April 20, 2021: Day 45 – II Chronicles 12

It doesn’t take long for Rehoboam to turn his back on the Lord, even though he was probably present when God spoke to his father, Solomon, when he told Solomon that if the people obey my commandments and don’t worship other gods then I will protect and keep them.  Well, that doesn’t happen.  We read that five years into his reign, Rehoboam and the people of Israel because they had been unfaithful to God and had abandoned his commandments, he allows Egypt to invade and take over up to Jerusalem.  

At that point the king and the officers bow down before God and God allows Jerusalem to be saved.  But it was saved up to the point that the king and his followers were not killed.  But the house of the Lord was ransacked and everything was taken out of the temple.  What we read in vs.9 is that he took everything.  I’m assuming that this means that he also took the ark of the covenant.  

After this defining moment we read about the reign of Rehoboam and that he was in power for 17 years.  He came into power when he was not a young man.  He was already 41 when he began to rule.  The Scripture says that he did evil in the sight of the Lord.  We can only hope that his son who succeeds him does a better job.  We will see the next chapter.