And Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and [to] the princes of Judah that had gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, Thus saith Jehovah Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.
Rehoboam ruled well for three years, then turned from the law of the LORD. In his fifth year Egypt's army took Judah's fortified cities and reached Jerusalem, where a prophet told the trapped king the reason in one sentence.
The trouble did not begin with Egypt. It began at the point where Rehoboam's position felt secure.
This blessing was brief. It made the kingdom of Judah strong and settled Israel, and then it became a snare for Rehoboam. The flesh uses even God's favours as an occasion to depart from Him. "When the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him." The Lord commissioned this one man to shepherd His people. It is enough for him to turn aside: all the rest will follow his example. What a responsibility for him!
The princes had gathered in Jerusalem, and neither they nor the king could stop Shishak. God's message balances the account: what they did to Him is what He has now done to them.
The princes assembled at Jerusalem were powerless to prevent the coming disaster. The king and his advisers, with all their wisdom, could not turn the conqueror from his purpose. God then sent a message by Shemaiah, telling them of their sin, and that He would deal justly with them. Shemaiah had to deliver this message: "You abandoned Me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak." What a message was this! Who could say a word against it? It was perfectly just. God dealt with them as they had dealt with Him. He could not pass over their sin. They reaped the fruits of their own actions. Perfectly just — yet how terrible! Not a hint of mercy, not a glimmer of hope.
To be abandoned "to the hand of Shishak" meant more than a lost battle. Egypt was the very place God had brought them out of.
Judah did not fall prey to their brother Israel, against whose religion they had every right to defend themselves. Their fall went much deeper. They fell into the hands of a world that God had once redeemed them from with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. As in the old days, the king of Egypt ruled over them again.
The chastening had a stated aim.
The prophecy of Shemaiah announces God's purpose in chastening them: "that they may know My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries." From now on they could compare their three years of liberty and free blessing with the bondage of Egypt.
Shemaiah gives no military advice and no terms of surrender. He aims at the conscience, and the answer comes back in a telling order.
It is now God's time to speak to their consciences; and Shemaiah the prophet appeared before them with this message of conviction... So they humbled themselves and said, "The LORD is righteous," and God promised them a partial deliverance. God says, "I will not destroy them." "The princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves," says the Word. The princes seem to have taken the lead in this humbling but fitting confession, since the Word mentions them first. The king was slower. The roots of his old pride were still alive in his heart, unjudged.
The verse contains no offer of mercy. Yet mercy came the moment they agreed with the verdict — and they asked for nothing.
Rehoboam and his people asked for nothing. We do not read of any prayer for the removal of Shishak. They justified God, and He was revealed to them... How ready God is to respond to people when they own Him as the righteous Ruler!
This is not a one-off episode. It is God's settled way with His people.
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... And He is still the same gracious LORD, always ready to forgive His people, when they return to Him.
- Strength. Rehoboam turned away once his kingdom was secure, not under pressure. Even God's favours can become an occasion to depart from Him.
- Abandoning. The verdict matched the crime: God dealt with them as they had dealt with Him, and no one could argue against it.
- Egypt. Shishak's hand put them back under the power God had once redeemed them from. There they learned the difference between His service and the world's.
- Humbling. The princes owned it first, the king more slowly. The reply God accepted was "The LORD is righteous" — no excuse, and nothing asked for.
- Grace. The moment they justified God, mercy answered. He is still the same, ready to forgive anyone who returns to Him.
And the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, Jehovah is righteous.
Rehoboam had made his kingdom strong. Then he abandoned the law of the LORD. So God sent Shishak of Egypt through the fortified cities of Judah and up to Jerusalem itself. Shemaiah the prophet brought a verdict with no comfort in it. This verse records what the king and his leaders did with it.
Shemaiah's message was a plain statement of cause and effect.
"You have forsaken Me, and so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak," was the message Shemaiah had to deliver. What a message this was! Who could say a word against it? It was perfectly just. God dealt with them as they had dealt with Him. He could not pass over their sin. They reaped the fruit of their own actions. Perfectly just, yet how terrible this was! Not a hint of mercy, not a glimmer of hope. Let anyone who trusts in his own righteousness ask himself this: could he bear it if God dealt with him strictly, repaying him according to what he has done and no more?
Rehoboam had an army at his gates and a prophet telling him whose fault it was.
What is remarkable is that Rehoboam did not harden himself. He did not silence the prophet, as many others would have done. Instead, "the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves, and said, 'The LORD is righteous'" (2 Chron. 12:6). It is not easy to say, "The LORD is righteous," when you are under the judgment of God. Our tendency is rather to try to justify ourselves.
Look at what is missing from their reply.
How did the king and the princes act when Shemaiah delivered his crushing message? They glorified God, and at that moment mercy was granted to them. "The LORD is righteous" was their reply. They humbled themselves and said no more. They deserved such treatment. They took their right place before Him. They justified God without excusing themselves. Jeroboam asked to have his arm healed. He felt the inconvenience and wanted it removed, but not one word in God's defence came from his lips. Rehoboam and his people asked for nothing.
