Abijah

In Bible versions:

Abijah: NET AVS NIV NRSV NASB TEV
Abijam: AVS NIV NRSV NASB TEV

a son of King Rehoboam; father of King Asa
a priest who was head of the eighth priestly class from David's time
the son of Samuel of Kohath son of Levi
the son of king Jeroboam
the son of Becher son of Benjamin
chief of a division of priests serving in David's Sanctuary
son and successor of King Rehoboam
mother of King Hezekiah
a priest and leader who returned from exile with Zerubbabel
wife of Hezron of Judah
the son and successor of King Rehoboam

the Lord is my father
father of the sea

Greek

Strongs #7: Abia Abia

Abijah = "my father is Jah (Jehovah)"

1) a priest, the head of a priestly family from whom when David
divided the priests into 24 classes, Abia was the 8th order
2) son and successor to Rehoboam on the throne of Judah

7 Abia ab-ee-ah'

of Hebrew origin (29); Abijah, the name of two Israelites:-Abia.
see HEBREW for 029

Hebrew

Strongs #029: hyba 'Abiyah or prolonged whyba 'Abiyahuw

Abia or Abiah or Abijah = "Jehovah is (my) father"

1) king of Judah, son and successor of Rehoboam
2) second son of Samuel
3) son of Jeroboam the first, king of Israel
4) son of Becher, a Benjamite
5) head of a priestly house (one of the 24 Levite groups)
6) head of a priestly house (after the exile)
7) wife of Hezron
8) mother of Hezekiah (cf 021)

29 'Abiyah ab-ee-yaw'

or prolonged Abiyahuw {ab-ee-yaw'-hoo}; from 1 and 3050;
father (i.e. worshipper) of Jah; Abijah, the name of several
Israelite men and two Israelitesses:-Abiah, Abijah.
see HEBREW for 01
see HEBREW for 03050

Strongs #038: Myba 'Abiyam

Abijam = "my father is the sea" or "Yah(u) is (my) father"

1) king of Judah, son and successor of Rehoboam

38 'Abiyam ab-ee-yawm'

from 1 and 3220; father of (the) sea (i.e. seaman); Abijam
(or Abijah), a king of Judah:-Abijam.
see HEBREW for 01
see HEBREW for 03220

Abijah [EBD]

father (i.e., "possessor or worshipper") of Jehovah. (1.) 7:8">1 Chr. 7:8. (2.) 2:24">1 Chr. 2:24.

(3.) The second son of Samuel (8:2">1 Sam. 8:2; 6:28">1 Chr. 6:28). His conduct, along with that of his brother, as a judge in Beer-sheba, to which office his father had appointed him, led to popular discontent, and ultimately provoked the people to demand a royal form of government.

(4.) A descendant of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, a chief of one of the twenty-four orders into which the priesthood was divided by David (24:10">1 Chr. 24:10). The order of Abijah was one of those which did not return from the Captivity (2:36-39">Ezra 2:36-39; 7:39-42;12:1">Neh. 7:39-42; 12:1).

(5.) The son of Rehoboam, whom he succeeded on the throne of Judah (3:10">1 Chr. 3:10). He is also called Abijam (14:31;15:1-8">1 Kings 14:31; 15:1-8). He began his three years' reign (12:16;13:1,2">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 (13:5-12">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" (15:3">1 Kings 15:3; 11:20-22">2 Chr. 11:20-22). It is said in 15:2">1 Kings 15:2 that "his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom;" but in 13:2">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 (14:27">2 Sam. 14:27), and by her had Maachah. The word "daughter" in 15:2">1 Kings 15:2 will thus, as it frequently elsewhere does, mean grand-daughter.

(6.) A son of Jeroboam, the first king of Israel. On account of his severe illness when a youth, his father sent his wife to consult the prophet Ahijah regarding his recovery. The prophet, though blind with old age, knew the wife of Jeroboam as soon as she approached, and under a divine impulse he announced to her that inasmuch as in Abijah alone of all the house of Jeroboam there was found "some good thing toward the Lord," he only would come to his grave in peace. As his mother crossed the threshold of the door on her return, the youth died, and "all Israel mourned for him" (14:1-18">1 Kings 14:1-18).

(7.) The daughter of Zechariah (29:1">2 Chr. 29:1; comp. 8:2">Isa. 8:2), and afterwards the wife of Ahaz. She is also called Abi (18:2">2 Kings 18:2).

(8.) One of the sons of Becher, the son of Benjamin (7:8">1 Chr. 7:8). "Abiah," A.V.

Abijam [EBD]

father of the sea; i.e., "seaman" the name always used in Kings of the king of Judah, the son of Rehoboam, elsewhere called Abijah (15:1,7,8">1 Kings 15:1,7,8). (See ABIJAH, 5.)

ABIA, ABIAH, OR ABIJAH [SMITH]

Son of Becher, the son of Benjamin. (1Â Chronicles 7:8)
Wife of Hezron. (1Â Chronicles 2:24)
Second son of Samuel. (1Â Samuel 8:2; 1Â Chronicles 7:28)
The son of Rehoboam. (1Â Chronicles 3:10; Matthew 1:7) See ABIJAH OR ABIJAM, 1.
Mother of King Hezekiah. [ABI]
Same as ABIJAH OR ABIJAM, 4.

ABIJAM [SMITH]

[ABIA, ABIAH, OR ABIJAH, ABIJAH OR ABIJAM, 1]

ABIJAH [ISBE]

ABIJAH - a-bi'-ja ('abhiyah or 'abhiyahu (2 Ch 13:20,21), "my father is Yahweh," or "Yahweh is father"): The name of six or more men and two women in the Old Testament.

