Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

King Ray, the first king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, has died, and he's replaced by his son

Abidjum, also known as Abijah. Abijah does not follow God, just like his dad.

Meanwhile, King Jerry is still king in the northern kingdom of Israel,

and these two obviously don't get along.

King Jerry's people come out to attack King Abijah's people,

and Abijah tells Jerry, look, we know you're acting wickedly,

we know all about your golden calves and your

fake temple and your non-leviite priests, and if you attack us, it's bound to fail because it's an

attack against God. Even though Abijah is wicked himself, he's not wrong about this. In the battle,

Abijah is outnumbered two to one, but he and his army kill more than half of Jerry's army

and take some of his land as well. After Abijah dies, the next king of Judah is his son Asa,

and finally we have a God-fearing man on the throne in the south. Hooray! Asa gets a serious pep talk

from a man named Azariah, who acts as the mouthpiece of God,

the spirit. And after Azariah reminds him of his purpose as king and encourages him to be

bold in making reforms, Asa does just that. He is not afraid to make things right in Judah,

even if that means kicking family members out of their roles in the kingdom. He fires all the male

cult prostitutes and tears down the idols. He makes rebellion against God punishable by death.

He does leave some of the spots that are designated for idol worship intact, so he's not

completely thorough in keeping others from worshipping idols, but as for his heart, he only worships

Yahweh.

One thing you may begin to notice is that the kings in Judah, the southern kingdom, are always

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