_A.M. 3032. B.C. 972._ Rehoboam, forsaking God, is oppressed by Shishak, 2 Chronicles 12:1. He humbles himself, and is preserved in his kingdom, but spoiled of his treasures, 2 Chronicles 12:5. His character and death, 2 Chronicles 12:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Rehoboam had established the kingdom_ Israel was very much disgraced and weakened by being divided into two kingdoms; yet the kingdom of Judah, having both the temple and the royal city, both the house of David and the house of Aaron, might have done very well if they had continued in the way... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the fifth year Shishak came up against Jerusalem_ Presently after the apostacy of the king and people, which was in the fourth year. As this great calamity came upon them so soon after they began to desert the worship of God, and by a hand they had so little reason to suspect, having had a great... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lubims_ The people of Lybia, a famous country of Africa, adjoining to Egypt. And the _Sukkiims_ were the _Troglodytes_, a people who lived on the western side of the Red sea, and had that name from their dwelling in dens and caves of the earth, which is also the meaning of the Hebrew word סכיים... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah_ Lest they should not readily or rightly understand the meaning of this providence, God sends a prophet to explain it, namely, the same Shemaiah that had brought them an injunction from God not to fight against the ten tribes, who... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whereupon the princes and the king humbled themselves_ They penitentially acknowledged their sin, and patiently accepted the punishment of it, saying, _The Lord is righteous_ We have none to blame but ourselves: let God be clear when he is judged. Thus it becomes us, when we are under the rebukes o... [ Continue Reading ]
_They have humbled themselves_ Which though they did by constraint and with reluctance, yet God was pleased so far to regard it, as to mitigate their calamity. _I will not destroy them_ Such a vast, and now victorious army as Shishak had, having made themselves masters of all the fenced cities, what... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall be his servants_ That is, they shall be much at his mercy, and put under contribution by him, and some of them taken prisoners, and held in captivity by him: _that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms_, &c. That they may experimentally know the difference between my... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shishak took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the king's house_ He plundered both the temple and the exchequer, the treasuries of both which Solomon had left full. David and Solomon, who walked in the ways of God, filled the treasuries, one by war, and the other by merchandise; b... [ Continue Reading ]
_In Judah things went well_ Hebrew, _There were good things._ The meaning is either, 1st, Though there were many corruptions in Judah, yet there were also divers good things there, which were not in Israel, as the word, and ordinances, and pure worship of God, prophets and ministers of God's appoint... [ Continue Reading ]
_King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem_ He recovered so much strength that he reigned with some authority: or, finding that his fenced cities of Judah did not answer his expectation, he now made it his business to fortify Jerusalem, and render that impregnable. _And_ there _he reigned seve... [ Continue Reading ]
_He prepared not his heart_, &c. _Directed not_, or _settled not,_ &c. That is, although he humbled himself, and seemed penitent for a season, and professed the true religion and worship of God; yet he quickly relapsed into his former sins, because he was not sincere and serious in his actions, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies_ In an historical account, written by him, of the genealogies and actions of the kings of Judah.... [ Continue Reading ]