Resurrection Life of Jesus Church

PROPHETS
After the death of Rehoboam, the Godhead decided they would extend grace to Judah as long as possible even though a particular king was wicked. They were going to safeguard the messianic bloodline so that Jesus could be incarnated in the future as the Savior of humanity. However, if a king behaved poorly, there would be judgments on him and the nation to let them know who really was in control of Judah.

To strengthen the people of Judah, the Godhead designed a powerful prophet named Jeremiah to prophecy for the kings and the people. Jeremiah 1:1-10

There were also other prophets destined to operate in Judah:

• Joel (792-740 B.C.)
• Amos (760-755 B.C.)
• Hosea (748-670 B.C.)
• Micah (740-700 B.C.)
• Zephaniah (630-623 B.C.)
• Habakkuk (620-597 B.C)

The prophets would work and minister independently of each other, but since mankind has a free will, the Godhead would use the virtual time run to see how the people would respond to these men of God. This was the whole point of the virtual time run, to see the choices humanity would make.

KING ABIJAH
Abijah (also known as Abijam) began to rule in Judah after the death of his father. He was the grandson of King Solomon and the great-grandson of King David. The generation that lived with King David had all passed away, but some of the older people during the reign of King Solomon were still alive. Abijah only ruled over Judah for three short years. 2 Chronicles 13:1-2

WAR WITH ISRAEL
Abijah set out to bring the nine northern tribes under his control and restore the unity of the splintered nation as it had been from the time of Joshua. King Jeroboam mustered 800,000 soldiers in comparison to Abijah’s 400,000 men. verse 3

Abijah preached to Jeroboam and his soldiers before the battle started.

The united kingdom of Israel was given to David’s bloodline. verses 4-5

Jeroboam rebelled against Rehoboam through the efforts of worthless (Belial) men. verse 6-7

Jeroboam was going to resist a son of David with the idolatrous golden calves.  verse 8

Jeroboam expelled the priests of the Lord (Levites) to Judah and ordained heathen men to serve as priests. verse 9

Judah had not forsaken the Lord and was maintaining the commandments of Moses. verses 10-11

God was the captain of Judah. The northern kingdom was pitting themselves against the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. verses 12

Jeroboam ignored the sermon by Abijah and split his troops to set an ambush behind the army of Judah. verse 13

The soldiers of Judah cried out to the Lord when they realized that they were sandwiched between the army of Israel. verse 14

God intervened and the army of Israel was decimated as 500,000 men died and the rest fled north. verses 15-18

Abijah pursued Jeroboam and a number of cities were captured. verse 19

Jeroboam never recovered and died two years later. verse 20

ABIJAH’S ERRORS
The Bible does not record Abijah’s age when he began to reign but he became a powerful king. He was obviously a grown man since he had 22 sons and 16 daughters from 14 women. 2 Chronicles 13: 21-22

Abijah started out with godly zeal, but he would embrace the sins of his fathers and get involved with idolatry and demon worship. 1 Kings 15:1-3

Because of God’s promises to King David, the oldest son of Abijah was allowed to become the next king. verses 4-8

According to Josephus, Abijah committed the following trespasses:

1. Abijah ordered his soldiers to mutilate the dead corpses of the soldiers from the northern kingdom.

2. The corpses were not buried until they had started to rot.

3. When Abijah and his army entered the city of Bethel, they failed to destroy the golden calves, the groves, and the altars.

4. Abijah lied when he declared that Jeroboam removed the nine tribes with worthless men. It had already been prophetically recorded that Israel would secede from Judah and Benjamin.¹ 1 Kings 11:29-39; 12:15

SUMMARY
Abijah willfully ignored the Word of God when he told Jeroboam that the nation of Israel had been divided because of the sins of the kings and the people. He tried in vain to restore the kingdom through his own strength.

History would repeat itself in 1948 when Zionist Jews announced the formation of the political state of Israel.

According to the Bible, Israel will not be restored until the 1,000 year kingdom. Ezekiel 37:19-28

1. Flavius Josephus was a first-century Jewish historian.