Exposition of the Whole Bible

N this chapter are related the preparations Rebo-|place of Micah the prophet, Mic. i. 1, 15. and ae ae to ay aes we tribes that aexoled Liph 1s were two cities of this name in the rom him, but was forbid making the attempt by ajtribe of Fudab, ‘Fofh. xv. 24, 55. prophet of the Lord, which he paid a regard unto,| y.9. And ef &c.} Called by Fofepbus ¥. I—4. the fortification of feveral cities in Fuiebh! Adora, which he mentions along with Marefbab, and Benjamin for his defence, ¥. 5—12. the re jor Mariffa: and Lachifo, a royal city in the time fort of feveral priefts, and Levites to him from ‘Fero-;of the Canaanites, and which fell to the lot of Fu- » boam, which ferved to ftrengthen his kingdom, dab, Yo/b. xii. 11. and xv. 39. and Azekab; a y. 13—17. and an account of his wives, and of'city fituated in the plain of Fudab, Fob. x Ge childten, “and. oft tuanlifpolal, of), thems y.land = ie kee his children, a 1 p nem, Y.and xv. 35. 18—23. y. 10. And Zorab, &c.] The fame with Zoreab, | Fob. xv. 33. and Aijalon; there was a city of the y. by omega ha come i foe Bae fribe of ve ¥ A name, in the valley of which &c. | ter he had been at Sechem, and had given'the moon ftco ill in the times of Fo/lua Fob. his anfwer to the requeft of the men of J/rael, upon' x, 10. and xix. 42. but whether the fame sith this, which they revolted from’ him: this and the three and now belonging to Judah, or another of the following verfes are the fame with 1 Kings xii. fame name, isnot certain: avd Hebron; a city in 2i—24. feethe notes there, Ithe mountainous part of ‘fudah, and a city of re-: z- 5s aah eee ge i J elem, ise fuge, about ie ane ene hoa Zafh, XV. 54. e€ metropolis Of 7#ddh, and the Capital city Of and xx. 7. whico are in fudao and in Benjamin, his kingdom:. and built cities for defence in Judah; fenced cities; as they were now made by Rebothat is, rebuilt, enlarged, and fortified them;. for doam. otherwife they were built before, though neglected, y. 11. And be fortified the ftrong holds, &c.] Of before the revolt of the ten tribes; but now it be-ithefe and other cities: and put captains in them; came neceffary to make them more capacious and garrifons, of foldiers, with captains over them. to ftrong, to protect his’ people, and defend himilelf defend them: and flore ‘of vittual and of oil and againft [rae; for though he was forbid to act of-!wine; that they might be able to hold outa fiege, fenfively, and therefore contented himfelf to abide! fhould they be attacked. in. Ferufzlem, and not go forth to war; yet he}. ¥.12. Andin every feveral city he put /hields and might lawfully put himfelf into a condition of| fpears, &c.] Furnifhed them with thefe and pereee haps other pieces of armour, thefe being put for nh quia ae i ee a Bie acs tlh to defend iaemblees aes ames an a and of our Lord’s birth, about 6 miles from Feru/alem: and Etam, another city in the tribe of Fudab; fee to annoy them: and made them exceeding firong {o that they could not be eafily taken: having Fu-

3 sake! ales ‘oad 1 Chron. iv. 32. there was a. rock of this name, Fudg. xv. 8. anda fountain from whence waters were conveyed into the pool at Yeru/alem, of in Fewifo writings’: and Tekoah; of which place Amos the prophet was, and which was about 12 miles from Jerufalem. Rauwolf * {peaks of it as a fortified place now; he fays, it has a ftrong mighty caftle, builton a great and high hill. y¥.7. And Beth-zur, and Shocho, and Adullam; All in the tribe of Yudah, of which fee o/h. xv. dab and Benjamin on his fide; which tribes cleaved to one another, and to Reboboam, and to the kings pokenjof the houfe of David, inafter times, as well as to the true religion.

y.13. And the priefis and the Levites, that were in all I/rael, &c.| In the ten tribes, in the cities afandjfigned to them therein: rforted to bim out of al! their coafts; as to their rightful fovereign, and)chiefly for the fake of the fervice of the fanctuary at Ferufalem..

