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 Chapter XIII.
1, 2 (= 1 Kings xv. 1, 2).
Abijah succeeds.

¹In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam

began Abijah to reign over Judah.
1. Abijah] Called Abijam in 1 Kings (LXX. Ἀβιού, i.e. Abijahu).

²Three years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his

mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of
Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between
Abijah and Jeroboam.
2. Micaiah] Read with LXX., Maacah; compare note on xi. 20.
Torrey, however, (Ezra Studies, p. 217) suggests that some words
have fallen out of the text through similarity of ending. He would read
“And his mother’s name was Maacah <daughter of Absalom, and he
took to wife> Maacah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah”: the
inconsistency as to Maacah’s parentage between this verse and xi.
20 would disappear, and the suggestion that Maacah was grand-
daughter of Absalom (see xi. 20, note) would be unnecessary.

3‒20 (no parallel in 1 Kings).

The Battle of Zemaraim.

The account of Abijah’s astonishing triumph over the host of

Jeroboam should be compared with xiv. 9‒15 (Asa’s victory) and xx.
1‒30 (Jehoshaphat’s victory; see Introduction pp. xlix f.), passages
which like the present are nowhere else recorded, and are
essentially unhistorical. No reliance can be placed on the high
numbers of the opposing armies (verse 3), on the pious speech
ascribed to king Abijah which neatly and forcibly expresses the
ecclesiastical view of schismatic Israel held by the Chronicler and his
school (verses 4‒12), or on the appalling carnage wrought in the
Israelite army (verse 17). The tale, in fact, is of a markedly midrashic
character, i.e. a narrative intended to edify and not to be treated as
serious history. But in all such cases it is fair to distinguish between
the form and the substance: at least the bare substance of the tale.
Thus in the present instance the judgement stated above does not
preclude the possibility that war took place between Abijah and
Jeroboam, and that the former gained a useful success over the
more powerful Northern Kingdom. The absence from Kings of any
mention of such victory is a serious objection; but it is not fatal,
unless we take the view—objected to in the Introduction § 5—that
the Chronicler had absolutely no sources, oral or written, of the
faintest value for pre-exilic days apart from the canonical writings.
Yet it must be admitted that it would be not unnatural to the workings
of the Chronicler’s mind to infer that some signal success must have
rewarded so near a descendant of David if only to compensate in
part for Rehoboam’s disastrous reign and at any rate to punish the
glaring iniquity of a schismatic and idolatrous Israel. Judging from
the brief account of Abijah in 1 Kings xv. 1‒7, we may conclude that
the continued hostility between North and South was a fact, but that
it is extremely improbable there was a reliable tradition (if any at all)
regarding a great Judean victory in his reign: see note on Zemaraim
below.

³And Abijah joined battle with an army of

valiant men of war, even four hundred
thousand chosen men: and Jeroboam set the
battle in array against him with eight hundred
thousand chosen men, who were mighty men
of valour.
 3. four hundred thousand ... eight hundred thousand] The
numbers are of course vastly in excess of any historic possibility;
compare the notes on xi. 1, xiv. 8, and especially that on xvii. 14.

⁴And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim,

which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and
said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel;
4. Abijah stood up] Abijah attempts conference before beginning
civil war, not simply because his was the weaker side numerically but
because he had a telling appeal to make to the revolted tribes
(verses 8, 12). Jeroboam breaks off the conference after using it to
cover his stratagem (verse 13).

Zemaraim] A Zemaraim is mentioned in Joshua xviii. 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. The tradition that a battle took place
here between North and South, and perhaps between Abijah and
Jeroboam, may be correct.

⁵ought ye not to know that the Lord, the God

of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to
David for ever, even to him and to his sons by
a covenant of salt? ⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of
Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of
David, rose up, and rebelled against his lord.
5. a covenant of salt] Salt was necessary for the efficacy of a
sacrifice (Leviticus ii. 13), so that Covenant of salt became a phrase
for a sure covenant (Numbers xviii. 19). The sacredness of the bond
which is acknowledged among the Arabs between two persons who
have “eaten salt” together as host and guest is common knowledge.
It is not, however, necessary that salt should be taken; any food, e.g.
milk, will serve (W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 270).
 ⁷And there were gathered unto him vain men,
sons of Belial ¹, which strengthened
themselves against Rehoboam the son of
Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and
tenderhearted, and could not withstand them.
⁸And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of
the Lord in the hand of the sons of David;
and ye be a great multitude, and there are
with you the golden calves which Jeroboam
made you for gods.
¹ That is, worthlessness.

