Abijam and Asa: We remain for the moment in Judah, with Rehoboam’s immediate successors. Abijam is the characteristically bad Judean king, indulging in the idolatry of Solomon’s later years and of Rehoboam. Asa is the characteristically good Judean king, behaving relatively faithfully like David and the younger Solomon. These two between them set the pattern for all subsequent Judean kings, who are measured in terms of whether they have been “like David” or not.

15:1–8  Abijam was just as bad as his father and, indeed, his grandfather in his later years: his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God (cf. 11:3). Because of the special place held by David and Jerusalem in God’s affections, however (11:11–13, 31–39; 14:21), the idolatry of Solomon and Rehoboam had not brought upon them t…