352 58- ¥. 14. For the Levites left their fuburbs and their. ~~ y¥. 8. And Gath, &c.] Which cannot be that|po Gath, which was one of the principalities of the Philiftines, but a city in the tribe of Fudab; tho’ of it we no where elfe read; unlefs this isthe fame with Moreerh-Gath, Mic. i. 14. which is probable, fince it follows: and Marefhab; the birthfeffion, &c.] The cities and the fields adjacent to them, which were given them in the feveral tribes, and were in all 43; fee Fo. xxi1 41. and came to ‘fudab and Ferufalem, to the cities of Fudah, which belonged to the Levites; and to Fern- /alem, where they exercifed their functions: for 7e-

7 ye ‘a *,. ¥ $2 di CHRO NICDE it Ch. x.¥7.8 roboam ond his fons bad caft them off from exercifing the priefts office unto the Lord; neither fuffering them to go to Ferufalem in their courfes, as they uled to do by surns, nor to perform their office’in theit own. dwellings, according to the law of God, teaching and inftructing the people. 15. 2. 15. And be ordained him priofts for the high places, 8cc.] Of fach who were not of the tribe of Levi, and tamily of Aaron; fee 1 Kings xii. 31. and for the devils; dzemons in the fhape of goats, as this word fignifies, in which form many of wpe heathen deities were worfhipped; idols of whatfoever Kind are fo called; for whofoever worfhips them, wor fhips not God, but devils, 1.Cor. x. 22. the images which ‘fercboam {et up may be meant, and the} &c. next claufe may be rendered as explanative of them: even for the calves which he had made, one-of which he fet up at Daz, and the other at Bethel, 1 Kings \fon of David, his father’s brother, and 1 -uncl and {fo married his) coufin; but Abfalom { have had but one daughter, whofe name,w 5 mar, 2-Sam. xiv. 27. and the name of this. 3 injdifferent from his; he is called ee Sp u and Uriel of Gibeah, ch. xiii. 2. OFt aa of Benjamin, whereas Abjalom was of ‘th Fudab: which bare bim- Abijah, and A, Ziza, and Shelomith, Abijab the firft-born, and who was fucceffor in the kingdom, is the fame with Adijam, 1 Kings xiv. 31. of the reft we ne where elfe read. f 78 am | y. 21. And Reboboam loved Maacab the d.: of Abfalom above all his wives; and bis contubi Who is called Michaiah, the daughter ~ Uriel, ch. xiii. 2. for be took 18 wives, amd 60 con- — cubines; led thereunto by the example of his father Solomon, contrary to the command of God, Dems.

y. 16. 4nd after them out of all the tribes of If have many children was reckoned a’ great beings y 22. And Rehoboam made Abijah the fon of Ma= ~~ acab the chief, &c.| The chief of all his fons; head over them, being the fon of his moft beloved’. ~ wife, and her firft-born however, and perhaps. — might be of.a greater capacity than the Mi of his. children: to be ruler among bis bretbrem, or over... them; gave ‘him greater authority, and entrufted ~. him with more power, fet him above them, and’ — treated him as heir apparent to the crown: for he’.._ thought to make bim king { either to take him m+ ¢ to partnerfhip in the throne with him in his lifetime, orto appoint and declare him to be his fuc+ ceffor. \ ae ae

¥.23. And be dealt wifely, 8c.] Aged a prudent part, in order to execute his feheme, and par- ~ ticularly by difpofing of his other fons, in different.. parts of his kingdom, as follows ¢ or be made bi.* his fon Abijab to underfiand*, he taught and ine » ftrutted him in the art of government, took a par= ticular care of his education, that he might be fit- - ted ‘for it; and’he might inftru€& him how to behave towards his brethren, for the prefent and’ hereafter, as-well as towards all the people in gene+ ral: or be (Abijab) underftood ‘; had more under= -ftanding and wifdom than all the children of j boam, though it feems beft to interpret it of Rebo- ~~ boam himfelt, fince it follows: and difpofed of all bis children throughout alt the countries of 7. Benjamin, unto every fenced city, to be governors thereof, in whofe hands he could better truft thei than in any other; -or elfe by thus feparatin rael, &cc.] Befides the priefts and Levites, and atter their example, many of the common people, out of all the ten tribes: /ucb as fet their hearts to seek the Lord God of Ifrael; to feek his face and favour, where he was to be found;. to worfhip him according to his revealed will, and to receive doctrine or inftruction from him, as the Targum: came to Ferufaleus to facrifice to the Lord God of their fathers, to facrifice where only facrifices were to be offered up, and by the priefls of the Lord, who were gone thither, and to their father’s God, whom the ten tribes had revolted from..;

