1 Kings 15:1-8--Abijam Reigns in Judah

1 Kings 15:1-8
English Standard Version

Abijam Reigns in Judah
15 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. 2 He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 3 And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father. 4 Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem, 5 because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 6 Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. 7 The rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 8 And Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place.

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For the next portion of the kings of Israel and Judah, there will be very little said about each king and much of it will follow the same pattern as what we see here for Abijam.  We'll see when the new king ascended to his throne, often times in the context of what was going on in the other kingdom, so this time we see that Abijam began to rule in Judah during the eighteenth year of Jeroboam's reign in Israel.  Abijam had a very short reign of only three years.  Why so short of a reign?  Because he walked in all the ways that his father did before him (in the foolishness of Rehoboam and the idolatry that he started), and his heart was not true to the LORD his God.  We'll see that each of these kings are usually compared to David to help us decide if they are good or bad, and Abijam was nothing like David because David was a good king and Abijam was a bad king.  However, the LORD did not forsake the covenant that he made with David on account of descendants that were not worthy of the covenant.  For the sake of David and the sake of the Davidic Covenant which had the Messiah in mind, God allowed Abijam to reign so that the promise would be kept that there would always be a descendant of David on the throne in Jerusalem until Messiah appeared.

The writer reminds us that there was war continually between the Southern Kingdom and the Northern Kingdom, and that pretty much summarizes that reign of King Abijam.  If we want to find out more about him, we have to read about him in the Book of Chronicles.  Abijam continued the war against Jeroboam (the Northern Kingdom) because he was of the house of Rehoboam (the Southern Kingdom) and all they knew how to do was fight each other--probably like the Hatfields and McCoys.  Abijam died and was buried with the other kings in Jerusalem, and his son Asa reigned in his place.  Asa has a little bit of a longer story because Asa will bring about some measure of what we might call "revival" and he will be a good king like David.