The verse names the princes before the king. One writer sees meaning in that order.
The princes took the lead, it would seem, since they are mentioned first. This confession was humbling, yet fitting. The king was slower. The roots of his old pride still lingered unjudged in his heart.
Those few words changed how God dealt with them.
The princes and the king did the thing the LORD always looks for first, when His people have sinned and departed from Him. "They humbled themselves." The LORD saw that they humbled themselves and were returning to Him, and He had compassion on them. He granted some deliverance, and His wrath was not poured out on the city. And He is still the same gracious LORD, always ready to forgive His people when they return to Him.
Yet the rescue was only partial.
Shemaiah the prophet brought these words: "You have forsaken Me, and so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak." As a result, there was a real work of conscience in the heart of the king and his princes. They "humbled themselves, and said, 'The LORD is righteous.'" This humbling of themselves preserved Judah from complete destruction... This is grace, but, I repeat, Judah has to suffer the consequences of having abandoned the word of God.
Shishak stripped Jerusalem. Rossier names the one thing he could not take, and applies the king's words to Christians today.
Shishak, we are told, took all. All! But one thing still remains: the altar is there, God is there. For faith, in the middle of ruin and humiliation, this was far more than all the gold the king of Egypt carried away. Is it not the same today? Christians need to weigh up everything they lack because of the Church's unfaithfulness. They must add, "The LORD is righteous." But they may also say, God is a God of grace and has not turned away from us.
- Forsaken — The charge was exact: they had left God, so He left them to Shishak. God dealt with them as they had dealt with Him.
- Humbled — Rehoboam neither hardened himself nor silenced the prophet. Under judgment, the natural move is self-defence; he made the opposite one.
- Righteous — Three words took God's side against themselves. They justified God without excusing themselves, and asked for nothing.
- Compassion — Humbling is the first thing God looks for from a people who have wandered. He answered it at once with mercy.
- Partial — Grace spared the city; the loss remained. Shishak took all the gold, but he could not take the altar, and God had not turned away.
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 a little deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.
Shemaiah's message left Rehoboam no room to argue. Judah had abandoned God, and Egypt's army at the gates was the result. Then comes the surprise: the king and his officials bow, God sees it, and He changes the sentence He has just announced.
The princes and the king did not defend themselves. One writer sets their reply beside Jeroboam's.
But how did the king and the princes act when Shemaiah delivered his crushing message? They glorified God, and at that moment God granted them mercy. "The LORD is righteous" was their reply. They humbled themselves, and said no more. They deserved such treatment. They took their right place before Him. Jeroboam asked to have his arm healed. He felt the inconvenience and wanted it removed, but not one word justifying God escaped his lips. Rehoboam and his people asked for nothing. We do not read of any prayer for the removal of Shishak. They justified God, without excusing themselves.
The verse opens with God seeing something. Another writer points out that this is the very thing He watches for whenever His people have gone wrong.
Shemaiah, the man of God, brought the solemn message from the LORD: "You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak." Then the princes and the king did the very thing the LORD always looks for first, when His people have sinned and departed from Him. "They humbled themselves." And when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves and were returning to Him, He had compassion on them. He granted some deliverance, and His 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 to Him.
God does not promise to remove the trouble; He promises to limit it. One writer weighs how deep that repentance really went.
We may think that Rehoboam's repentance was not very deep. The history of his life ends with this sad conclusion: "And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD" (2 Chr. 12:14). Still, there was humbling, and God took account of it. He lessened the judgment: "I will grant them some deliverance."
Shishak looked like the problem. The verse treats him as something God holds and can restrain.
Note what God says: "I will not destroy them." Shishak was only His whip. The Assyrian was the same at a later date. Through His prophet Isaiah, God calls him "the rod of My anger" and "a razor that is hired." For blessing in troubles like these, we must see beyond the instrument, and know the hand that uses it.
Rehoboam was not humble; he was humbled. One writer separates the two, and traces each to a different side of God's dealings.
The happiest of all is to be humble; the next best thing is to be humbled. It is better to be humble than to be humbled, but there is no comparison between being humbled and being lifted up. Humility is the effect of grace. Humiliation comes instead from God's righteous government, where we are not humble. This is what He did with His saints of old and outwardly with His ancient people. It is what is too often needed for ourselves.
The northern kingdom that broke away from Judah had already been given up. What Judah's bowing gained here lasted for generations.
What a character our God has! He is righteous, yet merciful. "Because they have humbled themselves." They took their right place before Him, so He could say, "I will grant them some deliverance." These two histories show us God in government, a warning and an encouragement to all who will take heed. Israel was already given up, having gone along with the sin of Jeroboam. Judah deserved the same treatment. But when they humbled themselves, God granted them some deliverance. It was not until the reign of Manasseh that the order went out for their captivity in Babylon.
- Cause. Judah forsook God first; Shishak came second. The prophet's word tied the invasion straight to the abandonment.
- Bowing. They justified God without excusing themselves. They asked for nothing and said no more. That is what "humbled themselves" means here.
- Seeing. God watches for that response first, and He takes account of it even when it is shallow.
