## Radak on II Chronicles Chapter 13

###### Radak on II Chronicles 13:1:1
[Radak on II Chronicles 13:1:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Radak%20on%20II%20Chronicles/r/13:1:1)

**בשנת שמנה עשרה למלך ירבעם וימלך אביה.** לא ידענו למה נתעכב שנה אחת מלמלוך, שהרי רחבעם לא מלך אלא שבע עשרה שנה (דה"ב יב,יג), ורחבעם וירבעם תחלת מלכותם בשנה אחת. ויתכן לפרש כי רחבעם נכנס בשנת שמנה עשרה, ולא מנה אותה לו לפי שלא השלימה; ומנה אותה לירבעם כמשפט:

**The Commentary of Radak to Chronicles: A Translation with Introduction and Supercommentary, by Yitzhak Berger, Brown University, 2007:**
**In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king.** We do not know why his assumption of the kingship was delayed one year. After all, Rehoboam reigned for only seventeen years (2 Chr 12:13), and Rehoboam and Jeroboam began their reigns in the same year. Perhaps it can be explained that Rehoboam continued into the eighteenth year, yet it is not counted for him because he did not complete it, whereas the text suitably does count it for Jeroboam.


###### Radak on II Chronicles 13:2:1
[Radak on II Chronicles 13:2:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Radak%20on%20II%20Chronicles/r/13:2:1)

**ושם אמו מיכיהו בת אוריאל.** היא מעכה בת אבשלום הנזכרת למעלה (דה"ב יא,כ), ושני שמות היו לה ולאביהָ; ו"מיכיהו" ו"מעכה" קרובים הם בלשון. והרבה נמצאים כזה בזה הספר אדם אחד נזכר בשני שמות:

**The Commentary of Radak to Chronicles: A Translation with Introduction and Supercommentary, by Yitzhak Berger, Brown University, 2007:**
**His mother’s name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel.** She is the same as Maacah daughter of Absalom mentioned above (2 Chr 11:20), for she and her father had two names each. “Micaiah” and “Maacah” are in fact phonetically similar. Many such cases can be found in this book, where the text refers to one person by two [different] names.


###### Radak on II Chronicles 13:7:1
[Radak on II Chronicles 13:7:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Radak%20on%20II%20Chronicles/r/13:7:1)

**נער רך לבב וכו'.** והלא בן ארבעים ואחת שנה היה במלכו (דה"ב יב,יג)! אלא פרושו: כנער, שלא היה אמיץ לב להלחם:

**The Commentary of Radak to Chronicles: A Translation with Introduction and Supercommentary, by Yitzhak Berger, Brown University, 2007:**
**A boy, faint of heart etc.** But [Rehoboam] was forty-one years old when he became king (2 Chr 12:13)! What this means, rather, is that he was *like* a boy, in that he did not have the courage to fight.


###### Radak on II Chronicles 13:10:1
[Radak on II Chronicles 13:10:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Radak%20on%20II%20Chronicles/r/13:10:1)

**והלוים במלאכת.** במלאכה הראויה להם, והם כלי השיר. והיתה מ"ם "בַּמְלָאכֶת" ראויה להדגש, ונרפתה להקל. וכן "בשר חי בַּשְאֵת" (וי' יג,י) וזולתם, כמו שכתבנו בספר מכלל (מא,א):

**The Commentary of Radak to Chronicles: A Translation with Introduction and Supercommentary, by Yitzhak Berger, Brown University, 2007:**
**And the Levites are on the job (*ba-mlakhet*).** [This means]: on the job appropriate for them, involving the musical instruments. The *mem* of *ba-mlakhet* should in principle have been geminated, but it is softened to ease [pronunciation]. The same is true for “fresh skin *ba-s’et* (=on the elevation)” (Lev 13:10) and others besides these, as we have written in the *Mikhlol* (41a).


###### Radak on II Chronicles 13:17:1
[Radak on II Chronicles 13:17:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Radak%20on%20II%20Chronicles/r/13:17:1)

**ויכו בהם אביה ועמו מכה רבה.** לפי הפשט פרושו לפניו – **ויפלו חללים מישראל חמש מאות אלף איש**. ויש בו דרש (ירוש' יב' פב,ב): למה אמ' "מכה רבה"? כלומ': יותר על הריגתם, שלא יהיו נשותיהם ראויות להנשא. אמרו: אמ' ר' אבא בר כהנא: שהעביר הכרת פניהם מהם; הה"ד "הכרת פניהם ענתה בם" (יש' ג,ט) – זה החוטם. ר' אמי אמ': שהושיב עליהם שומרים שלשה ימים עד שנתקלקלה צורתן; הה"ד "עצמו לי אלמנותיו מחול ימים" (יר' טו,ח):

