1 - 8 Abijam King Over Judah
1 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. 2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 3 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. 4 But for David’s sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem; 5 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. 6 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. 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. 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.
Rehoboam is succeeded by his son Abijam. The name of the mother of Abijam is mentioned. She is a daughter of Abishalom. The mention of the mother’s name is more common in the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings. It is not so much the fathers, but especially the mothers who have a great influence on the development of the child in the upbringing. It is about the orientation of life, on which it focuses, which is given as a goal for life.
Abijam is a boy who follows the example of his father. Where the mother tries to teach the child the values of life – which can happen both positively and negatively – the father often provides an example in the way life is filled in. “Like father, like son” is the saying. Abijam walks in the sins his father committed before him.
However, any wrong upbringing methods and wrong examples do not change our own responsibility. Abijam walks in sins because his heart is not wholly devoted to the LORD. For us as parents it is important that we raise well and set a good example. However, the child must learn to finally do the Lord’s will and cannot hide behind a defective upbringing or a bad example.
For David’s sake the LORD will not put an end to his house. In Jerusalem he holds a lamp for David. This means that the light does not go out. The LORD is holding a testimony for Himself, according to the word that the prophet Ahijah has spoken (1Kgs 11:36). Fortunately, God also has someone in our days for the sake of Whom He does not definitively settle with the church. He maintains a ‘Philadelphia’, a remnant that remains faithful to Him and His Word and that does not deny His Name (Rev 3:8).
Like Rehoboam, Abijam is someone who has not completely rejected the LORD. That is clear from what is written about him in 2 Chronicles 13 (2Chr 13:4-19). But he does not follow Him wholly either. He has reserved only a small part of his heart for the LORD, and the rest is for himself and his sins. It is not just about whether our heart is for the Lord, but whether our whole heart is undivided for Him.
The war that there was between his father Rehoboam and Jeroboam (verse 6), continues between Abijam and Jeroboam, until Abijam dies. Abijam is succeeded by his son Asa.
9 - 15 Asa King Over Judah
9 So in the twentieth year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Asa began to reign as king of Judah. 10 He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 11 Asa did what was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father. 12 He also put away the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols which his fathers had made. 13 He also removed Maacah his mother from [being] queen mother, because she had made a horrid image as an Asherah; and Asa cut down her horrid image and burned [it] at the brook Kidron. 14 But the high places were not taken away; nevertheless the heart of Asa was wholly devoted to the LORD all his days. 15 He brought into the house of the LORD the dedicated things of his father and his own dedicated things: silver and gold and utensils.
Asa becomes king of Judah in the twentieth year of Jeroboam. He reigns for a long time. In 2 Chronicles three chapters are devoted to his history (2 Chronicles 14-16). The name of his mother is also mentioned. It is the same name as that of the mother of his father Abijam. It will be so that Maacah is his grandmother by whom he is raised (verse 13).
Then we see here a happy exception, as we see more often in the first and second books of the Kings. Asa escapes from the influence of his educator and has his own relationship with God. He does what is right in the sight of the LORD, as did his father David. He does not follow the bad example of his father Abijam, but the good example of David. So it can be as well.
He puts away people who focus on prostitution. That’s something else than the tolerance and even legalization of all kinds of fornication by today’s rulers. He even removes his grandmother. She is someone with greater influence than just on her family, but Asa loves God more than his closest family. He dedicates his possessions to the LORD.
16 - 22 War Between Asa and Baasha
16 Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 17 Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent [anyone] from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. 18 Then Asa took all the silver and the gold which were left in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the treasuries of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, 19 “[Let there be] a treaty between you and me, [as] between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you a present of silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.” 20 So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah and all Chinneroth, besides all the land of Naphtali. 21 When Baasha heard [of it], he ceased fortifying Ramah and remained in Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah—none was exempt—and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had built. And King Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.