- Measure. The mercy matched the repentance. God promised "some deliverance," not rescue. The judgment was lessened, not cancelled.
- Reach. One king's bowing held back the captivity for generations. That is both a warning and an encouragement to anyone who will take heed.
Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.
Shishak of Egypt had taken Judah's fortified cities, and the prophet Shemaiah told Rehoboam why: the nation had forsaken the Lord. The king and his princes bowed, so God spared Jerusalem — but He left them serving Egypt, and this verse gives His reason.
Judah's collapse was more than a military defeat. The nation ended up under the very power God had once rescued them from.
Judah did not fall prey to their brother Israel, and they were right to defend themselves against Israel's religion. Their fall went much deeper. They fell into the hands of a world that God had once redeemed them from by a strong hand and an outstretched arm. As in the old days, they were under the king of Egypt again.
God left the yoke on to teach them. They would learn His service by tasting the other kind, and they had both halves of the comparison in living memory.
Shemaiah the prophet announces God's purpose in chastening them: "that they may know My service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries" (v. 8). From now on they could compare their three years of liberty and free blessing with the bondage of Egypt.
The lesson has an edge to it. There is a yoke either way; the only question is whose.
Though God spared their lives, they had to become servants — paying tribute — to Shishak, "that they may know," God says, "My service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries." Where there is real submission, the Lord's yoke is easy. If His people refuse to wear it, they must learn by humiliating and painful experience what the enemy's yoke is like.
The contrast has a positive side. Obeying God carries its own pleasure, and Judah lost it.
He would put Judah under Shishak's rule. That way they would learn the pain of serving a foreign nation, in contrast to the pleasure of obedience to God (vv. 7-8).
Shishak thought he was winning his own conquest. He was a tool in God's hand.
Notice what God says: "I will not destroy them." Shishak was only His whip, like the Assyrian later on. Through the prophet Isaiah, God calls that Assyrian "the rod of My anger" and "a razor that is hired." In troubles like these, blessing comes only as we see past the instrument and know the hand that is using it.
Serving Shishak was a lighter sentence than destruction. The king and his officials stopped defending themselves and agreed with God's verdict.
What a character our God has! He is righteous, yet merciful. "Because they have humbled themselves." They took their right place before Him, so He could say, "I will grant them some deliverance."
That admission cost something, and it is the rarer response when God's hand is on a person.
What is remarkable is that Rehoboam did not harden himself. He did not silence the prophet, as many others would have done. Instead, "the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves, and they said, 'The LORD is righteous'" (2 Chronicles 12:6). It is not easy to say "The LORD is righteous" when you are under God's judgment. Our tendency is to try to justify ourselves instead.
Rehoboam's humbling did not change the course of his life. God weighed it anyway.
We may think Rehoboam's repentance was not very deep. The history of his life ends with this sad verdict: "And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD" (2 Chronicles 12:14). Still, there was humiliation, and God took account of it. He lessened the judgment: "I will grant them a little deliverance."
Mercy did not cancel the consequence.
This is grace. But I repeat: Judah still has to suffer the consequences of having abandoned the word of God.
- Forsaking — Judah abandoned the Lord first. Egypt's invasion followed, dropping them back under the world God had once redeemed them from.
- Instrument — Shishak was God's whip, not Egypt's triumph. Such trouble blesses us only when we see the hand behind the rod.
- Humbling — Saying "The LORD is righteous" under judgment is hard and rare. It turned total destruction into partial deliverance.
- Service — The yoke stayed on to teach them. Serve God and His yoke is easy; refuse it and you learn the enemy's yoke the painful way.
- Measure — God counted even Rehoboam's shallow repentance. Yet he never set his heart to seek the Lord, and his life ends on a sad verdict.
And Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house; he took away all; and he took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made.
Egypt's king marched on Jerusalem and stripped both the temple and the palace bare. Two hard questions follow: how could wealth like that vanish so fast, and what does a king do once the gold is gone?
The invasion followed a time of strength and success. That success did Rehoboam more harm than good.
This short-lived blessing strengthened the kingdom of Judah, but it became a snare for Rehoboam. The flesh uses even God's favors as an occasion to depart from Him... Judah did not fall prey to their brother Israel, whose religion they were right to defend themselves against. They fell much lower than that. They fell into the hands of a world that God had once redeemed them from by a strong hand and an outstretched arm. As in the old days, they came under the rule of the king of Egypt.
Shishak looked like a conqueror driven by his own ambition. One writer sees only a tool in God's hand.
Note what God says: "I will not destroy them." Shishak was only His whip, like the Assyrian later on. Through His prophet Isaiah, God calls that Assyrian "the rod of My anger" and "a razor that is hired." To be blessed in troubles like these, you must see past the instrument and know the hand that uses it.
The plunder was not the end of it. The same writer draws out the choice underneath it:
Their lives were spared, but they had to become servants to Shishak and pay him tribute. "That they may know," God says, "My service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries." Where there is true submission, the Lord's yoke is easy. If His saints refuse to wear it, they must learn by humiliating and painful experience what the yoke of the enemy is like.
