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3And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. And Abijah began the war with an army of valiant warriors, four hundred thousand chosen men: and Jeroboam prepared war against him with eight hundred thousand chosen 4men, valiant in might. And Abijah arose on Mount Zemaraim, which is in 5Mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel. Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David 6for ever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? And Jeroboam son of Nebat, servant of Solomon son of David, arose and rebelled against his 7master. And vain men, of no account, gathered unto him, and withstood Rehoboam son of Solomon; and Rehoboam was young and weak of heart, and held not out against them. 8And now ye are saying that ye will hold out against the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and with you are golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods. 9Have ye not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests like the nations of the lands? whosoever cometh to fill his hand with a young steer and seven rams is a 10priest to them that are no gods. And we, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests that minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their business. 11And they burn unto the Lord burnt-offerings every morning and every evening, and incense of spices, and laying of bread on the pure table, and the candlestick of gold and its lamps to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the Lord our God; but ye 12have forsaken Him. And behold, with us, at our head, are God and His priests, and the clanging trumpets to sound against you: sons of Israel, fight not against the Lord God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.
13And Jeroboam led round an ambush to come behind them; and they were 14before Judah, and the ambush was behind them. And Judah turned, and behold they had the battle before and behind; and they cried unto the Lord, 15and the priests sounded with the trumpets. And the men of Judah shouted; and when the men of Judah shouted, God smote Jeroboam and all Israel 16before Abijah and Judah. And the sons of Israel fled before Judah; and God gave them into their hand. 17And Abijah and his people smote them with a great slaughter; and there fell slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen 18men. And the sons of Israel were humbled at that time; and the sons of Judah prevailed, because they trusted in the Lord God of their fathers. 19And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him: Bethel and her daughters, and Jeshanah and her daughters, and Ephron and her 20daughters. And Jeroboam had no more strength in the days of Abijah; and 21the Lord smote him, and he died. And Abijah strengthened himself, and took to him fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons and sixteen daughters. 22And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his words, 23are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo. And Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years.
á . Asa’s Theocratic Zeal and Care for the Defence of the Kingdom: 2Ch_14:1-7
5And he built fenced cities in Judah; for the land had rest, and there was 6no war with him in those days; for the Lord gave him rest. And he said to Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls and towers, gates and bars, and the land is yet before us; because we have sought the Lord our God, and He hath given us rest around: and they built and prospered. 7And Asa had an army, bearing shield and spear, out of Judah three hundred thousand, and out of Benjamin, bearing shield and drawing bow, two hundred and eighty thousand: all these were men of valour.
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11And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, behold, they are written in 12the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Asa, in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, was diseased in his feet, until his disease was very great: and in his disease also he sought not the Lord, but to the physicians. 13And Asa slept with his fathers; and he died in the forty-first year of his reign. 14And they buried him in his own tomb, which he had dug for himself in the city of David; and they laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours of divers kinds, compounded by art; and they made a very great burning for him.
I. Abijah: 2 Chronicles 13; comp. 1Ki_15:1-8.—In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam. This date of the beginning of Abijah’s reign is also given in 1 Kings, and also the three years’ duration of his reign (he is, moreover, always called àֲáִéָּí ; see on 2Ch_11:22).—And his mother’s name was Michaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. As Abijah’s mother is called Maachah, not merely 2Ch_11:20 ff., but also 1Ki_15:2, the present name îִéëָéָäåּ must be regarded as a mistake for the original îַ ֽòֲëָä . Her father, Uriel of Gibeah, is to be regarded as the husband of Tamer the daughter of Absalom, and herself, therefore, as the grand-daughter of the latter; see on 2Ch_11:20. From the Maachah, further mentioned 2Ch_15:16 (and 1Ki_15:13), the mother of Asa, whom he removed from the dignity of a gebirah (mistress, Sultana Walide, queen-mother) for her idolatry, she is scarcely to be considered different; rather is her designation there as mother to be supposed = grandmother, and her continued regency under her grandson Asa is to be explained simply from the brief duration of Abijah’s reign, and the probable minority of Asa at his death (comp. Athaliah’s attempt to reign instead of her grandson Joash, 2 Chronicles 22). Against the assumption by Thenius and Bertheau of the diversity of the two Maachahs (of whom the mother of Abijah was the daughter of Absalom, but the mother of Asa in reality the one who is here falsely called “a daughter of Uriel of Gibeah”), see Keil, p. 261, Rem.
2Ch_13:3 ff. Abijah’s War with Jeroboam.—And Abijah began the war with … 400,000 chosen men. Neither this number nor the double number of the warriors of Jeroboam should be taken strictly, as is abundantly clear from the substantial agreement of both numbers with the results of Joab’s enumeration under David (800,000 men-at-arms of Israel and 500,000 of Judah; comp. 1 Chronicles 21). Less probable is the assumption of an error in transcription, resting on a change of the numeral letters, as the cause of these almost incredibly high numbers (Kennicott, Dissert. Gen. § 27; J. Pye-Smith, The Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, 6th edit. vol. 1. p. 29); for to explain the fact in this way, we must assume several such mistakes or corruptions in similar circumstances, which would be very strange. Comp. also on 2 Chronicles 17, and Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.
