The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 160

II. TRE nnrTTLENEss OF EARTHLY FORTUNE, When Abijah ascended the throno of Judah, he had, probably, good reason for expecting a long period of honour and enjoyment. But three short years brought his hopes down to the ground. Some rusease showed itself in his frame, or some accident befell him, or some treacherous blow struck him, and he went down to the grave with his early hopes unfulfilled. And who shall say that the young man of our acquaintance, of our connection, of our affection, who has such bright prospects before him, will not find, by a sad disillusion that the term of his happiness and bis honour is a very brief one; that a few years: or ~ven m~nths, will bring him to bis grave? "Love not the world, neither the things which are m the world. , .. The world passeth away . , , but he that doeth the will of God <ibidethfor ever." HI. 'l'HE DANGER OF GREAT suoCEss. We read in the preceding verse (ver. 20) that Jeroboam never "recovered strength again " after his humiliating defeat at Mount Ephraim. We might with equal truth say of Abijah that he never recovered from his success. He was apparently elated by it, and, in the perilous mood of complacency, he gave himself up to culpable domestic licence (ver. 21). His latter days were spent in home luxuries and (it is only too likely) in revelries and follies. His success was too much for him; as, indeed, success very often proves to be. Many men can stand misfortune; comparatively few can stand prosperity. It is a "slippery place," where the unguarded human spirit falls, and is badly bruised, if not broken. If the tide of success should set in, whether of wealth, or honour, or power, or affection, let there be unusual watchfulness and multiplied devotion ; for the hour of prosperity is that hour when the archers of the enemy will be busy with their arrows. IV. THE VALUE OF WHOLE-HEARTEDNESS IN THE SERVI0E OF THE SUPREME. Where shall we look to find the fatal flaw that accounts for this royal failure? We find it here (1 Kings xv. 3). Abijah's heart was "not perfect with the Lord his God; n that is to say, his heart was "divided," and therefore he was "found faulty" (Hos, x. 2). He did not seek God "with his whole heart." He was willing enough to try and charm with the Divine Name and the Divine will and Law (see vers. 5-10), but he was not prepared to walk uprightly and faithfully, as "the heart of David his father," before the Lord his God. If our devotion be nothing more than a desire to have God on our side in the day of battle, we shall show small consistency of conduct and little excellence of character. The religious character that will stand the test both of sun- shine and shadow is that of the man who realizes the supreme claims of God, his Father and his Saviour, and who solemnly and determinately dedicates himself, heart and life, to "the Lord his God." It is only whole-heartedness in the 11ervice cf Christ that will ensure us against the perils of adversity and prosperity.-C. Vers. l, 2, 21, 22.-The succ.essor of Rehoboam. I. His NAME. Abijah, "whose father is Jehovah" (1 Kings xiv. 1); Abijam, "father of the sea," i.e. & maritime man (1 Kings xiv. 31; xv. 1); or Ahia (LXX.). If Abijam be not a clerical mistake, then the hypothesis is at least interesting that the Chronicler adopted the form Abijah becanse he did not intend to describe this king's reign as wicked, while the writer of the Kings, having this intention, frequently selected the form Abijam (Kitto) •. IL HIS MOTHER. Micaiab, or Maacha (eh. xi. 20), the daughter of Uriel of G1beah, and the daughter (equivalent to granddaughter by the mother's side) of Absalom (eh. xL 20), or Abishalom (1 Kings xv. 2). The notion (Bahr) that Abijah's wife, the mother of Asa, was also called Maacah (eh. xv. 10) is not necessary, and still less the hypothesis (Bertbeau) that in this place the name of Abijah'e wife has been substituted for that of hie mother. ill. His WIVES. Fourteen in number, of whom one wae (on the supposition just named) Maacab, the names of the others being unknown. Like his father Rehoboam, grandfather Solomon, and great-grandfather David, Abijah practised polygamy. A parent's vices are considerably easier to copy than bis virtues. Those also are likelier than these to be transmitted by heredity. IV. Hie OFFSPRING. Twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. Of the former only one is known, Asa his successor, the rest having disappeared from the stage of history as from that of time. Obscurity, the common lot of men; yet not always a disadvan- 1,a;e in iteelf, or a proof of inferior merit. Some of the world's greatest men h11,vl) oH. xm. 1-22.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 161