14 So Joab and the people who were with him drew near before the Syrians to the battle; and they fled before him.
So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them. They killed everyone his man; and the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them: and Ben Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen. The king of Israel went out, and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.
A man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, Thus says Yahweh, Because the Syrians have said, Yahweh is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys; therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am Yahweh. They encamped one over against the other seven days. So it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed of the Syrians one hundred thousand footmen in one day. But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who were left. Ben Hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.
Ought you not to know that Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his lord. There were gathered to him worthless men, base fellows, who strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted, and could not withstand them. Now you think to withstand the kingdom of Yahweh in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods. Haven't you driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests after the manner of the peoples of [other] lands? so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams, the same may be a priest of [those who are] no gods. But as for us, Yahweh is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and [we have] priests ministering to Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work: and they burn to Yahweh every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense: the show bread also [set they] in order on the pure table; and the lampstand of gold with the lamps of it, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Yahweh our God; but you have forsaken him. Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, don't you fight against Yahweh, the God of your fathers; for you shall not prosper. But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambush was behind them. When Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind them; and they cried to Yahweh, and the priests sounded with the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened, that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. The children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand.
Why are your strong ones swept away? they didn't stand, because Yahweh did drive them. He made many to stumble, yes, they fell one on another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword.
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Commentary on 1 Chronicles 19 John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 19
The eighteenth and nineteenth chapters are the same with 2 Samuel 8:1 with very little variations, which are observed in the notes on them, to which the reader is referred.
See Chapter Introduction