Abijam
Encyclopedia
Abijam was the fourth king of the House of David
and the second of the Kingdom of Judah
. He was the son of Rehoboam
, the grandson of Solomon
and the great-grandson of David
. The Chronicler refers to him as Abijah .
His mother's name was Maacah
, or Micaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah, and the granddaughter of the infamous Abishalom (Absalom
). Abijah married fourteen wives
, and had 22 sons and 16 daughters.
of Israel in the mountains of Ephraim
. gives the sizes of the two armies as 400,000 on Abijah's side and 800,000 on Jeraboam's.
Before the battle, Abijah addressed the armies of Israel, urging them to submit and to let the Kingdom of Israel be whole again. However, his plea fell on deaf ears. Abijah then rallied his own troops with a phrase which has since become famous: "Jehovah
(God) himself is with us for a captain (commander of the army)." His elite warriors fended off a pincer movement to rout Jeroboam's troops. According to , 500,000 of Jeroboam's troops were killed.
Jeroboam was crippled by this severe defeat at the hands of his southern rival and posed little threat to the Kingdom of Judah
for the rest of his reign. However, Abijah failed in his attempt to reunite Israel and Judah.
After the breakdown of the united kingdom, the border between Benjamin and Ephraim (which was the border between the northern and southern kingdoms) became a matter of dispute between them. Though Bethel had originally been allocated to Benjamin, by the time of the prophetess Deborah
, Bethel is described as being in the land of the Ephraim
. Some twenty years after the breakup of the united kingdom, Abijah took the occasion of the defeat of Jeroboam to take back the towns of Bethel
, Jeshanah and Ephron
, with their surrounding villages. Ephron is believed to be the Ophrah
that was also allocated to the Tribe of Benjamin by Joshua.
of Abijah was written by Iddo the Seer
. A reference to the account is made in , but the work itself has been lost.
Abijah was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem. He was succeeded by his son, Asa
.
, and reigned for three years.
William F. Albright
has dated his reign to 915 – 913 BCE.
E. R. Thiele
offers the dates 914/913 – 911/910 BCE. As explained in the Rehoboam
article, Thiele's chronology for the first kings of Judah contained an internal inconsistency that later scholars corrected by dating these kings one year earlier, so that Abijah's dates are taken as 915/914 to 912/911 BCE in the present article.
The calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri (in the fall) and that of Israel in Nisan (in the spring). Cross-synchronizations between the two kingdoms therefore often allow narrowing of the beginning and/or ending dates of a king to within a six-month range. For Abijam, the Scriptural data allow the narrowing of his accession to some time between 1 Nisan 914 BCE and the day before 1 Tishri of that year. For calculation purposes, this should be taken as the Judean year beginning in Tishri of 915/914 BC, or more simply 915 BCE. His death occurred at some time between 1 Tishri 912 BCE and 1 Nisan 911 BCE, i.e. in 912 (912/911) BCE. These dates are one year earlier than those given in the third edition of Thiele's Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, thereby correcting an internal consistency that Thiele never resolved, as explained in the Rehoboam
article.
Davidic line
The Davidic line refers to the tracing of lineage to the King David referred to in the Hebrew Bible, as well as the New Testament...
and the second of the Kingdom of Judah
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
. He was the son of Rehoboam
Rehoboam
Rehoboam was initially king of the United Monarchy of Israel but after the ten northern tribes of Israel rebelled in 932/931 BC to form the independent Kingdom of Israel he was king of the Kingdom of Judah, or southern kingdom. He was a son of Solomon and a grandson of David...
, the grandson of Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
and the great-grandson of David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
. The Chronicler refers to him as Abijah .
His mother's name was Maacah
Maacah
Maacah is a non-gender-specific personal name used in the Bible to refer to:*A child of Abraham's brother Nachor, evidently a boy. *The wife of Machir, Manasseh's son....
, or Micaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah, and the granddaughter of the infamous Abishalom (Absalom
Absalom
According to the Bible, Absalom or Avshalom was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maachah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur. describes him as the most handsome man in the kingdom...
). Abijah married fourteen wives
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
, and had 22 sons and 16 daughters.
War against Jeroboam of Israel
Abijah went to considerable lengths in his short reign to reunite the northern Kingdom of Israel with Judah, by bringing Israel under his control. He waged a major battle against King JeroboamJeroboam
Jeroboam was the first king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel after the revolt of the ten northern Israelite tribes against Rehoboam that put an end to the United Monarchy....
of Israel in the mountains of Ephraim
Ephraim
Ephraim ; was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph and Asenath. Asenath was an Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife, and the daughter of Potipherah, a priest of On. Ephraim was born in Egypt before the arrival of the children of Israel from Canaan...
. gives the sizes of the two armies as 400,000 on Abijah's side and 800,000 on Jeraboam's.
Before the battle, Abijah addressed the armies of Israel, urging them to submit and to let the Kingdom of Israel be whole again. However, his plea fell on deaf ears. Abijah then rallied his own troops with a phrase which has since become famous: "Jehovah
Jehovah
Jehovah is an anglicized representation of Hebrew , a vocalization of the Tetragrammaton , the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible....
