The writer moves to a spiritual evaluation of Abijam. It is specific to him, unlike that given in connection with Rehoboam where the evaluation is of the whole of the kingdom of Judah. The writer gives the evaluation in two ways, both negative. In the first place, the writer informs the reader that Abijam followed Rehoboam in sin. If we ask what those sins were, we should think of the sins mentioned in 1 Kings 14:22–24. Although they are called the sins of Judah, still the king as Judah’s ruler was responsible for them.
The second manner by which Abijam sinned concerns what was lacking in his character. The writer tells us that Abijam’s heart was not wholly true
to the Lord. When we read that language, our minds ought naturally to go to Deuteronomy 6:4–5, in which God commands his people to love him with their whole being. Abijam, therefore, was guilty of violating the first and greatest commandment, as Jesus calls it.
In addition to the condemnation of Abijam regarding this, the writer also gives us a contrast. The king’s failure is in contrast to his great-grandfather, David. The reader should not confuse himself by the description of David as Abijam’s father. In the sense that David was the first king in that family line, he is the father of all from his family that ruled after him.
3 And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.