Read 1 Kings 15 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
15:1-8 {p} The reign of Abijah the son of Rehoboam over Judah/ he did what was evil in YHVH’s sight
15:9-14 {s} Asa the son of Abijah king over Judah/ he did what was right in YHVH’s sight
15:15-24 {p} Asa at war with Baasha/ his treaty with the king of Aram against Baasha
15:25-32 {p} Nadab the son of Jeroboam king over Israel/ Baasha killed him and all the house of Jeroboam
15:33-34 {s} Baasha of the house of Issachar king over Israel/ he did evil in YHVH’s sight
The Strong theme:
15:9-24 {s+p} The reign of Asa the son of Abijah over Judah; he did what was right in YHVH’s sight
1 Kin 14:22-15:22 Chiastic structure:
Please do not miss the central axis, which points to Messiah Yeshua, the Son of David whom YHVH raised up—literally from the dead—giving Him the kingdom not only of His father David, but of heaven and earth as well (Luk 1:32-33, Rev 11:15)!
The text as presented in the Chiastic Structure has been translated directly from the original Masoretic Hebrew text with the help of Grok AI, without assumptions, interpretations, bias, or theological baggage. I start every day’s study with a freshly translated text to compare to the common English versions, because I sometimes find interpretations, bias, and theological baggage in the common English versions, which obscure the message of Scripture and its Teaching Tools. Grok has no biases or motivation to obscure or skew the straightforward rendering of the Hebrew.
Of first note, then, is that in verse 2, Maacah the daughter of Abishalom is named as the mother of Abijam. Then in verses 10 and 13, Maacah the daughter of Abishalom is named the mother of Asa, Abijam’s son. The NKJV handles it this way:
And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom. 1 Kin 15:10
But the phrase in Hebrew is exactly the same in both verses: And the name of his mother was Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.
Many modern scholars and translations (e.g., NIV, ESV) assume a scribal error or suggest “grandmother” for 1 Kin 15:10, since the timeline for Abijam and Asa implies a generational gap. But I do not come to the text assuming it needs to be “fixed” if something is confusing at first glance. I do not believe the text in the original lanuages contains errors. What if the text is not in error? What if the text means what it says: that Maacah is both Abijam’s mother and Asa’s mother?
This would mean that, when the Scripture says …
And Judah did evil in the eyes of YHVH, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins that they sinned, more than all that their fathers had done. For they, too, built for themselves high places and standing stones and sacred poles on every high hill and under every green tree. And also the male cult prostitutes were in the land; they did according to all the abominations of the nations that YHVH had driven out before the sons of Israel. 1 Kin 14:22-24
… that Judah had returned to the abominations of the nations that YHVH had driven out before them (see Lev 18:3, 18:6-7, and 18:24-25).
2 Chronicles 13:2 introduces another puzzle piece for which we currently lack information needed to fully unravel.
If there are questions, this is a good resource:
The Autographs of Scripture – Christine Miller
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