People of the Bible

Abijah

also called Abijam, Abia · – 907 BC · Genealogy of Jesus · Tribe of Judah

Family

Born: Jerusalem
Died: Jerusalem

In the story

A dot is a moment; a bar is something that lasted, drawn to its length.

Reign of Abijam · 957 BC
Death of Abijam · 954 BC

Easton’s Bible Dictionary

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.

From M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary (1893), in the public domain.

Named in 20 verses

1 Kings: 14:31, 15:1, 15:7, 15:8
1 Chronicles: 3:10
2 Chronicles: 11:20, 11:22, 12:16, 13:1, 13:2, 13:3, 13:4, 13:15, 13:17, 13:19, 13:20, 13:21, 13:22, 14:1
Matthew: 1:7

The family, dates and events on this page come from Theographic, a knowledge graph of the Bible by Robert Rouse, used and shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. It is a work in progress, and its dates follow one reconstruction of biblical chronology among several. The dictionary article above is separately in the public domain.