When he strengthened himself in his kingdom sufficiently to think himself secure, he gave up any regard he had for the law of the Lord, and the people willingly followed in his steps. How often this kind of folly has been repeated in the history of the people of God! Prominence and popularity can be a dreadful snare, for we dare to think more of our reputation than of the Lord’s honour! But God was not merely a disinterested bystander. In the fifth year of Jereboam, because of his transgression God allowed Shishak king of Egypt to attack Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen and people without number (vv.2-3). These included not only Egyptians, but Lubim, Sukkim and Ethiopians. These evidently had no inclination to attack Israel while Solomon was reigning, but they knew that Rehoboam did not have the strength of Solomon, and if God’s people are not walking with Him, they become vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy.<\/p>\n

This formidable army had no difficulty in capturing the fortified cities of Judah, and came to Jerusalem with the object of capturing it also (v.4). The Lord then graciously sent the prophet Shemaiah to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah, who told them that they were exposed to the threat of Shishak because they had forsaken the Lord.<\/p>\n

This word from the Lord took some effect, and the king and his officials humbled themselves before the Lord, acknowledging that the Lord was righteous in allowing the attack of Egypt. The Lord will always take full account of the attitude His people take, and His word came to Shemaiah again that because the people had humbled themselves He would grant them some deliverance, so that He would not pour out His wrath on Judah by the attack of Shishak. Yet He would put Judah into subjection to Shishak in order to learn the pain of subservience to a Gentile nation in contrast to the pleasure of obedience to God (vv.7-8).<\/p>\n

Thus God restrained Shishak from shedding blood in Jerusalem, but allowed him to treat Judah as slaves by taking away the king’s house and the golden shields Solomon had made (v.9). How strikingly significant it is that Rehoboam made copper shields to replace the golden ones! (v.10). Gold speaks of the glory of God, but copper pictures holiness. This same type of thing has certainly taken place in the professing church of God today. Rather than God’s glory being emphasised in the testimony of the church. people are content to forget about God’s honour and to concentrate on personal holiness. Of course holiness is commendable, but if it takes the place of God’s glory, it becomes insipid and counterfeit.<\/p>\n

The copper shields that replaced those of gold were committed to the care of the captain of the guard who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. When the king entered the house of the Lord the guard brought the shields out, and returned them afterward to the guardroom. This was evidently a formality, the shields indicating the protection of the king, but his dependence was on his holiness (of which copper speaks), not on the God of glory, as gold symbolises.<\/p>\n

Though Rehoboam did not walk with the Lord, yet when he humbled himself he averted the wrath of God to some decided extent, so that conditions continued relatively well in Judah (v.12). Rehoboam took advantage of favourable conditions to strengthen himself, and reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, less than half of the length of his father’s reign. We are reminded that his mother was an Ammonitess (v.13), whose influence would not likely encourage him to prepare his heart to seek the Lord, and he was left in this unholy condition till the day of his death (v.14).<\/p>\n

Other acts of Rehoboam were recorded in a book of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, but these were not scripture and have not been preserved. Yet sadly we are told that wars continued between Rehoboam and Jereboam all their days (v.15). The same strife between brethren persisted afterwards also, just as strife has permeated the condition of the professing church since its early years. What marvellous relief it will be for Israel to be brought together at the end of the Great Tribulation! What relief also for believers of the Church of God to be united in the Lord’s presence when He comes!<\/p>\n

At his death Rehoboam was at least buried in Jerusalem. Then His son Abijah took the throne of Judah.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

12:1 And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and {a} all Israel with him.<\/p>\n

(a) For such is the inconstancy of the people, that for the most part they follow the vices of their governors.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

3. The invasion by Egypt ch. 12<\/span><\/p>\n

The writer pointed out clearly the connection between Shishak’s invasion and Rehoboam’s unfaithfulness (2Ch 12:1-5; cf. Pro 3:12).<\/p>\n

"The passage makes use of terms that are characteristic of the Chronicler’s theology of divine retribution, namely, ’forsake’ or ’abandon’ (2Ch 12:1; 2Ch 12:5), ’be unfaithful’ (2Ch 12:2), and ’humble oneself’ (2Ch 12:6-7; 2Ch 12:12). The Shishak incident provided a model of the sort of thing that could happen again." [Note: Thompson, p. 257.] <\/span><\/p>\n

