Bible Commentaries

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

2 Chronicles 13

Introduction

1  Abijah succeeding makes war against Jeroboam.
4  He declares the right of his cause.
13  Trusting in God, he overcomes Jeroboam.
21  The wives and children of Abijah.

Verse 1

Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.
A. M. 3046-3049. B.C. 958-955. in the eighteenth. See on ch
12:16, 1 Kings 15:1-8

Verse 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.
Michaiah
11:20
Maachah the daughter of Absalom
1 Kings 15:2
Abishalom
Gibeah.
Joshua 18:28
Gibeath
Judges 19:14,16, 1 Samuel 10:26
A. M. 3047. B.C. 957. And there was
1 Kings 15:6,7

Verse 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.
set
Heb. bound together.
1 Samuel 17:1-3
four hundred
11:1, 14:8, 17:14-18, 26:12,13, 1 Chronicles 21:5
eight hundred
14:9

Verse 4

And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;
Zemaraim
Zemaraim could not be, as some have supposed, the same as the hill of Samaria, so called from Shemer, in the days of Omri; but was probably a hill on the confines of Ephraim, near Zemaraim, a city of Benjamin, near Bethel.
Genesis 10:18, Joshua 18:22
Hear me
15:2, Judges 9:7

Verse 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?
Ought ye not
Nehemiah 5:9, Proverbs 1:29, 2 Peter 3:5
the Lord
Judges 11:21-24, Jeremiah 27:5-7, Daniel 4:25-32, 5:18
to David
1 Samuel 16:1,12, 2 Samuel 7:12-16, 1 Kings 8:20, 1 Chronicles 17:11,14, 28:4,5, Psalms 89:19-37, Jeremiah 33:21,22,26, Luke 1:31-33
a covenant of salt
Leviticus 2:13, Numbers 18:19, Ezekiel 43:24, Mark 9:49,50

Verse 6

Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his lord.
rebelled
10:19, 1 Kings 11:26, 12:20,27

Verse 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.
vain men
Judges 9:4, 11:3, 1 Samuel 22:2, Job 30:8, Psalms 26:4, Proverbs 12:11, 28:19, Acts 17:5, Titus 1:10
the children of Belial
Deuteronomy 13:13, 1 Kings 21:10,13
young
10:16, 12:13, Ecclesiastes 10:16, Isaiah 3:4, 1 Corinthians 14:20, Hebrews 5:12
could not
11:1-4

Verse 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.
the kingdom
9:8, Psalms 2:1-6, Isaiah 7:6,7, 9:6,7, Luke 19:14,27
a great multitude
14:9-11, 20:6,12, Psalms 33:16
with you golden
11:15, 1 Kings 12:28, 14:9, Hosea 8:5,6

Verse 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.
cast out
11:14,15
made you priests
1 Kings 12:31-33, 13:33
consecrated himself
Heb. fill his hand.
Exodus 32:29, Leviticus 16:32, 1 Chronicles 29:5; *margins
young
Exodus 29:1,35, Leviticus 8:2
no gods
Deuteronomy 32:17, 2 Kings 19:18, Jeremiah 2:11, Hosea 8:6, Acts 19:26, Galatians 4:8

Verse 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:
the Lord
We have not abandoned the Lord; and we still serve him according to His own law. But what Abijah urged concerning the state of religion in Judah was not strictly just; and, as spoken by him, it favoured ostentation. Abijah himself was but an indifferent character; and idolatry was evidently connived at in his days. Yet it was true, that the men of Judah had the priests, ordinances, and worship of Jehovah among them; that there were numbers of pious worshippers in the land; that theirs was the more righteous cause; that Jehovah was on their side as their Captain, while Israel fought against him; and that the presence of the priests with the sacred trumpets was a token of His presence and favour.
11:16,17, Exodus 19:5,6, Zechariah 13:9
the priests
Exodus 29:1-37, Numbers 16:40, 18:1-7

Verse 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.
they burn
2:4, Exodus 29:38
sweet incense
Exodus 30:1-10, Leviticus 2:1-3, Numbers 16:6,46, Luke 1:9, Revelation 8:3,4
shewbread
Exodus 25:30, Leviticus 24:5-9
the candlestick
Exodus 25:31-39, 27:20,21, Leviticus 24:2-4
we keep
Genesis 26:5, Numbers 9:19, Ezekiel 44:8,15, 48:11

Verse 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.
God
Numbers 23:21, 1 Samuel 4:5-7, Isaiah 8:10, Zechariah 10:5, Romans 8:31
for our captain
Deuteronomy 20:4, Joshua 5:13-15, Psalms 20:7, Hebrews 2:10
his priests
Numbers 10:8,9, 31:6, Joshua 6:13-20
fight ye
Job 15:25,26, 40:9, Isaiah 45:9, Jeremiah 50:24, Acts 5:39, 9:4,5
ye shall not
24:20, Numbers 14:41, Deuteronomy 28:29, Job 9:4, Isaiah 54:17, Jeremiah 2:37, Ezekiel 17:9

Verse 13

But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them.
an ambushment
20:22, Joshua 8:4, Proverbs 21:30, Jeremiah 4:22

Verse 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.
looked back
Exodus 14:10, Joshua 8:20, Judges 20:33-43, 2 Samuel 10:8-14
cried
14:11, 18:31, Psalms 50:15, 91:5
the priests

Verse 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.
as the men
20:21, Joshua 6:16,20, Judges 7:18-22, Psalms 47:1,5
God smote
14:12, Numbers 32:4, Joshua 11:8, Judges 4:15, 2 Kings 5:1, Psalms 118:4-7, Isaiah 37:36

Verse 16

And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand.
God delivered
Genesis 14:20, Deuteronomy 2:36, 3:3, Joshua 10:12, 21:44, Judges 1:4, 11:21, 1 Samuel 23:7

Verse 17

And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.
five hundred
3,12, 28:6, Isaiah 10:16-19, 37:36, Nahum 1:5, 1 Corinthians 10:22

Verse 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.
relied
16:8,9, 20:20, 2 Kings 18:5, 1 Chronicles 5:20, Psalms 22:4,5, 146:5, Daniel 3:28, Nahum 1:7, Ephesians 1:12

Verse 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.
took cities
Joshua 10:19,39, 11:12, 1 Samuel 31:7
Jeshanah
Jeshanah, according to the Talmud, was not far from Sephoris. Perhaps it is the Migdal-Senna of Eusebius, eight miles north of Jericho.
Ephrain
Ephrain, or Ephron, a city of Benjamin, is placed by Eusebius, eight miles north of Jerusalem, near Bethel. Josephus calls Ephrain and Bethel two little cities; and places the former in the tribe of Benjamin, near the wilderness of Judea, in the way to Jericho.
15:8, Joshua 15:9
Ephron
John 11:54

Verse 20

Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck him, and he died.
did
Psalms 18:37,38
Lord
1 Samuel 25:38, 26:10, Ezekiel 24:16, Acts 12:23
he died
1 Kings 14:20, 15:9

Verse 21

But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.
waxed
2 Samuel 5:12,13
fourteen wives
11:21
begat
Judges 8:30,31, 9:5, 10:4

Verse 22

And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.
story
or, commentary. Iddo.
9:29, 12:15

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