05.06. 2 Chronicles 10-12
2 Chronicles 10:1-19, 2 Chronicles 11:1-23, 2 Chronicles 12:1-16 Solomon’s Successors The Era of the Prophets
2 Chronicles 10:1-19, 2 Chronicles 11:1-23, 2 Chronicles 12:1-16, 2 Chronicles 13:1-22, 2 Chronicles 14:1-15, 2 Chronicles 15:1-19, 2 Chronicles 16:1-14, 2 Chronicles 17:1-19, 2 Chronicles 18:1-34, 2 Chronicles 19:1-11, 2 Chronicles 20:1-37, 2 Chronicles 21:1-20, 2 Chronicles 22:1-12, 2 Chronicles 23:1-21, 2 Chronicles 24:1-27, 2 Chronicles 25:28, 2 Chronicles 26:1-23, 2 Chronicles 27:1-9, 2 Chronicles 28:1-27, 2 Chronicles 29:1-36, 2 Chronicles 30:1-27, 2 Chronicles 31:1-21, 2 Chronicles 32:1-33, 2 Chronicles 33:1-25, 2 Chronicles 34:1-33, 2 Chronicles 35:1-27, 2 Chronicles 36:1-23
2 Chronicles 10:1-19 marks the second division of Chronicles. Its first division has embraced the history of David and Solomon. Until the end of our book we now have the history of the kingdom of Judah, the counterpart of the kingdom of Israel taken up in the books of the Kings. But before studying Solomon’s successors, we must give a brief exposition of what makes their history special.
We have said that Chronicles presents the picture of God’s counsels with regard to the kingdom. These counsels have been accomplished in type, but only in type, under the reigns of David and Solomon. David, the suffering and rejected king, has become, in his Son, the king of peace, the king of glory who sits upon the throne of Jehovah. However, although Chronicles is careful to omit Solomon’s faults entirely, he was not the true king according to God’s counsels. The words “I will be his father, and he shall be My son” (2 Samuel 7:14) could not find their complete fulfillment in him. The decree “Thou art My Son; I this day have begotten thee” (Psalms 2:7), did not relate to him, but directed hope to One greater and more perfect than he. But, in order that this future Son might be “the offspring of David,” David’s line must be maintained until His appearing; this is why God had promised David “to give to him always a lamp, and to his sons” (2 Chronicles 21:7). Now, how was this lamp going to shine in the royal house until the appearing of the promised Son? How was it to pass through man’s poisoned air and moral darkness without being extinguished - which would have made David’s true Heir’s appearing impossible? Satan understood this. If he could succeed in extinguishing the lamp, all of God’s counsels concerning the “Just Ruler over men” would come to naught. But, despite all the enemy’s efforts to suppress this light, the Son of David appeared in the world, won the victory over Satan, and became for the Church the Yea and Amen of all God’s promises. Yet this subject, revealed in the New Testament, is not what is in question here; as we have seen, Chronicles deals only with the earthly kingdom of Christ over Israel and the nations. This kingdom was contested to the end by Satan. When the King whom the magi worshipped appeared as a small Child, the enemy sought to cut Him off through the murder of the children at Bethlehem. At the cross where he thought to make an end of Him, he could not prevent Him from being declared king of the Jews in sight of all by Pilate’s inscription; and, when the enemy thought he was victorious, God resurrected His Anointed and made Him Lord and Christ before the eyes of the whole house of Israel.
