The kings of Israel and Judah

King Abijah

The kingdom of Judah (the south) · Reigned three years (1 Kings 15:2) · Also called Abijam · Evil before God · 1 Kings 15:1 to 8; 2 Chronicles 13

Abijah, also called Abijam, was the son of Rehoboam and the second king of Judah. The book of Kings judges him briefly and severely: he walked in all the sins of his father, and his heart was not perfect with the LORD. Yet Chronicles preserves a striking moment when, facing Jeroboam's larger army, he rallied Judah by declaring that God was on their side, and won a great victory. The two accounts sit side by side, and Scripture lets both stand.

And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.2 Chronicles 13:12 (KJV)

A short and mixed reign

Abijah reigned only three years in Jerusalem. The book of Kings dismisses him quickly: he walked in all the sins of his father before him, and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam all his days. Kings gives him no praise, and holds him up chiefly as another link in a compromised dynasty preserved only for David's sake, for God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem.

Chronicles, telling the story more fully, records that Abijah went to war against Jeroboam with four hundred thousand men against Jeroboam's eight hundred thousand, outnumbered two to one.

The battle speech on Mount Zemaraim

Standing on Mount Zemaraim before the battle, Abijah cried out to the armies of Israel that the kingdom belonged to the sons of David by God's covenant, that the north had forsaken the LORD for golden calves and driven out his priests, while in Judah the true worship of God continued. Behold, he said, God himself is with us for our captain. When Jeroboam set an ambush and Judah was caught front and rear, they cried to the LORD, and the priests sounded the trumpets, and God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Judah.

It was a real victory of faith, and Chronicles says the children of Judah prevailed because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers. In that hour Abijah, whatever the failings of his reign, called the people back to trust in the God of the covenant.

The biblical verdict

How should we weigh him? Scripture does not resolve the tension for us. Kings names his heart imperfect and his reign sinful; Chronicles records a genuine act of faith and a God-given victory. Both are true. A man can trust God in a crisis and yet not give him his whole heart, can speak the truth of the covenant and still walk in his father's sins. Abijah is a portrait of divided devotion.

The honest reading is that he was not a good king by the Bible's own standard, for his heart was not perfect with the LORD, and yet God used even his flawed faith and honored the covenant with David through him. He died after three years, and his son Asa, a far better king, reigned in his place.

Where it points

Abijah shows that God is faithful to his promises even when the men who carry them are not wholehearted. The victory over Jeroboam was granted not because Abijah deserved it but because Judah, in that moment, relied on the LORD, and because God was keeping his word to David.

His better son would go further, and the line pressed on toward the King whose heart would be perfect with God in every hour, not only on the battlefield. Abijah's cry, God himself is with us for our captain, finds its true and final answer in Immanuel, God with us, the Son of David who leads his people not in one battle but for ever.

A note on the record: everything here is drawn from the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Kings and Chronicles sometimes tell a reign differently, Chronicles often adding a king's repentance or building works, and where they differ this is said plainly rather than smoothed over. The exact lengths and overlaps of the reigns are genuinely complex, because kings often shared the throne with a son for a time, so the totals in Scripture do not always add up in a simple line. The verdict good or evil is the Bible's own assessment, whether a king did right or evil in the sight of the LORD.

Related: Rehoboam · Asa · All the kings of Israel and Judah