And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valour.
Abijah set the battle in array - i:e., took the field and opened the campaign.
With ... four hundred thousand chosen men: Jeroboam ... with eight hundred thousand. These are doubtless large numbers, considering the smallness of the two kingdoms. It must be borne in mind however, that Oriental armies are mere mobs-vast numbers accompanying the camp in hope of plunder; so that the gross numbers described as going upon the Asiatic expedition are often far from denoting the exact number of fighting men. But in accounting for the large number of soldiers enlisted in the respective armies of Abijah and Jeroboam, there is no need of resorting to this mode of explanation; because we know by the census of David the immense amount of the population that was capable of bearing arms (1 Chronicles 21:5: cf. 2 Chronicles 14:8; 2 Chronicles 17:14).