1 Reis 15
Warren Wiersbe · Citado em PreceptAustin
1 Reis 15
Wiersbe points out that "The Northern Kingdom of Israel had nine dynasties in about 250 years while the Southern Kingdom faithfully maintained the Davidic dynasty for 350 years, and that was the dynasty from which the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David, would come (Matt. 1:1). With all of its faults, the kingdom of Judah was identified with the true and living God, practiced authorized worship in the temple, and had kings who came from David's family. Two of these kings are named in these chapters—Abijah and Asa." (Bible Exposition Commentary - Old Testament ) ISBE on Abijah (aka Abijam) - The son of Rehoboam, whom he succeeded on the throne of Judah (1 Chr. 3:10). He is also called Abijam (1 Kings 14:31; 15:1-8). He began his three years' reign (2 Chr. 12:16; 13:1,2) with a strenuous but unsuccessful effort to bring back the ten tribes to their allegiance. His address to "Jeroboam and all Israel," before encountering them in battle, is worthy of being specially noticed (2 Chr. 13:5-12). It was a very bloody battle, no fewer than 500,000 of the army of Israel having perished on the field. He is described as having walked "in all the sins of his father" (1 Kings 15:3; 2 Chr. 11:20-22). It is said in 1 Kings 15:2 that "his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom;" but in 2 Chr. 13:2 we read, "his mother's name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah." The explanation is that Maachah is just a variation of the name Michaiah, and that Abishalom is probably the same as Absalom, the son of David. It is probable that "Uriel of Gibeah" married Tamar, the daughter of Absalom (2 Sam. 14:27), and by her had Maachah. The word "daughter" in 1 Kings 15:2 will thus, as it frequently elsewhere does, mean grand-daughter. QUESTION - Who was King Abijah in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org ANSWER - King Abijah, also called King Abiah or King Abijam, was the son of King Rehoboam and father of King Asa. Abijah reigned for only three years (913–911 BC) in Judah before he died. Abijah was a wicked king: “He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been” (1 Kings 15:3). King Abijah attempted to reclaim the northern ten tribes of Israel as part of his kingdom, and so there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam throughout Abijah’s lifetime (verse 6). King Abijah had some victories over Israel to the north. 2 Chronicles 13 describes a battle in which Abijah and his 400,000 men triumphed over Jeroboam with his 800,000 men. King Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim and spoke out to Jeroboam and Israel about God’s covenant with David, Jeroboam’s rebellion against Rehoboam, and Jeroboam’s ridding Israel of the Levites and allowing anyone to become a priest of false gods. Abijah concluded, “God is with us; he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. People of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed” (2 Chronicles 13:12). The troops of Israel had come behind those of Judah to ambush them, intending to attack them from both front and rear. But the men from Judah cried out to God, the priests blew their trumpets, and “at the sound of their battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah” (2 Chronicles 13:15). Abijah also took the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah, Ephron, and their surrounding villages from Jeroboam. From that time, King Jeroboam’s strength lessened: “Jeroboam did not regain power during the time of Abijah. And the Lord struck him down and he died. But Abijah grew in strength. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters” (Chronicles 13:20–21). Abijah’s mother was Maakah (Maacah), and she apparently held a position of authority as queen mother throughout Abijah’s reign and into the reign of her grandson Asa. After Abijah’s death, there was peace between Israel and Judah for ten years (2 Chronicles 14:1), and Abijah’s son, King Asa, instituted wide reforms throughout Judah. One of Asa’s reforms was to depose his grandmother Maakah (Maacah) because of her promotion of Asherah worship (1 Kings 15:13). 2 Chronicles 14:2 says, “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.” Abijah’s short reign was unfortunately marked by doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. Even though God had granted him victory over Israel, Abijah continued the same error as his father, Rehoboam—not being fully devoted to God (2 Chronicles 12:14; 1 Kings 15:3). John Kitto - Abijah—II Chronicles 13:1–20; I Kings 15:1–9 It is observable, that although Rehoboam had fewer wives than his father—only eighteen wives and sixty concubines, he had a far more numerous progeny—no less than twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters,—a somewhat singular disproportion of sexes. Even this comparatively modern harem was adverse to the judgment and habits of his subjects; for the historian remarks that he “desired many wives,”—implying that so far he contravened the restriction imposed by the law against a king “multiplying wives unto himself.” Of all Rehoboam’s wives, the one who had most influence with him was Maachah, who appears to have been a grand-daughter of Absalom by his daughter Tamar, who married one Uriel of the house of Saul. This special attachment to the mother induced Rehoboam to determine that her son Abijah (otherwise called Abijam) should be his successor; and the solicitude he is described as evincing in this matter, and the means he took to secure this object, seem to show that Abijah was not his eldest son. To obviate the competition of his brothers, and to prevent them from forming an interest in rivalry to his at the seat of power, Rehoboam took much the same course as Abraham took to secure the undisputed heritage to Isaac. He provided for them, and gave them employment during his life-time, by making them governors of cities—thus dispersing them through his dominions for their own advantage, while preventing them from any combined operations to the detriment of the heir. This is an early