UNROLL
Dawn in the hill country of Ephraim: a rocky, scrub-covered height on the left above a long valley in shadow, and on the valley floor two camps of dark tents with thin threads of smoke, one twice the size of the other, under a calm, pale, empty sky.

The Book of

2 Chronicles 13

Outnumbered two to one, Abijah climbs a hill and preaches to the army that has come to destroy him.

22 verses≈ 5 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1SolomonWisdom asked at Gibeon
  2. 2–5The templeBuilt on Mount Moriah
  3. 6–7DedicationIf My people humble themselves
  4. 8–9Solomon's gloryThe queen of Sheba
  5. 10–16DivisionRehoboam to AsaChapter 13
  6. 17–20JehoshaphatThe battle is God's
  7. 21–24Dark yearsJehoram to Joash
  8. 25–28Proud kingsAmaziah to Ahaz
  9. 29–32HezekiahDoors opened, Passover kept
  10. 33–35Manasseh to JosiahMercy and the Book found
  11. 36Exile and returnMay he go up

Abijah Reigns in Judah

Judah

Abijah of Judah · 3 years

  1. Jeroboam’s 18th year

    Abijah becomes king

    In the eighteenth year of Jeroboam’s reign, Abijah became king of Judah,

  2. Three years in Jerusalem

    and he reigned in Jerusalem three years.

  3. His mother Micaiah of Gibeah

    His mother’s name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel; she was from Gibeah.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

Abijah went into battle with an army of 400,000 chosen men, while Jeroboam drew up in formation against him with 800,000 chosen and mighty men of valor.

Mid-morning in a broad valley of the hill country, seen from a height: two armies drawn up facing each other across open ground, Judah's ranks of spears and round shields on the near side and Israel's ranks stretching twice as wide on the far side, dust drifting between.

Pray

Odds you cannot meet

Pray for anyone facing odds they cannot meet: an illness, a debt, a fight that is too big for them. Ask God to help them stand on His promises, as Abijah stood on the hill and spoke of the LORD’s covenant before a sword was drawn. And pray for peace between brothers, in families and in churches, where old quarrels have hardened into war.

Civil War against Jeroboam

Mount Zemaraim (site uncertain)EphraimBenjaminJerusalemBethelJeshanahOphrah

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Mount Zemaraim

Abijah marched north into the hill country of Ephraim and spoke from Mount Zemaraim, near Bethel, though its exact site is uncertain. After the battle he took Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephron with their villages. Ephron was probably the town also called Ophrah, and the map marks it under that name.

Abijah
Abijah

Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel!

Do you not know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?

2 Chronicles 13:5

Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master. Then worthless and wicked men gathered around him to resist Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young, inexperienced, and unable to resist them.

And now you think you can resist the kingdom of the LORD, which is in the hands of David’s descendants. You are indeed a vast army, and you have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods. But did you not drive out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites? And did you not make priests for yourselves as do the peoples of other lands? Now whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of things that are not gods.

Abijah

Now behold, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with their trumpets sound the battle call against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

Reflect

But as for us

Abijah could say, “But as for us, the LORD is our God. We have not forsaken Him,” and point to worship kept every morning and every evening. What would you point to? Write down one way you keep faith with God each morning and evening, or one you want to begin this week.

Dawn on a hillside: priests in white linen raise long straight silver trumpets to their lips, and behind them the men of Judah lift their faces and shout, while far below on two sides dust rises from armies closing in, under a calm, pale sky.

Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to ambush from the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah, the ambush was behind them. When Judah turned and discovered that the battle was both before and behind them, they cried out to the LORD. Then the priests blew the trumpets, and the men of Judah raised the battle cry. And when they raised the cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

0:24

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

So the Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands. Then Abijah and his people struck them with a mighty blow, and 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain.

Thus the Israelites were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.

2 Chronicles 13:18

Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured some cities from him: Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, along with their villages.

Jeroboam did not again recover his power during the days of Abijah, and the LORD struck him down and he died.

Judah

Abijah’s house and record

  1. Abijah grows strong

    But Abijah grew strong, married fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

  2. Treatise of Iddo

    His ways and his words

    Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, along with his ways and his words, are written in the Treatise of the Prophet Iddo.

Question

Quick question

Judah was outnumbered two to one and caught in an ambush.

Why did the men of Judah prevail?

You’ve experienced

2 Chronicles 13

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A verse to carry with you

Thus the Israelites were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.

2 Chronicles 13:18

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