2 Chronicles 11 · a question people ask
Was Abijah's mother Maacah or Micaiah?
2 Chronicles names her twice, in two ways. Here: "After her, he took Maacah the granddaughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith" (11:20), and "Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief" (11:22). Two chapters on: "His mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah" (13:2). In 1 Kings, "Abijam his son reigned in his place" (1 Kings 14:31), and of Abijam it says, "His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom" (1 Kings 15:2), and it says the same words of Asa (1 Kings 15:10); 2 Chronicles calls Maacah "the mother of Asa the king" (15:16). In Hebrew 11:20 and 11:21 have bat, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "daughter"; the WEB gives "granddaughter" there. The chapter doesn't say whether this Absalom is David's son. None of these verses explains how they fit together, and readers have explained them in more than one way. These notes set the verses side by side and don't choose.
The verses
“After her, he took Maacah the granddaughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. Rehoboam loved Maacah the granddaughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, the prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king.”
“He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.”
“Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam his son reigned in his place.”
“Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.”