The Strong Hand of a Flawed Father: Abijah's Legacy Text: 2 Chronicles 13:21-22
Introduction: God's Untidy Providence
We modern Christians have a deep-seated desire for our heroes to be tidy. We want our biblical characters to fit neatly into boxes labeled "good" or "bad." We want their lives to be straightforward, their motives pure, and their actions consistently righteous. But the God of Scripture is not in the business of writing sterile fables for our moralistic comfort. He is the God of history, and history is messy. He works His sovereign will through crooked sticks, through flawed men, and through complicated situations that defy our simplistic categories.
King Abijah of Judah is one such crooked stick. If you only read his story in 1 Kings, you get a very grim picture. It says plainly that "he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father" (1 Kings 15:3). And yet, here in 2 Chronicles, the Chronicler gives us a different angle. He shows us Abijah standing on Mount Zemaraim, preaching a fiery sermon on covenant fidelity to the apostate northern kingdom. He shows us Abijah leading Judah to a staggering military victory against overwhelming odds, "because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers" (2 Chron. 13:18).
So which is it? Was Abijah a wicked king or a righteous one? The biblical answer is yes. He was a man of profound contradictions, like so many of us. He was a flawed vessel that God, for His own purposes, chose to fill with a measure of strength and blessing. This is uncomfortable for us, but it is essential gospel truth. God's covenant faithfulness is not ultimately dependent on the pristine perfection of His instruments, but on the unshakeable perfection of His promises. The Davidic covenant did not stand on the virtue of David's sons, but on the oath of God Himself.
The two verses before us today serve as a summary statement, a concluding snapshot of Abijah's reign. And in this brief summary, we find three crucial principles that govern God's world: the principle of covenantal strength, the principle of generational fruitfulness, and the principle of historical accountability. This is not just a dusty record of an ancient king; it is a lesson in how God builds His kingdom in the real world, through real people.
The Text
But Abijah became stronger; and he took fourteen wives to himself, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo.
(2 Chronicles 13:21-22 LSB)
The Blessing of Strength (v. 21a)
Our text begins with a simple but profound declaration:
"But Abijah became stronger..." (2 Chronicles 13:21a)
This phrase stands in stark contrast to the fate of his enemy, Jeroboam, who, after his devastating defeat, "did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah" (2 Chron. 13:20). The strength of Abijah was not his own inherent quality; it was a direct gift from God. It was the result of the battle where Judah prevailed "because they relied on the LORD." God honors those who, however imperfectly, rely on Him. Abijah's sermon before the battle was full of covenantal logic. He understood that Judah's claim to the kingdom was based on God's sworn covenant with David, not on their own righteousness. He understood that the priesthood in Jerusalem was legitimate and the calves in Bethel were an abomination. He got the big things right, and God blessed him for it.
This is a foundational principle of reality. Strength, stability, and victory in this world are covenantal matters. When a man, a family, or a nation aligns itself with God's created order and His revealed will, God strengthens them. When they rebel, He breaks them. Our secular world believes strength comes from the state, from the military, from the economy. But the Bible teaches that true strength, lasting strength, comes from covenant faithfulness. Abijah "became stronger" not because of brilliant political maneuvering, but because in a crucial moment of national crisis, he planted his flag on the side of God's covenant with David and the Levitical priesthood. God saw that, and He strengthened his hand.
The Blessing of Fruitfulness (v. 21b)
The evidence of this God-given strength is displayed in the next clause, and it is a form of blessing that makes our modern, sterile world deeply uncomfortable.
"...and he took fourteen wives to himself, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters." (2 Chronicles 13:21b LSB)
Now, we must tread carefully here. The first thing a modern evangelical wants to do is apologize for the polygamy. We rush to point out that this was not God's original design in Genesis 2, which is true. We point to the strife and misery that polygamy caused in the households of Abraham, Jacob, and David, which is also true. The Law in Deuteronomy 17 explicitly warned future kings against multiplying wives. So, let us be clear: Abijah's taking of fourteen wives was a sin. It was an act of disobedience and self-indulgence, following the pattern of his grandfather Solomon and his father Rehoboam.
But that is not the point the Chronicler is making. In the ancient world, and in the consistent testimony of Scripture, a large family was an unambiguous sign of God's blessing. "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward" (Psalm 127:3). A quiver full of children was a sign of strength, prosperity, and a future. Thirty-eight children meant Abijah's house was established. It meant he had a legacy. It was a visible, tangible sign that God had not cut him off.
