1 Kings 15:7
Now 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. Now 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.
1 Kings 15:7 belongs to the account of Abijam, also called Abijah, whose reign over Judah was brief and wicked, and it records the war between him and Jeroboam, king of Israel. His reign came after Solomon's multiplying of wives turned away his heart and divided the kingdom into two and a half tribes in Judah and ten tribes in Israel, with war and strife continuing between the two divisions. In that division Jeroboam was the strong man who induced Israel to revolt and set up altars against the altar of God.
In the succession of kings, Abijah's reign in Judah stands between Jeroboam and Asa, alongside the reigns of Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri and Ahab in Israel. In the books of Kings, the verse falls within the history of the kings after Israel and Judah divided, a history recorded in the remainder of 1 Kings and throughout 2 Kings. That section recounts about eighty years from the revolt of the ten tribes to Jehoshaphat's death and covers the reigns of several kings of both kingdoms.
Spiritually, the verse belongs to the account in 1 Kings 15 and 16 of the apostasy of Israel, in which the kings led the nation to forsake the worship of the living God for idols. They turned away from the God-given plan of worship which pointed to Christ and revealed the way of salvation from sin, forsaking all that was pure and true and uplifting for the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, for that which was impure, untrue and degrading, for the worship of the creature instead of the Creator. That apostasy comes to a climax under Ahab. As part of the history of Judah after the kingdom divided, the account of Abijah's reign gives lessons about the fruits of righteousness, backsliding, and sin.