2 Chronicles 12:13

So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam was one and forty 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. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(b) SUMMING UP OF THE REIGN (2Chronicles 12:13-16).

(Comp. 1Kings 14:21-22; 1Kings 14:29; 1Kings 14:31.)

The Syriac and Arabic contain this section.

(13) So king Rehoboam strengthened himself.—After the withdrawal of Shishak. In other words, he regained strength after the crushing blow inflicted by the Egyptian invasion. (Comp. the same word in 2Chronicles 13:21; 2Chronicles 1:1.)

And reigned—i.e., reigned on for twelve years longer; for he reigned altogether seventeen years.

Rehoboam was one and forty . . . Naamah an Ammonitess.—Word for word as in 1Kings 14:21. (See the Notes there).

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 12:13. King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem — He recovered so much strength that he reigned with some authority: or, finding that his fenced cities of Judah did not answer his expectation, he now made it his business to fortify Jerusalem, and render that impregnable. And there he reigned seventeen years, in the city which the Lord had chosen to put his name there.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:1-16 Rehoboam, forsaking the Lord, is punished. - When Rehoboam was so strong that he supposed he had nothing to fear from Jeroboam, he cast off his outward profession of godliness. It is very common, but very lamentable, that men, who in distress or danger, or near death, seem much engaged in seeking and serving God, throw aside all their religion when they have received a merciful deliverance. God quickly brought troubles upon Judah, to awaken the people to repentance, before their hearts were hardened. Thus it becomes us, when we are under the rebukes of Providence, to justify God, and to judge ourselves. If we have humbled hearts under humbling providences, the affliction has done its work; it shall be removed, or the property of it be altered. The more God's service is compared with other services, the more reasonable and easy it will appear. Are the laws of temperance thought hard? The effects of intemperance will be found much harder. The service of God is perfect liberty; the service of our lusts is complete slavery. Rehoboam was never rightly fixed in his religion. He never quite cast off God; yet he engaged not his heart to seek the Lord. See what his fault was; he did not serve the Lord, because he did not seek the Lord. He did not pray, as Solomon, for wisdom and grace; he did not consult the word of God, did not seek to that as his oracle, nor follow its directions. He made nothing of his religion, because he did not set his heart to it, nor ever came up to a steady resolution in it. He did evil, because he never was determined for good.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That they may know my service, and the service of the kingdom - i. e., that they may contrast the light burthen of the theocracy with the heavy yoke of a foreign monarch.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 12:13-16. His Reign and Death.

13, 14. Rehoboam strengthened … and reigned—The Egyptian invasion had been a mere predatory expedition, not extending beyond the limits of Judah, and probably, ere long, repelled by the invaded. Rehoboam's government acquired new life and vigor by the general revival of true religion, and his reign continued many years after the departure of Shishak. But

he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord—that is, he did not adhere firmly to the good course of reformation he had begun, "and he did evil," for through the unhappy influence of his mother, a heathen foreigner, he had no doubt received in his youth a strong bias towards idolatry (see on [434]1Ki 14:21).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem,.... Fortified that yet more for the defence of himself, after Shishak departed:

and reigned; twelve years more, for he reigned in all seventeen, and this was in his fifth year; of what follows in this verse; see Gill on 1 Kings 14:21.

Geneva Study Bible

So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam was one and forty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned {g} seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.

(g) That is, twelve years after he had been overcome by Shishak, 2Ch 12:2.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13–16 (cp. 1 Kings 14:21; 1 Kings 14:29-31). Summary of Rehoboam’s Reign

13. strengthened himself] See note on 2 Chronicles 1:1. The immediate reference is to a recovery of strength after the departure of Shishak, the further reference is to 2 Chronicles 11:5.

one and forty years old … and he reigned seventeen years] So read both Heb. and LXX. here and in 1 Kings 14:21, but in the additional passage which follows 1 Kings 12:14 in LXX. (B, not A) is read, sixteen years old … and twelve years he reigned. No importance however can be attached to this variation, for the passage which contains it is plainly Midrashic in character.

the city which the Lord had chosen] Though the Ten Tribes were lost to the house of David, the Lord kept his oath to David by securing to his seed the possession of the one holy city of Israel.

Naamah an Ammonitess] R.V. Naamah the Ammonitess.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - The parallel to the remaining verses of this chapter is found in 1 Kings 14:21, 22, 29-31. In Jerusalem. Possibly, considering the words of 2 Chronicles 11:5-12, 17, this may indicate that Rehoboam was brought down to thinking almost more of the safety of Jerusalem and himself than of the kingdom in its length and breadth. One and forty years old (see our note, 2 Chronicles 10:8, towards the end, and compare our 2 Chronicles 13:7, as well as the parallel places, 1 Kings 12:8 and 1 Kings 14:21). It cannot be held as conclusively shown that the age of forty-one is incorrect. An Ammonitess (see 1 Kings 11:1-9). Rehoboam's mother's name and nationality are noted also, and twice in the parallel (1 Kings 14:21, 31). Naamah was possibly the daughter of Nahash (1 Chronicles 19:1-20:3). The briefness but decidedness of the notifications made as to this mother of Rehoboam leaves us without doubt that there is not lacking significance in them. Schulz (in his ' Scholia in Ver. Test.,' vol. 3.) says the reason is "quia ca filio idololatriae ansam dedisse videtur;" Keil and Bertheau think that, though there was evidence of this in the case of the mention of Asa's mother (1 Kings 15:13), the explanation here is that Naamah "appears" to have had, as queen-mother, considerable influence in the government. They do not specify where they find this to "appear" with any marked plainness. It is quite true that, in the successive accounts of the Jewish kings, the name of each mother is mentioned (1 Kings 15:2; 2 Chronicles 13:2; 1 Kings 22:42; 2 Chronicles 20:32, etc.). We should say it is like the book, so Divine and human, called the Bible, to do so far-seeing and far-reaching a thing as to give the mother's name; and practically to say that Solomon and Naamah were (in special sense for Judah) a repetition of Adam and Eve. How far Judah and her line of kings may have correctly said, they were answerable for "death and all our woe," the sacred historians say (1 Kings 11:4, 9-11, 14, 23, 26, 31, 33, 36; 1 Kings 12:24; 2 Chronicles 11:4). 2 Chronicles 12:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The length of Rehoboam's reign, his mother, and the judgment about him. Cf. 1 Kings 14:21 and 1 Kings 14:22. ויּתחזּק here, as in 2 Chronicles 13:21, can, in its connection with what precedes, be only understood to mean that Rehoboam, after his humiliation at the hands of Shishak, by which his kingdom was utterly weakened and almost destroyed, again gained strength and power. Cf. also 2 Chronicles 1:1, where יתחזּק is used of Solomon in the beginning of his reign, after he overcame Adonijah, the pretender to the crown, and his party. - As to the age of Rehoboam, etc., see on 1 Kings 14:21. הרע ויּעשׂ, 2 Chronicles 12:14, is defined by the addition, "for he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord." For the expression cf. 2 Chronicles 19:3; 2 Chronicles 30:19; Ezra 7:10.