The account does not soften the loss. Yet one writer points to what the list of stolen goods leaves out.
What shame for Rehoboam! Solomon's beautiful temple had stood only thirty years. Now Shishak had stripped it of its ornaments and all its treasures. Their worship had lost the splendour of its past; Shishak, we are told, took all. All! But even so, one thing still remained: the altar was there, God was there. For faith, in the middle of ruin and humiliation, this was far more than all the gold the king of Egypt carried off.
This was more than a military raid. The shields stood for something Rehoboam had already abandoned in his heart.
Egypt pictures the world in its independence of God. The gold is a picture of the glory of God, but since Rehoboam had no regard for God's glory, the gold shields only testified to his hypocrisy. So disobedience to God will rob us of everything precious in the blessings of God's Word. Our worldliness practically invites the world to take possession of what ought to be ours.
Rehoboam did not leave the shield racks empty. Commentators read his replacement in two ways. One sees plain pretence:
Surely Solomon's golden shields were not for use in war; they were just ornaments. But Rehoboam lost these costly ornaments in war. In his vanity he made shields of brass to replace them, and had them carried out on display when he went into the house of Jehovah. Oh, the pitiful vanity of poor flesh; it must keep up appearances even after the reality has gone. What a blessed contrast when God restores His people in grace: "Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness" (Isaiah 60:17). All sham will be banished.
Another takes the metals themselves as the message — a lesser thing standing where the greater once stood:
How telling it is that Rehoboam made copper shields to replace the golden ones! Gold speaks of the glory of God, but copper pictures holiness. This same thing has certainly happened in the professing church today. The church's testimony no longer puts God's glory first. People are content to forget His honour and concentrate on personal holiness. Of course holiness is commendable, but if it takes the place of God's glory it becomes lifeless and counterfeit.
- Departure. Rehoboam's kingdom grew strong, and the strength became the snare. The flesh turns God's own favours into a reason to leave Him.
- Discipline. Shishak was God's whip, not just Egypt's king. Look past the instrument to the hand that uses it. Refuse the Lord's easy yoke and you will feel the enemy's.
- Dispossession. He took all. Worldliness invites the world to carry off what should have been ours.
- Substitute. Brass went up where gold once hung. Appearances outlive the reality, and a lesser thing takes the place of God's glory.
- What Remained. All the treasure went, but the altar stayed and God stayed. Grace promises a day when gold replaces the brass.
And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the couriers who kept the entrance of the king's house.
Solomon's gold shields were gone, carried off to Egypt. Rehoboam replaced them with bronze, and the walk to the temple went on as if nothing had changed.
Egypt's king did not arrive by accident. One writer traces the invasion to what Rehoboam did once he grew strong, and follows the story on to the moment he humbled himself.
When Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had made himself strong, he abandoned the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him (2 Chronicles 12) — for that is how people are: not so quick to follow what is good, but so ready for evil. So God sent an unexpected enemy against him, the king of Egypt, who took away the treasures Solomon had gathered. Such was the righteous government of God. Poor king Rehoboam was reduced to making shields of bronze instead of shields of gold, which were now on their way down to Egypt. And when he humbled himself, the Lord's anger turned away from him, so that He would not destroy him completely; and in Judah too things went well. How gracious the Lord is! Every small act of repentance brought its blessing.
Egypt is more than a neighbouring empire here. One writer reads the loss as the plain result of worldliness.
Egypt pictures the world in its independence of God. Gold is a picture of the glory of God. But Rehoboam had no regard for God's glory, so the gold shields only testified to his hypocrisy. So disobedience to God will rob us of all that is precious in the blessings of the Word of God. Our worldliness as good as invites the world to take possession of what ought to be ours.
Notice what Rehoboam did not do. He made no protest and no effort to win the gold back. He ordered a replacement and let the ceremony go on.
Rehoboam, that weak and foolish son of a great father, does not appear to have put up any resistance. He let the glory of the city go without protest. What did it matter? He could put bronze in place of gold, and bronze looks almost like gold. Peace seemed cheap at that price. So when he went up to the house of the Lord, bronze shields went up before him instead of shields of fine gold. And when his religious duties were over, he handed them to the guard for safe keeping as though they were the real thing.
Solomon's shields were never battlefield equipment; they were display pieces. So the loss was a loss of splendour, and the replacement was made to keep the parade looking the same.
But these costly ornaments were lost in war by Rehoboam, who in his vanity made shields of brass in their stead, and caused them to be brought out in display when he went into the house of Jehovah (1 Kings 14:25-28). Oh, the pitiful vanity of poor flesh; appearances must be kept up even after the reality has departed.
Commentators apply the swap to the church today. One writer names the gold that leaders have given away: the truth about who Christ is.
The truth about the person of the Lord is the finest of the gold of our faith. What He is in His own eternal Being gives character to it all… But many leaders in the Christian world have given up this fine gold, when they should have defended it to the death. They have given it up, along with other priceless treasures, to win popularity with the world and out of fear of "modern scholarship."… they have seized the chance to put their own cheap brass in place of God's fine gold. A Christ of their own imagination suits them better than the Christ of God.
