2 Chronicles 12:1 – 16
Shishak Raids Jerusalem (1 Kings 14:25-28)
“After Rehoboam had established his sovereignty and royal power, he and all Israel with him forsook the Law of the LORD. In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and countless troops who came with him out of Egypt—Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites. He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.
Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have forsaken Me; therefore, I have forsaken you into the hand of Shishak.’” So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is righteous.”
When the LORD saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, but will soon grant them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. Nevertheless, they will become his servants, so that they may learn the difference between serving Me and serving the kings of other lands.”
Egypt Plunders Jerusalem
So King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and seized the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and committed them to the care of the captains of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. And whenever the king would enter the house of the LORD, the guards would go with him, bearing the shields, and later they would return them to the guardroom.
Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the anger of the LORD turned away from him, and He did not destroy him completely. Moreover, conditions were good in Judah.
Rehoboam’s Reign and Death (1 Kings 14:21-24)
Thus King Rehoboam established himself in Jerusalem. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Rehoboam did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.
Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the Prophet and of Iddo the Seer concerning the genealogies? There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their days. And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And his son Abijah reigned in his place.”
Rehoboam was a lousy king! After spending 41 years of his life waiting to become king, Rehoboam performed well for the first 3 – 5 years, just long enough for the Levitical priests to leave their lands and villages and to join him in Jerusalem. Having secured the support of the Levitical priests, Rehoboam should have continued as he began, but he didn’t. After a few years, things fell apart.
Actually, Rehoboam should never have been designated as Solomon’s successor in the first place because his mother was an Ammonite woman. Rehoboam wasn’t even a full – blooded Israelite. It’s quite likely that Rehoboam’s mother taught him to worship Milcom, the national god of the Ammonites. Rehoboam obviously had no spiritual training worth mentioning; he only pretended to worship the Lord for the first few years of his reign and then wandered off into idolatry taking all of Judah and Benjamin with him. Rehoboam’s father Solomon had filled Jerusalem with shrines to the pagan gods his wives and concubines worshiped, so these places were close at hand, ready and waiting for new worshipers.
When Rehoboam and all of his subjects turned away from the Lord, the Lord sent Pharoah Shishak from Egypt to attack Judah. Shishak came with a huge army and swiftly took all the fortified cities. With Shishak hammering at the gates of Jerusalem, God sent the prophet Shemaiah to confront Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah. Rehoboam and the leaders humbled themselves; however, God wanted them to learn the difference between serving Him or serving foreign rulers. God allowed Shishak to enter Jerusalem and to seize the treasures of the temple and the palace. Shishak even collected the golden shields Solomon had made for the temple guard.
It is highly significant that Rehoboam replaced those golden temple shields with showy bronze ones. The bronze would still make a flashy display; however, bronze was far inferior to gold. The substitution of bronze shields for gold ones really signifies the difference between Solomon and Rehoboam. Solomon had a lot of failings; however, he was still God’s choice as king and he did a great deal of good. There is no record of the reason Rehoboam was chosen out of all Solomon’s sons; how did Rehoboam’s Ammonite mother succeed in convincing Solomon to name her son as his successor? It’s quite likely that a number of those wives and concubines would have pressured Solomon to name their sons as heir apparent to the throne. Was the occult involved? Perhaps Solomon had other sons who actually worshiped the Lord and who would have been far better choices.
APPLICATION: This account gives God’s estimation of Rehoboam: “Rehoboam did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.” All the Levitical priests had moved to Judah and Jerusalem. Rehoboam had no lack of good spiritual advisors, but he never asked God for advice or wisdom. In the movie The Lion King, there was one scene where the little lion cub sang, “Oh I just can’t wait to be king!” The lion cub’s concept of ruling was to force everybody to do his will, no matter what. Much of Rehoboam’s reign resembled the lion cub’s half – baked ideas about kingship. Despite God’s warning that Rehoboam was not to make war against Jeroboam, Rehoboam spent much of his seventeen years fighting Jeroboam.
Ezra the priest and scribe compiled the books we know as 1st and 2nd Chronicles. Ezra lived hundreds of years after the events he was describing, so he could give a clear – headed estimate of the worth of the rulers he recorded. Rulers who did particularly well merited in – depth descriptions of their accomplishments, but those who did poorly sometimes received terse assessments. Ezra’s description of Rehoboam ranks as being quite terse.
Rehoboam is the perfect example of a guy who began with everything and who managed to squander much of it. Solomon left Rehoboam the complete kingdom of Israel, and all Rehoboam had to do to keep the kingdom was to be kind to the people. But Rehoboam behaved like a total jerk, and the kingdom split. Then when Jeroboam set up his own religion, the Levitical priests swarmed to Jerusalem, giving Rehoboam a major source of support. But Rehoboam only faked things for a few years and then went back into idolatry. God punished Rehoboam and all of Judah by bringing them under the hand of the Egyptians, who gleefully plundered the treasures of the temple and the palace. When Rehoboam died, he handed down a kingdom far smaller and far poorer than the one he had inherited. Rehoboam also handed down a diplomatic nightmare with Judah under the thumb of the Pharaoh and Egypt owning all the fortified cities in Judah. All this happened because Rehoboam refused to seek the Lord!
What heritage are we leaving for our children and grandchildren? Are we leaving a heritage of faith? Do our children and grandchildren know that we honor the Lord in our lives and that we seek His guidance? Or have we established ourselves as our own amateur providences, leaving havoc when we die? Rehoboam could have made a course correction at any time, but he failed to do so. May we be wiser than Rehoboam! May we seek God today!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, let all who read this devotional seek You for the decisions of their lives and let them honor You in all that they do. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
Burunche's Blog 
Leave a comment