GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 13:19-14:1
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19 Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took towns from him: Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephron, along with their surrounding villages. 20 Jeroboam did not regain power during the time of Abijah. Then the LORD struck him down and he died.
According to 1 Kings 15:9, Jeroboam actually outlived Abijah by about one year. But his death was the Lord’s doing. The loss of the towns of Jeshanah and Ephron in the region of Benjamin was a hard loss, but to lose Bethel was worse. Bethel was the location of one of Jeroboam’s shrines to his calf god (and perhaps his addition goat-idols, 2 Chronicles 11:15). This was the Lord’s own commentary on the religion of the northern tribes. Their gods could not protect themselves, let alone the people. Those idols were nothing at all; worthless and useless, they had to be nailed down so that they wouldn’t topple over (Isaiah 41:7).
It is a dramatic moment to be told that the Lord actually struck a man dead, but we see this happening at other times, most memorably, perhaps, when Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Lord about their offerings and were put to death (Acts 5), and when Aaron’s sons were struck down for their wicked behavior in the tabernacle on the very day of their ordination as the first priests of Israel (Leviticus 10:1-2). And of course there were the people killed in Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16:32-33).
21 Abijah grew strong. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. 22 The other acts of Abijah’s reign, what he did and what he said, are written in the annotations of the prophet Iddo.
As with almost all of the kings of Israel and Judah, there was a blind spot about the sin of adultery, polygamy, and the law specifically forbidding kings to marry multiple wives (Deuteronomy 17:17). A question about this is, how would a king, or any man, already married to several women, handle this situation once he learned that he had sinned? Does he simply divorce all of the wives he married after the first one, letting them remarry as they wanted to? A problem with that with a king in particular is that an unscrupulous man might marry one of those wives– former queens of the land– and claim the throne for himself. If that woman had a worthy son, he might even gain support from the nation if he named the boy to be his heir or even co-king.
David faced a problem when ten of his wives were violated while he was away from the city. He put them away in a special house where they and their children would be cared for, but he no longer slept with them as his wives, and they were not permitted to depart or remarry. “They were kept in confinement till the day of their death, living as widows” (2 Samuel 20:3). The author presents the number of Abijah’s sons and daughters as a blessing, for children are always a blessing (Psalm 127:5).
In verse 22 we have a reference to the “annotations” of the prophet Iddo. The word is midrash, a term that is still used by modern Jews for a commentary or study of some part of the Bible. This is one of the few times the word appears in the text of the Bible (see also 2 Chronicles 24:27). Evidently Iddo the Seer (prophet) studied and took notes about the reigns of Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah and perhaps Asa. If this is the same man that was the ancestor of the prophet Zechariah, then references to him bookend the whole period of the divided kingdom, since he recorded the earliest days of the divided kingdom, and his descendant Zechariah recorded many things about the return from exile after the kingdom was ended (see Ezra 5:1; 6:14; Zechariah 1:1 and 1:7).
14:1 And Abijah rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. Asa his son succeeded him as king, and in his days the land was at peace for ten years.
Asa reigned a total of 41 years (1 Kings 15:9-10). Here we learn that the first ten of these were years of peace. Of course, an important part of that peace was the victory Asas father Abijah was given by the Lord over Jeroboam.
King Asa’s time on the throne I’s important for several reasons. His was the first reign in the divided kingdom that is described as being “good and right in the eyes of the Lord.” We will hear more about this in the verses immediately following this.
Asa’s reign was a blessing to God’s people. Two long periods of peace were interrupted just once with war (14:9-13). Those times of peace allowed the people to prosper and to become used to a very godly king once again.
Asa’s long reign is also helpful to students of the Bible who wish to understand the chronology that is presented by the Holy Spirit. Six kings of Israel have their reigns synchronized (dated in comparison) to his reign, and so his reign provides important information about those other reigns. There will also be something to be learned about an illness that Asa would have late in life that informs us about the reign of his son, Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 16:12).
God preserved his people during the days of these kings. Abijah’s death probably brought confusion and fear among the people of Judah, after such a short time on the throne. But Abijah may have struggled with a pure faith (as we will learn), and sometimes the Lord calls a person home to heaven while their faith is still intact, even though it might be a hardship to spouse, family, or kingdom. The Lord has our eternal good in mind above all things. Perhaps this can be a comfort to some who have lost a loved one seemingly too soon. We bow before God’s holy will, and we love him and praise him that he has our eternal good in mind above all else. Whatever is good for my eternal soul, whatever is best for God’s holy kingdom, whatever is best for God’s will in the world– let this be done. “Stand firm in all the will of God” (Colossians 4:12). He will bring about what is truly good, and always what is best.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 13:19-14:1 A new king