Let us return to our book. If for the reasons above it does not show us Satan’s maneuvers during Solomon’s reign, it speaks of them in an all the more striking manner during the subsequent reigns. The enemy seduces the king and his people to lead them into idolatry; he uses violence in an effort to destroy and wipe out the royal line. But God’s watchful care reaches the people’s conscience and, when everything seems lost, the Spirit’s breath comes to revive the wick that is going out. There are situations where a Joram, an Ahaziah, an Ahaz are so reprobate that they are delivered up to consuming fire, for God Himself, always mindful of “good things,” can no longer acknowledge any good in these kings, and everything, absolutely everything, must be judged. The lamp is extinguished; deepest darkness reigns; Satan triumphs, but only in appearance. God preserves a feeble shoot of this reprobate trunk in the person of Ahaziah - yes, but this single shoot spared from the murder of the royal race, is himself found to be a dry branch destined for the fire. Anew the entire line is annihilated. Is it completely destroyed now? No, there it is - reborn in the person of Joash, and the Spirit of God is once again able to find in him “good things.” In this manner the royal succession continues, so that David’s line is not wiped out by these reprobates (see Matthew 1:1-25). Thus Satan’s struggle against God results in Satan’s confusion. What, then, is the reason for his defeat? One thing explains it: the only thing that Satan, who knows so much, has never thought of nor could think of. The secret which he is ignorant of is grace, for his so cunning intelligence is completely impervious to love. This entire second portion of Chronicles could thus be entitled The history of grace in relation to the kingdom of Judah. When grace can revive the flame so as to maintain the light of testimony, it does not fail to do so; when, in the face of the willful hardening of heart of the kings, it can produce nothing, it still raises up to them a posterity from which it can expect some fruit.
Thus we shall witness Satan’s desperate struggle against God’s counsels and, at the same time, the triumph of grace. This entire period is summarized in the words of the prophet: “Who is a God like unto Thee, that forgiveth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in loving-kindness. He will yet again have compassion on us; He will tread under foot our iniquities: and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19).
Nevertheless a time comes when the ruin appears irremediable, when in the struggle Satan’s triumph seems assured. The kingdom sinks under waves of judgment; although, as we have seen in the genealogies (1 Chronicles 3:19; 1 Chronicles 3:24), feeble representatives of the royal line, without titles, without prerogatives, without authority and without a realm continue to exist. After them, the line - ever more obscure and brought low - perpetuates itself in silence until we reach a poor carpenter who becomes the reputed father of the “woman’s Seed.” Christ is born!
Thus nothing has been able to thwart God’s counsels - neither Satan’s efforts, nor the unfaithfulness of the kings. No doubt, these counsels have been hidden for a time until the coming of the Messiah, depicted beforehand in the person of Solomon. The throne remained empty, but empty only in appearance, until the King of righteousness and peace could sit on it. Here He is! This little Child, lowly, rejected from the time of His appearance, possesses every title to the kingdom. But see Him, hear Him! The crowds seek Him to make Him king; He hides Himself and withdraws; He forbids His disciples to speak of His kingdom. This is because before He receives it, He has another mission, another service to accomplish. He declares Himself king before Pilate and this leads to His execution, but He goes to lay hold of a kingdom which is not of this world. He abandons all His rights - not reserving a single one of them - to the hands of His enemies; He is silent, like a sheep before its shearers. This is because He must carry out a completely different task, the immense work of redemption which leads Him to the cross.
