Chapter XII

=1‒12= (compare 1 Kings xiv. 22, 25‒28).
THE INVASION OF SHISHAK.

¹And it came to pass, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was
established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of the
LORD, and all Israel with him.

=1.= _all Israel_] i.e. all the Southern Kingdom; compare note on xi. 3. The details of Judah’s apostasy are given in 1 Kings xiv. 22‒24.

²And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that
Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they
had trespassed against the LORD,

=2.= _Shishak_] The Egyptian king has commemorated this expedition in a pictorial inscription on the wall of the temple of Karnak. It appears that the Northern Kingdom suffered as well as the Southern; much spoil was carried off, but no permanent conquest of Canaan was attempted. (Breasted, _History of Egypt_, pp. 529 f.)

_because they had trespassed_] A touch characteristic of the Chronicler; compare xiii. 18, xxi. 10, xxiv. 24, xxv. 20, xxvii. 6, xxviii. 19; and 1 Chronicles x. 13, 14. The Chronicler sees the working of temporal rewards and of temporal punishments everywhere.

³with twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen:
and the people were without number that came with him out of
Egypt; the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians.

=3.= _with twelve hundred chariots_] The details given in this verse are absent from 1 Kings.

_Lubim_] i.e. the Libyans of North Africa. Shishak was a leader of Libyan mercenaries. He made himself master of Egypt _circa_ 950 B.C., and is known as the founder of the XXIInd dynasty.

_Sukkiim_] LXX. Τρωγλοδύται, i.e. the cave dwellers of the mountains which fringe the west coast of the Red Sea. But whether these are really meant here is doubtful.

⁴And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah, and
came unto Jerusalem.

=4.= _the fenced cities_] Compare xi. 5.

⁵Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes
of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because
of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Ye have
forsaken me, therefore have I also left you in the hand of
Shishak.

=5.= _Now Shemaiah the prophet came_] This intervention of Shemaiah is not mentioned in 1 Kings For an earlier appearance of the prophet see xi. 2 ff. = 1 Kings xii. 22 ff.

_have I also left you in the hand_] Rather, =I also have forsaken you and delivered you into the hand=.

⁶Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and
they said, The LORD is righteous.

=6.= _princes of Israel_] Called “princes of Judah” in verse 5; compare note on xi. 3.

_humbled themselves_] i.e. they fasted and put on sackcloth; compare 1 Kings xxi. 27, 29.

_The LORD is righteous_] Compare Pharaoh’s confession (Exodus ix. 27), and the Psalmist’s address to God, “That thou mayest be justified (literally ‘mayest be righteous’) when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest” (Psalms li. 4). The “righteousness” of God is made known to man in His judgement, whether the judgement be of condemnation (as here) or of acquittal (as 1 John i. 9, Revised Version).

⁷And when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of
the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves;
I will not destroy them: but I will grant them some deliverance¹,
and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand
of Shishak.

¹ Or, _deliverance within a little while_ Or, _a few that
shall escape_.

=7.= _some deliverance_] Render, as margin, =deliverance within a little while=.

⁸Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my
service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

=8.= _that they may know my service_, etc.] i.e. that they may learn the difference between my service and other service.

⁹So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took
away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures
of the king’s house; he took all away: he took away also the
shields of gold which Solomon had made.

=9.= _he took all away_] Shishak was bought off with a heavy present from attacking Jerusalem; compare the case of Sennacherib (2 Kings xviii. 13‒16).

_shields_] Rather, =targets=, i.e. small shields; compare note on ix. 15.

¹⁰And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and
committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard¹, that
kept the door of the king’s house. ¹¹And it was so, that as oft
as the king entered into the house of the LORD, the guard came
and bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.

¹ Hebrew _runners_.

=10.= _the guard_] margin (more literally) =the runners=. These derived their name from the duty of running before the king’s chariot to clear the way for him; compare 2 Samuel xv. 1; 1 Kings i. 5.

¹²And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from
him, that he would not destroy him altogether: and moreover in
Judah there were good things _found_.

=12.= _in Judah were good things_ found] i.e. piety, compare xix. 3. This is said as giving an additional reason for the mercy which God had showed (verse 7). Doubtless it is also intended to emphasise the religious superiority of the South over the North; compare the note on xi. 20.

=13‒16= (compare 1 Kings xiv. 21, 29‒31).
SUMMARY OF REHOBOAM’S REIGN.

¹³So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and
reigned: for Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began
to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the
city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel,
to put his name there: and his mother’s name was Naamah the
Ammonitess.

=13.= _strengthened himself_] See note on i. 1. The immediate reference is to a recovery of strength after the departure of Shishak; the further reference is to xi. 5.

_forty and one years old ... and he reigned seventeen years_] So read both the Hebrew and LXX. here and in 1 Kings xiv. 21, but in the additional passage which follows 1 Kings xii. 24 in LXX. (B, not A) we read, _sixteen_ _years old ... and twelve years he reigned_. No importance however can be attached to this variation, for the passage which contains it is plainly midrashic in character.

_the city which the LORD had chosen_] Though the Ten Tribes were lost to the house of David, the Lord kept his oath to David by securing to his seed the possession of the one holy city of Israel.

¹⁴And he did that which was evil, because he set not his heart
to seek the LORD.

=14.= _he set not his heart_] The phrase implies _steady purpose_. The Chronicler concludes that Rehoboam must be classed as a king who was good but not entirely so. The considerations which chiefly influenced him in determining the character of this reign were perhaps two: on the one hand the invasion of Shishak was felt to be a fixed point, a disaster only to be accounted for in the Chronicler’s view by _some_ falling away from assiduous worship of Jehovah; and on the other hand it seemed incredible that the second direct descendant of David on the throne of Israel should have been seriously corrupt. The situation was met by representing Rehoboam as having been three years faithful (and therefore prosperous), and one year faithless (and therefore assailed by Shishak in the fifth year). The favourable aspect of his reign was further emphasised by the statement of verse 16, and by the suppression of the three damaging passages in Kings, referred to in the head-note to xi. 5‒23. It is very obvious that the resultant picture of the king is much less true to historical reality than the account in Kings; but it serves excellently to illustrate the Chronicler’s contention that virtue prospers and vice is punished. And once more we may insist that the value of this writer for us lies supremely in the energy and the conviction with which he seeks to drive home this great moral and spiritual belief.

¹⁵Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written
in the histories¹ of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer,
after the manner of genealogies²? And there were wars between
Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. ¹⁶And Rehoboam slept with his
fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah his son
reigned in his stead.

¹ Hebrew _words_.

² Or, _in reckoning the genealogies_.

=15.= _in the histories of ..._] See Introduction § 5.

_Iddo_] compare xiii. 22, and see note on ix. 29.

_after the manner of genealogies_] margin _in reckoning the genealogies_; but literally “_to enrol themselves_.” This most obscure phrase is perhaps a meaningless fragment due to textual corruption. Another suggestion is that it has been misplaced and should be read at the end of xi. 16.