A Journey through the Bible with Tiglath

70. The Second Book of Chronicles, Chapters 13 to 16

Those of you who are travelling with me through the Bible must have

realised that some parts of the journey are more difficult than others. This is

certainly the case as we journey on through the Second Book of

Chronicles. From chapter 10 to 36 the chronicler writes about the kings of

Judah whom, as the sons of David, he considers to be the true kings of the

Jewish nation.

We begin this part of our journey at chapter 13. Jeroboam has been

reigning over Israel for 18 years and Abijah begins to reign over Judah. Soon

there is war between the two kings. Verse 3 describes the size of Abijah' s

army. In verse 4 Abijah announces that God gave Israel to David and his sons

forever. Jeroboam had rebelled against the Lord. In verses 8 and 9 Abijah

accuses Jeroboam of idolatry. As for Israel, it has not forsaken God. He

will go with them into battle.

Verse 13 tells that Jeroboam laid an ambush for the army of Judah. At this

they cried unto the Lord and He heard them. As the Bible states: ' He smote

Jeroboam and all Israel' . There was a great slaughter and Abijah pursued

Jeroboam, capturing some of his cities. Jeroboam never recovered from

this defeat and died soon afterwards. Verse 21 tells us that `Abijah waxed

mighty and married 14 wives and begat 22 sons and 16 daughters.'

We now come to chapter 14, where we find that Abijah has died and Asa, his

son had taken over the throne. He was a good, God fearing king and for many

years there was peace in the kingdom. Asa destroyed the altars and images of

idol worshippers and commanded the people of Judah to seek the Lord. He

had cities in Judah built up and fenced. Verse 8 tells us the size of Asa's

mighty army. He certainly needed it, as Zerah the Ethiopian attacked him

with a very large army. The two armies met in the valley of Zephathah at

Mareshah. At this point in verse 11 we find Asa calling on God for help in

fighting the Ethiopians. God responded to his prayers and smote the

Ethiopians so hard that they fled and much booty was taken from them.

In chaper 15 we meet Azariah, the son of Oded. We are told that the spirit

of God had come upon him. He met Asa and told him to make a covenant

with God and all would be well. Verses 8 to 15 describe how this covenant

was made. The chapter concludes with the removal of Asa' s mother as

queen because of her idolatry.

In the next part of our journey we shall follow Asa to the end of his life and

then look at the reign of Jehoshaphat, who was a good king.