2 Crônicas 12

ARC · Chapter 12/36

1Succedeu pois que, havendo Roboão confirmado o reino, e havendo-se fortalecido, deixou a lei do Senhor, e com elle todo o Israel.

2Pelo que succedeu, no anno quinto do rei Roboão, que Sisak, rei do Egypto, subiu contra Jerusalem (porque tinham transgredido contra o Senhor)

3Com mil e duzentos carros, e com sessenta mil cavalleiros; e era innumeravel a gente que vinha com elle do Egypto, de lybios, suchitas e ethiopes.

4E tomou as cidades fortes, que Judah tinha; e veiu a Jerusalem.

5Então veiu Semaias, o propheta, a Roboão e aos principes de Judah que se ajuntaram em Jerusalem por causa de Sisak, e disse-lhes: Assim diz o Senhor: Vós me deixastes a mim, pelo que eu tambem vos deixei na mão de Sisak.

6Então se humilharam os principes d'Israel, e o rei, e disseram: O Senhor é justo.

7Vendo pois o Senhor que se humilhavam, veiu a palavra do Senhor a Semaias, dizendo: Humilharam-se, não os destruirei; antes em breve lhes darei logar d'escaparem, para que o meu furor se não derrame sobre Jerusalem, por mão de Sisak.

8Porém serão seus servos: para que conheçam a differença da minha servidão e da servidão dos reinos da terra

9Subiu pois Sisak, rei do Egypto, contra Jerusalem, e tomou os thesouros da casa do Senhor, e os thesouros da casa do rei; levou tudo: tambem tomou os escudos d'oiro, que Salomão fizera.

10E fez o rei Roboão em logar d'elles escudos de cobre, e os entregou na mão dos capitães da guarda, que guardavam a porta da casa do rei.

11E succedeu que, entrando o rei na casa do Senhor, vinham os da guarda, e os traziam, e os tornavam a pôr na camara da guarda.

12E humilhando-se elle, a ira do Senhor se desviou d'elle, para que o não destruisse de todo; porque ainda em Judah havia boas coisas.

13Fortificou-se pois o rei Roboão em Jerusalem, e reinou; porque Roboão era da edade de quarenta e um annos, quando commeçou a reinar; e dezesete annos reinou em Jerusalem, a cidade que o Senhor escolheu d'entre todas as tribus d'Israel, para pôr ali o seu nome; e era o nome de sua mãe Naama, ammonita.

14E fez o que era mal; porquanto não preparou o seu coração para buscar ao Senhor.

15Os successos pois de Roboão, assim os primeiros, como os ultimos, porventura não estão escriptos nos livros de Semaias, o propheta, e de Iddo, o vidente, na relação das genealogias? E havia guerras entre Roboão e Jeroboão em todos os seus dias.

16E Roboão dormiu com seus paes, e foi sepultado na cidade de David: e Abias, seu filho, reinou em seu logar.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

After growing strong, Rehoboam and the people of Judah abandon the law of the LORD, and as a consequence King Shishak of Egypt invades Judah and plunders the treasures of the temple and the palace. When the people humble themselves before the prophetic message of Shemaiah, God moderates the punishment, preventing total destruction.

Explanation

This chapter establishes a pattern that will repeat many times throughout 2 Chronicles: prosperity leads to arrogance, arrogance leads to the abandonment of faith, the abandonment of faith brings judgment through foreign invaders, but genuine humility, even if late, can soften the consequences of judgment. A powerful symbolic detail is that Rehoboam replaces the stolen gold shields with bronze ones — a clear visual metaphor for the spiritual and material decline of the kingdom, from something precious to something ordinary, under leadership that no longer prioritized seeking God as his grandfather David had done.

Fun facts

  • The Egyptian pharaoh Shishak (also called Sheshonq I) is a historically confirmed figure through Egyptian inscriptions that record his military campaign against cities of Israel and Judah, offering a rare direct archaeological confirmation of biblical events.
  • The replacement of the gold shields with bronze shields, kept by the palace guards, is often used as a spiritual metaphor to describe any situation in which something genuine and valuable is replaced by an inferior imitation.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Crônicas 12:1As soon as Rehoboam’s kingdom becomes settled and strong, he and all the people abandon the law of the Lord — success becomes an occasion for spiritual carelessness.
  2. 2 Crônicas 12:2Pharaoh Shishak’s invasion of Jerusalem, five years after Rehoboam takes the throne, is a real historical event, recorded even in Egyptian inscriptions from the time — it’s not just an isolated biblical tradition. The text ties the invasion directly to the kingdom’s having abandoned faithfulness to the Lord.
  3. 2 Crônicas 12:3Shishak’s Egyptian army is described as enormous: twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and a countless multitude of Lubims, Sukkiims, and Ethiopians.
  4. 2 Crônicas 12:4Shishak conquers the fortified cities of Judah — the very ones Rehoboam had just reinforced in the previous chapter — and reaches all the way to Jerusalem.
  5. 2 Crônicas 12:5The prophet Shemaiah confronts Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah gathered in Jerusalem with a direct message: since they abandoned God, He has also abandoned them into the hand of Shishak.
  6. 2 Crônicas 12:6Faced with this warning, the leaders of Judah and the king himself humble themselves and acknowledge, “The Lord is righteous” — accepting the blame without contesting it.
  7. 2 Crônicas 12:7Seeing this humility, God changes the course of the message to Shemaiah: He will not destroy the people, He will only grant some relief so that His wrath does not fall on Jerusalem with full force through Shishak.
  8. 2 Crônicas 12:8Since the people humble themselves at the prophet’s warning, God does not let Jerusalem be destroyed, but He still allows them to become Shishak’s servants — “that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.” It’s a reduced punishment, but not a cancelled one, used as a lesson.
  9. 2 Crônicas 12:9Shishak plunders the treasures of the temple and the palace, carrying off even the famous gold shields Solomon had made.
  10. 2 Crônicas 12:10In place of the stolen gold shields, Rehoboam has bronze shields made, handed over to the commanders of the guard stationed at the entrance of the palace.
  11. 2 Crônicas 12:11Every time the king entered the temple, the guard would carry these bronze shields and then put them back in the guardroom — a substitute that was visibly poorer than the original.
  12. 2 Crônicas 12:12Because Rehoboam humbled himself, God’s wrath turns away before destroying him completely — and the text adds that there were still good things in Judah at that moment.
  13. 2 Crônicas 12:13Rehoboam establishes himself on the throne in Jerusalem, reigning seventeen years starting at forty-one years old; his mother, Naamah, was an Ammonitess, a detail the Chronicler always records about every king.
  14. 2 Crônicas 12:14The Chronicler’s verdict on Rehoboam is direct: he did evil, because he never prepared his heart to truly seek the Lord.
  15. 2 Crônicas 12:15The summary of Rehoboam’s reign points to the records of the prophets Shemaiah and Iddo, and mentions that the wars between him and Jeroboam never stopped as long as the two of them lived.
  16. 2 Crônicas 12:16Rehoboam dies and is buried in the city of David; his son Abijah takes the throne in his place, opening the next chapter.

Chapters

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.