2 Chronicles 12
Egypt conquers Judah
Egypt’s King Shishak invades Judah
1 Kings 14:25-28 1King Rehoboam firmly established himself as the ruler of Judah. That's when he turned his back on the LORD. The people did the same.
2Rehoboam was into his fifth year as king when God allowed King Shishak [1] of Egypt to invade Judah. 3Shishak brought 1,200 war chariots, 60,000 cavalrymen, and more infantry than anyone could count. His soldiers came from throughout the region: Egypt, Libya, Sukkoth, [2] and Ethiopia. 4He captured one walled city after another, throughout Judah. He marched his army as far north as Jerusalem. A prophet confronts Judah’s leaders
5A prophet named Shemaiah met with King Rehoboam and his officials who had come to Jerusalem because of the invasion. The prophet told them, “I want you to hear what the Lord says. He says, ‘You left me. So I’m leaving you in the capable hands of Shishak.’”
6The king and his officials humbly confessed, “It’s true. The LORD is right.”
7The LORD told Shemaiah. “Look at that. They regret what they’ve done. For that, they get to live. I won’t let Shishak destroy Jerusalem. 8But they’ll become a vassal state. And they’ll see what it’s like to serve me compared to serving a foreign king.
9King Shishak of Egypt served himself to a buffet of everything he wanted in Jerusalem. He took all Rehoboam’s royal treasures. And he emptied the Temple treasury. [3] He even took the gold shields that Solomon put on display in the palace. [4]
10Rehoboam replaced the shields, but he used bronze instead of gold. And he ordered the royal palace guards at the front door to keep them safe. 11Whenever the king went to the Temple, the guards who escorted him brought the shields with them. When they returned, they stored the shields in a guarded room.
12Judah survived the invasion because their leaders expressed remorse for what they had done. In fact, life in Judah was good. Rehoboam dies
1 Kings 14:21, 29-31 13Solomon’s son Rehoboam kept his job as Judah’s ruler. He had become king when he was 41 years old. He ruled Judah for 17 years. He kept Jerusalem as his capital. This was the one city in all Israel and Judah that God chose to most associate with his name. This is where his people came to worship. Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah, from the nation of Ammon. [5]
14Rehoboam was not one of the good guys. He was an evil king who disregarded the laws of God. 15The rest of Rehoboam’s story is preserved in Shemaiah’s History of Judah and in Iddo’s History and Genealogy of Judah. [6] Rehoboam of Judah and King Jeroboam of Israel remained in a constant state of war.
16Rehoboam died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. [7] His son Abijah became the next king. Footnotes
112:12King Shishak, usually linked with Pharaoh Shoshenq I, allied himself with King Jeroboam of Israel instead of Rehoboam of Judah. Some of his war records were found, with lists of Judean cities he conquered. Jerusalem isn’t among them.
212:13This Sukkoth was apparently a cluster of desert oases in northern Africa, near Egypt and Libya. The people, Sukkites, show up in ancient Egyptian records. The word Sukkite, refers to people who live in small huts.
312:9This could have been when the Israelites lost their most sacred relic, the chest with the stones of the Ten Commandments. The gold-covered chest is also known as the Ark of The Covenant.
412:91 Kings 10:16.
512:13The mention of Ammon here reads like a complaint. The next sentence describes the king as evil. Ammonites had been perpetual enemies of the Israelite people. It was that way ever since the time Israelites returned from slavery in Egypt and began resettling in what was then called Canaan, today’s Israel and Palestinian Territories (Judges 3:13; 10:8). When King Solomon married an Ammon woman and built a sanctuary to the god Chemosh on the Mount of Olives, he legitimized this idolatry for about 400 years. Israel’s idolatry, the prophets said, would be why God would allow invaders to wipe the Jewish nation off the political map. Babylonians from what is now Iraq did that in 586 BC. The god’s name shows up in a Canaanite inscription chiseled into a stone record known as the Mesha Stele or the Moabites Stone, from the 800’s BC. It’s on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
612:151 Kings 14:29 references the History of Judah’s Kings, a lost book apparently filled with more details about the Israelite kings. Some scholars say they consider this and the History of Israel’s Kings (14:19) lost books of the Bible.
712:16The City of David was the original part of town before Solomon expanded up the hill to add the Temple and palace complexes.
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
Maps/Guides
Israel, Judah: One nation divided
Pharaoh Shishak attacks Judah, Israel
Pharoah Shishak raids Israel, JudahVideos
2Rehoboam was into his fifth year as king when God allowed King Shishak [1] of Egypt to invade Judah. 3Shishak brought 1,200 war chariots, 60,000 cavalrymen, and more infantry than anyone could count. His soldiers came from throughout the region: Egypt, Libya, Sukkoth, [2] and Ethiopia. 4He captured one walled city after another, throughout Judah. He marched his army as far north as Jerusalem.
A prophet confronts Judah’s leaders
5A prophet named Shemaiah met with King Rehoboam and his officials who had come to Jerusalem because of the invasion. The prophet told them, “I want you to hear what the Lord says. He says, ‘You left me. So I’m leaving you in the capable hands of Shishak.’”6The king and his officials humbly confessed, “It’s true. The LORD is right.”
7The LORD told Shemaiah. “Look at that. They regret what they’ve done. For that, they get to live. I won’t let Shishak destroy Jerusalem. 8But they’ll become a vassal state. And they’ll see what it’s like to serve me compared to serving a foreign king.