"In his emphasis on immediate retribution, the Chronicler is warning the restoration community against any complacency or presumption that punishment might be deferred as it had been in the past." [Note: Longman and Dillard, p. 200.] <\/span><\/p>\n

"After three years of stability, Rehoboam led Judah into apostasy. There are conscious parallels with Saul. The ’unfaithfulness’ of 2Ch 12:2 is the same term as that which was applied to Israel’s first king (1Ch 10:13). Rehoboam, therefore, has entered upon what might be termed a ’Saul’ period in his reign, which contrasts with the early phase, in which he ’walked . . . in the way of David and Solomon’." [Note: McConville, pp. 157-58.] <\/span><\/p>\n

Rehoboam’s repentance caused God to grant deliverance from the Egyptians (2Ch 12:6-7; 2Ch 12:12; cf. Psa 51:17). Overall, Rehoboam failed to set his heart on the Lord (2Ch 12:14). This resulted in his doing evil, namely, not leading the people to follow Yahweh as David had done.<\/p>\n

"The case of Rehoboam has shown particularly clearly how much the Chronicler is concerned to show that obedience and blessing, disobedience and impoverishment are closely linked." [Note: Ibid., p. 160.] <\/span><\/p>\n

"The destiny of any country depends to a great extent on the character of its leaders; and this was particularly the case among the Hebrews, into whose history God chose to intervene more directly than he has for other nations." [Note: Payne, p. 478.] <\/span><\/p>\n

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

REHOBOAM AND ABIJAH: THE IMPORTANCE OF RITUAL<\/p>\n

2Ch 10:1-19; 2Ch 11:1-23; 2Ch 12:1-16; 2Ch 13:1-22<\/p>\n

THE transition from Solomon to Rehoboam brings to light a serious drawback of the chroniclers principle of selection. In the history of Solomon we read of nothing but wealth, splendor, unchallenged dominion, and superhuman wisdom; and yet the breath is hardly out of the body of the wisest and greatest king of Israel before his empire falls to pieces. We are told, as in the book of Kings, that the people met Rehoboam with a demand for release from “the grievous service of thy father,” and yet we were expressly told only two chapters before that “of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.” (2Ch 8:9) Rehoboam apparently had been left by the wisdom of his father to the companionship of headstrong and featherbrained youths; he followed their advice rather than that of Solomons grey-headed counselors, with the result that the ten tribes successfully revolted and chose Jeroboam for their king. Rehoboam assembled an army to re-conquer his lost territory, but Jehovah through the prophet Shemaiah forbade him to make war against Jeroboam.<\/p>\n

The chronicler here and elsewhere shows his anxiety not to perplex simple minds with unnecessary difficulties. They might be harassed and disturbed by the discovery that the king, who built the Temple and was specially endowed with Divine wisdom, had fallen into grievous sin and been visited with condign punishment. Accordingly everything that discredits Solomon and detracts from his glory is omitted. The general principle is sound; an earnest teacher, alive to his responsibilities, will not wantonly obtrude difficulties upon his hearers; when silence does not involve disloyalty to truth, he will be willing that they should remain in ignorance of some of the more mysterious dealings of God in nature and history. But silence was more possible and less dangerous in the chroniclers time than in the nineteenth century. He could count upon a docile and submissive spirit in his readers; they would not inquire beyond what they were told: they would not discover the difficulties for themselves. Jewish youths were not exposed to the attacks of eager and militant skeptics, who would force these difficulties upon their notice in an exaggerated form, and at once demand that they should cease to believe in anything human or Divine.<\/p>\n

And yet, though the chronicler had great advantages in this matter, his own narrative illustrates the narrow limits within which the principle of the suppression of difficulties can be safely applied. His silence as to Solomons sins and misfortunes makes the revolt of the ten tribes utterly inexplicable. After the account of the perfect wisdom, peace, and prosperity of Solomons reign, the revolt comes upon an intelligent reader with a shock of surprise and almost of incredulity. If he could not test the chronicles narrative by that of the book of Kings and it was no part of the chroniclers purpose that his history should be thus tested-the violent transition from Solomons unbroken prosperity to the catastrophe of the disruption would leave the reader quite uncertain as to the general credibility of Chronicles. In avoiding Scylla, our author has fallen into Charybdis; he has suppressed one set of difficulties only to create others. If we wish to help intelligent inquirers and to aid them to form an independent judgment, our safest plan will often be to tell them all we know ourselves and to believe that difficulties, which have no way marred our spiritual life, will not destroy their faith.<\/p>\n

