2 Chronicles 12:1

REHOBOAM'S APOSTASY;

THE INVASION OF SHISHAK;

THE DEATH OF REHOBOAM;

GOD'S PUNISHMENT OF ISRAEL BY SHISHAK

"And it came to pass when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him. And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had trespassed against Jehovah, with twelve hundred chariots and threescore thousand horsemen. And the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians. And he took the fortified cities that pertained to Judah, and came unto Jerusalem. Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, Ye have forsaken me, therefore have I also left you in the hands of Shishak. Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, Jehovah is righteous. And when Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; 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. Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries."

"Because they had trespassed against Jehovah" (2 Chronicles 12:2). The aggressive war of Shishak against Jerusalem is here stated to have been brought about by God Himself because of Israel's rebellion against God's law. It is the conviction of this writer that God still rules in the kingdoms of men, and that no nation that turns its back upon God's teachings can escape the eventual and certain judgment against them by Almighty God.

We live in a generation that appears no longer to believe this, despite the fact that all of the great leaders of America's past believed it, as attested by George Washington's kneeling in the snows at Valley Forge, a fact beautifully memorialized by Ward's famous bronze plaque attached to the old Sub Treasury building of the United States across from the New York Stock Exchange building. Nevertheless, it still stands in the Eternal Word, "God rules in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will" (Daniel 4:25). In the words of Rudyard Kipling,

"LORD GOD OF HOSTS; BE WITH US YET,

LEST WE FORGET; LEST WE FORGET."

"That they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries" (2 Chronicles 12:8). This meant that Israel might find out the difference between serving God and serving Shishak! These verses are not parallel to Kings, but Shishak's invasion is mentioned in 1 Kings 14:25-26.