a-bi'-ja ('abhiyah or 'abhiyahu (2?Chronicles 13:20,21), "my father is Yahweh," or "Yahweh is father"):


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

  2. The second son of the prophet Samuel (1?Samuel 8:2; 1?Chronicles 6:28).

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

  4. A son of Jeroboam I of Israel (1?Kings 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?Chronicles 3:10; 2?Chronicles 11:20-14:1). As to the variant name Abijam (1?Kings 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?Kings 15:2; 2?Chronicles 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?Kings 15:10,13; 2?Chronicles 15:16). Further we are explicitly told that Absalom had three sons and one daughter (2?Samuel 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?Samuel 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?Chronicles 13:2).



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

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

  8. The mother of King Hezekiah (2?Chronicles 29:1), called Abi in 2 Ki. See ABI.

Willis J. Beecher

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Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'ABIJAH'". "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia". 1915.