7. sons of Belial] margin sons of worthlessness. The general

sense “worthless persons” or rather “vile scoundrels” (for gross
wickedness is implied) is clear, but the precise meaning of Belial has
not yet been determined. The etymology of the word is quite
obscure, see Encyclopedia Biblia I. 525 f.

young] Literally a child. If this word is to be literally understood,

the statement made is inconsistent with xii. 13, where it is said that
Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign. It is
possible, however, that the word is used metaphorically to describe
one who was young (as indeed his conduct showed) in experience of
government; so Solomon (1 Kings iii. 7) calls himself a little child, by
which he meant simply to express his consciousness of the
smallness of his own ability when compared with the greatness of
the task which lay before him, compare 1 Chronicles xxix. 1. A
similar difficulty arises in regard to the age of Solomon, see
Encyclopedia Britannica s.v. Solomon.

tenderhearted] i.e., according to Hebrew phraseology, weak in

understanding, the heart being considered to be the seat of the
mind. Or we may translate the Hebrew phrase as in Deuteronomy
xx. 8, fainthearted.

⁹Have ye not driven out the priests of the

Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and
have made you priests after the manner of the
peoples 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.
9. driven out] see note on xi. 14.

after the manner of the peoples of other lands] i.e. who, unlike
Israel, had no special class from which alone their priests were
taken. Possibly, following the LXX., we should read from the people
of the land (i.e. anyone who chose to apply, whether a Levite or not),
compare 1 Kings xii. 31, xiii. 33.

to consecrate himself] Literally to fill his hand. Moses is directed

(Exodus xxix. 1 ff.) to ordain Aaron and his sons priests by three
ceremonies: (1) by anointing them, (2) by filling their hands, i.e. by
presenting them with victims upon which they laid their hands, (3) by
hallowing them, i.e. by sprinkling some of the blood of the victim
upon them.

a young bullock and seven rams] Aaronic priests were

consecrated with a young bullock and two rams (Exodus xxix. 1).

¹⁰But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we

have not forsaken him; and we have priests
ministering unto the Lord, the sons of Aaron,
and the Levites in their work:
 10. in their work] sc. ministering unto the Lord, as above. Part of
the ideal of the Priestly Code was that the Levites should be
restricted to the duty of helping the priests, and should be prevented
from executing priestly functions themselves. With this ideal the
Chronicler plainly sympathised, but it could not always be realised.

¹¹and they burn unto the Lord every morning

and every evening burnt offerings and sweet
incense: the shewbread 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 the Lord
our God; but ye have forsaken him.
11. every morning and every evening] Exodus xxix. 38‒42.

sweet incense] Exodus xxx. 7.

the shewbread also set they in order] Literally and an ordering of

bread [they set in order]. The Hebrew phrase used here for
“shewbread” signifies bread arranged as for an offering. Another
term is “bread of the presence,” i.e. bread set forth continually before
the Lord (Exodus xxv. 30). See 1 Chronicles ix. 32 (note).

the candlestick] Exodus xxv. 31 ff., xl. 24, 25.

¹²And, 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 the Lord, the God of your
fathers; for ye shall not prosper.
12. the trumpets of alarm] (Numbers x. 9). Abijah here threatens
his opponents with a jihād or holy war.
 ¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to
come about behind them: so they were before
Judah, and the ambushment was behind
them. ¹⁴And when Judah looked back, behold,
the battle was before and behind them: and
they cried unto the Lord, and the priests
sounded with the trumpets.
13. Jeroboam caused an ambushment] While Abijah was
endeavouring to shake the fidelity of the Northern army, the Northern
leader secures a tactical advantage. The greater the advantages of
the Israelites and the more disastrous the position ascribed to the
army of Judah, so much the more glorious is the victory which Judah
achieves by its reliance on Jehovah.

¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as

the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass,
that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before
Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶And the children of Israel
fled before Judah: and God delivered them
into their hand.
15. gave a shout] This shout had the character of a religious
function; compare Joshua vi. 10, 16; Judges vii. 20, where the same
Hebrew word is used.

God smote Jeroboam] Compare xiv. 12. Supernatural aid

secures the victory.

