Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/279

Rh against the, with twelve hundred chariots, and three&shy;score thousand horsemen: and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians. And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah, and came unto Jerusalem. Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the, Ye have forsaken me, therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak. Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The is righteous. And when the saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the  came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them: but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out

x. 13, 14. The Chronicler sees the working of temporal rewards and of temporal punishments everywhere.

3. with twelve hundred chariots] The details given in this verse are absent from 1 Kin.

Lubim] i.e. the Libyans of North Africa. Shishak was a leader of Libyan mercenaries. He made himself master of Egypt c. 950, and is known as the founder of the nd dynasty.

Sukkiim] LXX. , i e. the cave dwellers of the mountains which fringe the west coast of the Red Sea. But whether these are really meant here is doubtful.

4. the fenced cities] Cp. xi. 5.

5. Now Shemaiah the prophet came] This intervention of Shemaiah is not mentioned in 1 Kin. For an earlier appearance of the prophet see xi. 2 ff. = 1 Kin. xii. 22 ff.

have I also left you in the hand] Rather, I also have forsaken you and delivered you into the hand.

6. princes of Israel] Called "princes of Judah" in ver. 5; cp. note on xi. 3.

humbled themselves] i.e. they fasted and put on sackcloth; cp. 1 Kin. xxi. 27, 29.

The is righteous] Cp. Pharaoh's confession (Ex. ix. 27), and the Psalmist's address to God, "That thou mayest be justified (lit. "mayest be righteous") when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest" (Ps. li. 4). The "righteousness" of God is made known to man in His judgement, whether the judgement be of condemnation (as here) or of acquittal (as 1 Joh. i. 9, R.V.).

7. some deliverance] Render, as mg., deliverance within a little while.