¥.,17. So they j.rengthened the kingdom of Fudab, &c.] Made it more numerous, andin a better condition to defend itfelt: and made Reboboam fon of Solomon ftrong three years; eftablifhed him on the throne, {trengthened the government in -his hands, and werethe means of preferving him in the-pure worfhip of God for the {pace of time mentioned, the reafon of which follows: for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon; in their good ways, which were according to the rule of the divine word; and which, as they refer tothe whole of David’s lite and reign, fome particulam actions excepted, fo to the former part of Se/omon’s reign, before he fell into idolatry, and to the latter part of it after his repentance; for that he did repent is by fome concluded from hence, and may be miore ftrongly from the book of Leclefiaffes, written by him in his old age. This- is to be underftood both of Rebodoam and his people, who after three years forfook the law of the Lord, ch. xii. 1,

¥. 18. And Reboboam took him Mabalath, the daughter of Fetimoth, the fon of David, to wife, &c.} Of which fon of David we no where elfe

¥. 19. Which bare: him children, &c.) Or, and fhe bore him*, for itis faid only of one of them,; the other perhaps died without children;\ this may refer to the la{t-mentioned, Abibail, whole chil-la fieo dren were Jeufh and Shamariah, and Zabam, who and be re

REHOBOAM and his people forfaking the law of the Lord, Shifbak king of Egypt is fuffered to invade his land, and take his fenced cities, ¥. 1—4. upon which a prophet of the Lord was fent to him, and his princes, to fhew them the reafon of it; whereupon they humbled themtelves, and the Lord was pleafed not to fuffer the enemy utterly to deftroy them, yet to reduce them to fervitude, and take away their riches, y. 5—r2. and the chapter is clofed with an account of the reign and death of Reboboam, y. 13—16.

¥.1. And it came to pals when Reboboam had eftablifhed the kingdom, &c.| Or when the kingdom of Rehoboam was eftablifhed; the tribes of Fudab and Bewjamin being firmly attached to him, and great numbers from the other tribes coming over to him, and things going on peaceably and pro- {peroufly during the three years that he and his people abode by the pure worfhip of God: and had firengtbened bim/elf,. built fortified cities for the defence of himfelf and kingdom, ch. xi. s—12. he forfook the law of the Lord; after he had reigned three years, and was become ftrong, and thought himfelf fafe and fecure on the throne, trufting to his ftrength: aud all Ijrael with him; the greater part of them following the example of their king; of this defection, and the fins they fell into, fee

1 Kings xiv. 22, 23, 24. ¥.2. And it came to pafs in the fifth year of Rehoboam, &c.| In the fourth year, the apoftacy of him and his people began; and in the year following, what is next related, happened, as a punifhment of it: Shifbak king of Egypt came up againft Ferufalem; of whom fee 1 Kings xi. 40. and xiv. 25. becaufe they tranfgreffed againft the Lord, tranfgrefled the law of the Lord by falling into idolatry and other abominable evils; the Targum is, © againft the Word of the Lord.” ¥. 3. With 1200 chariots, and 60,000 horfemen, and the people were without number, &c.] The footfoldiers 5 their number, according to Fo/ephus® was 400,000: that came with him out of Egypt; the proper Etbiopians are meant, fince they aré joined with the Ludim or Africans, and fince, as Herodé- tus™{ays, he ruled over Ethiopia; and Diodorus Sicit lus* fays, he fought with them, and obliged them to pay him tribute.

¥.4. And be took the fenced cities which pertained to Fudah, &c.] Which Reboboam had lately built, and placed his fons in them, ch. xi. 5—I25 23. thefe he took without any oppofition: and came to Ferufalem; there being no army to oppofe him; and fo Sefofiris took many countries without fighting, and among: the reft Phenicia, as Manetho ° relates, in which Fudea may be included.

¥.5. Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Reboboam, &c.} The fame as in ch. xi; 2. there called the man of God: and to the princes of Fudab that were gathered together to Ferufalem becaufe of Shi- Jock; through fear of him, and for fafety and protection from him, and to confult what was to be done at this critical junéture, whether to fight him, or make peace with him on the beft terms they could: and faid unto them, thus faith the Lord, ye have forfaken mes his law, his word, worfhip, and ordinances, ¥. 1. and therefore-have I alfo left you in the hand of Shifhak; faffered him to invade their land, take their fenced cities, and come up to Ferufalem without any oppofition, as a punifhment of their apoftacy; and to explain this providence to them, and call them to repentance, was the prophet fent.

¥. 6. Whereupon the princes of Ifrael and the king humbled themfelves, &c.] Both by words acknowledging their fins, and the juftice of God, and by deeds, perhaps putting on fackcloth as was ufual on fuch occafions, and betaking themfelves to fafting and prayer: and they faid, the Lord is righteous 3 in giving them up into the hand of their enemies, feeing they had forfaken him, and finned againft him.

¥. 7. And when the Lord faw that they humbled themfelves, &c.] Though but externally; the Lord takes notice of external humiliation, as he did of Abab’s, 1 Kings xxi. 29. the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, faying, they have humbled them- above numerous army came from thence with him, | elves therefore I will not deftroy them; not now, at which was famous for horfes and chariots of war, fee Exod. xiv. 7, 28. what follow feem to have joined him after he came out of Egyp/, or whom he fubdued in his way; the Ludim or Lybians, inhabitants of Lydia, a country near Egypt, the fame with the Lebabim; of whom fee Gen. x. 13. the Sukkiim; who were either the Scenite Arabs, who dwelt in tents, as this word fignifies; or the Troglodytes, according to the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin verfions, who dwelt in dens and caves, in which fenfe the word Succab is fometimes ufed, Fob xxxviii. 40. Pf. x. g. and in their country was a town called Suche, mentioned by Pliny’; they inhabited near the Red-fea; and if Shifbak is the fame with Se/offris, as is thought, thefe people were fubdued by him, as Herodotus * and Strabo' teftify:

_and the Ethiopians; fome think thefe were the Cu-.

frite Arabs, and that Sefoftris came into Arabia, is _teftified by the above writers; though rather the leaft not altogether, y.12: but I will grant them Jome deliverance; yet not a complete one, for they were brought into fervitude by Shifbak, ¥. 8. or only fora fhort time: and my wrath foal] not be poured out againft Ferufalem by the hand of Shifbak; that is, to the uttermoft; that was referved to another time, and.to be done by another hand, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

¥.8. Neverthele/s, they fhall be bis fervants, 8cc.

Tributaries to the king of Egypt: that they may know my fervice, and the fervice of the kingdoms. of the countries; the difference between them, how eafy the one, which they might perform without taxes and tributes, and how hard and heavy the other, through the exactions and exorbirant de— mands of thofe to whom they became fubjects. ¥.9. So Shifhak king of Egypt came up againft Ferufalem, &c.\ The Vulgate Latin verfion is, ** departed fromFeru/alem,” as he did, having taken it, it iled it of its riches, and fettled a yearly pete fe inhabitants of Fhe land; of this, and| the two following verfes, fee the notes on 1 Kings xiv. 26, 27, 28. -. led 5 twelve years more, for yx. 12. And when he humbled himfelf, &¢.] That is, Rebobeam, or broke his heart, as the Targum,was ofa contrite fpirit feemingly, for it was merely nal: the wrath of the Lord turned from him which appeared by the departure of Shihak’s army: ¢hat he would not deftroy him altogether; or make an utter deftruction of him and his people: and al/o in Judah things went well, profpered and fucceeded after this affair of Sbifbak was over: or in Fudah there were good things’; there were fome good men, priefts, Levites, and many ef the common people, y. 13. So Reboboam firengthened himfelf in Feru= alem, &c.] Fortified that yet more for the defence of himfelf, after Shifbak departed: and reign» he reigned in all feventeen, and this was in his fifth years of what follows in this verfe, fee the note on 1 Kings xiv. at. A. exter- ¥. 14. And he did evil, &c.] Committed idolatry, relapfed into that, his humiliation not being hearty and fincere: becaufe he prepared not bis beart to feek the Lord; by prayer and fupplication, and by an attendance on the fervice and worfhip of God 5, for though he did thefe things outwardly, yet not {incerely and heartily; he did not engage in them. ferioufly and in good earneft, with affection and fervour.

