He reigned for three years in Jerusalem: 1–2 Kings date the reign of each king of Judah and Israel in relation to the number of years that the king of the other kingdom had been reigning and in terms of the number of years that each king himself reigned. Precise reconstruction of the dates today is not possible. If Abijah became king in the eighteenth year that Jeroboam ruled in the north and if Abijah ruled for three years, then how could Asa become king of Judah in the twentieth year of Jeroboam’s reign (verse 9)? See the discussion in the introductory notes on 1 Kgs 14.1-18.

His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom: The identification of Abijah’s mother is a difficult problem. Here she is identified as Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 2 Chr 11.20 says that she was the daughter of “Absalom.” If “Absalom” is simply a variant spelling, as seems likely, then she may have been the granddaughter of King David’s son Absalom, that is, daughter is used with the sense “granddaughter” (so Revised English Bible; similarly New Jerusalem Bible, which says “descendant of Absalom”). But it is possible that Absalom refers to a different person and not to David’s son. 2 Chr 13.2, however, states that Abijah’s mother was “Micaiah the daughter of Uriel,” not Maacah the daughter of Absalom. This is further complicated by the fact that in verse 10 of this chapter, Maacah the daughter of Abishalom is identified as the mother of Asa if the text is to be taken literally. However these differences are explained, translators must translate the text as it stands without attempting to harmonize the different accounts.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .