II Chronicles 12:13
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Thus King Rehoboam established himself in Jerusalem. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
The length of Rehoboam's reign, his mother, and the judgment about him. Cf. Kg1 14:21 and Kg1 14:22. ויּתחזּק here, as in Ch2 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 Ch2 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 Kg1 14:21. הרע ויּעשׂ, Ch2 12:14, is defined by the addition, "for he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord." For the expression cf. Ch2 19:3; Ch2 30:19; Ezr 7:10.
Open source ↗The story of Rehoboam's reign is here concluded, much as the story of the other reigns concludes. Two things especially are observable here: - 1. That he was at length pretty well fixed in his kingdom, Ch2 12:13. His fenced cities in Judah did not answer his expectation, so he now strengthened himself in Jerusalem, which he made it his business to fortify, and there he reigned seventeen years, in the city which the Lord had chosen to put his name there. This intimates his honour and privilege, that he had his royal seat in the holy city, which yet was but an aggravation of his impiety - near the temple, but far from God. Frequent skirmishes there were between his subjects and Jeroboam's, such as amounted to continual wars, (Ch2 12:15), but he held his own, and reigned, and, as it should seem, did not so grossly forsake the law of God as he had done (Ch2 12:1) in his fourth year. 2. That he was never rightly fixed in his religion, Ch2 12:14. He never quite cast off God; and yet in this he did evil, that he prepared not, he engaged not, his heart to seek the Lord. See what the fault is laid upon. (1.) He did not serve the Lord because he did not seek the Lord. He did not pray, as Solomon did, for wisdom and grace. If we prayed better, we should be every way better. Or he did not consult the word of God, did not seek to that as his oracle, nor take directions from it. (2.) He made nothing of his religion because he did not set his heart to it, never minded it with any closeness of application, and never any hearty disposition to it, nor ever came up to a steady resolution in it. What little goodness he had was transient and passed away like the morning cloud. He did evil because he was never determined for that which is good. Those are easily drawn by Satan to any evil who…
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’
Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
Then worthless and wicked men gathered around him to resist Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young, inexperienced, and unable to resist them.
You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.
King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.
Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.
The perimeter of the city will be 18,000 cubits, and from that day on the name of the city will be: THE LORD IS THERE.”
then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD.
No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.