In the next section the chronicler tells how for three years Rehoboam administered his diminished kingdom with wisdom and success; he and his people walked in the way of David and Solomon, and his kingdom was established, and he was strong. He fortified fifteen cities in Judah and Benjamin, and put captains in them, and store of victuals, and oil and wine, and shields and spears, and made them exceeding strong. Rehoboam was further strengthened by deserters from the Northern Kingdom. Though the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua assigned to the priests and Levites cities in the territory held by Jeroboam, yet their intimate association with the Temple rendered it impossible for them to remain citizens of a state hostile to Jerusalem. The chronicler indeed tells us that “Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priests office unto Jehovah, and appointed others to be priests for the high places and the he-goats and for the calves which he had.” It is difficult to understand what the chronicler means by this statement. On the face of it, we should suppose that Jeroboam refused to employ the house of Aaron and the tribe of Levi for the worship of his he-goats and calves, but the chronicler could not describe such action as casting “them off that they should not execute the priests office unto Jehovah.” The passage has been explained to mean that Jeroboam sought to hinder them from exercising their functions at the Temple by preventing them from visiting Judah; but to confine the priests and Levites to his own kingdom would have been a. strange way of casting them off. However, whether driven out by Jeroboam or escaping from him, they came to Jerusalem and brought with them from among the ten tribes other pious Israelites, who were attached to the worship of the Temple. Judah and Jerusalem became the home of all true worshippers of Jehovah; and those who remained in the Northern Kingdom were given up to idolatry or the degenerate and corrupt worship of the high places. The chronicler then gives us some account of Rehoboams harem and children, and tells that he dealt wisely, and dispersed his twenty-eight sons “throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fenced city.” He gave them the means of maintaining a luxurious table, and provided them with numerous wives, and trusted that, being thus happily circumstanced, they would lack leisure, energy, and ambition to imitate Absalom and Adonijah.<\/p>\n

Prosperity and security turned the head of Rehoboam as they had done that of David: “He forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him.” “All Israel” means all the subjects of Rehoboam; the chronicler treats the ten tribes as cut off from Israel. The faithful worshippers of Jehovah in Judah had been reinforced by the priests, Levites, and all other pious Israelites from the Northern Kingdom; and yet in three years they forsook the cause for which they had left their country and their fathers house. Punishment was not long delayed, for Shishak, king of Egypt, invaded Judah with an immense host and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah and of the kings house.<\/p>\n

The chronicler explains why Rehoboam was not more severely punished. Shishak appeared before Jerusalem with his immense host: Ethiopians, Lubim or Lybians, and Sukiim, a mysterious people only mentioned here. The LXX and Vulgate translate Sukiim “Troglodytes,” apparently identifying them with the cave-dwellers on the western or Ethiopian coast of the Red Sea. In order to find safety from these strange and barbarous enemies, Rehoboam and his princes were gathered together in Jerusalem. Shemaiah the prophet appeared before them and declared that the invasion was Jehovahs punishment for their sin, whereupon they humbled themselves, and Jehovah accepted their penitent submission. He would not destroy Jerusalem, but the Jews should serve Shishak, “that they may know My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.” When they threw off the yoke of Jehovah, they sold themselves into a worse bondage. There is no freedom to be gained by repudiating the restraints of morality and religion. If we do not choose to be the servants of obedience unto righteousness, our only alternative is to become the slaves “of sin unto death.” The repentant sinner may return to his true allegiance, and yet he may still be allowed to taste something of the bitterness and humiliation of the bondage of sin. His Shishak may be some evil habit or propensity or special liability to temptation, that is permitted to harass him without destroying his spiritual life. In time the chastening of the Lord works out the peaceable fruits of righteousness, and the Christian is weaned forever from the unprofitable service of sin.<\/p>\n

Unhappily the repentance inspired by trouble and distress is not always real and permanent. Many will humble themselves before the Lord in order to avert imminent ruin, and will forsake Him when the danger has passed away. Apparently Rehoboam soon fell away again into sin, for the final judgment upon him is, “He did that which was evil, because he set not his heart to seek Jehovah.” David in his last prayer had asked for a “perfect heart” for Solomon, but he had not been able to secure this blessing for his grandson, and Rehoboam was “the foolishness of the people, one that had no understanding, who turned away the people through his counsel.” (Sir 47:23)<\/p>\n

