John Gill Commentary 2 Chronicles 15

And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded
The same with Iddo, as Hillerus ^F8 thinks; and some suppose this to be the name of the son as well as the father, but called Azariah, to distinguish him from him, see (2 Chronicles 15:8) on whom came, as the Targum, the spirit of prophecy, instructing him what to say to Asa; and the Jews say ^F9 he is the same with Iddo, and he the same that was sent to Jeroboam, to reprove him for the altar he built.

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: Onomastic, Sacr. p. 458.
• F9: In Hieron. Trad. Heb. in Paralipom. fol. 84. L. & 85. A.

And he went out to meet Asa
From Jerusalem, as Asa was coming to it:

and said unto him, hear you me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin ;
the principal inhabitants of which tribes had been collected, and went to this war, and were now returning:

the Lord is with you, while you be with him ;
it was a clear case he had been with them, in giving them the victory over the Ethiopians; and as long as they continued in the service of God, and abode by his pure worship, they might expect he would yet be with them, otherwise not:

and if you seek him, he will be found of you ;
you will see his face, and enjoy his favour, and have his presence, and help from him in every time of need, when they sought him by prayer and supplication, as Asa had, and attended his worship and ordinances:

but if you forsake him ;
his laws and his service:

he will forsake you ;
and leave you to fall into the hands of your enemies.

Now for a long season Israel [has been] without the true God ,
&c.] The fear, worship, and service of him being greatly neglected by them for a long time; what period of time is referred to is not expressed, whether past, present, or to come, but left to be supplied; the Targum refers this to the time of the separation of the ten tribes, and the days of Jeroboam, when the calves were worshipped, and not the true God, and the teaching priests of the Lord were cast out, and the law of the Lord, especially with respect to worship, was not regarded, in which it is followed by many interpreters; others think it refers to time to come, and to what would be the case, should they forsake the Lord; and was fulfilled in the Babylonish captivity, see (Hosea 3:4) and the Jews ^F11 say, that Oded prophesied that the days should come, when Israel would be "without the true God", since judgment should not be done in the world: and "without a teaching priest"; since the high priesthood should cease, (see (Hebrews 7:12) ) "and without the law"; since the sanhedrim should cease;''

but according to our supplement, and which seems most correct, it refers to time past; not to the case of the ten tribes from the times of Jeroboam; nor to the case of Judah from the times of Rehoboam; but to times more remote, even the times of the judges, when they worshipped Baal and Ashtaroth, and not the true God, (Judges 2:10Judges 2:11) , yet at the same time suggesting, that should the present inhabitants of Judah go into the same practices, their case would be like theirs, described in the following verses:

and without a teaching priest :
as they were under the judges, from the times of Phinehas to those of Eli, which was a long space of time:

and without law ;
every man doing as he pleased, there being no king in Israel, nor any regard paid to the law of God, moral or ceremonial, (Judges 17:6) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: Vajikra Rabba, sect. 19. fol. 160. 4.

But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of
Israel
When being carried captive by neighbouring nations, and oppressed; and they cried unto the Lord, and repented of their sins, and turned from them to him:

and sought him ;
by prayer and supplication:

he was found of them ;
and appeared for their help and deliverance, of which there are many instances in the book of Judges.

And in those times there was no peace to him that went out nor
to him that came in
There was no safety in going abroad for travellers from one part to another on account of trade and business, the highways being infested with thieves and robbers:

but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries ;
of the country villages, which were deserted, because of the plunders and depredations of them, (Judges 5:6Judges 5:7) .