Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Rehoboam and the Jews, after three years, fall away from God to idols. Therefore they are plundered and subjugated by Shishak king of Egypt. Abijah succeeds the dying Rehoboam.
Vulgate Text: 2 Paralipomenon 12:1-16
1. And when the kingdom of Rehoboam had been strengthened and confirmed, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. 2. And in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem (because they had sinned against the Lord) 3. with twelve hundred chariots, and sixty thousand horsemen; nor could the common people who came with him from Egypt be numbered, namely the Libyans, and the Troglodytes, and the Ethiopians. 4. And he took the strongest cities in Judah, and came as far as Jerusalem. 5. And Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah, who had gathered in Jerusalem fleeing from Shishak, and said to them: Thus says the Lord: You have forsaken Me, and I have forsaken you in the hand of Shishak. 6. And the princes of Israel and the king, struck with dismay, said: The Lord is just. 7. And when the Lord saw that they were humbled, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying: Because they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them, and I will give them a little help, and My fury shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8. yet they shall serve him, that they may know the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the earth. 9. So Shishak king of Egypt departed from Jerusalem, having carried off the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king's house; and he took all with him, including the golden shields which Solomon had made, 10. in place of which the king made bronze ones, and delivered them to the captains of the shield-bearers, who guarded the entrance of the palace. 11. And when the king entered the house of the Lord, the shield-bearers came and took them, and then brought them back to their armory. 12. Yet because they humbled themselves, the wrath of the Lord was turned away from them, and they were not utterly destroyed; for even in Judah good works were found. 13. King Rehoboam therefore was strengthened in Jerusalem, and reigned; for he was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord chose to establish His name there, out of all the tribes of Israel; and the name of his mother was Naamah the Ammonite. 14. But he did evil, and did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord. 15. Now the deeds of Rehoboam, first and last, are written in the Books of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the Seer, and carefully set forth; and Rehoboam and Jeroboam fought against each other all their days. 16. And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David. And Abijah his son reigned in his place.
Verse 2: Shishak King of Egypt
2. SHISHAK KING OF EGYPT — who is called Sesostris by Herodotus in book II, and Diodorus in book II (whom Josephus cites in book VIII, chapter IV), and who, as they report, whenever he had conquered unwarlike peoples, erected a trophy, and was accustomed to yoke the kings he had conquered to his triumphal chariot, to show that he was above kings, indeed above all men. A more certain cause of the war is given by Scripture, namely the apostasy and idolatry of Rehoboam and the Jews; for God intended to punish this through Shishak.
Verse 3: Troglodytes
3. TROGLODYTES — are peoples of Ethiopia, which borders on Egypt, whose king was Shishak. In Hebrew they are called suckiim, that is, inhabitants of hiding places and caverns; in Greek Troglodytes, that is, those who enter and inhabit caves, for trogle means a hole, a nest, a cave.
Verse 7: My Fury Shall Not Be Poured Out
7. MY FURY SHALL NOT BE POURED OUT UPON JERUSALEM — that is, further through the continuous slaughter, plundering, and destruction which Shishak is preparing. See here how quickly God is appeased by the repentance, such as it is, of Rehoboam and the Jews.