scriptural example of the same kind of policy which has only within the present age been adopted in the courts of Persia and Turkey, where the princes were shut up in the harem till the death of their father, and then either imprisoned, killed, or incapacitated for public life (in Persia by blinding), when their brother mounted the throne. Now, at least in Persia, they are sent into the provinces, where they administer the civil and military local government for the king—collect the crown dues, and remit them to court after deducting their own expenses and the local charges. These princes, in their lesser spheres, reflect the royal dignity, maintaining courts on the royal model, but on a smaller scale; administering justice like the king, and appearing, when required, with the military force to be raised within their districts. Doubtless the sons of Rehoboam performed the same functions in their respective districts; but the smallness of the territory over which so many princes were distributed, must have given a proportionately diminished scale to their establishments; and if they, as princes of the blood, affected, as is likely, more magnificence than ordinary governors, this must have rendered the task of supporting the courts of so many royal governors rather burdensome to the people. The crown also probably found it unprofitable in the end, a large proportion of the public imposts being in such cases absorbed, before they reached the royal treasury, in the expenses of local government,—and the king being obliged to allow expenses for his sons, and to admit excuses on their behalf, which would not be endured in an ordinary functionary. The precautions of the king were, however, successful; and at his death the son he had designated succeeded to the throne without opposition. This young man, of the same name with Jeroboam’s lost son, took up the cause of the house of David with the ardor natural to a lofty-minded youth just come to the throne. He purposed to himself to reestablish the dominion of his house over the ten tribes; and no priest or prophet interfered this time to discourage the undertaking. This was not now necessary, seeing that the kingdom of Israel was now fully equal to its own defence against Judah; and now, moreover, Jeroboam had forfeited all claim to the Lord’s interference, and his house had indeed been sentenced to deprivation. Abijah took the initiative, and marched into the territory of Jeroboam, at the head of a general military levy of his kingdom. Jeroboam was, however, too able and experienced a commander to be taken unprepared, and he met the king of Judah with a force that greatly outnumbered his own. The circumstances of this first great action between the two kingdoms are very interesting, and well deserve careful consideration, from the light they cast upon the state of feeling with which the house of David at this time regarded the rival kingdom. This we are able to collect from the harangue which king Abijah addressed to the enemy opposed to him, before they came to blows, according to a custom which strikes us as somewhat strange, but of which there are numerous ancient examples. The staple of such harangues always has consisted, and always does consist in the East, of self-praise on the part of the orator, and dispraise and abuse of the enemy. Of this we find enough in the speech of Abijah, the tone of which seems to us not in all respects so gratifying as it has appeared to many. The oration consists properly of five parts—political, and religious or theocratic. The political part is based entirely on the divine-right principle, which was certainly not sanctioned by the Hebrew constitution. Wholly overlooking the offence of Solomon, the judgment of Heaven, the Divine appointment of Jeroboam, the constitutional conduct of the people, the aggravating folly of Rehoboam, and the Lord’s recognition of the separation,—Abijah talks loftily of the rights of the house of David, and treats the tribes as unreasonable and causeless rebels,—servants who had turned against their master when they found the opportunity in the accession of the “young and tender-hearted” Rehoboam, and whom it behooved now, at his son’s call, to return to their allegiance. The egregious foolishness of all this seems to have been scarcely exceeded by that which Rehoboam himself had manifested, and must have been heard with calm disdain by the veterans of Israel. The purely dynastic and party view of the great question, was such as a not and not over-wise young prince of the house of David was likely to take, and is in itself perfectly intelligible. But we know that there was another side of the question which found no expression; and the reader may do well to supply for himself the answer which Jeroboam could have given if he had liked. The remainder of Abijah’s harangue was, however, in substance unanswerable, although one is not over-satisfied at the self-righteousness of its tone, its inordinate appreciation of ritual observances, and the absence of more spiritual grounds of confidence than it indicates. He animadverted on the measures, the corruptions, and arbitrary changes by which Jeroboam had endeavored to secure his kingdom; and, with not unbecoming pride, contrasted this disorder and profanity with the beautiful order in which, according to the law, and the regulations of David and Solomon, the worship of the Lord was conducted by the Levitical priesthood, in “the holy and beautiful house which the Divine King honored with the visible symbol of his inhabitance.” “We keep the charge of Jehovah,” he declared, “but ye have forsaken him. 