Rehoboam was succeeded by his son Abijah, concerning whom we are told in the book of Kings that “he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as the heart of David his father.” The chronicler omits this unfavorable verdict; he does not indeed classify Abijah among the good kings by the usual formal statement that “he did that which was good and right in the eyes of Jehovah,” but Abijah delivers a hortatory speech and by Divine assistance obtains a great victory over Jeroboam. There is not a suggestion of any evil-doing on the part of Abijah; and yet we gather from the history of Asa that in Abijahs reign the cities of Judah were given up to idolatry, with all its paraphernalia of “strange altars, high places, Asherim, and sun-images.” As in the case of Solomon, so here, the chronicler has sacrificed even the consistency of his own narrative to his care for the reputation of the house of David. How the verdict of ancient history upon Abijah came to be set aside we do not know. The charitable work of whitewashing the bad characters of history has always had an attraction for enterprising annalists; and Abijah was a more promising subject than Nero, Tiberius, or Henry VIII The chronicler would rejoice to discover one more good king of Judah; but yet why should the record of Abijahs sins be expunged, while Ahaziah and Amon were still held up to the execration of posterity?<\/p>\n

Probably the chronicler was anxious that nothing should mar the effect of his narrative of Abijahs victory. If his later sources had recorded anything equally creditable of Ahaziah and Amon, be might have ignored the judgment of the book of Kings in their case also.<\/p>\n

The section to which the chronicler attaches so much importance describes a striking episode in the chronic warfare between Judah and Israel. Here Israel is used, as in the older history, to mean the Northern Kingdom, and does not denote the spiritual Israel-i.e., Judah-as in the previous chapter. This perplexing variation in the use of the term “Israel” shows how far Chronicles has departed from the religious ideas of the book of Kings, and reminds us that the chronicler has only partially and imperfectly assimilated his older material.<\/p>\n

Abijah and Jeroboam had each gathered an immense army, but the army of Israel was twice as large as that of Judah: Jeroboam had eight hundred thousand to Abijahs four hundred thousand. Jeroboam advanced, confident in his overwhelming superiority and happy in the belief that Providence sides with the strongest battalions. Abijah, however, was nothing dismayed by the odds against him; his confidence was m Jehovah. The two armies met in the neighborhood of Mount Zemaraim, upon which Abijah fixed his camp. Mount Zemaraim was in the hill-country of Ephraim, but its position cannot be determined with certainty; it was probably near the border of the two kingdoms. Possibly it was the site of the Benjamite city of the same name mentioned in the book of Joshua in close connection with Bethel. {Jos 18:22} If so, we should look for it in the neighborhood of Bethel, a position which would suit the few indications of place given by the narrative.<\/p>\n

Before the battle, Abijah made an effort to induce his enemies to depart in peace. From the vantage-ground of his mountain camp he addressed Jeroboam and his army as Jotham had addressed the men of Shechem from Mount Gerizim. {Jdg 9:8} Abijah reminded the rebels-for as such he regarded them-that Jehovah, the God of Israel, had given the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons, by a covenant of salt, by a charter as solemn and unalterable as that by which the heave-offerings had been given to the sons of Aaron. {Num 18:19} The obligation of an Arab host to the guest who had sat at meat with him and eaten of his salt was not more binding than the Divine decree which had given the throne of Israel to the house of David. And yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat had dared to infringe the sacred rights of the elect dynasty. He, the slave of Solomon, had risen up and rebelled against his master.<\/p>\n

The indignant prince of the house of David not unnaturally forgets that the disruption was Jehovahs own work, and that Jeroboam rose up against his master, not at the instigation of Satan, but by the command of the prophet Abijah. {2Ch 10:15} The advocates of sacred causes even in inspired moments are apt to be one-sided in their statements of fact.<\/p>\n

While Abijah is severe upon Jeroboam and his accomplices and calls them “vain men, sons of Belial,” he shows a filial tenderness for the memory of Rehoboam. That unfortunate king had been taken at a disadvantage, when he was young and tender-hearted and unable to deal sternly with rebels. The tenderness which could threaten to chastise his people with scorpions must have been of the kind-<\/p>\n

