CHAPTER 13

(957 B.C.)

ABIJAH REIGNS OVER JUDAH

¹Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.

²He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mothers name also was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. (The conflict between the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah continues, and will increase, even as we shall see.)

WAR WITH JEROBOAM

³And 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. (A few years before, Rehoboam could muster only 180,000 chosen men [11:1]. This indicates that many thousands of the northern confederacy had come down to become a part of the kingdom of Judah. The Holy Spirit wants us to note that even though these troops of Jeroboam were mighty men of valor, still, they could not overcome what God had decreed otherwise!)

⁴And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim, which is in Mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, you Jeroboam, and all Israel;

⁵Ought you not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? (A covenant of salt is mentioned two other times in the Word of God [Lev. 2:13; Num. 18:19]. This covenant became a symbol of the incorruptibility of Gods Covenant, and the perpetuity of mans obligation to Him. This Covenant refers to the solemnizing of any inviolable covenant. In other words, Abijah is telling Jeroboam that he is attempting to destroy what God has ordained. All of this shows that Abijah had a tremendous knowledge of the Word of God.)

⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and has rebelled against his lord.

⁷And 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.

⁸And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David; and you be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods (Abijah reminds Jeroboam of his worship of the golden calves, which, in some measure, was the same as the religion of Egypt, and was totally detrimental to the Ways of the Lord).

⁹Have you 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 comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods (Jeroboam had substituted his own priesthood for Gods Priesthood).

¹⁰But 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 (as the Lord had commanded in the Law of Moses):

¹¹And 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 (Lampstand) 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 (as stated, all of this proclaims an extensive knowledge of the Ways of the Lord and the Law of Moses).

¹²And, 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 you not against the LORD God of your fathers; for you shall not prosper (the Lord anointed Abijah to say these things).

ABIJAH DEFEATS JEROBOAM: 500,000 OF ISRAEL SLAIN

¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them (Jeroboam, because of having twice as many soldiers as Abijah, thinks his victory is certain; consequently, he ignores Abijahs message; in fact, he surrounded the army of Judah).

¹⁴And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind: and they cried unto the LORD, and the Priests sounded with the trumpets (mans only hope is to cry unto the LORD! But sadly, few do).

¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout (a shout of Faith): and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah (the Holy Spirit is careful to denote the cause of the victory as being God; in the natural there was no way that Abijahs 400,000 men could even hope to defeat Jeroboams army of 800,000 men; but with God all things are possible!).

¹⁶And the Children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand (if God fights for us, the enemy cannot win).

¹⁷And Abijah and his people killed them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men (the word slain in the Hebrew can also mean wounded, which it no doubt means here; at any rate the victory was gargantuan!).

¹⁸Thus 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 (over and over again, the Holy Spirit makes it known that it is God Who is the Author of this victory; obedience brings blessing, while disobedience brings defeat).

¹⁹And 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.

²⁰Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck him, and he died (the Lord terminated his life, because he had set himself to do evil; how many others fall into the same category?).

ABIJAHS FAMILY

²¹But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.

²²And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the story of the Prophet Iddo.