2Ch_13:4. And Abijah arose on Mount Zemaraim, obviously a steep cliff or summit lying between the contending armies, from which the king addressed the foe in like manner as Jotham once addressed the Shechemites from Mount Gerizim, Jdg_9:7. That every single warrior of the host of Israel, numbering several hundred thousands, could have heard his words is not said, and need not be assumed. The situation of Mount Zemarami is no longer to be ascertained. It was probably in the neighbourhood of Bethel, near which is a town, Jos_18:22, named öְîָøַéִí (Zemaraim), the ruins of which may have been found in el Sumra, between Jerusalem and Jericho, near the valley of the Jordan. At all events, the locality should be sought east of Bethel (Robinson, Phys. Geogr. of the Holy Land, p. 38), and this el Sumra may lie too far in a south-easterly direction.
2Ch_13:5. Do you not know, literally, “Is it not to you, concerns it not you, to know?” comp., for example, 1Ch_13:4.—That the Lord … gave … to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt, by an irrevocable covenant; comp. Lev_2:13; Num_18:19. áְּøִéú îֶìַç belongs to the whole sentence, as accusative of restriction (therefore: “in the manner of a covenant of salt”).
2Ch_13:7. And vain men, of no account, gathered unto him, properly, “sons of worthlessness, children of Belial,” a phrase occurring not elsewhere in Chronicles, but again in 1Ki_21:10; 1Ki_21:13. On à× øֵ÷ִéí , “loose, fickle men,” comp. Jdg_9:4; Jdg_11:3.—And withstood Rehoboam, “showed themselves strong against him” ( äִúְàַîִּéõ òַì ); comp. the ( äִúְçַæֵּ÷ ìִôְðֵé ) resistance afterwards shown on the part of Rehoboam to this opposition.—Rehoboam was young and weak of heart, faint-hearted, unstable. The term ðַòַø , young, used of Rehoboam when already king, appears not specially to favour the former statement (2Ch_12:13) that he was then forty-one years old, and to require the change of this age into twenty-one years. Moreover, Abijah relates in this his speech the events in the revolt of the ten tribes from Rehoboam in a very inexact way (Rehoboam did not show himself “weak of heart” on that occasion, but rather hard and daring of heart, etc.); for he clearly wishes “to justify his father as far as possible, and roll all the blame of the revolt of the ten tribes on Jeroboam and his worthless followers” (Keil).
2Ch_13:8. The kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David, the theocratic kingdom founded by David, and hereditary in his house (comp. 1Ch_29:23 and the like).
2Ch_13:9. Have ye not … made you priests like the nations of the lands, not divinely called, but only humanly chosen, priests, like those of heathendom; comp. 1Ki_12:31.—Whosoever cometh to fill his hand, that is, institute and consecrate himself priest of the new worship; comp. Exo_28:41; Exo_29:9; Exo_32:29; see 1Ki_13:33. The following words: “with a young steer (literally, with a steer the son of the herd, and seven rams,” belong not so much to “fill” as to “cometh” ( áּåֹà áְ , as Psa_40:8). As according to Exodus 29 the offerings to be made on the consecration of a priest consisted of a young steer as a sin-offering, a ram as a burnt-offering, and a ram of consecration, and this presented on seven days in succession (thus in all seven steers and fourteen rams), the offering appears here to be imperfectly stated, not on account of an inaccurate report, but because Abijah might know that in fact there had been a considerable deviation from the strict requirements of the law, in order the more speedily to obtain a new priesthood. Indeed, it was a priesthood of non-gods or ungods (comp. Deu_32:21) which was so founded.
2Ch_13:10. And the Levites in their business (“in the business,” áîìàëú ), performing their office in the legal way; comp. 1Ch_23:28 ff.
2Ch_13:11. Burn unto the Lord burntofferings, “fumigate, turn into smoke,” äִ÷ְèִéø , which is then zeugmatically connected with the laying of the shew-bread and the lighting of the lamps, which are also parts of the priestly office. On these various priestly functions, that are then combined as a “keeping of the charge of the Lord” (Lev_8:35), comp. Exo_29:38 ff; Exo_25:30 ff; Exo_27:20 ff.; Lev_24:7 ff.
2Ch_13:12. The clanging trumpets to sound are made prominent, because God had expressly designated them in the law as the pledges on account of which He would remember and help His people in war, Num_10:9.
2Ch_13:13 ff. Judah’s Victory over the Superior Force of Israel.—To come behind them; comp. Jos_8:2; Jdg_20:29 ff.
