21 Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he took the throne and was king for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city God selected from all the tribes of Israel for the worship of his Name. Rehoboam's mother was Naamah, an Ammonite. 22 Judah was openly wicked before God, making him very angry. They set new records in sin, surpassing anything their ancestors had done. 23 They built Asherah sex-and-religion shrines and set up sacred stones all over the place - on hills, under trees, wherever you looked. 24 Worse, they had male sacred prostitutes, polluting the country outrageously - all the stuff that God had gotten rid of when he brought Israel into the land. 25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam's rule, Shishak king of Egypt made war against Jerusalem. 26 He plundered The Temple of God and the royal palace of their treasures, cleaned them out - even the gold shields that Solomon had made. 27 King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields and outfitted the royal palace guards with them. 28 Whenever the king went to God's Temple, the guards carried the shields but always returned them to the guardroom. 29 The rest of Rehoboam's life, what he said and did, is all written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. 30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam the whole time. 31 Rehoboam died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His mother was Naamah, an Ammonite. His son Abijah ruled after him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Kings 14:21-31
Commentary on 1 Kings 14:21-31
(Read 1 Kings 14:21-31)
Here is no good said of Rehoboam, and much said to the disadvantage of his subjects. The abounding of the worst crimes, of the worst of the heathen, in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen for his temple and his worship, shows that nothing can mend the hearts of fallen men but the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. On this alone may we depend; for this let us daily pray, in behalf of ourselves and all around us. The splendour of their temple, the pomp of their priesthood, and all the advantages with which their religion was attended, could not prevail to keep them close to it; nothing less than the pouring out the Spirit will keep God's Israel in their allegiance to him. Sin exposes, makes poor, and weakens any people. Shishak, king of Egypt, came and took away the treasures. Sin makes the gold become dim, changes the most fine gold, and turns it into brass.