¹⁷And Abijah and his people slew them with a

great slaughter: so there fell down slain of
Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.
 17. The Chronicler has little or no interest in military matters as
such, and is heedless of probability so far as the numbers he
mentions are concerned. They must be sufficiently immense to
enhance the power of Jehovah and to convey the impression that
the days of old were mighty days. Comparison has been made with
the phrase “a hundred and twenty thousand in one day” (xxviii. 6),
and from the absence of the words “in one day,” it has been argued
that the present passage refers to the losses of the whole campaign.
Even so the figure, 500,000, is an immense exaggeration.

¹⁸Thus the children of Israel were brought

under at that time, and the children of Judah
prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord,
the God of their fathers.
18. because they relied] Compare note on xii. 2.

¹⁹And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and

took cities from him, Beth-el with the towns
thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof,
19. Beth-el] Beth-el was apparently subsequently recovered by
the Northern Kingdom; compare 2 Kings x. 29. But, as it is very
doubtful whether this section has any historical basis (see the head-
note, xiii. 3), Beth-el may never have come under the rule of Abijah
as is here stated. Nothing is said, be it noted, of the capture of the
golden calf.

Jeshanah] Nothing is certainly known of this place, which is

mentioned here only. It has been identified with Ain Sīnia, a little to
the north of Beth-el.

Ephron] so the Kethīb, whereas the Authorized Version following

the Ḳerī has Ephrain. Ephrain is a later form of the name Ephron, as
Shamrain (Ezra iv. 10, 17) is of Shomron (Samaria). The place has
been identified with eṭ-Ṭaiyebeh, a place south-east of Ain Sīnia and
north-east of Beitin (Beth-el). It was probably the city called Ephraim,
to which our Lord retired after the raising of Lazarus (John xi. 54).

²⁰and Ephron ¹ with the towns thereof. Neither

did Jeroboam recover strength again in the
days of Abijah: and the Lord smote him, and
he died.
¹ Another reading is, Ephrain.

20. the Lord smote him, and he died] The same phrase is used
of the death of Nabal (1 Samuel xxv. 38); it implies suddenness or
some other unusual circumstance (compare Acts xii. 23, the death of
Herod Agrippa). 1 Kings xiv. 20 says simply Jeroboam ... slept with
his fathers.

21, 22.
The Epilogue of Abijah’s Reign.

²¹But Abijah waxed mighty, and took unto

himself fourteen wives, and begat twenty and
two sons, and sixteen daughters.
21. fourteen wives] The many wives are mentioned here as a
symbol of the wealth and state of Abijah.

²²And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his

ways, and his sayings, are written in the
commentary of the prophet Iddo.
22. his ways] The Chronicler takes a much more favourable view
of Abijah than Kings, where it is said of him that “he walked in all the
sins of his father...” (1 Kings xv. 3), and received favour from
Jehovah only on account of the merits of David. Evidently the
Chronicler deemed it fitting to fasten on the fact of the favour,
perhaps because he felt it imperative that Jeroboam should receive
from the next king of Judah the punishment for his sins which
Rehoboam could not inflict.

in the commentary] Hebrew Midrash. See Introduction, § 5, p.

xxxi.

Iddo] See note on ix. 29.

Chapter XIV.
1‒5 (compare 1 Kings xv. 9‒15).
The Religious Policy of Asa.

In Kings the reign of Asa is reviewed with entire approval,

according to Chronicles his conduct was marred only by the lack of
faith manifested in his reliance on the king of Syria (see xvi. 1‒10),
and in his recourse to physicians at the close of his reign (xvi. 12).

¹So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they

buried him in the city of David, and Asa his
son reigned in his stead: in his days the land
was quiet ten years. ²And Asa did that which
was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his
God:
1. ten years] These ten years of rest are naturally to be assigned
to the beginning of Asa’s reign; later on there was a rest of twenty
years (compare xv. 10 with xv. 19). The number ten here makes a
discrepancy with 1 Kings, for Baasha became king of Israel in the
third year of Asa (1 Kings xv. 28, 33), and “there was war between
Asa and Baasha all their days” (1 Kings xv. verse 32). If, however,
we allow some latitude to the language both of 1 Kings and of
Chronicles, the discrepancy becomes unimportant.

³for he took away the strange altars, and the

high places, and brake down the pillars ¹, and
hewed down the Asherim; ⁴and commanded
Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their
fathers, and to do the law and the
commandment.
¹ Or, obelisks.

