_the shewbread also_ set they _in order_] Literally _and an ordering of bread_ [they set in order]. The Hebrew phrase used here for “shewbread” signifies bread arranged as for an offering. Another term is “bread of the presence,” i.e. bread set forth continually before the Lord (Exodus xxv. 30). See 1 Chronicles ix. 32 (note). _the candlestick_] Exodus xxv. 31 ff., xl. 24, 25. ¹²And, behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper. =12.= _the trumpets of alarm_] (Numbers x. 9). Abijah here threatens his opponents with a _jihād_ or holy war. ¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them. ¹⁴And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind them: and they cried unto the LORD, and the priests sounded with the trumpets. =13.= _Jeroboam caused an ambushment_] While Abijah was endeavouring to shake the fidelity of the Northern army, the Northern leader secures a tactical advantage. The greater the advantages of the Israelites and the more disastrous the position ascribed to the army of Judah, so much the more glorious is the victory which Judah achieves by its reliance on Jehovah. ¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand. =15.= _gave a shout_] This shout had the character of a religious function; compare Joshua vi. 10, 16; Judges vii. 20, where the same Hebrew word is used. _God smote Jeroboam_] Compare xiv. 12. Supernatural aid secures the victory. ¹⁷And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. =17.= The Chronicler has little or no interest in military matters as such, and is heedless of probability so far as the numbers he mentions are concerned. They must be sufficiently immense to enhance the power of Jehovah and to convey the impression that the days of old were mighty days. Comparison has been made with the phrase “a hundred and twenty thousand _in one day_” (xxviii. 6), and from the absence of the words “in one day,” it has been argued that the present passage refers to the losses of the whole campaign. Even so the figure, 500,000, is an immense exaggeration. ¹⁸Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the LORD, the God of their fathers. =18.= _because they relied_] Compare note on xii. 2. ¹⁹And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Beth-el with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof,