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.