2 Chronicles 12:6-8 "Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The LORD is righteous. (7) And when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; therefore 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. (8) Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries."
Recently, we saw the king of Egypt with his army coming against Rehoboam. When
the prophet of the Lord came with the message of God's chastising hand upon
them, we see them now humbling themselves. They indeed realized their sin,
confessed it, and proclaimed the Lord is right in doing this because of their
sin. "The LORD is righteous." When they humbled themselves, the Lord
declared mercy upon them in that Jerusalem would not be destroyed, but they
would be servants to the king of Egypt.
I'm not sure if they remembered the prayer of Solomon at this point when they
humbled themselves, but the Lord had not forgotten His promise. "If my
people which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek
my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear their prayers and
heal their land." God is always true to His promises, but there are also
consequences when we turn away from Him. It is important to understand the
consequences to be reminders of our need for the Lord. "They shall be his
servants; that they may know my service." I'm not sure what Paul's thorn
in the flesh was, but it definitely served him as a reminder of his need for
God's grace in his life. It was a constant reminder. For Israel, the king of
Egypt served as a constant reminder to the people of Judah as to their need for
the Lord's grace and mercy in their lives.
The king of Egypt "took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and
the treasures of the king's house; he took all: he carried away also the
shields of gold which Solomon had made. Instead of which king Rehoboam
made shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the
guard, that kept the entrance of the king's house." (2 Chronicles 12:9-10)
Rehoboam was left in somewhat of a weakened state. He still had shields
but they were not as strong as the ones that had been in place before the
intrusion by the Egyptian army.
As we conclude the study of Rehoboam, we find this to be somewhat of a cycle
with him. He would become strong and then turn away from the Lord. It seems
that he only turned to the Lord when he felt himself in danger. Otherwise, he
felt himself to be capable of handling matters on his own. The result for
Rehoboam was "... he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek
the LORD." (2 Chronicles 12:14) It seems that Rehoboam used the Lord
only to make himself feel good for a while and when he was past the danger,
then he returned back to his own ways.
God help us to understand our need for the Lord constantly; rather than using
Him only when we feel we are in trouble.