3. he took away] In 1 Kings xv. 12, 13 he is said to have put away

the sodomites, and all the idols that his fathers had made; and also
“the abominable image” which Maacah, his mother, had made.
These remarks are here ignored by the Chronicler, probably because
they would be out of harmony with the comparatively pious character
he has ascribed to Asa’s predecessors, Rehoboam and Abijah. They
are given, however, in xv. 16, 17, where see note.

the strange altars] i.e. altars belonging to gods other than

Jehovah.

and the high places] a direct contradiction of 1 Kings xv. 14,

where it is said “But the high places were not taken away:
nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with the Lord all his
days.” This remarkable contrast affords a vivid illustration of the
different standpoints of Kings and Chronicles In Kings the removal of
the high-places is the great reform of later days effected by Hezekiah
(1 Kings xviii. 4, 22), by Josiah (2 Kings xxiii. 8). To the Chronicler,
who believed that the law centralising the worship of Jehovah in
Jerusalem was in force from the Mosaic age, the abolition of the
high-places was felt to be a minimum of reform and must surely have
been carried out by any king with a claim to piety. See also the note
on xv. 17.

the pillars] LXX. τὰς στήλας. The “pillar” or “obelisk,” Hebrew

Maṣṣēbāh, was a monolith standing by an altar as a symbol of the
god worshipped at the altar. In later days an image took the place of
the pillar, i.e. the mere symbol was succeeded by the likeness of the
god. (W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites², pp. 203 ff., and for
illustrations of those recently discovered at Gezer see Macalister,
Bible Side-lights, or Driver, Modern Research as illustrating the
Bible, p. 63.)

and hewed down the Asherim] An Ashērah (plural Ashērim and

Ashēroth) was a wooden pole planted beside an altar as the symbol
of a deity. It appears to have been a survival of tree-worship, as the
Maṣṣēbāh was a survival of stone-worship. The Ashērah of itself did
not represent any particular deity, but it could be carved to bear the
symbol of any special god or goddess, e.g. of Ashtarte. (W. R. Smith,
Religion of the Semites², pp. 186 ff.) Probably the term Ashērah was
used in reference to the living sacred trees, which are still common
in Palestine: see the present writer’s edition of the Mishna tractate,
‘Aboda Zara, pp. 60 f.

⁵Also he took away out of all the cities of

Judah the high places and the sun-images:
and the kingdom was quiet before him.
5. the sun-images] Compare xxxiv. 4; Isaiah xvii. 8, xxvii. 9. The
Hebrew word (“ḥamman”) is of uncertain meaning and the supposed
connection with heat or the sun is unsatisfactory. On the whole the
evidence points to the conclusion that the “ḥamman” was a stone
pillar associated with the altar, and much the same as the
“Maṣṣēbāh,” the difference perhaps being that the former was
artificially shaped, the latter was of natural stone (see article Baal in
Hastings’ Dictionary of Religion and Ethics, pp. 287, 288).
 6‒8.
Defensive Measures of Asa.

From xvi. 1‒6 = 1 Kings xv. 17‒22, it appears that there was a
strong and probably a reliable tradition ascribing to Asa activity in
building defensive townships in Judah. It is likely that the present
verses with their vague reference to strongly built cities with no
mention of their number or names are only an expansion of the more
precise references in xvi. 6. The Chronicler has assigned the
narrative given in xvi. 1‒6 (the war with Baasha) to the close of Asa’s
reign (for reasons noted under xvi. 1), and he obviously wanted
something to occupy the ten years of peace with which—according
to his story—the reign of Asa opened. This is conveniently found in a
general allusion to building and fortification.

⁶And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the

land was quiet, and he had no war in those
years; because the Lord had given him rest.
⁷For he said unto Judah, Let us build these
cities, and make about them walls, and
towers, gates, and bars; the land is yet before
us, because we have sought the Lord our
God; we have sought him, and he hath given
us rest on every side. So they built and
prospered. ⁸And Asa had an army that bare
bucklers and spears, out of Judah three
hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that
bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and
fourscore thousand: all these were mighty
men of valour.
 8. that bare bucklers and spears ... that bare shields and drew
bows] LXX., δύναμις ὁπλοφόρων (= ὁπλιτῶν) αἰρόντων θυρεοὺς καὶ
δόρατα ... πελτασταὶ καὶ τοξόται. The Chronicler divides Asa’s army
into the heavy-armed men belonging to Judah and the light-armed
bowmen belonging to Benjamin. Asa apparently had no chariots.
“Bucklers” and “shields” should be transposed as in ix. 15.

of Judah three hundred thousand ... of Benjamin ... two hundred

and fourscore thousand] The total is 580,000. Under Asa’s
successor, Jehoshaphat, the numbers are (xvii. 14‒18), Judah
780,000, Benjamin 380,000, making a total of 1,160,000, i.e. twice
the total given above. The moral which the Chronicler would enforce
by these figures seems to be that Judah was strong in the early days
of Asa, while Asa showed faith in God, and that it became still
stronger under his really religious successor, Jehoshaphat.
Regarding the exaggeration of these figures, see the notes on xi. 1,
and xvii. 14.

