2 Chronicles 12King James Version
In the fifth year of Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt comes up against Jerusalem because they have forsaken the Lord. He takes the treasures of the temple and of the king's house, including the gold shields Solomon had made. Rehoboam replaces them with shields of bronze. A quiet image of decline.
When Rehoboam is strong, he and Judah abandon God's law. Shishak of Egypt invades with an enormous army. The prophet Shemaiah announces this is judgment. The leaders humble themselves; God says he will not destroy them completely but will let them experience servitude so they learn the difference between serving God and serving earthly kings. Shishak plunders the temple treasuries, including Solomon's gold shields. Rehoboam replaces them with bronze. He dies after a mixed evaluation.
Abandoning God when things are going well is a pattern that leads to losing exactly what prosperity built, and the lesson about the difference between serving God and serving men is hard to learn any other way.
8: "Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries." God does not destroy but disciplines, and the lesson is specific: you need to experience foreign rule to appreciate what serving me instead costs.
Shishak's invasion is historically confirmed outside the Bible. His campaign list, inscribed on a temple wall at Karnak in Egypt, includes sites in both Israel and Judah, placing this around 925 BC. The Chronicler uses this well-known historical disaster to make a theological point: when leaders abandon God, the consequences appear in the national record.
Rehoboam, whose strength becomes the occasion for abandonment; Shishak of Egypt, the instrument of judgment; Shemaiah, the prophet who announces both the judgment and the partial mercy.
The gold shields of Solomon replaced by bronze is one of the most pointed images in Chronicles. The glory of the previous generation, literally hammered into gold, is gone. All you can afford now is the appearance of what used to be real. Post-exilic readers understood this exactly: they too were living with bronze where gold had been.
For when success has made you forget what got you there, and then something reminds you sharply. The humbling in this chapter is partial but enough: Shemaiah says they have humbled themselves, so destruction will not come yet.
1And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.
2And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of king Rehoboam Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the LORD,
3With twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians.
4And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah, and came to Jerusalem.
5Then came Shemaiah the prophet 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, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.
6Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The LORD is righteous.
7And when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.
8Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.
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: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
10Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard, that kept the entrance of the king's house.
11And when the king entered into the house of the LORD, the guard came and fetched them, and brought them again into the guard chamber.
12And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from him, that he would not destroy him altogether: and also in Judah things went well.
13So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam was one and forty 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 an Ammonitess.
14And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD.
15Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? 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.