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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Chronicles 13:13-22

We do not find that Jeroboam offered to make any answer at all to Abijah's speech. Though it was much to the purpose, he resolved not to heed it, and therefore he heard it as though he heard it not. He came to fight, not to dispute. The longest sword, he thought, would determine the matter, not the better cause. Let us therefore see the issue, whether right and religion carried the day or no. I. Jeroboam, who trusted to his politics, was beaten. He was so far from fair reasoning that he was... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Chronicles 13:19

And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam ,.... As he and his army fled: and took cities from him ; the following ones: Bethel with the towns thereof ; the villages adjoining to it; here one of the calves was set up, which either Jeroboam took care to remove before this place fell into the hands of Abijah, or Abijah let it remain, and did not destroy it: and Jeshanah with the towns thereof ; which Reland F24 Palestin. Illustrat. p. 861. thinks is the same that is called by Jerom ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Chronicles 13:19

Beth-el - "Beth-lehem." - Targum. Jeshanah - We know not where these towns lay. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Chronicles 13:1-20

The folly of unnatural severance, etc. The whole chapter presents to us a number of lessons, not very closely connected with one another. I. THE FOLLY OF AN UNNATURAL SEVERANCE . The first thing we read about the reign of Abijah is that there "was war between him and Jeroboam" ( 2 Chronicles 13:2 ). What else was to be expected? How, in those times, or indeed in any time, could it be otherwise? Tribes descended, as they were, from a common ancestor, speaking the same... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Chronicles 13:1-22

A royal and manly manifesto in the rights of godly truth. The narrative of Abijah's short reign of three years is distinguished by one clear account, at any rate, of the wars that had arisen and were prevailing between the two parts of the recently rended and bleeding kingdom, of which a very brief statement only had been made, at the close of the history of Rehoboam's reign, whether here or in the parallel. It is also, and most chiefly, distinguished by the graphic description of the very... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Chronicles 13:1-22

The successor of Rehoboam. I. HIS NAME . Abijah, "whose father is Jehovah" ( 1 Kings 14:1 ); Abijam, "father of the sea," i.e. a maritime man ( 1 Kings 14:31 ; 1 Kings 15:1 ); or Abia ( LXX .). If Abijam be not a clerical mistake, then the hypothesis is at least interesting that the Chronicler adopted the form Abijah because he did not intend to describe this king's reign as wicked, while the writer of the Kings, having this intention, frequently selected the form... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Chronicles 13:3-19

A great war in a short reign. I. THE CONTENDING ARMIES . ( 2 Chronicles 13:3 .) 1 . Their leaders. Of the army of Judah, Abijah; of the host of Israel, Jeroboam—both capable generals, and each the inspiring spirit of his troops. 2 . Their numbers. Of Judah, four hundred thousand men—one hundred thousand fewer than Joab numbered to Judah; of Israel, eight hundred thousand—exactly the number Joab counted to Israel ( 2 Samuel 24:9 ). 3 . Their quality. (a) ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Chronicles 13:19

Bethel . Abijah was, perhaps, the rather permitted to take this city as the head-quarters of Jeroboam's irreligious worship. Jeshanah . A place not known elsewhere in Scripture by this name, which by derivation means "old." Grove quotes Josephus ('Ant.,' 14.15.§ 12) as speaking of a place so named, the scene of a battle between Herod and Antigonus's general, Pappus, but Josephus does not assign its site. Ephrain ; or, according to Chethiv, Epron. Grove says that conjecture has... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Chronicles 13:19-20

Jeroboam: career, character, reputation. There are three things which belong to every man, with the shaping of which he himself has much, though not everything, to do, and which are of the first importance to him. We look at them in connection with Jeroboam. I. HIS CAREER . At first, and for some time, we find him steadily rising; beginning low, he distinguishes himself by the character of his work, is promoted to a post of some importance ( 1 Kings 11:28 ); he gains the... read more

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