Lives of Scripture

Abijah was the son of Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel, who had set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan and led Israel into idolatry (1 Kings 12:28-33). When Abijah fell seriously ill, Jeroboam told his wife to disguise herself and go to the prophet Ahijah at Shiloh, who had once prophesied Jeroboam's rise to kingship, to learn what would happen to the boy (14:1-4). God told the blind, aging Ahijah who was coming despite the disguise. Ahijah pronounced sweeping judgment on Jeroboam's house for its idolatry -- everyone connected to it would be cut off and die shamefully, eaten by dogs or birds (14:7-11). But of Abijah specifically, Ahijah said something starkly different: he alone of Jeroboam's household would be buried and properly mourned, "because in him there is found something good toward the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam" (14:13). Ahijah told the mother that the boy would die the moment she stepped back into the city, and it happened exactly as spoken; all Israel mourned him (14:12, 14:17-18). Abijah never did anything recorded beyond falling sick and dying, yet Scripture singles him out as the one bright exception inside a doomed, idolatrous house.