May 25th 2
Chronicles 13 Abijah rules Judah
1: Now in the
eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. 2:
He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was
Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between
Abijah and Jeroboam. 3: And Abijah set the battle in array with an
army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men:
Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred
thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valour. 4: And Abijah stood
up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me,
thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; 5: Ought ye not to know that the LORD
God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to
him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? 6: Yet Jeroboam the son of
Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath
rebelled against his lord. 7: And there are gathered unto him vain
men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against
Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and
tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. 8: And 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 golden calves,
which Jeroboam made you for gods. 9: Have ye not cast out the priests
of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you
priests after the manner of the nations 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. 10: But as
for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the
priests, which minister unto the LORD, are the sons of Aaron, and the
Levites wait upon their business: 11: And they burn unto the LORD
every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices 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.
12: And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his
priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children
of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye
shall not prosper. 13: But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come
about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was
behind them. 14: And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was
before and behind: and they cried unto the LORD, and the priests
sounded with the trumpets. 15: Then 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. 16: And the children
of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand.
17: And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so
there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. 18:
Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the
children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the LORD God of
their fathers. 19: And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities
from him, Bethel with the towns thereof, and Jeshnah with the towns
thereof, and Ephrain with the towns thereof. 20: Neither did Jeroboam
recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck
him, and he died. 21: But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen
wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters. 22: And
the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are
written in the story of the prophet Iddo.
2 Chronicles
14 Asa rules Judah
1: So 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. 2: And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of
the LORD his God: 3: For he took away the altars of the strange gods,
and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the
groves: 4: And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers,
and to do the law and the commandment. 5: Also he took away out of
all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the
kingdom was quiet before him. 6: And he built fenced cities in Judah:
for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the
LORD had given him rest. 7: Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us
build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and
bars, while 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. 8: And Asa had an army of men that
bare targets 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. 9: And there
came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand
thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah. 10:
Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in
the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11: And Asa cried unto the LORD
his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether
with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God;
for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O
LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. 12: So the
LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the
Ethiopians fled. 13: And Asa and the people that were with him
pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that
they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the
LORD, and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil. 14:
And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the
LORD came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was
exceeding much spoil in them. 15: They smote also the tents of
cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned
to Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles
15 Asa’s reforms in Judah
1: And the Spirit
of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: 2: And 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. 3:
Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and
without a teaching priest, and without law. 4: But when they in their
trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was
found of them. 5: And 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 countries. 6: And nation was destroyed of
nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. 7:
Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work
shall be rewarded. 8: And when Asa heard these words, and the
prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the
abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out
of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the
altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD. 9: And he
gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of
Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of
Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with
him. 10: So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the
third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11: And they
offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had
brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. 12: And they
entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with
all their heart and with all their soul; 13: That whosoever would not
seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or
great, whether man or woman. 14: And they sware unto the LORD with a
loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
15: And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all
their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found
of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about. 16: And also
concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from
being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut
down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. 17:
But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless
the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. 18: And he brought into
the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that
he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19: And
there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign
of Asa.
Today we read of
the life and reign of two kings Abijah and Asa. Both of them were
kings of the southern kingdom Judah. Abijah only reigned for three
years in Jerusalem and there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam the
northern king of Israel. Abijah set his army deployed against him
with 400,000 men of courage in battle. Jeroboam had twice as many men
in his army 800,000 chosen men. Abijah stood to address his enemy
saying don’t you know that the LORD gave the whole kingdom to David
as an everlasting kingdom? But you have risen up against him. And now
you want to come against David’s kingdom even though there are many
of you. You come with your idols and false priesthood. But we stand
here in the name of the LORD. God has not forsaken us and our
Levitical priests continue to wait on the LORD every morning and
evening. We serve the Lord in the Temple but you have forsaken the
Lord. And now look and see that God himself is with us. He is our
captain and his priests sound the alarm against you. So do not fight
against the LORD the God of your ancestors because you will not win
the battle. Jeroboam cunning as ever had sent a secret army to attack
them from behind so Judah realising they were attacked on both sides
called on the LORD for deliverance and all the men of Judah shouted
with a great shout and the LORD struck Jeroboam and all his army.
Abijah killed the northern army with force and it was a great
massacre. 500,000 of the men of Israel were killed. The men of Judah
won the battle because they trusted in the LORD their God. Jeroboam
was struck down by the LORD. Abijah became very strong in his kingdom
he had 14 wives 22 sons and 16 daughters. His story is recorded in
the book of the prophet Iddo. After the death of Abijah Asa reigned
in his place. He had peace for ten years and he was a good king
keeping the law of the Lord. He destroyed the false religion and
smashed the idol groves. He commanded that Judah should seek the LORD
God of their fathers and keep the Law of Moses. He had a great army
but the Ethiopians came to war against him with more than a million
men of arms. Asa went to meet him and deployed his army and he cried
to the LORD to deliver him saying, it is nothing to you to deliver us
even if we are few and weak. Help us O God because we rest on you and
in your name we go. The LORD smote the Ethiopians and they ran away
from the battle. The LORD destroyed them. And the fear of the Lord
came on the enemy and Judah took a great deal of spoils from them.
They never tried to invade again. Then the Spirit of the Lord came on
Azariah the prophet and he went to speak to Asa. Saying if you seek
the LORD, he will be found of you but if you forsake him then he will
forsake you. (How unlike the situation in which Christians are in
Christ says to those who believe in him l will never leave you or
forsake you) The prophet said for a long time the people have had no
true God and no priest to teach them of the ways of the Lord. When
they were in trouble they called on the Lord and he delivered them.
They were times of trouble but now be strong and do not let your
hands be weak because the Lord will reward you of all your work. Asa
was encouraged and brought more reforms clearing out the nation of
all its false cults. He also renewed the altar of the LORD and he
gathered all the wandering people because they left the northern
kingdom seeking the Lord when they heard that the Lord was with
Judah. And they entered into a solemn covenant to seek the Lord of
their fathers with a whole heart and soul. And anyone that refused to
seek the Lord was executed. And they promised themselves to the LORD
their God and they rejoiced greatly in the Lord. And the Lord was
found of them and the Lord gave them peace. Asa demoted his own
mother for having an idol and he destroyed her idol and burnt in. Asa
was perfect before the Lord all his life but his reforms did not
completely cover the whole land. There were still some groves that
were left standing in high hills. Asa had peace for 35 years.
- How would you describe the life of Abijah?
- How would you describe the life of Asa?
- What happened in the life of Azariah?
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