that did good things, kept up and abode by the pure worfhip and fervice of God; and which was another reafon why the Lord would not deftroy thefe two verfes, fee the notes on 1 Kings xiv. 295 30, 31. ae, wl

ELIS chapter begins with the reign of Alia, y¥. 1, 2. gives an account of a battle between him and Feroboam, previous to which Abijab made a fpeech to Feroboam and his army, to vindicate his own caufe, encourage his own foldiers, and intimidate the enemy, and diffuade them from fighting, ¥- 3—12. and in the mean while Yeroboam laid an ambufh for him, which greatly diftrefled him, ¥. 13, 14. neverthelefs he obtained a compleat victory over him, y. 15—20. and the chapter is concluded with fome account of his family and reign, ¥. 21, 22.

. 1. Now in the eighteenth year of king Feroboam, began Abijah to reign over Fudab.| See the note on 1 Kings xv. 1.

_ y, 2. He reigned three years in Ferufalem, &c.] See the note on 1 Kings xv. 2. bis mother’s name alo was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah, fee ch. xi. 20. and the note on 1 Kings xv, 2. and there was war between Abijab and Feroboam, and in this chapter is an account of a battle fought between them, not recorded in the book of Kings.

¥. 3. And Abijah fet the battle in array, with an

army of valiant men of war; even 400,000 chofen men, Se.) Colleéted fuch an army of felect men, led chem into his enemy’s country, and fetthem in order of battle: end Feroboam alfo fet the battle in array againft him, with 8c0,000 chofen men, being mighty men of valour, double the number of 4d:- jal’s army, he having ten tribes to collcét out of, and Abijah but two.

y. 4. And Abijah flood upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, &é.| Which might have its name from a city of Benjamin of this name, to which it was near, though within the borders of Ephraim, Fofb. xviii. 22. formerly inhabited by the Zemarites, from whence it might have its name, Gen. x. 18. here Abijab ftood, that he might be the. better heard by the armies pitched in the valley;. and very probably he defired a parley, and it was granted, otherwife he would not have been fafe inthe pofition in which he was: and faid,

Hear me, thou Ferobaam, and all irael, as many; cording to this, Reboboam was

.as were now gathered together, and which were a great number.

¥. 5. Ought you not to know, Sc.) They did know what he afterwards fays, but he would have them confider and acknowledge it: that’ the Lord God of Ifrael gave the kingdom over Lfrael to David for ever; to him and _ his feed, particularly to the Mefiah, that fhould {pring from him; but whether — Abijah had this in view is a queftion, fee 2 Sam. vii. 13.16, even to him and to his fons by a covenant of falt; that iss a perpetual one, which was. inviolable, and never to be made void; called fo, becaufe falt preferves from corruption and putrefaction, and becaufe made ufe of in facrifices offered when covenants were made; the Targum is, ** as falt-waters, which never lofe their faltnefs.

¥. 6. Yet Feroboam the fon of Nebat, the fervant of Solomon the fon of David, is rifen up, Se.) Notwithftanding it was well known the kingdom was entailed on the pofterity of David by an everlafting covenant; Adijab calls ‘feroboam Solomon’s fervant by way of great ¢ontempt, as Farchi obferves, he being the general receiver of his tax in the tribe of Ephraim, 1 Kings xi. 28. and bath re= belled againft bis Lord; his rightful king and fovereign; the charge is no lefs than high-treafon,

