Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah,.... So as to bring an army into the field against him, and fight him: and the Lord struck him; by some Jewish writers (a), this is interpreted of Abijah; and the reason of his being stricken, they say, was because he did not destroy the calf when he took Bethel; but it is best to understand it of Jeroboam, since Abijah is afterwards said to wax mighty: and he died; not immediately, for he lived two years after Abijah, Kg1 14:20, but continued under a lingering disease he was smitten with, and which issued in his death. (a) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 65. fol. 58. 8. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 16.