2 CHRO�ICLES 13 COMME�TARYEDITED BY GLE�� PEASE

Abijah King of Judah

1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, Abijah became king of Judah,

BAR�ES, "The history of Abijah’s reign is here related far more fully than in Kings (marginal reference), especially as regards his war with Jeroboam.

GILL, "Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.; see Gill on 1Ki_15:1.

HE�RY, "Abijah's mother was called Maachah, the daughter of Absalom, 2Ch_11:20; here she is called Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel. It is most probable that she was a grand-daughter of Absalom, by his daughter Tamar (2Sa_14:27), and that her immediate father was this Uriel. But we are here to attend Abijah into the field of battle with Jeroboam king of Israel.

I. God gave him leave to engage with Jeroboam, and owned him in the conflict, though he would not permit Rehoboam to do it, 2Ch_11:4. 1. Jeroboam, it is probable, was now the aggressor, and what Abijah did was in his own necessary defence. Jeroboam, it may be, happening to survive Rehoboam, claimed the crown of Judah be survivorship, at least hoped to get it from this young king, upon his accession to the throne. Against these impudent pretensions it was brave in Abijah to take up arms, and God stood by him. 2. When Rehoboam attempted to recover his ten tribes Jeroboam was upon his good behaviour, and there must be some trial of him; but now that he had discovered what manner of man he was, by setting up the calves and casting off the priests, Abijah is allowed to chastise him, and it does not appear that he intended any more; whereas Rehoboam aimed at no less than the utter reduction of the ten tribes, which was contrary to the counsel of God.

JAMISO�, "2Ch_13:1-20. Abijah, succeeding, makes war against Jeroboam, and overcomes him.

K&D 1-2, "The commencement and duration of the reign, as in 1Ki_15:1-2. Abijah's mother is here (2Ch_13:2) called Michaiah instead of Maachah, as in 2Ch_11:20 and

1Ki_15:2, but it can hardly be a second name which Maachah had received for some

unknown reason; probably מיכיהו is a mere orthographical error for מעכה. She is here

called, not the daughter = granddaughter of Abishalom, but after her father, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah; see on 2Ch_11:20.

(Note: Against this Bertheau remarks, after the example of Thenius: “When we consider that the wife of Abijah and mother of Asa was also called Maachah, 1Ki_15:13; 2Ch_15:16, and that in 1Ki_15:2 this Maachah is again called the daughter of Abishalom, and that this latter statement is not met with in the Chronicle, we are led to conjecture that Maachah, the mother of Abijah, the daughter of Abishalom, has been confounded with Maachah the mother of Asa, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah, and that in our passage Asa's mother is erroneously named instead of the mother of Abijah.” This conjecture is a strange fabric of perverted facts and inconsequential reasoning. In 1Ki_15:2 Abijam's mother is called Maachah the daughter of Abishalom, exactly as in 2Ch_11:20 and 2Ch_11:21; and in 1Ki_15:13, in perfect agreement with 2Ch_15:16, it is stated that Asa removed Maachah from the dignity of Gebira because she had made herself a statute of Asherah. This Maachah, deposed by Asa, is called in 1Ki_15:10 the daughter of Abishalom, and only this latter remark is omitted from the Chronicle. How from these statements we must conclude that the mother of Abijah, Maachah the daughter of Abishalom, has been confounded with Maachah the mother of Asa, the daughter of Uriel, we cannot see. The author of the book of Kings knows only one Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom, whom in 2Ch_

15:2 he calls mother, i.e., בירה�, i.e., Sultana Walide of Abijah, and in 2Ch_15:10

makes to stand in the same relationship of mother to Asa. From this, however, the only natural and logically sound conclusion which can be drawn is that Abijam's mother, Rehoboam's wife, occupied the position of queen-mother, not merely during the three years' reign of Abijam, but also during the first years of the reign of his son Asa, as his grandmother, until Asa had deprived her of this dignity because of her idolatry. It is nowhere said in Scripture that this woman was Abijam's wife, but that

is a conclusion drawn by Thenius and Bertheau only from her being called א�ו, his

(Asa's) mother, as if אם could denote merely the actual mother, and not the

grandmother. Finally, the omission in the Chronicle of the statement in 1Ki_15:10, “The name of his mother was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom,” does not favour in the very least the conjecture that Asa's mother has been confounded with the mother of Abijah; for it is easily explained by the fact that at the accession of Asa no change was made in reference to the dignity of queen-mother, Abijah's mother still holding that position even under Asa.)

COFFMA�, "There are a number of variations here as compared with 1 Kings 15:1-8, for different spellings of the king's name and the names of his mother and of her father; and we have no good explanation of this. As frequently noted, many people in that day were known by more than one name. His mother's name, as given here, is that of a man.

For some, these tremendously large numbers of the troops on each side of the conflict are also considered to be a problem. One common understanding of it is the very great possibility that the word thousand was from a technical word that really

meant a military unit that could have been much smaller than a literal thousand. We accept the numbers as given here, because they are far more trustworthy than 20th-century guesses by critical scholars.

The big point in this paragraph is that Jeroboam's army outnumbered Abijah's two to one.

PARKER, "The Ideal Abijah

WE forget Abijah"s character in his eloquence. He carries a spell with him. Judging from this speech, one would suppose him faultless, entirely noble in every aspiration and impulse, and sublimely religious and unselfish. The whole Abijah is not here. This is the ideal Abijah. Who ever shows himself wholly upon one occasion? Who does not sometimes go forth in his best clothing? We must read the account of Abijah which is given in the Kings before we can correctly estimate the Abijah who talks in the Chronicles. It Isaiah , perhaps, encouraging that whilst men are upon the earth they should not be so dazzlingly good as to blind their fellow-men. Yet it is pitiful to observe how men can be religious for the occasion. �early all men are religious at a funeral: few men are religious at a wedding. Abijah has a great cause to serve, and he addresses himself to it not only with the skill of a rhetorician but with the piety of a mind that never tenanted a worldly thought God knows the whole character: how bright we are in points, how dark in many places; how lofty, how low: knowing all, he judges correctly, and his mercy is his delight. Sometimes it would seem as if judgment were forgotten in the abundance of his clemency, in the river of his tears. "Our God is a consuming fire:" yet "God is love." As man is manifold, so is God manifold. �either God nor man is to be judged by one aspect, or one attribute, or one quality; we must comprehend, so far as we may be able, the whole circuit of character and purpose before we can come to a large and true conclusion. But as we have to do with the ideal Abijah, let us hear what he has to say in his ideal capacity; we will forget his faults whilst we listen to the music of his religious eloquence.

Abijah comes before us like a man who has a good cause to plead. He fixes his feet upon a mountain as upon a natural throne, and from its summit he addresses a king and a nation, and he addresses his auditors in the sacred name of "the Lord God of Israel." He will not begin the argument at a superficial point, or take it as starting from yesterday"s new raw history, history hardly settled into form; he will go back, and with great sweep of historical reference he will establish his claim to be heard.

PARKER 1-4, "1. �ow in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.

2. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother"s name also was Michaiah ["Maachah the daughter of Abishalom;" in Kings, which is doubtless correct. "Michaiah," which is elsewhere a man"s name, is a corruption of Maachah] the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

3. And Abijah set the battle in array [began the battle ( 1 Kings 20:14)] with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valour.

4. And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim [not elsewhere mentioned; and it is uncertain (Speaker"s Commentary) whether we ought to connect it with the city of the same name noticed in Joshua among the towns allotted to Benjamin ( Joshua 18:22). The mountain seems to have lain south of Beth-el (see 2 Chronicles 13:19), upon the border of the two kingdoms. It has not yet been identified] which is in mount Ephraim [the hill country of Ephraim], and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;

GUZIK, "2 CHRO�ICLES 13 - KI�G ABIJAH A�D A VICTORY FOR JUDAH

A. King Abijah speaks to King Jeroboam.

1. (2 Chronicles 13:1-3) The two armies gather for war.

In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. Abijah set the battle in order with an army of valiant warriors, four hundred thousand choice men. Jeroboam also drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand choice men, mighty men of valor.

a. In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam: This is the only description of the reign of a Judean king that is synchronized with the reign of a contemporary king of Israel. Though the books of 1 and 2 Kings told the story of both southern and northern kingdoms, 2 Chronicles focuses only on the southern kingdom of Judah. The connection in this verse is probably due to the fact that the events involve Israel as well as Judah.

b. He reigned three years in Jerusalem: This son of Rehoboam named Abijah (called Abijam in 1 Kings) only reigned three years, showing that God did not bless his reign.

c. Four hundred thousand choice men. . . . against him with eight hundred thousand choice men: In this war between the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel, there was a clear numerical advantage for the northern kingdom.

i. “�ow it is very possible that there is a cipher too much in all these numbers, and that they should stand thus: Abijah’s army, forty thousands; Jeroboam’s eighty thousands; the slain, fifty thousand.” (Clarke)

ii. On the other hand, “A vast number: but it hath been oft observed and recorded by sacred and profane historians, that in those ancient times there were very numerous armies, and ofttimes very great slaughters; and if this slaughter was more than ordinary, there is nothing strange nor incredible, because the Almighty God fought against the Israelites.” (Poole)

PULPIT, "The career of Abijah begins and ends with this chapter, the twenty-one verses of which are paralleled by only eight in 1 Kings 15:1-8. The difference is caused by the fact that the writer of Kings only mentions that there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam, while the writer of Chronicles, besides giving particulars of the war, rehearses the splendid, dramatic, rhetorical address and appeal of Abijah on Mount Zemaraim to the people of the ten tribes.

2 Chronicles 13:1

In the eighteenth year. Reading this literally, it will appear that Rehoboam had completed a full seventeen years.

2 and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maakah,[a] a daughter[b] of Uriel of Gibeah.There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

CLARKE, "His mother’s name -wasMichaiah - See on 2Ch_11:20 (note).

GILL, "He reigned three years in Jerusalem,.... See Gill on 1Ki_15:2,

his mother's name also was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah; see 2Ch_11:20; see Gill on 1Ki_15:2.

and there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam; and in this chapter is an account of a battle fought between them, not recorded in the book of Kings.

JAMISO�, "His mother’s name also was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel—

the same as Maachah (see on 1Ki_15:2). She was “the daughter,” that is, granddaughter of Absalom (1Ki_15:2; compare 2Sa_14:1-33), mother of Abijah, “mother,” that is, grandmother (1Ki_15:10, Margin) of Asa.

of Gibeah— probably implies that Uriel was connected with the house of Saul.

there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam— The occasion of this war is not recorded (see 1Ki_15:6, 1Ki_15:7), but it may be inferred from the tenor of Abijah’s address that it arose from his youthful ambition to recover the full hereditary dominion of his ancestors. No prophet now forbade a war with Israel (2Ch_11:23) for Jeroboam had forfeited all claim to protection.

BE�SO�, ". His mother’s name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel —

Called Maachah, the daughter of Absalom, 1 Kings 15:2. She might be daughter to one, and grand-daughter to the other: or the proper and natural daughter of the one, and the other’s daughter by adoption.

COKE, ". His mother's name—was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel— In the 20th verse of the 11th chapter, and in 1 Kings 15:2 she is called Maachah the daughter of Absalom: the same persons, perhaps, having different names.

ELLICOTT, "(2) His mother’s name also was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.—Kings reads for the names “Maachah the daughter of Abishalom”; and as the chronicler has himself already designated Abijah as son of Maachah, daughter of Absalom (2 Chronicles 11:20-22), there can be no doubt that this is correct, and that “Michaiah,” which is elsewhere a man’s name, is a corruption of Maachah. This is confirmed by the LXX., Syriac, and Arabic, which read Maachah. As we have already stated (2 Chronicles 11:20), Maachah was granddaughter to Absalom, being a daughter of Tamar the only daughter of Absalom. Uriel of Gibeah, then, must have been the husband of Tamar. (See on 2 Chronicles 15:16. Uriel of Gibeah is otherwise unknown.)

And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.—�ow war had arisen. See 1 Kings 15:6. “�ow war had prevailed [same verb] between Abijam [common Hebrew text incorrectly has Rehoboam] and Jeroboam all the days of his life.” The chronicler modifies the sense by omitting the concluding phrase, and then proceeds to give a striking account of a campaign in which Abijah totally defeated his rival (2 Chronicles 13:3-20); of all which we find not a word in Kings.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also [was] Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

Ver. 2. His mother’s name was Michaiah.] Alias Maachah. See on 2 Chronicles 11:21-22.

And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.] Like as there had been between

Rehoboam and Jeroboam. So the dissension betwixt England and Scotland, which consumed more Christian blood, wrought more spoil and destruction, and continued longer, than ever quarrel we read of did between any two people in the world.

POOLE, "Michaiah the daughter of Uriel, called Maachah the daughter of Absalom, 1 Kings 15:2. She might be daughter to one, and granddaughter to the other; or the proper and natural daughter of the, one, and the other’s by adoption, of which there are instances in Scripture; or the same person might be called Uriel and Absalom: see 1 Kings 15:2.

PULPIT, "Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. As before noted (2 Chronicles 11:20), and as in the parallel (1 Kings 15:2), this name is one with "Maachah, daughter of Absalom'' (parallel, Abishalom). The different alphabetic characters may be attributed to error, and that error the error of transcription merely. As in our note (2 Chronicles 11:20), the word "daughter," as in many similar cases, stands for granddaughter. Thus the father of Maachah was Uriel of Gibeah, and her mother Tamar, daughter of Absalom. Josephus ('Ant.,' 8.10. § 1) proffers us this connecting link of explanation. On the other hand, Rabbi Joseph's Targum on Chronicles says that Uriel means Absalom, but was a name used to avoid the use of Absalom. We have no clue as to which out of many Gibeahs is here intended. The Hebrew word ( גבעח ) signifies a hill with round top, and hence would easily give name to many places. The following are the chief places of the name (as classified by Dr. Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' 1.689-691):

1. Gibeah in the mountain district of Judah (Joshua 15:57; 1 Chronicles 2:49).

2. Gibeath among the towns of Benjamin (Joshua 18:28).

3. The Gibeah (1 Samuel 7:1; 2 Samuel 6:3, 2 Samuel 6:4).

4. Gibeah of Benjamin ( 19:1-30; 20:1-48.), between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. This should strictly be quoted either as "Gibeah belonging to Benjamin," or "Geba ;of Benjamin" (see also 1 Samuel 13:1-23; 1 Samuel 14:1-52.; 2 Samuel 23:29 ( גבע )1 Chronicles 11:31; Hosea 5:8; Hosea 9:9; Hosea 10:9).

5. Gibeah of Saul (1 Samuel 10:26; 1 Samuel 15:34; 2 Samuel 21:6). Josephus ('Bell, Jud.,' 5.2. § 1) states what helps to the identifying of the place as the modern Tuleil-el-ful, about thirty stadia from Jerusalem (see also Isaiah 10:28-32). The Gibeah of 1 Samuel 22:6; 1 Samuel 23:19; 1 Samuel 26:1, is this Gibeah of Saul.

6. Gibeah in the field ( 20:31). Lastly, our Authorized Version gives us seven other Gibeahs, only translating this word, e g. "The hill of the foreskins" (Joshua 5:3); "The hill of Phinehas" (Joshua 24:33); "The hill of Moreh" ( 7:1); "The hill of God" (1 Samuel 10:5); "The hill of Haehilah" (1 Samuel 23:19; 1 Samuel 26:1); "The hill of Ammah" (2 Samuel 2:24); "The hill Gareb" (Jeremiah 31:39).

3 Abijah went into battle with an army of four hundred thousand able fighting men, and Jeroboam drew up a battle line against him with eight hundred thousand able troops.

BAR�ES, "It has been proposed to change the numbers, here and in 2Ch_13:17, into 40,000, 80,000, and 50,000 respectively - partly because these smaller numbers are found in many early editions of the Vulgate, but mainly because the larger ones are thought to be incredible. The numbers accord well, however, with the census of the people taken in the reign of David 1Ch_21:5, joined to the fact which the writer has related 2Ch_11:13-17, of a considerable subsequent emigration from the northern kingdom into the southern one. The total adult male population at the time of the census was 1,570, 000. The total of the fighting men now is 1,200, 000. This would allow for the aged and infirm 370, 000, or nearly a fourth of the whole. And in 2Ch_13:17, our author may be understood to mean that this was the entire Israelite loss in the course of the war, which probably continued through the whole reign of Abijah.

CLARKE, "Abijah set the battle in array - The numbers in this verse and in the seventeenth seem almost incredible. Abijah’s army consisted of four hundred thousand effective men; that of Jeroboam consisted of eight hundred thousand; and the slain of Jeroboam’s army were five hundred thousand. Now it is very possible that there is a cipher too much in all these numbers, and that they should stand thus: Abijah’s army, forty thousand; Jeroboam’s eighty thousand; the slain, fifty thousand. Calmet, who defends the common reading, allows that the Venice edition of the Vulgate, in 1478; another, in 1489; that of Nuremberg, in 1521; that of Basil, by Froben, in 1538; that of Robert Stevens, in 1546; and many others, have the smaller numbers. Dr. Kennicott says: “On a particular collation of the Vulgate version, it appears that the number of chosen men here slain, which Pope Clement’s edition in 1592 determines to be five hundred thousand, the edition of Pope Sixtus, printed two years before, determined to be only fifty thousand; and the two preceding numbers, in the edition of Sixtus, are forty thousand and eighty thousand. As to different printed editions, out of fifty-two, from the year 1462 to 1592, thirty-one contain the less number. And out of fifty-one MSS. twenty-three in the Bodleian library, four in that of Dean Aldrich, and two in that of Exeter College, contain the less number, or else are corrupted irregularly, varying only one or two numbers.”

This examination was made by Dr. Kennicott before he had finished his collation of

Hebrew MSS., and before De Rossi had published his Variae Lectiones Veteris Testamenti; but from these works we find little help, as far as the Hebrew MSS. are

concerned. One Hebrew MS., instead of ארבע�מאות�אלף arba�meoth�eleph, four hundred

thousand, reads ארבע�עשר�אלף arba�eser�eleph, fourteen thousand.

In all printed copies of the Hebrew, the numbers are as in the common text, four hundred thousand, eight hundred thousand, and five hundred thousand.

The versions are as follow: - The Targum, or Chaldee, the same in each place as the Hebrew.

The Syriac in 2Ch_13:3 has four hundred thousand young men for the army of Abijah, and eight hundred thousand stout youth for that of Jeroboam. For the slain Israelites, in 2Ch_13:17, it has five hundred thousand, falsely translated in the Latin text quinque milia, five thousand, both in the Paris and London Polyglots: another proof among many that little dependence is to be placed on the Latin translation of this version in either of the above Polyglots.

The Arabic is the same in all these cases with the Syriac, from which it has been translated.

The Septuagint, both as it is published in all the Polyglots, and as far as I have seen in MSS. is the same with the Hebrew text. So also is Josephus.

