2 Chronicles 13 — Trumpets, Salt, and a Shout
Setting the scene Abijah, whose name means “Yahweh is my Father,” stands on Mount Zemaraim and addresses Jeroboam’s army. Judah is outnumbered two to one, yet Abijah’s speech centers on covenant, priesthood, and worship—the true sources of Israel’s strength. He recalls the Lord’s promise to David, the ordained priestly service at Jerusalem, and the folly of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. While Jeroboam arranges an ambush, Judah turns to liturgy: priests blow the trumpets, the people cry out, and the Lord gives victory.
The covenant of salt Abijah calls the Davidic promise a “covenant of salt.” In the ancient Near East, salt signaled permanence, loyalty, and fellowship—meals sealed with salt signified enduring bonds. Israel seasoned every offering with salt (Leviticus 2:13), and God’s grants to priest and king are called “covenants of salt,” enduring gifts (Numbers 18:19). The phrase in Hebrew is berit melach—a vow that preserves through corruption and time. This nuance can elude Western readers who mostly meet salt as flavor; in Scripture it is also fidelity.
For the Chronicler, this covenant anchors hope after exile. God’s intent to keep a lamp for David (2 Samuel 7) did not fail amid human weakness; he preserves his promise. Christ, Son of David, is the embodied covenant—“all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20). He also calls his disciples “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13), suggesting that covenant grace produces covenant character: a preserving presence within a decaying world.
Trumpets, the cry, and holy memory When Judah is encircled, the priests take up the silver trumpets. This is not theatrics; it is obedience to Numbers 10:9: “When you go into battle… and you are to be sounded with trumpets, then you will be remembered before the Lord your God” (New International Version). The Hebrew verb for “cry out” (tsaaq) is the desperate, covenant-laden call of the needy; God’s people cry, priests trumpet, and the Lord “remembers”—not recalling forgotten facts, but acting decisively for his promise.
This is what we have traced in previous devotions: obedience halts war; worship becomes strategy; humility softens judgment. Judah’s morning-and-evening offerings, the priests at their posts, and the community’s united shout form a liturgy of trust. In your battles, your “trumpets” are the ordinary means of grace—Word, prayer, sacraments, gathered worship. Liturgy is not escape; it is engagement, arming us for faithful presence. We do not trust chariots or numbers, but the Name (Psalm 20:7).
Ambushes and providence Jeroboam’s ambush before and behind recalls the cunning that secured the northern throne. Yet in this battle, strategy meets sovereignty. The Chronicler’s vast casualty number (five hundred thousand) is jarring. Many scholars note that ancient writers used troop figures theologically and rhetorically, or that numerals may compress units unfamiliar to us. Regardless, the point is unmistakable: numbers and cunning cannot save a people at odds with God’s ways.
Notice the geography and archaeology woven into this chapter. Bethel, one of the captured towns, was a golden calf center; its likely site at Beitin preserves traces of a long shrine history. At Dan, the monumental altar complex still stands—a silent witness to Jeroboam’s “convenient” worship. And the existence of a Davidic dynasty—central to Abijah’s claim—is corroborated by the ninth-century Tel Dan inscription’s reference to the “House of David.” Far from myth, the Chronicler writes anchored history with theological purpose.
A mixed king and a steadfast God A careful reader notices that 1 Kings 15 gives Abijah (Abijam) a mixed review, while Chronicles presents him favorably. This is not contradiction so much as angle. Kings emphasizes royal morality; Chronicles highlights temple fidelity and repentance patterns for a post-exilic audience. The Chronicler isn’t polishing failure; he is preaching: when worship is ordered as God commanded, there is mercy even through flawed leaders. Yesterday we saw gold turned to bronze—appearance without presence (2 Chronicles 12). Today we see presence returning through prayerful obedience.
Rhetoric and the law-court tone Abijah’s address is shaped like a covenant lawsuit. He names the parties, rehearses the covenant, indicts idolatry, and warns: “Do not fight against the Lord… for you cannot succeed” (2 Chronicles 13:12, English Standard Version). The phrase “worthless men” gathering to Jeroboam translates bene beliyya‘al—sons of lawlessness—a term that later Jewish literature will personify as Belial. The Chronicler’s language frames idolatry not as mere error but treason against the covenant King.
A note on sources: the “midrash” of the prophet Iddo The Chronicler mentions that Abijah’s acts are recorded in the “midrash of the prophet Iddo” (2 Chronicles 13:22). Midrash here means an interpretive history—a reflective retelling that draws out meaning. Scripture models for the Church an honest, theological remembering. Augustine’s City of God and Calvin’s commentaries stand in this line: not bare data, but history under God, for formation.
Christ, our Captain and Head Abijah declares, “God is with us as our head” (2 Chronicles 13:12). The Head has now taken flesh. Christ is “head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18), the true David who blows the trumpet of the gospel, gathers a royal priesthood, and wins the decisive victory at the cross. Our warfare is no longer against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12). Yet the pattern remains: cry out, keep the priestly rhythms, and shout the Name. Hold fast to the covenant of salt—steadfast in loyalty because he is steadfast in love.
Practice for today - Keep morning and evening prayer; let ordered worship be your warfare. - Refuse the golden calves of convenience—shortcuts in doctrine, sacraments, or ethics. - When encircled by pressures, do not merely scheme; cry out, and let the church’s “trumpets”—Word and Table—sound again. - Speak of Christ boldly; the shout of faith honors the true King.
Suggested cross-references - Covenant: 2 Samuel 7; Numbers 18:19; Leviticus 2:13 - Trumpets and remembrance: Numbers 10:9; Psalm 20; 2 Chronicles 7:14 - True worship vs innovation: 1 Kings 12:26–33; John 4:23–24 - Christ our Head and victory: Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 6:10–20; 2 Corinthians 1:20
A hymn to sing “Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending.” Trumpet, King, and covenant kept.
Prayer Covenant-keeping God, Head of your people, teach us to trust you more than numbers and tactics. Tune our hearts to the trumpets of your Word, strengthen our lips to cry out, and steady our feet in the good paths of worship and obedience. Preserve us by the salt of your grace, and make us a preserving presence in our world, through Jesus Christ, Son of David and Lord of the Church. Amen.
Narrated version of this devotional on 2 Chronicles Chapter 13