The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 164

So "the Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him" (Ps. cxlv. 18); and "whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be delivered" (Joel ii. 32; Acts ii. 21; Rom. x.13), even while they a.re calling (Isa. lxv. 24). Cf. the rescue of Jehoshaphat at Ramotb- Gilead (ob. xviii. 31). 3. The growrul of it. "Because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers" (ver. 18). That Jehovah should prove a Buckler to them that trusted in him accorded exactly with the representations of the Divine character furnished by Scriptur~ (Ge1;1-. xv. 1; Deut. xx. 1; Josh. i. ~; Ps. xvii. 7_; cxv. 9), and ha.d frequently been verified m the experience of both sections of the kmgdom--Joshua's soldiers at Jericho (Josh. vi. 12, etc.), and Gideon's at the well of Harod (Judg. vii. 1, 21), because they trusted in the sword of Jehovah more than in their own weapons. So David prevailed over the Philistine (1 Sam. xvii. 45), Hezekiah over the .Assyrian king, and the Philistines (2 Kings xviii. 5, 8) and the Reubenites over the Hagarites (1 Ohron. v. 20). Confidence in God the strongest guarantee a Christian can have of emerging triumphantly from any moral or spiritual conflict (Ps. xxvi. 1 ; xxxiii. 20, 21 ; Isa. xii. 2; 2 Cor. i. 10; Rom. viii. 38). 4. The extent of it. (1) Jeroboam's army was routed (vers. 15, 16). (2) Five hundred thousand chosen men were slain. .A slaughter so terrific suggests that the numbers must have been exaggerated; and certainly nothing like it can be cited from either ancient or modern warfa.re. If, therefore, fifty thousand should not be read instead of five hundred thousand (Rawlinson), the figures may be regarded as a popular expression of the opinion of contemporaries of the war that Jeroboam lost more than half of his troops (Keil). Cf. Shakespeare's description of a routed army: "The king himself, of bis wings destitute, the army broken," etc. (' Cymbeline,' act v. sc. 3). (3) 'l'he kingdom of Israel was completely prostrated (ver. 18). Their power to harass Israel was seriously impaired, which confirms the preceding statement that no ordinary blow had been inflicted on Jeroboam's army, (4) Several cities with their surrounding domains were captured-Bethel, the present- day Beitin, an old patriarchal settlement (Gen. xii. 8; xx:viii. 19; xxxv. 1, 6), and one of the seats of Jeroboam'.s idolatrous worshlp (1 Kings xii. 29, 33), with the townships or villages in the district; Jeshana.h, probably the Isanas of Josephus ('Ant.,' xiv.15.12) and the Jesuna of the LXX.., occurring only here, and identified with the modern '.A.in Sini,a, north of Bethel, with many rich springs and rock-tombs in the vicinity (Conder, 'Handbook,' p. 416; Riehm, 'Handworterbuch,' i. 705); and Ephraim, or Ephron (LXX., Vulgate), the former of which points to the Ephraim near Bethel (Josephus, 'Wars,' iv. 9. 9), whither Jesus retired (John xi. 64), while the latter can hardly be connected with Mount Ephron on the south-west border of Benjamin (Bertheau), but must also be sought in the neighbourhood of Bethel. (5) Jeroboam never again recovered strength (ver. 20). He 01,1tlived the war by several, and Abijah by two, years; but the decisive defeat he ha.d sustained left him ever afterwards a crippled and comparatively feeble sovereign. LESSONS. 1. The sinfulness of unjustifiable rebellion. 2. The horrors of war, 3. The political value of religion. 4. The power of faith. 6. The reward of sin.-W. Ver. 20.-The career of Jeroboam. I. .A:s EXAMPLE OF DISAPPOINTED AMBITION, A. striking illustration of bow "vaulting ambition overleaps itself, and falls on the other side." Its stages reveal the insatiable character of that "fire and motion of the soul which will not dwell in its own narrow being, but aspires beyond the fitting medium of desire" (Byron). 1. Promoted to a position of trust. Originally a servant of Solomon, he was appointed master of works for the house of Judah, i.e. superintendent of the Ephraimite contingent of workmen (1 Kings xi. 28). 2. Plotting sedition. Invested with "brief authority,'' he began to meditate ambitious thoughts, which probably the Sbilonite with his prophetic glance discerned (1 Kings xi. 37). 3. Married to a, prince6s. Compelled to flee from Palestine, he found in Egypt, at the court of Shlshak, both a harbour of refuge and a balm for his wounds-he became the husband of a princess and the brother-in-law of Pharaoh (1 Kings xi. 40). 4. Further promo- tions. Recalled to Palestine, he was first elected a spokesman of the northern tribes in their diplomatic dealings with Rehoboam, and ultimately chosen to be their sove- reign (1 Kings xii. 20). 5. Mare sedition. Barely was he seated on the throne of Israel, than he adopted measures to render permanent the separation of the two kingdoms; turniug bis back upon Jehova.h1 and EeLtiJlg up a new and rival religion to the Jehovah• on, xm, 1~22.] THE SECOND BOOK OF TBE CHRONICLES. 165