(1) The seventh son of Becher the son of Benjamin (1 Ch 7:8).

(2) The second son of the prophet Samuel (1 Sam 8:2; 1 Ch 6:28 (6:13)).

(3) The eighth among "the holy captains and captains of God" appointed by lot by David in connection with the priestly courses (1 Ch 24:10). Compare "Zacharias of the course of Abijah" (Lk 1:5).

(4) A son of Jeroboam I of Israel (1 Ki 14:1-18). The narrative describes his sickness and his mother's visit to the prophet Ahijah. He is spoken of as the one member of the house of Jeroboam in whom there was "found some good thing toward Yahweh." With his death the hope of the dynasty perished.

(5) The son and successor of Rehoboam king of Judah (1 Ch 3:10; 2 Ch 11:20 through 14:1). As to the variant name Abijam (1 Ki 14:31; 15:1,7,8) see ABIJAM.

The statements concerning Abijah's mother afford great opportunity for a person who is interested in finding discrepancies in the Bible narrative. She is said to have been Maacah the daughter of Absalom (1 Ki 15:2; 2 Ch 11:20,21,22). As more than 50 years elapsed between the adolescence of Absalom and the accession of Rehoboam, the suggestion at once emerges that she may have been Absalom's daughter in the sense of being his granddaughter. But Maacha the daughter of Absalom was the mother of Asa, Abijam's son and successor (1 Ki 15:10,13; 2 Ch 15:16). Further we are explicitly told that Absalom had three sons and one daughter (2 Sam 14:27). It is inferred that the three sons died young, inasmuch as Absalom before his death built him a monument because he had no son (2 Sam 18:18). The daughter was distinguished for her beauty, but her name was Tamar, not Maacah. Finally, the narrative tells us that the name of Abijah's mother was "Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah" (2 Ch 13:2).

It is less difficult to combine all these statements into a consistent account than it would be to combine some pairs of them if taken by themselves. When all put together they make a luminous narrative, needing no help from conjectural theories of discrepant sources or textual errors. It is natural to understand that Tamar the daughter of Absalom married Uriel of Gibeah; that their daughter was Maacah, named for her great-grandmother (2 Sam 3:3; 1 Ch 3:2); that Micaiah is a variant of Maacah, as Abijah is of Abijam. Maacah married Rehoboam, the parties being second cousins on the father's side; if they had been first cousins perhaps they would not have married. Very likely Solomon, through the marriage, hoped to conciliate an influential party in Israel which still held the name of Absalom in esteem; perhaps also he hoped to supplement the moderate abilities of Rehoboam by the great abilities of his wife. She was a brilliant woman, and Rehoboam's favorite (2 Ch 11:21). On Abijah's accession she held at court the influential position of king's mother; and she was so strong that she continued to hold it, when, after a brief reign, Abijah was succeeded by Asa; though it was a position from which Asa had the authority to depose her (1 Ki 15:13; 2 Ch 15:16).

The account in Chronicles deals mainly with a decisive victory which, it says, Abijah gained over northern Israel (2 Ch 13), he having 400,000 men and Jeroboam 800,000, of whom 500,000 were slain. It is clear that these numbers are artificial, and were so intended, whatever may be the key to their meaning. Abijah's speech before the battle presents the same view of the religious situation which is presented in Kings and Amos and Hosea, though with fuller priestly details. The orthodoxy of Abijah on this one occasion is not in conflict with the representation in Kings that he followed mainly the evil ways of his father Rehoboam. In Chronicles coarse luxury and the multiplying of wives are attributed to both father and son.

(6) A priest of Nehemiah's time, who sealed the covenant (Neh 10:7). Conjecturally the same with the one mentioned in Neh 12:4,17.

(7) The wife of Judah's grandson Hezron, to whom was traced the origin of Tekoa (1 Ch 2:24).

(8) The mother of King Hezekiah (2 Ch 29:1), called Abi in 2 Ki.

See ABI.

Willis J. Beecher

ABIJAM [ISBE]

ABIJAM - a-bi'-jam ('abhiyam, "father of sea," or, "father of west"). The name given in Kings (1 Ki 14:31; 15:1,7,8) to the son of Rehoboam who succeeded him as king of Judah.

See ABIJAH.

The name has puzzled scholars. Some have proposed, by adding one letter, to change it into "father of his people." Others have observed that the Greek rendering in Kings is Abeiou. Either the Hebrew copy used by the Greek translator read 'abhiyahu, Abijah, or else the translator substituted the form of the name which was to him more familiar. A few existing copies of the Hebrew have the reading Abijah, and Mt 1:7 presupposes that as the Old Testament reading. So they infer that Abijam in Ki is an erroneous reading for Abijah. This seems at present to be the prevailing view, and it is plausible. It would be more convincing, however, if the name occurred but once in the passage in Kings, instead of occurring five times. It is improbable that a scribe would repeat the same error five times within a few sentences, while a translator, if he changed the name once, would of course change it the other four times.

Exploration has revealed the fact that the whole region near the eastern end of the Mediterranean was known as "the west." "Father of the west" is not an inapt name for Rehoboam to give to the boy who, he expects, will inherit the kingdom of Solomon and David. The effect of the secession of the ten tribes was to make that name a burlesque, and one does not wonder that it was superseded by Abijah, "My father is Yahweh."

Willis J. Beecher