2 Chronicles 12:1-16

The issue was that Rehoboam "forsook the law of the Lord." The scourge came in the person of Israel's ancient foe, the king of Egypt. The patience of God is ever manifest in His dealing with His people. The repentance of Rehoboam produced, as it always does, a stay of judgment. Yet the kingdom of Judah passed under the yoke of Egypt. Judah was saved, however, from complete destruction, not principally for the sake of the king, nor in answer to his repentance, but because "in Judah there were good things found."

God's judgments are always characterized by fine discrimination. He never destroys the righteous with the wicked. The picture of Rehoboam's substitution of brass for gold is unutterably pathetic. Yet how often do the people of Jehovah masquerade amid imitations because they have lost the things of pure gold through unfaithfulness and sin.