Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 15:1-8
We have here a short account of the short reign of Abijam the son of Rehoboam king of Judah. He makes a better figure, 2 Chr. 13, where we have an account of his war with Jeroboam, the speech which he made before the armies engaged, and the wonderful victory he obtained by the help of God. There he is called Abijah - My father is the Lord, because no wickedness is there laid to his charge. But here, where we are told of his faults, Jah, the name of God, is, in disgrace to him, taken away from his name, and he is called Abijam. See Jer 22:24.
I. Few particulars are related concerning him. 1. Here began his reign in the beginning of Jeroboam's eighteenth year; for Rehoboam reigned but seventee…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 15:2
Three years reigned he--(compare Kg1 15:1 with Kg1 15:9). Parts of years are often counted in Scripture as whole years. The reign began in Jeroboam's eighteenth year, continued till the nineteenth, and ended in the course of the twentieth.
his mother's name was Maachah--or Michaiah (Ch2 13:2), probably altered from the one to the other on her becoming queen, as was very common under a change of circumstances. She is called the daughter of Abishalom, or Absalom (Ch2 11:21), of Uriel (Ch2 13:2). Hence, it has been thought probable that Tamar, the daughter of Absalom (Sa2 14:27; Sa2 18:18), had been married to Uriel, and that Maachah was their daughter.
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 15:1
Reigned Abijam over Judah - Of this son of Rehoboam, of his brethren, and of Rehoboam's family in general, see 2 Chronicles 12, where many particulars are added.
John Gill on 1 Kings 15:2
Three years reigned he in Jerusalem,.... And three only; his reign was short, and indeed not three full years, only one whole year and part of two others; for Asa his son began to reign in the twentieth of Jeroboam, 1 Kings 15:9 so that he reigned part of his eighteenth, this whole nineteenth, and part of his twentieth:
and his mother's name was Maachah the daughter of Abishalom; called Absalom, 2 Chronicles 11:20, generally supposed by the Jews to be Absalom the son of David, and which may seem not improbable, since his other two wives were of his father's family, 2 Chronicles 11:18. Josephus says (q) she was the daughter of Tamar the daughter of Absalom, and so his granddaughter; and whic…