Another writer asks what the two metals stand for, and what a shield is actually for.
How vastly inferior these bronze shields were! Gold speaks of God's glory, but copper speaks of holiness. The Christian world today has sadly copied Rehoboam's example. It has lost sight of God's glory and has adopted the principle of holiness instead, speaking plausibly about having a holy life, but leaving Christ totally out of the picture. Shields are for protection. Is there any real protection in our boasted claims of holiness compared with a living faith in the Son of God?
The downgrade is not the last word. God has promised a swap in the opposite direction.
How short-lived is the glory that depends on the faithfulness of man! The temple that Solomon built is plundered and robbed in the days of his son. For gold there is bronze. When He comes and brings glory back to Israel, this will be reversed: "Instead of bronze I will bring gold" (Isaiah 60:17). God takes pleasure in undoing the work of sin.
- Cause. Rehoboam grew strong, then abandoned God's law. The "unexpected enemy" from Egypt was God's righteous government at work, not bad luck.
- Invitation. Our worldliness "as good as invites the world to take possession of what ought to be ours." Egypt carried off what Rehoboam had already stopped valuing.
- Substitute. Bronze looks almost like gold. The cheapest answer to loss is a copy that lets the ceremony carry on unchanged.
- Silence. The deeper failure was not the robbery but the silence. Rehoboam let the glory go and kept the bronze "as though they were the real thing."
- Reversal. Glory that rests on human faithfulness is short-lived. God promises gold where there is bronze, because He takes pleasure in undoing the work of sin.
And it was so, that as often as the king entered into the house of Jehovah, the couriers came and fetched them, and brought them again into the chamber of the couriers.
Egypt's king Shishak had just stripped Jerusalem of the temple treasures and Solomon's golden shields, and Rehoboam made brass ones to replace them. This verse shows the ceremony he gave the copies: the guard carried them out at each royal visit to the house of the LORD, and carried them back again.
The Hebrew word behind "guardroom" appears in only three places in the Bible:
"Lodge" is tah. It occurs only in Ezekiel 40, 1 Kings 14:28 and 2 Chronicles 12:11, and the last two passages have it as "guard-chamber." So the word means a room of some kind. Tah comes from an old root meaning to mark off or mark out. That root is used only in Numbers 34:7-8, for marking out the border of the land. So we get the idea of a room marked out in some special way inside a larger space.
The shields the guard carries are not the ones Solomon made. Gold had gone, and brass stood in its place — and it happened fast:
Shishak, the king of Egypt, comes up against Jerusalem. All Solomon's prosperity is gone, and so quickly — the treasures of the temple, the riches of the king's house, the golden shields of his guard! In less than seventeen years the kingdom of David's son collapses. All its glory is thrown down and trampled underfoot! The gold is gone, and only brass is left in its place.
Rehoboam let the treasure go without a fight, and one writer explains how he judged the trade:
Rehoboam, that weak and foolish son of a great father, does not appear to have put up any resistance. He let the glory of the city go without protest. What did it matter? He could put brass in place of gold, and brass looks like gold, almost. Peace seemed cheap at the price. So when he went up to the house of the Lord, brass shields went up before him instead of shields of fine gold. And when his religious duties were over, the guard took the shields away for safe keeping, as though they were the real thing.
Commentators differ on what the change of metal means. One writer reads the ceremony as an empty form, and copper as a clue to where the king's confidence lay:
The ceremony was clearly a formality. The shields stood for the protection of the king. But his dependence was on his holiness (of which copper speaks), not on the God of glory, whom gold symbolizes.
The same writer's comment on the parallel passage presses the picture into a question every reader can feel:
Christendom today has sadly copied Rehoboam's example. They have lost sight of God's glory and instead have adopted the principle of holiness, speaking plausibly about having a holy life, but leaving Christ totally out of the picture. Shields are for protection. Is there any real protection in our boasted claims of holiness as compared to a living faith in the Son of God?
The habit of keeping up appearances did not end with Rehoboam:
Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and with these he pathetically tried to keep up former appearances. It is like souls who, when robbed of their freshness and power by the enemy, work hard to keep up an outward appearance of spiritual prosperity. It is like a fallen church, stripped of its strength and robbed of its purity. Such a church seeks to hide its helplessness and cover its nakedness with the tinsel of ritualism, false revivalism, church union, and anything that promises some appearance of ground for saying, "I am rich, I have prospered."
The brass is not God's last word on the subject:
How short-lived is the glory that depends upon the faithfulness of man! The temple that Solomon built is spoiled and robbed in the days of his son. For gold there is brass. When He comes and brings back glory to Israel, He will reverse this: "Instead of bronze I will bring gold" (Isaiah 60:17). God takes pleasure in undoing the work of sin. The prophet says this in a symbol, though it is no doubt true in a literal way as well, for the gold and the silver are His.
(The older translations read "For brass I will bring gold"; ESV renders the same metal as bronze.)
- Gold lost. Shishak carried Solomon's golden shields off to Egypt within seventeen years, and the kingdom's glory went with them.