Having accomplished this work, He receives, in resurrection, the heavenly sphere of the kingdom. Like Solomon of old He is seated on His Father’s throne while waiting to be seated on His own throne. This moment will come for Him, the true King of Israel and of the nations, but it has not yet arrived. He awaits only a sign from His Father to take the reins of earthly government in hand. From the moment of His appearing as a little Child, there is no more need of a royal succession. Note: We say “succession” because we would not forget that the “prince” or viceroy of Ezekiel is of royal seed (cf. Ezekiel 46:1-18; Ezekiel 48:21). The King exists, the King lives, the King is enthroned in heaven today; soon He will be proclaimed Lord of all the earth and the offspring of David for His people Israel. But until His appearing, to maintain His line of descent, there is, as we have said, but one means: grace. This is why we have the remarkable peculiarity in Chronicles that everything, even in the worst of kings, that could be the fruit of grace, is carefully recorded. Everywhere that God can do so, He points it out. So, too, this account is not, as we find in Kings, the portrayal of responsible royalty, but the portrayal of the activity of grace in these men. The Spirit of God works even in the dreadfully hardened heart of a Manasseh in order to prolong the royal line of descent a little longer in an offspring (Josiah) who rules according to God’s heart. Despite these momentary revivals, the ruin becomes increasingly accentuated. Differing in this from Kings and the prophet Jeremiah, Chronicles scarcely stoops to register Josiah’s successors in a few verses before hastening to reach the end: the return from captivity, shining proof of God’s grace toward this people. In order to accomplish the work of grace which would at last bring in the triumph of the kingdom in the person of Christ, it was necessary that the dispensation of the law, without being abolished, undergo an important modification. Under the kings, the system of law continued, for it did not end until Christ; the system of grace had not yet begun, for it finds its full expression at the cross; but during the period of the kings God intervened in an altogether new way in order to manifest His ways of grace under the system of law. He did this by having prophets appear. Not that this appearing was restricted to the system begun by the kings, for it became evident from the moment that Israel’s history was characterized by ruin. Thus we see the first prophets (not mentioning Enoch, then Moses) appearing when the ruin was complete in Israel. In the book of Judges, when the entire people failed, we see the prophetess Deborah arising (Judges 4:4), and later a prophet (Judges 6:7-10). Later on, when the priesthood was in ruin Samuel was raised up as a prophet (1 Samuel 3:20). In the books of Kings and Chronicles, at last, when kingship failed, prophets appeared and multiplied beyond our ability to count them.
Note:
List of the prophets cited in the second book of Chronicles:
Nathan (2 Chronicles 9:29);
Ahijah the Shilonite (2 Chronicles 9:29; 2 Chronicles 10:15).
Iddo the seer (2 Chronicles 9:29; 2 Chronicles 12:15; 2 Chronicles 13:22).
Shemaiah the man of God (2 Chronicles 11:2; 2 Chronicles 12:5; 2 Chronicles 12:15).
Azariah the son of Oded (2 Chronicles 15:1), and Oded (v. 8).
Hanani the seer (2 Chronicles 16:7).
Micah (or Micaiah) the son of Imlah (2 Chronicles 18:7).
Jehu the son of Hanani, the seer (2 Chronicles 19:2; 2 Chronicles 20:34).
Jahaziel the son of Zechariah (2 Chronicles 20:14).
Eliezer the son of Dodavah (2 Chronicles 20:37).
Elijah the prophet (2 Chronicles 21:12).
Several prophets and Zechariah the son of Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 24:19-20). A man of God (2 Chronicles 25:7). A prophet (2 Chronicles 25:15).
Zechariah the seer (2 Chronicles 26:5).
Isaiah the son of Amoz (2 Chronicles 26:22; 2 Chronicles 32:32).
Oded (2 Chronicles 28:9).
Micah the Morasthite (Jeremiah 26:18).
Some seers (or prophets) (2 Chronicles 33:18-19, cf. 2 Kings 21:10).
Huldah the prophetess (2 Chronicles 34:22) Jeremiah (2 Chronicles 35:12; 2 Chronicles 35:1-27: 2 Chronicles 25:1-28; 2 Chronicles 36:12; 2 Chronicles 36:21).
Messengers and prophets (2 Chronicles 36:15-16); cf. Uriah the son of Shemaiah (Jeremiah 26:20).
