2 Chronicles · chapter 13 of 36
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2 Chronicles 13 tells how Abijah, king of Judah, faces Jeroboam, king of Israel, with an army half the size. Before the battle he gives a speech from Mount Zemaraim about God's covenant with David and the false worship of the north. Jeroboam sets an ambush, Judah cries out to the Lord and God gives the victory, so that five hundred thousand men of Israel fall.
Abijah, son of Rehoboam, is a brief king in the account of Chronicles, and his character is presented more positively than in the book of Kings. The chronicler devotes almost the whole chapter to a single episode: the war with Jeroboam. Abijah's speech puts two ways of worshiping and two ways of trusting on the table, and the battle shows which one God blesses.
Abijah begins to reign over Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam and reigns three years in Jerusalem. His mother is Micaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There is war between Abijah and Jeroboam. Abijah goes out with an army of four hundred thousand chosen men, and Jeroboam draws up his battle line with eight hundred thousand warriors.
Abijah stands on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of Ephraim, and speaks to Jeroboam and all Israel. He reminds them that the Lord gave the kingdom of Israel to David and his sons by a covenant of salt, and that Jeroboam, a servant of Solomon, rebelled and gathered worthless and wicked men who overpowered Rehoboam when he was young. Now Israel trusts in a multitude and in the golden calves Jeroboam made, has driven out the Lord's priests and made priests for itself like the peoples of other lands. By contrast, Abijah says, the Lord is our God, we have priests who are sons of Aaron and Levites, we burn burnt offerings and incense every morning and evening, and we keep the bread on the table and the golden lampstand. God is with us as our head, so do not fight against the Lord, for you will not succeed.
Jeroboam has set an ambush, and Judah finds itself attacked from front and rear. They cry out to the Lord, the priests blow the trumpets and the men of Judah shout. God defeats Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. Five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel fall, and the men of Judah prevail because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers. Abijah takes Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephron with their villages. Jeroboam does not recover his strength, and the Lord strikes him and he dies. Abijah grows mighty, takes fourteen wives and has twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Abijah recalls that the Lord gave David the kingship over Israel forever by a covenant of salt. That expression means a firm and lasting covenant, and it is the basis of his confidence.
Abijah affirms that the Lord is their God and that they have not forsaken him, and that priests and Levites serve in worship. He presents Judah as the faithful people that keeps worship as the law requires.
Abijah says that God is with them at their head and that his priests will sound the trumpets against Israel, and warns them not to fight against the Lord, the God of their fathers, for they will not succeed. Victory depends on God, not on the number of soldiers.
The men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers. With these words the chronicler sums up the reason for the victory and teaches the theme of trust that runs through the book.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Abijah had four hundred thousand chosen men and Jeroboam eight hundred thousand. — 2 Chronicles 13:3
Answer: From Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of Ephraim. — 2 Chronicles 13:4
Answer: That the Lord gave the kingdom to David and his sons forever by a covenant of salt. — 2 Chronicles 13:5
Answer: That Jeroboam had made them as gods for Israel, and that Israel had driven out the Lord's priests. — 2 Chronicles 13:8-9
Answer: They cried out to the Lord, the priests blew the trumpets and the men of Judah shouted. — 2 Chronicles 13:14-15
Answer: Because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers. — 2 Chronicles 13:18
Abijah knows the value of what he received: a covenant, a temple and ordered worship. His speech invites us to check what our confidence rests on. In a Sunday school class we can talk about the things we tend to lean on, such as resources, numbers or influence, compared with trust in the Lord.
The chapter also shows the value of crying out to God when the situation is desperate. Judah had no way out, but they cried out and God answered. Praying sincerely in the middle of a problem is an act of faith. We should read carefully, though: the chronicler presents Abijah favorably, but other passages remind us that he was not a perfect king either.
2 Chronicles 13 ends with Judah strengthened, Jeroboam dead and Abijah's story closed. In 2 Chronicles 14 the reign of his son Asa begins, who removes the idols and seeks the Lord, and to whom God grants years of peace.
It is an expression for a firm and lasting covenant. Salt was used to preserve, so it served as a symbol of something that does not decay. In Numbers 18:19 the same expression is used for the priests' portion. Abijah applies it to God's covenant with David.
The chronicler presents it as a speech God backed with victory. There are clear truths, such as the covenant with David, worship in the temple and Jeroboam's calves. Some details, such as the description of Rehoboam as young and indecisive, can be understood as a way of presenting events in Judah's favor.
The text says the Lord struck him and he died. It presents this as a consequence of his unfaithfulness and the defeat before Judah. The chronicler gives no further detail.