- Brass made. Rehoboam offered no resistance. He put up a metal that "looks like gold, almost", because peace seemed cheap at the price.
- Brass paraded. This verse records the ceremony. The guard carried the copies to the house of the LORD and back, as though they were the real thing.
- Brass guarded. The guard even kept the copies in a room marked off for them — care spent on a substitute, not on recovering what was lost.
- Gold restored. God is not content with the exchange: "Instead of bronze I will bring gold," for He takes pleasure in undoing the work of sin.
And when he humbled himself, the anger of Jehovah turned away from him, that he would not destroy him altogether; and also in Judah there were good things.
Rehoboam grew strong, abandoned the law of the Lord, and lost the temple treasures to Egypt's king Shishak. In this verse he bows under the blow, God pulls back His anger, and the loss still stands — so why did a shallow repentance get any answer?
The chastening was not random. Strength made Rehoboam careless, and carelessness cost him.
"When Rehoboam had established the kingdom and made himself strong, he abandoned the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him" (2 Chronicles 12). That is how people are: not so quick to follow what is good, but so ready in evil. So God sent an unexpected enemy against him — the king of Egypt, who took away the treasures Solomon had gathered. This was the righteous government of God. Poor king Rehoboam had to make shields of brass, while the shields of gold went down into Egypt. "And when he humbled himself the wrath of the LORD turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, conditions were good in Judah." How gracious of the Lord! Every little act of repentance brought its blessing.
What Rehoboam did under the prophet's word was rarer than it sounds. He could have silenced the messenger. Instead he agreed with the verdict against himself.
What is remarkable is that Rehoboam did not harden himself. He did not silence the prophet, as many others would have done, but "the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, the LORD is righteous" (2 Chr. 12:6). It is not easy to say "the LORD is righteous" when you are under God's judgment. Instead, we tend to justify ourselves.
The wrath turned away, but Judah still became Shishak's servants. A hand was using that invading army, and the servitude itself taught a lesson.
Notice what God says: "I will not destroy them." Shishak was only His whip. Later God called the Assyrian, through His prophet Isaiah, "the rod of My anger" and "a razor that is hired." In troubles like these, blessing comes only when you see past the instrument and know the hand that uses it. God spared their lives, but they had to become Shishak's servants and pay him tribute, "that they may know," He says, "My service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries." Where there is true submission, the Lord's yoke is easy. If His people refuse to wear it, they must learn by humiliating and painful experience what the enemy's yoke is like.
The closing line of the verse is small, and that is the point. In a stripped and defeated kingdom, God still found something He could call good.
What shame for Rehoboam! Solomon's beautiful temple had stood only thirty years when Shishak stripped it of its ornaments and all its treasures... All! And yet one thing still remains: the altar is there, God is there. For faith, in the middle of ruin and shame, this was worth far more than all the gold the king of Egypt took away... Few things, perhaps — that is exactly what the phrase means — but in the end, something God could acknowledge. God put off final judgment because of these few small good things that pleased Him. May those around us notice some measure of devotion to Christ and some measure of love for Him. May they see some measure of fear in the presence of His holiness, and some measure of activity in His service... It is marvelous grace indeed: God tolerates no evil at all, yet is pleased to acknowledge what is good, and He sees it when human eyes cannot.
God's answer is more striking because of how the story ends.
We may think Rehoboam's repentance was not very deep, since the account of his life ends with this sad conclusion: "And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD" (2 Chr. 12:14). Even so, there was humiliation, and God took account of it. The judgment was lessened: "I will grant them a little deliverance."
The same rule runs through other lives too.
God must be glorified. If His people fail in this, He must act against them; but if they humble themselves, He can show mercy, and He surely will... "Who has hardened himself against God and prospered?" asked Job. Shall a sinner humble himself before God without receiving mercy at His hand? Let Rehoboam, Ahab, and Manasseh answer.
- Strength preceded the fall. Rehoboam abandoned the law as soon as his kingdom was secure, and God sent an enemy he never expected.
- Humbling meant agreeing with God. Under judgment Rehoboam said, "the LORD is righteous." That is the hardest confession, and God answered it.
- Mercy lessened the blow without removing it. God's anger turned away, but Judah still served Shishak. That taught them the difference between God's service and the world's.
- God saw the little that was good. In a plundered kingdom He still found good worth naming, and He put off final judgment for its sake.
- God counts even shallow repentance. Rehoboam never set his heart on the Lord, yet every small act of repentance brought its blessing.
And king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned; for Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that Jehovah had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there and his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.
The verse closes Rehoboam's reign with a short summary. Why does the record pause to name his age, his years, the city he ruled from, and his mother — and how did a king who had just been humbled come to be strong again? (Older translations read "strengthened himself" where the ESV has "grew strong.")
The renewed strength here is not Rehoboam's achievement. It follows the mercy shown just before it:
Rehoboam did not walk with the Lord. Yet when he humbled himself, he turned away the wrath of God to a real extent. So conditions stayed relatively good in Judah. Rehoboam used those good conditions to strengthen himself. He reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, less than half the length of his father's reign.
