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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

IntroIndex©

ABIJAM

Rehoboam’s son and successor as king of Judah, 913–910 BC (1 Chr 3:10; alternately called “Abijah” in 2 Chr 11:18-22; 12:16; 13:1-22; 14:1). A major focus of Abijam’s reign was his war with King Jeroboam I of Israel (2 Chr 13:1-3). Before a decisive battle, Abijam stood on Mt Zemaraim and shouted condemnation of Jeroboam’s political divisiveness and religious idolatry (2 Chr 13:4-12). Abijam and his army then prayed for God’s help in their precarious military position. Against two-to-one odds, they fought their way out of an ambush and won a stunning victory over Jeroboam (2 Chr 13:13-19). Abijam’s reign in the southern kingdom of Judah was summed up rather unfavorably in 1 Kings 15:1-8: “He committed the same sins as his father before him, and his heart was not right with the Lord his God, as the heart of his ancestor David had been” (v 3, NLT). But God had promised to keep David’s descendants on the throne in Jerusalem (1 Kgs 11:36), so Abijam’s son Asa succeeded him. Being of David’s line, Abijam was an ancestor of Jesus, the Christ (Mt 1:7, “Abijah”).

See also Israel, History of; Chronology of the Bible (Old Testament); Genealogy of Jesus Christ.