9King Shishak of Egypt served himself to a buffet of everything he wanted in Jerusalem. He took all Rehoboam’s royal treasures. And he emptied the Temple treasury. [3] He even took the gold shields that Solomon put on display in the palace. [4]
10Rehoboam replaced the shields, but he used bronze instead of gold. And he ordered the royal palace guards at the front door to keep them safe. 11Whenever the king went to the Temple, the guards who escorted him brought the shields with them. When they returned, they stored the shields in a guarded room.
12Judah survived the invasion because their leaders expressed remorse for what they had done. In fact, life in Judah was good.
Rehoboam dies
1 Kings 14:21, 29-31 13Solomon’s son Rehoboam kept his job as Judah’s ruler. He had become king when he was 41 years old. He ruled Judah for 17 years. He kept Jerusalem as his capital. This was the one city in all Israel and Judah that God chose to most associate with his name. This is where his people came to worship. Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah, from the nation of Ammon. [5]
14Rehoboam was not one of the good guys. He was an evil king who disregarded the laws of God. 15The rest of Rehoboam’s story is preserved in Shemaiah’s History of Judah and in Iddo’s History and Genealogy of Judah. [6] Rehoboam of Judah and King Jeroboam of Israel remained in a constant state of war.
16Rehoboam died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. [7] His son Abijah became the next king. Footnotes
112:12King Shishak, usually linked with Pharaoh Shoshenq I, allied himself with King Jeroboam of Israel instead of Rehoboam of Judah. Some of his war records were found, with lists of Judean cities he conquered. Jerusalem isn’t among them.
212:13This Sukkoth was apparently a cluster of desert oases in northern Africa, near Egypt and Libya. The people, Sukkites, show up in ancient Egyptian records. The word Sukkite, refers to people who live in small huts.
312:9This could have been when the Israelites lost their most sacred relic, the chest with the stones of the Ten Commandments. The gold-covered chest is also known as the Ark of The Covenant.
412:91 Kings 10:16.
512:13The mention of Ammon here reads like a complaint. The next sentence describes the king as evil. Ammonites had been perpetual enemies of the Israelite people. It was that way ever since the time Israelites returned from slavery in Egypt and began resettling in what was then called Canaan, today’s Israel and Palestinian Territories (Judges 3:13; 10:8). When King Solomon married an Ammon woman and built a sanctuary to the god Chemosh on the Mount of Olives, he legitimized this idolatry for about 400 years. Israel’s idolatry, the prophets said, would be why God would allow invaders to wipe the Jewish nation off the political map. Babylonians from what is now Iraq did that in 586 BC. The god’s name shows up in a Canaanite inscription chiseled into a stone record known as the Mesha Stele or the Moabites Stone, from the 800’s BC. It’s on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
612:151 Kings 14:29 references the History of Judah’s Kings, a lost book apparently filled with more details about the Israelite kings. Some scholars say they consider this and the History of Israel’s Kings (14:19) lost books of the Bible.
712:16The City of David was the original part of town before Solomon expanded up the hill to add the Temple and palace complexes.
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
Maps/Guides
Israel, Judah: One nation dividedPharaoh Shishak attacks Judah, IsraelPharoah Shishak raids Israel, JudahVideos
14Rehoboam was not one of the good guys. He was an evil king who disregarded the laws of God. 15The rest of Rehoboam’s story is preserved in Shemaiah’s History of Judah and in Iddo’s History and Genealogy of Judah. [6] Rehoboam of Judah and King Jeroboam of Israel remained in a constant state of war.
16Rehoboam died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. [7] His son Abijah became the next king.
Footnotes
King Shishak, usually linked with Pharaoh Shoshenq I, allied himself with King Jeroboam of Israel instead of Rehoboam of Judah. Some of his war records were found, with lists of Judean cities he conquered. Jerusalem isn’t among them.
This Sukkoth was apparently a cluster of desert oases in northern Africa, near Egypt and Libya. The people, Sukkites, show up in ancient Egyptian records. The word Sukkite, refers to people who live in small huts.
This could have been when the Israelites lost their most sacred relic, the chest with the stones of the Ten Commandments. The gold-covered chest is also known as the Ark of The Covenant.
1 Kings 10:16.
The mention of Ammon here reads like a complaint. The next sentence describes the king as evil. Ammonites had been perpetual enemies of the Israelite people. It was that way ever since the time Israelites returned from slavery in Egypt and began resettling in what was then called Canaan, today’s Israel and Palestinian Territories (Judges 3:13; 10:8). When King Solomon married an Ammon woman and built a sanctuary to the god Chemosh on the Mount of Olives, he legitimized this idolatry for about 400 years. Israel’s idolatry, the prophets said, would be why God would allow invaders to wipe the Jewish nation off the political map. Babylonians from what is now Iraq did that in 586 BC. The god’s name shows up in a Canaanite inscription chiseled into a stone record known as the Mesha Stele or the Moabites Stone, from the 800’s BC. It’s on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
1 Kings 14:29 references the History of Judah’s Kings, a lost book apparently filled with more details about the Israelite kings. Some scholars say they consider this and the History of Israel’s Kings (14:19) lost books of the Bible.
The City of David was the original part of town before Solomon expanded up the hill to add the Temple and palace complexes.
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
Maps/Guides