They inaugurated a new dispensation of God, become necessary when all was ruined, when the law had shown itself powerless to rule and keep in check the corrupt nature of man; when even combined with mercy (when the tables of the law were given to Moses a second time) it had in no way improved this condition. It was then that God sent His prophets. On certain occasions they announce only impending judgment, the last effort of divine mercy to save the people, through fire as it were; on other much more numerous occasions they are sent to exhort, to restore, to console, to strengthen, to call to repentance, while at the same time bringing out the judicial consequences for those who do not give heed. Thus the prophet simultaneously has a ministry of grace and of judgment: of grace because the Lord is a God of goodness, of judgment because the people are placed under law and prophecy does not abolish the law. On the contrary, it rests on the law while at the same time loudly proclaiming that at the least little returning to God, the sinner will find mercy. It is no doubt an easing of the law: God grants the sinner all that is compatible with His holiness, but, on the other hand, He cannot deny His own character in face of man’s responsibility. Prophecy does not abolish one iota of the law, but rather it accentuates, more than God had ever done up till now, the great fact that He loves mercy and forgiveness and takes account of the least indication of return towards Himself. “When the prophets come on the scene,” a brother has said, “grace begins to shine anew.” The very fact of their testimony was already grace toward a people who had violated the law. If they came looking for fruit and found nothing but sour grapes, nonetheless they announced God’s promises in grace to the elect - grace as a reparation of the things which the people had spoiled. The gospel, which came afterwards, speaks of new creation, of a new life, and not of a reparation. In Isaiah 58:13-14 we see the different character of the law and of prophecy in the way in which they present the Sabbath: “If thou...” says the prophet, “call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of Jehovah, honorable; and thou honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking idle words; then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah.”
Thus a special characteristic of God is expressed by the prophets. It is not the law, given at Sinai, still less is it the grace revealed in the gospel. It is rather a God who, while He shows His indignation against sin, takes no pleasure in judgment and whose true character of grace will always triumph in the end; a God who says: “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people” when they have “received...double for all [their] sins.” Under pure law judgment triumphs over iniquity; under prophecy, grace and mercy triumph when judgment has been executed; and finally under the gospel, grace is exalted over judgment because love and righteousness have kissed each other at the cross. The judgment executed on Christ has caused grace to triumph. Judgment fell on Him instead of on us - grace in its fullness, love, God Himself has been for us. The entire role of prophecy is expressed in the passage from the prophet Micah cited above (Micah 7:18-19). It is impossible, and this is what the prophet announces here, for God to deny Himself, whether with regard to His judgments, or whether with regard to His promises of grace.
Such is the role of the prophets in Chronicles. If at first they appear singly, as in the Judges and then under the reign of Saul, of David, and of Solomon, they then multiply in the measure in which iniquity grows in the kingdom. This is what the Lord expresses in Matthew 21:34-36. After the few servants at the beginning, of whom the husbandmen beat one, killed another, and stoned a third, the householder sent other servants, more than the first, and the husbandmen treated them in the same way. At last He sent His Son.
2 Chronicles 10:1-19, 2 Chronicles 11:1-23, 2 Chronicles 12:1-16
Rehoboam
Here we reach the dividing line in Chronicles separating the reign of David and Solomon from those of their successors. As we have said above, the subject we will take up will no longer present us the counsels of God regarding the kingdom, but rather the work of grace to maintain it until the appearance of the Messiah, in whom these counsels will be realized. Thus we have here the history - ordinarily distressing, sometimes comforting - of the kings of Judah, for the kings of Israel are not mentioned except in relation to Judah and Jerusalem. This is exactly the counterpart of the account in Kings.
It is a remarkable fact--and one confirming everything we have said particularly concerning David and Solomon, types of royalty according to God’s counsels--that here the Word not only omits Solomon’s sins at the end of his career, but it even omits their consequences, as it did earlier in the first book of Chronicles with the chastening that came on David because of Uriah: evident proof that David and Solomon occupy a special place in these books. The accession of Jeroboam to the throne and the division of the kingdom are here presented as the consequence of Rehoboam’s sin, and not that of his father; likewise, Ahijah’s prophecy to Jeroboam is fulfilled, not because Solomon sinned, but because “[Rehoboam] hearkened not to the people” (2 Chronicles 10:15). Moreover, we see in this same passage referred to in 1 Kings 11:31-33, that God does not intend to hide Solomon’s faults, but that rather the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to omit them. The establishment of Jeroboam the son of Nebat on the throne of Israel is also passed over in silence, which is important, for the history here is uniquely that of Judah, and not that of Israel (cf. 1 Kings 12:20). For the same reason our account omits Jeroboam’s establishment of idolatry, the story of the old prophet, the illness of Abijah the son of Jeroboam, and Ahijah’s prophecy on this occasion (1 Kings 12:25-33, 1 Kings 13:1-34, 1 Kings 14:1-20).
