2 Chronicles 12

2 Chronicles 12:2

2. — in the fifth year] Their apostasy took place in the fourth year of Rehoboam’s reign, (after they had been three years obedient, chap. xi. 17;) therefore God speedily corrected them, that He might reduce them to His service, before they were settled in their impiety. Bp. Patrick.

2 Chronicles 12:3

3. — the Lubims, the Sukkims, and the Ethiopians.] The Lubims were, no doubt, the people of Libya, a famous country in Africa, bordering on Egypt. The Sukkims are thought to have lived near the Red sea, and to have been so named from their living in caves and dens of the earth, the word from which the name is derived signifying a cave or den; hence they are thought to have been the same with a people called Troglodites, inhabiting those parts, whose habits of life were of this description. The people called Cush,

2 Chronicles 12:4

4. — and said, Hear me, &c.] Of course it is not meant that he addressed the whole army of Jeroboam, but that he entered on a parley with Jeroboam and his principal officers, to see if matters could be accommodated without bloodshed. Bp. Patrick.

5. — a covenant of salt? See notes on Lev. ii. 13; Numb. xviii. 19.

2 Chronicles 12:7

7. — when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted,] Not young in years, but in the conduct of government, (for Rehoboam was forty years old when he began to reign, chap. xii. 13.) the meaning is, that Rehoboam acted at first as young and inexperienced princes are wont to do. Pyle.

2 Chronicles 12:8

8. — that they may know my service, &c.] That they may feel the difference between being under My protection, and being abandoned by Me; between the blessings which attend a true course of piety, and the wretched effects of irreligion and lewdness. Pyle.

2 Chronicles 12:11

11. And they burn unto the Lord every morning &c.] Abijah, in his address to the Israelite army, is thus particular in detailing these matters, in order to put them in mind with what regularity and solemnity the

worship of God was kept up in Judah, which they had not seen for some years, and perhaps had forgotten. Bp. Patrick.

2 Chronicles 12:12

12. — and also in Judah things went well.] Affairs began again to prosper. But the words in the Hebrew are, “there were good things in Judah,” which may be understood of the reformation made in the whole kingdom; many good things being found amongst them in the midst of their corruption. It is probable that the

altogether: || and also in Judah things went well.

2 Chronicles 12:13

13. But Jeroboam caused an ambushment &c.] Jeroboam, it appears, made no reply to this address of Abijah; but he seems to have been so struck with the effect it might produce, that he would not trust to his superior numbers, but had recourse to artifice for the purpose of conquering his enemy. Bp. Patrick.

2 Chronicles 12:14

14. — he did evil, because he prepared not &c.] He did evil again, because he set not his heart sincerely to seek or follow the Lord. Dr. Wells.

Chap. XIII. ver. 2. — His mother’s name — Michaiah the daughter of Uriel] It was stated at chap. xi. 20, 21, that his mother was named Maschah, the daughter of Absalom, (or Abishalom, 1 Kings xv. 2.) It seems her name was both Michaiah and Maschah, and her father’s name Uriel as well as Absalom. Bp. Patrick, Dr. Wells.

Before CHRIST 971. Or, and yet in Judah there were good things.

2 Chronicles 12:15

15. — and as the men of Judah shouted, &c.] They gave a shout for the purpose of terrifying their enemies with this mark of their confidence in the victory: and “God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah;” that is, they were struck with such terror that they fled without striking a blow, and suffered a vast slaughter, such as is scarcely paralleled in history. Pyle.