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The Rule of Abijam in Judah
v. 1. Now, in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, about four years before his death, reigned Abijam (or Abijah) over Judah.
v. 2. Three years, a very short period, reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom, a granddaughter of Absalom, the son of David, and the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah, who had evidently married Tamar, the daughter of Absalom.
v. 3. And he, Abijam, walked in all the sins of his father which he had done before him, patterning after the wickedness of Rehoboam; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord, his God, it was not on the side of Jehovah in undivided allegiance, as the heart of David, his father.
v. 4. Nevertheless, for David's sake did the Lord, his God, give him a lamp in Jerusalem, keeping his descendants on the throne of Judah, to set up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem, 1Ki_11:13-36;
v. 5. because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, he observed the demands of the covenant relation, and turned not aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. While David's fall was very great and grievous, it did not break the covenant of Jehovah with Israel, it did not remove the foundations of God's relation toward Israel, as the idolatry of later years did. While Abijam outwardly maintained and observed the rites of Jehovah worship, it was not a matter of real belief of the heart with him, but a case of dead orthodoxy, combined with a tolerance of idol worship in his country.
v. 6. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life, this condition continuing under Abijam.
v. 7. Now 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.
v. 8. And Abijam, after his short reign, slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa, his son, reigned in his stead. In this case also it is true that apostasy is often followed by various misfortunes, for God will not be mocked.