EMPEROR WITH NO CLOTHES
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Opening Prayer
Father, meet with me through your Word today. Speak to me and show me how I can better serve you.
Read 2 CHRONICLES 12
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2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles 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.
2 Because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam.
3 With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites that came with him from Egypt,
4 he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.
5 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.'”
6 The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is just.”
7 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.
8 They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.”
9 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.
10 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.
11 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.
12 Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD’s anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.
13 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.
14 He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the LORD.
15 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.
16 Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king.
Reflect
‘People reap what they sow.’1 May God help us to sow wisely, before it is too late.
Eventually, war came, but not from the direction or the cause that Rehoboam expected. It was Egypt, the superpower in the south, who, seeing the split in what had been Solomon’s empire, saw the opportunity to take advantage of the nation’s weakness. Pharaoh’s vast army steamrolled over the towns of Judah until they reached the capital, Jerusalem. God’s prophet made it clear that this was more than a matter of political expediency; it was, instead, a judgment on the nation and its king for turning their backs on God. They had been unfaithful and would default to this spirit time and again. As they had forsaken God, so God now would forsake them. So much for their much-vaunted temple, which proved to be impotent in arresting moral and spiritual decline.
The people, however, remembered their roots and, instead of digging in their heels, they came to their senses and repented. In response, God relented—but he taught them a harsh lesson. Their wealth was taken from them, their vanity symbols among them, and they were left with Egypt, not God, being their overlord. From gold shields to bronze in five years says it all. Suddenly, being under God’s leadership didn’t seem so bad after all!
However, the change of heart in the nation was for their good, even if for some it was more a matter of convenience than conviction. Rehoboam saw out his reign overseeing a divided nation, border skirmishes, and a denuded capital. Unlike his father and grandfather, he would leave no lasting legacy, only regret at what might have been. Sadly, his mother did not share his father’s faith, and the son learned more from her than from him. However much he appeared at the temple, his heart was not devoted to God, and that was reflected in the decisions he made. How sad it all is.
Apply
Be careful before you say to the Lord, ‘Leave me alone’—in case one day he answers that prayer.
Closing prayer
I confess, Jesus, that there are times when my faith’s experience and expression are more a matter of convenience than conviction. Please forgive me and enlarge my heart toward you and all you have done for me.
1 Gal 6:7, TNIV.
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