The Vulgate or Latin version is that alone that exhibits any important variations; we have had considerable proof of this in the above-mentioned collations of Calmet and Kennicott. I shall beg liberty to add others from my own collection.

In the Editio Princeps of the Latin Bible, though without date or place, yet evidently printed long before that of Fust, in 1462, the places stand thus: 2Ch_13:3. Cumque inisset certamen, et haberet bellicosissimos viros, et electorum Quadraginta milia: Iheroboam construxit e contra aciem Octoginta milia virorum; “With him Abia entered into battle; and he had of the most warlike and choice men forty thousand; and Jeroboam raised an army against him of eighty thousand men.” And in 2Ch_13:17 : Et corruerunt vulnerati ex Israel, Quinquaginta milia virorum fortium; “And there fell down wounded fifty thousand stout men of Israel.” In the Glossa Ordinaria, by Strabo Fuldensis, we have forty thousand and eighty thousand in the two first instances, and five hundred thousand in the last. - Bib. Sacr. vol. ii., Antv. 1634.

In six ancient MSS. of my own, marked A, B, C, D, E, F. the text stands thus: -

A. - Cumque inisset Abia certamen, et haberet bellicosissimos viros, et electorum XL. MIL. Jeroboam instruxit contra aciem LXXX. MIL.

And in 2Ch_13:17 : Et corruerunt vulnerati ex Israel L. MIL. virorum fortium. Here we have forty thousand for the army of Abijah, and eighty thousand for that of Jeroboam, and Fifty thousand for the slain of the latter.

B. -

Quadraginita milia Forty thousand

Octoginta milia Eighty thousand

Quinquiaginta milia Fifty thousand

The numbers being here expressed in words at full length, there can be no suspicion of mistake.

C. -

CCCC milia 400 thousand

DCCC milibus 800 thousand

D milia 500 thousand

This is the same as the Hebrew text, and very distinctly expressed.

D. -

xl. m. 40,000

lxxx. m. 80,000

l. v. m. 50 and 5000

This, in the two first numbers, is the same as the others above; but the last is confused, and appears to stand for fifty thousand and five thousand. A later hand has corrected the two first cccc numbers in this MS., placing over the first four CCCC, thus 40, thus changing forty into four hundred; and over the second thus, dccc lxxx., thus changing eighty into eight hundred. Over the latter number, which is evidently a mistake of the scribe, there is no correction.

E. -

xl. m. 40,000

Octoginta m. Eighty thousand

l. m. 50,000

F. -

CCCC. m. 400,000

DCCC. m. 800,000

D. m. 600,000

This also is the same as the Hebrew.

The reader has now the whole evidence which I have been able to collect before him, and may choose; the smaller numbers appear to be the most correct. Corruptions in the numbers in these historical books we have often had cause to suspect, and to complain of.

GILL, "And Abijah set the battle in array, with an army of valiant man of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men,.... Collected such an army of select men, led them into his enemy's country, and set them in order of battle:

and Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him, with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valour; double the number of Abijah s army, he having ten tribes to collect out of, and Abijah but two.

HE�RY 3-8, "II. Jeroboam's army was double in number to that of Abijah (2Ch_13:3), for he had ten tribes to raise an army out of, while Abijah had but two. Of the army on both sides it is said, they were mighty men, chosen men, and valiant; but the army of Judah consisted only of 400,000, while Jeroboam's army amounted to 800,000. The

inferior number however proved victorious; for the battle is not always to the strong nor the cause to the majority.

III. Abijah, before he fought them, reasoned with them, to persuade them, though not to return to the house of David (that matter was settled by the divine determination and he acquiesced), yet to desist from fighting against the house of David. He would not have them withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hands of the sons of David (2Ch_13:8), but at least to be content with what they had. Note, It is good to try reason before we use force. If the point may be gained by dint of argument, better so than by dint of sword. We must never fly to violent methods till all the arts of persuasion have been tried in vain. War must be the ultima ratio regum - the last resort of kings. Fair reasoning may do a great deal of good and prevent a good deal of mischief. How forcible are right words! Abijah had got with his army into the heart of their country; for he made this speech upon a hill in Mount Ephraim, where he might be heard by Jeroboam and the principal officers, with whom it is probable he desired to have a treaty, to which they consented. It has been usual for great generals to make speeches to their soldiers to animate them, and this speech of Abijah had some tendency to do this, but was directed to Jeroboam and all Israel. Two things Abijah undertakes to make out, for the satisfaction of his own men and the conviction of the enemy: -

JAMISO�, "Abijah set the battle in array— that is, took the field and opened the campaign.

with ... four hundred thousand chosen men ... Jeroboam with eight hundred thousand— These are, doubtless, large numbers, considering the smallness of the two kingdoms. It must be borne in mind, however, that Oriental armies are mere mobs - vast numbers accompanying the camp in hope of plunder, so that the gross numbers described as going upon an Asiatic expedition are often far from denoting the exact number of fighting men. But in accounting for the large number of soldiers enlisted in the respective armies of Abijah and Jeroboam, there is no need of resorting to this mode of explanation; for we know by the census of David the immense number of the population that was capable of bearing arms (1Ch_21:5; compare 2Ch_14:8; 2Ch_17:14).

K&D, "2Ch_13:3

Abijah began the war with an army of 400,000 valiant warriors. חור$ .chosen men ,איש

את מ to bind on war, i.e., to open the war. Jeroboam prepared for the war with ,)סר

800,000 warriors. The number of Jeroboam's warriors is exactly that which Joab returned as the result, as to Israel, of the numbering of the people commanded by David, while that of Abijah's army is less by 100,000 men than Joab numbered in Judah (2Sa_24:9).

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:3. Abijah set the battle in array — �amely, against Jeroboam, having, no doubt, God’s authority to engage with him in battle. It is probable, indeed, that Jeroboam was the aggressor, and that what Abijah did was in his own necessary defence.

COKE, "2 Chronicles 13:3. Even four hundred thousand chosen men— Houbigant

thinks the numbers right in this and the 17th verse. Dr. Kennicott observes upon them as follows: "It is probable, that the Hebrew numbers may have been anciently expressed by marks, analogous to our common figures; for, indeed, several numbers seem greatly corrupted from the addition or subtraction of a cypher; and the numbers of this very passage, instead of 400,000, and 800,000, and 500,000, were probably at first 40,000, 80,000 and 50,000. On a particular examination of the Latin or Vulgate version, it appears that the number of chosen men here slain, which the Vulgate of Clement's edition in 1592 determines to be 500,000, the Vulgate of Sextus, printed two years before, determined to be only 50,000; and the two preceding numbers in the edition of Sextus are 40,000, and 80,000, and that of Clement 400,000 and 800,000. As to different printed editions, out of fifty-two different editions from the year 1462 to 1592, thirty-one contained the lesser number: and out of fifty-one manuscript copies, twenty-three in the Bodleian library, four in the library of Dean Aldrich, and two in that of Exeter College, contain the less number, or else are corrupted irregularly, varying only one or two numbers." Dissert. vol. i. p. 532. vol. ii. 197-221-564.

ELLICOTT, "(3) Set the battle in array.—Began the battle. Vulg., “cumque iniisset Abia certanien” (1 Kings 20:14).

Four hundred thousand chosen men.—In David’s census, Judah mustered 470,000 fighting men, and Israel 1,100,000, without reckoning Levi and Benjamin (1 Chronicles 21:5). The numbers of the verse present a yet closer agreement with the results of that census as reported in 2 Samuel 24:9; where, as here, the total strength of the Israelite warriors is given as 800,000, and that of Judah as 500,000. This correspondence makes it improbable that the figures have been falsified in transmission. (See �ote on 2 Chronicles 13:17.)

Jeroboam also set the battle in array.—While Jeroboam had drawn up against him. Vulg., instruxite contra aciem.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:3 And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, [even] four hundred thousand chosen men: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, [being] mighty men of valour.

Ver. 3. And Abijah set the battle in array.] Josephus saith, that Jeroboam began the war, in hope to vanquish young Abijah; but Sethus Calvisius saith, that Abijah, rashly offering war to Jeroboam, yet obtained the victory, when he called upon God.

Even four hundred thousand, &c.] Yet was this great army out numbered by Jeroboam’s; so was Asa’s six hundred thousand by Zera’s million. Huge were the armies of the Jews, that small people in comparison: five hundred thousand - not fifty thousand only, as Ruffinus ill translateth Josephus - were slain on one side; the greatest number that ever we read of slain in any battle.

POOLE, "Abijah set the battle in array against Jeroboam. We need not scrupulously inquire into the lawfulness of this war, for this Abijah, though here he makes a fair flourish, and maintained the better cause, yet was indeed an ungodly man, 1 Kings 15:3, and therefore minded not the satisfaction of his conscience, but only the recovery of his parent’s ancient dominions.

WHEDO�, "3. Set the battle in array — Literally, joined the battle; that is, opened the war; began the fight.

Jeroboam also set the battle in array — The verb here is different from that translated by the same words above. Abijah began the war in order to punish Jeroboam and Israel for rebellion, and Jeroboam ordered out his army for defense. The numbers 800,000 and 400,000 seem incredibly large; but perhaps the author only meant to designate the forces which each kingdom could command, not to say that all these 1,200,000 were engaged in any one battle. Compare the number of fighting men in David’s time. 2 Samuel 24:9.

PULPIT, "It is not within the province of an expositor to assert dogmatically that numbers like these in this verse should be deprived of one cipher, and that the slaughter of 2 Chronicles 13:17 must be, consequently, similarly discounted. It would be, however, a great relief to faith to be able to give proof that this treatment would be true to fact. At present the numbers can be shown to be consistent with other numbers, such as those of the entire man-population (1 Chronicles 21:5; 2 Chronicles 11:13-17); and this seems the best that can be said in support of them. It does not, however, suffice to bring comfortable conviction. It is remarkable, among the difficulties that the question entails, that we do not get any satisfactory explanation as to how such vast numbers of slain bodies were disposed of in a compass of ground comparatively so small.

4 Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Jeroboam and all Israel, listen to me!

CLARKE, "Stood up uponMount Zemaraim - “Which was a mount of the tribe of the house of Ephraim.” - Targum. Jarchi thinks that Abijah went to the confines of the

tribe of Ephraim to attack Jeroboam. It could not be Shomeron, the mount on which Samaria was built in the days of Omri king of Israel, 1Ki_16:24.

GILL, "And Abijah stood upon Mount Zemaraim, which is in Mount Ephraim,.... Which might have its name from a city of Benjamin of this name, to which it was near, though within the borders of Ephraim, Jos_18:22 formerly inhabited by the Zemarites, from whence it might have its name, Gen_10:18 here Abijah stood, that he might be the better heard by the armies pitched in the valley; and very probably he desired a parley, and it was granted, otherwise he would not have been safe in the position in which he was:

and said, hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; as many as were now gathered together, and which were a great number.

JAMISO� 4-12, "Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim— He had entered the enemy’s territory and was encamped on an eminence near Beth-el (Jos_18:22). Jeroboam’s army lay at the foot of the hill, and as a pitched battle was expected, Abijah, according to the singular usage of ancient times, harangued the enemy. The speakers in such circumstances, while always extolling their own merits, poured out torrents of invective and virulent abuse upon the adversary. So did Abijah. He dwelt on the divine right of the house of David to the throne; and sinking all reference to the heaven-condemned offenses of Solomon and the divine appointment of Jeroboam, as well as the divine sanction of the separation, he upbraided Jeroboam as a usurper, and his subjects as rebels, who took advantage of the youth and inexperience of Rehoboam. Then contrasting the religious state of the two kingdoms, he drew a black picture of the impious innovations and gross idolatry introduced by Jeroboam, with his expulsion and impoverishment (2Ch_11:14) of the Levites. He dwelt with reasonable pride on the pure and regular observance of the ancient institutions of Moses in his own dominion [2Ch_13:11] and concluded with this emphatic appeal: “O children of Israel, fight ye not against Jehovah, the God of your fathers, for ye shall not prosper.”

K&D, "2Ch_13:4

When the two armies lay over against each other, ready for the combat, Abijah addressed the enemy, King Jeroboam and all Israel, in a speech from Mount Zemaraim.

The mountain צמרים is met with only here; but a city of this name is mentioned in Jos_

18:22, whence we would incline to the conclusion that the mountain near or upon which this city lay was intended. But if this city was situated to the east, not only of Bethel, but also of Jerusalem, on the road to Jericho (see on Jos_18:22), as we may conclude from its enumeration between Beth-arabah and Bethel in Josh. loc. cit., it will not suit our passage, at least if Zemaraim be really represented by the ruin el Sumra to the east of Khan Hadur on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho. Robinson (Phys. Geog. S. 38) conjectures Mount Zemaraim to the east of Bethel, near the border of the two kingdoms, to which Mount Ephraim also extends. Abijah represented first of all (2Ch_13:5-7) to Jeroboam and the Israelites that their kingdom was the result of a revolt against Jahve, who had given the kingship over Israel to David and his sons for ever.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:4. Abijah stood upon mount Zemaraim — Some commodious place whence his words might be heard by Jeroboam, and some of his army, who possibly were pitched in the valley. Or, the two armies being pitched near each other, Abijah desired a parley before they fought, to see if they could accommodate matters without shedding blood. Whereupon Jeroboam and some of his commanders and soldiers probably drew near to him, and stood below at the bottom of the hill, from whence they could hear him. And this, it is likely, Jeroboam was the more willing to do, that in the mean time he might cause an ambushment to come behind Abijah and his army, as he did, (2 Chronicles 13:13,) while he was quietly standing before them, and seemed to hearken to any terms of accommodation which were offered.

COFFMA� 4-7, ""Upon mount Zemaraim in the land of Ephraim" (2 Chronicles 13:4). By penetrating that far into Israel's territory, Abijah had made a very stupid move, giving Jeroboam the opportunity to surround him and cut him off from retreat. Perhaps God allowed him to do this in order that Judah could not claim a victory that was solely due to God's intervention.

"When Jeroboam was young and tender-hearted" (2 Chronicles 13:7). This was a falsehood, for the Chronicler tells us that Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign (2 Chronicles 12:13). The falsehood here was not that of the Chronicler but of Abijah. The Chronicler accurately reported the speech as it was recorded in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.

There can be no doubt that whatever portion of Jeroboam's vast army was in hearing distance of this address by Abijah was thoroughly demoralized and intimidated by it. What Abijah said here was known to be true by everyone in Israel.

The great significance of the passage is its reference to the sacred religious regalia that God through Moses had ordained in the Pentateuch for the tabernacle, and which had been incorporated by Solomon into the temple. It should be remembered that all of this knowledge of the Pentateuch and its contents was common public information centuries before the discovery of that alleged document in the reign of Josiah.

Abijah was an evil king (1 Kings 15:3); but the speech he made here was loaded with significant truth. It is of special interest that Abijah knew nothing of the critical canard that those golden calves were in any manner symbols of Jehovah. They were indeed no gods, as Abijah said; and everything pertaining to the true worship of Jehovah, even its priesthood, had been thrown out of the country by Jeroboam. �ote also that Jeroboam's army had brought along their golden calves into the battle.

ELLICOTT, "(4) And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim.—While the two hosts were facing each other, king Abijah addressed his foes from mount Zemaraim.

as Jotham addressed the Shechemites from the top of Gerizim in the days of the judges (Judges 9:7).

Upon.—Literally, from upon to mount Zemaraim; a mark of the chronicler’s hand.

Mount Zemaraim is otherwise unknown A city so called is mentioned (Joshua 18:22) as near Bethel, and probably lay a little to the south of it, on the northern frontier of Judah, perhaps upon this mountain.

Mount Ephraim.—The hill country of Ephraim.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:4 And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which [is] in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;

Ver. 4. And Abijah stood upon mount Zemaraim.] As Jotham likewise had done upon mount Gerizim. [ 9:7] It is probable that Abijah had, by his heralds or messengers, desired a parley: else he could not have delivered himself without danger.

POOLE, "Upon Mount Zemaraim; some commodious place whence his voice might be heard by Jeroboam, and some of his host, who possibly were pitched in the valley. Or the two armies being pitched near to one another, Abijah might desire a parley, before they fight; whereupon Jeroboam, and some of his commanders and soldiers, might draw near to him, and stand below him at the bottom of the hill, where they might hear his speech; which Jeroboam was the more willing to do, that in the mean time he might cause an ambushment to come behind Abijah and his army, as he did, 2 Chronicles 13:13, whilst he was quietly standing before them, and seemed to hearken to any terms of accommodation which might be offered.

WHEDO�, "4. Stood up upon mount Zemaraim — A general standing upon an eminence, could, like Jotham on Mount Gerizim, speak so as to be heard by a vast audience below. See note on Judges 9:7. The locality of Mount Zemaraim is uncertain. Some have thought to connect it with the Benjamite town of the same name mentioned in Joshua 18:22. But that was in the Jordan valley, this in Mount Ephraim. It was probably an eminence near the border of the two kingdoms, perhaps not far from Beth-el, near which the great battle was fought.

Hear me, thou Jeroboam — Abijah vainly thinks to make his enemies see the sin and folly of their separating from the kingdom of David. His speech was one sided, for he failed to observe that the permanency and integrity of David’s kingdom were conditioned upon obedience.

GUZIK 4-12, "2. (2 Chronicles 13:4-12) Abijah’s appeal to Jeroboam and the army of Israel.

Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, and

said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel: Should you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of �ebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord. Then worthless rogues gathered to him, and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and inexperienced and could not withstand them. And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD, which is in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and with you are the gold calves which Jeroboam made for you as gods. Have you not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests, like the peoples of other lands, so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of things that are not gods? But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests who minister to the LORD are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their duties. And they burn to the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense; they also set the showbread in order on the pure gold table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps to burn every evening; for we keep the command of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken Him. �ow look, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!”

a. The LORD God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt? Abijah’s argument is that the dynasty of David is the only legitimate house to rule over the tribes of Israel, including these 10 northern tribes that rebelled under Jeroboam.

i. This promise God made to David was called a covenant of salt, which meant a serious covenant because it was sealed by sacrifice (sacrifices always included salt, Leviticus 2:13). A covenant of salt also had the following associations:

· A pure covenant (salt stays pure as a chemical compound).

· An enduring covenant (salt makes things preserve and endure).

· A valuable covenant (salt was expensive).

b. Yet Jeroboam the son of �ebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord: Here King Abijah presents a rather selective view of history. It was true that Jeroboam rebelled, but it is also true that Rehoboam was a fool who provoked the northern tribes to rebellion.

i. “It is a strange mixture of misrepresentation and religion. The misrepresentation is in his statement of the reason for the rebellion of Israel, which culminated in the crowning of Jeroboam. He attributed the rebellion to the influence of evil men whom he described as ‘sons of Belial.’” (Morgan)

ii. “We need not scrupulously inquire into the lawfulness of this war, for this Abijah, though here he makes a fair flourish, and maintained the better cause, yet was indeed an ungodly man, 1 Kings 15:3, and therefore minded not the satisfaction of his conscience, but only the recovery of his parent’s ancient dominions.” (Poole)

c. But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken Him: Abijah contrasted the rejection of God on behalf of Jeroboam and the people of the northern tribes with the comparative faithfulness of the king and people of Judah.

d. Do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper! Abijah brought his sermon to a dramatic finish by challenging the king and people of the northern tribes to recognize that they were really fighting against the LORD God of their fathers.

