1 Kings 15:1-8
"15 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. 2 He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 3 And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father. 4 Nevertheless, for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem, 5 because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 6 Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. 7 The rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 8 And Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place."
There seems to have been nothing of interest for the sacred historian to record about the reign of Abijam in Judah, following the death of Rehoboam.
The significance of the passage lies in 4, where the 'lamp in Jerusalem' refers to his son Asa, who became one of the few really good kings in the southern kingdom. This was an act of God's grace, to raise up such an one, and it had no relation to Abijam's achievements, but was for David's sake. This is important, and it is necessary for this fact to be recorded. What we have here is that the judgment of God was stayed, at least temporarily, for the sake of someone now long dead! It may be far truer than we realise that God's chastisements are turned away from us because of the prayers and faithfulness of our forefathers, and that when in times of crisis danger finally passes, it does so not because He favours us or regards our behaviour with any equanimity, but because He has respect for the prayers and tears of those who in the past honoured Him in individual and national life. In our blindness however, we assume that all is well, not realising that the goodness of God is meant to lead us to repentance. We should carry such principles from God's Word into contemporary life far more than we do. We look for relaxation of the cold war and the deadly armaments race; if it should come, let us not presume to see in this the favour of God upon us, but look rather in another direction for the explanation. There is little in our national life at the present moment that could encourage a holy God to side with us!