2 Chronicles 12:14

_AND HE DID EVIL, BECAUSE HE PREPARED NOT HIS HEART TO SEEK THE LORD._ And he did evil - for through the unhappy influence of his mother, a pagan foreigner, he had received in his youth a strong bias toward idolatry (see the notes at 1 Kings 14:21)....

HE PREPARED NOT HIS HEART ... - See the margin. Rehoboam’s sin was want of earnestness and consistency....

EXPOSITION This chapter finishes for us the history of Rehoboam, his "acts" and his character; and, with the preceding two chapters, it may be counted among the masterpieces of Scripture biography. In so short a compass, how well marked, how distinctly limned, are the features of the man! The name of Rehoboam is, undoubtedly, one of the more important, if not taking rank among the most important, of Scripture, and no one can rise from the study of the fifty-eight verses of these three chapters without a very satisfactory conception of the man Rehoboam and what he was. It will be seen from the language of the second verse, compared with 2 Chronicles 11:17, that, roughly speaking, this chapter stretches over the last sad and evil twelve of the whole seventeen years of Rehoboam's reign. This, however, does not negative the possibility of the anticipation in...

AND HE DID EVIL,.... Committed idolatry, relapsed into that, his humiliation not being hearty and sincere: BECAUSE HE PREPARED NOT HIS HEART TO SEEK THE LORD; by prayer and supplication, and by an attendance on the service and worship of God; for though he did these things outwardly, yet not sincerely and heartily; he did not engage in them seriously and in good earnest, with affection and fervour....

2 Chronicles 12:1. _And 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._ They prospered, at first, by adhering to Jehovah. The good people out of the neighbouring land of Israel emigrated to them, strengthening them but, as soon as they grew strong, they forsook the law of Jehovah. 2 Chronicles 12:2. _And 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,_ Shishak did not know that fact, nor did he care about Jehovah. God so ruled in providence that, when his people cast him off, he soon found a rod with which to chasten them. The king of Egypt dete

CHAPTER 12 REHOBOAM'S APOSTASY, PUNISHMENT, AND DEATH _ 1. Rehoboam's apostasy (2 Chronicles 12:1)_ 2. Punishment through Shishak (2 Chronicles 12:2) 3. Death of Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 12:13) The kingdom had been established; Rehoboam had strengthened himself and lived in the indulgence of the flesh. Then followed the awful plunge into apostasy. “He forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel with him.” Idolatry in the high places and under every green tree was established and fostered by him. “And there were also Sodomites in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel” ...

SHISHAK INVADES JUDAH; SUMMARY OF REHOBOAM'S REIGN; HIS DEATH (see notes on 1 Kings 14:21 f., 1 Kings 14:25; 1 Kings 14:29). The words in 2 Chronicles 12:2_ b_ (because they had trespassed.) to the end of 2 Chronicles 12:8, which do not figure in 1 K., are regarded by many commentators as a _midrash_ (see note on 2 Chronicles 13:22) which the Chronicler either wrote himself or incorporated from some source to which he

HE DID EVIL. Compare 1 Kings 14:22. PREPARED, or fixed. Compare Psalms 57:7; Psalms 108:1, and Psalms 112:7....

_he prepared not his heart_ R.V. HE SET NOT HIS HEART. The phrase implies _steady purpose_....

DISCOURSE: 402 THE EVIL OF NEGLECTING PRAYER 2 Chronicles 12:14. _He did eril, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord_. IF we were to judge by the conduct of all around us, we should suppose that religion required no effort; and that eternal happiness was to be acquired in a neglect of all the means which God has appointed for the attainment of it. But “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” The means are closely connected with the end. Even in earthly things, wealth is, _for the most part_, the fruit of diligence; and poverty the result of idleness: but in spiritual things it may be said invariably, that “he who soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly, and that he who soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully.” Of King Rehoboam we are informed, that there were hopeful appearances at the beginning, since “fo