2 chronicles 13 commentary

2 CHRO ICLES 13 COMME TARY
EDITED 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., ‫ה‬ ָ‫יר‬ ִ‫ב‬ְ, 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 ‫ּו‬ ִ‫,א‬ his
(Asa's) mother, as if ‫ם‬ ֵ‫א‬ 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 - was Michaiah - 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 ( ‫ָח‬‫ע‬ְ‫ב‬ִ‫ג‬ ) 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
( ‫ַע‬‫ב‬ֶ‫גּ‬ ) of Benjamin" (see also 1 Samuel 13:1-23; 1 Samuel 14:1-52.; 2 Samuel 23:29;
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 ‫אלף‬ ‫מאות‬ ‫ארבע‬ arba meoth eleph, four hundred
thousand, reads ‫אלף‬ ‫עשר‬ ‫ארבע‬ 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. ‫חוּר‬ ָ ‫ישׁ‬ ִ‫,א‬ chosen men.
‫ת‬ ֵ‫א‬ ‫מ‬ ‫ר‬ ַ‫ס‬ፎ, to bind on war, i.e., to open the war. Jeroboam prepared for the war with
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 upon Mount 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 ‫ם‬ִ‫י‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָ‫מ‬ ְ‫צ‬ 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? ‫ח‬ ַ‫ל‬ ֶ‫מ‬ ‫ית‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ , accus. of nearer
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 (‫ים‬ ִ‫ק‬ ֵ‫ר‬ as
in Jdg_9:4; Jdg_11:3; ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ַ ִ‫ל‬ ְ‫ב‬ ‫י‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ as in 1Ki_21:10, 1Ki_21:13 -not recurring elsewhere in the

Chronicle), who gathered around him, and rose against Rehoboam with power. ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ‫ץ‬ ֵ ፍ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫,ה‬
to 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. ‫ר‬ ַ‫ע‬ַ‫נ‬ 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. ‫ב‬ ָ‫ב‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫ך‬ ַ‫,ר‬ soft of heart,
i.e., faint-hearted, inclined to give way, without energy to make a stand against those
rising insolently against him. lp' ‫ק‬ֵ‫ז‬ ַ‫ח‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫ה‬ ‫ּא‬‫ל‬ְ‫,ו‬ and showed himself not strong before them,
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 Rehoboam was 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, ‫ִים‬‫ק‬ ֵ‫ר‬ . 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, ‫ַל‬‫ע‬ַ‫יּ‬ִ‫ל‬ְ‫ב‬ . 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. ‫ב‬ ָ‫ר‬ ‫ּון‬‫מ‬ ָ‫ה‬ ‫ם‬ ֶ ፍְ‫,ו‬ and truly ye are a great multitude, and with you are
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 and
fictitious 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.” ‫ּו‬‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ ‫א‬ ֵ ִ‫,מ‬ to fill his
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

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