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Context No. 3875 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 13:1-7: in context

1In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah. 2He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3Abijah 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 valor. 4Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel: 5Ought you not to know that the LORD, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, 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. 7Worthless men were gathered to him, wicked fellows who strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender hearted, and could not withstand them.

Outnumbered two to one, King Abijah of Judah stands on a mountain and calls out to Jeroboam and the armies of Israel, and his appeal rests on one thing: God's covenant. Do you not know, he says, that the LORD gave the kingship over Israel to David and his sons forever by a covenant of salt?

Whatever his own faults, Abijah grounds his confidence not in his smaller army but in the promise God had made to the line of David. A covenant of salt was a picture of a permanent, unbreakable agreement, and Abijah rests on the enduring faithfulness of God to his word. There is something worth learning in where Abijah placed his confidence. Facing overwhelming odds, he looked not to his own strength, which was insufficient, but to the covenant faithfulness of God. God had made a lasting promise, and that promise was surer than any army. When we face situations where our own resources are plainly not enough, our confidence, like Abijah's, can rest on the unbreakable promises of God, which do not fail however the odds appear.

When the odds are against me and my own resources are plainly not enough, do I rest my confidence, like Abijah, on the unbreakable faithfulness of God to his promises rather than on my own strength?

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