“That dared to look on torture and could not look on war”; <\/p>\n

it only appears in the history in Rehoboams headlong flight to Jerusalem. No one, however, will censure Abijah for taking an unduly favorable view of his fathers character.<\/p>\n

But whatever advantage Jeroboam may have found in his first revolt, Abijah warns him that now he need not think to withstand the kingdom of Jehovah in the hands of the sons of David. He is no longer opposed to an unseasoned youth, but to men who know their overwhelming advantage. Jeroboam need not think to supplement and complete his former achievements by adding Judah and Benjamin to his kingdom. Against his superiority of four hundred thousand soldiers Abijah can set a Divine alliance, attested by the presence of priests and Levites and the regular performance of the pentateuchal ritual, whilst the alienation of Israel from Jehovah is clearly shown by the irregular orders of their priests. But let Abijah speak for himself: <\/p>\n

“Ye be a great multitude, and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods.” Possibly Abijah was able to point to Bethel, where the royal sanctuary of the golden calf was visible to both armies: “Have ye not driven out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests in heathen fashion? When any one comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, ye make him a priest of them that are no gods. But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and we have priests, the sons of Aaron, ministering unto Jehovah, and the Levites, doing their appointed work: and they burn unto Jehovah morning and evening burnt offerings and sweet incense: the shewbread also they set in order upon the table that is kept free from all uncleanness; and we have the candlestick of gold, with its lamps, to burn every evening; for we observe the ordinances of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken Him. And, behold, God is with us at our head, and His priests, with the trumpets of alarm, to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against Jehovah, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.”<\/p>\n

This speech, we are told, “has been much admired. It was well suited to its object, and exhibits correct notions of the theocratical institutions.” But like much other admirable eloquence, in the House of Commons and elsewhere, Abijahs speech had no effect upon those to whom it was addressed. Jeroboam apparently utilized the interval to plant an ambush in the rear of the Jewish army.<\/p>\n

Abijahs speech is unique. There have been other instances in which commanders have tried to make oratory take the place of arms, and, like Abijah, they have mostly been unsuccessful; but they have usually appealed to lower motives. Sennacheribs envoys tried ineffectually to seduce the garrison of Jerusalem from their allegiance to Hezekiah, but they relied on threats of destruction and promises of “a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and honey.” There is, however, a parallel instance of more successful persuasion. When Octavian was at war with his fellow-triumvir Lepidus, he made a daring attempt to win over his enemys army. He did not address them from the safe elevation of a neighboring mountain, but rode openly into the hostile camp. He appealed to the soldiers by motives as lofty as those urged by Abijah, and called upon them to save their country from civil war by deserting Lepidus. At the moment his appeal failed, and he only escaped with a wound in his breast; but after a while his enemys soldiers came over to him in detachments, and eventually Lepidus was compelled to surrender to his rival. But the deserters were not altogether influenced by pure patriotism. Octavian had carefully prepared the way for his dramatic appearance in the camp of Lepidus, and had used grosser means of persuasion than arguments addressed to patriotic feeling.<\/p>\n

Another instance of a successful appeal to a hostile force is found in the history of the first Napoleon, when he was marching on Paris after his return from Elba. Near Grenoble he was met by a body of royal troops. He at once advanced to the front, and exposing his breast, exclaiming to the opposing ranks, “Here is your emperor; if any one would kill me, let him fire.” The detachment, which had been sent to arrest his progress, at once deserted to their old commander. Abijahs task was less hopeful: the soldiers whom Octavian and Napoleon won over had known these generals as lawful commanders of Roman and French armies respectively, but Abijah could not appeal to any old associations in the minds of Jeroboams army; the Israelites were animated by ancient tribal jealousies, and Jeroboam was made of sterner stuff than Lepidus or Louis XVIII Abijahs appeal is a monument of his humanity, faith, and devotion; and if it failed to influence the enemy, doubtless served to inspirit his own army.<\/p>\n

