12:1 After Rehoboam’s rule was established and solidified, he and all Israel rejected the law of the Lord. 

 

Israel rejected the Mosaic Law and began Canaanite worship.

 

12:2 Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 

 

Israel and Egypt had been at peace since the Exodus.

 

12:3 He had 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and an innumerable number of soldiers who accompanied him from Egypt, including Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites. 

 

Judah was the wealthiest nation in the world, but they lost 2/3 of their male population when the kingdom divided. Four nations joined together to plunder a weakened Judah. These four nations wanted the wealth of a weakened Judah.

 

12:4 He captured the fortified cities of Judah and marched against Jerusalem. 

 

Shishak was the founder of Egypt’s 22nd dynasty. Archaeologists have found the names of Israelite cities that he conquered on the walls of the temple of Amun at Karnak.

 

12:5 Shemaiah the prophet visited Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were assembled in Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have rejected me, so I have rejected you and will hand you over to Shishak.’ ”

 

Judah rejected the Lord, so the Lord rejected Judah. Judah’s choice was to serve God or serve Egypt.

 

12:6 The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is just.”

 

The leaders of Israel humbled themselves and turned back to Jehovah.

 

12:7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he gave this message to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will deliver them soon. My anger will not be unleashed against Jerusalem through Shishak. 

 

This was an answer to Solomon’s temple dedication prayer. When the people of Israel humbled themselves and turned to Jehovah in prayer, then Jehovah would restore them. Egypt and her allies had no chance against Israel when Israel was obedient to the Mosaic Law. The lesson to Israel was that they were only as powerful as their obedience to God. The believer today is obedient to God not for physical protection and material prosperity, but because of one’s love for Christ. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” The commandments are bible doctrine. Those who love Christ study bible doctrine at the deepest level and apply it.

 

12:8 Yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations.” 

 

Judah will become a tribute nation to Egypt. They will be giving the opportunity to experience the differences of serving Jehovah and serving Egypt.

 

12:9 King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. 

 

Judah lost all of her wealth. She was no longer the wealthiest nation in the world. She was no longer the most powerful nation in history.

 

12:10 King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 

 

The bronze shields were a witness to the nation that they had forsaken Jehovah and lost their material prosperity.

 

12:11 Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guards carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom. 

 

The guards had to carry the bronze shields so that they would not be stolen by the people. As Judah migrated further from Jehovah, crime began to increase.

 

12:12 So when Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord relented from his anger and did not annihilate him; Judah experienced some good things.

 

If Rehoboam would not have humbled himself, then Jehovah would have brought him home. He would have committed the sin unto death. After Judah was humbled, she began to experience more blessings from God. The Mosaic Covenant was in effect. Israel received spiritual and material blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.

 

12:13 King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; he was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. Rehoboam’s mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. 

 

Look closely at this verse. Solomon ruled for forty years. Solomon became king at about 18 years of age. David recognized that Solomon was young and experienced and not quite ready to rule, so he prayed for his son to receive wisdom. God answered David’s prayer by giving Solomon one wish. Solomon prayed for political wisdom. He should have prayed for spiritual discernment.

 

King Rehoboam was born a year before Solomon became king. It is very possible that Solomon married Naamah a year earlier. Naaman means “sweetness.”  Solomon married 700 wives and possessed 300 concubines, but the only son mentioned by name was Rehoboam. Therefore, Rehoboam must have been Solomon’s firstborn son and the one to whom he wanted to give his throne. It is very possible that Naamah was the wife whom Solomon truly loved. She may have been the young girl that Solomon loved in the Song of Solomon.

 

Naamah was an Ammonite. The Ammonites were descendants of the incestuous relationship between Lot and one of his two daughters. Naamah passed on the teachings of Sodom, Gommorah, and the Ammonite culture to her son Rehoboam. Rehoboam took these teachings into the Jewish monarchy. The teachings of Sodom and Gomorrah were still prevalent in the capital city of Jerusalem. Sodom and Gomorrah had been destroyed for centuries, but their teachings still lived on through the Ammonites and Moabites. They had now seeped back into Jewish culture. This Sodom and Gomorrah influence will lead Israel and Judah into the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities.

 

12:14 He did evil because he was not determined to follow the Lord. 

 

Rehoboam was influenced by the Sodom and Gomorrah teachings of his evil mother.

 

12:15 The events of Rehoboam’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Annals of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that include genealogical records. 

 

These books were available to the author at the time of this writing, but they have since been lost.

 

12:16 Then Rehoboam passed away and was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah replaced him as king. 

 

Abijah became the fourth generation of the messianic seed line.