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

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.

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, Bethel 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.

2 Chronicles 13:1

13:1 Abijah. This king is called Abijam in I Kings 15. The account in Chronicles contains a more complimentary record of his reign than the parallel record in Kings.

2 Chronicles 13:2

13:2 Michaiah the daughter of Uriel. Michaiah is the same as Maachah, Rehoboam’s favorite wife (II Chronicles 11:21). She was granddaughter of Absalom (same as Abishalom—I Kings 15:2). See note on II Chronicles 11:20.

2 Chronicles 13:4

13:4 Hear me, thou Jeroboam. Although he was facing an Israelite army twice as large as his own (II Chronicles 13:3), Abijah gave a bold testimony to Jeroboam and his men, reminding them that they had rebelled against the Lord and His ordained place and system of worship, presumptuously setting up their own idols, priesthood and worship centers (II Chronicles 13:6-11). He urged them unsuccessfully not to fight against God. In some way not described, God enabled Abijah to defeat the much larger army of Jeroboam. Although Abijah himself did evil in many ways (I Kings 15:3), at least on this occasion, he showed great faith in the true God and His word.

2 Chronicles 13:5

13:5 covenant of salt. A “covenant of salt” was understood in ancient nations to be permanent and unbreakable. The covenant was ratified by a meal shared by the two parties. Salt was considered then to be a very valuable and significant component of the meal. When God was one of the parties, the food was first sacrificed to Him (Leviticus 2:13; Numbers 18:19; etc.).

2 Chronicles 13:22

13:22 story of the prophet Iddo. See note on I Chronicles 29:29. The Hebrew word here for “story” is midrash. It originally meant something like a commentary. In more recent times, it came to be applied to a collection of Rabbinic comments on the Old Testament, collected between 100 B.C. and A.D. 300.

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