Abijah, Hope Rises
She gets one line, repeated twice, in the Old Testament. “His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.” No details. We know nothing of her personality, her character, her wants or desires. We have no idea what she looked like beyond she was an affluential Jewish woman. There’s no indication of who she was as a woman, daughter, wife, or mother, except assumptions we can surmise based on the men who dictated the details of her life. This woman is just a fleeting line in a holy text full of names, and yet I believe that Abijah’s mention isn’t inconsequential. We can learn from this woman and her story. She has something to teach, a story to share, and a lesson of hope for the hopeless.
It is so easy to look around and feel like the sky is falling. Headlines scream horrible atrocities. Social media reminds us of many ways we don’t have it all together. Politics are ripe with division and anger. And for many of us the sky really did fall – at least a few inches – over the past few years. A worldwide pandemic, financial uncertainty, and unforeseen stresses deeply affected our daily lives. Living amid those circumstances made hope harder to find. The road forward looked like an endless stretch of uncertainty. Uncertainty in heart of the wounded often looks down a path of despair. It’s hard to see light when walking in the dark places.
Abijah was no stranger to dark days. She lived during the time when her country was divided: Israel in the north, Judah in the south. The Bible describes her father as an evil man who did not follow the ways of God. He reigned for six short months in Northern Israel before being publicly executed, ending his family’s line to the throne. Abijah, in was what most likely a political maneuver, found herself leaving her family home in northern Israel to be married to Ahaz the king of Judah.
Marriage did not deliver Abijah from hostility. Instead, she found herself wed to one of the vilest kings the Israeli history. Ahaz encouraged his people to sin and was utterly unfaithful to God. He reigned so corruptly that God lifted his hand from the people and allowed a neighboring nation to defeat Judah. Huge numbers of people were exiled from their homes, including women and children, and casualties were inflicted in large numbers. As calamity rose around him, Ahaz stripped the wealth of the temple, and forcibly took valuable items from the homes of his officials, in hope that he could buy off the invaders. It was of no avail, the people of Judah continued to suffer. Instead of turning to God, Ahaz rebelled further, sinking deeper into wickedness. He built pagan shrines throughout the land and worshiped false idols. So strong was his devotion to these metal gods that he offered human sacrifices to appease them, including the sacrifice of his own children.
Abijah watched this destruction, chaos, and horror swirl around her. It was likely her children were the ones killed at the hands of their own father. All of it completely out of her control as a woman in ancient times. Abijah moved from the destruction of her father’s house to the utter wickedness of her husband’s. Yahweh, the God of her people, must have felt far removed. Hopelessness rising as Judah spun further and further out of control. Her own spouse at the helm of it all.
Yet, from this depravity hope rose. A young man who turned the tide of his nation. Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz and Abijah, was crowned king of Judah and ruled the people following his father’s death. Growing up he watched his father destroy God’s temple, fall to invading armies, bow before pagan shrines, and kill his siblings in idol worship; and Hezekiah decided to do things differently. Despite the influence of his own father, Hezekiah turned to God and did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight. Like his ancestor David, Hezekiah sought God with his whole heart, and as a result was a very successful king. Ushering in a period of redemption and restoration for the Israelites. After nearly two decades of destruction, hope ruled again in Judah.
Reading the history of Hezekiah, one wonders how the young man shed the influence of his father so completely. It is fair to assume that this is where Abijah may have come into play. Someone whispered to young Hezekiah the stories of Yahweh. Someone told him of the God of Jacob, the God of Israel, who delivered his people from Egypt and gave them the promised land. Someone shared with him the stories of King David who danced with delight before the Lord and penned the psalms of adoration to the Creator. When his siblings were killed at the hands of their father, someone wiped his tears and reminded him that God mourned with him. Living in the middle of darkness, Abijah knew there was still the promise of light. All they had to do was turn back towards it, and so she filled her son with the truth. Taught him the ways of God in hopes that he would lead them back to Him. And those seeds planted grew into an unwavering faith that changed the course of history.
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the darkness. The sky is falling. The world is hurting. Your child is rebelling. Your spouse is hostage to sin. Everyone around you is deconstructing their faith. Humanity is rejecting truth. Church numbers are dwindling. And your personal day-to-day life is painful. Remember Abijah, the woman with one line in the Bible, who knew that hope could rise. She saw tides turn. She experienced restoration when all seemed lost. She may not have even been the one to influence Hezekiah in the ways of God, but possibly even despite herself, her child found Him and saved a nation. Let Abijah remind us that we can always find hope. God seeks to save. Desires to redeem. And is so much bigger than our darkest days.