Bible Commentaries
2 Chronicles 12

Verses 1-16

Chapter 12

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 ( 2 Chronicles 12:1 ).

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.

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 ( 2 Chronicles 12:5-6 ).

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.

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 ( 2 Chronicles 12:7-8 ).

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.

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.

The death of Rehoboam is listed in the latter part of the chapter. In verse 2 Chronicles 12:14 it gives sort of a brief obituary, which is rather sad.

And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD ( 2 Chronicles 12:14 ).

On his death his son Abijah began to reign over Judah. "