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.