2 Chronicles 13:19

“And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, etc.] As he and his army fled: and took cities from him; the following ones: Bethel with the towns thereof; the villages adjoining to it; here one of the calves was set up, which either Jeroboam took care to remove before this place fell into the hands of Abijah, or Abijah let it remain, and did not destroy it: and Jeshanah with the towns thereof; which Reland f48 thinks is the same that is called by Jerom f49 Jethaba: and Ephraim with the towns thereof; a city so called, thought to be the same that is mentioned in the passage, (see Gill on “<431154>John 11:54”); it is here called, in the Targum, Ephron; so Jerom f50 calls it, and says it was Sichem.”

“Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him--This sanguinary action widened the breach between the people of the two kingdoms. Abijah abandoned his original design of attempting the subjugation of the ten tribes, contenting himself with the recovery of a few border towns, which, though lying within Judah or Benjamin, had been alienated to the new or northern kingdom. Among these was Beth-el, which, with its sacred associations, he might be strongly desirous to wrest from profanation.”

“Jeshanah is probably identical with the “Isanas” of Josephus, where a battle took place in the war between Antigonus and Herod; but its situation cannot be fixed. For Ephrain, see Joshua 18:23 note. return to 'Top of Page'”

“13:19 The Lord granted the kingdom of Judah a miraculous victory. Abijah took the territories surrounding Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron from Israel (13:19). Together with Zemaraim (13:4), these towns in the hill country on the northern border of Judah formed a geographical unit (see Josh 18:22-23). The subsequent history of this territorial gain is not known; by the time of Amos (about 760 BC), Bethel was a major pagan shrine in Israel.”

“took cities: Jos 10:19, Jos 10:39, Jos 11:12; Sa1 31:7 Jeshanah: Jeshanah, according to the Talmud, was not far from Sephoris. Perhaps it is the Migdal-Senna of Eusebius, eight miles north of Jericho. Ephrain: Ephrain, or Ephron, a city of Benjamin, is placed by Eusebius, eight miles north of Jerusalem, near Bethel. Josephus calls Ephrain and Bethel two little cities; and places the former in the tribe of Benjamin, near the wilderness of Judea, in the way to Jericho. Ch2 15:8; Jos 15:9, Ephron, Joh 11:54 2 Chronicles 13:20”