The Tale of Two Kings. 1 Kings 15:1-8

The purpose of the writing of 1 Kings was to develop the history of the nation—what happens to the Israelites after David died, in light of the Mosaic covenant and in light of the blessings and cursings that are outlined in Leviticus chapter 26 and Deuteronomy 28, 29. History in the Bible is editorialised history, the divine viewpoint of history; God is picking and ch0oosing from hundreds of thousands of possible events, circumstances, people and happenings, and He just focuses on one or two to show us how to think about these things in terms of His plan and purpose as He revealed in earlier in the Pentateuch. So we see that discipline has come on Israel because Solomon disobeyed God. He allowed himself to be disciplined by his many different wives and concubines and set up idols and temples for the foreign wives so that they could worship their gods. So he led the nation into idolatry. Because of that God is not going to punish him directly because of David—David was faithful and that blessing by association continues to spill over from generation to generation—but the nation divides into war between the north and the south.

1 Kings 15:1 ^NASB “Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah.” Abijam is the son of Rehoboam. He becomes king in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam in the north but in other texts it is in the seventeenth year of Rehoboam. They both started the same year so it sounds like a conflict, but that is because they counted the years differently. The southern year starts of using an “accession year” counting. It means that if the new king comes in and is installed before the new year, even if it is December 1^st, that is counted as his first year. Then after five or six generations in the north they switch to the “non-accession year” mode of counting. That means that the year the king comes to the throne is not counted as his first year—even if he comes to the throne on, say, January 5^th. So from January 5^th to December 31^st is not his first year. His first year is his first full year. In the north they used the non-accession year of figuring the years of a king for about half the time of the northern kingdom and then they switched to the accession year mode. Rehoboam came to the throne in roughly 931-930 and reigns to 913 BC. Jeroboam reigns until 910 BC.

The next king is Abijah. In Kings the name is Abijam but in Chronicles is is Abijah. This is where it gets difficult in the Old Testament because there are different ways in which the names are spelled in the Hebrew. Sometimes it is due to a copyists error. He only reigns for somewhere between one and a half to three years and he dies, and his son Asa becomes the king in the south. About the same time, just after he comes to the throne, Nadab the son of Jeroboam comes to the throne. He doesn’t last more than a little over a year and he is assassinated and his successor wipes out the whole family of Jeroboam, so the prophecy of Abijah, the prophet from Shiloh, comes true.

Abijam’s dates are roughly 913-910 BC. The parallel passage for this is in 1 Chronicles 3:10 and 2 Chronicles 11:18-22. The key passage we will look at is 2 Chronicles 13:1-22. He is the second king of the southern kingdom and he is the fourth in the Davidic line. His accession year is in the 18^th year of Jeroboam but it is the 17^th year of Rehoboam. 1 Kings 15:2 ^NASB “He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.” Abishalom is just a variant reading of Absalom, so that is within the Davidic family. What we have to keep our eye on as we go through kings is that the focus is really on tracing the seed all the way to Jesus. So we have the Davidic line and we have to pay attention to this. The breakdown is David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijam, Asa, and Jehoshaphat. Where it gets interesting is that one of David’s wives was named Maacah. She is the mother of Absolom. Absolom had three sons and one daughter. The sons all apparently died early in childhood, according to 2 Samuel 18:18, but he had one daughter, Tamar, referenced in 2 Samuel 14:27. Apparently she married Uriel who is the father of the second Maacah who is named after her great grandmother, the wife of David and the mother of Solomon. This Maacah marries Rehoboam and she is his true love, his favourite of all of his wives, but she is a pagan who is into the fertility religions and everything else and it is going to take Aasa to lock her in a closet and destroy all of her pagan idols.

David had another son named Jeremoth and he had a daughter Mahaleth who is also one of Rehoboam’s wives. Rehoboam married another wife, Abihail, who was the daughter of one of David’s brothers. Rehoboam had eighteen wives and sixty concubines from who he had 28 sons and 60 daughters. He had all of these sons and so he picked Abijam and set the others over different cities. He gives them oversight and responsibilities for protection of the kingdom. Notice how closely the marriage lines are to first cousins, once removed, and second cousins and third cousins; and so there is a very tight Davidic line here.

1 Kings 15:3, an evaluation. ^NASB “He walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, like the heart of his father David.” This is what we see almost typically in every one of these kings. They will be given an evaluation in light of God’s law. We will be told a few things about them, their failures and successes, when they die, in some cases where they are buried, and then who their successor is. Two things are said about Abijam in terms of his spiritual relationship to God, and that is the key issue as a king under the authority of the Mosaic Law. The issue in the Mosaic Law is that if they are obedient to God, God will take care of everything else; if they are not obedient to God then God is going to take the nation to the woodshed for discipline. So the crucial factor in the nation’s blessing and prosperity or cursing and discipline has to do with the spiritual orientation of the leadership. That is fundamental. The two things said about him: a) He walked in all the sin his father had committed before him. Rehoboam had four to five good years where he followed the Lord and then he didn’t follow Him anymore. He became involved in idolatry and the promotion of it; b) His heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord. It was more than lip service; he was like an uncommitted Christian.

