Scripture Daily

Context No. 405 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 12:6-16: in context

6Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, “The LORD is righteous.” 7When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the LORD’s word came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath won’t be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8Nevertheless they will be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.” 9So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the LORD’s house and the treasures of the king’s house. He took it all away. He also took away the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 10King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. 11As often as the king entered into the LORD’s house, the guard came and bore them, then brought them back into the guard room. 12When he humbled himself, the LORD’s wrath turned from him, so as not to destroy him altogether. Moreover, there were good things found in Judah. 13So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned; for Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 14He did that which was evil, because he didn’t set his heart to seek the LORD. 15Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, aren’t they written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, in the genealogies? There were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 16Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in David’s city; and Abijah his son reigned in his place.

This passage tells the sad, ordinary story of a decline, and it hangs on one telling detail about shields. Rehoboam, Solomon's son, has led Judah into unfaithfulness, and when the Egyptian king Shishak invades, Rehoboam and his officials humble themselves and admit, the LORD is righteous. Because of that humbling, God shows mercy in the middle of judgment: he does not destroy them utterly, though he lets them be subdued so that they will learn the difference between serving him and serving foreign kings. But Shishak still plunders the temple and the palace, and among the treasures he carries off are the shields of gold that Solomon had made, the gleaming symbols of the kingdom's former glory.

And here is what Rehoboam does about the loss. He makes new shields to replace them, but not of gold. He makes them of bronze, and he assigns guards to carry them out ceremonially whenever the king goes up to the temple, then carry them back to the guardroom. Think about what that means. The gold is gone, lost through the nation's unfaithfulness, and rather than face the loss, Rehoboam polishes up bronze to look like gold and keeps the ceremony going. The ritual continues, the shields still come out on cue, but the substance has been quietly downgraded, and everyone knows bronze is not gold. And the text names the root of it plainly: he did evil, because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD. The bronze shields are the symptom; a heart not set on God is the cause.

That is a picture of a very human move. After we lose something real, often through our own slow drift, we are tempted to replace it with a cheaper imitation and keep up the appearances, rather than face the loss honestly or seek God to restore the real thing. Where have I swapped gold for bronze in my own life, quietly replacing something genuine I let slip away with a polished substitute and keeping the ceremony going, when the honest move would be to admit the loss and set my heart again on seeking the LORD?

Sources