2 Chronicleschapter 12
16 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
Key verse
And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.
It stands in Forsaking the law, Judah is left to Shishak, verses 1 to 8.
The chapter
Chapter summary
'When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of Jehovah': the Chronicler's recurring sentence about strength. In the fifth year Shishak of Egypt takes the fortified cities, and Shemaiah delivers the verdict: 'Ye have forsaken me, therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.' The princes and the king humble themselves and say, 'Jehovah is righteous,' so the wrath is not poured out. But they are made servants, 'that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.' Shishak carries off the golden shields; Rehoboam makes shields of brass. His epitaph: he set not his heart to seek Jehovah.
Context
History · Ezra · 2 Chronicles overview
The world behind this chapter
2 Chronicles 12The history
Shishak is Shoshenq I, the founder of Egypt's twenty-second dynasty, and this campaign is one of the best outside-confirmed events in Kings and Chronicles. On the great gateway he built at Karnak, Shoshenq carved a list of the towns his army took in Israel, Judah and the southern desert. Scores of names stand in rows, with the god Amun presenting them to him.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The force described is a coalition. Chariots, horsemen, and troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites. Egypt's armies of this period were built largely from Libyan units and from Nubian troops of the south, which is what the text names.
The tribute is paid out of the temple and the palace. The gold shields Solomon had made were taken, and Rehoboam replaced them with bronze. The detail that the guard carried them and returned them to the guardroom shows the ceremony continuing unchanged with cheaper metal, and that one substitution is the writer's picture of the whole reign.
Shemaiah's message states the principle in one sentence. You have forsaken Me, and therefore I have forsaken you into the hand of Shishak. When the leaders humble themselves the sentence is reduced rather than cancelled, so Jerusalem is spared and Judah becomes Shishak's servant.
What it meant to them
The reason God gives for reducing rather than cancelling is the most useful line in the chapter. They will become his servants, so that they may learn the difference between serving Me and serving the kings of other lands.
That was written down for people paying taxes to Persia. Serving a foreign king was a school rather than a proof of abandonment, and the subject of the school was the difference between one yoke and every other.
Sources cited
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- The Bubastite Portal relief of Shoshenq I at Karnak (campaign town list, c. 925 BC)
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
Where the chapter sits
2 Chronicles 12 falls in Kings of Judah: Rehoboam to Ahaz (chapters 10–28). The divided kingdom narrated from Judah's side only; reform kings (Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Uzziah, Jotham) and evil kings; prophetic interventions unique to Chronicles (Azariah, Hanani, Zechariah son of Jehoiada).
Before it: Solomon's reign, chapters 1–9. After it: Hezekiah to the exile, chapters 29–36.
The whole shape of 2 Chronicles→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Forsaking the law, Judah is left to Shishak
1. (v. 1)
2 Chronicles 12:1
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
he forsook the law of the Lord: The chapter opens on the verb the whole book measures every reign by, reversed: Rehoboam forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. Three years earlier 11:16-17 had the immigrants from the north setting their hearts to seek the Lord and Rehoboam walking in the way of David and Solomon; strength gained by seeking is lost by forsaking inside one chapter break. The epitaph Chronicles writes for this same king at 12:14 answers this opening verse directly.
2. (vv. 2-4)
2 Chronicles 12:2
“And it came to pass in the fifth year of Rehoboam,.... In the fourth year, the apostasy of him and his people began; and, in the year following, what is next related happened, as a punishment of it: Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; of whom see 1Ki 11:40, because they transgressed against the Lord; transgressed the law of the Lord by falling into idolatry and other abominable evils; the Targum is,"against the Word of the Lord.''”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 12:2
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 Chronicles 12:3
“Lubims - A people of Africk bordering upon Egypt. Sukkiims - A people living in tents, as the word signifies; and such there were not far from Egypt, both in Africk and in Arabia.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 Chronicles 12:4
“And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah,.... Which Rehoboam had lately built, and placed his sons in them, 2Ch 11:5, these he took without any opposition: and came to Jerusalem; there being no army to oppose him; and so Sesostris took many countries without fighting, and among the rest Phoenicia, as Manetho (o) relates, in which Judea may be included. (o) Apud Joseph. contr. Apion. l. 1. c. 15.”
in the fifth year of king Rehoboam: Shishak's campaign lands in Rehoboam's fifth year, and Chronicles states the cause 1 Kings leaves to inference: they had transgressed against the Lord, tying the invasion straight back to the forsaking of verse 1. Twelve hundred chariots and threescore thousand horsemen come up with troops Kings never names, Lubims, Sukkiims and Ethiopians drawn from Egypt's African allies, a coalition Chronicles alone records. The fenced cities Rehoboam had just built and garrisoned in chapter 11 fall without a battle, and Shishak reaches Jerusalem itself.
