No doubt Rehoboam's obedience saved him from sharing
the fate of the other kings whom Shishak conquered and dragged back to
Egypt, where he yoked them to his chariot, four abreast, and made them
draw him about. Shishak was a great conqueror, and in nine years overran
all Asia, as far as the river Ganges. All his victories were recorded
in hieroglyphics, and the learned have made out the picture of a people
with the features of Jews, bringing their gifts to his feet, no doubt
the messengers of Rehoboam. He lost his sight in his old age, and is
said to have killed himself.
In 955 Abijah came to the throne instead of Rehoboam, and was permitted
to gain a great victory over Jeroboam, but he died at the end of three
years, and was succeeded by his son Asa. The great temptation of the men
of Judah seems to have been at this time the resorting to hill tops and
groves of trees as places of worship, instead of going steadily to the
Temple at Jerusalem; and the kings, though obedient in other respects,
did not dare to put down this forbidden custom. Asa's mother, Maachah, a
daughter of Absalom, even had an idol in a grove; but after the king
had been strengthened to gain a great victory over the Ethiopians, he
destroyed the idol, and put her down from being queen.
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