Great
Battles of the Bible:
God’s Discipline Through Shishak of Egypt
By Michael
K. Farrar, O.D.
© June 9,
2006
Deuteronomy
8:5
“Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son,
so the LORD your God disciplines you.”
We’ve all
experienced discipline. We might have received it from our mother, or more
likely from our father, but we all have been rebellious, caught in a lie or
disobeyed our parents at times. Such actions of mischievousness are rewarded
with punishment and discipline of some sort. Just like a loving father, God
disciplines and punishes disobedience. We see this over and over in the Old
Testament. These thirty-nine books of the Bible are full of cycles of
obedience, rebellion, discipline, repentance, and forgiveness when it comes to
the Lord’s Chosen People.
In 2
Chronicles 12 we find the usual conditions that lead people into the sin of
taking God for granted and seeking to disobey His Word. In verse one of this
chapter we read, “After Rehoboam's position as king was established and he
had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the LORD.” Often what leads people and nations to turn
away from God in their lives is the perception of self-sufficiency. We feel we
don’t need God. We see Him as lacking importance in our lives and not helpful
to achieving our goals. We view Him as distant from our focus. Here in 2
Chronicles Rehoboam’s position as king had reached a stable state and from this
stability came self-reliance. God was forgotten as provider and sustainer.
Unfortunately as is the case many times, as the leader goes, so do those who
follow. Rehoboam’s role model caused those he led to walk down the path of
rebellion and disinterest in God’s will and Word. In the next verse we see the
chastisement of the Lord as He disciplines those He loves.
“Because
they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem
in the fifth year of King Rehoboam. With twelve hundred chariots and sixty
thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites
that came with him from Egypt, he captured the fortified cities of Judah and
came as far as Jerusalem.” God is merciful, but He is also righteous.
Outright rebellion and disobedience brings His wrath. He doesn’t like to be
ignored and He doesn’t like to be taken for granted. When His children wander
away He is concerned for their future and disciplines them onto the righteous
path to save them from danger and a horrible fate. God often uses the ungodly
to punish those whom He loves. Here is a good example of God using the
unrighteous to carry our His plans.
With Shishak and his army at the
doors of Jerusalem, God speaks through His prophet Shemaiah, to guide Rehoboam
to repentance. In verse five we read, “Then the prophet Shemaiah came to
Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of
Shishak, and he said to them, ‘This is what the LORD says, ‘You have abandoned
me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.’” Just like when God speaks to
us through pastors, teachers and our Christian friends when we rebel, God spoke
through Shemaiah. Rehoboam was confronted with his sin of self-reliance. When
anyone is confronted with such sin the choices are few. You can continue on
your path and risk the wrath of God, or you can humble yourself, repent and
thus experience God’s mercy. Rehoboam chose the latter. As we see in verse six,
“The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, ‘The LORD
is just.’”
God’s response to their repentance
and humility was immediate as always. In verse seven we read, “When the LORD
saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the LORD came to Shemaiah:
‘Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give
them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.
They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the
difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.’”
Notice that while God was merciful, He was also concerned that they learn something
from their rebellion. This is something any good father would have done. It’s
difficult to show love through discipline but a wise parent knows it is
necessary for growth to maturity. In
verse nine we see God’s loving discipline. “When Shishak king of Egypt
attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and
the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold
shields Solomon had made.” So we see that God withdrew harsh punishment by
not allowing Shishak to destroy Jerusalem, but still allowed some degree of
discipline by the plundering of Jerusalem by Shishak.
In verse twelve we read a summary
of God’s response to Rehoboam’s turning from his wicked ways. “Because
Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD's anger turned from him, and he was not
totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.”
We can learn
much from this battle at Jerusalem about how God deals with disobedience. Often
we make choices like Rehoboam. We choose to go our own way and pursue a path in
life that is dishonoring to God. Sometimes we become selfish in our desires or
possibly we just ignore God and take Him for granted. God sometimes chooses to
let us go our own way, but more often than not He will intervene in our lives to
get our attention. He will sometimes remove His protective hand from our lives
to allow us to experience events that will draw us back to Him. God is love,
but He is also holy and just. He knows to ignore our disobedience or
indifference of His existence would be putting our spiritual lives at risk. He
wants us to love Him with all our heart mind and soul and to also grow in our
relationship with Him and in our spiritual maturity.
Often we hear
people criticize God because it seems like He is punishing those who are His
children, but Psalms 94:10 tells us, “Does he who disciplines nations not
punish?”
Sometimes we here people angry at
God because it appears He is disciplining them, but Proverbs 3:11-12 tells us, “My
son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because
the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.”
When we experience chastisement and discipline from the Lord it communicates to
us that we are loved because God cares enough to confront. Hebrews 12:5-6
verifies this as well when it says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord's
discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord
disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
During our childhood experiences we often resent
being disciplined by our earthly fathers. At the time we just feel the pain of
the punishment and often don’t have the maturity to understand the reasons
behind our discipline. Later in life when we mature and possibly have children
of our own we begin to understand and respect the efforts our parents took to
hold us in line and discipline our behavior. Hebrews 12:8-11 explains this from
a spiritual perspective when it states, “Moreover, we have all had human
fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should
we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for
a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that
we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but
painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace
for those who have been trained by it.”
We face many battles in life. Some
of these battles we bring on ourselves by the choices we have made. The battles
we experience because of ignoring or rebelling against God can only be won if
we humble ourselves before our Heavenly Father. The trauma from such battles
can only be reduced if we choose to repent and seek the Lord for mercy. We must
trust that our loving Father in Heaven will show mercy and grace as He deals
with us. He always knows what is best and we know He loves us in the way He
deals with us.
Are you in a place in your life
where you have become a Rehoboam? Have you rebelled against God? Have you been
ignoring Him? I encourage you to repent with humility so you can experience His
love, grace and mercy. I encourage you to embrace His discipline, whatever form
it may take, for it demonstrates that He cares for you. Know that God loves you
as much as His Son, who died for your sins.