Bible Commentaries
Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible
2 Chronicles 13
2 Chronicles 13:1-22. The Reign of Abijah.—Most of this section has nothing corresponding to it in 1 K., though references to the history of this reign occur in 1 Kings 15:1-8.
2 Chronicles 13:1 f. Cf. 1 Kings 15:1 f., where the name of Abijah's mother is given as Maacah; so, too, 2 Chronicles 11:20.
2 Chronicles 13:4 ff. The representation of Abijah here (contrast 1 Kings 15:3) as a God-fearing champion of the Levitical worship is a good illustration of the Chronicler's idealising tendency.
2 Chronicles 13:22. the commentary of the prophet Iddo: the Hebrew word for "commentary" here is midrash, which in Rabbinical literature means inquiry into the meaning of Scripture and its exposition; the word comes from a root meaning to "search," so that a midrash represents the results of a search that has been made into the traditional text of Scripture, and the consequent exposition is intended to elucidate the text. In the case of Iddo's midrash it is, of course, impossible to say upon what text it was based. The Chronicler makes it clear that it was a source entirely different from the Book of Kings (see 2 Chronicles 20:34), but as its name implies, it was a late production (this is the first mention of a midrash in the OT), and cannot be regarded as having been of any historical value.
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