1 Kings 15:20

_SO BEN-HA'DAD HEARKENED UNTO KING ASA, AND SENT THE CAPTAINS OF THE HOSTS WHICH HE HAD AGAINST THE CITIES OF ISRAEL, AND SMOTE IJON, AND DAN, AND ABEL-BETH-MA'ACHAH, AND ALL CINNEROTH, WITH ALL THE LAND OF NAPHTALI._ Ijon. Dr. Robinson, who was the first to identify the site of this place, describes it thus ('Biblical Researches,' iii., p. 346) - 'West of Wady et-Teim, between it and the Litany, lies the fine region of Merj 'Ayun, separated from the Teim by a range of hills. It is an oval, or almost circular basin, about an hour in diameter-a beautiful, fertile, well-watered plain, surrounded by hills, which in some parts are high but mostly arable. On the north they retain this character quite to the brow of the descent toward the Litany. Toward the south, Merj 'Ayun communicates with the plain of the Huleh by a narrow entrance, through which flows a stream. Merj 'Ayun forms a distric...

9-24 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That is right indeed which is so in God's eyes. Asa's times were times of reformation. He removed that which was evil; there reformation begins, and a great deal he found to do. When Asa found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence. Reformation must begin at home. Asa honours and respects his mother; he loves her well, but he loves God better. Those that have power are happy when thus they have hearts to use it well. We must not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well; not only cast away the idols of our iniquity, but dedicate ourselves and our all to God's honour and glory. Asa was cordially devoted to the service of God, his sins not arising from presumption. But his league with Benhadad arose from unbelief. Even true believers find it hard, in times of urgent danger, to trust in the Lord with all their heart. Unbelief m...

Verse 1 Kings 15:20. _IJON, AND DAN, C._] He appears to have attacked and taken those towns which constituted the principal strength of the kingdom of Israel....

Ijon is probably marked by the ruins called “Tel-Dibbin,” which are situated a few miles northwest of the site of Dan, in a fertile and beautiful little plain which bears the name of “Merj’ Ayun” or “meadow of fountains.” On Abel-beth-maachah, or Abel-maim (“Abel-on-the waters”) and Dan, see the marginal references For Cinneroth or Genesareth see Joshua 11:2....

EXPOSITION THE REIGNS OF ABIJAM AND ASA, KINGS OF JUDAH. _The Reign of Abijam_. 1 KINGS 15:1 NOW IN THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR OF KING JEROBOAM, THE SON OF NEBAT, REIGNED ABIJAM [see note on 1 Kings 14:31. It is implied in 2 Chronicles 11:20-14 that he was not the firstborn among Rehoboam's twenty-eight sons, but the eldest son of the favourite wife. As he left behind him thirty-eight children ...

SO BENHADAD HEARKENED UNTO KING ASA, AND SENT THE CAPTAINS OF THE HOSTS WHICH HE HAD AGAINST THE CITIES OF ISRAEL,.... He broke off his alliance with the king of Israel; and as he had a standing army, with proper officers, he sent them directly to take the cities of Israel: AND HE SMOTE IJON, AND DAN, AND ABELBETHMAACHAH, AND ALL CINNEROTH, WITH ALL THE LAND OF NAPHTALI; places which lay on the northern part of Israel, the nearest to Syria. Ijon some place in the tribe of Naphtali, others in Asher; it seems to be on the extreme border of the land northward, as Dan also was; hence the phrase from Dan to Beersheba, i.e. from north to south. Abelbethmaachah is the same with Abelmaim, 2 Chronicles 16:4 which perhaps is the same with that Abela, placed by Jerome x between Damascus and Paneas, supposed to be the Enhydra of Pliny y. Cinneroth is the same with Gennesaret

3. ABIJAM AND ASA, KINGS OF JUDAH CHAPTER 15 _ 1. Abijam of Judah (1 Kings 15:1; 2 Chronicles 13)_ 2. Asa of Judah (1 Kings 15:9; 1 Kings 2 Chronicles 14-16) Abijam is called in Chronicles Abijah; in 2 Chronicles 13:21 he is called Abijahu. Abijam was undoubtedly the older form. It is possible that on account of his great address of rebuke to Jeroboam (2 Chronicles 13:4) they may have called him Abijah (Jehovah is my fat

ABIJAM AND ASA OF JUDAH, AND NADAB AND BAASHA OF ISRAEL. Abijam, called Abijah (2 Chronicles 13:1), had a short and evil reign. It would appear, notwithstanding 1 Kings 15:8, that he was succeeded by his brother Asa, as both are said to have had the same mother, Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom. Josephus says the granddaughter of Absalom; see 2 Chronicles 11:20). Except that Asa could not remove the high places he is said to have done right during his long reign of forty-one years. Asa deposed Maacah from the position of queen-mother for her idolatry. She had made (1 Kings 15:13) an abominable image (Heb. a horror o

HOSTS. forces. IJON, &C. All in the neighbourhood of Gennesaret....

_So_[R.V. AND] _Ben-hadad hearkened_ The conjunction is the simple copulative, and is so rendered in the parallel place in Chronicles. _the captains of the hosts which he had_ This is an attempt to represent the Hebrew construction. But it is not nearly so idiomatic as the translation in Chronicles which the R.V. has followed, that the same Hebrew might have in both places the same English rendering: THE CAPTAINS OF HIS ARMIES. _and smote Ijon_ This town lay in the north of Palestine and belonged to the tribe of Naphtali. It was attacked and plundered again in later days by Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 15:29). _and Dan_ This was the town formerly called Laish, which had been seized in the days of the Judges by some Danites from the south (Joshua 19:47;...