The pride and the fall

2 Chronicles 13:1-22 TNIV

In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, Abijah became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maakah, a daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. Abijah went into battle with an army of four hundred thousand able fighting men, and Jeroboam drew up a battle line against him with eight hundred thousand able troops.

Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Jeroboam and all Israel, listen to me! Don’t you 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? Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, an official of Solomon son of David, rebelled against his master. Some worthless scoundrels gathered around him and opposed Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young and indecisive and not strong enough to resist them.

“And now you plan to resist the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hands of David’s descendants. You are indeed a vast army and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made to be your gods. But didn’t you drive out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and make priests of your own as the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest of what are not gods.

“As for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests who serve the Lord are sons of Aaron, and the Levites assist them. Every morning and evening they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the Lord. They set out the bread on the ceremonially clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. We are observing the requirements of the Lord our God. But you have forsaken him. God is with us; he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. People of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed.”

Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah the ambush was behind them. Judah turned and saw that they were being attacked at both front and rear. Then they cried out to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets and the men of Judah raised the battle cry. At the sound of their battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands. Abijah and his troops inflicted heavy losses on them, so that there were five hundred thousand casualties among Israel’s able men. The Israelites were subdued on that occasion, and the men of Judah were victorious because they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took from him the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephron, with their surrounding villages. Jeroboam did not regain power during the time of Abijah. And the Lord struck him down and he died.

But Abijah grew in strength. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

The other events of Abijah’s reign, what he did and what he said, are written in the annotations of the prophet Iddo.

My thoughts -

Abijah was Solomon's grandson, David's great-grandson. Here we are, just a few generations removed from David, and just the fifth generation of kings (Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboam/Jeroboam, and Abijah) and Judah and Israel have already split into two kingdoms, neither of which have done a really good job of following the Lord. Solomon was faithful for most of his reign but strayed and worshipped other gods towards the end. Rehoboam was proud and refused to listen to the elders which led to the rebellion led by Jeroboam and then ultimately to this confrontation.

So what brought us to this place? Solomon the wise's son proved to be not so wise in his early years ruling. He made a mistake and didn't listen to good council of the elders, rejecting it for that of his peers. Israel, as a result of this, felt that they no longer had a share of the house of David and left to do their own thing, led by their new king Jeroboam. Rehoboam was proud and wouldn't listen. Israel was proud and wouldn't stay. Jeroboam was proud and rejected the Lord and Israel's heritage. Look at what this new kingdom has done:

"Don’t you 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? Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, an official of Solomon son of David, rebelled against his master. Some worthless scoundrels gathered around him and opposed Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young and indecisive and not strong enough to resist them.

“And now you plan to resist the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hands of David’s descendants. You are indeed a vast army and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made to be your gods. But didn’t you drive out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and make priests of your own as the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest of what are not gods."

Now Israel is here, preparing to fight against the very God that delivered them from Egypt and who has given them victory after victory over their enemies. Abijah points this out to Jeroboam but he will have none of it. He sees the size of his own army and may be too far removed from Saul and David to understand what he is really up against. His pride says that he can win and so he fights against this warning.

And then he and his army are routed, Jeroboam's reign ends and he dies.

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