Year 9, Day 312: 2 Chronicles 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today, we close the book on Rehoboam.  The final summary of his reign haunt me.  He did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.  What an awful epitaph to be attached to your name for all of history!

How does one avoid such an epitaph?  Clearly that task is harder than it appears, and I think that is one of the greatest lessons that can be learned from both the book of 2 Chronicles (and 1 & 2 Kings if you want the perspective of the northern kingdom, too).  There will be far more kings who are remembered for doing evil that for doing good.  It appears that the proverbial path to the dark side is significantly easier than the path into the light.

Note what accompanies Rehoboam’s judgment.  He did not set his heart to seek the Lord.  This judgment isn’t so much on what happened, but why it happened.  This isn’t a judgment based on the external results but instead a judgment over the internal condition of the heart that brings about such external results.  Rehoboam is evil because of his heart, not because of the overall failures of his reign.

Pushing the issue a little further broadens the perspective.  Remember the short story of the Hebrew people from the Exodus until Rehoboam.  Depending on a person’s view of the Judges and whether their leadership was consecutive or overlapping, it is possible to date the Exodus anywhere between 1450 BC and 1250 BC.  Solomon’s temple was built around the year 967 BC.  That means the Old Testament asserts that between 300 and 500 years have happened from Exodus to Rehoboam.

In those 300-500 years, much of it was covered by the time of the Judges.  The Judges were people who were raised up because the people become disobedient and God brought opponents against them to punish them for their disobedience.  In other words, God gave them a reason to remember Him.  Then came Saul, whose reign was up and down.  Then came David, whose reign was good and his heart was good, but he was personally flawed.  Then we have Solomon who starts off well but ends with a great decline.  Rehoboam steps on the scene and is evil.

It doesn’t take long for evil to corrupt what God intends.  It could be said that 300-500 years is plenty of time, but I believe that is overstating things.  A deeper look indicates that the people have been cyclical in their faith the whole time.  There have been cycles of faith this whole time.

As evidence of this, the Chronicler reminds us of the gold shields.  Solomon had hundreds of gold shields made.  Less than 40 years later and those shields were taken as a prize to Egypt.  The splendor that God had bathed Solomon’s reign in was gone for good.  How quickly the human heart turns when prosperity enters the picture.  How quickly leadership turns from seeking the Lord to basking in its own greatness!  No wonder God brings consequence upon our life so often!

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