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New Defender's Study Bible Notes
15:2 daughter of Abishalom. Abishalom is an alternate form of Absalom. Thus Abijam, a great grandson of David through Solomon and Rehoboam was also his great grandson through Absalom and Maachah.
15:3 heart was not perfect. Although it is not mentioned here, Abijam did rebuke Jeroboam for his idolatry, and win a great military victory over him (II Chronicles 13:3-17). In general however, his reign of three years was marked by further apostasy in Judah.
15:11 that which was right. Despite the ungodly example of Solomon, Rehoboam and Abijam as well as the idolatry of his mother (I Kings 15:13), Asa was a good king for the most part, trying to restore the true worship of Jehovah to the land. See also II Chronicles 14–16 for more details of the reforms and later failures of King Asa.
15:18 Ben-hadad. This is the first of three Ben-hadads mentioned in Scripture. See note on I Kings 20:1.
15:29 smote all the house. God had offered to build Jeroboam “a sure house” (I Kings 11:38), in effect a long dynasty of his seed over Israel, but as it turned out—because of his gross rebellion against God’s Word—his dynasty lasted only two years after he died (I Kings 15:25,29-30).
15:29 destroyed him. This utter destruction of Jeroboam and all his family (with the one exception of the child who had died before reaching an age of conscious sin—I Kings 14:13), had been foretold by the prophet Ahijah (I Kings 14:10-14), the very same prophet who had earlier called him to be king over Israel (I Kings 11:29-39).