¥. 7. And there are gathered unto him vain men, &c.] Woid of the fear of God, and all that is. good: rhe children of Belial; men unprofitable, good for nothing, or that had caft off the yoke of the law of God, were lawlefs and abandoned perfons: and have ftrengthened themfelves againft Reboboam the fon of Solomons rejected his government of them; went into a ftrong oppofition to him, and {et up another king over them: when Reboboam was young and tender-bearted, and could not withjiand them not that he was young in years, for he was 41 years of age when he began to reign; tho” Jofoua is called a young’ man when he is fu to be between 50 and 60 years of age, Exod. xxxiii. Et. and though adolefeentia and jav } ufed in Latin writers for youth, yet - guifhes them, and makes the former to- at the year 15, and continue to the year 303 and the latter to begin at 30, and end at “4 youth; but perhaps the meaning here is, |

{was young in the. kingdom, fearcely fettled on his sa rs eee y 4 pe S ay ve a Ch. xiii.¥.8—r18. Il. CHRONICLES 58 throne, and the advantage of that was taken; nor was he cowardly and fearful; and if dgah meant that, by tender-beartednefs he not only reproached but belied his father; for he would have fought with J/rae in order to have reduced them to obedience, but was forbidden by the Lord; tender-bearted, he means that he had a tender regard to the command of God, it is true; but that feems not to be his fenfe, but the former. captain, &c.

¥. 8. And now ye think to withftand the kingdom of the Lord, in the band of the fons of David, &c.] To oppofe them, prevail over them, and get it out of their hands, which is delivered to them by Lord, as the Targum: and ye be a great multitude, of which they boafted, and in which they trufted, being ten tribes to two, and in this army two to one: and there are with you golden calves which Feroboam made you for gods, or, but* there are with you, &c. which Abdijah fuggefts would be fo far| from helping them, that they would be their ruin, they having, by the worfhip of them, provoked hence it is not to be concluded, that ail the reft were taken away by Shifbak: for we keep the charge of the Lord our God obferve all the rites and ceremonies, laws and ordinances enjoined by him; the Targum is, * the charge of the Word of the Lord if, byjour God:” but ye have forfaken bim; his fear or worfhip, as the fame paraphrafe.

y. i2. Aid bebold, God bimfelf is with us for our ] To go before our armies, and fight our battles for us: and his priefs with founding trumpets to cry alarm againft you, which was one ufe of the trumpets, that the people might be rethe;membered by the Lord, and faved from their enemies, Numb. x. 9. fo that this circumftance was againft Yerodoam and his army, and for Abijab and his: O children of Ifrael, fight ye not againft the Lord God of your fathers, for fighting againit his \people, that retained the pure worfhip of him, was fighting againft him: for you foall not proper; hé feems to be aflured of ‘victory.

y.13. But Feroboam caufed an ambulbment to comé the Lord againft them. about bebind them, 8c.) Whillt Abijab was

¥. 9. Have ye not caft out the priefts of the Lord, the fons of Aaron, and the Levites, &c.| they would not facrifice to his idols, and that they might not inftruct.che people in the pure worfhip of God, and that he and his people might be free making his oration, he detached a party from his Becaufejarmy, which got about, and lay in ambuth, behind the army of Abijab: fo they were before Fudab; ¥ero%oam and the greater part of his army: and thé ambufhment was bebind thent; which Feroboam had from the payment of tithes, firft-fruits, @e¢, andjfent thither: their cities fall into his hands: and bave made you pricfts after the manner of the nations of other lands; after the manner of the Gentiles, without any regard to any particular tribe, which God had pointed thofe to be taken from: /o that whefoever cometh to confecrate bimfelf with a young bullock and feven rams, which were five more than what required by the law of Mojes for the confecration of a prieft, Exod. xxix. 1. the fame may bea prieft of them that are o gods; by nature, only nominal and fictitious deities, as the calves were, which had no divinity in them, fee 1 Kings xiii. 31. y¥. 10. But as for us, the Lord is our God, The Word of the Lord, as the Targum; we know and acknowledge no other; not the calves at Dan and Bethel, nor any other idols, only the one living and true God: and we bave not forfaken him;

y.14. And when Fudah looked back, &c.] On hearing a noife behind them: debold, the batile was defore and behinds men were fet in battle array, and ap-jthe battle was begun, and an attack made upon them both ways: and they cried unto the Lord; for help againft their enemies, and to deliver them out werelof their hands: and the priefis founded with the trumpets; to infpire them with chearfulnefs, and to fuggeft to them that God was with them, and they need not be afraid.

