Abijah and his people struck them with great force, so there fell slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men.
We do not find that Jeroboam offered to make any answer at all to Abijah's speech. Though it was much to the purpose, he resolved not to heed it, and therefore he heard it as though he heard it not. He came to fight, not to dispute. The longest sword, he thought, would determine the matter, not the better cause.
Commenting on 2 Chronicles 13:13-22
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.''
Slain - five hundred thousand chosen men - Query, fifty thousand? This was a great slaughter: see the note on Ch2 13:3, where all these numbers are supposed to be overcharged.