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2 CHR ONICL ES 13
page 393
and they gave birth to twenty-eight sons and
sixty daughters.
22 Rehoboam appointed Maacah’s son Abijah
as leader among the princes, making it clear
that he would be the next king. 23 Rehoboam
also wisely gave responsibilities to his other
sons and stationed some of them in the fortified towns throughout the land of Judah and
Benjamin. He provided them with generous
provisions, and he found many wives for them.
Egypt Invades Judah
But when Rehoboam was firmly established and strong, he abandoned the
Law of the Lord, and all Israel followed him in
this sin. 2 Because they were unfaithful to the
Lord, King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s reign. 3 He came with 1,200 chariots,
60,000 horses,* and a countless army of foot
soldiers, including Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians.* 4 Shishak conquered Judah’s fortified
towns and then advanced to attack Jerusalem.
5 The prophet Shemaiah then met with Rehoboam and Judah’s leaders, who had all fled
to Jerusalem because of Shishak. Shemaiah
told them, “This is what the Lord says: You
have abandoned me, so I am abandoning you
to Shishak.”
6 Then the leaders of Israel and the king
humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is
right in doing this to us!”
7 When the Lord saw their change of heart,
he gave this message to Shemaiah: “Since the
people have humbled themselves, I will not
completely destroy them and will soon give
them some relief. I will not use Shishak to pour
out my anger on Jerusalem. 8 But they will become his subjects, so they will know the difference between serving me and serving earthly
rulers.”
9 So King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem. He ransacked the treasuries
of the Lord’s Temple and the royal palace; he
stole everything, including all the gold shields
Solomon had made. 10 King Rehoboam later
replaced them with bronze shields as substitutes, and he entrusted them to the care of
the commanders of the guard who protected the
entrance to the royal palace. 11 Whenever the
king went to the Temple of the Lord, the guards
would also take the shields and then return
them to the guardroom. 12 Because Rehoboam
humbled himself, the Lord’s anger was turned
away, and he did not destroy him completely.
There were still some good things in the land
of Judah.
12
12:3a Or charioteers, or horsemen. 12:3b Hebrew and
Cushites. 13:2 As in most Greek manuscripts and Syriac
version (see also 2 Chr 11:20-21; 1 Kgs 15:2); Hebrew reads
Micaiah, a variant spelling of Maacah. 13:5 Hebrew a
covenant of salt.
Summary of Rehoboam’s Reign
13 King Rehoboam firmly established himself in
Jerusalem and continued to rule. He was fortyone years old when he became king, and he
reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city
the Lord had chosen from among all the tribes
of Israel as the place to honor his name. Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah, a woman from
Ammon. 14 But he was an evil king, for he did not
seek the Lord with all his heart.
15 The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign,
from beginning to end, are recorded in The Record of Shemaiah the Prophet and The Record of
Iddo the Seer, which are part of the genealogical
record. Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other. 16 When Rehoboam
died, he was buried in the City of David. Then
his son Abijah became the next king.
Abijah’s War with Jeroboam
Abijah began to rule over Judah in the
eighteenth year of Jeroboam’s reign in
Israel. 2 He reigned in Jerusalem three years.
His mother was Maacah,* the daughter of Uriel
from Gibeah.
Then war broke out between Abijah and
Jeroboam. 3 Judah, led by King Abijah, fielded
400,000 select warriors, while Jeroboam mustered 800,000 select troops from Israel.
4 When the army of Judah arrived in the hill
country of Ephraim, Abijah stood on Mount
Zemaraim and shouted to Jeroboam and all
Israel: “Listen to me! 5 Don’t you realize that
the Lord, the God of Israel, made a lasting
covenant* with David, giving him and his descendants the throne of Israel forever? 6 Yet
Jeroboam son of Nebat, a mere servant of David’s son Solomon, rebelled against his master.
7 Then a whole gang of scoundrels joined him,
13
• Humility
2 C HR ON I C LES 12:12
Rehoboam humbled himself. That
means he recognized his sinful
tendencies, acknowledged that God is
in authority, and submitted to obeying
his commands. And God’s anger was
turned aside. When you realize you have
sinned, flee to God in humility, begging
his forgiveness. Walls of arrogance
and pride keep us from God. Humility
breaks down the walls and allows us to
walk in God’s mercy and forgiveness.
The same principle holds true when our
wrongdoing is against another person.
Humbly ask forgiveness and watch as
anger is turned aside.