2 Chronicles 13:1-14:1
And when Judah looked, behold, the battle was in front of and behind them. And they cried to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets. (v. 14)
The account of Abijah’s life in 1 Kings 15 is brief and bleak. But the picture in 2 Chronicles is longer and more positive. The two accounts are not contradictory, just written for a different purpose. Kings wants to show how the exiles got into the mess they’re in. Chronicles does the same, but also wants to point a way out.
Israel and Judah were at war and it was not a fair fight. Jeroboam, king of Israel, had an army twice the size of Abijah, king of Judah. But Abijah believed in more than numbers. He believed that God was on his side and would fight for Judah because they had not forsaken the Lord as Israel had done.
But the battle was not going Judah’s way. Judah was attacked and ambushed on all sides. Then came the turning point: they cried out to the Lord for help (v. 14). God wants us to feel weak. He puts us in the battle, being attacked from the front and the rear, so that we will see our inability, and complete dependence upon him. He wants us to cry out to him, so he can win the victory and get the glory.