At first, however, things went badly with Judah. They were outgeneraled as well as outnumbered: Jeroboams main body attacked them in front, and the ambush assailed their rear. Like the men of Ai, “when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind them.” But Jehovah, who fought against Ai, was fighting for Judah, and they cried unto Jehovah; and then, as at Jericho, “the men of Judah gave a shout, and when they shouted, God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.” The rout was complete, and was accompanied by terrible slaughter. No fewer than five hundred thousand Israelites were slain by the men of Judah. The latter pressed their advantage, and took the neighboring city of Bethel and other Israelite towns. For the time Israel was “brought under,” and did not recover from its tremendous losses during the three years of Abijahs reign. As for Jeroboam, Jehovah smote him, and he died; but “Abijah waxed mighty, and took unto himself fourteen wives, and begat twenty-and-two sons and sixteen daughters.” His history closes with the record of these proofs of Divine favor, and he “slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son reigned in his stead.”<\/p>\n

The lesson which the chronicler intends to teach by his narrative is obviously the importance of ritual, not the importance of ritual apart from the worship of the true God; he emphasizes the presence of Jehovah with Judah, in contrast to the Israelite worship of calves and those that are no gods. The chronicler dwells upon the maintenance of the legitimate priesthood and the prescribed ritual as the natural expression and clear proof of the devotion of the men of Judah to their God.<\/p>\n

It may help us to realize the significance of Abijahs speech, if we try to construct an appeal in the same spirit for a Catholic general in the Thirty Years War addressing a hostile Protestant army. Imagine Wallenstein or Tilly, moved by some unwonted spirit of pious oratory, addressing the soldiers of Gustavus Adolphus:-<\/p>\n

“We have a pope who sits in Peters chair, bishops and priests ministering unto the Lord, in the true apostolical succession. The sacrifice of the Mass is daily offered; matins, lauds, vespers; and compline are all duly celebrated; our churches are fragrant with incense and glorious with stained glass and images; we have crucifixes, and lamps, and candles; and our priests are fitly clothed in ecclesiastical vestments; for we observe the traditions of the Church, but ye have forsaken the Divine order. Behold, God is with us at our head; and we have banners blessed by the Pope. O ye Swedes, ye fight against God; ye shall not prosper.”<\/p>\n

As Protestants we may find it difficult to sympathies with the feelings of a devout Romanist or even with those of a faithful observer of the complicated Mosaic ritual. We could not construct so close a parallel to Abijahs speech in terms of any Protestant order of service, and yet the objections which any modern denomination feels to departures from its own forms of worship rest on the same principles as those of Abijah. In the abstract the speech teaches two main lessons: the importance of an official and duly accredited ministry and of a suitable and authoritative ritual. These principles are perfectly general, and are not confined to what is usually known as sacerdotalism and ritualism. Every Church has in practice some official ministry, even those Churches that profess to owe their separate existence to the necessity for protesting against an official ministry. Men whose chief occupation is to denounce priestcraft may themselves be saturated with the sacerdotal spirit. Every Church too, has its ritual. The silence of a Friends meeting is as much a rite as the most elaborate genuflection before a highly ornamented altar. To regard either the absence or presence of rites as essential is equally ritualistic. The man who leaves his wonted place of worship because “Amen” is sung at the end of a hymn is as bigoted a ritualist as his brother who dare not pass an altar without crossing himself. Let us then consider the chroniclers two principles in this broad sense. The official ministry of Israel consisted of the priests and Levites, and the chronicler counted it a proof of the piety of the Jews that they adhered to this ministry and did not admit to the priesthood any one who could bring a young bullock and seven rams. The alternative was not between a hereditary priesthood and one open to any aspirant with special spiritual qualifications, but between a duly trained and qualified ministry on the one hand and a motley crew of the forerunners of Simon Magus on the other. It is impossible not to sympathies with the chronicler. To begin with, the property qualification was too low. If livings are to be purchased at all, they should bear a price commensurate with the dignity and responsibility of the sacred office. A mere entrance fee, so to speak, of a young bullock and seven rams must have flooded Jeroboams priesthood with a host of adventurers, to whom the assumption of the office was a matter of social or commercial speculation. The private adventure system of providing for the ministry of the word scarcely tends to either the dignity or the efficiency of the Church. But, in any case, it is not desirable that mere worldly gifts, money, social position, or even intellect should be made the sole passports to Christian service; even the traditions and education of a hereditary priesthood would be more probable channels of spiritual qualifications.<\/p>\n