9‒15 (no parallel in Kings).

Asa’s victory over Zerah: the Battle of Mareshah.

The present passage has much the same midrashic character as

the account of Abijah’s victory related in the previous chapter, and
some scholars consider that the story of the raid and defeat of Zerah
has no basis in fact. It is, however, more probable that it originates in
a genuine tradition of the repulse of some Egyptian, or rather
Arabian (see note, verse 9), inroad, not necessarily, however, in the
time of Asa: compare the Introduction § 7, p. l.

⁹And there came out against them Zerah the

Ethiopian with an army of a thousand
thousand, and three hundred chariots; and he
came unto Mareshah.
9. against them] We should expect either against him (i.e. Asa) or
against Judah. Perhaps this account has been torn out from some
older document without regard to the context, so that the reference
of them is lost. Compare notes on verses 12, 13, 14.

Zerah the Ethiopian] Rather, Zerah the Cushite (“man of Cush”).

Cush (Genesis x. 7) was the ancestor of certain Arabian tribes,
including Saba, see 1 Chronicles i. 9; and Arabians and Cushites
(“Ethiopians” Authorized Version, also Revised Version) are
mentioned as neighbours (2 Chronicles xxi. 16). It is therefore highly
probable that the leader of the inroad was an Arabian (Sabean) and
not an Ethiopian. (Compare S. A. Cook in Expository Times June,
1906, p. 541, against Petrie, History of Egypt.) Zerah perhaps
represents Dhirrīh (Zirrīh), a title (meaning “the magnificent”) of
several of the oldest princes of Saba. The tradition may therefore be
brought into connection with the many indications in Chronicles of
Arabian incursions on the southern borders of Judah. Mareshah,
where the battle was fought (verse 9), was one of the ancient seats
of the Calebites from which they were driven northwards (compare 1
Chronicles ii.). Those who prefer to regard Cushite as = Ethiopian—
see 1 Chronicles i. 8—and Zerah as an Egyptian king, have to
suppose that “Ethiopian” is applied to him loosely and somewhat
ignorantly; and further, as no king of Egypt is so named, that Zerah
must denote Osorkon I or II, or perhaps be the name of a general of
Osorkon. From xvi. 8 (see the note on Lubim) it would seem
probable that the Chronicler believed Zerah’s host to be an Egyptian
force.

a thousand thousand] An inroad of the “children of the East” was

formidable from sheer weight of numbers. We may gather from xvi. 8
that the original assailants were joined by other hordes as they drew
near the border of Judah. The number a thousand thousand is
probably meant to signify that the host was too great to number; it is,
of course, not to be taken literally.

three hundred chariots] The chariots, though comparatively few,

are mentioned, (1) perhaps because Asa himself had none,
(2) perhaps also because they represent an Egyptian contingent.
This suggestion receives support from xvi. 8, where the Lubim
(compare xii. 3) are associated with the Cushites in the invasion. The
cowardly foreign policy of Egypt may have led her on this occasion
to defend her own borders from the barbarian hordes by
encouraging them to invade her neighbour’s territories.

The reading three hundred is supported by the LXX. and is

probably right. The reading of the Peshitṭa, “thirty thousand,” and the
wording of xvi. 8, “with exceeding many chariots and horsemen,”
seem like a retouching of the narrative to make the number of the
chariots and horsemen correspond with the number of the whole
host.

Mareshah] See note on xi. 8.

¹⁰Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set

the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at
Mareshah. ¹¹And Asa cried unto the Lord his
God, and said, Lord, there is none ¹ beside ²
thee to help, between the mighty and him that
hath no strength: help us, O Lord our God;
for we rely on thee, and in thy name are we
come against this multitude. O Lord, thou art
our God; let not man prevail against thee.
¹ Or, there is no difference with thee to help, whether the
mighty or him &c.

² Or, like.

