Bronze for Gold

The first Egyptian Pharoah to be named in the Bible was “Shishak King of Egypt”. Shishak is known by his Egyptain name of Thutmoses III. He was the son-in-law of Hatshepsut, who can be shown to be the Queen of Sheba, the one who visited Solomon. With Solomon’s incredible wealth he had, among other things, made 300 shields of Gold, each one weighing 300 shekels. Apparently, according to 2023 figures, these three hundred gold shields would today be valued at $838 million. Solomon’s net worth in Gold was said to be $35 billion.(Some estimates put this as $US2.1 trillion) After Solomons death and five years into Rehoboam’s reign Shishak came up against Jerusalem. You can read this story in 2 Chronicles 12. This was 972 BC.  Shishak took away everything, (V9). Quite a haul!

This is where the story takes a strange turn. Stripped of Solomon’s wealth by Shishak, King Rehoboam “made in their stead” shields of bronze (v10). These shields were paraded around just as the gold ones had been. Bronze can be polished to look like gold! It gave the appearance of normality and a relationship with God. The temple mechanics were maintained but the spirituality had been substituted so that it only gave the appearance. It was pleasing to the eye, but not the real thing.

It is here that we should take stock of the sad story because we can make substitutes in our own lives. We can substitute the gold of faith (Rev 3:18) for the veneer of a counterfeit. This can happen in the life of a nation that has the veil of Christianity. It can happen in the life of a church that substitutes programing, dramatic performance, and busyness but these do not constitute a relationship with our Maker and our King. Show and externals can supplant the real power of God with shields of brass.

It can happen in the life of an individual. The gold of purity, honour and spiritual commitment can be stolen by the buccaneer of the universe. We replace these with substitutes, the works of the flesh, the brass things that are pleasing to the eye and we parade them around as if they are the real thing. Veneered spirituality. The same thing can happen in the home. Is your marriage the real deal, or has the treasure been stolen.

We can avoid such apostacy’s by heeding the warnings that this passage gives us. The first thing we notice is the peril of prosperity (V1). Imagine inheriting $35 Billion in gold! Secondly, Vs 1-11 warns us of the peril of the illusion of spirituality, or the illusion of a relationship with God. Only you and God know who you are when nobody is looking. There is also in this passage a warning about the peril of dry and meaningless ritualism.

Finally, vs 4, 12 and 14 shows us the peril of sporadic spirituality. Christianity is a lifestyle of spiritual habits, not a weekly visit to the fuel station to get a refill. Someone once asked me if I was filled with the Spirit, to which I answered, “Yes, but I leak.” I need refilling every day. Start your day with God, even if that is just praying before you get out of bed, but don’t rely on a weekly 1-hour experience. Spirituality is refined in a crisis. A crisis does not produce character, it reveals it.