Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
2 Chronicles 13:13

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2 Chronicles 13:13. But Jeroboam caused an ambushment — While Abijah was thus employed in reproving them, Jeroboam divided his army privately, and sent a part to take Abijah in the rear; and this must have proved fatal to the Jews, had not the Lord interposed.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

10:1-36:23 THE KINGS OF JUDAH

Division and its consequences (10:1-13:22)

The Chronicler records the division of the kingdom (10:1-11:4; see notes on 1 Kings 12:1-24), but omits the statement in 1 Kings 12:20 that Jeroboam was made king of the northern tribes. He does not even mention Jeroboam’s reign (1 Kings 12:25-20). He considers that because the northerners broke away from the dynasty of David and from the true worship of God, they had no right to be called a kingdom, and certainly not the kingdom of Israel.

Unlike the writer of Kings (who calls the southern kingdom Judah and the northern kingdom Israel), the writer of Chronicles calls the southern kingdom either Judah or Israel. For him Judah is the only true kingdom, and the Davidic kings are the only legitimate kings. Nevertheless, he still accepts people from the north as Israelites, and is pleased when any return to God and the Davidic rulers (see 11:13-17; 15:9; 30:1-12). He sometimes refers to the northern kingdom as Ephraim.

Priests and Levites are often prominent in the Chronicler’s account of Judah’s successes. Solomon’s son Rehoboam began his reign well, mainly through the influence of a large number of priests and Levites who fled to Judah from the north rather than join in Jeroboam’s idolatry. As long as Rehoboam followed the ways of God as taught by the priests, Judah was strong and stable. When he introduced Canaanite religious practices, God punished him by way of a damaging invasion from Egypt (11:5-12:16; see notes on 1 Kings 14:21-31).

Abijam (or Abijah) followed the religious policy of his father in allowing the worship of Baal to exist side by side with the worship of God, but he did not completely forsake God as Jeroboam did in the north. Abijam’s unexpected victory over Jeroboam in battle demonstrated that God was on the side of the king who belonged to David’s dynasty and who refused to join in the false religion of the north (13:1-22; see notes on 1 Kings 15:1-8).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE BATTLE, JEROBOAM'S DEFEAT, AND ABIJAH'S DEATH

"But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them; so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them; and when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind them; and they cried unto Jehovah, and the priests sounded with the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. And the children of Israel fled : before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand. And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand men. Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon Jehovah, the God of their fathers. And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Bethel with the towns thereof, and Ephron with the towns thereof. Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and Jehovah smote him, and he died. But Abijah waxed mighty, and took unto himself fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters. And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo."

Regarding the huge numbers of the troops engaged in this battle, Curtis (Madsen) characterized them as `Midrash,'International Critical Commentary, Chronicles, p. 374 which is a critcal code-word for `false.' However the same writers admitted that, "The number of Jeroboam's warriors is exactly the same as the number credited to Israel in the census taken by Joab."Ibid. To this writer it appears to be an altogether gratuitous and unfounded allegation that, "These numbers are utterly unhistorical."Ibid. Oh yes, there are unexplained discrepancies here; but, so what? one may read conflicting biographies of John F. Kennedy! The Chronicler was merely quoting the public records, in this case, the commentary of the prophet Iddo; and there is no dependable authority today for setting aside as "unhistorical" any of this material. This IS the history, as it has come down to us. It is of no importance that some do not believe it. Neither do they believe that God created heaven and earth.

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

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

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 13

And he reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam ( 2 Chronicles 13:2 ).

Now Jeroboam, you remember, was the king of the northern tribes.

And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, four hundred thousand chosen men: and Jeroboam came against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valor. And Abijah stood up upon mount Ephraim, and he said, Hear me, Jeroboam, and all Israel; 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? Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his lord. And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, who have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted, and could not withstand them. And now you 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 for your gods. And you have 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 comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto Jehovah, 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 showbread 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 you have forsaken him. And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper ( 2 Chronicles 13:3-12 ).

Here he was actually giving to them a speech, a warning and, more or less, rehearsing this period of history. Again, how that God had made a covenant with David that from his seed there would never cease to be a king on the throne. And they were rebelling against the word of the Lord in setting up Jeroboam as their king. And they had made, then, these golden calves their gods. And they were worshipping them and they had forsaken the worship of God. They began to establish a system of priesthood, more or less, by simony. You could purchase the office of the priest. Vile men began to be the religious leaders. But he said, "We are still worshipping Jehovah. We still have the temple services. The priests are still offering the morning and evening sacrifices unto God, who are the sons of Aaron, the Levitical order. And you're rebelling and fighting against the Lord. But God is our captain. He's on our side."

Now while he's making this speech, Jeroboam orders half of his troops to go around and to get behind them to cut them off. After all, he's outnumbered them two to one. There's eight hundred thousand mighty men of valor with Jeroboam. Only four hundred thousand of the men of Judah that had come against him. So this action of sending half the troops around to come from behind. And so when the king is finished with this dynamic speech, suddenly they discover that the enemy is not only in front of them but behind them, too. And they've been encircled by the enemy.

And then the men of Judah [it says] gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand. And there were slain of the men of Israel five hundred thousand of the chosen men ( 2 Chronicles 13:15-17 ).

So Israel was brought under the power of Judah at that time.

