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1 Kings 15:2

in 1 Kings 15

and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Three years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.

KJV

Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

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This verse in 1 Kings 15

Commentary

7 notes on this verse
Three years - More strictly, not much more than two years (compare 1Ki 15:1, 1Ki 15:9). Any part of a year may, however, in Jewish reckoning, be taken as a year. His mother’s name was Maachah - Or Michaiah, according to the present reading of marginal reference. The daughter of Abishalom - Absalom seems to have had but one daughter, Tamar 2Sa 14:27, so that Maachah must have been, not his daughter, but his grand-daughter. Her father (see the margin) was Uriel of Gibeah whom, therefore, Tamar married. Maachah took her name from her great-grandmother 2Sa 3:3.

This site's exposition

Abijam became king of Judah

on 1 Kings 15:1-2

Kings dates Judah's king by the regnal year of Israel's king, and will date Israel's kings by Judah's in turn. This double synchronism runs through both books and lets a reader check the chronology at every accession. Abijam reigns three years, and his mother is named “Maacah daughter of Abishalom”.

This site's exposition

he reigned in Jerusalem three years

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown count the three years as parts of years, from the eighteenth year of Jeroboam into his twentieth. Albert Barnes notes that Absalom had one daughter, Tamar, at 2 Samuel 14:27, so Maacah was likely his granddaughter. Abishalom is a form of Absalom.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 15:1 · Written before 373.

proposed

"Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah," and under his rule the Jews obtained a magnificent victory over the Israelites in a battle, which was greater than all those fought before in their civil wars. …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Three years - That is, part of three years. Abishalom - Or, of Absalom, as he is called 2 Chron. xi, 21. And because he is here mentioned as a known person, without any addition of his kindred or quality, some conceive that this was Absalom's daughter, called properly Tamar, 2 Sam. xiv, 27, and from her royal grandmother, 2 Sam. iii, 3, Maacah.
Three years reigned he in Jerusalem,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

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 (2Ch 13:2), probably altered from the one to the other on her becoming queen, as was very common under a change of circumstances.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

In the eighteenth year [of the reign] of King Yerovom. One year after Rechovom’s death, in the twentieth year of Yerovom, Asa reigned. The third year of Nodov (Aviyam) is counted for King Asa as a year, and for him it is also counted.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Kings 15:1:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

9 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • שָׁלֹ֣שׁthree

    shaloshH7969 →432 times

  • שָׁנִ֔יםyears

    shanimH8141 →877 times

  • מָלַ֖ךְhe reigned

    malakhH4427 →348 times

  • בִּירוּשָׁלִָ֑םin Jerusalem

    birushalimH3389 →643 times

  • וְשֵׁ֣םand [the] name of

    veshemH8034 →864 times

  • אִמּ֔וֹmother his

    ʾimoH517 →220 times

  • מַעֲכָ֖ה[was] Maacah

    maakhahH4601 →23 times

  • בַּת־[the] daughter of

    bat-H1323 →588 times

  • אֲבִישָׁלֽוֹם׃Abishalom

    ʾavishalomH53 →110 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

6 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

2 Chronicles 13:2and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel; she was from Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.4 works1 Kings 15:10and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.4 works2 Chronicles 15:16King Asa also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole, crushed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.3 works1 Kings 15:13He also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.2 works2 Chronicles 11:20–22After her, he married Maacah daughter of Absalom, and she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.2 works1 Kings 22:42Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Kings 15:13

    He also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 32:20

      Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink…

    • Matthew 10:37

      Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;

    • 1 Kings 15:10

      and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

    • Joshua 6:24

      Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it. However, they put the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house.

    • 2 Corinthians 5:16

      So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 13:2

    and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel; she was from Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 11:20

      After her, he married Maacah daughter of Absalom, and she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.

    • 1 Kings 15:6–7

      And there was war between the houses of Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of Abijam’s life.

    • Judges 19:14

      So they continued on their journey, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Kings

The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, Sir Edward John Poynter, 1890. Public domain.
The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, Sir Edward John Poynter, 1890. Public domain.
1 Kings: the study guide →Read 1 Kings 15 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 15:1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Keil, The Books of the Kings.

Read on in 1 Kings 15 →