Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 13:4
And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which [is] in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;
4. Abijah stood up ] it was natural that Abijah should attempt a conference before beginning civil war, both because his was the weaker side numerically and because he had a telling appeal to make to the revolted tribes (2Ch 13:8; 2Ch 13:12). It was equally natural that Jeroboam should break off the conference after using it to cover his stratagem (2Ch 13:13).
Zemaraim ] A Zemaraim is mentioned in Jos 18:22 as one of the cities of Benjamin, whereas here Mount Zemaraim is assigned to Ephraim. The natural inference is that the battle took place on the border of the two kingdoms.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2Ch 13:4-12
And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim.
A great speech
its claims concerning Judah. God recognised–
1. In the gift of the kingdom.
2. In the worship and services of the temple.
3. In the warfare of life.
II. In its accusations against Israel.
III. Its passionate appeal to the people.
1. Religion is appealed to.
2. History is appealed to.
3. Humanity is appealed to. (J. Wolfendale.)
Abijahs speech
Abijahs speech is unique. There have been other instances where commanders have tried to make oratory take the place of arms. Sennacheribs envoys. When Octavian was at war with his fellow-triumvir Lepidus he made a daring attempt to run over his enemys army. Riding openly into the hostile camp, he appealed to the soldiers by motives as lofty as those urged by Abijah, and called upon them to save their country from civil war by deserting Lepidus. At the moment his appeal failed, and he only escaped with a wound in his breast; but after a while his enemys soldiers came over to him in detachments, and eventually Lepidus was compelled to surrender to his rival. Another instance of a successful appeal to a hostile force is found in the history of the first Napoleon, when he was marching on Paris after his return from Elba. Near Grenoble he was met by a body of royal troops. He at once advanced to the front, and, exposing his breast, exclaimed to the opposing ranks, Here is your emperor; if any one would kill me let him fire. The detachment, which had been sent to arrest his progress, at once deserted to their old commander. (W. H. Bennett, M.A.)
The lessons of Abijahs speech
These are two.
I. The importance of an official and duly accredited ministry. Every Church has in practice some official ministry, even those Churches that profess to owe their separate existence to the necessity of protesting against an official ministry. Men whose chief occupation is to denounce priestcraft may themselves be saturated with the sacerdotal spirit.
II. The importance of a suitable and authoritative ritual. Every Church, too, has its ritual. The silence of a Friends meeting is as much a rite as the most elaborate genuflexion before a highly ornamented altar. To regard either the absence or presence of rites as essential is equally ritualistic. The man who leaves his wonted place of worship because Amen is sung at the end of a hymn is as bigoted a ritualist as his brother who dare not pass an altar without crossing himself. (W. H. Bennett, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Stood up upon Mount Zemaraim] “Which was a mount of the tribe of the house of Ephraim.”-Targum. Jarchi thinks that Abijah went to the confines of the tribe of Ephraim to attack Jeroboam. It could not be Shomeron, the mount on which Samaria was built in the days of Omri king of Israel, 1Kg 16:24.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Upon Mount Zemaraim; some commodious place whence his voice might be heard by Jeroboam, and some of his host, who possibly were pitched in the valley. Or the two armies being pitched near to one another, Abijah might desire a parley, before they fight; whereupon Jeroboam, and some of his commanders and soldiers, might draw near to him, and stand below him at the bottom of the hill, where they might hear his speech; which Jeroboam was the more willing to do, that in the mean time he might cause an ambushment to come behind Abijah and his army, as he did, 2Ch 13:13, whilst he was quietly standing before them, and seemed to hearken to any terms of accommodation which might be offered.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4-12. Abijah stood up upon MountZemaraimHe had entered the enemy’s territory and was encampedon an eminence near Beth-el (Jos18:22). Jeroboam’s army lay at the foot of the hill, and as apitched battle was expected, Abijah, according to the singular usageof ancient times, harangued the enemy. The speakers in suchcircumstances, while always extolling their own merits, poured outtorrents of invective and virulent abuse upon the adversary. So didAbijah. He dwelt on the divine right of the house of David to thethrone; and sinking all reference to the heaven-condemned offenses ofSolomon and the divine appointment of Jeroboam, as well as the divinesanction of the separation, he upbraided Jeroboam as a usurper, andhis subjects as rebels, who took advantage of the youth andinexperience of Rehoboam. Then contrasting the religious state of thetwo kingdoms, he drew a black picture of the impious innovations andgross idolatry introduced by Jeroboam, with his expulsion andimpoverishment (2Ch 11:14) ofthe Levites. He dwelt with reasonable pride on the pure and regularobservance of the ancient institutions of Moses in his own dominion[2Ch 13:11] and concluded withthis emphatic appeal: “O children of Israel, fight ye notagainst Jehovah, the God of your fathers, for ye shall not prosper.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Abijah stood upon Mount Zemaraim, which is in Mount Ephraim,…. Which might have its name from a city of Benjamin of this name, to which it was near, though within the borders of Ephraim, Jos 18:22 formerly inhabited by the Zemarites, from whence it might have its name, Ge 10:18 here Abijah stood, that he might be the better heard by the armies pitched in the valley; and very probably he desired a parley, and it was granted, otherwise he would not have been safe in the position in which he was;
