And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as the heart of David his father.
One sentence sums up Abijam's three-year reign: he copied his father's sins, and his heart was not whole toward God. Scripture measures him against David, not against the worst kings of his day. So what does a whole heart mean, and how could a man keep the outward forms of Israel's faith and still fail this test?
Abijam's father was Rehoboam. One writer draws a warning from this record for fathers:
We see from this record that it was his father's evil example that led this king astray. What a voice to those of us who are fathers! May the Lord keep us from leaving behind a trail of sin for our sons to follow! For this was just what Rehoboam did for Abijah.
The verse before names Abijam's mother. One writer weighs how much a mother shapes her children's early years:
An ungodly or worldly mother is all the more dangerous for the moral growth of her children. By God's order, both in nature and in relationship, the work of guiding their early years falls naturally to her. So it was that during the three years of his reign Abijam walked in all the sins of his father.
The phrase is easily misread as sinlessness. One writer traces the same expression back to the law:
It is said to the Israelites, "You shall be perfect with the LORD your God," Deuteronomy 18:13. This referred to one thing: they were not to copy the detestable idol worship of the Canaanites. It did not refer at all to whether this or that Israelite was cleansed from all sin. The opposite is so true that in the same book Moses tells them, "But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear" (Deuteronomy 29:4). So the command referred only to their faithfulness to God in rejecting every kind of idolatry.
(The ESV has "blameless" in Deuteronomy 18:13. Older translations read "perfect" there — the same word they use for Abijam's heart in this verse.)
Why is David the measure for later kings? Because God had all of him:
This great thing is said of David, that he followed the LORD with all his heart. The LORD had power to engage the hearts of His people completely. This became the standard for measuring later unfaithful kings: "his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father." The LORD owned David's heart whole, and worship came out of that at once. The later kings compared so poorly with David because they worshipped the Baals.
David's life held one bad failure. One writer notes what God remembered, and what followed the discipline:
God remembers David and his obedience, even though he had turned aside from what was right in the matter of Uriah. But after the bitter discipline this made necessary, his restored soul found fellowship with his God again.
Abijam was not godless. He leaned on the Lord in war, and the Lord helped him. Yet this verse's verdict still stands:
Abijah had a very short reign of three years, and "he walked in all the sins of his father… and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father." Still, there was reliance upon the Lord. In the war with Jeroboam, recorded in 2 Chronicles 13, Abijah calls his kingdom "the kingdom of the LORD" (verse 8), and adds, "the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken Him" (verse 10). The king's heart was not perfect with the LORD his God. Yet he still relied, in some measure, on the Lord, and the Lord stepped in to help him and his people in their time of need.
Kings calls him Abijam; Chronicles calls him Abijah, which carries God's name in it. One writer reads that change as intentional, and turns it on the reader:
He is called Abijam in Kings. God would not let His name be called upon him there, because there it is only the dark side of his life which is told. He is jealous of His name. It is a holy name; and He would not have it dishonoured by the sins of those upon whom it has been called. May all His people everywhere give heed to this. The holy name of Christ ("Christian") is given us. May we never by any act of ours bring a stain of reproach on it.
- Inherited — The verse names the cause: a father's sins became the son's path, and a mother shaped his earliest years.
- Undivided — A "perfect" heart is not a sinless heart; it is loyalty that refuses to share God with idols.
- Whole — David is the standard because God had all his heart, and that came out in worship. Even his failure ended in restored fellowship.
- Divided — Abijam could still call his kingdom "the kingdom of the LORD" and get help in battle, while his heart stayed split.
- Named — God withheld His own name from the record of such a man, a caution to everyone who now bears the name of Christ.
But for David's sake Jehovah his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem;
Abijam ruled Judah three years, copying his father's sins with a heart that was not fully true to God. Then the verse turns on one word — "Nevertheless" — and gives a lamp no king of Judah had earned.
The king was unfit, yet God kept his house on the throne. One writer traces the reason back past Abijam, to a man whose own record was not clean.
God remembers David and his obedience, even though he had turned away from what was right in the matter of Uriah. But after the bitter discipline this required, his restored soul found fellowship with his God again. The Lord did not forget these things. So we see Abijam's success, and his son Asa raised up for David's sake as a true witness for God in Judah. Only the grace of God could do this, not the merits of man.
Why a lamp? The picture comes from an everyday custom.
It was a custom — and still is among the farming people of Palestine — to keep a lamp constantly burning in the tent. The putting out of the lamp meant the removal of the family. The Lord remembered the house of David and his covenant. Because of that covenant He held back the deserved judgment.
Why should a man three generations back matter to this king at all? One writer answers with a principle that runs in two directions.
Despite Abijam's sins, the Lord honoured his great-grandfather David by letting Abijam reign this short time in Judah. The Lord often visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation (Ex. 34:7). But He also gives benefits to the children of godly people to the third and fourth generation. God remembered David's faithfulness through his lifetime, even though David failed badly in the case of Uriah the Hittite. God takes everything into account in His actions, whether good or bad.
Sin travels the same road between generations.
We see from this record that it was his father's bad example that led this king astray. What a warning to those of us who are fathers! May the Lord keep us from leaving behind a trail of sin for our sons to follow. For this is exactly what Rehoboam did for Abijah.
David's line kept failing, king after king. One writer sets that failure in a longer story.
Under priesthood, under kingship, under prophecy — under every form and means God had prepared — Israel always failed. Yet God raised up the house of David. Solomon fails. Though more faithful than others, his family also fails. God had promised to chastise it, but that He would never entirely withdraw His favour. Christ Himself has been the fulfilment of this promise, as of all others. Man always fails to keep his relationship with God, but everything is accomplished in Jesus. The family of David failed, and it is in Christ alone that the Jews find the blessing attached to it.
God repeated this lamp promise many times. One writer asks where its light can be seen now.
If it is asked, where does this lamp shine now? Not on earth — for Jerusalem, the place of its earthly display, is "trampled underfoot by the Gentiles." But the eye of faith can see it shining with undimmed brightness in the true tabernacle, where it will go on shining "until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in."
- Nevertheless. Abijam's heart was not fully true to God, and the throne still stood. The hinge is not the king's worth but God's covenant with David.
- Lamp. A light kept burning meant the family was still in the tent. God would not put out David's line, because the covenant held the judgment back.
- Sake. God gave the mercy for David's sake. He remembered a faithful life, failure over Uriah and all, and let the good reach down to David's great-grandchildren.
- Son. The lamp took shape in Abijam's son Asa, raised up by grace and not by merit. A father can also hand down a path of sin, as Rehoboam did.
- Christ. The line kept failing, so the lamp never rested on the line. Faith sees its light in the true tabernacle, and Christ makes good every promise to David.