2Ch_13:15. And the men of Judah shouted. Keil rightly says: “In åַéִָּøéòåּ and áְּäָøִéòַ the loud cry of the warriors and the clanging of the priests with the trumpets are combined, and äָøִéòַ is to be referred neither alone to the war-cry of the combatants assailing the enemy, nor, with Berth. (and Kamph.), to the blowing of the clanging trumpets;” comp. also Jdg_7:19 ff. (Gideon in the conflict with the Midianites).
2Ch_13:17. Smote them with a great slaughter; for the phrase, see Num_11:33; Jos_10:30. For the number 500,000, which appears inconceivably great as the number of those who fell in the one field at Zemaraim, comp. Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.
2Ch_13:18. The sons of Israel were humbled (comp. ðáðò in 2Ch_12:6 f.), or “weakened” by their enormous loss (comp. Jdg_3:30; Jdg_8:28; 1Sa_7:13).
2Ch_13:19. Bethel and her daughters, her daughter towns; comp. Neh_11:25. Besides this border city of south Israel, well known from Gen_12:8; Gen_28:19; Gen_35:15, Jos_7:12, etc. (the present Beitin), are named the otherwise unknown Jeshanah (or Jesyna; comp. Crit. Note), and an Ephron, as cities taken by Abijah from the conquered. The last has scarcely anything but the name common with Mount Ephron on the south border of Benjamin (Jos_15:9), but should probably be identified with Ophrah near Bethel (Jdg_6:11), or the town Ephraim situated there, mentioned Josh. 11:54 (comp. Josephus, B. J. iv. 9. 9), especially if we are to read òֶôְøַéִï , with the Masorah; see Crit. Note.
2Ch_13:20. And Jeroboam had no more strength; òöַø ëֹּçַ , as 2Ch_20:37; 1Ch_29:14.—And the Lord smote him, and he died, not “snatched him away by a sudden death” (of which nothing is known from 1 Kings), but “smote him, visited him with misfortune (comp. ðâó in 2Ch_13:15 and 2Ch_21:18) till his death,” referring probably to that which is related in 1Ki_14:1-18.
2Ch_13:21 ff. Family History of Abijah; his End.—And Abijah strengthened himself ( äúçæ÷ , as 2Ch_12:13), and took to him fourteen wives. Comp. the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections in the previous section, No. 3. Abijah must have had most of these fourteen wives before he ascended the throne, or at least before his war with Jeroboam. That he took them after the war follows only apparently from the position in the narrative, which has no chronologic import.
2Ch_13:22. Are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo. Comp. on this source of our author, Introd. § 5, II. p. 17.
2 Chronicles 13:23. And Asa . . . in his days the land was quiet ten years, in consequence of the great victory of his father over Jeroboam, and the weakening of the northern kingdom thereby occasioned; comp. 2Ch_14:4-5; 2Ch_15:19.
II. Asa: 1. His Theocratic Zeal and Care for the Defence of the Kingdom: 2Ch_14:1-7; comp. 1Ki_15:9-12; 1Ki_15:14-15.—And Asa did that which was good and right; comp. 2Ch_31:20.
2Ch_14:2. Took away the altars of the strange gods, consecrated to strange gods, of the idolatrous foreign countries; comp. Gen_35:2; Gen_35:4. That only these, and not also “high places,” or illegal places of sacrifice consecrated to Jehovah, were removed by him, is clear from 2Ch_15:17.—And brake the pillars, the memorial stones erected to Baal ( îַöֵּáåֹú ); comp. Exo_34:13; Jdg_3:7; 2Ki_3:2. Likewise the “Asherim,” wooden posts and holy frees consecrated to Astarte; comp. 1Ki_14:23, and Bähr on the passage.—On 2Ch_14:3, comp. 2Ch_15:12.
2Ch_14:4. And he took away . . . the high places and the sun-statues; çַîָּðִéí , the statues before the altars of Baal, consecrated to him as the sun-god; comp. 2Ch_34:4; Lev_26:30; Movers, Die Phönizier, i. 343 ff.—And the kingdom was quiet before him, that is, under him, under his eye ( ìְôָðָéå ); comp. Num_8:22; Psa_72:5; Pro_4:3.
2Ch_14:5. Built fenced cities in Judah . . . in those days, during this quiet of ten years. Comp. Rehoboam’s fortifications, 2Ch_11:5 ff.
2Ch_14:6. Let us build these cities. What cities? It is not said; but certainly Geba and Mizpah, which were built after the war with Baasha (2Ch_16:6). Asa assigns as the motive for these buildings: “the land is yet before us,” free, open to us, unoccupied by the foe; comp. Gen_13:9.—And they built and prospered. Vulg. very free, yet in substance correct; nullumque in exstruendo impedimentum fuit.
