2 Chronicles 13 - Introduction
XIII. 2. THE REIGN OF ABIJAH. (Comp. 1 Kings 15:1.)... [ Continue Reading ]
XIII. 2. THE REIGN OF ABIJAH. (Comp. 1 Kings 15:1.)... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW. — Not in the Hebrew. The verse is nearly identical with the parallel in Kings.... [ Continue Reading ]
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), there can be no doubt that this is correct, a... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SERVANT OF SOLOMON. — See 1 Kings 11:26. IS RISEN UP, AND HATH REBELLED. — _Arose and rebelled._ (See 1 Kings 11:26).... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Neither this nor the following phrase, “the children of Belial” (literally, _sons of worthlessness, i.e.,_ men of low character and estimation) occurs... [ Continue Reading ]
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 instrumenta... [ Continue Reading ]
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, a... [ Continue Reading ]
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 t... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY MORNING AND EVERY EVENING. — For the daily sacrifice, see Exodus 29:38; 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 o... [ Continue Reading ]
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 Numbers 10:9; Numbers 31:6.) The trumpets were “the divinely appointed pledges that God would remembe... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT JEROBOAM CAUSED ..._ — Now 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 Jerobo... [ Continue Reading ]
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. — Not _prepared_ (Bertheau) (See Joshua 8:20). SOUNDED. — _Were sounding._ Literally, _trumpeting. _... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
SLEW THEM WITH A GREAT SLAUGHTER. — Literally, _Smote in them a great smiting._ Numbers 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.” (_Spe... [ Continue Reading ]
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.”)... [ Continue Reading ]
TOOK CITIES FROM HIM. — The three cities and their districts were only temporarily annexed to Judah. According to 1 Kings 15:17, 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 doin... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER 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... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]