PULPIT, "Mount Zemaraim. This mount is not mentioned elsewhere. Presumably it was a mountain or hill above the place called Zemaraim, mentioned in Joshua 18:22 as in Benjamin's allotment, and mentioned between the places called Beth ha-Arabah (i.e. the Jordan valley) and Bethel. Accordingly, it may be that itself lay between these two, or near enough to them one or both. This will quite suit our connection as placing the hill near the borders of Benjamin and Ephraim. It is said to be in Mount Ephraim; i.e. in the range of Mount Ephraim, which was one of considerable length, running through the midst of what was afterwards called Samaria, from the Plain of Esdraelon to Judah. Zemaraim may be so named from the Zemarite tribe, who were Hamites, and related to the Hittites and Amorites (Genesis 10:18; 1 Chronicles 1:16), descendants of Canaan; there are some faint traces of their having wandered from their northern settlements into mid and south Palestine. The Septuagint render Zemaraim by the same Greek as Samaria, σοµόρων.

BI 4-12, "And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim.

A great speech

its claims concerning Judah. God recognised—

1. In the gift of the kingdom.

2. In the worship and services of the temple.

3. In the warfare of life.

II. In its accusations against Israel.

III. Its passionate appeal to the people.

1. Religion is appealed to.

2. History is appealed to.

3. Humanity is appealed to. (J. Wolfendale.)

Abijah’s speech

Abijah’s speech is unique. There have been other instances where commanders have tried to make oratory take the place of arms. Sennacherib’s envoys. When Octavian was at war with his fellow-triumvir Lepidus he made a daring attempt to run over his enemy’s army. Riding openly into the hostile camp, he appealed to the soldiers by motives as lofty as those urged by Abijah, and called upon them to save their country from civil war by deserting Lepidus. At the moment his appeal failed, and he only escaped with a wound in his breast; but after a while his enemy’s soldiers came over to him in detachments, and eventually Lepidus was compelled to surrender to his rival. Another instance of a successful appeal to a hostile force is found in the history of the first Napoleon, when he was marching on Paris after his return from Elba. Near Grenoble he was met by a body of royal troops. He at once advanced to the front, and, exposing his breast, exclaimed to the opposing ranks, “Here is your emperor; if any one would kill me let him fire.” The detachment, which had been sent to arrest his progress, at once deserted to their old commander. (W. H. Bennett, M.A.)

The lessons of Abijah’s speech

These are two.

I. The importance of an official and duly accredited ministry. Every Church has in practice some official ministry, even those Churches that profess to owe their separate existence to the necessity of protesting against an official ministry. Men whose chief occupation is to denounce priestcraft may themselves be saturated with the sacerdotal spirit.

II. The importance of a suitable and authoritative ritual. Every Church, too, has its ritual. The silence of a Friends’ meeting is as much a rite as the most elaborate genuflexion before a highly ornamented altar. To regard either the absence or presence of rites as essential is equally ritualistic. The man who leaves his wonted place of worship because “Amen “ is sung at the end of a hymn is as bigoted a ritualist as his brother who dare not pass an altar without crossing himself. (W. H. Bennett, M. A.)

5 Don’t you know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?

CLARKE, "By a covenant of salt? - For ever. “For as the waters of the sea never grow sweet, neither shall the dominion depart from the house of David.” - Targum. See

my note on Num_18:19 (note).

GILL, "Ought you not to know,.... They did know what he afterwards says, but he would have them consider and acknowledge it:

that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever; to him and his seed, particularly to the Messiah, that should spring from him; but whether Abijah had this in view is a question, see 2Sa_7:13.

even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? that is, a perpetual one, which was inviolable, and never to be made void; called so, because salt preserves from corruption and putrefaction, and because made use of in sacrifices offered when covenants were made; the Targum is,"as salt waters, which never lose their saltness.''

HE�RY 5-6, "1. That he had right on his side, a jus divinum - a divine right: “You know, or ought to know, that God gave the kingdom to David and his sons for ever” (2Ch_13:5), not by common providence, his usual way of disposing of kingdoms, but by a covenant of salt, a lasting covenant, a covenant made by sacrifice, which was always salted; so bishop Patrick. All Israel had owned that David was a king of God's making, and that God had entailed the crown upon his family; so that Jeroboam's taking the crown of Israel at first was not justifiable: yet it is not certain that Abijah referred chiefly to that, for he knew that Jeroboam had a grant from God of the ten tribes. His attempt, however, to disturb the peace and possession of the king of Judah was by no means excusable; for when the ten tribes were given to him two were reserved for the house of David. Abijah shows, (1.) That there was a great deal of dishonesty and disingenuousness in Jeroboam's first setting himself up: He rebelled against his lord(2Ch_13:6) who had preferred him (1Ki_11:28), and basely took advantage of Rehoboam's weakness in a critical juncture, when, in gratitude to his old master and in justice to his title, he ought rather to have stood by him, and helped to secure the people in their allegiance to him, than to head a party against him and make a prey of him, which was unworthily done and what he could not expect to prosper in. Those that supported him are here called vain men (a character perhaps borrowed from Jdg_11:3), men that did not act from any steady principle, but were given to change, and men of Belial, that were for shaking off the yoke of government and setting those over them that would do just as they would have them do. (2.) That there was a great deal of impiety in his present attempt; for, in fighting against the house of David, he fought against the kingdom of the Lord. Those who oppose right oppose the righteous God who sits in the throne judging right, and cannot promise themselves success in so doing. Right may indeed go by the worst for a time, but it will prevail at last.

K&D 5-7, "2Ch_13:5-7

“Is it not to you to know?” i.e., can it be unknown to you? מלח accus. of nearer ,$רית

definition: after the fashion of a covenant of salt, i.e., of an irrevocable covenant; cf. on Lev_2:13 and Num_18:19. “And Jeroboam, the servant of Solomon the son of David (cf.

1Ki_11:11), rebelled against his lord,” with the help of frivolous, worthless men (רקים as

in Jdg_9:4; Jdg_11:3; בל,על as in 1Ki_21:10, 1Ki_21:13 $ני -not recurring elsewhere in the

Chronicle), who gathered around him, and rose against Rehoboam with power. על ,הת/�ץto show oneself powerful, to show power against any one. Against this rising Rehoboam showed himself not strong enough, because he was an inexperienced man and soft of

heart. נער denotes not “a boy,” for Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he entered

upon his reign, but “an inexperienced young man,” as in 1Ch_29:1. לבב ,soft of heart ,רך�

i.e., faint-hearted, inclined to give way, without energy to make a stand against those

rising insolently against him. lp' התחזק ,and showed himself not strong before them ,ולא

proved to be too weak in opposition to them. This representation does not conform to the state of the case as narrated in 2 Chron 10. Rehoboam did not appear soft-hearted and compliant in the negotiation with the rebellious tribes at Sichem; on the contrary, he was hard and defiant, and showed himself youthfully inconsiderate only in throwing to the winds the wise advice of the older men, and in pursuance of the rash counsel of the young men who had grown up with him, brought about the rupture by his domineering manner. But Abijah wishes to justify his father as much as possible in his speech, and shifts all the guilt of the rebellion of the ten tribes from the house of David on to Jeroboam and his worthless following.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:5. By a covenant of salt — A perpetual covenant. The reason of this mode of expression seems to arise from the preserving nature of salt; which, therefore, was made a symbol of friendship and fidelity. It is most likely, that in all solemn covenants which were confirmed by sacrifice, it was an ancient custom to offer salt with the sacrifice, to denote the faith and perpetuity of the covenant; so that, in this view, a covenant of salt will signify a covenant confirmed by sacrifice. See note on �umbers 18:19.

COKE, "2 Chronicles 13:5. By a covenant of salt— See �umbers 18:19.

ELLICOTT, "(5) Ought ye not to know.—Literally, is it not to you to know? A construction characteristic of the chronicler. Abijah contrasts the moral position of his adversaries with his own, asserting (1) that their separate political existence is itself an act of rebellion against Jehovah; (2) that they have abolished the only legitimate form of worship, and established in its place an illegal cultus and priesthood; whereas (3) he and his people have maintained the orthodox ritual and ministry, and are therefore assured of the divine support.

By a covenant of salt.—As or after the manner of a covenant of salt, i.e., a firm and unalterable compact (see �umbers 18:19). According to ancient custom, salt was indispensable at formal meals for the ratification of friendship and alliance; and only a “salt treaty “was held to be secure. Salt therefore accompanied sacrifices, as being, in fact, so many renewals of the covenant between man and God. (Leviticus 2:13; Ezekiel 43:24; Leviticus 24:7 in the LXX.)

The antique phrase, “covenant of salt,” is otherwise important, as bearing on the authenticity of this speech.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:5 Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel

gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, [even] to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

Ver. 5. Ought ye not to know?] q.d., How can ye be ignorant? and how dare you go against your knowledge? Is it not a grievous sin so to do

By a covenant of salt,] i.e., Perpetual and inviolable, solemn - as with sacrifice - and sure. See on �umbers 18:19. That exposition of Sanchez is somewhat strange and far fetched: that God’s covenant with the house of David was conditional, and therefore to be taken with a grain of salt; viz., that they should have the kingdom for ever, if they kept touch with him, &c.

WHEDO�, "5. A covenant of salt — The meat-offering was a standing memorial of God’s covenant with man, and could never be lawfully offered without salt.

Leviticus 2:13. Salt, the symbol of perpetuity and incorruptibility, became therefore proverbially associated with the Israelitish notion of a sacred and inviolable covenant. Hence “a covenant of salt” is equivalent to “a holy and inviolable covenant.” Compare �umbers 18:19.

PARKER 5-6. ""Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?" ( 2 Chronicles 13:5).

The binding covenant, the covenant that even pagans would not break. If you have eaten salt with a man you can never speak evil of him with an honest heart; you must forget your criticism in the remembrance of the salt. You are at liberty to decline intercourse and fellowship and confidence; you are perfectly at liberty to say, I will have nothing to do with thee in any association whatsoever; but you cannot be both friend and enemy, you cannot eat salt with a man and smite him in the face or wound him in the heel, or hurt him in any way, at any time, in any line or point. That was pagan morality! We are fallen a long way behind it in many cases: for what Christian is there who could not eat all the salt a man has, and then go out and speak about him with bitterness, plunder him, frustrate his plans, anticipate him in some business venture, and laugh at him over his misplaced confidence? Abijah recognised the perpetuity of the covenant. The kingdom was given to David for ever—if not in words, yet in spirit; if chapter and verse cannot be quoted, yet the whole spirit of the divine communion with David meant eternity of election and honour. It is right to hold up the ideal covenant; it is right that even men who themselves have broken covenants should insist that covenants are right. We must never forget the ideal. Our prayers must express our better selves. A dying thief may pray. Again and again we have to fall back upon the holy doctrine that a man is not to be judged in his character by the prayers which he offers, inasmuch as his prayers represent what he would be if he could.

Abijah having to deal with a perpetual covenant charges Jeroboam with breaking it—

"Yet Jeroboam the son of �ebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his Lord" ( 2 Chronicles 13:6).

All rebellion is wrong, unless it arises from a sense of injustice, untruthfulness, dishonesty. �o man has a right to dissent from the national Church unless his dissent be founded upon conscience, a right conception of the nature of the kingdom of Christ upon the earth, which leads him to say to certain men, Stand off! �o part of the empire has a right to arise against the central authority, of which itself constitutes a part, merely for the sake of expressing political prejudice or selfish design. Every rebellion must be put down that cannot justify itself by the very spirit and genius of justice. Separation becomes schism when it merely expresses a whim, an aversion, of a superficial or technical kind; and every rebellion is wickedness, is born of the spirit of the pit, that cannot justify itself by appeals to justice, nobleness, liberty, God. Yet our rebellions have made our history. We should have been in slavery but for rebellion. The rebels are the heretics that have created orthodoxy. We owe nothing to the indifferent, the languid, the selfish, the calculating, the let-alone people who simply want to eat and drink and sleep and die. That they were ever born is either an affront to nature, or the supreme mystery of human life. Abijah, therefore, is perfectly right when he insists upon mere rebellion being put down: but when rebellion expresses the spirit of justice and the spirit of progress, the new Revelation , the new day, all the Abijahs that ever addressed the world can only keep back the issue for a measurable period.

The accusation of Abijah was that Jeroboam had "gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial," for "vain men" read "sons of worthlessness," empty fellows, who will join any mob that pays best; men who will cheer any speaker for half-a-crown an hour, and put out anybody on any plea on any side for extra remuneration. Where do these men come from? Whose language do they speak? Whose image and superscription do they bear? They are in every country; they worship in the sanctuary of mischief, they bow down at the altar of selfishness; they know not what they do: they will make a cross for a day"s wages. Evil company follows evil men. Worthless fellows are soon dissatisfied with the company of righteousness; the intercourse becomes monotonous, suffocating. A bad man could not live in heaven. It is not in the power of mercy to save men from hell; for they carry hell with them; they are perdition.

Who can wonder if desecration followed in the steps of worthlessness?

PARKER 5-7, "5. Ought ye not to know [literally, is it not to you to know?] that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever [Abijah omits to notice that the gift of the kingdom to David was conditional. "If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children also shall sit upon thy throne for evermore" ( Psalm 132:12. Compare Psalm 89:30-32)], even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt [i.e, a sacred and inviolable covenant

(see �umbers 18:19.)]?

6. Yet Jeroboam the son of �ebat, the servant [the subject] of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his lord.

7. And there are gathered unto him vain men [i.e, "low fellows," "persons of the baser sort" (Comp. Judges 9:4; 2 Samuel 6:20)] the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Song of Solomon , when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted [rather, a youth and soft of heart, fainthearted], and could not withstand them [did not show himself strong or firm].

PULPIT, "The idea of Abijah in this religious harangue, addressed or supposed to be addressed to the kingdom of the ten tribes, was good, and the execution was spirited. While, however, he preaches well to others, there are not wanting signs that he can blind himself as to some failure of practice on his own part. The points of the argument running through his harangue are correct, skilfully chosen, and well and religiously thrust home on the heart of his supposed audience. The practical trust of himself and his army are testified to in 2 Chronicles 13:14, 2 Chronicles 13:15, and abundantly rewarded. This sequel-practical trust is the best credential of the sincerity of his foregoing appeal and harangue.

2 Chronicles 13:5

Gave the kingdom … to David for ever. With the thrice-repeated "for ever" of what we call 2 Samuel 7:13-16, and the very emphatic language of the fifteenth verse in that passage, in the memory of Abijah, no one can say he was not justified by the letter and to the letter in what he now says. At the same time, how is it that Abijah does not in all fairness quote the matter of 2 Chronicles 6:16 last clause, and of its parallel, 1 Kings 8:25 last clause, and of Psalms 89:28-37; Psalms 132:12? Covenant of salt. The use of salt was ordered first for the meal offerings, which, consisting mainly of flour, did not need it as an antiseptic; afterwards it was ordered for "all" offerings, including the "burnt offering:" as surely as leaven was proscribed, salt was prescribed (Le Psalms 2:11). "The covenant of salt" meant the imperish-ableness and irrevocableness of the engagement made between the two parties to the covenant The widespread and deeply significant use of it among other and heathen nations is remarkable indeed, and is attested by Pliny ('Hist. �atal 31.41) in forcible words: "�ulla (sacra) conficiuntur sine mola salsa" (Her; 2 Sat. 3.200; Virgil, 'AEn.,' 2.133; Hom; ' Iliad,' 1.449). Some think it a sufficient explanation of the text, "covenant of salt," that, especially in the East, solemn engagements and vows were often recognized and strengthened by hospitalities, as shown to guests, and of these salt was an indispensable element. It is true that some of the ancient indications and descriptions of friendship and close friendships turned on phrases (similar ones, indeed, still existing) into which the word "salt" entered, but that these phrases arose from the fact that salt was so general a constituent of human food seems insufficient explanation, where we can find one of a more direct and more directly religious, or, as the case might be (e.g. with heathen sacrifices), superstitious birth. Religion and superstition between them have been the most world-wide,

incalculable, and untraceable originators and disseminators of half the possible phrases of human language!

6 Yet Jeroboam son of �ebat, an official of Solomon son of David, rebelled against his master.

GILL, "Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up,.... Notwithstanding it was well known the kingdom was entailed on the posterity of David by an everlasting covenant; Abijah calls Jeroboam Solomon's servant, by way of great contempt, as Jarchi observes, he being the general receiver of his tax in the tribe of Ephraim, 1Ki_11:28.

and hath rebelled against his lord; his rightful king and sovereign; the charge is no less than high treason.

ELLICOTT, "(6) The servant of Solomon.—See 1 Kings 11:26.

Is risen up, and hath rebelled.—Arose and rebelled. (See 1 Kings 11:26-40).

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:6 Yet Jeroboam the son of �ebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his lord.

Ver. 6. Yet Jeroboam the son of �ebat, the servant of Solomon.] But such a servant, as being delicately brought up by him, and courteously dealt with, would needsly become his son at length, as Proverbs 29:21, rising up and rebelling against his lord, as he is justly charged, though God foretold that he should be king. [1 Kings 11:35]

PULPIT, "The servant of Solomon. 1 Kings 11:28 is evidently the apter reference for this verse, rather than 26, as generally given.

7 Some worthless scoundrels gathered around him and opposed Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young and indecisive and not strong enough to resist them.

CLARKE, "When Rehoboamwas young and tender-hearted - Therefore he could not be forty-one when he came to the throne; see the note on 2Ch_13:3. Children of Belial here signifies men of the most abandoned principles and characters; or men without consideration, education, or brains.

GILL, "And there are gathered unto him vain men,.... Void of the fear of God, and all that is good:

the children of Belial: men unprofitable, good for nothing, or that had cast off the yoke of the law of God, were lawless and abandoned persons:

And have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon: rejected his government of them; went into a strong opposition to him, and set up another king over them:

when Rehoboam was young and tender hearted, and could not withstand them; not that he was young in years, for he was forty one years of age when he began to reign; though Joshua is called a young man when he is supposed to be between fifty and sixty years of age Exo_33:11, and though "adolescentia" and "juventus" are both used in Latin writers for "youth", yet Varro (q) distinguishes them, and makes the former to begin at the year fifteen, and continue to the year thirty, and the latter to begin at thirty, and end at forty five; so that, according to this, Rehoboam was then in his stage of youth; but perhaps the meaning here is, that he was young in the kingdom, scarcely settled on his throne, and the advantage of that was taken; not was he cowardly and fearful; and if Abijah meant that by "tender heartedness", he not only reproached but belied his father; for he would have fought with Israel in order to have reduced them to obedience, but was forbidden by the Lord; if by "tender hearted", he means that he had a tender regard to the command of God, it is true; but that seems not to be his sense, but the former.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:7. Vain men, children of Belial — Such as have cast off the yoke and the obedience which they owed both to God and to their king. When Rehoboam was young — �ot in age, for he was then forty-one years old, but in his kingdom, which he had but newly obtained, and in experience in politics, and

especially in military affairs, to which he was, indeed, wholly a stranger, having been born and brought up in a time of great peace and security.

