12:1 And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and {a} all Israel with him.

(a) For such is the inconstancy of the people, that for the most part they follow the vices of their governors.

12:3 With twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people [were] without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the {b} Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians.

(b) Who were a people of Africa called the Troglodytes because they lived in holes.

12:5 Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam, and [to] the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Ye have forsaken me, and {c} therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.

(c) Signifying that no calamity can come to us unless we forsake God, and that he never leaves us till we have cast him off.

12:6 Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The LORD [is] {d} righteous.

(d) Therefore he justly punishes you for your sins.

12:8 Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my {e} service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

(e) He shows that God's punishments are not to utterly destroy his, but to chastise them, to bring them to the knowledge of themselves, and to know how much better it is to serve God than tyrants.

12:12 And when he {f} humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from him, that he would not destroy [him] altogether: and also in Judah things went well.

(f) Which declares that God does not seek the death of a sinner, but his conversion, Eze 18:32.

12:13 So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam [was] one and forty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned {g} seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name [was] Naamah an Ammonitess.

(g) That is, twelve years after he had been overcome by Shishak, 2Ch 12:2.