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 not against Jehovah, the God of your fathers, for ye shall not prosper.” By the time he had finished, Abijah found himself, to his great amazement, surrounded by the enemy; and that he hath purchased the satisfaction of making a speech at the cost of allowing a large body of the enemy to move quietly round the hill, so as to take his force in the rear, while the main body still confronted him. This difficult and bold maneuver had well nigh decided the action; for the Judahites raised a cry of dismay, and a serious panic would probably have followed, had not the priests at that moment sounded their silver trumpets, at which old and inspiriting signal, the more stouthearted men raised a cry to the Lord for help, and rushed upon the enemy, inspiring by their example the more timid and wavering. The embattled host of Israel could not withstand the force of this terrible shock. Their ranks were broken, they fled, and the slaughter inflicted upon them was most awful, and can only be explained by reference to the peculiar animosity and bloodiness of wars of kindred. Besides, the conquerors were in the enemy’s country, and in numbers much the weaker party—too weak for mercy.540 Notwithstanding this decisive success, Abijah was too well advised, to pursue his original design of reducing the ten tribes, and was content to re-establish his authority over certain border towns and districts, which had originally belonged to Judah or Benjamin, but which Jeroboam had found means to include in his portion of the divided kingdom. This was but a poor result from the shedding of so much blood, and for the increased alienation which must have ensued between the subjects of the two kingdoms, which still formed but one nation. All that can be said is, that as much blood has often been shed with as little real advantage to the conquerors. THE VARIOUS NAMES OF ABIJAH ABIJAM 1 Kings 14:31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And Abijam his son became king in his place. 1 Kings 15:1 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. 1 Kings 15:7 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. 1 Kings 15:8 And Abijam slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son became king in his place. ABIJAH 2 Chronicles 11:20 After her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith. 2 Chronicles 11:22 Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as head and leader among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. 2 Chronicles 12:16 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David; and his son Abijah became king in his place. 2 Chronicles 13:1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. 2 Chronicles 13:2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 2 Chronicles 13:3 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 Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel: 2 Chronicles 13:15 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. 2 Chronicles 13:17 Abijah and his people defeated them with a great slaughter, so that 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain. 2 Chronicles 13:19 Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured from him several cities, Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages and Ephron with its villages. 2 Chronicles 13:20 Jeroboam did not again recover strength in the days of Abijah; and the LORD struck him and he died. 2 Chronicles 13:21 But Abijah became powerful; and took fourteen wives to himself, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. 2 Chronicles 13:22 Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo. 2 Chronicles 14:1 So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and his son Asa became king in his place. The land was undisturbed for ten years during his days. Matthew 1:7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa. 1 Kings 15:2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. his mother's: 1Ki 15:13 2Ch 11:20-22 Maachah: 2Ch 13:1-2, Michaiah the daughter of Uriel Abishalom: 2Ch 11:21, Absalom 1 Kings 15 Resources - multiple sermons and commentaries ABIJAM'S BRIEF REIGN OVER JUDAH He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom - This can become somewhat confusing because in 2Ch 13:2 Abijam's "mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah." 2Ch 11:20 says Rehoboam "took Maacah the daughter of Absalom, and she bore him Abijah." It is clear that Micaiah is the another name for Maacah. And then you add in the name Abishalom which is actually the same as Absalom. Finally in 2Ch 13:2 we read Abijam's "mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah." (See dictionary note below to help resolve "Uriel the Gibeah.") Now are you confused? Just to add to your confusion the mother of David's son Absalom was also name Maacah (2Sa 3:3 - clearly a different "Maacah" then in 1Ki 15:2). J
1 Reis 15
Wiersbe: There were three major divisions to Asa’s life and reign. (1) Peace and victory (1 Kings 15:9-11; 2 Chron. 14:1-15:7). (2) Reformation and renewal (1 Kings 15:12-15; 2 Chron. 15:8-19). (3) Relapse and discipline (1 Kings 15:16-24; 2 Chron. 16:1-14). (Bible Exposition Commentary) 1 Kings 15:11 Asa did what was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father. Asa: 1Ki 15:3 2Ch 14:2,11 2Ch 15:17 2Ch 16:7-10 1 Kings 15 Resources - multiple sermons and commentaries Related Passages: 1 Kings 15:5 because David did what was right (yashar) 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. 2 Chronicles 14:2+ Asa did good and right in the sight of the LORD his God, 2 Chronicles 14:11+ Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” Asa did what was right (yashar) in the sight of the LORD - Asa's conduct was not perfect but his general tenor was godward. Regarding that phrase in the sight of the LORD as Solomon wrote "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Watching the evil and the good." (Pr 15:3+) THOUGHT - Nothing escapes the watchful gaze of Jehovah. No secret sin is ever truly "secret" for God always sees it. This truth should motivate each of us to pursue holiness (Heb 12:14) and discipline ourselves for godliness (1Ti 4:7), for the glory of our great God. WHAT IS RIGHT (IN GOD'S SIGHT) - Ex. 15:26; Dt. 6:18; Dt. 12:25; Dt. 13:18; Dt. 21:9; 1Ki. 11:33; 1Ki. 11:38; 2Ki. 10:30; Like David his father - Term of comparison (simile) indicates the reign/conduct of kings would be compared to the "gold standard," King David. As we have stated before King David was a sinner. He is the pattern not because of perfection but because of direction of his life which was Godward. William