His repentance was not deep — the next verse says he did evil. Yet God still registered it:
We may think Rehoboam's repentance was not very deep. The history of his life ends with this sad conclusion: "And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD." Even so, there was humbling, and God took account of it. He lessened the judgment: "I will grant them a little deliverance."
This is the second time in the chapter that Rehoboam grows strong. The first time is a warning. Strength was the point where he let go of God:
For three years this foolish son acted wisely. Yet the glory of Solomon's earlier years was gone. What greater proof than Rehoboam building and fortifying cities in Judah? Against whom? Against Israel, as against others. While he dealt wisely, he prospered. But the same trap that caused Solomon's fall brings Rehoboam into more open guilt... When he had strengthened himself he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.
Jerusalem is not named here as just a capital city. It was God's own choice, and that carried enormous weight:
Jerusalem was the place God had chosen, out of all places. Deuteronomy 12 makes the point again and again: Jerusalem was "the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there." Only in this place could the temple be built. Only here could the people gather, keep the national feasts, give the sacrifices, and bring the offerings. And it was in this place that the people would rejoice before the Lord.
Rehoboam lived at the one address God had chosen for His name. He still did not set his heart to seek Him.
Solomon married an Ammonite woman, and Rehoboam was her son. One writer traces the whole disaster back to that marriage:
Although very young, Solomon had already taken as wife an Ammonite woman, and Rehoboam was the fruit of that union. Since Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, he was a baby of twelve months old when Solomon began to reign. It is twice repeated in 1 Kings 14:21, 31 that "his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess." The Holy Spirit mentions the fact again in 2 Chronicles 12:13. Solomon's first marriage was open sin. Here is the divine command: "No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the LORD forever." This was the start of an evil course. It led in the end to Solomon's ruin. It also ruined the whole order of things that he had been appointed to be the centre of.
The pattern runs right through these histories, and it cuts both ways:
Throughout the course of these books we shall see how the character of their mothers and where they came from had its influence on their children. A godly mother sees her sons prospering around her. The apostle Paul reminds Timothy of his blessed ancestry: "the sincere faith... [that] dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well."
Rehoboam's name carried a promise he never kept:
Whatever was in his father's mind when he named him "Liberator," or "Enlarger of the people," he failed completely to become either. By his sins he enslaved the nation to Shishak. By his folly at the very start of his reign, he cut the numbers of his kingdom by more than three million.
- Humbling first. Rehoboam grew strong again only because he had bowed under God's hand. Mercy, not merit, bought him his seventeen years.
- Mercy measured. His repentance was shallow. His life still ends with "he did evil." Yet God took account of it and lessened the judgment.
- Strength tested. The first time he grew strong, he forsook the law. Being strong is the moment a man is most likely to let go of God.
- Place is not protection. He reigned in the one city God chose for His name. It was the centre of sacrifice, feast and joy. He never set his heart to seek Him there.
- Roots show. An Ammonite mother, taken in open disobedience, shaped the son; a Lois and a Eunice shape another kind of son.
And he did evil, for he applied not his heart to seek Jehovah.
Rehoboam's reign closes with one line about his inner life, not with his battles or his buildings. The verse traces his evil back to something he never did — so what does it mean to set the heart to seek God, and how could a man raised in Solomon's palace miss it?
The record does not end with what he did wrong. It ends with why.
The Spirit's last comment on his character is significant: "And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD." That one sentence tells us the whole secret of his failure. He failed as king of Judah, and as servant of the LORD who gave him this high position, because he did not apply his heart to seek the LORD.
The wrongdoing came second. Something was missing first.
How striking is the record of Scripture about Rehoboam! We read in 2 Chronicles 12:14 that Rehoboam sinned because "he did not set his heart to seek the LORD." The negative — no purpose of heart — led to the positive: sin against the Lord. And what a sad history was the result!
Rehoboam did not start badly. Yet the summary of his life leaves his early years out.
Rehoboam's life is summed up in the words, "he did evil." But is it not said that he walked wisely during the first three years of his reign? Yes. But the prophet says: "When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice … shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered … for these he shall die" (Ezek. 18:24). The days of his wisdom are not mentioned, and God's judgment on him is "he did evil."
Rehoboam turned away when things were going well. Then God moved against him, and then he humbled himself.
"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). Such is the way of men: not so quick to follow in good, but so ready in evil. And so God sent an unexpected enemy against him in the king of Egypt, who took away the treasures Solomon had gathered… But when he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from him, so that He would not destroy him altogether, and things went well in Judah. How gracious of the Lord! Every little act of repentance brought its blessing.
Verse 13 names his mother just before verse 14 names his failure.
Scripture says of King Rehoboam, "His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD" (2 Chr. 12:13-14)… Solomon was the wisest of men. Yet instead of obeying the clear instructions of Scripture, he leaned on his own understanding. He wrecked his life and broke up his kingdom, which will never be united until Christ comes to reign. So the consequences of his sin come out in the history of his son, to whom he gave a heathen mother.
One man in Scripture did what Rehoboam never did.