Rehoboam’s history spans 2 Chronicles 10:1-19, 2 Chronicles 11:1-23, 2 Chronicles 12:1-16, whereas Kings summarizes it in a few verses (1 Kings 14:21-31); but - the detail is characteristic - this latter passage presents the darkest picture of the condition of the people, whereas our chapters record the good which grace produces in the king’s heart, though it is said of him (2 Chronicles 12:14): “And he did evil, for he applied not his heart to seek Jehovah.” 2 Chronicles 11:1-23 tells us two important facts: Rehoboam had thought to bring the ten tribes back under the yoke of obedience, but in doing so he would have been opposing God’s governmental dealings with Judah. The prophet Shemaiah turns him from a decision which would have led to his ruin and would have had the most serious consequences for the tribe of Judah, on which the eyes of the Lord were still resting, despite His judgments. Grace acts in the hearts of the people; he listens to the exhortation and does not follow through on his dangerous plan. From henceforth Rehoboam’s only task was to build a system of defense against the enemies from without, enemies who were his own people and who had formerly been under his governing authority. Rehoboam surrounds the territory of Judah and Benjamin with fortresses (2 Chronicles 11:5-12). His only duty was to preserve that which was left to him, but how could he do so when evil was already present within and ravaging the kingdom? However his responsibility to guard the people was in no way diminished by evil which was already irreparable. This principle is of great importance for us. Christendom’s state of irremediable ruin in no way changes our obligation to defend souls against the harmful principles which are at work. We have the sad task of raising up strongholds against a world similar to the ten tribes, which called on the name of the Lord while giving themselves over to idolatry - against a world which decks itself out with the name of Christ while abandoning itself to its lusts. We are to make Christendom understand and feel that there is a separation between true Christians and mere professors whom God ranks with His enemies. This hostility brought on the conflict between Judah and Israel, and was bound up with the idolatrous worship which Jeroboam established and imposed on the ten tribes. Public and official maintenance of the worship of God in Judah had very blessed consequences: “The priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their districts; for the Levites left their suburbs and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem...and after them, those out of all the tribes of Israel that set their heart to seek Jehovah the God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to Jehovah the God of their fathers” (2 Chronicles 11:13-16). All those who had an undivided heart for God, even though they had been caught up for the moment in the revolt of the ten tribes, understand that their place in not in the midst of these tribes and they leave this defiled ground in order to come to Judah and settle there. This is how faithful testimony, holy separation from the world, produces fruit in believers who have hitherto been detained by their circumstances in a sphere which the Lord no longer acknowledges, and how they are moved to join their brothers who gather around the Lord. If this gathering together soon lost its character, was it not because Judah and her kings abandoned the divine ground that they might themselves sacrifice to idols? Indeed, this testimony of separation from evil lasted only a short time: “For during three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon,” and during this period “they strengthened the kingdom of Judah” (2 Chronicles 11:17). For three years! Why didn’t they continue! This was the path of blessing for Judah and her king, and is it not likewise for us? Blessing might have been complete even amidst the ultimate humiliation inflicted on Israel. It proved to be only temporary. This momentary blessing through which the kingdom of Judah was strengthened and Israel established itself became a snare for Rehoboam. The flesh uses even God’s favors as an occasion to depart from Him. “And it came to pass when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and when he had become strong, that he forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him” (2 Chronicles 12:1). It is enough that one man, commissioned by the Lord to shepherd His people, turn aside: his example will be followed by all the rest. What a responsibility for him! Chastening soon follows: “And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, because they had transgressed against Jehovah, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen...and he took the fortified cities that belonged to Judah, and came to Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 12:2-4). Judah did not fall prey to their brother Israel, against whose religion they rightfully defended themselves; they fell, a much deeper downfall, into the hands of a world from which God had once redeemed them by a strong hand and stretched-forth arm - and, as of old, they were brought under subjection to the king of Egypt.
