---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  2 Chronicles 12"
description: "CHAPTER 12   :-. REHOBOAM,
FORSAKING GOD,
IS PUNISHED
BY SHISHAK. 1. when Rehoboam had established the
kingdom, and had strengthened himself—(See on  :-)."
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/2-chronicles/12"
---

CHAPTER 12

. REHOBOAM,
FORSAKING GOD,
IS PUNISHED
BY SHISHAK.

**1. when Rehoboam had established the
kingdom, and had strengthened himself**—(See on ). During the first three years of his reign his royal
influence was exerted in the encouragement of the true religion.
Security and ease led to religious decline, which, in the fourth
year, ended in open apostasy. The example of the court was speedily
followed by his subjects, for "all Israel was with him,"
that is, the people in his own kingdom. The very next year, the fifth
of his reign, punishment was inflicted by the invasion of Shishak.

**2. Shishak king of Egypt came up
against Jerusalem**—He was the first king of the twenty-second or
Bubastic Dynasty. What was the immediate cause of this invasion?
Whether it was in resentment for some provocation from the king of
Judah, or in pursuance of ambitious views of conquest, is not said.
But the invading army was a vast horde, for Shishak brought along
with his native Egyptians an immense number of foreign auxiliaries.

**3-5. the Lubims**—the Libyans of
northeastern Africa.
**the Sukkiims**—Some think
these were the Kenite Arabs, dwellers in tents, but others maintain
more justly that these were Arab troglodytes, who inhabited the
caverns of a mountain range on the western coast of the Red Sea.
**and the Ethiopians**—from
the regions south of Egypt. By the overwhelming force of numbers,
they took the fortresses of Judah which had been recently put in a
state of defense, and marched to lay siege to the capital. While
Shishak and his army was before Jerusalem, the prophet Shemaiah
addressed Rehoboam and the princes, tracing this calamity to the
national apostasy and threatening them with utter destruction in
consequence of having forsaken God ().

**6. the princes of Israel**—(compare
[2 Chronicles 12:5](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/12/5), "the princes of
Judah").

**7, 8. when the Lord saw that they
humbled themselves**—Their repentance and contrition was followed
by the best effects; for Shemaiah was commissioned to announce that
the phial of divine judgment would not be fully poured out on
them—that the entire overthrow of the kingdom of Judah would not
take place at that time, nor through the agency of Shishak; and yet,
although it should enjoy a respite from total subversion, [Judah]
should become a tributary province of Egypt in order that the people
might learn how much lighter and better is the service of God than
that of idolatrous foreign despots.

**9. So Shishak . . . came up against
Jerusalem**—After the parenthetical clause () describing the feelings and state of the beleaguered
court, the historian resumes his narrative of the attack upon
Jerusalem, and the consequent pillage both of the temple and the
palace.
**he took all**—that is,
everything valuable he found. The cost of the targets and shields has
been estimated at about £239,000 [NAPIER,
*Ancient Workers in Metal*].
**the shields of gold**—made
by Solomon, were kept in the house of the forest of Lebanon (). They seem to have been borne, like maces, by the guards of
the palace, when they attended the king to the temple or on other
public processions. Those splendid insignia having been plundered by
the Egyptian conqueror, others were made of inferior metal and kept
in the guard room of the palace, to be ready for use; as,
notwithstanding the tarnished glory of the court, the old state
etiquette was kept up on public and solemn occasions. An account of
this conquest of Judah, with the name of "king of Judah" in
the cartouche of the principal captive, according to the
interpreters, is carved and written in hieroglyphics on the walls of
the great palace of Karnak, where it may be seen at the present day.
This sculpture is about twenty-seven hundred years old, and is of
peculiar interest as a striking testimony from Egypt to the truth of
Scripture history.

**12. when he humbled himself, the
wrath of the Lord turned from him**—The promise () was verified. Divine providence preserved the kingdom in
existence, a reformation was made in the court, while true religion
and piety were diffused throughout the land.
. HIS REIGN
AND DEATH.

**13, 14. Rehoboam strengthened . . .
and reigned**—The Egyptian invasion had been a mere predatory
expedition, not extending beyond the limits of Judah, and probably,
ere long, repelled by the invaded. Rehoboam's government acquired new
life and vigor by the general revival of true religion, and his reign
continued many years after the departure of Shishak. But
**he prepared not his heart to
seek the Lord**—that is, he did not adhere firmly to the good
course of reformation he had begun, "and he did evil," for
through the unhappy influence of his mother, a heathen foreigner, he
had no doubt received in his youth a strong bias towards idolatry
(see on ).

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