2Ch_14:7. Bearing shield and spear. The great or long shield ( öִðָּä ) is here meant, in opposition to the short or round shield ( îָâֵï ) then mentioned; the same difference as in 2Ch_9:15-16. That the Jews had exclusively only long shields and spears, and the Benjamites only short shields and bows, as armour, need not be assumed; the representation is only relative, summary, and not to be pressed, as also the numbers (300,000 of the Jews and 280,000 of the Benjamites) are obviously only round. They are, moreover, so far as the whole population fit to bear arms is concerned, by no means incredible. With respect to the comparatively high number of 280,000 Benjamites, we are to consider not only their lighter armour (which might be borne by younger and weaker men), but also that Benjamin was an eminently warlike tribe, “a ravening wolf” according to Jacob’s prophetic word, Gen_49:27, that must have taken the field with all possible force. Comp. also on 1Ch_7:6-11, and the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.
2. Asa’s Victory over Zerah the Ethiopian: 2Ch_14:8-14, a section wanting in Kings.—And Zerah the Ethiopian came out against him. This Zerah (Sept. ÆáñÝ ; Vulg. Zara) counts with most recent expositors, on account of the similarity of name, as the same with the Egyptian King Osorchon I., successor of Shishak-Sesonchis, and so the second king of the twenty-second or Bubastite Dynasty (comp. Unger, Manetho, p. 233; Thenius on 1Ki_15:23); whereas Hitzig rather identifies him with the Sabakos of Herodotus (Gesch. des V. Isr. p. 165 f.; comp. Herod, II. 137 ff., 152), but Brugsch takes him for an Ethiopian, not Egyptian, ruler, who, under the reign of Takeloth I. (about 944 b.c.), invaded the southwest of Asia and Egypt as a conqueror. The last assumption certainly agrees best, as well with the Biblical chronology as with the designation of Zerah as a Kushite.—With a host of 1,000,000. On this number, as scarcely to be pressed, but rather depending on a rough and ideal estimate, see the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.—And he came to Mareshah, mentioned in 2Ch_11:9, between Hebron and Ashdod.
2Ch_14:9. And Asa went out against him, literally, “before him”; comp. 15:2; 1Ch_19:14; 1Ch_14:8.—In the valley of Zephathah, scarcely = Tell es Safieh (Robinson, Pal. ii. 625), but a place nearer Mareshah, perhaps that described by Robinson, II. 613.
2Ch_14:10. Lord, no one is nigh Thee to help, no one is able like Thee (literally, “with Thee”; comp. 2Ch_20:6; Psa_73:25) to help.—With the mighty, or with no might, “between the mighty and the impotent” ( áֵּéï with ìְ following, as Gen_1:13, etc.); the help of God is conceived as imparted either to the mighty or the weak, and therefore as between both. Some conceive the passage otherwise; Vulg., Ramb., S. Schmidt, etc.: Domine, non est apud te ulla distantia utrum in paucis auxilieris an in pluribus; Berth., Keil, etc.: “No other than Thou can help in an unequal combat, that is, help the weaker part;” Kamph. (writing conjecturally ìָòְöֹø for ìַòְæֹø ): “It is impossible that anything could prevail ( òָöַø ëֹּçַ , as 2Ch_13:20, etc.), whether the mighty or the weak.” Substantially correct, though inexact, Luther: “It is no difference with Thee to help among many, or where there is no power.”—In Thy name we go against this multitude, trusting to Thy help.—No man may hold out against Thee. For the omission of ëֹּçַ with òöø , comp. 2Ch_20:37 (1Ch_29:14; 2 Chron. 13:25). On the sentence, comp. (partly at least) Psa_9:20 a.
2Ch_14:12. And Asa . . . pursued them unto Gerar, the old Philistine city, now Khirbet el Gerar, three and a half hours south-east of Gaza.—And the Ethiopians fell, so that there was no recovery, not “so that there was none left living” (Berth., Kamph., etc), but so that they could not rally, ut eis vivificatio, i. e. copias restaurandi ratio non esset (J. H. Mich., Keil, etc.). ìְàֵéï stands for àֵéï of the older style, in the sense of “so that not” (comp. Ew. § 315, c). îִçְéָä , preservation of life, revival, as Gen_45:5; Ezr_9:8-9.—For they were broken ( ðִùְׁáַּø , as Eze_30:8) before the Lord, and before His host; Asa’s army is here so called as the instrument of the divine justice against the haughty foe. To think of a host of angels that had contended invisibly on the side of the Jews (Starke and other older writers, with allusion to Gen_32:2 f.) is without any warrant, as the term îַ ֽçֲðֶä , especially in the singular, stands for a single earthly army.
2Ch_14:13. And they smote all the cities around Gerar, probably because, like the Philistines generally, they had made common cause with the Cushites, and joined them against the Jews.—For the terror of the Lord, a terror occasioned by the Lord, and therefore the more powerful; comp. 17:10, 20:29; 1Sa_11:7.
2Ch_14:14. And they smote also the tents of cattle, the herds of the nomad tribes in the neighbourhood of Gerar (in the northern regions of the wilderness of Shur and Paran, the old country of the Amalekites).
3. Prophetic Warning of Azariah Son of Oded to Asa returning Home: 2Ch_15:1-7 (likewise peculiar to Chronicles).—Upon Azariah son of Oded. The names of both father and son occur only here: the identification of Oded with Iddo (2Ch_9:29; 2Ch_12:15) is an idle fancy of some ancients.