and said, hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; as many as were now gathered together, and which were a great number.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(4) And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim.While the two hosts were facing each other, king Abijah addressed his foes from mount Zemaraim. as Jotham addressed the Shechemites from the top of Gerizim in the days of the judges (Jdg. 9:7).
Upon.Literally, from upon to mount Zemaraim; a mark of the chroniclers hand.
Mount Zemaraim is otherwise unknown A city so called is mentioned (Jos. 18:22) as near Bethel, and probably lay a little to the south of it, on the northern frontier of Judah, perhaps upon this mountain.
Mount Ephraim.The hill country of Ephraim.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Stood up upon mount Zemaraim A general standing upon an eminence, could, like Jotham on Mount Gerizim, speak so as to be heard by a vast audience below. See note on Jdg 9:7. The locality of Mount Zemaraim is uncertain. Some have thought to connect it with the Benjamite town of the same name mentioned in Jos 18:22. But that was in the Jordan valley, this in Mount Ephraim. It was probably an eminence near the border of the two kingdoms, perhaps not far from Beth-el, near which the great battle was fought.
Hear me, thou Jeroboam Abijah vainly thinks to make his enemies see the sin and folly of their separating from the kingdom of David. His speech was one sided, for he failed to observe that the permanency and integrity of David’s kingdom were conditioned upon obedience.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ch 13:4 And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which [is] in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;
Ver. 4. And Abijah stood upon mount Zemaraim. ] As Jotham likewise had done upon mount Gerizim. Jdg 9:7 It is probable that Abijah had, by his heralds or messengers, desired a parley: else he could not have delivered himself without danger.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
mount = hill country: i.e. of Ephraim.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Ch 13:4-12
2Ch 13:4-12
ABIJAH’S ADDRESS BEFORE THE ARMY OF JEROBOAM
“And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel: Ought ye not to know that Jehovah, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his lord. And there were gathered unto him worthless men, base fellows, that strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted, and could not withstand him. And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have ye not driven out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests after the manner of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. But as for me, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and we have priests ministering unto Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work: And they burn unto Jehovah every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense: the showbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening; for we keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken him. And, behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against Jehovah, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.”
“Upon mount Zemaraim in the land of Ephraim” (2Ch 13:4). By penetrating that far into Israel’s territory, Abijah had made a very stupid move, giving Jeroboam the opportunity to surround him and cut him off from retreat. Perhaps God allowed him to do this in order that Judah could not claim a victory that was solely due to God’s intervention.
“When Jeroboam was young and tender-hearted” (2Ch 13:7). This was a falsehood, for the Chronicler tells us that Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign (2Ch 12:13). The falsehood here was not that of the Chronicler but of Abijah. The Chronicler accurately reported the speech as it was recorded in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.
There can be no doubt that whatever portion of Jeroboam’s vast army was in hearing distance of this address by Abijah was thoroughly demoralized and intimidated by it. What Abijah said here was known to be true by everyone in Israel.
The great significance of the passage is its reference to the sacred religious regalia that God through Moses had ordained in the Pentateuch for the tabernacle, and which had been incorporated by Solomon into the temple. It should be remembered that all of this knowledge of the Pentateuch and its contents was common public information centuries before the discovery of that alleged document in the reign of Josiah.
Abijah was an evil king (1Ki 15:3); but the speech he made here was loaded with significant truth. It is of special interest that Abijah knew nothing of the critical canard that those golden calves were in any manner symbols of Jehovah. They were indeed no gods, as Abijah said; and everything pertaining to the true worship of Jehovah, even its priesthood, had been thrown out of the country by Jeroboam. Note also that Jeroboam’s army had brought along their golden calves into the battle.
E.M. Zerr:
2Ch 13:4. Mount Zemaraim . . . in . . . Mount Ephraim. It would be confusing to read of one mount being in another. But the last term had reference to a large territory which included the specific mount of the same name. The territory contained also the mount where Abijah stood to make this speech.
2Ch 13:5. The covenant God gave to David was indeed intended to be perpetual, but it was based on the condition that all the subjects be obedient to the law of the Lord. Covenant of salt is figurative, and means that the covenant was to be perpetual, even as material would be that is preserved by salt. In Num 18:19 and Mar 9:49 salt is used figuratively to indicate something perpetual.
2Ch 13:6. Servant of Solomon and son of David. Note the contrast in the standing of the two persons. Jeroboam was but a servant of Solomon, while the latter was a son of David. And this son was to have his father’s throne in peace, and transmit it to future generations in the same condidition.
2Ch 13:7. Vain men means “empty” or “worthless” men. Belial in the Old Testament is not a proper noun, but is descriptive of any men who are low and wicked. The king charged that men such as he had described had brought the conspiracy against Rehoboam. Young and tender denotes one who is inexperienced because of his youth.
2Ch 13:8. Abijah further charged that a multitude of evil men had a mind to withstand the kingdom of the Lord, and that, too, when it was in the hands of the sons of David. The golden calves are the idols that Jeroboam had set up at Bethel and Dan, to keep his people from Jerusalem, the place for the lawful sacrifices.
2Ch 13:9. See the comments at 2Ch 11:13-14. It was fortunate for the true worship that the Levites came back to the kingdom of Judah; however, the motive of the 10 tribes in casting them off was sinful. Their sin was especially great in that the priests they ordained to take the place of the lawful ones officiated in vain worship. No gods was said in reference to the golden calves mentioned above.
2Ch 13:10. This verse is a picture of the lawful service. The Levites in general were for the service indirectly connected with the priesthood, and the sons of Aaron the particular ones of the Levites who were to officiate in the priesthood.
2Ch 13:11. Not only did Judah have the lawful priests, but their service was in connection with the divinely ordained articles of furniture.
2Ch 13:12. Abijah made a final appeal by the warning that God was with him and his people to be their captain in battle. Trumpets to cry alarm referred to the instructions of Moses in Num 10:9. The significant statement is made that the battle of the 10 tribes would not prosper because it would be against the Lord God of your fathers. This great principle of truth is taught by Paul in Rom 8:31.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Zemaraim: Zemaraim could not be, as some have supposed, the same as the hill of Samaria, [Strong’s H8111], so called from Shemer, in the days of Omri; but was probably a hill on the confines of Ephraim, near Zemaraim, a city of Benjamin, near Bethel. Gen 10:18, Jos 18:22
Hear me: 2Ch 15:2, Jdg 9:7
Reciprocal: Isa 40:9 – get Jer 31:6 – upon
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ch 13:4. Abijah stood upon mount Zemaraim Some commodious place whence his words might be heard by Jeroboam, and some of his army, who possibly were pitched in the valley. Or, the two armies being pitched near each other, Abijah desired a parley before they fought, to see if they could accommodate matters without shedding blood. Whereupon Jeroboam and some of his commanders and soldiers probably drew near to him, and stood below at the bottom of the hill, from whence they could hear him. And this, it is likely, Jeroboam was the more willing to do, that in the mean time he might cause an ambushment to come behind Abijah and his army, as he did, (2Ch 13:13,) while he was quietly standing before them, and seemed to hearken to any terms of accommodation which were offered.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
13:4 And Abijah stood up upon mount {d} Zemaraim, which [is] in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;
(d) Which was one of the peaks of mount Ephraim.