Shishak thought this was a military expedition, but he was coming to teach a seminar for God.
“The kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations” (Ps 22:28). So wrote David. And why are certain kingdoms allowed to expand and others forced to shrink? Paul explains, “He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord” (Acts 17:26-27). So in the discipline of God, it happened “in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord…And he took the fortified cities of Judah” (2 Chron 12:2-4). Like the morning mist, that protective ring of cities where his sons ruled evaporated! As a mighty tidal wave, Egypt’s “twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and people without number” (v 3) were soon lapping at the gates of Jerusalem. That will get your attention! But it wasn’t just Shishak outside; there was also “Shemaiah the prophet” inside. Who was more fearsome? His message: “Thus says the Lord: ‘You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak’” (v 5). Wisely, “the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, ‘The Lord is righteous’” (v 6). That was good, but the Lord had seen Rehoboam’s pendulum swings before. So His second message through Shemaiah went like this: “They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them…Nevertheless they will be his servants, that they may distinguish My service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations” (vv 7-8). Don’t like Me as your Lord? Then try lord Shishak for a while. Face it: us being in charge is just a mirage. Either we’re slaves to sin and self, or else we’re servants of the Lord.