Another point that the chronicler objects to in Jeroboams priests is the want of any other than a property qualification. Any one who chose could be a priest. Such a system combined what might seem opposite vices. It preserved an artificial ministry; these self-appointed priests formed a clerical order; and yet it gave no guarantee whatever of either fitness or devotion. The chronicler, on the other hand, by the importance he attaches to the Levitical priesthood, recognizes the necessity of an official ministry, but is anxious that it should be guarded with jealous care against the intrusion of unsuitable persons. A conclusive argument for an official ministry is to be found in its formal adoption by most Churches and its uninvited appearance in the rest. We should not now be contented with the safeguards against unsuitable ministers to be found in hereditary succession; the system of the Pentateuch would be neither acceptable nor possible in the nineteenth century: and yet, if it had been perfectly administered, the Jewish priesthood would have been worthy of its high office, nor were the times ripe for the substitution of any better system. Many of the considerations which justify hereditary succession in a constitutional monarchy might be adduced in defense of a hereditary priesthood. Even now, without any pressure of law or custom, there is a certain tendency towards hereditary succession in the ministerial office. It would be easy to name distinguished ministers who were inspired for the high calling by their fathers devoted service, and who received an invaluable preparation for their life-work from the Christian enthusiasm of a clerical household. The clerical ancestry of the Wesleys is only one among many illustrations of an inherited genius for the ministry.<\/p>\n

But though the best method of obtaining a suitable ministry varies with changing circumstances, the chroniclers main principle is of permanent and universal application. The Church has always felt a just concern that the official representatives of its faith and order should commend themselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God. The prophet needs neither testimonials nor official status: the word of the Lord can have free course without either; but the appointment or election to ecclesiastical office entrusts the official with the honor of the Church and in a measure of its Master.<\/p>\n

The chroniclers other principle is the importance of a suitable and authoritative ritual. We have already noticed that any order of service that is fixed by the constitution or custom of a Church involves the principle of ritual. Abijahs speech does not insist that only the established ritual should be tolerated; such questions had not come within the chroniclers horizon. The merit of Judah lay in possessing and practicing a legitimate ritual, that is to say in observing the Pauline injunction to do all things decently and in order: The present generation is not inclined to enforce any very stringent obedience to Pauls teaching, and finds it difficult to sympathize with Abijahs enthusiasm for the symbolism of worship. But men today are not radically different from the chroniclers contemporaries, and it is as legitimate to appeal to spiritual sensibility through the eye as through the ear; architecture and decoration are neither more nor less spiritual than an attractive voice and impressive elocution. Novelty and variety have, or should have, their legitimate place in public worship; but the Church has its obligations to those who have more regular spiritual wants. Most of us find much of the helpfulness of public worship in the influence of old and familiar spiritual associations, which can only be maintained by a measure of permanence and fixity in Divine service. The symbolism of the Lords Supper never loses its freshness, and yet it is restful because familiar and impressive because ancient. On the other hand, the maintenance of this ritual is a constant testimony to the continuity of Christian life and faith. Moreover, in this rite the great bulk of Christendom finds the outward and visible sign of its unity.<\/p>\n

Ritual, too, has its negative value. By observing the Levitical ordinances the Jews were protected from the vagaries of any ambitious owner of a young bullock and seven rams. While we grant liberty to all to use the form of worship in which they find most spiritual profit, we need to have Churches whose ritual will be comparatively fixed. Christians who find themselves most helped by the more quiet and regular methods of devotion naturally look to a settled order of service to protect them from undue and distracting excitement.<\/p>\n

In spite of the wide interval that separates the modern Church from Judaism, we can still discern a unity of principle, and are glad to confirm the judgment of Christian experience from the lessons of an older and different dispensation. But we should do injustice to the chroniclers teaching if we forgot that for his own times his teaching was capable of much more definite and forcible application. Christianity and Islam have purified religious worship throughout Europe, America, and a large portion of Asia. We are no longer tempted by the cruel, loathsome rites of heathenism. The Jews knew the wild extravagance, gross immorality, and ruthless cruelty of Phoenician and Syrian worship. If we had lived in the chroniclers age and had shared his experience of idolatrous rites, we should have also shared his enthusiasm for the pure and lofty ritual of the Pentateuch. We should have regarded it as a Divine barrier between Israel and the abominations of heathenism, and should have been jealous for its strict observance.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him. Ch. 2Ch 12:1-12 (cp. 1Ki 14:22; 1Ki 14:25-28). The Invasion of Shishak 1. all Israel ] i.e. all the Southern Kingdom; cp. note on 2Ch 11:3. The details … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 12:1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}