The Way
Gold Shields Become Bronze
The palace shields lose their shine
Story
The palace guards lined up before the king, holding their shields. They were not the gold shields that once flashed in the sunlight, but dull bronze ones. Rehoboam son of Solomon became king at forty-one and reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem. His mother was Naamah, an Ammonite woman. In those days Judah set up high places, sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. Shishak carried off every treasure of the temple of the Lord and of the palace. The gold shields Solomon had made were all taken too. Solomon's splendor, which had once left the queen of Sheba breathless, was carted off in a foreign king's wagons in less than a generation.
In place of the gold shields Rehoboam made bronze shields and entrusted them to the captain of the guard who kept the palace gate. Whenever the king went into the temple, the guards carried the shields out, and afterward they took them back to the guardroom. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. Later, looking at the fallen house of David, a poet sang: Lord, where is your love of old, which you swore to David?
Walk this scene on the map →Words of God and the Prophets
This is what the Lord says: You have abandoned me, so I have abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.
They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will soon rescue them, and I will not pour out my anger on Jerusalem through Shishak's hand.
Lord, where is your love of old, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: 1 Kgs 14:21–31
Background
Shishak is thought to be Shoshenq I of Egypt's Twenty-second Dynasty. A wall of the temple at Karnak is carved with a list of the Canaanite towns he conquered on this campaign. Second Chronicles 12 records that the prophet Shemaiah brought the Lord's word to the king at this time.
Pause and Reflect
Am I dressing up the outside while ignoring the faith I have lost?