And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD 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?
Sin Inherited From a Father
Abijam's father was Rehoboam. One writer draws a warning from this record for fathers:
George C. WillisWe 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.
A Mother's Shadow
The verse before names Abijam's mother. One writer weighs how much a mother shapes her children's early years:
H. L. RossierAn 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.
What "Perfect" Means Here
The phrase is easily misread as sinlessness. One writer traces the same expression back to the law:
J. N. DarbyIt 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.)
David as the Measure
Why is David the measure for later kings? Because God had all of him:
VariousThis 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 Own Failure
David's life held one bad failure. One writer notes what God remembered, and what followed the discipline:
H. L. RossierGod 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.
Right Words, Divided Heart
Abijam was not godless. He leaned on the Lord in war, and the Lord helped him. Yet this verse's verdict still stands:
An Outline of Sound WordsAbijah 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.
The Name God Withheld
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:
C. KnappHe 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.
Summary
- 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.