Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people went away.
Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.
They replied, “If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”
But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
The young men who had grown up with him replied, “The people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”
Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:
“What share do we have in David,
    what part in Jesse’s son?
To your tents, Israel!
    Look after your own house, David!”
So all the Israelites went home. But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.
King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

• 2 Chronicles 10:1-19

When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered Judah and Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand able young men—to go to war against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam.
But this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God: “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your fellow Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’” So they obeyed the words of the Lord and turned back from marching against Jeroboam.
Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built up towns for defense in Judah: Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth Zur, Soko, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron. These were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. He strengthened their defenses and put commanders in them, with supplies of food, olive oil and wine. He put shields and spears in all the cities, and made them very strong. So Judah and Benjamin were his.
The priests and Levites from all their districts throughout Israel sided with him. The Levites even abandoned their pasturelands and property and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the Lord when he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat and calf idols he had made. Those from every tribe of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the Lord, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of Solomon three years, following the ways of David and Solomon during this time.
Rehoboam married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab. She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah and Zaham. Then he married Maakah daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith. Rehoboam loved Maakah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maakah as crown prince among his brothers, in order to make him king. He acted wisely, dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and took many wives for them.

• 2 Chronicles 11:1-23

After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the Lord. Because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam. With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites that came with him from Egypt, he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.
Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.’”
The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is just.”
When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.”
When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. Whenever the king went to the Lord’s temple, the guards went with him, bearing the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.
Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord’s anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.
King Rehoboam established himself firmly in Jerusalem and continued as king. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.
As for the events of Rehoboam’s reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that deal with genealogies? There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king.

• 2 Chronicles 12:1-16

 Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

2 Chronicles 10 ‘Ignoring Good Advice’:”In chapters 10 through 36, we find a record of Judah’s kings from the death of Solomon to the time of the Babylonian captivity. Nine of the kings of this period are good kings and eleven are evil. Manasseh, who reigned for fifty-five years in Judah, started out as the worst king in Judah’s history and ended up repenting. He ultimately became one of Judah’s best kings because God was able to reach his heart, redeem him, and restore him. As you read through these accounts, the evil kings reveal the pattern of temptation and sin in a disobedient heart.
“A moral and spiritual decline is evident in this procession of kings. It begins with the minor infiltration of evil into the kingdom. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was unwilling to follow the good counsel of the wise men of his kingdom. He asked the older men, ‘How would you advise me to answer these people?’ They said, ‘If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.’ But the young men advised him to say, ‘My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier.’ Rehoboam refused to follow the old men’s good counsel. That is all he did. Yet that was the beginning of the progressive evil that led to the destruction and captivity of the kingdom.”

• Ray C. Stedman, Adventuring Through the Bible

2 Chronicles 10:1-11:4 ‘Rehoboam followed bad advice’: “Rehoboam followed foolish and bad advice from novices rather than the good counsel of wise, seasoned people. The result was the division of the nation. Amazingly, with all the strength of Solomon’s reign, unity was fragile and one fool in the place of leadership ended it. Rehoboam tried to unite the people by force, but was not allowed to succeed by God (11:1-4).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 10:2 ‘Jeroboam’: “He became the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel (c. 931-910 B.C.). The account leading to his return from Egypt is told in 1 Kings 11:26-40.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 11:6 ‘built’: “This is to be understood as built further/strengthened/fortified (cf. 11:11, 12).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 11:14-15 ‘idolatry – an error in our ideas of God’: “Idolatry is of all sins the most hateful to God because it is in essence a defamation of the divine character. It holds a low opinion of God, and when it advertises that opinion, it is guilty of circulating an evil rumor about the Majesty in the heavens. Thus it slanders the Deity. No wonder God hates it.
“We should beware of the comfortable habit of assuming that idolatry is found only in heathen lands and that civilized people are free from it. This is an error and results from pride and superficial thinking. The truth is that idolatry is found wherever mankind is found. Whoever entertains an unworthy conception of God is throwing his or her heart wide open to the sin of idolatry. Let that person go on to personalize his or her low mental image of the Deity and pray to it, and he or she has become an idolater—and this is regardless of his or her nominal profession of Christianity.
“It is vitally important that we think soundly about God. Since He is the foundation of all our religious beliefs, it follows that if we err in our ideas of God, we will go astray on everything else.”

• A. W. Tozer, This World: Playground or Battleground?