2Ch_15:2. Before Asa, to meet him; comp. on 2Ch_14:9.—The Lord is with you, while you are with Him. Comp. Jam_4:8; and with respect to the following sentence, 1Ch_28:9; 2Ch_12:5; 2Ch_24:20; Jer_29:13.
2Ch_15:3. And many days will be to Israel without the true God. The Sept. and Vulg., Luther, Clericus, and most moderns rightly refer these words to the future, and thus conceive them to be a prediction of that which was to happen with respect to the relation of God’s people to the Lord,—a prediction of like import with Hos_3:4-5. For this view speaks, on the one hand, the generality of the term “Israel,” which appears to be used here in the same ideal sense as in 2Ch_11:3; 2Ch_12:1, and, on the other hand, the absence of any more precise date in åְéָîִéí øַáִּéí , by which that which is said is characterized as a general truth holding for all times; but the reference to any definite earlier time, with which, besides, the closing monition in 2Ch_15:7 would ill agree, is absolutely excluded. Neither the time of the judges, with its illegal conditions and its closing reformation by Samuel, is described by the prophet (against Vitr. and Ramb.), nor the last decennium of the southern kingdom before the reforms of Asa (as the Syr., Arab., Raschi, Berth., think), nor, finally, the circumstances of the northern kingdom since Jeroboam (Targ., Tremell., Grotius, etc.). The last opinion is certainly the most arbitrary of all; for what occasion had the prophet to greet the king of the southern kingdom, returning as a conqueror after deliverance from a great danger, with a reflection on the errors and calamities of the northern kingdom? But if we refer the words as a prophecy to the future, no unsuitable limitation must be introduced (as, for example, to the Babylonish exile, of which Kimchi, Mariana, S. Schmidt, have thought). It is the whole future of the people of God, of which the prophet asserts the law: “If ye turn away from God, He will turn away from you.” Comp. besides, Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 1. On the “true God,” properly, “God of truth,” àֱìֹäֵé àֱîֶú , comp. Jer_10:10 and Isa_65:16 ( àֱì× àָîֵï ). ìְìֹà àì× à× , properly, “to not a god of truth”; ìְìֹà , not essentially different from ìְàֵéï , 1Ch_22:4, 2Ch_20:35, is distinguished from áְּìֹà only as ìְ is distinguished from áְּ : the latter expresses the being in a state, the former the falling into it (Keil).—Without a teaching priest, without priests to perform the function of teaching (Lev_10:10; Deu_33:10); the special reference to the high priest (Vitr. and others) has no ground in the context. To the defect in teaching priests corresponds the defect in a law; for where there is no îåֹøֶä , there is no úּåֹøָä !
2Ch_15:5 f. The prophetic address returns after a passing brief promise of salvation (2Ch_15:4 b) to the description of the lamentable effects of the future apostasy from God.—N peace for him that goeth out or cometh in, thus no free, peaceful intercourse; on “going out and in,” comp. 2Ch_16:1; Zec_8:10; Jos_6:1; on the following “great vexations” ( îְäåּîåֹú ), Deu_28:20; Amo_3:9. “All the inhabitants of the lands” are all the inhabitants of the provinces of Israel (or Judah); see 2Ch_34:33. The view of the speaker here scarcely extends over the whole inhabited globe (Kamph.), although in the following verse he transcends the boundaries of Judah, and depicts its attraction into the confusion and conflict of the neighbouring nations.—And nation shall be smitten by nation. Kamphausen’s rendering: “they are pushed nation on nation,” is too farfetched, and by no means required by the meaning of ëúú . The Jews had a striking fulfilment of this gloomy foreboding of a bellum omnium contra omnes in the times of Nebuchadnezzar; a second in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, with respect to which Christ also makes use of similar prophetic expressions, Luk_21:10; Luk_21:26, and the parallels.—For God hath vexed them with all trouble; comp. Jdg_4:15; Zec_14:13.
2Ch_15:7. But be ye brave, and let not pour hands be slack; comp. Zep_3:16; Neh_6:9; and “the hands becoming slack” as a figure of sinking courage, 2Sa_4:1; Isa_35:3; Heb_12:11. On the closing promise of reward, comp. Jer_31:16; 1Co_3:8; 1Co_15:58.
