2 Chronicles 12:9-10
9 So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 10 Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass...
Rehoboam is the first King in a long line of Kings who are about to experience a downgrade from the days of Glory. Just in 5 short years, the Kingdom that was united under his father has split. He was given a throne that ruled over all the nation, now he is struggling to maintain the capital. He was given a people willing to serve, now they are at war with him. There seemed to be a glimmer of hope in the previous chapter, “for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon.”[11:17] Sadly at the end of those three years his strength and blessing gave way to pride and presumption and “he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.” [12:1]
Shemiah, the Man of God, comes to Rehoboam in his rebellion with this message: “Thus saith the LORD, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.” [12:5] So, it was not by chance that the king of Egypt was on his way to destroy what remained of Rehoboam’s kingdom, but by divine providence. God was not going to allow Rehoboam to continue on this destructive path unchecked. Upon hearing that this army was the judgment of God for their rebellion, Rehoboam and Israel humbled themselves and the Lord lightened the blow that they would receive. Rather than giving them over to destruction, he gives them over to degradation.
So the scene unfolds in our verse today, all the treasures amassed in David and Solomon’s days are lost in a day. In days gone by the king of Egypt would not have dared to step foot in Israel with such motive but those days are long gone. Now the hedge has dropped and he has divine permission to come and ransack the house of God and take all its splendor and majesty. We could safely speculate that the judgment matched the crime, that is, perhaps Israel had become so enamored with the Gold in the temple that it had for a long time outshined the God of the temple, not really, but in the minds and hearts of the people. Amid this degradation still the power and presence of God was there and now they are left with only the true riches of the temple, God.
Not only was the house of God plundered, but the King's house as well. I would remind you that Israel’s King was never to amass large storehouses of gold in the first place [Deu 17:17]. So the Lord takes these unbiblical masses of wealth away from Rehoboam and he too is left with only those things God wants him to have, His people. The riches of A king are not measured by the stores of Gold he has in the coffers or the amount of real estate he owns in the nation, but by the testimony he has among his people and the real estate he has in their hearts. Although his treasures and his shields of gold are gone, God has left him the souls of the kingdom, of which no earthly value can be estimated. It seems that Israel and Rehoboam had become superficial, caring for outward appearances instead of the true worth of their nation. This might look like a horrible thing that has taken place but in reality, it was God’s 1st attempt to bring his people back to the reality of their true riches, not found in their gold but in their God.
Isn’t this what we as Christians do at times as well? We amass riches to ourselves, we even give them to the house of God. In seasons of prosperity all the “gold” that comes our way, without our knowing it, begins to outshine the God who gave us those blessings and we become superficial Christians. When gold outshines God our hearts are turned to it, our service is given to it, it has to be cleaned, polished, cared for, and most importantly displayed [These were ceremonial shields, not actual]. No wonder in such a state men forsake the Law of the Lord, they are no longer serving him but what he gave them. So, thank God that he will not allow his people to go on worshipping such base materials, We are made to worship the creator, not the creation and it is his mercy that sends these spoilers into our lives to take away what has become superficial and idolatrous.
What is sad is the response we see, “Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass.” He was not content to take his stripes and thank God for bringing him back to a scriptural standing as a King. What would the people think of our royal processions if they no longer had the Gold shields? How little I will look! Then My poverty and failures as a King will be on full display if we don’t have all this pomp! Those may be a few of the thoughts that went through Rehoboam’s head, and perhaps through ours in similar situations. So he devises a way to keep up appearances, I’ll get something that looks like gold but is of a lesser value, Brass.
Gold is pure but brass is a mixture of copper, zinc and sometimes lead. It shines like gold but doesn’t have the purity of Gold. What a show, a sham even. Yet we are just as guilty, aren’t we? We fuss and fight all week, we steal and cheat, we serve ourselves and then Sunday comes and we put up our brass shields of showmanship and keep up the appearances when our hearts are far from God.
The loss of the gold is not sad, in my opinion, but the substitution of brass is the real tragedy. If we can’t have our gold then we’ll at least have our brass. No! The Loss of these things should drive us higher, to true riches, to eternal riches, not to baser riches! But how often has this been the case? If we can’t have our peace with God, I’ll just substitute it for some baser thing, instead of seeking God, looking upward in our times of chastisement we look lower, Oh God help us to look unto the hills, from whence cometh our help! Not to the dirt of this world to mine out some lesser joy! Dear reader, if he takes your gold, thank him, and may we never look to replace what with lost with something lesser.
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