ELLICOTT, "(7) And there are gathered.—Omit are.

Vain men (rĕqîm, Judges 9:4; Judges 11:3).—Said of the followers of Abimelech and the freebooter Jephthah. �either this nor the following phrase, “the children of Belial” (literally, sons of worthlessness, i.e., men of low character and estimation) occurs again in the Chronicles. (See Judges 19:22; Judges 20:13; 1 Kings 21:10; 1 Kings 21:13, for the latter.)

Have strengthened.—Omit have.

Young and tender-hearted.—Rather, a youth and soft of heart, faint-hearted. A similar phrase occurred 1 Chronicles 29:1. The expression is somewhat inexact, as Rehoboam was forty-one when he ascended the throne (2 Chronicles 12:13). But Abijah is naturally anxious to put the case as strongly as possible against Jeroboam, and to avoid all blame of his own father. In 2 Chronicles 10 Rehoboam appears as haughty and imperious, rather than timid and soft-hearted.

Could not withstand them.—Did not show himself strong or firm (2 Chronicles 12:13).

Against them.—Before them. (Comp. 1 Chronicles 12:17; a usage of the chronicler’s.)

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:7 And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them.

Ver. 7. And there are gathered unto him vain men.] Rachas brainless fellows, light and empty; yokeless also and masterless; men of no piety or common honesty. Such also were Catiline’s comrades among the Romans.

When Rehoboam was young.] �ot in age, but in experience, policy, and valour; he was imbellis et metculosus, hen-hearted, as we say, and - as a young plant, not yet rooted - easily shaken and swayed by the insolencies of his rebellious subjects.

And could not withstand them.] Thus he layeth the fault - like a good child - wholly upon his father; with whom, it is like, he was displeased for obeying the prophet Shemaiah, [2 Chronicles 11:4] and not reducing his rebels at first, as he might have done, but for his folly and faint-heartedness, saith Abijah.

POOLE, "The children of Belial; such as have cast off the yoke and obedience which they owed both to God and to their king.

When Rehoboam was young; not in age, for he was then forty-one years old, but in his kingdom, which he had but newly obtained, and in experience in politic, and especially in military, affairs, to which he was wholly a stranger, as having been born and bred up in a time of great peace and security.

Tender-hearted, i.e. cowardly and fearful, who durst not adventure to chastise the rebels as he should have done. But therein Abijah forgets his duty, both to his father, whom he falsely traduceth; and to God, by whose express command Rehoboam was restrained from the war against Israel, which otherwise he had both courage and resolution to prosecute, as appears from the history, 1 Kings 12:21.

PULPIT, "Are gathered … have strengthened themselves. The aorist tense is needed for the rendering in both these cases; e.g. "And vain men gathered to him, and strengthened themselves against him." Vain men; Hebrew, רקים . This word, and one very slightly different in form, and their adverb, occur in all forty-one times; rendered in the Authorized Version "empty" nineteen times, "vain" eighteen times, and "without cause," "to no purpose," and "void" the remaining four times. It is the word that is used of the "empty" pit of Joseph (Genesis 37:24); of the "empty ears" of corn (Genesis 41:27); of "empty" pitchers and other vessels ( 7:16; 2 Kings 4:3; Jeremiah 14:3; Jeremiah 51:34; Ezekiel 24:11). And in all the other cases expresses metaphorically the emptiness of head, of heart, or of reason, with the same simple force of language appropriate, it appears, then as now. Children of Belial; Hebrew, בליעל . This word is found twenty-seven times, and, including seven marginal options, is rendered in the Authorized Version "Belial" twenty-three times; the four exceptions being "wicked" three times, and "naughty" once. The derivation of it marks the one expressive meaning of "without profit." Young and tender-hearted. Hard as it is to put these objections to the credit of a man forty-one years of age (see our note, 2 Chronicles 10:8; 2 Chronicles 12:13) at all, yet, if so, they can only be explained as some do explain them, of a blamable ignorance, inexperience, and instability.

8 “And now you plan to resist the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hands of David’s descendants. You are indeed a vast army and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made to be your gods.

GILL, "And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David,.... To oppose them, prevail over them, and get it out of their hands, which is delivered to them by the Lord, as the Targum:

and ye be a great multitude; of which they boasted, and in which they trusted, being ten tribes to two, and in this army two to one:

and there are with you golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods; or, "but (r) there are with you", &c. which Abijah suggests would be so far from helping them, that they would be their ruin, they having, by the worship of them, provoked the Lord against them.

HE�RY 8-12, "2. That he had God on his side. This he insisted much upon, that the religion of Jeroboam and his army was false and idolatrous, but that he and his people, the men of Judah, had the pure worship of the true and living God among them. It appears from the character given of Abijah (1Ki_15:3) that he was not himself in this war chiefly from the religion of his kingdom. For, (1.) Whatever he was otherwise, it should seem that he was no idolator, or, if he connived at the high places and images (2Ch_14:3, 2Ch_14:5), yet he constantly kept up the temple-service. (2.) Whatever corruptions there were in the kingdom of Judah, the state of religion among them was better than in the kingdom of Israel, with which they were now contending. (3.) It is common for those that deny the power of godliness to boast of the form of it. (4.) It was the cause of his kingdom that he was pleading; and, though he was not himself so good as he should have been, yet he hoped that, for the sake of the good men and good things that were in Judah, God would now appear for them. Many that have little religion themselves yet have so much sense and grace as to value it in others. See how he describes, [1.] The apostasy of Israel from God. “You are a great multitude,” said he, “far superior to us in number; but we need not fear you, for you have that among yourselves which is enough to ruin you. For,” First, “You have calves for your gods (2Ch_13:8), that are unable to protect and help you and will certainly cause the true and living God to oppose you. Those will be Achans, troublers of your camp.” Secondly, “You have base men for your priests, 2Ch_13:9. You have cast off the tribes of Levi, and the house of Aaron, whom God appointed to minister in holy things; and, in conformity to the custom of the idolatrous nations, make any man a priest that has a mind to the office and will be at the charge of the consecration, though ever so much a scandal to the office.” Yet such, though very unfit to be priests, were fittest of all to be their priests; for what more agreeable to gods that were no gods than priests that were no priests? Like to like, both pretenders and usurpers. [2.] The adherence of Judah to God: “But as for us (2Ch_13:10) we have not forsaken God. Jehovah is our God, the God of our fathers, the God of Israel, who is able to protect us, and give us success. He is with us, for we are with him.” First, “At home in his temple: We keep his charge, 2Ch_13:10, 2Ch_13:11. We worship no images, have no priests but what he has ordained, no rites of worship but what he has prescribed. Both the temple service and the temple furniture are of his appointing. His appointment we abide by, and neither add nor diminish. These we have the comfort of, these we now stand up in the defence of: so that upon a religious as well as a civil account we have the better cause. Secondly, Here in the camp; he is our captain, and we may therefore be sure that he is with us, because we are with him, 2Ch_13:12. And, as a

token of his presence, we have here with us his priests, sounding his trumpets according to the law, as a testimony against you, and an assurance to us that in the day of battle we shall be remembered before the Lord our God and saved from our enemies;” for so this sacred signal is explained, Num_10:9. Nothing is more effectual to embolden men, and put spirit into them, than to be sure that God is with them and fights for them. He concludes with fair warning to his enemies. “Fight not against the God of your fathers.It is folly to fight against the God of almighty power; but it is treachery and base ingratitude to fight against your fathers' God, and you cannot expect to prosper.”

K&D, "2Ch_13:8-9

Abijah then points out to his opponents the vanity of their trust in the great multitude of their warriors and their gods, while yet they had driven out the priests of Jahve. “And now ye say,” scil. in your heart, i.e., you think to show yourself strong before the kingdom of Jahve in the hands of the sons of David, i.e., against the kingdom of Jahve ruled over by the sons of David, by raising a great army in order to make war upon and

to destroy this kingdom. רב המון and truly ye are a great multitude, and with you are ,ו/3ם

the golden calves, which Jeroboam hath made to you for gods; but trust not unto them, for Jahve, the true God, have ye not for you as a helper.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:8. Ye think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord —That kingdom which was not set up by vain men, in pursuance of their own ambition and discontent, as yours was, but ordained and established by God himself in the house of David. And ye be — Or, because ye be, a great multitude — This he mentions, as being both the ground of their confidence, namely, that they had more tribes, and a greater host; and also a presage of their downfall, which their trusting to the arm of flesh was. And there are with you golden calves — Or, But there are, &c. There is that among you which may damp your courage and confidence: you worship those images which God abhors. Which Jeroboam made you for gods —Or, for God, as that plural word is most commonly used: that is, instead of God, to give them the name of God, and that worship which is peculiar to him.

ELLICOTT, "(8) And now ye think.—Literally, say, i.e., in your hearts (2 Chronicles 2:1).

To withstand the kingdom.—Literally, to show yourselves strong before the kingdom, as in last verse.

In (through) the hand of the sons of David.—The meaning is, the kingdom which Jehovah holds by the instrumentality of the house of David, as His earthly representatives. (Comp. Vulg., “regno Domini quod possidet per filios David.” (See 1 Chronicles 29:23).

And there are with you golden calves.—And therefore you believe yourselves assured of Divine aid, in addition to the strength of numbers. But your trust is delusive, for Jeroboam made the objects of your fond idolatry (see Isaiah 44:9-17); and you have superseded the only lawful worship of Jehovah (2 Chronicles 13:9).

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:8 And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David; and ye [be] a great multitude, and [there are] with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods.

Ver. 8. To withstand the kingdom of the Lord.] And so, giant-like, to fight against God. Is that ever like to do well? "Do ye provoke the Lord to anger? are ye stronger than he?"

And there are with you golden calves.] In the camp perhaps, as 1 Chronicles 14:12.

POOLE, "The kingdom of the Lord in the land of the sons of David; that kingdom which was not set up by vain men in pursuance of their own ambition and discontent, as yours was, but ordained and established by God himself in the house of David.

And ye be a great multitude, or because (that Hebrew particle being oft so used) ye be, &c. This he mentions partly as the ground of their confidence, that they had more tribes and a greater host; and partly as a presage of their downfall, which trusting to the arm of flesh is.

And there are with you golden calves, or, but there are, &c. There is that among you which may damp your courage and confidence: you worship those images which God abhors and severely forbids.

For gods, or for God, as that plural word is most commonly used, i.e. instead of God, to give them the name of God, as Exodus 32:4, and that worship which is peculiar to him.

PARKER 8-10, "8. And now ye think to withstand the kingdom [literally, "to show yourselves strong before the kingdom "] of the Lord in [through] the hand of the sons of David [the meaning Isaiah , the kingdom which Jehovah holds by the instrumentality of the house of David, as his earthly representative (see 1 Chronicles 29:23)]; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves [Canon Barry thus paraphrases: "And therefore you believe yourselves assured of divine aid, in addition to the strength of numbers. But your trust is delusive, for Jeroboam made the objects of your fond idolatry (see Isaiah 44:9-17); and you have superseded the only lawful worship of Jehovah ( 2 Chronicles 13:9)], which Jeroboam made you for gods.

9. Have ye not cast out [banished ( Jeremiah 8:3)] the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams [We (Speaker"s Commentary) should have expected "a bullock and two rams," as this was the offering which God had required at the original consecration of the sons of Aaron ( Exodus 29:1; Leviticus 8:2). But it appears that

Jeroboam, for reasons of his own, enlarged the sacrifice, and required it at the consecration of every priest], the same may be a priest of them that are no gods.

10. But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the Lord, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business:

PULPIT, "2 Chronicles 13:8, 2 Chronicles 13:9

The five succeeding thrusts of these two verses, prefaced by the somewhat self-conscious but, nevertheless, validly pleaded orthodoxy of his own position, are well delivered by Abijah. Jeroboam is scathed

9 But didn’t you drive out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and make priests of your own as the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest of what are not gods.

BAR�ES, "Seven rams - “A bullock and two rams” was the offering which God had required at the original consecration of the sons of Aaron Exo_29:1; Lev_8:2. Jeroboam, for reasons of his own, enlarged the sacrifice, and required it at the consecration of every priest.

CLARKE, "A young bullock and seven rams - He who could provide these for his own consecration was received into the order of this spurious and wicked priesthood. Some think he who could give to Jeroboam a young bullock and seven rams, was thereby received into the priesthood; this being the price for which the priesthood was conferred. The former is most likely.

GILL, "Have ye not cast out the priests of the Lord the sons of Aaron, and the Levites,.... Because they would not sacrifice to his idols, and that they might not instruct the people in the pure worship of God, and that he and his people might be free from the payment of tithes, firstfruits, &c. and their cities fall into his hands:

and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? after the manner of the Gentiles, without any regard to any particular tribe, which God had appointed those to be taken from:

so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams; which were five more than what were required by the law of Moses for the consecration of a priest, Exo_29:1, the same

may be a priest of them that are no gods; by nature, only nominal andfictitious deities, as the calves were, which had no divinity in them, see 1Ki_13:31.

K&D, "2Ch_13:9

“Yea, ye have cast out the priests of Jahve, the sons of Aaron, and made you priests after the manner of the nations of the lands. Every one who has come, to fill his hand

with a young bullock and ... he has become a priest to the no-god.” ידו to fill his ,מ5א

hand, denotes, in the language of the law, to invest one with the priesthood, and

connected with ליהוה it signifies to provide oneself with that which is to be offered to

Jahve. To fill his hand with a young bullock, etc., therefore denotes to come with sacrificial beasts, to cause oneself to be consecrated priest. The animals mentioned also, a young bullock and seven rams, point to the consecration to the priesthood. In Ex 29 a young bullock as a sin-offering, a ram as a burnt-offering, and a ram as a consecratory-offering, are prescribed for this purpose. These sacrifices were to be repeated during seven days, so that in all seven rams were required for consecratory-sacrifices. Abijah mentions only one young bullock along with these, because it was not of any importance for him to enumerate perfectly the sacrifices which were necessary. But by offering these sacrifices no one becomes a priest of Jahve, and consequently the priests of Jeroboam also are only priests for Not-Elohim, i.e., only for the golden calves made Elohim by Jeroboam, to whom the attributes of the Godhead did not belong.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:9. Have ye not cast out the priests of the Lord? — The house of Aaron, whom God appointed to minister in holy things. And have made you priests, after the manner of the nations? — In conformity to the custom of the idolatrous nations. So that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock — To make himself a priest, Leviticus 7:3. Whosoever desires to be in the office, and will be at the charge of his consecration, though ever so much a scandal to the character; the same may be a priest of them that are no gods — That have nothing of the nature or power of gods, though you give them that name. Such, however, though very unfit to be priests, were most fit of all others to be their priests. For what could be more suitable to gods that were no gods, than priests that were no priests?

ELLICOTT, "(9) The priests of the Lord . . . and the Levites.—The Hebrew seems

to include the Levites among the priests of the Lord.

Cast out.—Banished (Jeremiah 8:3).

After the manner of the nations of other lands.—Literally, like the peoples of the lands; that is, priests of all classes of the nation, and not members of the divinely chosen tribe of Levi. (See 1 Kings 12:31; 1 Kings 13:33). The surrounding heathen had no exclusive sacerdotal castes.

So that whosoever cometh . . .—Literally, every one that cometh, that they may fill his hand, with a steer, son of a herd, and seven rams, becometh a priest unto non-gods. “To fill a man’s hand” was the legal phrase for giving him authority and instituting him as a priest. (See Exodus 28:41; Exodus 29:9; Judges 17:5.) Every one that came with the prescribed sacrifices (see Exodus 29) was admissible to the new priesthood. The phrase “a young bullock and seven rams” is not a full account of the sacrifices required by the law of Moses for the consecration of a priest. Perhaps Abijah did not care to be exact; but it is quite possible that Jeroboam had modified the Mosaic rule.

The compound substantive “no-gods” (lô’ ’elôhîm) is like lô’ ’êl and lô’ ’elôah (Deuteronomy 32:17; Deuteronomy 32:21). The calves are spoken of as mere idols, although there is little doubt that Jeroboam set them up as representations of the God of Israel.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:9 Have ye not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of [other] lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, [the same] may be a priest of [them that are] no gods.

Ver. 9. Have you not cast out the priests of the Lord?] Who should pray for you, and make atonement.

So that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself.] Heb., To fill his hand, sc., with sacrifices; or haply with bribes.

POOLE, "To consecrate himself, i. e. to make himself a priest. See Poole "Leviticus 7:37".

That are no gods; that have nothing of the nature or power, though you give them the name of gods.

PARKER 9-11, "Who can wonder if desecration followed in the steps of worthlessness?

"Have ye not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods" ( 2 Chronicles 13:9).

Let them bring the offering, and then they may become priests and do what they please at altars that have no foundations, the incense of which is a cloud that heaven will not absorb. William Rufus declared that Church bread was sweet bread. How many men have eaten Church bread who ought to have died of hunger! What responsibility attaches to some people in this matter! Church bread ought never to be given away, ought never to be dishonoured with the name of a "living." �o man should be in the Church who could not make five times the money out of it that he ever made in it; it should be felt that if he put forth all his power, both his hands, his whole mind and strength, he could be the greatest man in the commonwealth. Jeroboam would admit any one to the altar; he would make room if there was none; he would cast out a priest of the Lord to make room for a priest of Belial. This is the accusation which Abijah brings against Jeroboam and his company of rebels.

�ow he turns to state his own case; he tells us what he and his people are:—

"But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the Lord, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business: and they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense; the shewbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the Lord our God; but ye have forsaken him" [The observance of these details of ritual is called "keeping the charge of Jehovah" (see Leviticus 8:35), and neglect of them is "forsaking" him (see ver10 , ante, p268)] ( 2 Chronicles 13:10-11).

