Jerusalem was the city that God had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name there, but Rehoboam with Judah and Benjamin, quickly forgot the lessons which should have been thoroughly learned.
There was one place that God had told them to worship Him (Dent. 12:11), but they had turned their backs on Him, and had put up places of their own choice, and according to their own minds. How displeasing all this was to Him. And this has been done in these days, instead of going according to the plain written Word of God. When his kingdom was established and he had become strong (see verse 17 of the 11TH chapter, and verses 1-4 of this chapter), Rehoboam forsook the law of the Lord.
How many a man, a woman, a boy, a girl, both before and since this first king of Judah, has similarly turned away from God's written Word, refusing His rich provision for the subject heart, and seeking like an early sinner (Genesis 4:16- 2416And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. 17And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. 18And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech. 19And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. 21And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. 22And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. 23And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. 24If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold. (Genesis 4:16‑24)) , or an early saint (Genesis 13:10-1310And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. 11Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. 12Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. 13But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. (Genesis 13:10‑13)), satisfaction in the world.
Rehoboam's father, Solomon, a poor example he became to his children in his old age, had written down these earnest words,
Rehoboam, forsaking the Word of God as the rule of his life, was joined with his people, and his people with him, for Judah, we are told in 1 Kings 14:22-24,22And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. 23For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. 24And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. (1 Kings 14:22‑24) "did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked. Him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done."
Judgment therefore came upon the little nation, and it came in the form of an in vision from Powerful Egypt; Shishak, king of Egypt, in Rehoboam's fifth year came up against Jerusalem, and took. the fortified cities, that belonged to Judah.
With an irresistible enemy before the city, and a message from God brought by Shemaiah the prophet who had been God's mouthpiece at the commencement of Rehoboam's reign (chapter 11:2) the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves, acknowledging that the chastening hand of God was upon them because of their sins. That the princes are mentioned before the king, who should have been the leader in right ways, is significant, and verse 14 adds the brief summary of Rehoboam's life as God saw it, that he did evil, for he applied not his heart to seek the One to whom he owed all, his protector and source of blessing.
Because of the princes and the king humbling themselves, the blow which Shishak was prepared to give the little kingdom was softened; all the treasures of the magnificent Temple, the planning of which had been so much before David, and whose building and equipment had occupied Solomon's mind and heart, and the treasures of the king's house that had taken 13 years to build (1 Kings 7:11But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. (1 Kings 7:1))— all these, brought into being but forty years before, were carried away by the Egyptians. Much was left, true, but the loss was great. Shields of brass (bronze) make a poor exchange for shields of gold.
There was that to commend, and the pitiful eyes of God saw it: Rehoboam had humbled himself, and in Judah there were good things (verse 12). Whether for himself or for God's sake, the king maintained a state of war with the several ten tribes (verse 15); chapter 18 shows us a change in this attitude of opposition to the idol worshiping kingdom on the north of Judah, and it came about through the neglect of the generally godly Jehoshaphat.
Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king at Solomon's death, and after reigning 17 years he died. No word comes to us as to his state 'before God when death came. Is verse 14 the record for the great white throne. (Revelation 20:1111And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. (Revelation 20:11)) ? Solemn thought 1 Reader, consider!