2 Chronicles 12

After Rehoboam had made his rule secure and had grown strong, he turned away from the law of the LORD, and all Israel turned away with him.

1And 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.

NoteRehoboam was Solomon's son. At the start of his reign the ten northern tribes broke away and made Jeroboam their king, leaving Rehoboam with only Judah and Benjamin in the south. Chronicles nevertheless keeps calling his people "Israel," so "all Israel" here means the people of his own southern kingdom, not the whole nation. "The law of the LORD" is the body of written instruction associated with Moses, the terms of the agreement between God and the nation, covering worship, justice and daily life.

2In the fifth year of King Rehoboam's reign, Shishak king of Egypt marched against Jerusalem, because the people had been unfaithful to the LORD.

2And 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,

NoteShishak is generally identified with the Egyptian pharaoh Sheshonq I, founder of a new dynasty; a list of towns he claimed to have taken in this region was carved on a temple wall at Karnak in Egypt. Rehoboam's fifth year falls somewhere around 925 BC. "Unfaithful" translates a word used of a wife's betrayal or of stealing what has been dedicated to God: it describes breaking a bond of trust, not merely disobeying a rule.

3He came with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen, and the soldiers who came with him out of Egypt were too many to count: Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites.

3With 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.

NoteChariots and horsemen were the elite, expensive arm of an ancient army, the equivalent of armor; the numbers are the kind of round, impressive totals ancient records use for a great force. The Libyans were peoples west of Egypt, who by this period supplied many of Egypt's soldiers and had produced its ruling family. The Sukkites are named only here; the word may mean "tent-dwellers," and they were probably a desert people serving as scouts or mercenaries. The Cushites (the King James "Ethiopians") came from Cush, the land up the Nile south of Egypt, roughly modern Sudan, not the modern country of Ethiopia.

4He captured the walled cities that belonged to Judah, and he came as far as Jerusalem.

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

NoteThese are the fortress towns Rehoboam had spent the early part of his reign strengthening as a defensive ring around Jerusalem. Losing them meant the capital stood exposed with nothing between it and the invading army.

5Then Shemaiah the prophet, a man who spoke messages from God, came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah, who had gathered in Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, "This is what the LORD says: You have abandoned me, so I have handed you over to Shishak."

5Then 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.

NoteA prophet was a person understood to speak on God's behalf, delivering a message in the first person as a royal herald would deliver a king's words, hence the formula "This is what the LORD says." The Hebrew uses the same verb twice for pointed effect: you abandoned me, so I have abandoned you. The English "handed you over" softens a sentence that in Hebrew is deliberately a mirror image.

6At that the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The LORD is right in what he does."

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

Note"Humbled themselves" translates a Hebrew word meaning to bow low or submit, to drop the posture of a ruler and take the posture of someone under authority. It is one of the key words of Chronicles. "The LORD is right in what he does" is legal language: it concedes the case, admitting the verdict against them is just.

7When the LORD saw that they had humbled themselves, this message from the LORD came to Shemaiah: "They have humbled themselves. So I will not destroy them. I will grant them some rescue, and my anger will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.

7And 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.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase behind "some rescue" is genuinely unclear and has been read two ways: rescue that is partial (a limited reprieve rather than full deliverance) or rescue that comes soon. Both senses are defensible from the words themselves.

8Even so, they will become Shishak's servants, so that they may learn what it is to serve me and what it is to serve the kingdoms of other lands."

8Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

Note"Servant" here means a subject state: a defeated kingdom left on its throne but required to pay heavy annual tribute to the conqueror. The verse plays on one word: they will learn by experience what it costs to be a servant of God and what it costs to be the servant of a foreign king.

9So Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's palace. He took all of it, and he carried off the gold shields that Solomon had made.

9So 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.

Note"The house of the LORD" is the temple Solomon had built in Jerusalem. The gold shields were ceremonial, made for display rather than battle, and hung in Solomon's palace hall; taking them, along with the temple and palace treasuries, was standard practice for a victorious king, both as plunder and as a public sign of who now held power.

10In their place King Rehoboam made shields of bronze, and he put them in the care of the commanders of the guard who watched the entrance to the king's palace.

10Instead 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.

NoteBronze looks like gold at a distance but is worth a small fraction of it. The replacement shields kept the ceremony going while quietly announcing that the wealth behind it was gone.

11Whenever the king went into the house of the LORD, the guards came and carried the shields, and afterward they brought them back to the guardroom.

11And when the king entered into the house of the LORD, the guard came and fetched them, and brought them again into the guard chamber.

NoteThe shields were carried in procession by the guard as an escort of honor when the king went up to the temple, then locked away again: they were regalia, not equipment.

12Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD's anger turned away from him, so that he was not completely destroyed. Things also went well in Judah.

12And 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.

13So King Rehoboam made his position strong in Jerusalem and went on ruling. He was forty-one years old when he became king. He ruled seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel as the place to put his name. His mother's name was Naamah, a woman from Ammon.

13So 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.

NoteFor the LORD to "put his name" somewhere is a Hebrew idiom of ownership and presence, like putting one's name on a property: the place is claimed as his and is where he can be approached. Naming the king's mother is standard practice in these records of Judah's kings; the queen mother held a recognized position at court. Ammon was a kingdom east of the Jordan, a neighbor and frequent enemy of Israel, so Rehoboam, like his father Solomon, had a foreign mother.

14He did evil, because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

14And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD.

Note"Set his heart" is an idiom of settled resolve rather than feeling; the heart in Hebrew is the seat of thought and decision, closer to what English calls the mind or the will. The charge is that he never made up his mind to it.

15The things Rehoboam did, from first to last, are written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, in the part that deals with family lines. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all through their days.

15Now 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.

Note"Seer" is an older word for a prophet, from seeing visions; Chronicles uses it interchangeably with "prophet." These records of Shemaiah and Iddo have not survived, the writer is pointing readers to sources available in his own day, as he does throughout the book. Jeroboam was the king of the breakaway northern tribes, Rehoboam's rival since the kingdom split.

16Rehoboam died, as his ancestors had, and he was buried in the city of David. His son Abijah became king in his place.

16And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah his son reigned in his stead.

Note"Slept with his fathers" is a set phrase for dying of natural causes and being buried in the family tomb, as opposed to being killed. The city of David is the oldest part of Jerusalem, the ridge David captured and fortified, where the kings of his line were buried.