2 Chronicles 13:15

Then 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) Then the men of Judah gave a shout.—The same verb (hāria‘) occurred in 2Chronicles 13:12, in the sense of sounding an alarm with the “trumpets of alarm” (t’rû‘ah.) Here our version gives the right sense. Immediately after the priests had blown a blast upon the trumpets, the warriors raised a shout or war- cry. (Comp. Judges 7:18-20).

God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.—The wild panic which seized the host of Israel, when they heard the shout of their foes, is thus forcibly described. The same phrase is used in Judges 20:35, and again by the chronicler (2Chronicles 14:12). (Comp. the Vulg., “perterruit Deus Jeroboam et omnem Israel.” Syriac, “the Lord routed,” &c.)

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 13:15. Then the men of Judah gave a shout — In confidence of victory, the priests animating them by sounding the trumpets, and giving them assurance of God’s presence with them. To the cry of prayer they added the shout of faith, and so became more than conquerors. God smote Jeroboam and all Israel — He struck him and his army with such terror and amazement, that, it appears, they could not strike a stroke, but fled with the greatest precipitation imaginable, and the conquerors gave no quarter; so that they put to the sword five hundred thousand chosen men; more (it is said) than ever we read of in any history to have been killed in one battle. But the battle was the Lord’s; who would thus chastise the idolatry of Israel, and own the house of David. But see the sad effects of division! It was the blood of Israelites which was thus shed like water by Israelites, while the heathen, their neighbours, to whom the name of Israel had formerly been a terror, cried, Aha, so would we have it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:1-22 Abijah overcomes Jeroboam. - Jeroboam and his people, by apostacy and idolatry, merited the severe punishment Abijah was permitted to execute upon them. It appears from the character of Abijah, 1Ki 15:3, that he was not himself truly religious, yet he encouraged himself from the religion of his people. It is common for those that deny the power of godliness, to boast of the form of it. Many that have little religion themselves, value it in others. But it was true that there were numbers of pious worshippers in Judah, and that theirs was the more righteous cause. In their distress, when danger was on every side, which way should they look for deliverance unless upward? It is an unspeakable comfort, that our way thither is always open. They cried unto the Lord. Earnest prayer is crying. To the cry of prayer they added the shout of faith, and became more than conquerors. Jeroboam escaped the sword of Abijah, but God struck him; there is no escaping his sword.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Seven rams - "A bullock and two rams" was the offering which God had required at the original consecration of the sons of Aaron Exodus 29:1; Leviticus 8:2. Jeroboam, for reasons of his own, enlarged the sacrifice, and required it at the consecration of every priest.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13-17. But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them—The oration of Abijah, however animating an effect it might have produced on his own troops, was unheeded by the party to whom it was addressed; for while he was wasting time in useless words, Jeroboam had ordered a detachment of his men to move quietly round the base of the hill, so that when Abijah stopped speaking, he and his followers found themselves surprised in the rear, while the main body of the Israelitish forces remained in front. A panic might have ensued, had not the leaders "cried unto the Lord," and the priests "sounded with the trumpets"—the pledge of victory (Nu 10:9; 31:6). Reassured by the well-known signal, the men of Judah responded with a war shout, which, echoed by the whole army, was followed by an impetuous rush against the foe. The shock was resistless. The ranks of the Israelites were broken, for "God smote Jeroboam and all Israel." They took to flight, and the merciless slaughter that ensued can be accounted for only by tracing it to the rancorous passions enkindled by a civil war.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

By strengthening the hearts and hands of the men of Judah, and taking away the spirits and power of their enemies; and, it may be, by some extraordinary assistance.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then the men of Judah gave a shout,.... Taking heart at the sound of the trumpets, and in order to encourage one another, and intimidate the enemy; See Gill on 1 Samuel 17:20,

and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah; possessed them with a panic, so that they fled at once, as follows.

Geneva Study Bible

Then 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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. gave a shout] This shout had the character of a religions function; cp. Joshua 6:10; Joshua 6:16, where the same Heb. word is used.

God smote Jeroboam] Cp. 2 Chronicles 14:12.

2 Chronicles 13:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The war; Judah's victory, and the defeat of Jeroboam and the Israelites. - 2 Chronicles 13:13. Jeroboam caused the ambush (the troops appointed to be an ambush) to go round about, so as to come upon their rear (i.e., of the men of Judah); and so they (the main division of Jeroboam's troops) were before Judah, and the ambush in their rear (i.e., of the men of Judah); and the men of Judah, when they turned themselves (scil. to attack), saw war before and behind them, i.e., perceived that they were attacked in front and rear. In this dangerous position the men of Judah cried to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets (2 Chronicles 13:15); and as they raised this war-cry, God smote their enemies so that they took to flight. In ויּריעוּ and בּהריע the loud shout of the warriors and the clangour of the trumpets in the hands of the priests are comprehended; and הריע is neither to be taken to refer only to the war-cry raised by the warriors in making the attack, nor, with Bertheau, to be referred only to the blowing of the trumpets.