y. 15. Them the men of Fudab gave a fhout, &c.] Taking heart at the found of the trumpets, and in &c.)jorder to encourage one another, and intimidate the enemy; fee the note on i Sam. xvii. 20. and as thé men of Judab fhouted, it came to pafs, that God finoté Zeroboam and all Lrael before Abijah and Fudab; poffefied them with a'panic, fo that they fled at his laws, ftatutes, ordinances, and worfhip; forjonce, as follows. though Abijab was not a religious man, yet it feems the form of religion was kept up, and temple-fervice was obferved in his days: and the priefts which minifter unto the Lord; by offering facrifices, and burning incenfe: are the fons of Aaron; and they only: and the Levites wait upon their bufine fome in finging fongs of praife, vocally and inftrumentally, others in keeping the doors ofthe temple and the treafures of the houfe of God, and others in affifting the priefts at the altar. " y. 11. And they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening, burnt facrifices and fweet incenfe, 8c.) That is, the priefts; the one they did on the altar of burnt-offering, and the other on the altar of incenfe, and both every day, morning! and evening: the fhew-dread alfo {et they in order upon the pure table; the fhew-bread-table, every fabbath-day, when they took the old bread off, which had ftood there a week: and the candleftick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening 5 thefe were lighted every evening, and dreffed morning; and though there were ten tablesand ten candlefticks in Solomon’s temple, yet only one of each was ufed ata time; and therefore from y.16. And the children of Ijrael fled before Fudab, &c.] Were in fuch a fright and confternation, that they could not ftand their ground, or engage at all; but took to flight immediately: and God delivered them into their hand; to be taken and flain s | by them.

ys 17. And Abijab and bis people flew them with a great flaughter, &c.] As they fled, purfuing them: fo there fell down flain of Ijrael, 500,000 chofen men; fuch a flaughter as is not to be met with in any hiftory, as Fo/fephus * obferves; though Abardinel wonders he fhould fay fo, and. affirms, that he had read of larger numbers flain at once; but he is the only man that ever pretended to it; erom* makes the number but 50,000, and fome copies of the Vulgate Latin“, and Fofephus Ben Gorion, as Abarbinel ™ relates; but the true Fo/é- phus, the Targum, and all the antient verfions, agree with the Hebrew text; more than half Fero- Goam's army was cut off, and 100,000 more than every, A4dijab had in his. ‘ y.18. Thus the children of I/rael were brought under at that time, 8c.) Humbled and weakened, but not reduced to the government of the ate

David: ‘and the ‘childven of fudab prevailed, or grew ftrong { because they relied upon the Lord of their fathers, trufted in him, and not in arm of flefh; the Targum is, ‘ in the Word of the Lord God of their fathers.”

was fet up, which either Yereboam took care to remove before this place fell into the hands of 4dijab, or Abijah let it remain, and did not deftroy it: ftricken, they fay, was becaufe he did not deftroy, God the calf when he took Bethel; but it is be toun-. anjderftand it of Feroboam, fince Abijah is afterw rds faid to wax mighty: and he died; not immedia Yo. for he lived two years after Alijah, 1 Kings xiv. 20. and 15. g. but continued under a ee eiisaia, he was {mitten with, and which iffted in his_ death.; ye Oe here one of the calves!’ y. 21. But Abijab waxed mighty, 8c.) In his kingdom, increafing in riches and numbers, power and authority, and in his-family: and married 14 wives, and begat 22 fons, and 16 daughters, not:

¥. 19. And Abijah purfued after Feroboam, &c.] As he and his army fled: and tock cities from him; the following ones: Beth-el with the towns thereof; the villages adjoining to it;

and Fefpanah with the towns thereof; which Reland * thinks is the fame that is called by Ferom ’ Fethaba: and Ephraim with the towns thereof; a city fo cal- after the above battle, nor fince he began to reign 5 for he reigned but three years; but he, no doubt, married wives, and had children before he came to led, thought to be the fame that is mentioned injthe throne, as he might have others after. _

Fobn xi. 54. fee the note there; it is here called in the Targum, Ephron; fo Jerom * calls it, and fays it was Sichem.

