Today in God's Word—February 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
February 23, 2 Chronicles 13
”Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. 0 men of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed. - 2 Chronicles 13:12
Athletes have highlight reels, a presentation composed of film or video clips showing their most outstanding plays. Music stars release albums of their greatest hits that feature their most popular songs. If David had been an athlete, his highlight reel would be a documentary-length presentation. If David had been a popular music star, he would have multiple volumes of greatest hits. But if David's great-grandson Abijah had such things, there would be only one battle on his highlight reel or one song on his record, "Abijah’s Greatest Hit." This chapter is about that one day, that one battle in Abijah's three year reign when he did a good, God-honoring thing and the Lord rewarded him with a victory.
Abijah was not a righteous man. Back in 1 Kings we read that "he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD God." But he did have one bright, shining moment. Andy Warhol is credited with saying, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." Abijah lived in the long ago past, but this is his 15 minutes of fame. (The rest of his life, at least as we know it from the inspired record, was infamous.)
The wars between the house of Jeroboam and the house of Rehoboam continued after Abijah succeeded his father Rehoboam as king of Judah. It seems impressive that Abijah went out to this battle with 400,000 chosen men, until the next line in the story tells us that Jeroboam came out with 800,000 chosen mighty warriors. Going into this battle, Abijah's army of Judah was outnumbered by the Israelites two to one.
Then Abijah made a serious strategic error. He pushed too far into territory held by Israel and before he knew it, the Israelites surrounded Judah’s army. If there had been such a thing back in those days, the Las Vegas oddsmakers would have called Israel a prohibitive favorite in this match.
It was time for a speech, and Abijah delivered the best speech of his life. He stirred up his troops and stirred some doubt and maybe fear in the army on the other side. Like most propaganda, his speech was a blend of the truth and some falsehoods. Jeroboam was not a young impressionable lad when he became king; he was 41 years old. He did not start his reign with a band of worthless scoundrels; he had ten of the twelve tribes on his side when the kingdom split. Abijah failed to mention that the covenant with the house of David was conditional, and that Judah had not met the conditions. The biggest falsehood of all was that they (Judah) had not forsaken the Lord. In reality, they had forsaken God since the days of his grandfather Solomon, through the days of his father Rehoboam, and the departure was still being lived out every day in his own time.
He then asked Jeroboam and the men of Israel who could hear him if they thought their great number or their calf idols could give them a victory. He contrasted their apostasy and false priesthood making worthless sacrifices with Judah’s orthodox priesthood and sacrifices to the Lord. He advised them not to fight because they could not succeed. It really was a great speech.
Completely surrounded and badly outnumbered, Abijah and Judah cried out to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets, just like old times in ancient Israel’s victories over the Canaanites. And just like back then, God gave the enemy into their hand. 500,000 men of Israel perished in the battle. Judah reclaimed territory that Israel had taken. Abijah grew mighty.
Judah prevailed that day because they relied on God. They won an impossible victory because the Lord gave it to them. Judah was not much better at obeying God than was Israel. But God's purpose of fulfilling the promises he had made to Abraham and David were kept intact by the great victory. A son of David continued on Judah's throne, and the plan moved one step closer to Messiah coming into the world.
My friend, where do you turn when you are outnumbered by the world and the forces of evil seem to have you surrounded? I hope you and I will remember to call on the Lord in those situations, and take the way of escape he has promised to provide for his people.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Comments