3And Abijah 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 valour. 4And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel; 5ought ye not to know that the LORD, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, 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. 7And there were gathered unto him vain men, sons of [1]Belial, which strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young
3. four hundred thousand . . . eight hundred thousand] The numbers are of course vastly in excess of any historic possibility; cp. the notes on xi. 1, xiv. 8, and especially that on xvii. 14.
4. Abijah stood up] Abijah attempts conference before beginning civil war, not simply because his was the weaker side numerically but because he had a telling appeal to make to the revolted tribes (vv. 8, 12). Jeroboam breaks off the conference after using it to cover his stratagem (ver. 13).
Zemaraim] A Zemaraim is mentioned in Josh. xviii. 22 as one of the cities of Benjamin, whereas here Mount Zemaraim is assigned to Ephraim. The natural inference is that the battle took place on the border of the two kingdoms. The tradition that a battle took place here between North and South, and perhaps between Abijah and Jeroboam, may be correct.
5. a covenant of salt] Salt was necessary for the efficacy of a sacrifice (Lev. ii. 13), so that Covenant of salt became a phrase for a sure covenant (Num. xviii. 19). The sacredness of the bond which is acknowledged among the Arabs between two persons who have "eaten salt" together as host and guest is common knowledge. It is not, however, necessary that salt should be taken; any food, e.g. milk, will serve (W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 270).
7. sons of Belial] mg. sons of worthlessness. The general sense "worthless persons" or rather "vile scoundrels" (for gross wickedness is implied) is clear, but the precise meaning of Belial has not yet been determined. The etymology of the word is quite obscure, see Ency. Bib. I. 525 f.
young] Lit. a child. If this word is to be literally understood, the
- ↑ That is, worthlessness.