2 Chronicles 11:15 ‘he appointed’: “This is in reference to Jeroboam (cf. 1 Kin. 12:25-33), who established idolatry in the north. Demons is another term for idols (cf. Lev. 17:7).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 12:1 ‘Humbling before God’:” Later, you find evidence of even further decline in the moral standards of the king (12:1).
“After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the LORD (12:1). Rehoboam turned a deaf ear to what God commanded. As a result, the kingdom was invaded by the Egyptians. The moment that the king disobeyed the law of God, the defenses of the nation were weakened and the enemies came pouring over the border. It was only by God’s grace that the Egyptians were turned back. When Rehoboam humbled himself and returned to God, the Egyptians were repelled.”

• Ray C. Stedman, Adventuring Through the Bible

2 Chronicles 12:2-5 ‘Shishak’: “He ruled over Egypt c. 945-924 B.C. An Egyptian record of this invasion written on stone has been found, recording that Shishak’s army penetrated all the way north to the Sea of Galilee. He wanted to restore Egypt’s once-great power, but was unable to conquer both Israel and Judah. However, he was able to destroy cities in Judah and gain some control of trade routes. Judah came under Egyptian control.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 12:6-7 ‘humbled themselves’: “In the face of the Egyptian conqueror, the leaders responded to the Word of God through the prophet (v. 5) and repented, so that God would end His wrath worked through Shishak.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 12:8 ‘The true God is abandoned.’: “ls it not sad to think that the great God, who made the heavens and the earth, should have but one nation out of all the inhabitants of the world—and these his by choice, by calling, and by covenant—and yet that they should continually grow weary of him? Other peoples did not change their gods. It was rare for a nation to cast away its idols in those days. But Israel, which alone had the true God while the rest had gods that were only idols, quit the living and true God to set up in his place the gods of the heathen that could do them no good. This phenomenon of human nature, this going after idols and leaving the true God, is constantly being renewed. We have the same thing even in the church of God, which never seems to be satisfied with chaste love for Christ but continually goes after one strange lover after another. If we choose to live for sinful pleasure, we have entered into a slavery compared with which the service of God is light and pleasant, indeed. Whatever the strictest form of religion may require of us, it will never demand of us so much as vicious pleasures will. I defy the world to doubt the statement that the service of sin is the most horrible of slaveries. When people give themselves to it and their passions become dominant, the worse serfdom that ever was on the face of the earth is freedom compared with the bondage of a person’s own passions. There is a great contrast between the service of God and any other service. The service of God is delightful. If a young person is about to engage in the service of God, nothing is demanded of him that will harm him. No commandment of God will, if we keep it, injure either our body or our soul. Nothing will be asked of us but what will be for our benefit—nothing that will really be to our loss. If it should seem to involve a present loss, yet it will be turned to future gain, for God will overrule it for our permanent good. Nothing denied us in the service of God would be a blessing to us. It is well to be walking in such a way that we can walk right straight on though a grave should be in our way—and walk right straight through it—and out at the other side.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

2 Chronicles 12:9 ‘against Jerusalem’: “After the parenthetical section (vv. 5-8) describing the state of the beleaguered court, the historian returns to discuss the attack on Jerusalem and the pillage of the temple and palace.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics

2 Chronicles 12:14 ‘Rehoboam’s attitude toward God’: “Rehoboam had some good points. He sometimes did good. Still, when it is all added up, this is the total of it: he ‘did what was evil.’ One reason, I should think, was that he had a bad mother. Just before the summary of his life, we are told, ‘Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite’ (12:13)—one of Solomon’s numerous wives. But she was an idolatrous woman, an Ammonite. And there is little wonder that when the mother was exceedingly bad, the summary of the son’s life should be that he ‘did what was evil.’ But the Scripture does not give this as  the reason Rehoboam did evil. It was ‘because he did not determine in his heart to seek the Lord.’ God will judge each one according to his own deeds; and if we should, unhappily, have been born of the most ungodly parents who ever lived, there is no reason God’s grace should not begin to work in our family with us. It does not say Rehoboam did evil because he was of a vicious temperament, or because he had strong passions, or because he was a thoroughly bad fellow. No, he was not that, but he did evil because of something he did not do. He did not begin life by seeking God; and, therefore, he began it foolishly. He began well; and in the first three years of his reign, the nation worshiped God. But they began worshiping in groves instead of coming to the temple at Jerusalem. Worse than that, they set up images and idolatrous pillars. Yet Rehoboam did not trouble himself about that. When the people feared God, he was willing for them to do so, but if they followed Ashtaroth, they might do as they liked. He was, after all, but a young ruler who thought the principal business of a king was to enjoy himself. We see how readily Rehoboam went first toward God, then toward idols, and then back again toward God. He was always ready to shift and change. He worked no great reforms in the land. There was nothing real and permanent in his religion; it did not hold him. He held it sometimes, but it never held him.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