What a character he gives himself! Let us remember that we are dealing with an ideal Prayer of Manasseh , and not with the real personality. Take this, however, as an ideal representation, how perfect it is in every line! "The Lord is our God:" We have a sound and vital theology; we have a clear upward look, no cloud conceals the face divine; no idols have we, no images of wood, no pillars, no groves, no high places where idolatry may be performed as an entertainment. The man reasons well; he insists upon having corner-stones in any edifice or argument he puts up; when he accuses, he goes back to the covenant of salt; when he claims a right position, he claims that it is a theological one: he holds the right God. Losing the right theology, we lose all the detail along with it. When the conception of God is wrong, no other conception can be right. It is only bold, because it is true, to say, that if a man has not—not the right God, but—the right desire after the right God, he cannot keep correct weights and scales; the custom house, the inland revenue, the excise,—call it what you please,—may to some extent keep him up to the right Mark , but in his soul he takes in every customer that comes near him; if he does not he loses sleep. This applies to the Song of Solomon -called heathen as well as to the Christian. It is not necessary that a man should have a clear and perfect revelation

of God, but that in his heart he feels that he is a creature, not a creator; a subject, not a sovereign; that he is under responsibility, and not above it: in that proportion only can he deal righteously and nobly with his fellow men.

"And the priests, which minister unto the Lord, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business" ( 2 Chronicles 13:10).

Here is apostolic succession before the time of the invention of the term. Here is an excellent pedigree, a most complete genealogy:—our priests are in the Aaronic line, and the Levites know their business, and keep to it; everything is in order in our Church. That is beautiful, and that is right; we need not shrink from adding, that is necessary. We must have nothing to do with men who are not in the Aaronic and apostolic succession; they must not occupy our pulpits, they must not be allowed to make pulpits of their own; no man must sell them wood or stone with which to construct a pulpit; they must be forbidden by the genius of law from ever preaching or attempting to preach. When we let go the doctrine of apostolic succession we let go a vital treasure and blessing. We may differ as to our definition of "apostolic succession," but surely there can be no difference among frank and enlightened hearts and minds as to what apostolic succession is. �o man is in the apostolic succession who is not in the apostolic spirit, and no man is out of the apostolic succession who is animated by the spirit of the apostles. That is not a spirit which is conferred by the tips of any fingers: that is the gift of God.

Do you see your calling, brethren? God hath chosen you. What a Church is God"s! not a Church of waxworks, all made at one factory, and all charged for in one invoice; but living men, characterised by innumerable individualities, some broad as the firmament, others beautiful and tender as little flowers that can only grow in the fullest sun-warmth; some military in argument and in discipline, hers mighty, persuasive in pathos and sympathy and tenderness. There is no monotony in God: one star differeth from another star in glory: no two blades of grass are microscopically identical: there is a common likeness in the worlds and in the sub-economies of nature, but the more penetrating our vision is made by mechanical and scientific aids the more wondrous in difference are discovered to be the very things which are supposed to be identical. We must never allow the apostolic succession to be handed about without its being accompanied by the apostolic spirit. Every man is in the apostolic succession who believes in the apostles, who follows them as they followed Christ, and who would know nothing among men but Jesus Christ and him crucified.

"And they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the shewbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening" ( 2 Chronicles 13:11).

At that time piety was mechanical. It could not be otherwise. God never forces history. The days come, each with its own burden and its own blessing, its own dawn and its own apocalypse. We cannot have to-day what is due tomorrow. God"s

seasons move in measured revolution, and come to us in orderly and timely procession, and no man can hasten them by lighting his camp fire, or striking his matches, or kindling his little inflammable powder. We cannot imitate the sun. Some have tried to mimic the stars: but where is the image of the sun that the sun has not obliterated by one mid-day look? The time came when all these ordinances were set aside; there was to be no more burning, there was to be no morning sacrifice and evening sacrifice, and sweet incense, or shewbread, or candlestick of gold and lamps thereof for evening burning.—"Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: but ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." So we may misuse history by going back and making that necessary which has already been abrogated. We may thus ill-treat the day of rest, by measuring it and weighing it in Jewish scales. We may cast a cloud over the day of jubilee that comes every week, by measuring its beginning and its ending by Jewish arithmetic: we may make the whole week sabbatic by Christian consecration. There will always be ordinances, because whilst man is in the body he needs external helps, collateral assistances and auxiliaries; he is not always equally awake, he is not always equally spiritual; he needs the communion of saints, the coming together in holy fellowship, all the associations of a sacred time and a sacred place, and through the active yet subtle ministry of these he comes to feel that he is in touch with God. "Here in the body pent" we need such aids as can penetrate our prison and minister to the liberty of the soul.

10 “As for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests who serve the Lord are sons of Aaron, and the Levites assist them.

CLARKE, "The Lord is our God - We have not abandoned the Lord; and we still

serve him according to his own law.

GILL, "But as for us, the Lord is our God,.... The Word of the Lord, as the Targum; we know and acknowledge no other; not the calves at Dan and Bethel, nor any other idols, only the one living and true God:

and we have not forsaken him; his laws, statutes, ordinances, and worship; for though Abijah was not a religious man, yet it seems the form of religion was kept up, and temple service was observed, in his days:

and the priests which minister unto the Lord; by offering sacrifices, and burning incense:

are the sons of Aaron; and they only:

and the Levites wait upon their business; some in singing songs of praise, vocally and instrumentally, others in keeping the doors of the temple and the treasures of the house of God, and others in assisting the priests at the altar.

K&D, "2Ch_13:10-11

While, therefore, the Israelites have no-gods in their golden calves, Judah has Jahve for its God, whom it worships in His temple in the manner prescribed by Moses. “But in Jahve is our God, and we have not forsaken Him,” in so far, viz., as they observed the legal Jahve-worship. So Abijah himself explains his words, “as priests serve Him the

sons of Aaron (who were chosen by Jahve), and the Levites are מלאכת$, in service,” i.e.,

performing the service prescribed to them. As essential parts of that service of God, the offering of the daily burnt-offering and the daily incense-offering (Exo_29:38., 2Ch_30:7), the laying out of the shew-bread (Exo_25:30; Lev_24:5.), the lighting of the lamps of the golden candlesticks (Exo_25:37; Exo_27:20.), are mentioned. In this

respect they keep the יהוה .(cf. Lev_8:35) משמרת

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:10. But the Lord is our God — Hebrew, Jehovah, the only true and great God. And we have not forsaken him — We maintain his honour and worship, which you have ungratefully rejected. And he is able to protect us and give us success.

ELLICOTT, "(10) We have not forsaken him.—Comp. 1 Kings 15:3. “he walked in all the sins of his father,” “his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God.” But that passage is by no means incompatible with the present as some have asserted. What Abijah here states is surely true—viz.,that Judah had maintained the Levitical priesthood, and its associated worship. And the following words prove this to be his meaning: “and the priests which minister unto the Lord are the sons of Aaron; and the Levites wait upon their business,” (literally, are in the work). The work of the service of Jehovah could be duly performed by none but Levites.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:10 But as for us, the LORD [is] our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the LORD, [are] the sons of Aaron, and the Levites [wait] upon [their] business:

Ver. 10. But as for us, the Lord is our God, &c.] Summa ratio est quae pro religione facit, saith Papinian. Abijah was none of the best, and yet pretendeth to a great deal of religion, and pleadeth hard for it; though he "walked in all the sins of his father" Rehoboam. [1 Kings 15:3] Hypocrites want for no fair words. Some think that Abijah, when he went forth to battle, was indifferent good; but puffed up with his great victory, he fell away. Pellican holdeth that he was ever naught: only the worship of God was by him externally maintained and magnified; wherewith because God was well pleased, it being of his own ordaining, he now took part with him.

PULPIT, "2 Chronicles 13:10, 2 Chronicles 13:11

The professions summarized in these two verses were confessedly formally true of the king and priests and nation, although Abijah and kingdom certainly did not carry a clean conscience in them. They were, moreover, beyond a doubt really true of multitudes of individuals in the kingdom of Judah and Benjamin. And these were "the salt of the" kingdom (Matthew 5:13). They burnt … sweet incense (so our 2 Chronicles 2:4; Exodus 30:7; Revelation 8:3, Revelation 8:4). The pure table … the candlestick. Although ten of each of these were made, only one was used, or only one at the time (see our note on 2 Chronicles 4:8, compared with 2 Chronicles 29:18; 1 Kings 7:48). We have not forsaken him … ye have forsaken him. If all the difference that these words have it in them to express could have been put to the credit of Abijsh, what tremendous strength would have now belonged to his position and to his heart!

11 Every morning and evening they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the Lord. They set out the bread on the ceremonially clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. We are observing the requirements of the Lord our God. But you have forsaken him.

GILL, "And they burn unto the Lord, every morning and every evening, burnt sacrifices and sweet incense,.... That is, the priests; the one they did on the altar of burnt offering, and the other on the altar of incense, and both every day, morning and evening:

the shewbread also set they in order upon the pure table; the shewbread table, every sabbath day, when they took the old bread off, which had stood there a week:

and the candlestick of gold, with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening; these were lighted every evening, and dressed every morning; and though there were ten tables and ten candlesticks in Solomon's temple, yet only one of each was used at a time; and therefore from hence it is not to be concluded that all the rest were taken away by Shishak:

for we keep the charge of the Lord our God; observe all the rites and ceremonies, laws, and ordinances enjoined by him; the Targum is,"the charge of the Word of the Lord our God:"

but ye have forsaken him; his fear or worship, as the same paraphrase.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:11. The show-bread upon the pure table — So called, because it was made of pure gold, Exodus 25:23-24. He saith, table and candlestick, though there were ten of each, because ordinarily there was but one of each used at a time. We keep the charge of the Lord our God —

We worship no images, have no priests but those whom he has ordained, no rites of worship but what he has prescribed. Both the temple-service and the temple-furniture are of his appointing: his appointment we abide by, and neither add nor diminish. Perhaps he flattered himself that his keeping up the external worship of God would make satisfaction for the errors of his life. Or he said this, that he might thereby encourage his own soldiers, and convince or terrify his enemies.

ELLICOTT, "(11) Every morning and every evening.—For the daily sacrifice, see Exodus 29:38-42; for the “sweet incense,” or incense of spices, Exodus 30:7.

The shewbread also . . .—Literally, and a pile of bread on the pure table. The construction is uncertain. The words seem to depend loosely on the verb they offer (“they burn”) at the beginning of the sentence. But perhaps they should be taken thus: and a pile of bread is on the pure table, and the golden lampstand and its lamps they have to light every evening. (See Exodus 25:30; Exodus 25:37; Leviticus 24:5-7.) The Syriac reads, “and the golden lampstands and their lamps; and the lamp-boy lighteth them every evening.” It is noticeable that only one table and one candlestick are mentioned here. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 4:7-8; 2 Chronicles 4:19.)

The observance of these details of ritual is called “keeping the charge of Jehovah” (see Leviticus 8:35), and neglect of them is “forsaking” Him. (See on 2 Chronicles 13:10).

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:11 And they burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the shewbread also [set they in order] upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the LORD our God; but ye have forsaken him.

Ver. 11. Upon the pure table and the candlestick of gold.] Either it is table, for tables, as 1 Kings 7:48; or else this king, who little minded such matters, thought there had been but one such table and candlestick in the temple, as of old in the tabernacle. (a)

POOLE, "The pure table; so called, because it was made of pure gold, Exodus 25:23,24.

The candlestick; he saith table and candlestick, though there were ten of each, 2 Chronicles 4:7,8; either,

1. Because Shishak had carried away all but one. Or,

2. The singular number is put for the plural, as 1 Kings 7:48, and oft elsewhere. Or,

3. Because ordinarily there was but one of each used at a time for those uses.

To burn every evening; and from evening to morning continually, Leviticus 24:2,3; for which end one candlestick was sufficient, and it is very improbable that all the candlesticks were used every night.

We keep the charge of the Lord our God: this he saith, though he was an ungodly king; either because he flattered himself and fancied that his keeping up the external worship of God would make full satisfaction for the errors of his life; or that he might hereby encourage his own soldiers, and convince or terrify his enemies.

PARKER 11-12, "11. And they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening [for the daily sacrifice, see Exodus 29:38-42; for the "sweet incense," or, incense of spices, Exodus 30:7] burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the shewbread also set they in order upon the pure table [another reading is: "and a pile of bread is on the pure table, and the golden lampstand and its lamps they have to light every evening. (See Exodus 25:30, Exodus 25:37; Leviticus 24:5-7)]; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the Lord our God; but ye have forsaken him [the observance of these details of ritual is called "keeping the charge of Jehovah" (see Leviticus 8:35), and neglect of them is "forsaking" him].

12. And, behold, God himself is with us [literally, And behold there are with us at the head the God and his priests, and the trumpets of alarm to sound alarm against you (see �umbers 10:9; �umbers 31:6). The trumpets were "the divinely appointed pledges that God would remember them in war"], for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

12 God is with us; he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. People of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed.”

CLARKE, "God himself is with us - Ye have golden calves; we have the living and omnipotent Jehovah.

With - trumpets to cry alarm against you - This was appalling: When the priests sound their trumpets, it will be a proof that the vengeance of the Lord shall speedily descend upon you.

GILL, "And, behold, God himself is with us for our Captain,.... To go before our armies, and fight our battles for us:

and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you; which was one use of the trumpets, that the people might be remembered by the Lord, and saved from their enemies, Num_10:9, so that this circumstance was against Jeroboam and his army, and for Abijah and his:

O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers; for fighting against his people, that retained the pure worship of him, was fighting against him:

for you shall not prosper; he seems to be assured of victory.

K&D, "2Ch_13:12

Abijah draws from all this the conclusion: “Behold, with us at our head are (not the

two calves of gold, but) God (האלהים with the article, the true God) and His priests, and

the alarm-trumpets to sound against you.” He mentions the trumpets as being the divinely appointed pledges that God would remember them in war, and would deliver them from their enemies, Num_10:9. Then he closes with a warning to the Israelites not to strive with Jahve, the God of their fathers.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:12. Behold, God himself is with us for our captain —Here in our camp. We may be sure he is with us, because we are with him. And as a token of his presence we have here with us his priests, sounding his trumpets —According to the law, as a testimony against you, and an assurance to us, that in the day of battle we shall be remembered before the Lord our God, and saved from our enemies. See �umbers 10:9, where this sacred signal is thus explained. �othing is so effectual to imbolden men, and give them courage and fortitude in the day of battle, as to have an assurance that God is with them, and fighteth for them. Fight ye not against the God of your fathers — It is folly to fight against the God of almighty power; but it is treachery, and base ingratitude, to fight against your fathers’ God, and you cannot expect to prosper. Thus he concludes with giving them fair warning.

ELLICOTT, "(12) God himself.—The (true) God. So in 2 Chronicles 13:15. Literally, and behold there are with us at the head the God and his priests, and the trumpets of alarm to sound alarm against you. (See �umbers 10:9; �umbers 31:6.) The trumpets were “the divinely appointed pledges that God would remember them in war.” The Syriac gives this verse thus: “But ye have forsaken him, and gone after dead gods, and worshipped and bowed down to them, and forsaken the Lord God of your fathers; and also ye shall not prosper in the world.” Then there is a lacuna extending to 2 Chronicles 13:15.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:12 And, behold, God himself [is] with us for [our] captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

Ver. 12. And, behold, God himself is with us.] Eπιφορα, qua praecipua argumenta repetit: he is speaking his last to them, and therefore speaks thick.

For our captain.] Deus est dux; he is in the head of us, who is himself a whole army.

Fight ye not against the Lord.] A good motion, had it come from a better mouth.

POOLE, "With sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you; upon the sounding whereof God hath solemnly promised to assist his people, �umbers 10:9.

Fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers; you have not only us for your enemies, but God, even the God whom your fathers honoured and served, to their own great comfort and benefit.

WHEDO�, "12. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers — Abijah’s speech, throughout, rings with the true theocratic spirit, but, as mentioned above, it fails to note all the facts involved in the division of the empire of David and Solomon. Its earnest and solemn appeals, however, may have had much to do with the defeat of Israel, for God may have caused it to terrify multitudes of Jeroboam’s warriors.

PARKER, "�ow Abijah says", as a kind of climax—

"And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper" ( 2 Chronicles 13:12).

How steadfastly he abides by the altar! He cannot be tempted one step from the throne of God. His appeal is sublime because it is religious. It is historically religious—"The Lord God of your fathers." It would seem to be a solemn thing to cut off oneself from all the currents of history, to bury our fathers over again in a deeper grave, yea to bury them at night-time, so that when the morning came we could not tell where they were interred. Abijah will have a historic line. He maintains the doctrine of philosophic and personal heredity and organic unity: he will insist upon it that the men of his day represented the men of dead generations, and were to do what they would have done had they then lived. �ot only was it historically religious, but it was religion accentuated by motives, such as act most powerfully upon human conduct—"for ye shall not prosper." That appeal they could understand! The double appeal constitutes God"s address to men. He is bound to point out consequences, though he would not have life built upon them. There is no other way of getting at certain people than by telling them that if they believe not they shall be—damned! They are so curiously and fearfully made that only hell can excite their attention. The preacher does not declare this doctrine of fire, or mere penalty, for the sake of revealing God and acting upon human thought and conduct. He knows it is an appeal more or less tinctured with possible selfishness: he cannot but despise the man who asks for heaven simply because he has smelt the fire of hell. But the Christian preacher will begin where he can. He has to do with all classes and conditions of men. All men do not occupy the highest point of thought, do not approach the kingdom of heaven from the noblest considerations, and he is the wise pastor, he has the great shepherd-heart, who receives men by night, by day, through the gate of fear, through the portals of love: who keeps the door ajar for men, not knowing when they may come home. He is but a poor preacher, and he knows it, who bids people come to God that they may get to heaven; but he is aware that some people can only understand through the medium

of such terms, if ever; and he only hopes for them that by experience they may eventually rise to a nobler level, and desire God for God"s own sake. He only is in the Spirit of Christ who Would pray as much, give as much, suffer as much, if he knew he had to die this night, and be blotted out for ever, as he would do and give if he knew he were this night going into everlasting glory. To be good in order to buy heaven is not to be good. To be religious in order to escape hell is not to be religious. Yet we must always so judge human nature as to provide for people who can only act through fear, and through love and hope of reward. Their education will be continued and completed, and some day they will look back upon their infantile beginning and pity themselves. The great thing, however, is to begin. If we are afraid of hell, let us ask great questions. If we are in hope of heaven, let us begin to do great services. Hell and heaven have nothing to do with it in reality, but they have to do a great deal with it initially and instrumentally and educationally.

What was the upshot of the war? Who needs inquire? When omnipotence goes forth to war, what can be the issue of the battle? When God takes his glittering sword, and his hand lays heavy in judgment,—can grasshoppers stand before him? Oppose a wooden fence to a boundless conflagration, and you may act almost rationally—most rationally—as compared with those who set a grasshopper to oppose the march of God.

SIMEO�, "ABIJAH’S REMO�STRA�CE WITH JEROBOAM [�ote: For a Fast-Day in war.]

