12:1 Cumque roboratum fuisset regnum Roboam et confortatum, dereliquit legem Domini, et omnis Israel cum eo.
*H And when the kingdom of Roboam was strengthened and fortified, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.
Ver. 1. Israel, in his dominions. The kingdom of Jeroboam had long before apostatized, though there were still many true servants of God, who would not bend the knee before Baal, v. 12. H.
A.M. 3032.
12:2 Anno autem quinto regni Roboam, ascendit Sesac rex Aegypti in Jerusalem (quia peccaverant Domino)
And in the fifth year of the reign of Roboam, Sesac king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem (because they had sinned against the Lord)
A.M. 3033, A.C. 971.
* Footnote
* 3_Kings
14 : 25
And in the fifth year of the reign of Roboam, Sesac, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem.
12:3 cum mille ducentis curribus, et sexaginta millibus equitum : nec erat numerus vulgi quod venerat cum eo ex Aegypto, Libyes scilicet, et Troglodytae, et Aethiopes.
*H With twelve hundred chariots and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt, to wit, Libyans, and Troglodites, and Ethiopians.
Ver. 3. Troglodites, who dwell in caverns, near the Red Sea. Pliny (v. 8. and vi. 29.) speaks of the city Suca, which in Heb. means a tent, as here we read succiyim, (H.) "dwelling in tents;" which some explain of the Arabs, who are called Scenites, on the same account. T. — People of this description, without any fixed abode, inhabited the Stony as well as the Desert Arabia. C. xiv. 14.
12:4 Cepitque civitates munitissimas in Juda, et venit usque in Jerusalem.
And he took the strongest cities in Juda, and came to Jerusalem.
12:5 Semeias autem propheta ingressus est ad Roboam, et principes Juda qui congregati fuerant in Jerusalem, fugientes Sesac : dixitque ad eos : Haec dicit Dominus : Vos reliquistis me, et ego reliqui vos in manu Sesac.
And Semeias the prophet came to Roboam, and to the princes of Juda, that were gathered together in Jerusalem, fleeing from Sesac, and he said to them: Thus saith the Lord: You have left me, and I have left you in the hand of Sesac.
12:6 Consternatique principes Israel et rex, dixerunt : Justus est Dominus.
And the princes of Israel, and the king, being in a consternation, said: The Lord is just.
12:7 Cumque vidisset Dominus quod humiliati essent, factus est sermo Domini ad Semeiam, dicens : Quia humiliati sunt, non disperdam eos, daboque eis pauxillum auxilii, et non stillabit furor meus super Jerusalem per manum Sesac.
*H And when the Lord saw that they were humbled, the word of the Lord came to Semeias, saying: Because they are humbled, I will not destroy them, and I will give them a little help, and my wrath shall not fall upon Jerusalem by the hand of Sesac.
Ver. 7. A little help. I will not suffer them to be quite destroyed. Heb. also signifies, "shortly." C. — Fall, (stillabit) like drops of water, even to the last. H. — How soon is God appeased! T. — Even when he punishes, he does not let the whole flood of his indignation fall upon the guilty. M.
12:8 Verumtamen servient ei, ut sciant distantiam servitutis meae, et servitutis regni terrarum.
But yet they shall serve him, that they may know the difference between my service, and the service of a kingdom of the earth.
12:9 Recessit itaque Sesac rex Aegypti ab Jerusalem, sublatis thesauris domus Domini et domus regis : omniaque secum tulit, et clypeos aureos quos fecerat Salomon :
So Sesac king of Egypt departed from Jerusalem, taking away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the king's house, and he took all with him, and the golden shields that Solomon had made,
12:10 pro quibus fecit rex aeneos, et tradidit illos principibus scutariorum, qui custodiebant vestibulum palatii.
*H Instead of which the king made brazen ones, and delivered them to the captains of the shieldbearers, who guarded the entrance of the palace.
Ver. 10. Bearers. Heb. "runners," as the guards attended the king on foot.
12:11 Cumque introiret rex domum Domini, veniebant scutarii et tollebant eos, iterumque referebant eos ad armamentarium suum.
And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, the shieldbearers came and took them, and brought them back again to their armoury.
12:12 Verumtamen quia humiliati sunt, aversa est ab eis ira Domini, nec deleti sunt penitus : siquidem et in Juda inventa sunt opera bona.
*H But yet because they were humbled, the wrath of the Lord turned away from them, and they were not utterly destroyed: for even in Juda there were found good works.
Ver. 12. For even. Prot. "and also in Judah things went well;" (H.) or, "he spoke good words even to Juda." C. — Sept. "for even in Juda there were good words, and in all pleasing." Words are often put for works. H. — The Lord regarded the fidelity of some, and the humility of the princes. C. — This advantage was derived from tribulation, that the king entered into himself, at least for a time: (H.) but he was not constant, v. 14. After the scourge was withdrawn, he presently relapsed. He had betrayed great cowardice, as even his son confessed; and had probably been treated with great indignity, (T.) as it was the custom with Sesac, or Sesostris, to chain the conquered princes to his triumphal car, and to leave obscene representations of women in the country. Joseph. viii. 4. Herod. ii. — Sesostris proceeded to the conquest of Asia. T.
12:13 Confortatus est ergo rex Roboam in Jerusalem, atque regnavit : quadraginta autem et unius anni erat cum regnare coepisset, et decem et septem annis regnavit in Jerusalem, urbe quam elegit Dominus ut confirmaret nomen suum ibi, de cunctis tribubus Israel : nomen autem matris ejus Naama Ammanitis.
King Roboam therefore was strengthened in Jerusalem, and reigned: he was one and forty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel, to establish his name there: and the name of his mother was Naama an Ammonitess.
* Footnote
* 3_Kings
14 : 21
And Roboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Juda: Roboam was one and forty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naama, an Ammonitess.
12:14 Fecit autem malum, et non praeparavit cor suum ut quaereret Dominum.
*H But he did evil, and did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.
Ver. 14. Lord, with sincerity, being actuated only by a servile fear. He died impenitent. C.
12:15 Opera vero Roboam prima et novissima scripta sunt in libris Semeiae prophetae, et Addo videntis, et diligenter exposita : pugnaveruntque adversum se Roboam et Jeroboam cunctis diebus.
*H Now the acts of Roboam first and last are written in the books of Semeias the prophet, and of Addo the seer, and diligently recorded: and there was war between Roboam and Jeroboam all their days.
Ver. 15. And diligently. Heb. "in their genealogical accounts." H. See C. xiii. 22.
12:16 Et dormivit Roboam cum patribus suis, sepultusque est in civitate David : et regnavit Abia filius ejus pro eo.
And Roboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. And Abia his son reigned in his stead.