(God) himself is with us for a captain (commander of the army)." His elite warriors fended off a pincer movement to rout Jeroboam's troops. According to , 500,000 of Jeroboam's troops were killed.
Jeroboam was crippled by this severe defeat at the hands of his southern rival and posed little threat to the Kingdom of Judah
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
for the rest of his reign. However, Abijah failed in his attempt to reunite Israel and Judah.
After the breakdown of the united kingdom, the border between Benjamin and Ephraim (which was the border between the northern and southern kingdoms) became a matter of dispute between them. Though Bethel had originally been allocated to Benjamin, by the time of the prophetess Deborah
Deborah
Deborah was a prophetess of Yahweh the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, counselor, warrior, and the wife of Lapidoth according to the Book of Judges chapters 4 and 5....
, Bethel is described as being in the land of the Ephraim
Tribe of Ephraim
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Ephraim was one of the Tribes of Israel. The Tribe of Manasseh together with Ephraim also formed the House of Joseph....
. Some twenty years after the breakup of the united kingdom, Abijah took the occasion of the defeat of Jeroboam to take back the towns of Bethel
Bethel
Bethel was a border city described in the Hebrew Bible as being located between Benjamin and Ephraim...
, Jeshanah and Ephron
Ephron
Ephron is the surname of a family of American writers:* Henry Ephron * Phoebe Ephron * Amy Ephron * Delia Ephron * Hallie Ephron , sometimes writes under G. H. Ephron* Nora Ephron...
, with their surrounding villages. Ephron is believed to be the Ophrah
Ophrah
Ophrah is a name in the Hebrew Bible meaning "a fawn", given to:* A city of Benjamin ; probably identical with Ephron and Ephraim , the modern Palestinian city of Taybeh. The Israeli settlement of Ofra is close to the site as well....
that was also allocated to the Tribe of Benjamin by Joshua.
Succession
A more complete biography than that of the Hebrew BibleHebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
of Abijah was written by Iddo the Seer
Visions of Iddo the Seer
The book called the Visions of Iddo the Seer is a lost text that was probably written by the Biblical Prophet Iddo, who lived at the time of Rehoboam. The book is described at...
. A reference to the account is made in , but the work itself has been lost.
Abijah was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem. He was succeeded by his son, Asa
Asa of Judah
Asa was the third king of the Kingdom of Judah and the fifth king of the House of David. He was the son of Abijam, grandson of Rehoboam, and great-grandson of Solomon. The Hebrew Bible gives the period of his reign as 41 years. His reign is dated between 913-910 BCE to 873-869 BCE. He was...
.
Chronological notes
According to , Abijah became king of Judah in the 18th year of the reign of JeroboamJeroboam
Jeroboam was the first king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel after the revolt of the ten northern Israelite tribes against Rehoboam that put an end to the United Monarchy....
, and reigned for three years.
William F. Albright
William F. Albright
William Foxwell Albright was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist and expert on ceramics. From the early twentieth century until his death, he was the dean of biblical archaeologists and the universally acknowledged founder of the Biblical archaeology movement...
has dated his reign to 915 – 913 BCE.
E. R. Thiele
Edwin R. Thiele
Edwin R. Thiele was an American missionary in China, an editor, archaeologist, writer, and Old Testament professor. He is best known for his chronological studies of the Hebrew kingdom period.- Biography :...
offers the dates 914/913 – 911/910 BCE. As explained in the Rehoboam
Rehoboam
Rehoboam was initially king of the United Monarchy of Israel but after the ten northern tribes of Israel rebelled in 932/931 BC to form the independent Kingdom of Israel he was king of the Kingdom of Judah, or southern kingdom. He was a son of Solomon and a grandson of David...
article, Thiele's chronology for the first kings of Judah contained an internal inconsistency that later scholars corrected by dating these kings one year earlier, so that Abijah's dates are taken as 915/914 to 912/911 BCE in the present article.
The calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri (in the fall) and that of Israel in Nisan (in the spring). Cross-synchronizations between the two kingdoms therefore often allow narrowing of the beginning and/or ending dates of a king to within a six-month range. For Abijam, the Scriptural data allow the narrowing of his accession to some time between 1 Nisan 914 BCE and the day before 1 Tishri of that year. For calculation purposes, this should be taken as the Judean year beginning in Tishri of 915/914 BC, or more simply 915 BCE. His death occurred at some time between 1 Tishri 912 BCE and 1 Nisan 911 BCE, i.e. in 912 (912/911) BCE. These dates are one year earlier than those given in the third edition of Thiele's Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, thereby correcting an internal consistency that Thiele never resolved, as explained in the Rehoboam
Rehoboam
Rehoboam was initially king of the United Monarchy of Israel but after the ten northern tribes of Israel rebelled in 932/931 BC to form the independent Kingdom of Israel he was king of the Kingdom of Judah, or southern kingdom. He was a son of Solomon and a grandson of David...
article.