151 And in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam son of Nebat, reigned hath Abijam over Judah; 2 three years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother 'is' Maachah daughter of Abishalom; 3 and he walketh in all the sins of his father, that he did before him, and his heart hath not been perfect with Jehovah his God, as the heart of David his father; 4 but for David's sake hath Jehovah his God given to him a lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem, 5 in that David did that which 'is' right in the eyes of Jehovah, and turned not aside from all that He commanded him all days of his life—only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite; 6 and war hath been between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. 7 And the rest of the matters of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? And war hath been between Abijam and Jeroboam; 8 and Abijam lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in the city of David, and reign doth Asa his son in his stead.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Kings 15:1-8
Commentary on 1 Kings 15:1-8
(Read 1 Kings 15:1-8)
Abijam's heart was not perfect with the Lord his God; he wanted sincerity; he began well, but he fell off, and walked in all the sins of his father, following his bad example, though he had seen the bad consequences of it. David's family was continued as a lamp in Jerusalem, to maintain the true worship of God there, when the light of Divine truth was extinguished in all other places. The Lord has still taken care of his cause, while those who ought to have been serviceable thereto have lived and perished in their sins. The Son of David will still continue a light to his church, to establish it in truth and righteousness to the end of time. There are two kinds of fulfilling the law, one legal, the other by the gospel. Legal is, when men do all things required in the law, and that by themselves. None ever thus fulfilled the law but Christ, and Adam before his fall. The gospel manner of fulfilling the law is, to believe in Christ who fulfilled the law for us, and to endeavour in the whole man to obey God in all his precepts. And this is accepted of God, as to all those that are in Christ. Thus David and others are said to fulfil the law.