There is war between Asa and Baasha. This leads Baasha to turn Ramah into a fortress that must form a blockade between the two realms, so that his subjects cannot go to Judah. He does so in Ramah, on the border between Judah and Israel, about six and a half kilometers north of Jerusalem.
What is the building of Rama all about? To take away the freedom to worship in Jerusalem. This freedom is also at stake in professing Christianity today. The question is how we react when Christians, fellow believers, want to prevent us from worshiping in the way God has shown in His Word. These hindrances may lie in the insistence on an unbiblical enlargement – the acceptance of methods or persons who are excluded from worship by God’s Word – or the insistence on unbiblical restriction – the hindrances of methods and persons who according to God’s Word should participate in worship.
Then comes the trial. Baasha, the king of Israel, threatens him. Asa’s reaction is unfortunately not a prove of faith. He seeks support from the king of Syria and buys that support with the remaining treasures of the temple. He also appeals to a treaty made between their ancestors. Ben-hadad is bribed. However, he not only breaks his treaty with Baasha, but also deprives him of a number of cities. The consequence of the bribery of Asa is the loss of cities of God’s land.
Asa succeeds in his aim. Baasha gives up his plan and withdraws. What Asa continues to do does not seem right either. He takes the things Baasha has used and with them he will strengthen some cities of his own realm. In the application we can ask ourselves whether God would want us to take means by which the enemy strengthens himself and attacks us, and use them to strengthen ourselves through them. When Jericho was conquered, the people were not allowed to take anything of it, but had to ban everything (Jos 6:16-18). It is possible to use things we have conquered from the world for the Lord. But then these must first be dedicated to Him.
23 - 24 The Death of Asa
23 Now the rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might and all that he did and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. 24 And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.
The only thing left of Asa seems to confirm the idea that he did not handle Baasha’s material in the right way. He is diseased in his feet. This means, applied, that his walk with God becomes flawed. With Asa we see what we see with many kings: they start well, but at the end they become unfaithful.
Here stops in 1 Kings for a longer time the description of the history of the kings of Judah. From now on, it is mainly about the kings of Israel.
25 - 32 Nadab King Over Israel
25 Now Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. 26 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father and in his sin which he made Israel sin. 27 Then Baasha the son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon. 28 So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place. 29 It came about as soon as he was king, he struck down all the household of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam any persons alive, until he had destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, 30 [and] because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger. 31 Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 32 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
For the continuation of the histories of the kings of Israel, the historian goes back to the second year of Asa’s reign over Judah. Asa has successively experienced six kings over Israel: Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri and Ahab, kings about whom we read in the following chapters. In the second year of Asa Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, comes to power in Israel. He reigns briefly, only two years. However, it is long enough to characterize him as a king who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD. He walks in the way of his father Jeroboam.
Baasha has probably been commander of the army, which gives him the opportunity to forge a conspiracy against Nadab. Baasha kills Nadab at Gibbethon, a city of the Levites (Jos 21:23). He does so, while Nadab is busy regaining possession of this city, which apparently ended up in Philistine hands. Possibly the city has become an easy prey for the Philistines because the Levites had left it when Jeroboam himself made priests (1Kgs 12:31; 2Chr 11:13-15).
Baasha then fulfills the prophecy Ahijah spoke (1Kgs 14:14). Not that Baasha does it because of that. He acts purely in his own interest. Yet as an instrument of God, he carries out God’s judgment on the house of Jeroboam. By the way, Baasha does more than is predicted over Jeroboam’s house. God has judged everything male, but Baasha destroys any persons alive. This is also one of the reasons why he himself receives God’s judgment on himself (1Kgs 16:7).
The fraternal twist between the two realms is also continued by Baasha and Asa.
33 - 34 Baasha King Over Israel
33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah became king over all Israel at Tirzah, [and reigned] twenty-four years. 34 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel sin.
Baasha chooses Tirzah as his residence. He murdered Jeroboam and his house, but not the spirit of idolatry that characterized Jeroboam. He upholds the idolatry of Jeroboam and thereby does what is evil in the sight of the LORD.