2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles 12
1When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned Yahweh’s law, and all Israel with him. 2In the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had trespassed against Yahweh, 3with twelve hundred chariots, and sixty thousand horsemen. The people were without number who came with him out of Egypt: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians. 4He took the fortified cities which belonged to Judah, and came to Jerusalem. 5Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, who were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Yahweh says, ‘You have forsaken me, therefore I have also left you in the hand of Shishak.’ ”
6Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, “Yahweh is righteous.”
7When Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, Yahweh’s word came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them; but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath won’t be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8Nevertheless they will be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”
9So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of Yahweh’s house and the treasures of the king’s house. He took it all away. He also took away the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 10King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. 11As often as the king entered into Yahweh’s house, the guard came and bore them, then brought them back into the guard room. 12When he humbled himself, Yahweh’s wrath turned from him, so as not to destroy him altogether. Moreover, there were good things found in Judah.
13So 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. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 14He did that which was evil, because he didn’t set his heart to seek Yahweh.
15Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, aren’t they written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, in the genealogies? There were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 16Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in David’s city; and Abijah his son reigned in his place.
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5 commentators · 37 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry2
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
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…
The story of Rehoboam's reign is here concluded, much as the story of the other reigns concludes. Two things especially are observable here: - 1. That he was at length pretty well fixed in his kingdom, Ch2 12:13. His fenced cities in Judah did not answer his…
John Gill13
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom,.... Or when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established; the tribes of Judah and Benjamin being firmly attached to him, and great numbers from the other tribes coming over to him, and things going on…
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…
With twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen; and the people were without number,.... The foot soldiers; their number, according to Josephus (h) was 400,000: that came with him out of Egypt; the above numerous army came from thence with him…
Adam Clarke9
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
He forsook the law of the Lord - This was after the three years mentioned Ch2 11:17.
Shishak king of Egypt - Concerning this man, and the motive which led him to attack the Jews, see the note on Kg1 14:31. Transgressed against the Lord - "Against the Word of the Lord." - Targum.
The Lubims - Supposed to be a people of Libya, adjoining to Egypt; sometimes called Phut in Scripture, as the people are called Lehabim and Ludim. The Sukkiims - The Troglodytes, a people of Egypt on the coast of the Red Sea. They were called Troglodytes…
Keil & Delitzsch6
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
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 Kg1 14:25-28. Shishak (Sisak) is, as we…
After the capture of the fenced cities of Judah, he marched against Jerusalem. - Ch2 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…
But (כּי after a negative clause) they shall be his servants, sc. for a short time (see Ch2 12:7), "that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries" (cf. Ch1 29:30); i.e., that they may learn to know by experience the…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown7
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
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…
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 princes of Israel--(compare Ch2 12:5, "the princes of Judah").
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