II
C H R O N I C L E S
CHAP. XIII.
We
have here a much fuller account of the reign of Abijah, the son of Rehoboam,
than we had in the Kings. There we found that his character was no better than
his father's--he "walked in the sins of his father, and his heart was not
right with God," 1 Kings xv. 2, 3. But here we find him more brave and
successful in war than his father was. He reigned but three years, and was
chiefly famous for a glorious victory he obtained over the forces of Jeroboam.
Here we have, I. The armies brought into the field on both sides, ver. 3. The
remonstrance which Abijah made before the battle, setting forth the justice of
his cause, ver. 4-12. III. The distress which Judah was brought into by the
policy of Jeroboam, ver. 13, 14. IV. The victory they obtained
notwithstanding, by the power of God, ver. 15-20. V. The conclusion of
Abijah's reign, ver. 21, 22.
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Abijah's
Reign over Judah.
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B.
C. 957.
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1 Now 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 the daughter of Uriel of
Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 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. 4 And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is
in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;
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? 6 Yet Jeroboam the son
of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath
rebelled against his lord. 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. 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.
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. 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: 11 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 ye have forsaken him. 12 And, behold, God himself is
with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry
alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD
God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.
Abijah's mother was called Maachah, the daughter of Absalom, ch.
xi. 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 (2
Sam. xiv. 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, ch. xi. 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.
II. Jeroboam's army was double in number to that of Abijah (v. 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 (v. 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:--
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" (v. 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 (v. 6) who had
preferred him (1 Kings xi. 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 Judg. xi. 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.
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 (1 Kings xv. 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 (ch. xiv. 3, 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 (v. 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, v. 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 (v. 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, v. 10, 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, v. 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. x. 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."
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Jeroboam
Defeated by Abijah.
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B.
C. 957.
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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, Ps.
cxx. 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, Ps. cxviii. 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, v. 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, v. 18. The prayer
of faith is the prevailing prayer, and this is that by which we overcome the
world, even our faith, 1 John v. 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 (v. 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, v. 18. Many cities were
taken, and remained in the possession of the kings of Judah; as Bethel
particularly, v. 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 (Hos. viii. 5); yet
in Jehu's time we find it at Bethel, 2 Kings x. 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, v.
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,
v. 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, v. 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.
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