And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead.
The verse belongs to the history of the kings after Israel divided into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, a period that continued until Israel was overthrown in 721 B.C. It falls within the account of the kings of Judah and Israel covering the period from the division of the kingdoms to Jehoshaphat's death. It is part of the history of the divided kingdom told in 1 Kings 12 to 16. It records that Abijam died and was buried in the city of David and that his son Asa succeeded him as king of Judah, marking the end of Abijam's reign.
The surrounding account characterizes Abijam's brief reign over Judah as wicked and Asa's reign as better and largely better, bringing prosperity to Judah under his sway. 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 the worship of idols. That turning was away from the God-given plan of worship that pointed to Christ and revealed the way of salvation from sin, forsaking what was pure and true and uplifting for the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, what was impure and untrue and degrading, the worship of the creature instead of the Creator.
The verse describes Abijam's death as sleeping with his fathers, using the Bible's sleep language for death, the same sleep language used throughout for the kings of Israel. It shows that death is a sleep in which God gives His beloved sleep, an unconscious rest in the grave where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. There the dead are free from anguish without hope and from anxious solicitude over the living, until the sleeping dead awake in resurrection.
The verse belongs to the history of the kings after Israel divided into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, a period that continued until Israel was overthrown in 721 B.C. It falls within the account of the kings of Judah and Israel covering the period from the division of the kingdoms to Jehoshaphat's death. It is part of the history of the divided kingdom told in 1 Kings 12 to 16. It records that Abijam died and was buried in the city of David and that his son Asa succeeded him as king of Judah, marking the end of Abijam's reign.
The surrounding account characterizes Abijam's brief reign over Judah as wicked and Asa's reign as better and largely better, bringing prosperity to Judah under his sway. 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 the worship of idols. That turning was away from the God-given plan of worship that pointed to Christ and revealed the way of salvation from sin, forsaking what was pure and true and uplifting for the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, what was impure and untrue and degrading, the worship of the creature instead of the Creator.
The verse describes Abijam's death as sleeping with his fathers, using the Bible's sleep language for death, the same sleep language used throughout for the kings of Israel. It shows that death is a sleep in which God gives His beloved sleep, an unconscious rest in the grave where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. There the dead are free from anguish without hope and from anxious solicitude over the living, until the sleeping dead awake in resurrection.