10. in the valley] Probably the valley in which Beit-Jibrin now

stands, one of several valleys giving access from the Shephelah into
central Judah (G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land,
pp. 230‒233). In such a place a large force might easily be
discomfited by a few resolute men (compare 2 Samuel xvii. 9, 10).
 of Zephathah at Mareshah] Render with LXX., north of
Mareshah (reading Ṣaphonah for Zephathah). No valley or town
called “Zephathah” is known.

¹²So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before

Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians
fled.
12. the Lord smote] Compare xiii. 15. The use of The Name,
Jehovah (translated The Lord), instead of the general word “God”
here and in verses 13, 14 is in favour of the view that the Chronicler
took this account from some earlier document, perhaps a midrashic
history of Judah (Introduction § 5, p. xxxvi).

the Ethiopians] Rather, the Cushites.

¹³And Asa and the people that were with him

pursued them unto Gerar: and there fell of the
Ethiopians so many ¹ that they could not
recover themselves; for they were destroyed ²
before the Lord, and before his host; and
they carried away very much booty.
¹ Or, so that none remained alive. ² Hebrew broken.

13. Gerar] Identified with Jerār, ruins three hours south of Gaza;
compare 1 Chronicles iv. 39 (read “Gerar,” LXX. Γέραρα),

so many that they could not recover themselves] Or perhaps, as

margin, so that none remained alive.

very much booty] The phrase used belongs to a style earlier than
that of the Chronicler. Compare note on verse 9 (against them).
 ¹⁴And they smote all the cities round about
Gerar; for the fear of the Lord ¹ came upon
them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there
was much spoil in them.
¹ Or, a terror from the Lord.

14. the fear of the Lord] The Chroniclers own phrase is “the fear
of God” (xx. 29).

much spoil] Again we miss a favourite expression of the

Chronicler: “exceeding (lārōbh) much spoil.”

¹⁵They smote also the tents of cattle, and

carried away sheep in abundance and camels,
and returned to Jerusalem.
15. the tents of cattle] These words are so strange an expression
that it is probable the text is corrupt. If so, the original reading is
unknown, for the LXX. has the same reading as the Hebrew It adds
a proper name, evidently intended as the name of an Arabian tribe,
but this addition appears to be a gloss derived from a reading of the
LXX. in xxii. 1.
 Chapter XV.
1‒15 (no parallel in Kings).
The Prophecy of Azariah the Son of Oded and its Sequel.

¹And the spirit of God came upon Azariah

the son of Oded:
1. Azariah the son of Oded] is mentioned only in this passage.
Compare xvi. 7, where a prophet (Hanani), also known to us only
through Chronicles, delivers a rebuke to Asa.

²and he went out to meet Asa, and said unto

him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and
Benjamin: the Lord is with you, while ye be
with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found
of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake
you.
2. went out to meet] Compare xix. 2.

if ye seek him] compare 1 Chronicles xxviii. 9.

Verses 3‒6 contain the reflections of the Chronicler himself or a

glossator on the whole course of Israelite history. The wording is too
vague and there are periods in the history too obscure to make it
possible to determine the reference definitely.

³Now for long seasons ¹ Israel hath been

without the true God, and without a teaching
 priest, and without law: ⁴but when in their
distress they turned unto the Lord, the God of
Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
¹ Or, a long season.

3. without a teaching priest, and without law] The connection

between these two is closer than the English suggests. “Law”
(Hebrew tōrah) is properly “teaching, guidance.” A “teaching” priest
(Hebrew mōreh) is one who gives “tōrah” or “guidance” on doubtful
points of morality or ritual. Compare Malachi ii. 7.

⁵And in those times there was no peace to him

that went out, nor to him that came in, but
great vexations were upon all the inhabitants
of the lands.
5. vexations] Rather, afflictions; compare Acts xii. 1, “to vex
(Revised Version ‘to afflict’) certain of the church.”

of the lands] The reference is probably to the Israelite territory

only; compare xi. 23, xxxiv. 33; and 1 Chronicles xiii. 2 (margin).

⁶And they were broken in pieces, nation

against nation, and city against city: for God
did vex them with all adversity.
6. nation against nation] Apparently Israel is meant. In the civil
strife of the days of the Judges, and again in the contentions of the
Northern and Southern Kingdoms, Israel seemed at times to be a
collection of related but hostile tribes: compare Judges viii. 13‒17, ix.
26 ff., xii. 1 ff., xx. 12 ff.

vex] Rather, afflict; see verse 5.