3. (vv. 5-6)
2 Chronicles 12:6
“Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves,.... Both by words acknowledging their sins, and the justice of God, and by deeds, perhaps putting on sackcloth, as was usual on such occasions, and betaking themselves to fasting and prayer: and they said, the Lord is righteous; in giving them up into the hand of their enemies, seeing they had forsaken him, and sinned against him.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 12:6
“Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves - This is not mentioned in the parallel place, 1Ki 14:25-29: this was the sole reason why Jerusalem was not at this time totally destroyed, and the house of David entirely cut off; for they were totally incapable of defending themselves against this innumerable host.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ye have forsaken me: Shemaiah the prophet is the Chronicler's own witness, absent from the parallel in 1 Kings, and his word to Rehoboam and the princes is measure for measure: Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak. The princes and the king answer the accusation rather than the invader, and they humbled themselves and said, The Lord is righteous. A confession of God's justice, offered to a prophet rather than to a general, is the response the chapter credits with everything that follows.
4. (vv. 7-8)
2 Chronicles 12:7
“Some deliverance - I will give some stop to the course of my wrath, which was ready to be poured forth upon them to their utter destruction. Those who acknowledge God is righteous in afflicting them, shall find him gracious.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 12:7
“Compare the repentance of Ahab (marginal reference) and that of the Ninevites Jon 3:5-10 which produced similar revocations of divine decrees that had been pronounced by the mouth of a prophet. Some deliverance - Rather, “deliverance for a short space” (see the margin). Because of the repentance, the threat cf immediate destruction was withdrawn; but the menace was still left impending, that the people might be the more moved to contrition and amendment.”
2 Chronicles 12:8
“Nevertheless, they shall be his servants,.... tributaries to the king of Egypt: that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries; the difference between them, how easy the one, which they might perform without taxes and tributes, and how hard and heavy the other, through the exactions and exorbitant demands of those to whom they became subjects.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Chronicles 12:8
“THE people of God had left their God and He had left them, so that Shishak, the king of Egypt, came against them, and though the Lord had respect to their humble prayer and would not suffer Shishak to destroy Jerusalem, yet He brought them into subjection to the Egyptian king. Our text tells us the reason for this servitude—"They shall be his servants; that they may know My service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries." Beloved Friends, the children of Israel were bound to the service of God.”
Charles Spurgeon· written before 1892· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2306: “Servitude Or Service—Which?” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
2 Chronicles 12:8
“They shall be his servants - They shall be preserved, and serve their enemies, that they may see the difference between the service of God and that of man. While they were pious, they found the service of the Lord to be perfect freedom; when they forsook the Lord, they found the fruit to be perfect bondage. A sinful life is both expensive and painful.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I will grant them some deliverance: The humbling of verse 6 turns the word: the Lord sees it and answers through the same prophet, they have humbled themselves, therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. This is 7:14's promise, humbling and turning and relief, working as narrative inside one court scene rather than standing as a general principle. The mercy still carries a lesson: nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries, judgment reduced from destruction to servitude so Judah learns the difference by living it.
B. Gold shields carried off and replaced with brass
1. (vv. 9-11)
2 Chronicles 12:9
“So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem,.... The Vulgate Latin version is,"departed from Jerusalem,''as he did, having taken it, and spoiled it of its riches, and settled a yearly tax on the inhabitants of the land; of this, and the two following verses; see Gill on 1Ki 14:26. 1Ki 14:27. 1Ki 14:28.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Chronicles 12:9
“Took away the treasures - Such a booty as never had before, nor has since, come into the hand of man. The shields of gold - These shields were the mark of the king’s body-guard: it was in imitation of this Eastern magnificence that Alexander constituted his Argyraspides, adorned with the spoils taken from Darius. See Quintus Curtius, lib. viii., c. 5, et alibi.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Chronicles 12:9
“This was what he came for. David and Solomon, who walked in the way of God, filled the treasuries, one by war and the other by merchandise; but Rehoboam, who forsook the law of God, emptied them.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Chronicles 12:10
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the shields of gold which Solomon had made: Shishak takes the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king's house, he took all, including the shields of gold which Solomon had made, the very targets and shields 2 Chr 9:15-16 records Solomon beating out of pure gold in the years when silver was not any thing accounted of. Rehoboam replaces them with shields of brass carried by the guard for the king's temple appearances, the same substitution 1 Kings 14:27-28 already records. Gold that once measured Solomon's glory is spent by Shishak and answered in brass, a decline the text states in objects rather than in verdicts.
