2 Chronicles 13

Notes on the verses

Chap. XIII. Ver. 8. Golden calves, which Jeroboam made for gods.—We have before expressed our opinion of this calf worship, as an imitation rather of the Jewish than the heathen worship; and we are happy to see our opinion confirmed by some very judicious remarks of the (Revelation 5)G. Townsend, in his Old Testament arranged. Our remarks on Aaron’s calf will be found, (Exodus 32:1-14).; and on Jeroboam’s calves, 1 Kings, Chap. xii. Ver. 9. To consecrate himself.—It is supposed that any one who could furnish a bullock and seven lambs, was immediately accepted. Ver. 10. The Lord is our God.— We have not abandoned the Lord; and we still serve Him according to His own law. But what Abijah urged concerning the state of religion in Judah was not strictly just; and, as spoken by him, it savoured of ostentation.

Abijah himself was but an indifferent character; and idolatry was evidently connived at in his days. Yet it was true, that the men of Judah had the priests, ordinances, and worship of Jehovah among them; that there were numbers of pious worshippers in the land; that theirs was the more righteous cause; that Jehovah was on their side as their Captain, while Israel fought against him; and that the presence of the priests with the sacred trumpets was a token of His presence and favour.—Bag- Ver. 20. The Lord struck him, and he died.—That is, Jeroboam, we presume: yet he died not immediately, for he survived Abijah; ((1 Kings 15:9).) But it is probable that his ill success brought on a depression of spirits, and he died with lingering disease.

right in the eyes of the Lord his God: 3 For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut 4 down the groves: 4 And commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. 5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him. 6 And they built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the Lord had given him rest. 7 Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us; because we have sought the Lord our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side.

So, they built and prospered. 8 And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and four score thousand; all these were mighty men of valour. 9 And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with a host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots, and came unto Mareshah. 10 Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude.

O Lord, thou art our God; Let not any man prevail against thee. 12 So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. 13 And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed.

Cap. XIV. Ver. 1—15. Asa commences a great reform, in the midst of which he is attacked by an Ethiopian army, and obtains a signal victory.—While thus laudably employed in reform, it appears Asa was unexpectedly attacked by a formidable foreign enemy, Zerah, the Ethiopian, a sable prince, perhaps from the northeast of Africa, with his confederate neighbours, the Lubims, (or Libyans,) “the huge host,” as the prophet Hanani calls them, ((2 Chronicles 16:8).) containing a million of undisciplined barbarians. Such an assemblage may appear incredible to many; but we have already noticed the vast armies of Judah and of Israel; and the army of Xerxes, king of Persia, is said to have amounted to near a million, if not more. So in times comparatively modern, (the 15th century) the army of Tamerlane is said to have amounted to 300,000 horse, and 500,000 foot, and that of his antagonist Bajazet, to 300,000 horse, and 200,000 foot. It was the same with the

Ver. 22. In the story.— This, (says Dr. Clarke,) as far as I recollect, is the first place in which the word midrash, or commentary, is mentioned.” (2 Chronicles 14)—The first five verses of this chapter correspond nearly with 1 Coe XV. 8—14, er. 9. The Ethiopian.—His country was not Ethiopia, properly so called or Abyssinia, the name of which, in the Old Testament, is Laud; but the part [of Geshur]. Make a solemn covenant with God, “16 He put away the idols of his people A. M. 3063, for her idolatry. 18 He bringeth dedicate things into the house of God, and enjoyeth a long peace. B. C. 941. f Jos. 23.1. For the spirit of God came upon Azariah Ps. 105.3,4, the son of Oded: h 0.16.8. 2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said i Jos. 15.44. unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah j Ex. 14.10. and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will k 1 Sa. 14.6.

be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. 11 Sa. 17.45. 3 Now for a long season Israel hath been mortal man, without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. 4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. 5 And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. 6 And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. 7 Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

8 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord. 9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth day in that year of the reign of Asa. 11 And they offered unto the Lord at the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. 12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; 13 That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel, however, to save by many as by few: Zerah was therefore defeated and overthrown, and a prodigious spoil, especially of cattle, sheep, and camels, fell into the hands of Asa.

Thus it repeatedly happened, that those who came to plunder the chosen nation were the chief means of their enrichment: and thus, if true Christians, we may also encourage ourselves to hope that “all things shall work together for our good;” and that even our enemies and afflictions shall contribute to that happy issue.