2 Chronicles 13:7

_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 13:7. _WHEN REHOBOAM WAS YOUNG AND TENDER-HEARTED_] Therefore he could not be _forty-one_ when he came to the throne; 2 Chronicles 13:3. _Children of Belial_ here signifies men of the most abandoned principles and characters; or men without consideration, education, or _brains_....

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

AND THERE ARE GATHERED UNTO HIM VAIN MEN,.... Void of the fear of God, and all that is good: THE CHILDREN OF BELIAL: men unprofitable, good for nothing, or that had cast off the yoke of the law of God, were lawless and abandoned persons: AND HAVE STRENGTHENED THEMSELVES AGAINST REHOBOAM THE SON OF SOLOMON: rejected his government of them; went into a strong opposition to him, and set up another king over them: WHEN REHOBOAM WAS YOUNG AND TENDER HEARTED, AND COULD NOT WITHSTAND THEM; not that he was young in years, for he was forty one years of age when he began to reign; though Joshua is called a young man when he is supposed to be between fifty and sixty years of age Exodus 33:11, and though "adolescentia" and "juventus" are both used in Latin writers for "youth", yet Varro q distinguishes them, and makes the former to

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

CHILDREN. sons. WAS. Hebrew. _hayah =_ became, or showed himself [to be young and weak]. YOUNG. Compare 2 Chronicles 10:8; 2 Chronicles 12:13....

_are gathered_ R.V. WERE GATHERED. _children of Belial_ R.V. SONS OF BELIAL (mg. _sons of worthlessness_). The general sense "worthless persons" is clear, but the precise meaning of _Belial_, and whether the word be a proper name or a common noun, cannot be decided at present. _young_ Lit. _a child_. If this word is to be literally understood, the statement made is erroneous, for Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign (2 Chronicles 12:13). It is probable, however, that the word is used metaphorically to describe one who was _young_(as indeed his conduct shewed) in experience of government; so Solomon (1 Kings 3:7) calls himself a _little child_, by which he simply meant to express his consciousness of the smallness of his ow

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

REIGN OF ABIJAH This chapter expands the account given of Abijah (Abijam) in 1 Kings 15:1 by giving details of his war with Jeroboam, which is there only briefly mentioned....