2 Chronicles 12:16 ‘Abijah’: “Cf. 11:20, 22. In 1 Kings 15:3, he is called a great sinner. But consistent with his pattern, the writer of the Chronicles highlights the little good he did to indicate that he was still in line with God’s covenant promise to David.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

My Thoughts

Rehoboam went to Shechem to be crowned king, rather than stay in Jerusalem.  Jeroboam, who had rebelled against Solomon and was banished to Egypt returned and asked for a lighter yoke.  Solomon’s advisors rightfully said if Rehoboam lightened the yoke, the northern tribes would be his friends forever, but Rehoboam’s cronies said to tighten his grip, make the yoke heavier and more oppressive.  He went with the cronies, and the northern tribes rebelled against Rehoboam.  In 2 Chronicles 10:16, the rebelling people shouted what Sheba, son of Bikri, had shouted (1 Chronicles 20:1) to David after Absalom’s rebellion was squashed.  Basically, what do we have in common with this son of Jesse?

Oddly, Sheba had been a Benjamite.  Benjamin was the only tribe to not rebel against Rehoboam.  Rehoboam mustered his army from Judah and Benjamin to go to war against Jeroboam, but Shemaiah heard from God and told Rehoboam and the army to stand down.  This division in the family of Israel was God’s doing.

While the rest of 2 Chronicles 11 seems to be praise of Rehoboam, and it does say that he acted wisely in some things, the need to strengthen the fortified cities was now even greater.  As 2 Chronicles 12 ends, Rehoboam and Jeroboam remained at war, of sorts, for the rest of their reigns.

But this great expense struck me as a parallel to the great nations of today.  Increase the yoke on the common folk with higher taxes to spend the money on defense while ignoring God and failing to trust God for our defense.  I was in the military for four years, a few more in the reserves.  I honor all those who have served and are serving, but to ignore God while spending money for stronger defense is foolhardy.  We must repent.  Then the money spent on defense will be effective.

Rehoboam spread his family out to the fortified cities, but Abijah, son of his wife Maakah would follow him as king.  Maakah was his favorite.  Having many always leads to having a favorite and many non-favorites.

In 2 Chronicles 12, Shishak of Egypt musters a large army.  All those fortified cities where Rehoboam had placed his sons and spent tons of money in strengthening the cities, all fell to Shishak except Jerusalem, and Shishak was at the gates.

But Rehoboam’s advisors finally got threw to this pampered, entitled king.  He humbles himself and God sees that he does so.  There is still a price.  Shishak takes the golden shields of Solomon and Rehoboam makes “knock-offs” made of bronze.  He even had his guards take the shields to walk him to and from the temple, then put the shields away before the people saw that they were replicas and not made of gold.  The Scripture does not say that last little bit, but I read between the lines a little.

Rehoboam followed Solomon, David before him, and Saul before him.  Each of the previous kings reigned 40 years.  Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king, meaning from one year old to being anointed, he had a silver spoon in his mouth.  But having not worshipped God and God alone, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, Rehoboam reigned 17 years.  He did some good things, but he left the nation, now just Judah and Benjamin, as a vassal state of Shishak of Egypt.  You might say that the mighty had fallen, but Rehoboam was only mighty in his own mind, for he ignored God.

Let us as a nation, any nation on earth, not make that mistake, but it seems we all are doing just that.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

2 Chronicles 10:1-11:4 Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam 1.What lessons about youth or wisdom is the chronicler telling through these players? ls it ever wise to give leadership to the young? (Rehoboam was 41 in this chapter.)
“2. Are splits in church or nations ever right? What conditions might justify a split? What about splits in families?
“3. Have you ever played the part of a ‘Christian bully’? ls the stiff punch ever necessary, or is the soft touch always the best policy? What Christian standards do you use in solving conflicts?
2 Chronicles 11:5-23 Rehoboam forties Judah 1. What would you do if you were forced to leave your job your property or your family because of your faith?
2 Chronicles 12: 1. If this chapter was your point for rediscovering God, what would you learn about his character and purpose?
“2. What examples does Rehoboam leave you to follow? To avoid?
“3. When are you tempted to compromise with God‘s law: When you feel strongest or most vulnerable? Why is that?
“4. Do you have a friend like Shemaiah who keeps you in line by interpreting the meaning of things that are happening to you?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There are two sets of questions for 2 Chronicles 10-11 as indicated above.  There is one set of questions for 2 Chronicles 12.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.