Sunday Sermonette: Backsliding again

The story in Ch. 12 is also told in Kings, more briefly, but this is obviously from a different source, probably one of the lost books he mentions at the end. It ' s basically the Groundhog Day story we read a dozen times in Judges. The leader abandons Yahweh and suffers military defeat. Before telling this story, Kings has a couple of chapters about going on in the northern kingdom, which the Chronicler skips. Note that in verse 1, he calls Judah " Israel, " which he does frequently, and which can be a bit confusing. 12 After Rehoboam ’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel[a] with him abandoned the law of theLord.2 Because they had been unfaithful to theLord, 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[b] 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 theLord says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.’”6 The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “TheLord is just. ”7 When theLord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of theLord came to Shemaiah: “Since they have hu...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs