Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, who were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Yahweh says, ‘You have forsaken me, therefore I have also left you in the hand of Shishak.’ ”
Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, “Yahweh is righteous.”
When Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, Yahweh’s word came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them; but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath won’t be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they will be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5–8 Signifying, that no calamity can come unto us except…
Signifying, that no calamity can come unto us except we forsake God, and that he never leaveth us till we have cast him off.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–8 2Ch 12:5 Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam,…
2Ch 12:5 Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam, and [to] the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.
Ver. 5. Then came Shemaiah the prophet.] See 1Ki 12:12. This was a great mercy that a prophet was sent unto them to exhort them to repentance, and to prescribe them a course.
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Because of Sishak.] Who was but the vial through whose hands God poured out his wrath. {2Ch 12:7}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv7–8 They humbled themselves; which though they did but forcedly,…
They humbled themselves; which though they did but forcedly, yet God was pleased so far to regard it, as to mitigate their calamity.
My wrath shall not be poured out; I will give some stop to the course of my wrath, which was ready to be poured forth upon them to their utter destruction.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv5–8 Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam,.... The same…
Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam,.... The same as in Ch2 11:2, there called the man of God:
and to the princes of Judah that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak; through fear of him, and for safety and protection from him, and to consult what was to be done at this critical juncture, whether to fight him, or make peace with him on the best terms they could:
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and said unto them, thus saith the Lord, ye have forsaken me; his law, his word, worship, and ordinances, Ch2 12:1,
and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak; suffered him to invade their land, take their fenced cities, and come up to Jerusalem without any opposition, as a punishment of their apostasy; and to explain this providence to them, and call them to repentance, was the prophet sent.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7–8 Some deliverance - I will give some stop to…
Some deliverance - I will give some stop to the course of my wrath, which was ready to be poured forth upon them to their utter destruction. Those who acknowledge God is righteous in afflicting them, shall find him gracious.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv6, 8 Verse 6. Whereupon the princes of Israel and the…
Verse 6. Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves] This is not mentioned in the parallel place, 1Kg 14:25-29: this was the sole reason why Jerusalem was not at this time totally destroyed, and the house of David entirely cut off; for they were totally incapable of defending themselves against this innumerable host.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv5–8 2Ch 12:5. Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam…
2Ch 12:5. Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah — Lest they should not readily or rightly understand the meaning of this providence, God sends a prophet to explain it, namely, the same Shemaiah that had brought them an injunction from God not to fight against the ten tribes, who plainly tells them, that the reason why Shishak prevailed against them was, not because they had been impolitic in the management of their affairs, but because they had forsaken God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv6–8 They said, The Lord is righteous - i. e.,…
They said, The Lord is righteous - i. e., they acknowledged the justice of the sentence which had gone forth against them 2Ch 12:5.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v7 A little help. I will not suffer them to…
A little help. I will not suffer them to be quite destroyed. Hebrew also signifies, "shortly." (Calmet) --- Fall, (stillabit) like drops of water, even to the last. (Haydock) --- How soon is God appeased! (Tirinus) --- Even when he punishes, he does not let the whole flood of his indignation fall upon the guilty. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv6–7 the princes of Israel--(compare Ch2 12:5, "the princes of…
the princes of Israel--(compare Ch2 12:5, "the princes of Judah").
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v5 5. Shemaiah the prophet — See note on 1Ki_12:22.…
5. Shemaiah the prophet — See note on 1Ki_12:22. The powerful influence of this prophet over the king and the princes is here very noticeable. The time had not yet come when the kings of Judah dared treat Jehovah’s prophets with contempt. Compare 2Ch_16:10; 2Ch_24:19; 2Ch_33:10.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–8 5. Then came Shemaiah] This intervention of Shemaiah is…
5. Then came Shemaiah] This intervention of Shemaiah is not mentioned in 1 Kin. For an earlier appearance of the prophet see 2Ch_11:2 ff. = 1Ki_12:22 ff.
have I also left you in the hand] Rather, I also have forsaken you and delivered you into the hand.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–8 (5) Then.—And.
(5) Then.—And.
Shemaiah the prophet.—The section relating to his mission and its results (2Ch_12:5-8) is peculiar to the chronicle.
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The princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem.—Repulsed by the Egyptian arms, they had fallen back upon Jerusalem, to defend the capital. While the invading host lay before the city, Shemaiah addressed the king and princes.
Ye have forsaken.—There is emphasis on the pronoun. Literally, Ye have forsaken me, and I also have forsaken you, in (into) the hand of Shishak. The phrase “to leave into the hand” of a foe occurs Neh_9:28. (Comp. also 2Ch_15:2; 2Ch_24:20; and Deu_31:16-17.) Here the words amount to a menace of utter destruction. (Comp. Jon_3:4.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv5–8 Shemaiah (see Exposition,. (2Ch_11:2) The princes. These seem to…
Shemaiah (see Exposition,. (2Ch_11:2) The princes. These seem to have been a fruit of some original organization with Solomon, as they are not found with David. (1Ki_4:2-6) Ye have forsaken me therefore have I also left you. The same Hebrew verb is employed in both members of this sentence, and the rendering should follow in like manner. (see 2Ch_7:19-22)
Vers. 5-8.
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Two messages from Jehovah.
I A MESSAGE OF WARNING. (Vers. 5, 6.)
1. By whom sent. Shemaiah the prophet, or man of God. (2Ch_11:2) When Jehovah has a message for any age, people, or individual, he can always find a messenger to bear it a Moses to go to Pharaoh, a Samuel to speak to Saul, a Nathan to send to David, an Elijah or a Micaiah to warn Ahab, a John the Baptist to preach to Israel and testify against Herod. The hour never comes without the man. When a Paul or a Polycarp, an Athanasius or an Augustine, a Calvin or a Luther, a Knox or a Wesley, is needed in the New Testament Church, he appears at the moment when most required.
2. To whom addressed. To Rehoboam and the princes of Judah whom Shishak"s invasion had caused to convene in Jerusalem. They had come together to consult about the safety of the capital; they had not called Jehovah to the council. They had not realized that in such a crisis as had arisen "vain was the help of man," and "through God alone could they do valiantly"; (Psa_60:11, Psa_60:12) that unless God kept the city, they the watchers would watch in vain. (Psa_127:1) Yet they seem to have discerned that their best efforts would prove ineffectual, and they were filled with fear. Happily Jehovah thought of them, though they forgat him.
3. In what terms it ran.
(1) It intimated a fact: "Ye have forsaken me." This showed that Jehovah had been cognizant of all that had taken place since Rehoboam got his garrisons erected, had witnessed the idolatries and unspeakable abominations of the faithless king and his coward princes, though perhaps they had reasoned that, as God was in the height of heaven, he could not know what transpired upon the earth. (Job_22:12-14) But though they had not seen him, he had observed them (Pro_15:3; Amo_9:8)
(2) It announced a consequence: "Therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak." Thus did Jehovah signify that it was he himself even more than Shishak that had come up against Rehoboam and his princes; Shishak had not appeared before their gates without his permission; and without his assistance nothing they could do would prevent them falling into Shishak"s hand. Jehovah, indeed, could avert that calamity. He could put a hook into Shishak"s nose and lead him back by the way he came, as he afterwards did to Sennacherib (2Ki_19:28; Isa_37:29) but in the mean time, as they had left him for the calves of Egypt, he had left them to be the prey of Egypt"s lord.
4. What effect it produced.
(1) Contrition, or at least seeming contrition: "They humbled themselves." To be sure, their penitence, like their previous reformation, was only skin deep. Nevertheless, it had the semblance of reality, and God accepted it as such.
(2) Confession: "They said, The Lord is righteous," i.e. in punishing them as he had done; in which was implied an acknowledgment that they had sinned. This the design of all God"s chastisements, whether national or individual, to excite personal humiliation and hearty recognition of the holiness and justice of God (Deu_8:5, Deu_8:16; Eze_20:37, . (Hos_5:15) Only confession may be on the lip where no real contrition is in the heart.
II A MESSAGE OF MERCY. (Vers. 7, 8.)
1. Its occasion. The success of the first message in the (at least seeming) penitence of the king and his princes. "God speaketh once, yea twice, (Job_33:14) to men, even to his people, who often fail to understand his first voice (1Sa_3:4; Dan_12:8; Mar_9:32; Joh_11:13) or understand but refuse to hear, (Isa_65:12) thoughoccasionally also they listen and submit. (Jon_3:5) In the first case,his second speaking may be nothing more than a repetition of the first, or an explanation of its contents; in the second, it commonly assumes the form of increased warnings and severer threatenings; in the thirds it is usually a voice of mercy following on a voice of judgment. It was so with Rehoboam and the princes of Judah.
2. Its contents.
(1) Their humiliation had been observed and accepted: "They have humbled themselves." So God still sees and regards with favour all who abase themselves before him (Jer_31:18; Psa_9:12 Psa_10:17; 1Ki_21:29)
(2) A degree, at least, of clemency would be extended towards them: "I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and. my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak." So God delights to meet the first advances of returning penitents with such foretastes of mercy as will lure them on to desire its full fruition.
(3) Nevertheless, a measure of correction would be laid upon them. Though Shishak should not be suffered to work his will either upon them or their city, they would, nevertheless, fall into his hand. They" should be his servants, either as captives or as tributaries; and would learn the difference between Jehovah"s rule and the domination of foreign kings. So God still deals with his people forgives them, but permits them to reap the temporal fruits of their transgression, that they may know what an evil and bitter thing it is to forsake God, (Jer_2:19) and how much more easy is Christ"s yoke (Mat_11:29, Mat_11:30) than that of sin. (Lam_1:14)
Learn:
1. The omniscience of God: "All things are naked," etc., (Heb_4:13)
2. God"s compact with the soul: "The Lord is with us," etc. (2Ch_15:2)
3. The mercifulness of God: he is "long-suffering, and slow to wrath" (Exo_34:6; Psa_78:38)
4. The misery of sin: it ever entails sorrow. (Psa_32:10)
5. God"s ability to execute his own sentences: "It is a fearful thing," etc.; (Heb_10:31) "Though hand join in hand," etc. W. (Pro_11:21)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v8 Nevertheless they shall be his servants.
2Ch_12:8
Nevertheless they shall be his servants.
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Servitude or service-which
?--
I. That there are some who have already chosen the service of the kingdoms of the countries. Some have chosen--
1. To be the slaves of open sin.
2. To be the votaries of money-making.
3. To be lovers of fashion, lovers of society, admirers of the world.
4. To become the devotees of culture.
5. To be the seekers of self-righteousness.
II. Some seem to be pining to give up the service of God, and to go to the service of the kingdoms. Some want to change--
1. Out of sheer love of change.
2. Because of the outward aspect of the new thing.
3. Because of their loss of joy in the service of God.
4. Because of the flagging of others.
5. Because religion now has brought them to a point where it entails some extra self-sacrifice.
III. There is a great contrast between the service of God and any other service. The service of God is delightful. Remember, young man, if you are about to engage in the service of God--
1. There is nothing demanded of you that will harm you.
2. There is nothing denied you, in the service of God, that would be a blessing to you.
3. That in the service of God strength will always be given according to your day.
4. That there is no threat made to hang upon it.
5. All the while that you are a servant of God, you have a sweet peace in reflecting upon what you have done.
6. There is, above all this, a hope of the eternal reward which is so soon to come. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Comparative service
It is an old failing of human nature not to know when it is well off, and the text furnishes an illustration of that failing. There is a great lesson here for to-day. Adam was discontented with Paradise, Israel with Canaan, and many now are despising the goodly inheritance we have in Christ. We are fond of comparing the service of God with alternative services, to the disparagement of the former.
I. Compare the faith of Christ with the faith of scepticism. I say the faith of scepticism, for the sceptic has a creed just as truly as the Christian believer has. Many are greatly dissatisfied with the Christian revelation; they are anxious to set it aside, to find substitutes for it. The proverb says: The cow in the meadow, knee-deep in clover, often looks over the hedge and longs for the common. So, many are now looking over the hedge of revelation, and longing for the bare wastes and the wild growths of infidelity.
1. If we renounce revelation, shall we be better off intellectually? It must be remembered that if revelation is rejected, all the dark problems of nature, all the perplexing enigmas of human life, will still be left. Revelation has not created the confusions, the cruelties, the calamities of the world. You will not make a black sky blue by smashing the weather-glass; you will not turn cruel winter into glorious summer by throwing out the thermometer; neither will you get rid of sorrow and mystery and death by rejecting the Bible. Can you, having rejected revelation, give that dark world any clearer or happier interpretation?
2. If we renounce revelation, shall we be better off as pertaining to the conscience? Take away the Bible, and conscience is left--an accusing conscience is left. To what terrible beliefs and deeds an accusing conscience drives men the history of paganism clearly shows. A guilty conscience built the wicker-basket of Druidism; it doomed the children to pass through the fire to Molech. Yes, you reply, but it is impossible for these tragedies of superstition to be repeated; Druidism, for instance, can never come back again. Who can say what may, or may not, come back again? Theosophy teaches that through endless reincarnations we must be purged from our sins. Our sorrows in this life are the results of the sins and errors of past incarnations, and before us is a dreary vista of fresh incarnations in which we are again to sin and suffer. It is terrible to think of the monstrous intellectual and religious systems which must arise when men no longer know the mercy of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. The guilty conscience will not go to sleep; it will have blood and tears.
3. If we renounce revelation, shall we be better off touching character? If unbelief triumphed, and Christ were rejected as the pattern and perfecter of character, would anything be gained? The whole world of thoughtful men acknowledges the marvellous, the incomparable moral beauty of Jesus Christ.
II. Compare the doctrine of Christ with the doctrine of the world. Thus many now are inclined to prefer the worldly life to the Christian life. It seems so much more free. Men feel that the Christian law retards their youth, cramps and foils their appetites and curiosities. But is this so? The doctrine of Jesus is hard, men say. But how much harder, exclaims Tolstoy, is the doctrine of the world! Take its doctrine of glory. Cruel doctrine! What blood, groans, tears, it implies! And not only on the battlefield is the doctrine of glory seen to be merciless; it works woe in a thousand subtle ways in all spheres of human life and action. Take its doctrine of gain. How that principle of selfishness, which is the doctrine of the world, grinds men to powder! Take its doctrine of fashion. What a terrible price the world exacts for its empty shows, its vain titles, its purple and gold! Take its doctrine of pleasure. Millions have been ruined by following in its paths of roses and music and beauty. How cruel! Ah! the world has far more martyrs than the Church has. And what is the doctrine of Jesus that men call hard? Instead of the doctrine of glory, He teaches the doctrine of humility and service; for the doctrine of gain, the doctrine of equity and love; for the doctrine of fashion, the doctrine of simplicity and truth; for the doctrine of pleasure, the doctrine of purity and peace. Well may Jesus dare to say, My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.
III. Compare the law of Christ with the service of self-will. A man says: I will not be restrained; I will determine my own path, choose my own pleasures, shape my own character, be the architect of my own fortune. It shall throughout be according to my own preferences and determinations. Is, then, the self-willed man happy? Is he happy as he sets himself against nature? You tell your boy not to play with fire; but he is self-willed, and takes the opportunity to sport with matches and gunpowder, and probably repents ever after. It does not pay to set up our will against the grand ordinances of nature. Is the self-willed man happy as he opposes himself to the laws and institutions of society? To outrage the judgments, the feelings, the rights of society is to be keenly miserable. Is the self-willed man happy within himself? You say proudly, I am my own master. Could you have a worse? It is a terrible thing to setup our will against the Divine will as that will is expressed in the physical universe, in society, or as it seeks to fulfil itself in our personal nature and life. Self-will is captivity and ruin: loving obedience to the will of God in Christ, with its self-control and self-denial, is health and peace. To be His slaves is to be kings. Surrender yourselves to Him, and prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The service of the kingdoms of the countries. The Jews often heard delightful things about this foreign service. They remembered the fish which they did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. Nothing to do in Egypt but to regale themselves with piquant viands, and to stroll under the palms on the banks of the Nile. They heard of the attractions of Babylon, of its hanging gardens, its luxuries and delights. And the ambassadors of Sennacherib painted for them in glowing colours the life of Assyria: A land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. No more work, no more worry, no more worship. Getting away from Jerusalem, they were to get away from temple and law, from priest and prophet, and to taste the pleasures of an unfettered life. But did they find captivity so desirable? You who are tempted to despise Gods Word, beware. Young men, weary of the order and restraint of a godly home, and ever hankering after a looser life, be wise, and stay thankfully where you are. Discontented Englishmen, ever protesting against narrowness and austerity, against Protestantism, Puritanism, and bumbledom, and ever looking with longing eyes to laxer civilisations, be content; subdue your murmurings and wantonness, lest God spoil you of your rich inheritance. Discontented Christians, ever casting lingering glances at the life you have left, be content; see to it that there is in you no evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v8 2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
CONTRASTED SERVICES
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2Ch 12:8.
Rehoboam was a self-willed, godless king who, like some other kings, learned nothing by experience. His kingdom was nearly wrecked at the very beginning of his reign, and was saved much more by the folly of his rival than by his own wisdom. Jeroboam’s religious revolution drove all the worshippers of God among the northern kingdom into flight. They might have endured the separate monarchy, but they could not endure the separate Temple. So all priests and Levites in Israel, and all the adherents of the ancestral worship in the Temple at Jerusalem, withdrew to the southern kingdom and added much to its strength.
Rehoboam’s narrow escape taught him neither moderation nor devotion, his new strength turned his head. He forsook the law of the Lord. The dreary series, so often illustrated in the history of Israel, came into operation. Prosperity produced irreligion; irreligion brought chastisement; chastisement brought repentance; repentance brought the removal of the invader-and then, like a spring released, back went king and nation to their old sin.
So here-Rehoboam’s sins take visible form in Sheshak’s army. He has sown the dragon’s teeth and they spring up armed men. Shemaiah the prophet, the first of the long series of noble men who curbed the violence of Jewish monarchs, points the lesson of invasion in plain, blunt words: ‘Ye have forsaken Me.’ Then follow penitence and confession-and the promise that Jerusalem shall not be destroyed, but at the same time they are to be left as vassals and tributaries of Egypt-an anomalous position for them-and the reason is given in these words of our text.
I. The contrasted Masters.
Judah was too small to be independent of the powerful warlike states to its north and south, unless miraculously guarded and preserved. So it must either keep near God, and therefore free and safe from invasion, or else, departing from God and following its own ways, fall under alien dominion. Its experience was a type of that of universal humanity. Man is not independent. His mass is not enough for him to do without a central orb round which he may revolve. He has a choice of the form of service and the master that he will choose, but one or other must dominate his life and sway his motions. ‘Ye cannot serve God and Mammon’; ye must serve God or Mammon. The solemn choice is presented to every man, but the misery of many lives is that they drift along, making their election unawares, and infallibly choosing the worse by the very act of lazily or weakly allowing accident to determine their lives. Not consciously and strongly to will the right, not resolutely and with coercion of the vagrant self to will to take God for our aim, is to choose the low, the wrong. Perhaps none, or very few of us, would deliberately say ‘I choose Mammon, having carefully compared the claims of the opposite systems of life that solicit me, and with open-eyed scrutiny measured their courses, their goods and their ends.’ But how many of us there are who have in effect made that choice, and never have given one moment’s clear, patient examination of the grounds of our choice! The policy of drift is unworthy of a man and is sure to end in ruin.
It is not for me to attempt here to draw out the contrast between man’s chief end and all other rival claimants of our lives. Each man must do that for himself, and I venture to assert that the more thoroughly the process of comparison is carried out, and the more complete the analysis not only of the rival claims and gifts, but of our capacities and needs, the more sun-clear will be the truth of the old, well-worn answer: ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.’ The old woman by her solitary fireside who has learned that and practises it, has chosen the better part which will last when many shining careers have sunk into darkness, and many will-o’-the-wisps, which have been pursued with immense acclamations, have danced away into the bog, and many a man who has been envied and admired has had to sum up his successful career in the sad words, ‘I have played the fool and erred exceedingly.’ I cannot pretend to conduct the investigation for you, but I can press on every one who does not wish to let accidents mould him, at least to recognise that there is a choice to be made, and to make it deliberately and with eyes open to the facts of the case. It is a shabby way of ruining yourself to do it for want of thought. The rabble of competitors of God catch more souls by accident than of set purpose. Most men are godless because they have never fairly faced the question: what does my soul require in order to reach its highest blessedness and its noblest energy?
II. The contrasted experience of the servants.
Judah learned that the yoke of obedience to God’s law was a world lighter than the grinding oppression of the Egyptian invader.
God’s service is freedom; the world’s is slavery.
Liberty is unrestrained power to do what we ought. Man must be subject to law. The solemn imperative of duty is omnipresent and sovereign. To do as we like is not freedom, but bondage to self, and that usually our worst self, which means crushing or coercing the better self. The choice is to chain the beast in us or to clip the wings of the angel in us, and he is a fool who conceits himself free because he lets his inferior self have its full swing, and hustles his better self into bondage to clear the course for the other. There is but one deliverance from the sway of self, and it is realised in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. To make self our master inevitably leads to setting beggars on horseback and princes walking. Passion, the ‘flesh’ is terribly apt to usurp the throne within when once God is dethroned. Then indulgence feeds passion, and deeper draughts become necessary in order to produce the same effects, and cravings, once allowed free play, grow in ravenousness, while their pabulum steadily loses its power to satisfy. The experience of the undevout sensualist is but too faithful a type of that of all undevout livers, in the failure of delights to delight and of acquisitions to enrich, and in the bondage, often to nothing more worthy to be obeyed than mere habit, and in the hopeless incapacity to shake off the adamantine chains which they have themselves rivetted on their limbs. There are endless varieties in the forms which the service of self assumes, ranging from gross animalism, naked and unashamed, up to refined and cultured godlessness, but they are one in their inmost character, one in their disabling the spirit from a free choice of its course, one in the limitations which they impose on its aspirations and possibilities, one in the heavy yoke which they lay on their vassals. The true liberty is realised only when for love’s dear sake we joyously serve God, and from the highest motive enrol ourselves in the household of the highest Person, and by the act become ‘no more servants but sons.’ Well may we all pray-
‘Lord! bind me up, and let me lie
A prisoner to my liberty,
If such a state at all can be
As an imprisonment, serving Thee.’
God’s service brings solid good, the world’s is vain and empty.
God’s service brings an approving conscience, a calm heart, strength and gladness. It is in full accord with our best selves. Tranquil joys attend on it. ‘In keeping Thy commandments there is great reward,’ and that not merely bestowed after keeping, but realised and inherent in the very act. On the other side, think of the stings of conscience, the illusions on which those feed who will not eat of the heavenly food, the husks of the swine-trough, the ashes for bread, that self and the world, in all their forms set before men. A pathetic character in modern fiction says, ‘If you make believe very much it is nice.’ It takes a tremendous amount of make-believe to keep up an appetite for the world’s dainties or to find its meats palatable, after a little while. No sin ever yields the fruit it was expected to produce, or if it does it brings something which was not expected, and the bitter tang of the addition spoils the whole. It may be wisely adapted to secure a given end, but that end is only a means to secure the real end, our substantial blessedness, and that is never attained but by one course of life, the life of service of God. We may indeed win a goodly garment, but the plague is in the stuff and, worn, it will burn into the bones like fire. I read somewhere lately of thieves who had stolen a cask of wine, and had their debauch, but they sickened and died. The cask was examined and a huge snake was found dead in it. Its poison had passed into the wine and killed the drinkers. That is how the world serves those who swill its cup. ‘What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?’ The threatening pronounced against Israel’s disobedience enshrines an eternal truth: ‘Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies . . . in hunger and in thirst, and in nakedness and in want of all things.’
God’s service has final issues and the world’s service has final issues.
Only fools try to blink the fact that all our doings have consequences. And it augurs no less levity and insensibility to blink the other fact that these consequences show no indications of being broken short off at the end of our earthly life. Men die into another life, as they have ever, dimly and with many foolish accompaniments, believed; and dead, they are the men that they have made themselves while living. Character is eternal, memory is eternal, death puts the stamp of perpetuity on what life has evolved. Nothing human ever dies. The thought is too solemn to be vulgarised by pulpit rhetoric. Enough to say here that these two tremendous alternatives, Life and Death, express some little part of the eternal issues of our fleeting days. Looking fixedly into these two great symbols of the ultimate issues of these contrasted services, we can dimly see, as in the one, a wonder of resplendent glories moving in a sphere ‘as calm as it is bright,’ so, in the other, whirling clouds and jets of vapour as in the crater of a volcano. One shuddering glance over the rim of it should suffice to warn from lingering near, lest the unsteady soil should crumble beneath our feet.
But the true Lord of our lives loves us too well to let us experience all the bitter issues of our foolish rebellion against His authority, and yet He loves us too well not to let us taste something of them that we may ‘know and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God.’ The experiences of the consequences of godless living are in some measure allowed to fall on us by God’s love, lest we should persist in the evil and so bring down on ourselves still more fatal issues. It is mercy that here chastises the evildoer with whips, in hope of not having to chastise him with scorpions. God desires to teach us, by the pains and heartaches of an undevout life, by disappointments, foiled plans, wrecked hopes, inner poverty, the difference between His service and that of ‘the kingdoms of the countries,’ if haply He may not be forced to let the full flood of fatal results overwhelm us. It is best to be drawn to serve Him by the cords of love, but it is possible to have the beginnings of the desire so to serve roused by the far lower motives of weariness and disgust at the world’s wages, and by dread of what these may prove when they are paid in full. Self-interest may sicken a man of serving Mammon, and may be transformed into the self-surrender which makes God’s service possible and blessed. The flight into the city of refuge may be quickened by the fear of the pursuer, whose horse’s hoofs are heard thundering on the road behind the fugitive, and whose spear is all but felt a yard from his back, but once within the shelter of the city wall, gratitude for deliverance will fill his heart and ‘perfect love will cast out fear.’
The king concerning whom our text was spoken had to suffer humiliation by the Egyptian invasion. His sufferings were meant to be educational, and when they in some measure effected their purpose, God curbed the invader and granted some measure of deliverance. So is it with us, if, moved by whatever impulse, we betake ourselves to Jesus to save us from the bitter fruits of our evil lives. The extreme severity of the results of our sins does not fall on penitent, believing spirits, but some do fall. As the Psalmist says: ‘Thou wast a God that forgavest them though Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.’ A profligate course of life may be forgiven, but health or fortune is ruined all the same. In brief, the so-called ‘natural’ consequences are not removed, though the sin which caused them is pardoned. Polluted memories, indulged habits, defiled imaginations, are not got rid of, though the sins that inflicted them are forgiven.
Is it not, then, the part of wise men to lay to heart the lessons of experience, and to let what we have learned of the bitter fruit of godless living turn us away from such service, and draw us by merciful chastisement to yield ourselves to God, whom to serve accords with our deepest needs and brings first fruits and pre-libations of blessedness and peace here, and fullness of joy with pleasures for evermore hereafter?
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 7 This is the name of a man. See how…
Shemaiah
This is the name of a man. See how you translated this word in 2 Chronicles 11:2. (See: How to Translate Names)
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so I have also given you over into Shishak's hand
Here the word "hand" represents power. Yahweh speaks of enabling Shishak's army to defeat the king and the others in Jerusalem as if he were placing them into Shishak's hand. AT: "so I have enabled Shishak to defeat you" or "so I have given you to Shishak as captives" (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)
translationWords
prophet
forsake
prince
humble
righteous
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v6 12:6-7 Shemaiah’s speech expresses the elements required in Solomon’s…
12:6-7 Shemaiah’s speech expresses the elements required in Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Temple (7:14). The leaders of Israel . . . humbled themselves, and the wrath of judgment was removed from Jerusalem.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.