2. (v. 12)
2 Chronicles 12:12
“And when he humbled himself,....”
and also in Judah things went well: Humbling turns wrath from destruction to discipline, and the verse adds a clause the parallel in Kings does not carry: and also in Judah things went well. Chronicles is not claiming the kingdom escaped Shishak unscathed, the treasury is stripped in the verses just before, but that a remnant of piety survived the invasion and the servitude that followed it. The reading some editions carry in the margin, good things were found in Judah, takes the phrase as people rather than circumstance, good ministers and good families the calamity made better rather than worse.
C. A reign summed up: he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD
1. (v. 13)
2 Chronicles 12:13
“Was one and forty years old - Houbigant thinks he was but sixteen years old when he began to reign; and brings many and forcible arguments to prove that the number forty-one must be a mistake. That he was young when he came to the throne, is evident from his consulting the young men that were brought up with him, 2Ch 10:8, 2Ch 10:10. They were young men then; and if he was brought up with them, he must have been young then also.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 12:13
“Israel was very much disgraced and weakened by being divided into two kingdoms; yet the kingdom of Judah, having both the temple and the royal city, both the house of David and the house of Aaron, might have done very well if they had continued in the way of their duty; but here we have all out of order there.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
one and forty years old: The regnal formula, seventeen years in the city which the Lord had chosen to put his name there, closes this chapter rather than opening it as it does at 1 Kings 14:21; Chronicles positions the summary after the humbling and the partial recovery of verse 12, so the numbers read as a coda to repentance rather than a frame set before the fall. Rehoboam's age drew debate among older commentators, a king one and forty years old still consulting the young men he was raised with, as chapter ten already showed him doing, reads oddly to some, though the number stands as the text gives it. His mother, Naamah an Ammonitess, is named again exactly as at 1 Kings 14:21, a detail that chapter already carries at full weight.
2. (v. 14)
2 Chronicles 12:14
“And he did evil,.... Committed idolatry, relapsed into that, his humiliation not being hearty and sincere: because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord; by prayer and supplication, and by an attendance on the service and worship of God; for though he did these things outwardly, yet not sincerely and heartily; he did not engage in them seriously and in good earnest, with affection and fervour.”
he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord: The epitaph is one clause and it answers 11:16's opening: he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. The verb is the same one Chronicles used for the immigrants who set their hearts to seek the Lord three years into this reign, so a man who forsook the law at verse 1 and repented under a prophet's word at verse 6 dies unable to say he had ever fixed his heart on the search itself. The book applies the identical test to every king that follows, Asa, Jehoshaphat and Uzziah among them, and Rehoboam is the first name it is written against.
3. (vv. 15-16)
2 Chronicles 12:15
“Concerning genealogies - “In the book of the genealogy of the family of David.” - Targum.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 12:15
“Now the acts of Rehoboam,.... Of these two verses; see Gill on 1Ki 14:29. 1Ki 14:30. 1Ki 14:31.”
2 Chronicles 12:16
“Abijah his son - Concerning the many varieties in this king’s name, see the note on 1Ki 14:31.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Iddo the seer concerning genealogies?: The chapter names its own sources, the book of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies, two witnesses distinct from the annals 1 Kings 14:29 cites, and Iddo's genealogical writing is named again at 2 Chr 13:22 for Abijah's reign. Continual war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam is stated in one clause without a single battle described, matching the same silence 1 Kings 14:30 keeps. Rehoboam sleeps with his fathers and Abijah his son reigns in his stead, the succession 1 Kings 14:31 records with no further comment added here.
This page carries no textual note on 2 Chronicles 12. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2306, Servitude Or Service, Which?; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.