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.