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CHAPTER 12 : Accession of Abijah — his idolatry — war between Judah
and Israel — Abijah’s address to Israel and victory — deaths of Jeroboam
and of Abijah — accession of Asa — religious reformation in Judah —
invasion by Zerah the Ethiopian — victory of Zephathah — Azariah’s
message to the army of asa — great sacrificial feast at Jerusalem —
renewal of the covenant with Jehovah. 1 KINGS 15:1-15; 2 CHRONICLES
13 -15
JEROBOAM did not only survive Rehoboam, but he witnessed the accession of two
other kings of Judah, Abijah and Asa. The reign of Abijah^237 was very brief. Both in 1
Kings 15:2 and in 2 Chronicles 13:2 it is said to have lasted three years - an expression
which must be understood according to this canon laid down by the Rabbis, that the
commencement of a year in the reign of a king is to be reckoned as a full year. Thus, as
Abijah ascended the throne in the eighteenth (1 Kings 15:1), and Asa in the twentieth
(ver. 9) year of Jeroboam's reign, it follows that the former actually reigned only
somewhat over two years. Two things are specially noticed concerning Abijah, his
relation towards Jehovah (in 1 Kings 15:3- 5), and his relation to the kingdom of
Jeroboam (2 Chronicles 13:2-20).
To begin with the former. It is stated that "he walked in all the sins of his father," and
that "his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God." These two statements are not
explanatory of, but supplementary to, each other. We know that Rehoboam had not
abolished the service of Jehovah (see, for example, 1 Kings 14:28), but that, by its side,
a spurious worship had been tolerated, if not encouraged, which, in the view of Holy
Scripture, was equal to idolatry. In this matter Rehoboam had not only followed the
example of his father Solomon, during his later years, but greatly increased the evil
which had then begun. A similar remark applies to the reign of Abijah, as compared
with that of Rehoboam. That the idolatry of the reign of Rehoboam had grown both
worse in character and more general in practice under that of Abijah, appears from the
notices of the reformation instituted by his successor, Asa. The former circumstance is
implied in the terms by which the idolatry of that period is described (2 Chronicles
14:3, 5), and by the circumstance that "the queen-mother" (Maachah, Abijah's mother
and Asa's grandmother),^238 who under Abijah held the official rank of Gevirah,
"Queen" (the modern Sultana Valide), had made and set up "a horror for Asherah"^239 -
some horrible wooden representation, equally vile and idolatrous in its character.
Again, that idolatry had become more widely spread, and that its hold was stronger, we
infer from the fact that, despite Asa's example, admonitions, and exertions (2
Chronicles 14:4, 5), "the high places did not cease" (1 Kings 15:14). This progressive
spiritual decline under the reigns of Solomon, Rehoboam, and Abijah was so marked
as to have deserved the removal of the family of David from the throne, had it not been
(^)