This is what we must grasp: God can and does bless His people in the midst of their sins. He does not bless the sin itself, but He blesses the man, according to His own covenant purposes. David was a polygamist and an adulterous murderer, yet God established his throne forever. Abijah was a flawed man with a divided heart, yet God gave him victory and a massive family. God's common grace and His covenantal blessings are not distributed according to a neat and tidy system of merit. He gives them sovereignly. The Chronicler includes this detail not to commend polygamy, but to underscore the central point: God strengthened Abijah. He gave him military victory, and He gave him a household teeming with life. This is a polemic against the child-hating, sterile sensibilities of our age, which sees children as a burden and a liability rather than a blessing and a strength.
The Blessing of Accountability (v. 22)
The passage concludes by pointing to an external, historical record.
"Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo." (2 Chronicles 13:22 LSB)
This is a fascinating and important detail. The Chronicler, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is telling his readers that his account is not exhaustive. He is pointing them to his sources. He is saying, "This is a true record, and if you want more detail, you can consult the historical work of the prophet Iddo." This does several things.
First, it grounds the biblical narrative in real, verifiable history. The Bible is not a collection of "once upon a time" stories. It deals with real people, real events, real kings, and real prophets who wrote real books. The Christian faith is a historical faith. It is not based on abstract principles but on God's mighty acts in time and space.
Second, it tells us about the nature of biblical inspiration. The Chronicler did not receive this information in a mystical trance. He did his homework. He engaged in historical research, consulting sources like the annals of Iddo the prophet. The Holy Spirit guided this process, ensuring that what the Chronicler selected, arranged, and wrote was precisely what God intended for His inspired, infallible, and sufficient Word. The doctrine of inspiration does not mean God bypasses human authorship; it means He superintends it perfectly.
Third, it addresses the sufficiency of Scripture. Some people get nervous when the Bible mentions books that are not in the Bible, like the treatise of Iddo or the book of Jasher. They wonder if we are missing part of God's Word. But this is to misunderstand what the Bible is. The canon of Scripture is not "every true thing ever written by a prophet." The canon is the collection of those specific books that God intended to be His authoritative, covenant document for His people for all time. God, in His providence, ensured that everything we need for life and godliness is contained in the sixty-six books we have. The book of Iddo was true and historically valuable, but it was not part of the inspired canon God was assembling. Its mention here no more undermines the sufficiency of Scripture than a pastor citing a history book in a sermon undermines the authority of the Bible. It simply shows that God's inspired authors were confident in their sources and were not afraid to point to the historical record.
Ultimately, this verse is about accountability. Abijah's life, his "ways and his words," were put on the record. He was a public figure, and his deeds were chronicled by a prophet of God. This reminds us that all our acts, ways, and words are on the record. There is a book being written, and one day it will be opened. We will all give an account before the God of history.
Conclusion: Strength in the True Son
The story of Abijah is a story of mixed success and mixed motives. He was a sinful king who enjoyed the blessing of God. He relied on God in one great moment and was strengthened, yet his heart was not wholly true. He stands as a monument to the fact that God's covenant with David was not dependent on David's sons.
And this should drive us to the true and better Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. Abijah was strengthened for a time, but Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Abijah had many children, but Christ is building a household of faith that no man can number, from every tribe and tongue and nation. Abijah's deeds were recorded by Iddo the prophet, but Christ's deeds are the central subject of all the prophets. He is the one whose heart was and is perfectly true to the Lord His God.
Abijah's strength was a temporary, earthly blessing for a partial and flawed obedience. But the strength we receive in the gospel is an eternal, spiritual blessing for a perfect obedience that is not our own. We are not strengthened because we get our theology just right in a sermon, but because we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We are not blessed with teeming households as a reward for our faithfulness, but we are adopted into the household of God as a gift of His grace. Our lives are not merely recorded in a prophet's annals, but our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Therefore, let us learn from Abijah. Let us learn that relying on God brings strength. Let us learn that children are a blessing. Let us learn that our lives are lived before a recording God. But let us not put our ultimate hope in flawed kings or in our own flawed efforts to rely on God. Let us place our hope entirely in the one perfect King, whose strength is made perfect in our weakness, and in whom all the covenant promises of God are Yes and Amen.