2 Chronicles 13:12. Behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarni against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper,

GOOD advice should be attended to, by whomsoever it may be given. Our blessed Lord particularly inculcated this on his disciples, commanding them to do whatever those who sat in Moses’ chair required of them, without regarding the moral character of the persons themselves, or refusing compliance with what was good, because it was not exemplified in the conduct of their instructors. The words before us were not spoken by a good man; for Abijah was on the whole a wicked King [�ote: 1 Kings 15:3.]: but they contain very sound instruction, and have a semblance even of piety itself. The whole address indeed was well fitted for the occasion, though it certainly savours much of that partiality, which is found in almost all who plead their own cause. There is undoubtedly a good deal of false colouring in what he speaks to the disparagement of his enemies, though there is ground for his assertions, if they had been more carefully expressed and more duly qualified. �otwithstanding Abijah had invaded Jeroboam’s country, in order to make that, rather than his own country, the seat of war, we think it probable that Jeroboam was the aggressor; because the address of Abijah was altogether of a pacific nature. It seems from the words of our text that he laboured hard to prevent the effusion of blood: and if his adversary had been like-minded with himself, the dispute might perhaps have been amicably adjusted.

We shall consider the words of our text,

I. In reference to the contest then pending between Judah and Israel—

Abijah’s address was certainly striking and judicious—

[Abijah contrasts the usurpation and idolatry of Jeroboam with the legitimate claims of his own family, and their continued adherence to the God of their fathers [�ote: ver. 4–11.] — — — and doubtless these were just grounds for hope, that God would espouse his cause: for though it may please God for a season to let the ungodly triumph over his people, yet we believe, that, as a righteous Governor, he will ultimately favour the cause of righteousness and truth.

Well did the Israelites know, that there could be no effectual resistance to the Lord of Hosts, especially when those who were under his command were observant of the laws appointed for them. Hence, when Abijah told his adversaries, that he was come forth in dependence on God’s aid, and in a strict observance of his commands [�ote: �umbers 10:9. This passage reflects much light on the text.], they had reason to tremble for themselves, and to refrain from prosecuting the contest any further. True indeed, a hypocrite may make all these pretensions, even as Rabshakeh. did in his address to Hezekiah’s servants [�ote: Isaiah 36:10.]: but where the dependence is real, and the obedience true, a suecessful issue may justly be expected.]

The event justified his expectations—

[Whilst Abijah was endeavouring to avert the conflict, Jeroboam sought by stratagem to overwhelm him and all his followers. He placed in ambush a considerable portion of his army, and attacked Abijah both in front and rear. But Abijah “cried unto the Lord; and the priests sounded with their trumpets; and the men of Judah gave a shout,” expressive of their confidence in God: and immediately the hosts of Israel turned their backs; and, though they were twice as numerous as their enemies, no less than five hundred thousand of them fell down slain before the victorious hosts of Judah. �ever was there such a slaughter in one single battle, either before or since: and the event of that day fully proves, that they who fight for God have nothing to fear; nor they who fight against him, to hope [�ote: Ezekiel 22:14. with Romans 8:31.] — — —]

Taking the text in somewhat of an accommodated sense, we will proceed to consider it,

II. In reference to the contest now pending between God and us—

There is a contest now existing between God and sinners—

[By every sin that men commit, they do indeed “fight against God” — — — What shall we say of those who cast off their allegiance to the God of Israel; who bow

down to idols of their own creation; who disregard the word and ordinances of their God; and who seek only to wound and destroy those who warn them of their guilt and danger? Are not they avowed enemies to God? They are: their own reason may tell them so: the Scriptures universally declare it: justify themselves as they may, their excuses are all vain; and they only deceive their own souls — — —]

“Suffer ye then the word of exhortation”—

[“O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers!” We are appointed of God to “blow the trumpet of alarm against you;” and we must blow it, at the peril of our own souls: we must “lift up our voice as a trumpet, and shew you both your sin” and danger [�ote: Isaiah 58:1.]. It is against God, even “the Captain of our salvation” himself, that you are fighting: it is his majesty that you oppose, his law you trample on, his mercy you despise, and his salvation you reject — — — O think with yourselves, Can you prosper? “Did ever any harden themselves against him and prosper [�ote: Job 9:4.]?” �o indeed; “it is in vain to kick against the pricks:” “though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished [�ote: Proverbs 11:21.].”]

Application—

1. From the former view of this subject, we may learn how to obtain the blessing of God upon our arms—

[It is not by confidence in an arm of flesh that we can hope to prevail, but by an humble trust in God. It is said, “The children of Israel prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers [�ote: ver. 18.].” �otwithstanding the numbers and the stratagems of their enemies, they prevailed, because God himself fought for them. Let us then by prayer and supplication call God to our aid, and rest assured that he will interpose for us in the hour of necessity.

Whilst indeed we trust in him for success, we must use every effort for the attainment of peace: but if our adversary will not listen to reasonable terms, then may we go forth with confidence against him, knowing that “with God it is alike easy to save by many or by few.”]

2. From the latter view of this subject we may learn how to escape the destruction to which we are exposed—

[Our God “has made ready his glittering spear;” and he has already said, “Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies [�ote: Isaiah 1:24.].” What then shall we do? Shall we continue the contest? What would this be, but to “set briers and thorns in battle against the devouring fire, which would go through them, and burn them up together [�ote: Isaiah 27:4.]?” �o: let us throw down our weapons of rebellion against him, and cast ourselves on the multitude of his tender mercies: let us go, like Benhadad, “with ropes round our necks, and sackcloth on our loins,” and confess our desert of his heavier judgments, Then will he “turn from

his fierce anger,” and be reconciled towards us: yea, “he will be merciful to our transgressions, and our sins and iniquities will he remember no more.”]

PULPIT, "The concluding utterances of Abijah certainly did not fall below what had preceded or the occasion in itself; and the echoes of them, while they died on the ear, must have lived, indeed, and stirred life in the hearts of many (Joshua 5:14; �umbers 10:9; �umbers 31:6; our �umbers 31:14, and �umbers 5:12, �umbers 5:13).

BI 12-17, "And behold, God Himself is with us for our captain

God with us

We have here—

I.A mysterious doctrine.

II. A comforting truth.

III. A solemn fact. (Bp. Montagu Villiers.)

Man’s extremity and God’s power to help

I. God’s people are often brought into extremities.

1. By their own foolish enterprises.

2. By the temptations of their enemies.

3. By the providence of God leading them, to test and train them.

II. God’s people are delivered by him in extremities.

1. By prayer: “They cried unto the Lord.”

2. By super-natural power. (J. Wolfendale.)

The Holy War

It is not my intention to discuss the merits of the quarrel between Judah and Israel. That is interesting history; but I am now to speak to you concerning our work and warfare for Christ our King. That we are engaged in a fierce struggle, with a powerful foe, must be admitted. Oh, let us understand at the outset that our warfare is real, earnest, desperate; that we are not playing at soldiering.

I. Let us reconnoitre the enemy. It is a great mistake, all too frequently made, to ignore the strength of our opponents, to fail to investigate their position and their practices. No general would think of conducting a campaign without the due precaution of reconnoitring. We shall do well in our war against error and iniquity, and all that is not of our God, to make all investigations, to send some forth to spy out the country to discover, if possible, what the enemy is designing against us.

1. Turning to this chapter we shall find that the enemy in this case consisted of rebels

against the God-appointed authority. They were, in fact, insurgents, of whom the children of Judah said truly, “We keep the charge of the Lord of God; but ye have forsaken Him.” So the men of Judah had this to help them in their struggle—they knew that their position was one that God approved. They had not forsaken Him; they were by no means perfect, but they still held to David’s throne and to his rightful successor. They had the strength that always comes of the consciousness of right. “Right is might,” though some will have it that might is right. No, no! “He is thrice armed who hath his quarrel just” and I want to encourage my own heart and yours by saying: We are by no means all we should be, but by the grace of God we are what we are. The enemy has rebelled against God. These things with which we do battle are doomed to destruction, and we are authorised to help to hasten the coming of that doom.

2. I find, further, that these men of Israel were idolaters. They worshipped golden calves, and almost any man who wished could become a priest to those that were no gods. Our struggle also is against idolatry. I am speaking on behalf of foreign missions. Believe me, there is idolatry both here and there.

3. I find here again, that the children of Israel are spoken of as vain men, and children of Belial. There had gathered in that north country men of no repute, ne’er-do-wells, and those who had come to grief, empty-headed men—for such is the real meaning of the word “vain.” The children of Belial were utterly unprincipled, many of them were doubtless renegades, the castaways of society. We do not fight against those who have lost their reputation, who have sinned against the laws of our land, as well as against high heaven; we go out to try to save them, we do battle against unholiness, uncleanness, debauchery, and insobriety.

4. Further, if you look at this chapter, you will notice that the men of Israel were determined characters, o| whom it is written that “they strengthened themselves.” They were very numerous, but they did not trust to numbers, they took every precaution to ensure success. We may learn some lessons from our foes. How diligent they are, how active, how united. How earnestly they combine to defeat, if possible, the purposes of God, and our attempts to do His will. Oh, that we were as earnest as they! With a Master infinitely better, why should we not serve Him with twice as much zeal as they who serve the devil?

5. The numbers of Israel were very large, twice as many as Judah possessed; and oh, how many are the forces and principles of evil with which we have to contend! Ah! but let us remember that numbers are not everything. We shall have to remind one another presently that God is with us. How many count you Jehovah for? Yet we must not under-estimate the foe; they are numberless. Oh, that our forces were increased!

6. And, moreover, they are wily. Did you notice, as we read, how the king of Israel set an ambush against Abijah and his men? It was hardly a brave thing to do. Well, our enemy is not very particular how he goes to work. The serpent is still the most subtle of all the beasts of the field, but we are not ignorant of his devices.

II. What about our own forces? We must not sing our own praises, but to the glory of God, as we review our troops, we will declare, first, that we are His.

1. Moreover, we are well commanded. Did you notice what the king said in the 12th verse? “And behold God Himself is with us for our Captain.” When Napoleon went up and down among his troops on the eve of battle, he used to assure them that he was himself directing their battalions. That it was which nerved them for the fray. I

think I hear my blessed Master saying, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age.” We bow before Thee, glorious Captain! Lead Thou us on! For Thou alone canst lead to victory.

2. Moreover, the priestly service, with the people of Judah, had never ceased. Morning and evening the lamb was slain, and the lamp was lighted, and the incensed waved. This was a sign that God was still honoured and obeyed. Ah, think of it! We are going forth to battle day by day, but our great High Priest before the Throne still pleads. “He ever liveth to make intercession for us.”

III. And now about the battle. We must not wonder, if, when beginning to fight for God, we find ourselves in a difficulty. These men did. They had not got to the battlefield before they were caught in an ambushment. There were foes behind them as well as in front of them. It is not the easiest thing in the world to fight those who attack us from behind. I know some who go out to serve the Lord, either in the home or in the foreign field, who, as soon as they find the battle wax hot against them, or discover themselves caught in a trap, begin to imagine that the battle is lost already, that they have made a mistake in taking up arms for God, and are like to turn tail forthwith, only the enemy is behind them, and they cannot! Ah! what a mistake is this! If God brings us into a crisis, it is that we may trust Christ. What is the best thing to do when we get into such a state? Why, just what these did. “They cried unto the Lord.” Was there time to pray, when there were enemies on either hand? Yes, yes, there is always time to pray. Praying time is not lost time. Let us cry unto the Lord of Hosts.

2. Then the priests sounded the trumpets to animate the people, to call them to their duty, to stir up within them their slumbering energies and dying courage. I warrant you they gave no uncertain sound. Those silver trumpets were made all of one piece, for God will have all His work united, symmetrical, and complete. Those silver trumpets sounded out their sweetest and their loudest at this critical juncture. Be it ours, leaders of the hosts of God, so to sound forth the Word of God that there shall be no mistake as to the meaning, and by our brave demeanour to encourage all the people.

3. Did you notice, next, that the rank and file commenced to shout? “The men of Judah shouted.” No, no! let us cry and shout, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of us. The cry of prayer should be attended with the shout of faith, and if we shout not audibly in our services and meetings, let there be shoutings in the soul which the Lord our God can hear. The secret and gist of it all is here.

4. “They relied upon the Lord.” There was perfect confidence in heaven. Even in the midst of the clash of arms, even when they saw they had apparently been bested by this ambushment, they still trusted. Father, I will trust thee, for the work is Thine.

5. “They relied upon the Lord God of their fathers.” Oh! I like that word. “The God of Abraham!” The history of the patriarch flashes through their minds at the mention of his name. “The God of Isaac, and of Jacob,” and of David, with whom He had made a covenant of salt! This was the God they relied on, and this God is our God, the God of our fathers. Did He not treat our fathers well? Did He not glorify His name through them? Did He not make them pillars in the house of the Lord? What God has done, God can do. Let us trust Him.

6. As soon as they fully trusted Him, He began to work, and delivered Jeroboam into the hand of Abijah. Yes, the rule always holds good, “Them that honour Me I will honour.” If you trust Him in that little work you have in hand for God, He will use

you.

7. Then we must follow up the work that God does. Abijah and his people slew their routed adversaries. “Abijah pursued them.”

8. And what about the spoils? When the work is done and the victory won, what about the booty? Ah! it belongs to Him who gave the power. All must be cast at Jesus’ feet. Have we not been often mistaken just here? We asked Him for power to serve, and thank God we got it; but when the victory was ours, we wanted to share the honour with the King. (T. Spurgeon.).

13 �ow Jeroboam had sent troops around to the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah the ambush was behind them.

CLARKE, "But Jeroboam caused an ambushment - While Abijah was thus employed in reproving them, Jeroboam divided his army privately, and sent a part to take Abijah in the rear; and this must have proved fatal to the Jews, had not the Lord interposed.

GILL, "But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them,.... While Abijah was making his oration, he detached a party from his army, which got about, and lay in ambush, behind the army of Abijah: so they were before Judah; Jeroboam and the greater part of his army: and the ambushment was behin

HE�RY 13-18, "We do not find that Jeroboam offered to make any answer at all to Abijah's speech. Though it was much to the purpose, he resolved not to heed it, and therefore he heard it as though he heard it not. He came to fight, not to dispute. The longest sword, he thought, would determine the matter, not the better cause. Let us therefore see the issue, whether right and religion carried the day or no.

I. Jeroboam, who trusted to his politics, was beaten. He was so far from fair reasoning that he was not for fair fighting. We may suppose that he felt a sovereign contempt for Abijah's harangue. “One stratagem,” thinks he, “is worth twenty such speeches; we will soon give him an answer to all his arguments; he shall soon find himself overpowered with numbers, surrounded on every side with the instruments of death, and then let him boast of his religion and his title to the crown.” A parley, it is probable, was agreed on,

yet Jeroboam basely takes the advantage of it, and, while he was treating, laid his ambushment behind Judah, against all the laws of arms. What honour could be expected in a servant when he reigned? Abijah was for peace, but, when he spoke, they were for war, Psa_120:7.

II. Abijah and his people, who trusted in their God, came off conquerors, notwithstanding the disproportion of their strength and numbers.

1. They were brought into a great strait, put into a great fright, for the battle was before and behind. A good cause, and one which is designed to be victorious, may for a season be involved in embarrassment and distress. It was David's case. They compassed me about like bees, Psa_118:10-12.

2. In their distress, when danger was on every side, which way should they look but upwards for deliverance? It is an unspeakable comfort that no enemy (not the most powerful or politic), no stratagem or ambushment, can cut off our communication with heaven; our way thitherward is always open. (1.) They cried unto the Lord, 2Ch_13:14. We hope they did this before they engaged in this war, but the distress they were in made them renew their prayers and quickened them to be importunate. God brings his people into straits, that he may teach them to cry unto him. Earnest praying is crying. (2.) They relied on the God of their fathers, depended upon his power to help them and committed themselves to him, 2Ch_13:18. The prayer of faith is the prevailing prayer, and this is that by which we overcome the world, even our faith, 1Jo_5:4. (3.) The priests sounded the trumpets to animate them by giving them an assurance of God's presence with them. It was not only a martial but a sacred sound, and put life into their faith. (4.) They shouted in confidence of victory: “The day is our own, for God is with us.” To the cry of the prayer they added the shout of faith, and so became more than conquerors.

JAMISO� 13-17, "But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them— The oration of Abijah, however animating an effect it might have produced on his own troops, was unheeded by the party to whom it was addressed; for while he was wasting time in useless words, Jeroboam had ordered a detachment of his men to move quietly round the base of the hill, so that when Abijah stopped speaking, he and his followers found themselves surprised in the rear, while the main body of the Israelitish forces remained in front. A panic might have ensued, had not the leaders “cried unto the Lord,” and the priests “sounded with the trumpets” - the pledge of victory (Num_10:9; Num_31:6). Reassured by the well-known signal, the men of Judah responded with a war shout, which, echoed by the whole army, was followed by an impetuous rush against the foe. The shock was resistless. The ranks of the Israelites were broken, for “God smote Jeroboam and all Israel.” They took to flight, and the merciless slaughter that ensued can be accounted for only by tracing it to the rancorous passions enkindled by a civil war.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:13. But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come behind — While Abijah was discoursing, he took the advantage thus afforded him of sending a party of soldiers privately to lie in ambush, and attack Abijah’s army behind, while he continued to face them with his main body. It does not appear that he made any answer to Abijah’s speech. The longest sword, he thinks, must determine the matter, not the better cause.

COFFMA�, "Regarding the huge numbers of the troops engaged in this battle, Curtis (Madsen) characterized them as `Midrash,'[1] which is a critcal code-word for `false.' However the same writers admitted that, "The number of Jeroboam's warriors is exactly the same as the number credited to Israel in the census taken by Joab."[2] To this writer it appears to be an altogether gratuitous and unfounded allegation that, "These numbers are utterly unhistorical."[3] Oh yes, there are unexplained discrepancies here; but, so what? one may read conflicting biographies of John F. Kennedy! The Chronicler was merely quoting the public records, in this case, the commentary of the prophet Iddo; and there is no dependable authority today for setting aside as "unhistorical" any of this material. This IS the history, as it has come down to us. It is of no importance that some do not believe it. �either do they believe that God created heaven and earth.

A little reflection will support the proposition so eloquently propounded in this chapter that Judah's victory was of God. They were fighting two tribes against ten! They were surrounded! Jeroboam was a conceited, mad killer determined to take the whole world if he had been able to do so. Why did he fail? This chapter has the correct answer.

Furthermore, Abijah was not the reason for God's intervention upon behalf of Judah. He was an evil king. "He walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah ... �evertheless for David's sake ... God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him" (1 Kings 15:3-4). This was vitally related to God's purpose of eventually bringing in the Messiah to provide an opportunity for all mankind to be saved. It was that fundamental truth that required the intervention of God Himself in the events of this chapter.

ELLICOTT, "(13) But Jeroboam caused . . .—�ow Jeroboam had brought the ambush round, in order to attack (literally, approach) them in the rear (literally, from behind them; so they (Jeroboam and his main body) were in front of Judah, and the ambush was in their rear.

The ambush.—The troops which Jeroboam had detached for that service.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:13 But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambushment [was] behind them.

