2 Chronicles 13:17

2Ch 13:17 And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.

Ver. 17. So there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand.] A monstrous and matchless slaughter, far beyond that of Tamerlane when he took Bajazet, or Aetius, the Roman prefect, when he fought with Attilas and his Huns in the fields of Catalaunia, where were slain on both sides one hundred and sixty-five thousand. See on 2Ch 13:3.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 17. Slain - five hundred thousand chosen men.] Query, fifty thousand? This was a great slaughter: 2Ch 13:3, where all these numbers are supposed to be overcharged.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(17) Slew them with a great slaughter.—Literally, Smote in them a great smiting. Num_11:33.

Five hundred thousand chosen men.—Or more than half of Jeroboam’s entire army.

It is hardly true to say that “there is nothing in the original to indicate that this slaughter was all on one day.” (Speaker’s Commentary.) On the contrary, it is perfectly evident from the whole narrative that this verse describes the issue of a single great and decisive encounter of the rival hosts.

The result is certainly incredible, if the numbers be pressed; but it seems more reasonable to see in them “only a numerical expression of the belief of contemporaries of the war, that both kings had made a levy of all the fighting men in their respective realms, and that Jeroboam was defeated with such slaughter that he lost more than half his warriors” (Keil). The Syriac reads “five thousand.”

The number of slain on the other side is not stated. But it is absurd to talk as Reuss does, of Abijah’s 400,000 as being “still intact,” and then to ask why they did not proceed to reduce the northern kingdom.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. five hundred thousand] Contrast this statement with 2Ch_28:6, a hundred and twenty thousand in one day. The absence of the phrase in one day from the present passage is significant. It seems probable, when we consider the small interest taken by the Chronicler in military matters as such and the consequent looseness of his language regarding them, that he may intend 500,000 to represent the losses, not of a single battle, but of the whole campaign. That some farther fighting took place is suggested by 2Ch_13:19. Even so the losses are doubtless exaggerated.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time,.... Humbled and weakened, but not reduced to the government of the house of David:

and the children of Judah prevailed; or grew strong:

because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers; trusted in him, and not in an arm of flesh; the Targum is,"in the Word of the Lord God of their fathers.''

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Slain - The word means strictly “pierced,” and will include both the killed and the wounded. It is translated “wounded” in Lam 2:12.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Five. Some Latin editions have 50,000, (Calmet) which number is found in some manuscripts of Epiphanius. (Hudson’s Josephus) --- Hentenius has the same, and only remarks five manuscripts which had the greater number. See ver. 3. (Haydock) --- We do not read of such a slaughter in any one battle. But Israel made no resistance, and God assisted the four hundred thousand. (Menochius) --- Valiant. Protestants, "chosen." See chap xiv. 13. (Haydock) --- So many were either slain or wounded. (Du Hamel) --- Protestants intimate all were "slain." (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

A vast number: but it hath been oft observed and recorded by sacred and profane historians, that in those ancient times there were very numerous armies, and ofttimes very great slaughters; and if this slaughter was more than ordinary, there is nothing strange nor incredible, because the Almighty God fought against the Israelites.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. There fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men — These many slain (חללים, pierced, wounded) probably include both killed and wounded during the whole war; not those who fell in any one engagement.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Slain; Hebrew, Even if we accept for a moment the immense numbers written here and elsewhere as authentic, a considerable deduction may be made from our difficulty by virtue of the fact that this word need not mean to describe the actually slain. It occurs about ninety-one times. Of these, in our Authorized Version, it is found rendered, including marginal options, as many as fifteen times "wounded," or by even a less severe meaning. However, whether "slain" or "wounded and slain," the alleged, numbers of our present text are, in our opinion, incredibly enormous.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

five

(See Scofield "1Co 10:8").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.