1 Kings 15:4 ^NASB “But [Nevertheless] for David’s sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem [blessing by association], to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem.” Because of His covenant with David He is going to give Abijam a reign in Jerusalem. He is viewed as a transition king. God is going to give him a short time of two to three years to prepare the way for his son and to further establish Jerusalem. Where does that come from? We are not told in this chapter about a key event because the writer of Kings isn’t concerned about telling us everything there is to know about Abijam. It is just that it served within the function of the author of Kings that he is just a transitional king but he is blessed because of David.

1 Kings 15:5 ^NASB “because David did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.” If it weren’t for the Uriah-Bathsheba incident David would have got an A⁺ in terms of his relationship with the Lord. Because of the Davidic covenant God is going to bless Abijam, even though he doesn’t deserve it. A key principle there applies to us in terms of eternal security. Whether we are obedient or disobedient our relationship to God is secured by a sealed contract, sealed by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, so that even if we are disobedient God doesn’t break the contract; He continues in faithfulness.

1 Kings 15:6 ^NASB “There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.” This is just an aside which is saying in effect: Remember, ever since the split there has been this civil war going on between the north and the south. Then we get the summary: [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.” This is not 1 & 2 Chronicles which were written after the Babylonian captivity when they were back in the land. The chronicles mention in this verse is simply a history or recording to the events of the kings of Judah. [8] “And Abijam slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son became king in his place.”

A lot has been left out here.

1. First of all, this Kings account focuses on just a spiritual evaluation of Abijam putting the Davidic covenant first: that he has the blessing he has because of David and because of God’s faithfulness to that covenant, not because of who and what he is.

2. The Chronicles account shows how God is faithful in this way that is not covered in the Kings account.

3. The key event that we find in 2 Chronicles 13 is a major military campaign that takes place very early in the three-year reign because Jeroboam is still on the throne. He dies right near the end of Abijam’s reign.

4. We learn here that the battle is the Lord’s. The Lord’s victory is not dependent upon human reason, human skill or experience; it is dependent on God’s power and plan. God inserts Himself into history at key points to just turn everything upside down in order to accomplish His purposes.

2 Chronicles 13:1 ^NASB “In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. [2] He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Micaiah [different spelling to Kins; probably a scribal error] the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.  Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.” Then we get into the military aspect. In verse 3 we learn that there is a major battle that occurs between the northern and southern kingdoms. “Abijah began the battle with an army of valiant warriors, 400,000 chosen men, while Jeroboam drew up in battle formation against him with 800,000 chosen men {who were} valiant warriors.”

2 Chronicles 13:4, Abiah’s propaganda speech against the northern kingdom. The first thing he says gives the foundation for his reasoning and it shows some divine viewpoint because it shows that he is going to base his whole rationale on the Davidic covenant. He has some measure of truth. ^NASB “Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, ‘Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel.” He begins his argument with a reference to the Davidic covenant. [5] “Do you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?” That covenant of salt indicates permanence or durability. In verse 6 he reminds them of Jeroboam’s revolt. [6] “Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master, [7] and worthless men gathered about him, scoundrels, who proved too strong for Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when he was young and timid and could not hold his own against them.” He is wanting to excuse Rehoboam.

In verses 8-11 he focuses on the spiritual issue on their side. 2 Chronicles 13:8 ^NASB “So now you intend to resist the kingdom of the LORD through the sons of David, being a great multitude and {having} with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made for gods for you. [9] Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests like the peoples of {other} lands? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams, even he may become a priest of {what are} no gods.” Jeroboam ran the Levites out of the northern kingdom and they went down to the south. He ordained these other priests who had no right to be priests just because they wanted to be priests. [10] “But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the sons of Aaron are ministering to the LORD as priests, and the Levites attend to their work.” In other words, we are doing it according to the Law. [11] “Every morning and evening they burn to the LORD burnt offerings and fragrant incense, and the showbread is {set} on the clean table, and the golden lampstand with its lamps is {ready} to light every evening; for we keep the charge of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken Him. [12] Now behold, God is with us at {our} head and His priests with the signal trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

Verses 13ff describe the ambush that Jeroboam has set up in order to try to completely destroy the armies of the southern kingdom. But when the southern army realises that they are trapped they cry out to God and God answers their prayer. Why? Because of the covenant; they are just claiming a promise. And God intervenes.

2 Chronicles 13:15-17 ^NASB “Then the men of Judah raised a war cry, and when the men of Judah raised the war cry, then it was that God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. When the sons of Israel fled before Judah, God gave them into their hand. Abijah and his people defeated them with a great slaughter, so that 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain.” Verse 18 gives a key as to how they won the battle. “Thus the sons of Israel were subdued at that time, and the sons of Judah conquered because they trusted in the LORD, the God of their fathers.” The Hebrew word translated “trusted” is sha’an which means to lean on something for support. The leaned on God, they relied exclusively upon Him. [19] “Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured from him {several} cities, Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages and Ephron with its villages.” The southern kingdom expands its territorial control.

2 Chronicles 13:21 ^NASB “But Abijah became powerful; and took fourteen wives to himself, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. [22] Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo.”