2 Chronicles 13:5

_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?_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

Verse 2 Chronicles 13:5. _BY A COVENANT OF SALT?_] For ever. "For as the waters of the sea never grow _sweet_, neither shall the dominion depart from the house of David." - _Targum_. Numbers 18:19....

EXPOSITION The career of _Abijah _begins and ends with this chapter, the twenty-one verses of which are paralleled by only eight in 1 Kings 15:1. The difference is caused by the fact that the writer of Kings only mentions that there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam, while the writer of Chronicles, besides giving particulars of the war, rehearses the splendid, dramatic, rhetorical address and appeal of Abijah on Mount Zemaraim to the people of the ten tribes. 2 CHRONICLES 13:1 IN THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR. Reading this literally, it will appear that Rehoboam had completed a full seventeen years. 2 Chronicles 13:2

OUGHT YOU NOT TO KNOW,.... They did know what he afterwards says, but he would have them consider and acknowledge it: THAT THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL GAVE THE KINGDOM OVER ISRAEL TO DAVID FOR EVER; to him and his seed, particularly to the Messiah, that should spring from him; but whether Abijah had this in view is a question, see 2 Samuel 7:13 EVEN TO HIM AND TO HIS SONS BY A COVENANT OF SALT? that is, a perpetual one, which was inviolable, and never to be made void; called so, because salt preserves from corruption and putrefaction, and because made use of in sacrifices offered when covenants were made; the Targum is, "as salt waters, which never lose their saltness.''...

CHAPTER 13 THE REIGN OF ABIJAH _ 1. The beginning of his reign (2 Chronicles 13:1)_ 2. War with Jeroboam (2 Chronicles 13:3) 3. Death of Jeroboam (2 Chronicles 13:20) 4. Abijah's family (2 Chronicles 13:21) Abijah is called in Kings, Abijam, and in 2 Chronicles 13:21, Abijahu (Hebrew text). His reign was not of a long duration; he outlived his father Rehoboam only three years. His mother was Maachah ...

THE REIGN OF ABIJAH. MOST of this section has nothing corresponding to it in 1 K., though references to the history of this reign occur in 1 Kings 15:1. 2 Chronicles 13:1 f. _Cf._ 1 Kings 15:1 f., where the name of Abijah's mother is given as Maacah; so, too, 2 Chronicles 11:20. 2 Chronicles 13:4 ff. The representation of Abijah here (contrast 1 Kings 15:3) as a God-fearing champion of the Levitical worship is

OUGHT YE NOT... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._ THE LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4. GOD. Hebrew. _Elohim._ App-4. EVEN TO HIM. Israel's king must be of David's line. A COVENANT OF SALT. See notes on Leviticus 2:13 and Numbers 18:19. This is the third of the three occurrences,...

_a covenant of salt_ Salt was necessary for the efficacy of a sacrifice (Leviticus 2:13), so that _Covenant of salt_became a phrase for a _sure_covenant (Numbers 18:19). The sacredness of the bond which is acknowledged among the Arabs between two persons who have "eaten salt" together as host and guest is common knowledge. It is not however necessary that salt should be taken; any food, e.g. milk, will serve (W. R. Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, p. 270)....

BY A COVENANT OF SALT— See Numbers 18:19....

3. THE REIGN OF ABIJAH. (Chapter 13) TEXT 2 Chronicles 13:1. In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. 2. Three years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3. And Abijah joined battle with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, who were mighty men of valor. 4. And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill-country of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel: 5. Ought ye not to know that Jehovah, the 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, rose up, a