852 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Asa cried unto the Lord his God,.... Or prayed, as the Targum, with vehemence, being in distress; this he did before the battle began, at the head of his army, and for the encouragement of it: and said, Lord, [it is] nothing with thee to help; nothing can hinder from helping, his power being superior to all others, and even infinite, and none...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah,.... With consternation and terror; they were thrown into a panic: and the Ethiopians fled; before them, just as Jeroboam and Israel had, as related in the preceding chapter, 2 Chronicles 13:15.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Asa, and the people that [were] with him, pursued them unto Gerar,.... A city of the Philistines, Genesis 20:1, and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; they were thrown into such a fright, and into so much confusion, that they could not put themselves in order, and rally again; or there fell such a vast...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they smote all the cities round about Gerar,.... The cities of the Philistines, who were auxiliaries and confederates with these Ethiopians, and colonies from them, according to Theodoret, and who says, about Eleutheropolis was a place, called, in his time, Geraron Saton: for the fear of the Lord came upon them; so that they had no power to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They smote also the tents of cattle,.... The people that dwelt in tents for the sake of the pasturage of their cattle; the Scenite Arabs, so called from dwelling in tents: and carried away sheep; which those Arabs were feeding in Palestine, and which this great army brought with them for their support: and camels in abundance; which is another...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 15 Asa returning from the battle, and with the spoil of the enemy, was met by a prophet of the Lord, who encouraged him to go on with the work of reformation, promising the presence and help of God with him, 2 Chronicles 15:1, which inspired him with fresh courage, and he went about the work with great alacrity; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded,.... The same with Iddo, as Hillerus (h) thinks; and some suppose this to be the name of the son as well as the father, but called Azariah, to distinguish him from him, see 2 Chronicles 15:8 on whom came, as the Targum, the spirit of prophecy, instructing him what to say to Asa; and the Jews...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he went out to meet Asa,.... From Jerusalem, as Asa was coming to it: and said unto him, hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; the principal inhabitants of which tribes had been collected, and went to this war, and were now returning: the Lord is with you, while ye be with him; it was a clear case he had been with them, in giving them...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now for a long season Israel [hath been] without the true God,.... The fear, worship, and service of him being greatly neglected by them for a long time; what period of time is referred to is not expressed, whether past, present, or to come, but left to be supplied; the Targum refers this to the time of the separation of the ten tribes, and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel,.... When being carried captive by neighbouring nations, and oppressed; and they cried unto the Lord, and repented of their sins, and turned from them to him: and sought him; by prayer and supplication: he was found of them; and appeared for their help and deliverance, of which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And in those times there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in,.... There was no safety in going abroad for travellers from one part to another on account of trade and business, the highways being infested with thieves and robbers: but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries; of the country villages,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city,.... Or one tribe of another; as the Ephraimites by the Gileadites, and the tribe of Benjamin by the other tribes; and Shechem by Abimelech, Judges 9:45, for God did vex them with all adversity; both with foreign enemies and civil wars; and now it is intimated that this would be their case...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak,.... Be hearty, earnest, and vigorous, and not languid and remiss in reforming the worship of God, which Asa had begun: for your work shall be rewarded; with peace and prosperity at home, and success against enemies abroad, of which they had had a recent instance.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet,.... Some think that besides the above words of Azariah the son of Oded, a prophecy of Oded his father was related by him, though not recorded; but rather Oded here is the same with the son of Oded; and so the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read Azariah the son of Oded; and so...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them,.... The proselytes of the gate: out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: out of all the places in those tribes that had come off to him, or had been taken by him; for otherwise these belonged to the ten tribes under the government of Jeroboam, and his successors, and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem,.... By the order of Asa, 2 Chronicles 15:9, in the third month; of the ecclesiastical year, the month Sivan, in which month was the day of Pentecost; and that very probably was the time of their gathering: in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa; and which seems to be the year in which he fought...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they offered unto the Lord the same time,.... The Targum adds, on the feast of weeks, or Pentecost: of the spoil which they had brought; from the camp of the Ethiopians, and the cities of the Philistines: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep; partly for burnt offerings, and partly for peace offerings, by way of thankfulness to the Lord...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they entered into a covenant,.... Asa and all his people; that is, as Piscator remarks, they went between the pieces of the calf cut asunder, for the confirmation of the covenant, see Jeremiah 34:18, to seek the Lord God of their fathers, with all their heart, and with all their soul; to serve and worship him most truly, sincerely, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death,.... That obstinately refused to worship him, and served other gods, which by the law was deserving of death, Deuteronomy 17:2, whether small or great, whether man or woman; without any regard to rank or dignity, age or sex.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice,.... As not being ashamed of the oath they took, and that there might be witnesses of it, and that it might be clear they did not equivocate in but expressed themselves in plain words: and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets; showing that the oath was not extorted from them unwillingly,...