4. Asa’s Reform of Worship and Renewal of Covenant with the Lord: 2Ch_15:8-19.—And when Asa heard . . . this prophecy of Oded the prophet. The Hebrew text has not åְäַðְּáåּàַú , but åְäַðְּáåּàָä . This circumstance points to a corruption of the passage, as well as the absence of òֲæַøְéָäåּ áֶּï before òֹãֵã , which was to be expected according to 2Ch_15:1. As the readings of the Sept. and Vulg. (see Crit. Note) may be only later attempts at emendation, and as the assumption of a double name of Azariah, according to which he was at times called by the name of his father (Starke and other ancients), is certainly as questionable as the transposition of the corresponding names in 2Ch_15:1 into “Oded son of Azariah” (Mov.), it appears most advisable to remove the words òֹãֵã äַðָּáִéà ) from the text as an old gloss (Berth.), or (with Keil) to assume the omission of several words after åְäַðְּáåּàָä (say òֲæַøְéָäåּ áֶּï àֲùֶׁø ãִּáֶּø ).—He took courage ( äִúְçַæַּ÷ ), according to Azariah’s exhortation: “be ye brave,” çִæְ÷åּ .—Put away the abominations, properly, “make to pass over ( äֶ ֽòֱáִéø , as 1Ki_15:12) the abominations,” the idols; comp. 2Ki_23:13; 2Ki_23:24; Eze_30:7-8; Dan_9:27.—Which he had taken from Mount Ephraim, ìëã , as 2Ch_13:19; 2Ch_17:2. According to the former of these passages, it appears that these were the cities that Abijah, Asa’s father, had taken. In fact this assumption is necessary, because no war of Asa with the northern kingdom had taken place at this time. A co-operation of Asa as lieutenant or joint-commander with his father in that war seems a questionable assumption, on account of his then very great youth (perhaps his minority; comp. on 2Ch_13:1).—And renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord, the altar of burnt-offering, that might have been in need of repair sixty years after its erection by Solomon (2Ch_8:12). Yet çִãֵּùׁ , renovare (comp. 2Ch_24:4), might possibly also be taken in the sense of “consecrate again,” after the previous defilement by idolatry (Vulg.: dedicavit; Berth., Kamph., etc.).
2Ch_15:9 ff. The Great Festival on the Renewal of the Theocratic Covenant.—And the strangers with them, out of Ephraim. That by these strangers are meant not merely the theocratically - disposed immigrants into Judah under Rehoboam (11:16), but also a newer addition to them that had come under Asa himself, is expressly asserted in the following words (comp. 30:11, 18). The mention of Simeon with Ephraim and Manasseh, and therefore as a district belonging to the northern kingdom, is scarcely to be explained by a migration of many Simeonites to North Palestine (Berth., Kamph.), but rather by th fact that the tribe of Simeon, though in a geographical situation it belonged to the kingdom of Judah, yet in the point of idolatry had made common cause with the northern kingdom by the erection of that impure worship of Jehovah at Beersheba, of which Amo_4:4; Amo_5:5; Amo_8:14 speaks along with Bethel and Gilgal (correctly Keil, Net., etc.).
2Ch_15:10. In the third month of the fifteenth, year of the reign of Asa, in the spring of the year 940 b.c.; comp. Hitzig, Gesch. p. 197.
2Ch_15:11. And they sacrificed . . . of the spoil they had brought, in the war with the Ethiopians and their allies; for this war, though it broke out in the eleventh year of Asa (2 Chronicles 13:23; 14:8), might have extended even to the present date, and therefore lasted for four years; the statement in 2Ch_14:8-14 admits of this very well.
2Ch_15:12. They entered into a covenant, a new covenant of peace with God; comp. áַáְּøִéú áּåֹà , Jer_34:10; Neh_10:30.
2Ch_15:13. And whosoever . . . should be put to death, according to the strict letter of the law, Deu_17:2-6; comp. 2Ch_13:10; 2Ch_13:17. Observe the present trace of a far higher age of the book of Deuteronomy than the time of Josiah, where modern criticism places its origin. Comp. Schröder, Deuteron. Einl. pp. 25, 32; Kleinert, Das Deuteron. und der Deutoronomiker, 1872, especially p. 136 ff.
2Ch_15:14. And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice. On the musical instruments accompanying this act of the solemn renewal of the covenant, comp. 23:13; Neh_12:27 ff.
2Ch_15:16-18. Comp. Bähr on the almost literally coinciding parallel 1Ki_15:13-15.—And also Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed. In 1 Kings stands simply àִîּåֹ , “his mother,” because there Maachah had been mentioned just before (2Ch_15:10). For the rest, comp. on 2Ch_13:1.—And Asa cut down her idol, and crushed it, and burnt it. The “crushing” (comp. Exo_32:20; 2Ki_23:15) is mentioned only by the Chronist; in 1 Kings åַéָּãֶ÷ is wanting.
2Ch_15:17. Out of Israel is wanting in 1 Kings. It naturally means the southern kingdom as the legitimate and normal people of Israel; comp. 2Ch_15:3.—But the heart of Asa was perfect, entirely devoted to the Lord. The òִí éְäåָֹä expressly added 1 Kings is here omitted, because the ùָׁìֵí , as predicate to ìֵá , is plain enough of itself (comp. 2Ch_16:9; 2Ch_19:9); that is, Asa’s exclusive interest in the worship of Jehovah at Jerusalem, not in that (still tolerated) worship on the high places, is distinctly enough expressed.