Ver. 13. But Jeroboam caused an ambushment.] While Abijah was thus haranguing and persuading the people to lay down their arms, and to return to their obedience, Jeroboam closely divided his army, causing one part to wheel about, and to come upon their backs, and the other to set upon them before, thinking so to surprise them unawares.

GUZIK 13-14, "B. God’s deliverance for Judah and King Abijah.

1. (2 Chronicles 13:13-14) Jeroboam’s ambush.

But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them; so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. And when Judah looked around, to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear; and they cried out to the LORD, and the priests sounded the trumpets.

a. Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them: This was a dishonorable tactic because Jeroboam ambushed while they were negotiating before the battle.

i. The battle line was at both front and rear: “The point to remember is that our enemies may shut us in on all sides, preventing reinforcements from north, south, east, and west; but no earthly power can ever shut off God from above us. . . . The way upwards is always kept clear; the ladder which links the beleaguered soul with God and heaven can never be blocked, except by transgression and sin.” (Meyer)

b. And they cried out to the LORD: When the battle lines unexpectedly changed, the army of Judah knew that a surprise attack from an army twice as large left them in a very dangerous place. The only thing they could do was cry out to the LORD.

PULPIT, "2 Chronicles 13:13-16

These verses purport to tell how Jeroboam, with all his vastly preponderating numbers (2 Chronicles 13:3), left nothing undone to secure the victory, and resorted even to the ambushment described; how, on the other hand, Abijah and his people honoured God by their cry and confident shout, and were delivered because they trusted in him (1 Samuel 17:45-47), and as follows, 2 Chronicles 13:18, "relied upon the Lord God of their fathers."

14 Judah turned and saw that they were being attacked at both front and rear. Then they cried out to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets

GILL, "And when Judah looked back,.... On hearing a noise behind them:

behold, the battle was before and behind; men were set in battle array, and the battle was begun, and an attack made upon them both ways:

and they cried unto the Lord; for help against their enemies, and to deliver them out of their hands:

and the priests sounded with the trumpets; to inspire them with cheerfulness, and to suggest to them that God was with them and they need not be afraid.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:14. Behold, the battle was before and behind — Thus Judah was unexpectedly brought into a great strait, and put into great fear. A good cause, and one which is designed to be victorious, may be involved in difficulty and distress. And they cried unto the Lord — For when danger was on every side, which way should they look but upward for deliverance? It is an unspeakable comfort, that no enemy, not the most powerful or politic, and no stratagem or ambushment, can cut off our communication with heaven. Our way thitherward is always open. We may hope they cried unto the Lord before they engaged in this war; but the distress they were in made them renew their prayers, and quickened them to be more importunate. God brings his people into straits, that he may teach them to cry unto him.

ELLICOTT, "(14) And when Judah looked back, behold the battle was before and behind.—Comp. the account of the ambuscade by which Ai was taken (Joshua , 8); and Gibeah (Judges 20),

Judah looked back.—�ot prepared (Bertheau) (See Joshua 8:20).

Sounded.—Were sounding. Literally, trumpeting.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:14 And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle [was] before and behind: and they cried unto the LORD, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.

Ver. 14. And when Judah looked back.] For till then, they suspected not any such treachery.

And they cried unto the Lord.] Inter arma silent leges: preces non sileant. Prayers are the soldier’s surest great ordnance.

15 and the men of Judah raised the battle cry. At the sound of their battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

GILL, "Then the men of Judah gave a shout,.... Taking heart at the sound of the trumpets, and in order to encourage one another, and intimidate the enemy; See Gill on 1Sa_17:20,

and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah; possessed them with a panic, so that they fled at once, as follows.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:15. Then the men of Judah gave a shout — In confidence of victory, the priests animating them by sounding the trumpets, and giving them assurance of God’s presence with them. To the cry of prayer they added the shout of faith, and so became more than conquerors. God smote Jeroboam and all Israel — He struck him and his army with such terror and amazement, that, it appears, they could not strike a stroke, but fled with the greatest precipitation imaginable, and the conquerors gave no quarter; so that they put to the sword five hundred thousand chosen men; more (it is said) than ever we read of in any history to have been killed in one battle. But the battle was the Lord’s; who would thus chastise the idolatry of Israel, and own the house of David. But see the sad effects of division! It was the blood of Israelites which was thus shed like water by Israelites, while the heathen, their neighbours, to whom the name of Israel had formerly been a terror, cried, Aha, so would we have it.

ELLICOTT, "(15) Then the men of Judah gave a shout.—The same verb (hâria‘) occurred in 2 Chronicles 13:12, in the sense of sounding an alarm with the “trumpets of alarm” (t’rû‘ah.) Here our version gives the right sense. Immediately after the priests had blown a blast upon the trumpets, the warriors raised a shout or war- cry. (Comp. Judges 7:18-20).

God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.—The wild panic which seized the host of Israel, when they heard the shout of their foes, is thus forcibly described. The same phrase is used in Judges 20:35, and again by the chronicler (2 Chronicles 14:12). (Comp. the Vulg., “perterruit Deus Jeroboam et omnem Israel.” Syriac, “the Lord routed,” &c.)

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:15 Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

Ver. 15. Then the men of Judah gave a shout.] Initio pugnae, de more antiquorum. Together with their loud outcries - first for fear perhaps, afterwards to affright their enemies - prayers went up to God. And see the happy effect thereof.

God smote Jeroboam.] With a panic terror, with furies in his own conscience, and with some grievous disease, whereof, �abal-like, at length he died. [2 Chronicles 13:20]

16 The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands.

GILL, "And the children of Israel fled before Judah,.... Were in such a fright and consternation, that they could not stand their ground, or engage at all; but took to flight immediately:

and God delivered them into their hand; to be taken and slain by them.

K&D, "2Ch_13:16-17

So Abijah and his people inflicted a great blow (defeat) on the Israelites, so that 500,000 of them, i.e., more than the half of Jeroboam's whole army, fell.

GUZIK 13-19, "2. (2 Chronicles 13:16-19) Victory for Judah.

Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand. Then Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter; so five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain. Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time; and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD God of their fathers. And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took cities from him: Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and Ephrain with its villages.

a. As the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel: They added the shout of faith to their cry unto the LORD and God struck the army of Israel. We are not told how God struck them, but God certainly defended His trusting people when they could not defend themselves.

i. “So ‘God routed Jeroboam,’ though whether this was through direct supernatural

intervention, or through the courage of his embattled people as they saw themselves surrounded by the enemy, is not stated.” (Payne)

ii. “It was poor business, in that it was a last resort, but it was sincere; and the answer of God was immediate, and complete victory resulted.” (Morgan)

b. The children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD God of their fathers: The Chronicler wanted the point to be clear. The reason why Judah defeated Israel even though they were surprised and outnumbered was because Judah relied on the LORD.

i. “Bethel’s capture is an ironic comment on the golden calves’ inability to defend their own sanctuary (cf. 1 Kings 12:28-33).” (Selman)

17 Abijah and his troops inflicted heavy losses on them, so that there were five hundred thousand casualties among Israel’s able men.

BAR�ES, "Slain - The word means strictly “pierced,” and will include both the killed and the wounded. It is translated “wounded” in Lam_2:12.

CLARKE, "Slain - five hundred thousand chosenmen - Query, fifty thousand? This was a great slaughter: see the note on 2Ch_13:3, where all these numbers are supposed to be overcharged.

GILL, "And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter,.... As they fled, pursuing them:

so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men; such a slaughter as is not to be met with in any history, as Josephus (s) observes; though Abarbinel wonders he should say so, and affirms that he had read of larger numbers slain at once; but he is the only man that ever pretended to it; Jerom (t) makes the number but 50,000, and some copies of the Vulgate Latin (u), and Josephus Ben Gorion, as Abarbinel (w) relates; but the true Josephus, the Targum, and all the ancient versions,

agree with the Hebrew text; more than half Jeroboam's army was cut off, and 100,000 more than Abijah had in his.

HE�RY 17-22, "3. Thus they obtained a complete victory: As the men of Judah shouted for joy in God's salvation, God smote Jeroboam and his army with such terror and amazement that they could not strike a stroke, but fled with the greatest precipitation imaginable, and the conquerors gave no quarter, so that they put to the sword 500,000 chosen men (2Ch_13:17), more, it is said, than ever we read of in any history to have been killed in one battle; but the battle was the Lord's, who would thus chastise the idolatry of Israel and own the house of David. But see the sad effect of division: it was the blood of Israelites that was thus shed like water by Israelites, while the heathen, their neighbours, to whom the name of Israel had formerly been a terror, cried, Aha! so would we have it.

4. The consequence of this was that the children of Israel, though they were not brought back to the house of David (which by so great a blow surely they would have been had not the determinate counsel of God been otherwise), yet, for that time, were brought under, 2Ch_13:18. Many cities were taken, and remained in the possession of the kings of Judah; as Bethel particularly, 2Ch_13:19. What became of the golden calf there, when it came into the hands of the king of Judah, we are not told; perhaps it was removed to some place of greater safety, and at length to Samaria (Hos_8:5); yet in Jehu's time we find it at Bethel, 2Ki_10:29. Perhaps Abijah, when it was in his power to demolish it, suffered it to stand, for his heart was not perfect with God; and, not improving what he had got for the honour of God, he soon lost it all again.

Lastly, The death of both of the conquered and of the conqueror, not long after. 1. Jeroboam never looked up after this defeat, though he survived it two or three years. He could not recover strength again, 2Ch_13:20. The Lord struck him either with some bodily disease, of which he languished, or with melancholy and trouble of mind; his heart was broken, and vexation at his loss brought his head, probably by this time a hoary head, with sorrow to the grave. He escaped the sword of Abijah, but God struck him: and there is no escaping his sword. 2. Abijah waxed mighty upon it. What number of wives and children he had before does not appear; but now he multiplied his wives to fourteen in all, by whom he had thirty-eight children, 2Ch_13:21. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of those arrows. It seems, he had ways peculiar to himself, and sayings of his own, which were recorded with his acts in the history of those times, 2Ch_13:22. But the number of his months was cut off in the midst, and, soon after his triumphs, death conquered the conqueror. Perhaps he was too much lifted up with his victories, and therefore God would not let him live long to enjoy the honour of them.

ELLICOTT, "(17) Slew them with a great slaughter.—Literally, Smote in them a great smiting. �umbers 11:33.

Five hundred thousand chosen men.—Or more than half of Jeroboam’s entire army.

It is hardly true to say that “there is nothing in the original to indicate that this slaughter was all on one day.” (Speaker’s Commentary.) On the contrary, it is perfectly evident from the whole narrative that this verse describes the issue of a single great and decisive encounter of the rival hosts.

The result is certainly incredible, if the numbers be pressed; but it seems more reasonable to see in them “only a numerical expression of the belief of contemporaries of the war, that both kings had made a levy of all the fighting men in their respective realms, and that Jeroboam was defeated with such slaughter that he lost more than half his warriors” (Keil). The Syriac reads “five thousand.”

The number of slain on the other side is not stated. But it is absurd to talk as Reuss does, of Abijah’s 400,000 as being “still intact,” and then to ask why they did not proceed to reduce the northern kingdom.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:17 And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.

Ver. 17. So there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand.] A monstrous and matchless slaughter, far beyond that of Tamerlane when he took Bajazet, or Aetius, the Roman prefect, when he fought with Attilas and his Huns in the fields of Catalaunia, where were slain on both sides one hundred and sixty-five thousand. See on 2 Chronicles 13:3.

POOLE, "A vast number: but it hath been oft observed and recorded by sacred and profane historians, that in those ancient times there were very numerous armies, and ofttimes very great slaughters; and if this slaughter was more than ordinary, there is nothing strange nor incredible, because the Almighty God fought against the Israelites.

WHEDO�, "17. There fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men — These many slain ( חללים, pierced, wounded) probably include both killed and wounded during the whole war; not those who fell in any one engagement.

PULPIT, "Slain; Hebrew, חללים . Even if we accept for a moment the immense numbers written here and elsewhere as authentic, a considerable deduction may be made from our difficulty by virtue of the fact that this word need not mean to describe the actually slain. It occurs about ninety-one times. Of these, in our Authorized Version, it is found rendered, including marginal options, as many as fifteen times "wounded," or by even a less severe meaning. However, whether "slain" or "wounded and slain," the alleged, numbers of our present text are, in our opinion, incredibly enormous.

18 The Israelites were subdued on that occasion, and the people of Judah were victorious because

they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

BAR�ES, "Brought under - “Humbled” or “defeated,” not reduced to subjection.

CLARKE, "Judah prevailed, because - “They depended on the Word of the God of their fathers.” - T.

GILL, "Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time,.... Humbled and weakened, but not reduced to the government of the house of David:

and the children of Judah prevailed; or grew strong:

because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers; trusted in him, and not in an arm of flesh; the Targum is,"in the Word of the Lord God of their fathers.''

K&D, "2Ch_13:18-19

The results of this victory. The Israelites were bowed down, their power weakened; the men of Judah became strong, mighty, because they relied upon Jahve their God. Following up his victory, Abijah took from Jeroboam several cities with their surrounding domains: Bethel, the present Beitin, see on Jos_7:2; Jeshanah, occurring

only here, and the position of which has not yet been ascertained; and Ephron (עפרון,

Keth.; the Keri, on the contrary, עפרין). This city cannot well be identified with Mount

Ephron, Jos_15:9; for that mountain was situated on the southern frontier of Benjamin, not far from Jerusalem, while the city Ephron is to be sought much farther north, in the neighbourhood of Bethel. C. v. Raumer and others identify Ephron or Ephrain both with Ophrah of Benjamin, which, it is conjectured, was situated near or in Tayibeh, to the east

of Bethel, and with the 7φραιµ, Joh_11:54, whither Jesus withdrew into the wilderness,

which, according to Josephus, Bell. Jud. iv. 9. 9, lay in the neighbourhood of Bethel. See on Jos_18:23.

(Note: The account of this war, which is peculiar to the Chronicle, and which de Wette declared, on utterly insufficient grounds, to be an invention of the chronicler (cf. against him my apol. Vers. über die Chron. S. 444ff.), is thus regarded by Ewald (Gesch. Isr. iii. S. 466, der 2 Aufl.): “The chronicler must certainly have found among his ancient authorities an account of this conclusion of the war, and we cannot but believe that we have here, in so far, authentic tradition;” and only the details of the description are the results of free expansion by the chronicler, but in the speech

2Ch_13:4-13 every word and every thought is marked by the peculiar colouring of the Chronicle. But this last assertion is contradicted by Ewald's own remark, i. S. 203, that “in 2Ch_13:4-7, 2Ch_13:19-21, an antiquated manner of speech and representation appears, while in the other verses, on the contrary, those usual with

the chronicler are found,” - in support of which he adduces the words בל,על _2Ch ,$ני

13:7, and מלח 2Ch_13:5. According to this view, Abijah's speech cannot have ,$רית

been freely draughted by the chronicler, but must have been derived, at least so far as the fundamental thoughts are concerned, from an ancient authority, doubtless the Midrash of the prophet Iddo, cited in 2Ch_13:22. But Ewald's further remark (iii. S. 466), that the author of the Chronicle, because he regarded the heathenized Samaria of his time as the true representative of the old kingdom of the ten tribes, seized this opportunity to put into King Abijah's mouth a long denunciatory and didactic speech, addressed at the commencement of the battle to the enemy as rebels not merely against the house of David, but also against the true religion, is founded upon the unscriptural idea that the calf-worship of the Israelites was merely a somewhat sensuous form of the true Jahve-worship, and was fundamentally distinct from the heathen idolatry, and also from the idolatry of the later Samaritans. In the judgment of all the prophets, not only of Hosea and Amos, but also of the prophetic author of the book of Kings, the calf-worship was a defection from Jahve, the God of the fathers, - a forsaking of the commands of Jahve, and a serving of the Baals; cf. e.g., 1 Kings 13; 2 Kings 17:7-23. What Abijah says of the calf-worship of the Israelites, and of Judah's attitude to Jahve and His worship in the temple, is founded on the truth, and is also reconcilable with the statement in 1Ki_15:3, that Abijah's heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord, like David's heart. Abijah had promoted the legal temple-worship even by consecratory gifts (1Ki_15:15), and could consequently quite well bring forward the worship of God in Judah as the true worship, in contrast to the Israelitic calf-worship, for the discouragement of his enemies, and for the encouragement of his own army; and we may consequently regard the kernel, or the essential contents of the speech, as being historically well-founded. The account of the war, moreover, is also shown to be historical by the exact statement as to the conquered cities in 2Ch_13:19, which evidently has been derived from ancient authorities. Only in the statements about the number of warriors, and of the slain Israelites, the numbers are not to be estimated according to the literal value of the figures; for they are, as has been already hinted in the commentary, only an expression in figures of the opinion of contemporaries of the war, that both kings had made a levy of all the men in their respective kingdoms capable of bearing arms, and that Jeroboam was defeated with such slaughter that he lost more than the half of his warriors.)

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:18. Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time — And had not the determinate counsel of God been otherwise, surely so great a blow would have brought them back to the house of David. And Judah prevailed, because they relied on the God of their fathers — It was not by their own valour that they obtained this great victory, but by their relying on God, their depending on his power to help them, and their committing themselves and their cause to him.

ELLICOTT, "(18) Were brought under.—Were humbled, bowed down (the same word as in 2 Chronicles 12:6). (Judges 3:30.)

Prevailed.—Was strong. (Psalms 18:13; Genesis 25:23.)

They relied upon the Lord.—Isaiah 10:20. (Authorised Version, “stay upon.”)

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:18 Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers.

Ver. 18. Because they relied upon the Lord.] Deo confisi nunquam confusi. Trust in God never miscarrieth.

POOLE, "They put their trust in him, and confidently expected help from him; which is a disposition of heart that God prizeth and taketh kindly. See 2 Kings 18:5 2 Chronicles 20:20 Psalms 22:4 Daniel 3:28.

19 Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took from him the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephron, with their surrounding villages.

BAR�ES, "Jeshanah is probably identical with the “Isanas” of Josephus, where a battle took place in the war between Antigonus and Herod; but its situation cannot be fixed. For Ephrain, see Jos_18:23 note.

CLARKE, "Beth-el - “Beth-lehem.” - Targum.

Jeshanah - We know not where these towns lay.

GILL, "And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam,.... As he and his army fled:

and took cities from him; the following ones:

Bethel with the towns thereof; the villages adjoining to it; here one of the calves was set up, which either Jeroboam took care to remove before this place fell into the hands of Abijah, or Abijah let it remain, and did not destroy it:

and Jeshanah with the towns thereof; which Reland (x) thinks is the same that is called by Jerom (y) Jethaba:

and Ephraim with the towns thereof; a city so called, thought to be the same that is mentioned in the passage; see Gill on Joh_11:54; it is here called, in the Targum, Ephron; so Jerom (z) calls it, and says it was Sichem.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:19. Abijah took cities from him, Beth-el, &c. — Which, however, Jeroboam recovered afterward, as appears by the course of the history. What became of the golden calf at Beth-el, when that place came thus into the hands of the king of Judah, we are not told. Probably when Jeroboam’s host was discomfited, and he expected that Abijah would pursue his victory, he removed the golden calf from thence to some safer place. And Ephraim — A city so called, possibly the same which is mentioned John 11:54; or that which is called Ophra, 8:27.

