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2 Chronicles 12

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Rehoboam Forsakes the Lord 1–4

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. ​
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, ​
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. ​
4
And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah, and came to Jerusalem.

Prophecy and Repentance 5–8

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. ​
6
Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The LORD is righteous. ​
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, 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. ​

Shishak Plunders Jerusalem 9–12

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. ​
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.
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.
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. ​

Conclusion of Rehoboam’s Reign 13–16

13
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 mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.
14
And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD. ​
15
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. ​
16
And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah his son reigned in his stead.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 2 Chronicles 12

Verse 1

he forsook the law of the LORD — ‘Forsook’ is azab, to leave. The warning stood from Solomon’s day: ‘if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments… will I pluck them up by the roots’ (7:19–20). ‘Established’ and ‘strengthened himself’ follow the three years of 11:17, and ‘all Israel’ is the people of Judah and Benjamin (11:3).

Verse 2

Shishak king of Egypt — He is the king to whom Jeroboam had fled from Solomon (1 Kings 11:40), and 1 Kings 14:25 dates this same invasion to Rehoboam’s fifth year. The reason given is that ‘they had transgressed’ (ma’al, to act faithlessly) ‘against the LORD’. The invasion answers the forsaking of v.1.

Verse 3

the Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians — Three peoples came with Egypt’s army. The Lubims are named with Put as Egypt’s helpers in Nah 3:9, and Sukkiy occurs only here in the Bible. Asa’s seer later recalls these same allies: ‘Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen?’ (16:8).

Verse 5

Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you — Both ‘forsaken’ and ‘left’ translate the one verb azab, so the sentence returns the king’s own act to him: ‘in the hand of Shishak’. Shemaiah, who forbade the war in 11:2–4, now speaks to the ‘princes of Judah’ gathered in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak.

Verse 6

The LORD is righteous — Tsaddiq, the confession that the sentence of v.5 is just. ‘Humbled themselves’ is kana, to be brought low, the verb of 7:14, ‘If my people… shall humble themselves’. The answer comes in v.7: ‘They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance.’

Verse 8

that they may know my service — ‘Servants’ (ebed) and ‘service’ (avodah) come from one root. Judah is to learn the difference between serving the LORD and serving ‘the kingdoms of the countries’. Deut 28:47–48 had said that those who served not the LORD ‘with joyfulness’ would serve the enemies he sent against them.

Verse 9

the shields of gold which Solomon had made — Solomon made two hundred targets and three hundred shields of beaten gold and ‘put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon’ (9:15–16; 1 Kings 10:16–17). Shishak ‘took all’, the treasures of the temple and the palace included, and v.10 records that Rehoboam made brass shields in their place.

Verse 12

the wrath of the LORD turned from him — ‘Humbled himself’ is kana, as in vv.6–7, now said of the king alone. ‘Turned’ is shuv, and the outcome matches v.7: Jerusalem is not destroyed. ‘Altogether’ is kalah, to an end. The same verse adds that ‘in Judah things went well’.

Verse 14

prepared not his heart — Kun, to establish or make firm, is the verb of ‘had established the kingdom’ in v.1: he made the kingdom firm and did not make his heart firm. ‘To seek’ is darash, to inquire of the LORD. The reverse is said of Jehoshaphat: ‘hast prepared thine heart to seek God’ (19:3).

Verse 15

Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer — Two prophets kept the record of Rehoboam’s reign. Shemaiah is the prophet of 11:2 and 12:5. Iddo is named at 9:29, for ‘visions… against Jeroboam’, and at 13:22, where his ‘story’ holds the rest of Abijah’s acts. The verse ends with ‘wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually’.