A clear example of the different characters and objects of the Chronicles and the Kings is seen in the two accounts of Rehoboam's son Abijah or Abijam. In 1 Kings 15:1-8 we learn nothing good about him, and in 2 Chronicles 13 nothing bad. The reason is clear; the books of the Kings present the history, in brief, of man in responsibility and his failure, while the books of the Chronicles were written after the captivity, to show as we have before noted how God's grace had been at work in the history of the house of David.
In our chapter we find but one incident in Abijah's life, and that an occasion of which we are given no mention in 1 Kings. He maintained the state of war which his father had kept up with Israel, and gathered an army which must have taken every able man in the kingdom; Jeroboam met Abijah with twice as many soldiers.
Whatever the motive or motives behind Abijah's appeal to the ten tribes (verses 5-12), whether he sought first the blessing of the nation as the chosen people of God and His glory, or advantage for himself, he rightly based his address upon God's promises to David (not those to Abraham, nor those conditional promises given through Moses). Abijah here proclaimed the Lord (Jehovah) as the God of Israel—-the 12 tribes (verse 5), the kingdom as Jehovah's (verse 8), and He the God of those with Abijah (verses 10-11), with them to lead them (verse 12).
The ten tribes had, under Jeroboam, adopted golden calves for their gods, no gods at all, but Abijah could speak of the ordered service of the true God as still going on in Jerusalem.
There were the serving priests He had appointed, the sons of Aaron; there the Levites at their work; there every morning and evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense were burned (tokens of the worthiness of Christ as offered to God upon the cross, though Abijah did not know it); there too the twelve loaves, presenting the whole body of Israel as one united people for God, though now because of sin divided; and there amid the darkness, were the seven lamps of the candlestick of gold burning every evening, telling of divine light amid the moral darkness. Further, the priests with their trumpets, as in Joshua's day (Joshua 6), and according to God's word (Numbers 10:1, 2, 9), were with the people in this war.
From a man of faith, from one whose trust was in God, the words of Abijah would have much power, and there were those who really trusted in Him there. And this word, whatever its motive (we may not judge), or whether superficial or deeply felt, was really an appeal to God; it was not spoken in vain. The cry of need (verse 14) was answered, and God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. Relying upon Jehovah, the God of their fathers, the children of Judah were strengthened, and the idol-serving kingdom was humbled; its king was smitten of God and died.
The prophet Iddo wrote more of Abijah, but what we have read serves the purpose of the Holy Spirit. What does it mean to you and me ?