In Ezra we find a priest who found his joy and strength in the law of his God, and here is the secret of what he became: he had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it. Let the reader ponder this significant and instructive statement — "He had prepared his heart." Yes, it is to the heart that God makes His revelations. The Lord showed Himself to the heart of Mary Magdalene at the tomb, rather than to the intelligence of His disciples. Nor can we attach too much importance to this truth. Preparation of heart (and this also comes from the Lord) is everything, whether for the study of the Word, for prayer, or for worship.
A verdict this final might seem to leave nothing else worth saying about him.
How fair our God is in His judgments, even in a case where He says: "He did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD" (v. 14). It is marvellous grace indeed. That grace tolerates no evil at all, yet it is pleased to acknowledge what is good. It discerns that good when man's own eye cannot see it, whether the good lies inside him or outside.
- Heart first. One omission explains the evil: he never set his heart to seek the LORD. That absence turned into active sin, and a sad history followed.
- Heart at ease. He forsook God's law once the kingdom was secure and he was strong. Success undid him, not hardship.
- Heart's record. Three early good years go unmentioned. God's summary of the life is "he did evil."
- Heart humbled. Yet when he humbled himself, God's anger turned away, and God still acknowledged whatever good He could see.
- Heart prepared. Ezra shows the opposite. Preparation of heart — itself God's gift — is everything for reading the Word, for prayer and for worship.
And the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the words of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer, in the genealogical registers? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.
The verse closes Rehoboam's reign by naming the men who kept his story: two prophets, Shemaiah and Iddo. It then adds that the war with Jeroboam never stopped, so two questions arise: who records a life, and what happens when God's people stay divided.
Kings and Chronicles cover the same reigns, but their writers used different sources.
Another clear difference between these two interesting books is where their writers got their material. Kings always seems to draw on state records, such as "the book of the acts of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:41) and "the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah" (1 Kings 14:29). Chronicles draws more on the writings of (or selections from) people, such as "Samuel the seer," "Nathan the prophet," "the visions of Iddo the seer," "the book of Shemaiah the prophet," "the story of the prophet Iddo"...
Shemaiah is more than a name attached to a book. He brought God's word to Rehoboam more than once.
A prophet who stopped Rehoboam from making war against Israel. God also sent him with a message for Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah. Because of their sins, God had left them in the hands of Shishak, king of Egypt, who had come to attack them. But when they repented, they were told that Shishak would not destroy them. Shishak seized their treasures, and they had to pay tribute to Egypt. Shemaiah wrote a "book" concerning genealogies.
Iddo is called a seer — a man who had visions from God. His record covers three kings, not one.
A seer who had "visions" against Jeroboam. He wrote of Rehoboam in a book "concerning genealogies," and also of Abijah in his "story" or "commentary."
Neither book survives. Their loss leaves no gap in Scripture.
These various references show that more information about the kingdom could be found in the books they name. It was there when the historical parts of the Old Testament were written, if anyone had needed it. But the inspired volume of God did not require it.
Prophets and seers wrote some of these records. Another writer draws the line between them and Scripture itself.
Men of God — prophets and seers — might draw up these chronicles, make these genealogical registers, write these commentaries; these writings are still not the inspired Word of God. ... While those books still existed, they bore witness to the divine character of this Word and to the reality of the facts recorded in it. Now that they have vanished, nothing speaks for them except the mention of them in the sacred writings. Amid the ruin and disappearance of these things, the Word of God remains — the only monument, the only document that cannot be shaken!
The phrase covers his whole reign. Yet Kings and Chronicles tell that reign in very different ways.
Rehoboam's history spans chapters 10 to 12, while Kings sums it up in a few verses (1 Kings 14:21-31). The detail is typical of the two books. The passage in Kings gives the darkest picture of the state of the people. Our chapters record the good which grace produces in the king's heart, even though it is said of him (2 Chron. 12:14): "And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD."
One writer sums up that contrast in a single line.
Kings is the book of responsibility, Chronicles of God's providence.
The last line names the cost of that split. One writer sees the same pattern among God's people now.
The folly of king Rehoboam brought about the division of the kingdom of Israel, but the cause was the idolatry of his father Solomon (1 Kings 11:9-12). The consequences of the division were very sad. Instead of brothers living together in unity, as it will be with Israel under the new covenant, "There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam." ... Do we not find the same thing among God's people today? Our unfaithfulness has brought division among God's people. Instead of standing together against the common enemy, God's people are so often busy opposing each other. ... God has allowed these divisions because of our sin and folly. It is for us to bow our heads and hearts before Him in shame, and to go on quietly before Him, seeking His will in the middle of the sad and solemn consequences of our failure.
- Source. Prophets kept Rehoboam's story — Shemaiah and Iddo — not the keepers of state records.
- Servants. Shemaiah stopped a war with Israel, explained why Shishak came, and carried God's answer when the people repented.
- Selection. Fuller records existed, but God left out what His book did not need.
- Survival. Prophets wrote those books, yet they have vanished. The Word of God alone stands — the one document that cannot be shaken.
- Sorrow. "First and last" ends in unbroken war. Division among God's people today grows from the same root: unfaithfulness.