2 Chronicles 13:4-12 And Abijah stood up on mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, you Jeroboam, and all Israel;… Abijah's speech is unique. There have been other instances where commanders have tried to make oratory take the place of arms. Sennacherib's envoys. When Octavian was at war with his fellow-triumvir Lepidus he made a daring attempt to run over his enemy's army. Riding openly into the hostile camp, he appealed to the soldiers by motives as lofty as those urged by Abijah, and called upon them to save their country from civil war by deserting Lepidus. At the moment his appeal failed, and he only escaped with a wound in his breast; but after a while his enemy's soldiers came over to him in detachments, and eventually Lepidus was compelled to surrender to his rival. Another instance of a successful appeal to a hostile force is found in the history of the first Napoleon, when he was marching on Paris after his return from Elba. Near Grenoble he was met by a body of royal troops. He at once advanced to the front, and, exposing his breast, exclaimed to the opposing ranks, "Here is your emperor; if any one would kill me let him fire." The detachment, which had been sent to arrest his progress, at once deserted to their old commander. (W. H. Bennett, M.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; |
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