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Abijam

Curator's research file

Subject · person

Abijam

also called Abijah

Identity

Name meaning
my father is the sea (Heb. av-yam) — see note on the variant below

Family

Parent(s)
—
Spouse
—
Children
—
Tribe / people
—

Era & origin

Era
c. 913–910 BC — three-year reign over Judah
Region
—
Contemporary of
—

Role

Role
Alternate spelling for the king of Judah · See *Abijah*, sense 5
Notable for
*Abijam* is the spelling 1 Kings uses for **Abijah, the fifth king of Judah** (1 Kings 14:31; 15:1, 7, 8).

Scripture

First mention
1 Kings 14
Most cited
1 Kings 15
Key passages

Network

Referenced by
4 entries
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Read the full account →

Abijam is the spelling 1 Kings uses for **Abijah, the fifth king of Judah** (1 Kings 14:31; 15:1, 7, 8). 2 Chronicles 13 calls the same man Abijah. Both refer to the son of Rehoboam who reigned three years (c. 913–910 BC) over the southern kingdom.

The difference is the final consonant: Abijah (av-yah, my father is the LORD) versus Abijam (av-yam, my father is the sea). Some commentators have proposed this is no accident — that the writer of Kings, who judged the king's reign harshly, deliberately replaced the divine name with the older Canaanite yam (sea) as a kind of scribal demotion. Others see it as a simple textual variation between two oral traditions of the same name. Whatever the cause, the figure is the same.

For the full biography, see the Abijah entry, sense 5.

Key passages

1 Kings 141 Kings 15

See also

Source · AI-drafted from biblical text and standard reference works (Smith's, Easton's, ISBE) — verify and refine against authoritative sources before publication.

In the Bible

5

Verses where Abijam is named. Berean Standard Bible (public domain).

  • 1 Kings 14:31

    And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David; his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And his son Abijam reigned in his place.

  • 1 Kings 15:1

    In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijam became king of Judah,

  • 1 Kings 15:3

    And Abijam walked in all the sins that his father before him had committed, and his heart was not as fully devoted to the LORD his God as the heart of David his forefather had been.

  • 1 Kings 15:7

    As for the rest of the acts of Abijam, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

  • 1 Kings 15:8

    And Abijam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David, and his son Asa reigned in his place.