ELLICOTT, "(19) Took cities from him.—The three cities and their districts were only temporarily annexed to Judah. According to 1 Kings 15:17-21, Baasha, King of Israel, attempted in the next reign to fortify Ramah, which was only about five miles north of Jerusalem. He had probably recovered these towns before doing so (Bertheau).

Bethel.—Beitin. (Genesis 12:8; Joshua 7:2.)

Jeshanah.—�ot mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament. Probably identical with ἰσάνας of Josephus (Ant. xiv. 15, § 12); site unknown. Syriac, Shâlâ; Arabic, Sâiâ.

Ephrain.—So the Heb. margin; Heb. text, Ephron; and so LXX., Vulg., Syriac, Arabic. Mount Ephron (Joshua 15:9) was situated too far to the south to be intended here. Perhaps Ophrah, near Bethel (Judges 6:11), or the town called Ephraim (John 6:54)—especially if Ephrain be the right reading—which also was near Bethel, according to Josephus (Bell. Jud. iv. 9, §9), is to be understood. Ophrah and Ephraim may be identical.

The Arabic adds: “And Zâghâr with the towns thereof.”

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:19 And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Bethel with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephrain with the towns thereof.

Ver. 19. And took cities from him, Bethel.] Where stood one of the golden calves, secured, haply, by the inhabitants before the enemy came, as idolaters’ main care is for their idols.

POOLE, "Beth-el; which Jeroboam recovered afterwards, as appears by the course of the history, though it be not particularly mentioned, which is the case of many other considerable things. And in the mean time it is very probable, that when Jeroboam’s host was discomfited, and he expected that Abijah would pursue his victory, he removed the golden calf from Beth-el, which lay near Abijah’s kingdom, to some safer place.

Ephrain; a city so called, possibly the same which is mentioned John 11:54, or that which is called Ophrah, Jude 8:27.

WHEDO�, "19. Beth-el with the towns thereof — It must have been a great humiliation to Jeroboam to lose this ancient city, the principal seat of his calf worship. It was subsequently recovered by the northern kingdom, but when and by whom is not recorded. The sites of Jeshanah… and Ephraim are now unknown.

PULPIT, "Bethel. Abijah was, perhaps, the rather permitted to take this city as the head-quarters of Jeroboam's irreligious worship. Jeshanah. A place not known elsewhere in Scripture by this name, which by derivation means "old." Grove quotes Josephus ('Ant.,' 14.15.§ 12) as speaking of a place so named, the scene of a battle between Herod and Antigonus's general, Pappus, but Josephus does not assign its site. Ephrain; or, according to Chethiv, Epron. Grove says that conjecture has identified it with the Ephraim of 2 Samuel 13:23, with the Ophrah of Joshua 18:23, and with the Ephraim of John 11:54; possibly the modern El-Taiyibeh (Dr. Robinson, 1.44), about five miles from Bethel.

20 Jeroboam did not regain power during the time of Abijah. And the Lord struck him down and he died.

BAR�ES, "Jeroboam’s death was a judgment upon him for his sins. Chronologically speaking, his death is here out of place, for he outlived Abijah at least two years (compare the marginal reference and 1Ki_15:9); but the writer, not intending to recur to his history, is naturally led to carry it on to its termination.

CLARKE, "The Lord struck him, and he died - Who died? Abijah or Jeroboam? Some think it was Jeroboam; some, that it was Abijah. Both rabbins and Christians are divided on this point; nor is it yet settled. The prevailing opinion is that Jeroboam is meant, who was struck then with that disease of which he died about two years after; for he did not die till two years after Abijah: see 1Ki_14:20; 1Ki_15:9. It seems as if Jeroboam was meant, not Abijah.

GILL, "Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah,.... So as to bring an army into the field against him, and fight him:

and the Lord struck him; by some Jewish writers (a), this is interpreted of Abijah; and the reason of his being stricken, they say, was because he did not destroy the calf when he took Bethel; but it is best to understand it of Jeroboam, since Abijah is afterwards said to wax mighty:

and he died; not immediately, for he lived two years after Abijah, 1Ki_14:20, but continued under a lingering disease he was smitten with, and which issued in his death.

JAMISO�, "Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah— The disastrous action at Zemaraim, which caused the loss of the flower and chivalry of his army, broke his spirits and crippled his power.

the Lord struck him, and he died— that is, Jeroboam. He lived, indeed, two years after the death of Abijah (1Ki_14:20; 1Ki_15:9). But he had been threatened with great calamities upon himself and his house, and it is apparently to the execution of these threatenings, which issued in his death, that an anticipatory reference is here made.

K&D, "2Ch_13:20

Jeroboam could not afterwards gain power (וח�? as in 1Ch_29:14): “And Jahve ,עצר

smote him, and he died.” The meaning of this remark is not clear, since we know nothing

further of the end of Jeroboam's life than that he died two years after Abijah. ו,�פהו can

hardly refer to the unfortunate result of the war (2Ch_13:15.), for Jeroboam outlived the war by several years. We would be more inclined to understand it of the blow mentioned in 1Ki_14:1-8, when God announced to him by Ahijah the extermination of his house, and took away his son Abijah, who was mourned by all Israel.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:20. The Lord struck him — Either with vexation and horror of mind, or with some painful and lingering, but incurable disease, like that of Jehoram, which tormented him two years together, and at last killed him, 2 Chronicles 21:19. And he died — �ot immediately, but a year or two after this time. He escaped the sword of Abijah; but there is no escaping God’s sword.

ELLICOTT, "(20) �either did Jeroboam recover strength.—And Jeroboam retained strength no longer. LXX. καὶ οὐκ ἔσχεν ἰσχὺν ιεροβοαµ ἔτι. See 1

Chronicles 29:14 (the same phrase).

And the Lord struck him, and he died.—All that is known of Jeroboam’s death is that it took place two years after that of Abijah (1 Kings 15:8-9). The expressions of the text cannot mean, as Zöckler suggests, “visited him with misfortune till his death.” His death is regarded as a judicial visitation (compare the use of the same Hebrew phrase, 1 Samuel 25:38). The verse, then, states that during the rest of Abijah’s reign Jeroboam remained powerless to injure his neighbour; and that the circumstances of his death were such that men recognised in them “the finger of God.” It is not likely that the reference is to the event of 2 Chronicles 13:15 (Bertheau), nor to the death of his son (1 Kings 14:1-8), as Keil supposes.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:20 �either did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck him, and he died.

Ver. 20. And the Lord struck him.] That is, Jeroboam (see on 2 Chronicles 13:15); not Abijah, as the Hebrews sense the text, saying that God therefore struck him, because, when he took Bethel, he destroyed not the idol there, but kept it and worshipped it. A fable.

POOLE, "The Lord struck him, i.e. Jeroboam, as appears from the contrary condition of Abijah described in the next verse. Him God might strike, either with vexation and horror of mind; or with some painful and lingering, but incurable, disease, like that of Jehoram, which tormented him two years together, and at last killed him, 2 Chronicles 21:19.

He died; not presently, but a year or two after this time.

WHEDO�, "20. The Lord struck him, and he died — We have elsewhere no intimation that Jeroboam died suddenly or by any special stroke of Divine judgment. He outlived Abijah some two years. But probably the stroke here referred to, and that which hastened Jeroboam’s death, was the fearful prophecy of Ahijah, which foretold the utter extermination of Jeroboam’s house. Comp. 1 Kings 14:7-16.

GUZIK 20-22, "3. (2 Chronicles 13:20-22) A summary of Abijah’s reign.

So Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the LORD struck him, and he died. But Abijah grew mighty, married fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. �ow the rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways, and his sayings are written in the annals of the prophet Iddo.

a. Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah: This ended the ongoing threat from Israel against Judah. Jeroboam was not left strong enough to launch an attack and stayed weak until the LORD struck him, and he died.

b. But Abijah grew mighty: The profile of Abjiah in 1 Kings 15 is overwhelmingly

negative. We read, he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. (1 Kings 15:3) Yet the Chronicler says nothing good or bad about the overall reign of Abjiah.

i. This was because the Chronicler wanted to emphasize the good that happened under the reign of Abijah; namely, the great deliverance that came when Judah relied on God. The Chronicler assumes the reader knows the material about Abijah in 1 Kings; yet he wanted to show that even a bad man can be shown grace when he relies on the LORD. This would be a great encouragement to the returned exiles to whom the Chronicler first wrote.

ii. Yet from our more complete understanding of Abijah’s life, we can learn another lesson: that one great spiritual victory does not make an entire life before God. One should never trust in a past spiritual accomplishment or season of victory.

iii. The annals of the prophet: “Bemidrash, ‘in the commentary;’ this, as far as I recollect, is the first place where a midrash or commentary is mentioned.” (Clarke)

PULPIT, "The Lord struck him; and he died. The writer of Chronicles here, for brevity's sake, and not to recur to his name again, records the death of Jeroboam, which, however, did not happen till after Abijah's death, in the second year of Asa's reign (1 Kings 14:20; 1 Kings 15:25). That the Lord struck him, may glance at the fearful announcement conveyed to him through his wife by Ahijah (1 Kings 14:6-16).

21 But Abijah grew in strength. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

CLARKE, "Married fourteen wives - Probably he made alliances with the neighboring powers, by taking their daughters to him for wives.

GILL, "But Abijah waxed mighty,.... In his kingdom, increasing in riches and

numbers, power and authority, and in his family:

and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons and sixteen daughters; not after the above battle, nor since he began to reign; for he reigned but three years; but he, no doubt, married wives and had children before he came to the throne, as he might have others after.

K&D, "Wives and children of Abijah. His death. - 2Ch_13:21. While Jeroboam was not able to recover from the defeat he had suffered, Abijah established himself in his

kingdom (יתח@ק, cf. 2Ch_12:13), and took to himself fourteen wives. The taking of these

wives is not to be regarded as later in time than his establishment of his rule after the victory over Jeroboam. Since Abijah reigned only three years, he must have already had the greater number of his wives and children when he ascended the throne, as we may

gather also from 2Ch_11:21-23. The ו consec. with אAי serves only to connect logically the

information as to his wives and children with the preceding, as the great increase of his family was a sign of Abijah's increase in strength, while Jeroboam's dynasty was soon extirpated.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 13:21. Abijah married fourteen wives — �ot now after this victory, for he died soon after it; but in the whole time of his life, before he was king, and afterward.

COKE, "2 Chronicles 13:21. Abijah waxed mighty, and married, &c.— But Abijah had not delayed to marry fourteen wives. Houbigant.

REFLECTIO�S.—1st, Abijah is scarcely fixed on the throne, before we find him involved in a dangerous war. Perhaps Jeroboam thought to take advantage of him on his accession, as unprepared, and unable to withstand him.

1. Immense armies on both sides were drawn into the field, but the men of Israel were twice as many as those of Judah. The forces were unequal; but what was wanting in number, was more than supplied by the justice of Abijah's cause.

2. Abijah, if possible to prevent bloodshed, obtains a parley, and tries by force of argument to prevail, rather than by the sword. He sought not conquest, but would gladly part in peace. Every method of accommodation should be tried before we have recourse to war, or the law, where generally much is lost on both sides, and little gained by either. Abijah with his party being on mount Ephraim, and Jeroboam and his party within hearing, he expostulates with him, [1.] On the injustice of Jeroboam's design. His former rebellion against his father was perfidious and base: he had taken advantage of his weakness during the infancy of his government: and, supported by men apostate from God, and sons of Belial, had withdrawn ten tribes from their allegiance: yet not satisfied with this, in opposition to the divine promises, he was now impiously attempting to dispossess David's successors of the little which was left, and, in so doing, fighting against God, by whom the kings of Judah reigned. �ote; (1.) Ambition is never satisfied. (2.) Success

emboldens sinners. (3.) Prosperous iniquity is but a short-lived joy. [2.] He warns him of the danger to which he exposed himself. What could he hope for? an apostate, an idolater, a persecutor, who had calves for his gods, and the vilest people for his priests. Little could his numerous army profit him in such a case; whilst Abijah boasts of Judah's fidelity to the great Jehovah; constant and exact in his worship at home; supported and strengthened by him, as the captain of their hope; animated by his ministers sounding the silver trumpets, the earnest of certain victory. Wisely, therefore, he persuades him to desist from war, and not think to fight against the God of their fathers, since in such case inevitable ruin awaited him. Abijah's own character, we find, 1 Kings 15:3 was not the best; yet he maintained God's worship; and, though his own state was evil, his kingdom was under God's protection. �ote; (1.) They who have God for their enemy will find all human efforts vain. (2.) It is just in God to give up those to ruin, who apostatize from his service. (3.) Diligent observance of God's instituted ordinances will bring its own reward. (4.) A good cause gives men courage; and how much more the presence and support of the great God! (5.) Fair warning of their danger leaves sinners inexcusable in their obstinacy.

2nd, They who are devoted to destruction, are deaf to admonition.

1. Jeroboam, perhaps while Abijah was speaking, took the advantage to plant an ambuscade behind him; and, instead of answering his reasoning, produced, as he concluded, the weightier argument of the longest sword.

2. Abijah and his servants put the battle in array; but no sooner was the front engaged, than a cry in the rear alarmed and terrified him. In deep distress they cried to the Lord, Save, or we perish! and, trusting all on his succour, endured the shock. The priests, with trumpets sounding, inspired more than mortal courage; and loud the men of Judah shout as for victory, rush on their foes, dispirited, and smitten of God with panic fear. A terrible havock ensued, such as no other history affords in any one battle; for, five hundred thousand men lay dead on the field. �ote; (1.) God often leaves his people to fall into the most imminent danger, to awaken their cries, to exercise their faith, and make his deliverance of them more glorious. (2.) If we are enabled to trust in God, then shall we not be moved. (3.) The prayer of faith and the shout of victory, are inseparable. (4.) Civil wars and disputes among brethren are usually most bitter and bloody.

3. Abijah pursued his blow in the recovery of part of the revolted cities, particularly Beth-el, from whence Jeroboam had either withdrawn the calf, or Abijah had not zeal enough to destroy it. We find it still there, 2 Kings 10:29.

4. Death, soon after this, removed them both from the throne, to give an account of their government to the King of kings. Jeroboam, weakened with his defeat, and smitten of God with sickness, perhaps broken-hearted through pride and vexation on his losses, lingered for a while, and then died as miserably as he had lived wickedly. Mark the end of those men who forsake God. Abijah, strengthened by his acquisitions, and blessed with a numerous family, waxed mighty; but his greatness

was short-lived; (such is the fate of all sublunary possessions!) he soon slept with his fathers; and in the book of Iddo, which has long since perished, a farther account of his wars, private character, and sayings, was recorded. �ote; The preservation of the inspired writings from the ravages of time, is a singular instance of divine providence, which we are bound to acknowledge with thankfulness.

ELLICOTT, "(21) But Abijah waxed mighty.—And Abijah strengthened himself, after his life-and-death struggle with Jeroboam. (See on 2 Chronicles 12:13.)

And married fourteen wives, and begat twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.—Abijah reigned only three years altogether. He must, therefore, have had most of these wives and children before his accession. (2 Chronicles 11:21-23 may be said to imply this; see �ote on 2 Chronicles 11:23.) A stop should be placed after the first clause, thus: “And Abijah strengthened himself. And he took him fourteen wives, and begat twenty-two sons,” etc. The two facts are merely placed side by side, though a tacit contrast may be suggested between the number of Abijah’s off-spring, and the speedy extirpation of the house of Jeroboam.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:21 But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.

Ver. 21. And married fourteen wives.] Some of them before he came to the kingdom. Junius well readeth it, He had married fourteen wives. This was against an express law, [Deuteronomy 17:17] besides the utter unlawfulness of polygamy, whereof before. But many great men make little of laws; it is plea sufficient for their offence that it is -

“ facinus maioris abollae. ”

POOLE, "�ot now after this victory, for he died presently after it; but in the whole time of his life, before he was king and afterward.

PULPIT, "Waxed mighty. For this our Authorized Version reads, "waxed fat and wanton" (Hebrew, יתחזק ), and grew too like his father Rehoboam and his grandfather Solomon, forgetting the "Law" (Deuteronomy 17:17).

22 The other events of Abijah’s reign, what he did and what he said, are written in the annotations of the prophet Iddo.

CLARKE, "Written in the story - bemidrash, “in the commentary;” this, as במדרש

far as I recollect, is the first place where a midrash or commentary is mentioned. The margin is right.

His ways, and his sayings - The commentary of the prophet Iddo is lost. What his sayings were we cannot tell; but from the specimen in this chapter, he appears to have been a very able speaker, and one who knew well how to make the best use of his argument.

GILL, "And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings,.... Not only his warlike actions, and his course of life, but some remarkable sayings of his, he being a man of wisdom and eloquence, as his above speech shows:

are written in the story of the prophet Iddo; who might write the history of his own times; see 1Ki_15:7.

K&D, "2Ch_13:22

As to the מדרש of the prophet Iddo, see the Introduction.

13:23 (2Ch_14:1). This is remarked here, because this rest was also a result of Abijah's great victory over Jeroboam.

ELLICOTT, "(22) And his ways and his sayings.—Or works. The same word has just been rendered acts. There is an alliteration in the Hebrew, u-derâkhav u-debhârav.

Story.—Midrash. See margin. For the source here referred to, see Introduction, § 6.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 13:22 And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, [are] written in the story of the prophet Iddo.

Ver. 22. And his ways.] Which were not good. Prodit se libidinosum fuisse; by his many wives he appeareth to have been libidinous, as was also his father.

And his sayings.] His oration, {2 Chronicles 13:5, &c.} which is very artificial, and other apophthegms, as being Solomon’s grandchild, &c.

WHEDO�, "22. The story of the prophet Iddo — Rather, the midrash, or

commentary of the prophet Iddo. A work apparently different from that “against Jeroboam,” (2 Chronicles 9:29,) and that “concerning genealogies,” (2 Chronicles 14:15,) by the same prophet. The name would seem to show that it was a prophetical work consisting of comments and moral reflections on the ways and acts of the king. See Introduction.

PULPIT, "The story of the Prophet Iddo, If this be the same work as that mentioned in 2 Chronicles 12:15 (see our note there), it is, at any rate, not called by the same title, but by the name well known for memoirs, of Midrash.

Footnotes:

2 Chronicles 13:2 Most Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also 11:20 and 1 Kings 15:2); Hebrew Micaiah2 Chronicles 13:2 Or granddaughter