God’s purpose in chastening them is proclaimed in the prophecy of Shemaiah, the prophet: “That they may know My service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries” (2 Chronicles 12:8). They could henceforth compare their three years of liberty and free blessing with the bondage of Egypt. As a result of the words of Shemaiah, the prophet: “Ye have forsaken Me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak,” there was a real work of conscience in the heart of the king and his princes, for they “humbled themselves; and they said, Jehovah is righteous,” and this humbling of themselves preserved Judah from complete destruction. “And when Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves: I will not destroy them, but I will grant them a little deliverance; and My wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants” (2 Chronicles 12:7). This is grace, but, I repeat, Judah is obliged to suffer the consequences of having abandoned the word of God. All this work of repentance, the fruit of grace, is lacking - and with just cause - in 1 Kings 14:1-33. We shall see this same thing constantly repeated in the course of this book.
What shame for Rehoboam! Solomon’s beautiful temple has existed but thirty years when it is stripped of its ornaments and all its treasures. Their worship has lost the splendor of its past; Shishak, we are told, took all. All! but nevertheless one thing still remains: the altar is there, God is there. For faith, amid desolation and humiliation this was much more than all the gold taken away by the king of Egypt. Is it not the same today? Christians are called upon to assess everything they are lacking as a result of the Church’s unfaithfulness; and they must add, The Lord is righteous; but they may also say, God is a God of grace and has not turned aside from us. We find a very touching word for our hearts here: When Rehoboam “humbled himself, the anger of Jehovah turned away from him, that He would not destroy him altogether; and also in Judah there were good things” (2 Chronicles 12:12). Few things, perhaps - and this is exactly what this term gives us to understand - but in the final analysis, something that God could acknowledge. Final judgment was deferred because of these few favorable little things that were pleasing to God. Let us apply ourselves, each one individually, to maintain these good things before Him. May those around us notice some measure of devotion to Christ, some measure of love for Him, some measure of fear in the presence of His holiness, some measure of activity in His service. We may be sure that He will take it into account and that as long as it continues He will not remove the lamp from its place.
How fair our God is in His judgments, even in the presence of a state of which He says: “He did evil, for he applied not his heart to seek the Lord” (2 Chronicles 12:14). It is marvelous grace indeed that while not tolerating any evil at all, is pleased to acknowledge that which is good, and that discerns it when man’s eye is incapable of seeing it, whether within or without himself. Think of this with regard to 1 Kings 14:22-24 : “Judah did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed more than all that their fathers had done. And they also built for themselves high places, and columns, and Asherahs on every high hill and under every green tree; and there were also sodomites in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed before the children of Israel.” Reading these words, we marvel all the more at God’s infinite goodness which, on account of a few righteous persons, was not willing entirely to destroy this people as He had once destroyed Sodom.
Let us mention yet one more detail before closing these chapters. The great number of Rehoboam’s wives and concubines is an imitation of Solomon’s sin which led to the ruin of his kingdom. It would seem that the relationship between the conduct of son and father ought to be mentioned. But nothing is said. In 2 Chronicles, Solomon, as we have often said, is looked at as being without fault, and judgment is directed toward Rehoboam alone. Nevertheless, even amidst this disorder and when Rehoboam raises the daughter of Absalom, the rebel, and Abijah, this woman’s son, to the first place, God is pleased to acknowledge that Rehoboam “dealt wisely” in dispersing his sons throughout all the lands of Judah in order to avoid discord in the kingdom (2 Chronicles 11:18-23). This is similar to the praise of “the unrighteous steward because he had done prudently” (Luke 16:8).