And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, took several cities, the city of Bethel with the surrounding suburbs. And Jeroboam never did again recover the strength of the kingdom during the time of Abijah: the LORD struck him, and he died. And so Abijah waxed mighty, he married fourteen wives, had twenty-two sons, and sixteen daughters ( 2 Chronicles 13:19-21 ). "

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them,.... While Abijah was making his oration, he detached a party from his army, which got about, and lay in ambush, behind the army of Abijah:

so they were before Judah; Jeroboam and the greater part of his army:

and the ambushment was behind them; which Jeroboam had sent thither.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      13 But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them.   14 And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind: and they cried unto the LORD, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.   15 Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.   16 And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand.   17 And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.   18 Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers.   19 And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Beth-el with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephrain with the towns thereof.   20 Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck him, and he died.   21 But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.   22 And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.

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

      I. Jeroboam, who trusted to his politics, was beaten. He was so far from fair reasoning that he was not for fair fighting. We may suppose that he felt a sovereign contempt for Abijah's harangue. "One stratagem," thinks he, "is worth twenty such speeches; we will soon give him an answer to all his arguments; he shall soon find himself overpowered with numbers, surrounded on every side with the instruments of death, and then let him boast of his religion and his title to the crown." A parley, it is probable, was agreed on, yet Jeroboam basely takes the advantage of it, and, while he was treating, laid his ambushment behind Judah, against all the laws of arms. What honour could be expected in a servant when he reigned? Abijah was for peace, but, when he spoke, they were for war,Psalms 120:7.

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

      1. They were brought into a great strait, put into a great fright, for the battle was before and behind. A good cause, and one which is designed to be victorious, may for a season be involved in embarrassment and distress. It was David's case. They compassed me about like bees,Psalms 118:10-12.

      2. In their distress, when danger was on every side, which way should they look but upwards for deliverance? It is an unspeakable comfort that no enemy (not the most powerful or politic), no stratagem or ambushment, can cut off our communication with heaven; our way thitherward is always open. (1.) They cried unto the Lord,2 Chronicles 13:14; 2 Chronicles 13:14. We hope they did this before they engaged in this war, but the distress they were in made them renew their prayers and quickened them to be importunate. God brings his people into straits, that he may teach them to cry unto him. Earnest praying is crying. (2.) They relied on the God of their fathers, depended upon his power to help them and committed themselves to him, 2 Chronicles 13:18; 2 Chronicles 13:18. The prayer of faith is the prevailing prayer, and this is that by which we overcome the world, even our faith,1 John 5:4. (3.) The priests sounded the trumpets to animate them by giving them an assurance of God's presence with them. It was not only a martial but a sacred sound, and put life into their faith. (4.) They shouted in confidence of victory: "The day is our own, for God is with us." To the cry of the prayer they added the shout of faith, and so became more than conquerors.

      3. Thus they obtained a complete victory: As the men of Judah shouted for joy in God's salvation, God smote Jeroboam and his army with such terror and amazement that they could not strike a stroke, but fled with the greatest precipitation imaginable, and the conquerors gave no quarter, so that they put to the sword 500,000 chosen men (2 Chronicles 13:17; 2 Chronicles 13:17), more, it is said, than ever we read of in any history to have been killed in one battle; but the battle was the Lord's, who would thus chastise the idolatry of Israel and own the house of David. But see the sad effect of division: it was the blood of Israelites that was thus shed like water by Israelites, while the heathen, their neighbours, to whom the name of Israel had formerly been a terror, cried, Aha! so would we have it.

      4. The consequence of this was that the children of Israel, though they were not brought back to the house of David (which by so great a blow surely they would have been had not the determinate counsel of God been otherwise), yet, for that time, were brought under,2 Chronicles 13:18; 2 Chronicles 13:18. Many cities were taken, and remained in the possession of the kings of Judah; as Bethel particularly, 2 Chronicles 13:19; 2 Chronicles 13:19. What became of the golden calf there, when it came into the hands of the king of Judah, we are not told; perhaps it was removed to some place of greater safety, and at length to Samaria (Hosea 8:5); yet in Jehu's time we find it at Bethel, 1 Kings 10:29. Perhaps Abijah, when it was in his power to demolish it, suffered it to stand, for his heart was not perfect with God; and, not improving what he had got for the honour of God, he soon lost it all again.

      Lastly, The death of both of the conquered and of the conqueror, not long after. 1. Jeroboam never looked up after this defeat, though he survived it two or three years. He could not recover strength again,2 Chronicles 13:20; 2 Chronicles 13:20. The Lord struck him either with some bodily disease, of which he languished, or with melancholy and trouble of mind; his heart was broken, and vexation at his loss brought his head, probably by this time a hoary head, with sorrow to the grave. He escaped the sword of Abijah, but God struck him: and there is no escaping his sword. 2. Abijah waxed mighty upon it. What number of wives and children he had before does not appear; but now he multiplied his wives to fourteen in all, by whom he had thirty-eight children, 2 Chronicles 13:21; 2 Chronicles 13:21. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of those arrows. It seems, he had ways peculiar to himself, and sayings of his own, which were recorded with his acts in the history of those times, 2 Chronicles 13:22; 2 Chronicles 13:22. But the number of his months was cut off in the midst, and, soon after his triumphs, death conquered the conqueror. Perhaps he was too much lifted up with his victories, and therefore God would not let him live long to enjoy the honour of them.