2Ch_15:19, introducing the following account of the war.—And there was no more war unto the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa. The contradiction to 1Ki_15:16 : “And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days,” is in so far only apparent, as îִìְçָîָä there denotes only a state of hostility, here a formal war actually carried on in open field. It is not so easy to explain the difficulty involved in the date: “unto the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign;” see on 16:1.
5. Asa’s War with Baasha: 2Ch_16:1-6; comp. 1Ki_15:17-23.—In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa. As, according to 1Ki_16:8; 1Ki_16:10, Baasha died in the twenty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, and his successor Elah was killed before two years more had elapsed, and therefore in the twenty-seventh or twenty-eighth year of this king, the misplacing of the war between Asa and Baasha in the thirty-sixth year of the latter involves an error, and a very old one, already noted by the Sept., and provided with an attempt at emendation (see Crit. Note). A mistake of the pen, that, as 2Ch_10:19 shows, existed perhaps in the sources of the Chronist, is probably the ground of this error; and 36 appears to have been miswritten for 16 (and in accordance with this, in 2Ch_15:19, 35 for 15). From the similarity of the numeral ì (30) to é (1o) in the old Hebrew character, this change was very possible; and the circumstance that Asa’s reform of worship, 2Ch_15:10, took place in the third month of his fifteenth year, agrees on the whole very well with this determination of time; there results an interval of a year or a year and a half between the reform and the new war. The solution preferred by most of the old expositors, that the thirty-sixth year of the kingdom of Asa, that is, the thirty-sixth year from the founding of the kingdom of Judah by Rehoboam, which coincides with the sixteenth year of the reign of Asa, is meant (des Vignoles, Ramb., Starke, Mich., and Hengstenberg, Gesch. des Reiches Gottes, iii. 169), is not consistent with the word ìְîַìְëåּú , which in this connection always signifies “reign, sovereignty.” The attempts made by Movers (Chron. p. 255 ff.) and Thenius (on 1 Kings 15) to explain this surprising mistake are too artificial, and arbitrary (see, on the contrary side, Berth. p. 325). On the following particulars, coinciding almost word for word with 1Ki_15:17 ff, comp. Bähr’s exposition.
2Ch_16:2. And sent to Benhadad. Instead of the form áֶּïÎäֲãַã , presented here and generally in the Old Testament, the Assyrian monuments constantly exhibit this name in the form Binhidri (Schrader, Die Keilinschriften, p. 101 f.), thus agreeing with, the õἱὸò ôïῦ ’́ Áäåñ of the Sept. ( = áֶּïÎäֲãַø ).
2Ch_16:4. And they smote Abel-maim = Abel-beth-maachah of the parallel text in 1 Kings, as is clear from 2Sa_20:14.—And all the stores of the cities of Naphtali. For this 1 Kings has: “And all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.” That the one of the two readings has arisen from the other by misunderstanding or miswriting seems certain; perhaps the ëִּðְּøåֹú in 1 Kings is corrupted from îִñְëְּðåֹú (Gesen.-Dietrich im Lex.), though our òָøֵé ð× åְàֶú ëַּìÎîִñְëְּðåֹú might possibly also be an explanation of the åְàֶú ëָּìÎëִּðְּøåֹú òַì àֶøֶõ ð× , 1 Kings 15, whereby the Chronist might have characterized the high fertility of the district of Cinneroth (or Cinnereth, Jos_19:35) by the symbolic expression: “stores (corn-magazines) of the cities of Naphtali” (so Keil).
2Ch_16:5. And let his work cease. Instead of this, 1Ki_15:21 : “and dwelt in Tirzah.” In our åַéַּùְׁáֵּú àֶúÎîְìַàëְúּåֹ , scarcely anything else is t ï be seen but an attempt at interpretation, where the words åַéֵּùֶׁá áְּúִøְöָä had become illegible (Berth., Kamph.); for after the words: “he left off building of Ramah,” a second repetition of the thought, that Baasha gave up his undertaking against Judah, was obviously superfluous (against Keil).
2Ch_16:6. And built therewith Geba and Mizpah, the former (Geba of Benjamin in 1 Kings) half an hour north-east, the latter an hour south-west, of Jerusalem. The historical character of this notice is confirmed by Jer_41:9, where a pit made by Asa in Mizpah is mentioned.
6. Hanani’s Prophetic Warning: Asa’s Transgression and End: 2Ch_16:7-14.—And at that time came Hanani. This prophet ( çֲðָðִé ) is otherwise unknown, though he appears to be identical with the father of the prophet Jehu ben Hanani, who about this time announced to Baasha the downfall of his house (1Ki_16:1); comp. 19:2. That this Hanani was the author of the prophetic sentence ( ùֵׁîַò ) quoted by Hos_7:12, whereby Israel is warned against a league with foreign powers, or more definitely, that the present oracle of Hanani, without naming its author, is quoted in this passage of Hosea, is the quite untenable conjecture of some moderns, for example, Fürst (Gesch. der bibl. Lit. ii. 206, 293).—Therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped from thy hand, the occasion has escaped thee of smiting both at once, Baasha of Israel and his presumptive ally the Syrian king. Comp. the rebuke by Elisha of Joash of Israel, for smiting only three times with the arrows instead of five or six times (2Ki_13:15 ff.).