**The Commentary of Radak to Chronicles: A Translation with Introduction and Supercommentary, by Yitzhak Berger, Brown University, 2007:**
**Abijah and his army inflicted a severe defeat on them.** According to the plain sense, this is elaborated by what follows it: **five hundred thousand men of Israel fell slain**. But there is the following midrashic interpretation (y. Yevamot 82b): “Why does the text say ‘a severe defeat’? It means: Beyond killing them, [Abijah’s army saw to it] that their wives would be unable to marry.” They say: “Rabbi Abba son of Kahana says: They mutilated their faces beyond recognition. It is in connection with this that it says, ‘The extent to which their faces are recognizable (*hakarat penehem*) accuses them’ (Isa 3:9), referring to the nose. Rabbi Ammi says: He positioned guards over them for three days until they lost their form. It is in connection with this that it says, ‘To my chagrin, their widows have outnumbered the sand of the seas’ (Jer 15:8).”


###### Radak on II Chronicles 13:20:1
[Radak on II Chronicles 13:20:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Radak%20on%20II%20Chronicles/r/13:20:1)

**ויגפהו יי' וימת.** לא שמת בימי אביה. שהרי אביה לא מלך אלא שלש שנים (לעיל פס' ב), ומלך בשנת שמנה עשרה לירבעם (שם פס' א), ואסא בנו מלך בשנת עשרים לירבעם (מ"א טו,ט) – נמצא כשמלך אסא עדין חי ירבעם. ועוד חיה משמלך אסא שתי שנים, כי עשרים ושתים שנה מלך ירבעם (מ"א יד,כ). אלא פרושו: ויגפהו יי' במלחמותיו, כמו שכ' "והאלהים נגף את ירבעם וכל ישר' לפני אביה" (לעיל פס' טו), "וימת", כלומ': מת לו בזאת השפלות, שלא עצר כח עוד משמלך אביה. ובבראשית רבה (סה,כ) ובסדר עולם (סע"ר טז) מפרש "ויגפהו" על אביה, ומפרש: בעון שלקח בית אל (לעיל פס' יט) ולא בער ע"ז ממנו –שמצא שם אחד מן העגלים. ועוד יש בו דרש (ירוש' יב' פב,ב), והוא רחוק: "ויגפהו יי'" – את סבור שהוא ירבעם? אינו אלא אביה! ולמה נגף? על שבזה לירבעם ברבים; הה"ד "ועמכם עגלי זהב" (לעיל פס' ח):

**The Commentary of Radak to Chronicles: A Translation with Introduction and Supercommentary, by Yitzhak Berger, Brown University, 2007:**
**The Lord inflicted harm upon him and he died.** It is not that [Jeroboam] died in the days of Abijah. For Abijah, who became king in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam (v. 1), reigned for just three years (v. 2), at which point, in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, his son Asa became king (1 Kgs 15:9). So it emerges that when Asa became king, Jeroboam was still alive. He even lived for two years after Asa became king, for Jeroboam reigned for twenty-two years (1 Kgs 14:20). The text means, rather, that the Lord inflicted harm upon him in his battles—as it says, “God inflicted harm upon Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah” (v. 15)—“and he died,” meaning that he died in that lowly state, unable to muster any more strength from the time that Abijah reigned. But in Genesis Rabbah (65:20) and in Seder Olam (16), [the phrase] “inflicted harm upon him” is interpreted to refer to Abijah; and it is explained that this was for the sin of conquering Bethel (v. 19) without purging it of idolatrous entities—for he had found one of the calves there. There is another midrashic interpretation (y. Yevamot 82b) that is improbable: “‘The Lord inflicted harm upon him’—you think this means Jeroboam? No—it means Abijah! And why was he harmed? Because he shamed Jeroboam publicly, as it says, ‘and you possess golden calves’ (v. 8).”


###### Radak on II Chronicles 13:22:1
[Radak on II Chronicles 13:22:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Radak%20on%20II%20Chronicles/r/13:22:1)

**במדרש הנביא עדו.** נקרא ספרו "מדרש" לפי שהיה נדרש תמיד לראות שם עניני המלכים:

**The Commentary of Radak to Chronicles: A Translation with Introduction and Supercommentary, by Yitzhak Berger, Brown University, 2007:**
**In the *midrash* of the prophet Iddo.** His book was called a *midrash* because it was regularly *nidrash* (=sought out) for the purpose of looking up matters pertaining to the kings.