Commentaire sur Chroniques 2 12:19

They have humbled themselves; I shall not destroy them A similar instance is found below (14: 6): “The land is still before us for we have sought, etc. we have sought.” So is the custom of the Scriptures, that when it interrupts in the middle, it repeats the word. An example is (Num. 10:32): “And it will be, if you go with us, it will be that the good, etc.”

For they will be his slaves [i.e., slaves] of Shishak and the other nations, as is explained.

and they will know My service When they repent, no ruler of the kings of the nations will be over them, but when you abandon My Law, you will experience servitude to the kings of the lands, and you will serve them.

and he entrusted them in the hands of the chiefs of the runners He took them from the house of the forest of Lebanon and entrusted them to the chiefs of the runners and afterwards they returned them to the chamber of the runners The room of the runners, i.e., to their place. Another explanation I heard from my mentor is that because he was afraid of the king of Egypt and the king of Israel, they would carry them [the shields] before him.

And when he humbled himself, the Lord’s wrath returned from him He should have stated this above immediately when he said, “And Shishak... marched,” but he interrupted in between because he had to mention, “And...made instead of them shields of copper.”

And King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem And he explains why, because when he was first made king, he was forty-one years old; therefore, he had the strength and the power to strengthen himself. He was a year old when David died, for Solomon reigned forty years, and Solomon had not yet reigned when Rehoboam was born. We find that Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he reigned.

the city that the Lord had chosen wherein to place His name, out of all the tribes of Israel but they deteriorated in their deeds, as it is written: “And he did that which was evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord,” and they caused the Shechinah to leave them, and it was as if they were complaining and demonstrating about that.

in the words of Shemaiah the prophet Every prophet would write his book, containing that which he prophesied, and this is the Shemaiah who was mentioned above (11:2, 12:5). And the verse written further (13:22), “And the rest of the deeds of Abijah and his ways and his words are written in the midrash of the prophet Iddo,” proves this, [that each prophet wrote a book of his prophecies, and] his [Iddo’s] book was called midrash.