1 It happened, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of Yahweh, and all Israel with him.
So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years; for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.
So 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 which Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.
Under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, who made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. Uzziah prepared for them, even for all the host, shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and stones for slinging. He made in Jerusalem engines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and on the battlements, with which to shoot arrows and great stones. His name spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped, until he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against Yahweh his God; for he went into the temple of Yahweh to burn incense on the altar of incense.
Judah did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree; and there were also sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahweh drove out before the children of Israel.
Generation, see the word of Yahweh. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? or a land of thick darkness? why say my people, We are broken loose; we will come no more to you?
According to their pasture, so were they filled; They were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me. Therefore am I to them like a lion; Like a leopard I will lurk by the path. I will meet them like a bear that is bereaved of her cubs, And will tear the covering of their heart. And there I will devour them like a lioness. The wild animal will tear them.
When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, But when he became guilty in Baal, he died.
It shall be, when Yahweh your God shall bring you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities, which you didn't build, and houses full of all good things, which you didn't fill, and cisterns dug out, which you didn't dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you didn't plant, and you shall eat and be full; then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,
But as for the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
and they shall answer, Because they forsook Yahweh their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them: therefore has Yahweh brought all this evil on them.
But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked: You have grown fat, you are grown thick, you are become sleek; Then he forsook God who made him, Lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land which he has given you. Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you this day: lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and lived therein; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; then your heart be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 12
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 12 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Rehoboam's defection from the Lord, and his humiliation by the Egyptian king Shishak . - 2 Chronicles 12:1. The infinitive כּהכין , “at the time of the establishing,” with an indefinite subject, may be expressed in English by the passive: when Rehoboam's royal power was established. The words refer back to 2 Chronicles 11:17. כּחזקתו , “when he had become strong” ( חזקה is a nomen verbale: the becoming strong; cf. 2 Chronicles 26:16; 2 Chronicles 11:2), he forsook the Lord, and all Israel with him. The inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah are here called Israel, to hint at the contrast between the actual conduct of the people in their defection from the Lord, and the destiny of Israel, the people of God. The forsaking of the law of Jahve is in substance the fall into idolatry, as we find it stated more definitely in 1 Kings 14:22.
In punishment of this defection ( בי מעלוּ כּי , because they had acted faithlessly to Jahve), Shishak, the king of Egypt, marched with a great host against Jerusalem. This hostile invasion is also briefly narrated in 1 Kings 14:25-28. Shishak (Sisak) is, as we have remarked on 1 Kings 14, Sesonchis or Sechonchosis, the first king of the 22nd dynasty, who has celebrated his victory in a relief at Karnak. In this sculpture the names of the cities captured are recorded on shields, and a considerable number have been deciphered with some certainty, and by them our account is completely confirmed. According to 2 Chronicles 12:3, Shishak's host consisted of 1200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen-numbers which, of course, are founded only upon a rough estimate-and an innumerable multitude of footmen, among whom were לוּבים , Libyans, probably the Libyaegyptii of the ancients (see on Genesis 10:13); סכּיּים , according to the lxx and Vulg. Troglodytes, probably the Ethiopian Troglodytes, who dwelt in the mountains on the west coast of the Arabian Gulf; and Cushites, i.e., Ethiopians. The Libyans and Cushites are mentioned in Nahum 3:9 also as auxiliaries of the Egyptians.
After the capture of the fenced cities of Judah, he marched against Jerusalem. - 2 Chronicles 12:5. Then the prophet Shemaiah announced to the king and the princes, who had retired to Jerusalem before Shishak, that the Lord had given them into the power of Shishak because they had forsaken Him. בּיד עזב , forsaken and given over into the hand of Shishak. When the king and the priests immediately humbled themselves before God, acknowledging the righteousness of the Lord, the prophet announced to them further that the Lord would not destroy them since they had humbled themselves, but would give them deliverance in a little space. כּמעט , according to a little, i.e., in a short time. פּליטה is accusative after ונתתּי . My anger shall not pour itself out upon Jerusalem. The pouring out of anger is the designation of an exterminating judgment; cf. 2 Chronicles 34:25.
But ( כּי after a negative clause) they shall be his servants, sc. for a short time (see 2 Chronicles 12:7), “that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries” (cf. 1 Chronicles 29:30); i.e., that they may learn to know by experience the difference between the rule of God and that of the heathen kings, and that God's rule was not so oppressive as that of the rulers of the world.
With 2 Chronicles 12:9 the account of the war is taken up again and continued by the repetition of the words, “Then marched Shishak ... against Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 12:4). Shishak plundered the treasures of the temple and the palace; he had consequently captured Jerusalem. The golden shields also which had been placed in the house of the forest of Lebanon, i.e., the palace built by Solomon in Jerusalem, which Solomon had caused to be made (cf. 2 Chronicles 9:16), Shishak took away, and in their place Rehoboam caused brazen shields to be prepared; see on 1 Kings 14:26-28. - In 2 Chronicles 12:12 the author of the Chronicle concludes the account of this event with the didactic remark, “Because he (Rehoboam) humbled himself, the anger of Jahve was turned away from him.” להשׁחית ולא , and it was not to extermination utterly ( לכלה , properly to destruction, i.e., completely; cf. Ezekiel 13:13). And also in Judah were good things. This is the other motive which caused the Lord to turn away His wrath. Good things are proofs of piety and fear of God, cf. 2 Chronicles 19:3.
The length of Rehoboam's reign, his mother, and the judgment about him. Cf. 1 Kings 14:21 and 1 Kings 14:22 . ויּתחזּק here, as in 2 Chronicles 13:21, can, in its connection with what precedes, be only understood to mean that Rehoboam, after his humiliation at the hands of Shishak, by which his kingdom was utterly weakened and almost destroyed, again gained strength and power. Cf. also 2 Chronicles 1:1, where יתחזּק is used of Solomon in the beginning of his reign, after he overcame Adonijah, the pretender to the crown, and his party. - As to the age of Rehoboam, etc., see on 1 Kings 14:21. הרע ויּעשׂ , 2 Chronicles 12:14, is defined by the addition, “for he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord.” For the expression cf. 2 Chronicles 19:3; 2 Chronicles 30:19; Ezra 7:10.
Close of his reign. On the authorities, see the Introduction, and in reference to the other statements, the commentary on 1 Kings 14:29-31. מלחמות , wars, i.e., a state of hostility, was between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all days, can only be understood of the hostile attitude of the two rulers to each other, like מלחמה in Kings; for we have no narrative of wars between them after Rehoboam had abandoned, at the instance of the prophet, his proposed war with the Israelites at the commencement of his reign.