¥. 20. Neither did Jeroboam recover firength again in the days of Abijah, &c.} So as to bring an army into the field againft him, and fight him: and the Lord firoke him; by fome Fewi/h writers *, this is interpreted of Aéijab, and the reafon of his being

HIS chapter relates the death of 4bijah, and the fucceffion of 4/a in his ftead, ¥. 1. gives a good character of the latter for his reformation in religion, and for the care he took for the fafety and prote¢tion of his fubjeéts, y. 2—8. and an account is given of a large army of Ethiopians that came againft him, over whom, he crying to the Lord, and trufting in him, by his help obtained a compleat victory, ¥. g—15.

¥. 1. So Abijah flept with bis fathers, fee 1 Kings xv. 8. And Afa bis fon reigned in his flead; in bis days the land was quiet 10 years, the Targum is, the land of J/rae/, but much better the Sep uagint, the land of Fudak; thefe 10 years, in which it had reft from war, were the firft three years of J/a’s reign, and the firft feven of Baafha’s, according to Farchi, and which feems right; after which there was war between them all their days, fee 1 Kings HV. G2.\33:

¥. 2. And Afa did that which was good and right, &c ] See 1 Kings xv. 11.

¥. 3. For he took away the altars of the ftrange gods, &c.] Or of a ftrange people, of the Zidonians, Ammonites, and. Moabites, which had remained from the times of Solemon, and which he built for his wives, 1 Kings xi. 7, 8. and the high places; built for idols; for as for thofe on which the true God was worfhipped, they were not removed in his days, 1 Kings xv. 14. and brake down the images; or ftatues, or-pillars, erected to the honour of idols, and on which the images of them were placed: and cut down the groves; in the midft us build thefe cities; which he, no doubt, larly mentioned _by name, and pointed at;

y¥. 22. And the reft of the acts of Abijah, and bis ways, and bis fayings, &c.] Not only his warlike actions, and his courfe of life, but fome remarkable fayings of his, he being a man of wifdom and eloquence, as his above {peech fhews; are written in the ftory of the prophet Iddo, who might write the hiftory of his own times; fee 1 Kings xy. 7.

Judah, the high places and the images, 8cc.| Perhaps the high places in ¥. 3. defign only the high places and altars in ferufalem, and near it; thele in all the reft of the cities of the land; the émages were, as the word fignifies, /uz-images, either made in the form of the fun, or dedicated to it, or temples for it; fee the note on Lev. xxvi. 30, and the kingdom was quiet before him; he had no foreign enemy to moleft him, and fo took that opportunity to reform divine worfhip, and in that he met with no oppofition from his people. *

¥. 6. And he built fenced cities in Judah, &c.] for his defence again{ft the kingdom of J/rae/ and other nations, as Reboboam had done before him; and which might have been demolifhed by Shifbak king of Egypt, when he took them, ch. xi. 5—12. and xii. 4. for the land had reff, according to the Targum, the land of J/rael refted, and gave no. difturbance to the kingdom of ‘fudab, not having recovered the blow given them by Abijabs but it is rather to be underftood of the land of Fudab, which, as it did not attempt the reduction of the 10 tribes, fo it was neither attacked by them, nor any other enemy, and he had no war in thofe years; in the 10 years mentioned, ¥ 1. neither with J rael nor any other nation: decaufe the Lord bad given him refi; that he might be at leifure to do the above things; all reft is from the Lord, civil, — fpiritual and eternal.. ae y¥. 7. Therefore be faid unto Fudab, &c.| To the nobles and principal men of the kingdom: j repair and fortify them, and put them into

¥. 4. And commanded Fudab to feek the Lord God of their fathers, &c.] To pray to him, and him only, and attend his worfhip and fervice; this he did by a public edict: and to do the law and the ‘commandment, to oblerve all the laws of God, mocondition of, defence: and make about chem valls and towers, gates and bars; which are alway: to fortified places, to protect the ds keep out an enemy: while the land in our power, no enemy in it, nm

¥. 5. Alfo he took away out of all the cities of we have fought him, and he bath 3 in habit: ot: or moleft, Lecaufe we have fought the Le