2 Chronicles 12

2 Chronicles 12 is the twelfth chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles the Old Testament in the Christian Bible or of the second part of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible. The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by modern scholars as "the Chronicler", and had the final shape established in late fifth or fourth century BCE. This chapter belongs to the section focusing on the kingdom of Judah until its destruction by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar and the beginning of restoration under Cyrus the Great of Persia . The focus of this chapter is the kingdom of Israel's division in the beginning of Rehoboam's reign.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language and is divided into 16 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, and Codex Alexandrinus.

Old Testament references

Shishak attacked Jerusalem (12:1–12)

After a short recovery, Rehoboam and the people fell to apostasy, so Egypt could defeat them as a form of punishment. Uzziah also behaved similarly in 2 Chronicles 26:16. The siege of Jerusalem in Rehoboam's time is comparable to the one in Hezekiah's time.

Verse 2

"The fifth year": in Thiele's chronology, this ranges between September 926 and September 925 BCE.
"Shishak" : the first Pharaoh mentioned by name in the Bible. He harbored and encouraged Jeroboam when the latter fled from Solomon to Egypt as a rebellious refugee, and was of a different dynasty from the father-in-law of Solomon. According to Septuagint he was related to Jeroboam through their wives as follows:

Most scholars support the identification by Champollion with Shoshenq I of the 22nd dynasty, who left behind "explicit records of a campaign into Canaan, including a stela at Megiddo", and Bubastite Portal at Karnak, although Jerusalem was not mentioned in any of these campaign records. A common variant of Shoshenq's name omits its 'n' glyphs, resulting in a pronunciation like, "Shoshek".

Fringe theory identifications

Immanuel Velikovsky in his book Ages in Chaos, identified him with Thutmose III of the 18th dynasty.
David Rohl's New Chronology identified him with Ramesses II of the 19th dynasty.
Peter James identified him with Ramesses III of the 20th dynasty.

Rehoboam's reign and death (12:13–16)

This section records events at a further phase of Rehoboam's rule, which follows a tragic pattern: 'As soon as he has recovered, Rehoboam immediately apostasizes again', so the Chronicles notes that 'he did not set his heart to seek the LORD'. The concluding remarks in verses 15–16 distinguishes between the earlier and later acts of Rehoboam, although the time of separation is not entirely clear. His records were written in the books of Shemaiah and Iddo.

Verse 13

"Reigned 17 years": in Thiele's chronology, Rehoboam became king between September 931 and April 930 BCE and died between April and September 913 BCE at the age of 58.