2Ch_16:8. Confirmatory reference to the victory of Asa over Zerah (14:8 ff.). For the Lubites, comp. on 13:3f.
2Ch_16:9. For the eyes of the Lord, etc., literally, for Jehovah, His eyes. On “to prove himself strong for any one,” that is, help him mightily, comp. 1Ch_11:10. On “running” about, ùׁåֹèֵè áְּ , comp. Jer_5:1; Zec_4:10. Before òִñÎìְáָáָí ùָׁìֵí àֵìָéå the relative àֲùֶׁø is omitted; comp. 1Ch_15:12.—For henceforth thou shall have wars, entanglements in unhappy worldly transactions, in the dangerous mazes of the policy of the great powers; a prediction of misfortune that was abundantly fulfilled, if not in Asa himself, yet in his successors until the exile.
2Ch_16:10. Put him in the prison, properly, “house of the stocks”; îַäְôֶּëֶú “turning round,” is the well-known instrument of torture for locking round the culprit, in which Jeremiah also and Paul were forced to languish (Jer_20:2; Jer_29:26; Act_16:24). Comp. the equivalent ñַã , Job_13:27; Job_33:11.—And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time, from anger at the deserved censure of the prophet (on the suitableness and importance of this address, see the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections). øָöַõ , properly, “shatter,” in Pi.: “oppress, misuse,” as Job_20:19.
2Ch_16:11-14. Asa’s End. On 2Ch_16:11, comp. Introd. § 5, II.
2Ch_16:12. And Asa . . . was diseased in his feet, probably with gout; the following also: “his disease was very great” (literally, till it reached a great height, òַã ìְîַòְìָä ), Points to severe suffering of this kind.—And in his disease also he sought not the Lord, but to the physicians. ãָּøַùׁ , first with the accusative of the object àúÎéäåä , as is usual elsewhere, then with áְּ , by which preposition is elsewhere designated, inquiring or seeking help from God or from idols (1Ch_10:14; 1Sa_28:7; 2Ki_1:2 ff.); thus here expressing a superstitious trust in the physicians, and accordingly not opposed to the right of making use of medical aid, especially in cases of sickness; so far from this, that inversely the not seeking of the Lord may be regarded as a not seeking of his priests who were in Israel, analogous to the Egyptian priests, the legitimate physicians (as is done by K. Ad. Menzel in his posthumous work, Religion und Stadtsidee, 1872, p. 29).
2Ch_16:14. Asa’s solemn burial is related by the Chronist with surprising detail, probably on account of the heathenish pomp and luxury which it displayed, reminding us of the manner of the Egyptian Pharaohs.—And they buried him in his own tomb, literally, “in his own sepulchres;” comp. 2Ki_22:20; Job_21:32. This preparation of a burial-place or mausoleum, different from the common tombs of the kings, reminds us of the customs of the Egyptian kings, or at all events (comp. our Remark on Job_3:14) indicates a haughty inclination to self-apotheosis incompatible with a genuine theocratic disposition; comp. Isa_22:16 ff.—Laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours of divers kinds. On æְðִéí , “kinds,” comp. Ps. 165:13, Dan_3:5; the term may well serve to describe more precisely the foregoing áְּùָׂîִéí , “spices” (Son_4:10 ff.).—Compounded by art, properly, “compounded by compounding of work,” by the work of the artificer; comp. Exo_30:25; Exo_30:35, and 1Ch_9:30. îַֽòֲùֶׂä is in this connection îַֽòֲùֵׂä øåֹ÷ֵçַ ; the assumption that the latter word is omitted is unnecessary.—And they made a very great burning for him, namely, of the sweet-smelling substances of the kind mentioned. Such burnings of incense were always made at the burial of the kings of Judah, as appears from Jer_34:5. But what the Chronist notices as culpable is the exaggerated splendour and lavish excess with which the custom was observed in the burial of Asa, as if it were the burial of a Pharaoh of Egypt (comp. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, etc., ii. 385 f.; Uhlemann, Egypt. Alterthumsk. ii. 325). Against the assumption of some, as Michaelis (De combustione et humatione mortuorum apud Hebrœos, in his Syntagma dissertatt. i. 225 sqq.), that the body of the king was burned among the spices, see Geier, De luctu Hebrœor. c. vi, who rightly maintains that such cases as the burning of Saul and his sons were exceptions to the general custom of Hebrew antiquity.
Evangelical and Ethical Reflections and Apologetic Remarks on 2 Chronicles 13-16
1. To much that is original, and in a theological sense important, in the comparatively full account given by our author of the reigns of Abijah and Asa, belong especially the three speeches which it contains, of which the old parallel text presents neither a brief résumé nor even a passing trace. All three are in a high degree characteristic, and point to a primitive tradition, true in all essentials to word and deed as t