SUBJECT:  1 Kings 15:1-10

QUESTION:  There seems to be a contradiction in these verses with Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom being both the mother of Abijam (verse 2) and of Asa (son of Abijam) (verse 10).  Can you explain this?

ANSWER:

Let us take a look at the verses in question:

1 Kings 15:1-10
1 Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah.

2 Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.

4 Nevertheless for David's sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem:

5 Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

7 Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

8 And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead.

9 And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah.

10 And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

In the 18th year of king Jeroboan (933-911 BC) over Israel (915 BC), Abijam reigned for 3 years over Judah.  He reigned from 915 to 913 BC.

Abijam had a mother, whose name was Maachah.  Maachah was the daughter of Abishalom.  Notice the definition of Abishalom:

ABISH'ALOM (a-bish'a-lom). A fuller form (1 Kings 15:2, 10) of the name Absalom (which see). ~The New Unger's Bible Dictionary

Another dictionary:

ABISHALOM

[ah BISH ah lom]-a form of ABSALOM. ~from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary

So, Maachah was the daughter of Absalom.  The same Absalom is mentioned in both verses 2 and verse 10.  Same person spoken of in both verses.

Now notice this name "Maachah".  Notice what the Bible dictionary says:

MAACAH
5. The mother of King Abijam. She was the daughter (granddaughter) of Abishalom, and wife of Rehoboam (1 Kings 15:2), about 926 B.C. In v. 10 she is called the "mother" of Asa, but there the term is used in a loose sense and means "grandmother." The following seem to be the facts: Maacah was the granddaughter of Absalom (Abishalom), and the daughter of Tamar (Absalom's only daughter) and Uriel of Gibeah (2 Chronicles 11:20-22; 13:2, where she is called "Micaiah"). Because of the abuse of her power as "queen mother" in encouraging idolatry, Asa removed her from her position as queen (1 Kings 15:10-13; 2 Chronicles 15:16). ~The New Unger's Bible Dictionary.

This is confirmed in this dictionary:

MAACHAH
Absalom's granddaughter, wife of Rehoboam and mother of Abijam (1 Kings 15:1); called Micaiah = Maacah; daughter of Uriel and Tamar, Absalom's daughter (2 Chronicles 13:2). Grandmother (= mother) of Asa, son of Abijam. During Asa's minority, she acted as queen mother; but Asa when of age set her aside for her idolatry, which she derived from her ancestors of Geshur (1 Kings 15:13-14,16); 2 Chronicles 11:20-22; 15:16 "idol," literally, horror, the emblem of Priapus. ~from Fausset's Bible Dictionary

So, let us go through it.

King Abijam----Mother was Maachah

King Asa-------Grandmother was Maachah. 

Notice what it says about Asa:

ASA

("healing"). Son of Abijah; third king of Judah. Faithful to Jehovah; determined in rooting out idolatry and its attendant licentiousness (1 Kings 15:9-15; 2 Chronicles 14:1; 15; 16). He built fenced cities, the Lord giving him and his land rest and prosperity. No respecter of persons: so much so that he deposed Maachah, the queen mother (wife of Rehoboam and Asa's grandmother), because she made an idol (Hebrew: "horror," some abominable and impure object of worship) in a grove; and he cut her idol down, stamped, and burnt it at the brook Kedron, as Moses had done to the golden calf (Exodus 32:20).  ~from Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Confirming that Maachah was Asa's grandmother.

Asa was the son of Abijah, the king of 3 years in verses 1-2.

Here is another source:

ASA

(a'-sa) ('aca', "healer"; Asa):

(1) A king of Judah, the third one after the separation of Judah and Israel. He was the son of Abijah and grandson of Rehoboam. Maacah, his mother, or rather grandmother, was daughter of Abishalom (Absalom) (1 Kings 15:1 ff).  ~International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

NOW NOTICE THIS ABOUT ABIJAH!!

ABIJAH
Two names are given for his mother. In 1 Kings 15:2 we read, "His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom" (cf. 2 Chronicles 11:20, 22); but in 2 Chronicles 13:2 it is written, "His mother's name was Micaiah [or Maacah in NIV], the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah." The solution of the difficulty probably is that the mother of Abijah had two names, and that Abishalom was her grandfather. ~The New Unger's Bible Dictionary

 Maachah was the granddaughter of Absalom.

Here is another commentary I found:

Three years reigned he--(compare 1 Kings 15:1 with 1 Kings 15:9). Parts of years are often counted in Scripture as whole years. The reign began in Jeroboam's eighteenth year, continued till the nineteenth, and ended in the course of the twentieth.

his mother's name was Maachah--or Michaiah (2 Chronicles 13:2), probably altered from the one to the other on her becoming queen, as was very common under a change of circumstances. She is called the daughter of Abishalom, or Absalom (2 Chronicles 11:21), of Uriel (2 Chronicles 13:2). Hence, it has been thought probable that Tamar, the daughter of Absalom (2 Samuel 14:27, 18:18), had been married to Uriel, and that Maachah was their daughter.