The writer turns from the rather short record of the reign of Abijam in Judah to that of his son and successor Asa. We see the formalized style of introduction that gives the time of his reign in the twentieth year of Jeroboam’s reign in Israel. This means that Asa’s reign began two years before the death of Jeroboam. The length of Asa’s reign is also given as forty-one years. Therefore, he had a reign comparable to those of David and Solomon in the undivided kingdom of Israel.
When we next notice the name of his mother, we come to an interpretive problem. The name of this woman is given as the same name that the writer gave for the mother of his father. It is barely possible that the two women had the same name and were the daughters of two different fathers, who also had the same name. Such a solution would depend upon implausible coincidences. Nevertheless, this explanation is preferable to a suggestion that the inspired writer is in error.
Yet, a more natural solution is that the reference is not to Asa’s mother but to his grandmother. We see in this book that the term father
is often used to speak of a more distant ancestor. There is no reason to deny that the same thing is possible in the use of the term mother.
Such an explanation gains support when we see later on that this woman was removed from her position as queen mother
because she promoted idolatry. Therefore, it makes sense for the writer to take notice of her than of another less important woman. It is also possible that his natural mother died, and he would then have been raised by his grandmother.
9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah,