When
Judah turned around, behold, they were attacked both front and rear; so Judah
cried to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets.” (v.14)
Here in
chapter 13, Abijah king of Judah is about to go to war with Jeroboam king of
the 10 northern tribes. Outnumbered two to one, Abijah tries to intimidate
Jeroboam and all of Israel against fighting by saying, the LORD is with him,
and not them…. for two reasons.
First,
Abijah is a descendant of David (v.5), Jeroboam is not (v.6) and second, Abijah
and his people still worship Jehovah (v.10), while Jeroboam kicked out the
priests and the Levites, and made golden calves to worship (vv. 8-9). Therefore
Abijah tells Jeroboam, you don’t stand a chance, because you will be fighting
against God, who is for us (v.12).
The
intimidation did not work and Jeroboam caused an ambush from behind Abijah
(v.13). Judah, now surrounded both in front and behind cried out to the LORD,
and the priests sounded the trumpets (v.14). Then as the men of Judah gave a
great shout, it happened that God struck both Jeroboam and all Israel before
Abijah and Judah (v.15), fulfilling the prophecy of Ahijah in 1 Kings 14:14.
Interestingly
enough, Abijiah was not walking with the Lord at this time. But, this did not
stop the promises of God. He remains true, even if every man is a liar (Romans
3:4). Yet here, in a moment of desperation, Abijah cried out to the Lord and
his prayer was answered.
Therefore,
we can take hope that our prayers will be answered if we humbly and sincerely
call upon His name.
The Truth
“In my
distress I called to the Lord; I
cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before
him, into his ears.” (Psalm 18:6)
