4. Kings: 2. Abijam & 3. Asa 4. Jehoshaphat

Lesson 4

2. Abijam & 3. Asa 4. Jehoshaphat

#2 - #4 Kings of Judah

1 Kings 14:31-15:24 & 22:41-51

2 Chronicles 13-20

Remember the first kings were Saul, David and Solomon. The kingdom divided into the northern and southern kingdoms. Rehoboam was the first king of Judah which was the southern kingdom. It consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. (see map)

2. Abijam 1 Kings 14:31-15:8 & 2 Chronicles 13:1-14:1

Note: He is called Abijam in 1 Kings and Abijah in 2 Chronicles.

When Rehoboam died, his son Abijam became king of Judah. King Jeroboam of Israel was in his 18^th year of reign. Abijam was the king in Jerusalem for 3 years. He followed the same sins as his father and did not worship God.

 

For David, God let Abijam set up the kingdom in Jerusalem. King Rehoboam and King Jeroboam had war between them all their life. The war between the kings carried on with King Abijam.

Abijam had 14 wives, 22 sons and 16 daughters. When Abijam died, his son Asa became the king.

Note: Verse 8 states that Abijam was buried in the City of David. That is what we know as Jerusalem.

 3. Asa 1 Kings 15:9-24 & 2 Chronicles 14-16

Asa became the king of Judah during King Jeroboam of Israel’s 20^th year. He was the king for 41 years. King Asa did what was right according to God! He removed all the idols from the land. He took down altars of idols, pillars, wood images and incense altars. He commanded the people to obey the law and commandments of God.

He took away the queen title from his grandmother Maachah because she had an ‘obscene image of Asherah’ made. He cut down the idol and burned it by the Brook Kidron. Asa’s heart was loyal to God all of his days.

King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel had war between them all their life. King Baasha had Ramah built as a fortification. It was used to block access to Jerusalem and King Asa.

Asa gathered together the gold and silver and sent his servants to Ben-Hadad. He was the King of Syria and lived in Damascus.  The message asked for a treaty between Asa and Ben-Hadad. Asa asked him to break his treaty with King Baasha. King Ben-Hadad agreed and sent his army to attack cities in the tribe of Naphtali. When Baasha heard about the attacks, he stopped building at Ramah and stayed in Tirzah.

King Asa made a proclamation throughout Judah and they took away the stones and lumber from Ramah. King Asa used the supplies to build Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah. He built fortified cities in Judah. There weren’t any wars during this time because God gave them rest. They built cities and walls around them with towers, gates and bars. They built and prospered.

There were mighty warriors. Asa’s army from Judah had 300,000 men with shields and spears. There were 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and bows.

Asa had a severe disease in his foot during his 39^th year of reign. He didn’t seek an answer from God, but from the doctors. He died during the 41^st year of being king.

4. Jehoshaphat 1 Kings 15:24, 22:41-51, 2 Chronicles 17-20

When Asa died from old age, his son Jehoshaphat became the king. He became the king of Judah during the 4^th year of King Ahab of Israel. Jehoshaphat was 35 when he became the king. He was a king for 25 years. He was like his father and did what was right in God’s sight. He removed the altars and wood images from Judah.

He sent some Levites and priests through the cities in the land of Judah with the Book of the Law and they taught the people God’s laws. There was fear of the Lord in the land and the wars ceased. The kingdoms around Jehoshaphat brought him gifts and he became more powerful.

There was a battle and Jehoshaphat told the people to believe in God and they would prosper. He chose men to go before the army singing and praising God. God set up ambushes to protect the people of Judah. When the people of Judah came to a place that overlooked the wilderness, they saw all their enemies that died. No one had escaped. They searched the bodies and took the valuables. They praised God on the fourth day for His protection.

He also allied himself with the wicked king Ahaziah of Israel. Jehoshaphat built merchant ships to sail for gold. But the ships wrecked and didn’t sail because God didn’t like that Jehoshaphat associated with King Ahaziah of Israel.

When Jehoshaphat died, his son Jehoram became the king.

This fill-in-the-finger worksheet is available for Asa. The idea, instructions and answers were created by Christina Barkley and I recreated the worksheets with permission to share. This includes the hand that you see above (without logo) and a blank worksheet for students to draw their own hand. Although the answers may vary, a basic teacher's worksheet is included  to show the students what to do. Click here to download.

 The application packs contain any extra posters, worksheets, maps, etc. specific for the king(s) listed. Each set is different and may contain printables that will be used for more than one king (like the Jerusalem poster that is in this pack).

This pack includes the misc. visuals for these kings that are not in the Kings Visual Pack. There are maps and the posters that were used above.

Click here for the application pack.

 

Click here to download the lesson.

 

Most visuals used in these lessons are in the Kings Visual Pack. This has an assortment of visuals that are used in several lessons. You can print one set to reuse, or print a set for each lesson. The other visuals are in the application pack. Click here to download.

Click here to see the king lessons in this series.