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 takes some of his

land as well. After Abidja 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 compared to whether or not

they're like David. He set the standard for what a good king is. Meanwhile, the northern kingdom

gets a new king when Jerry dies. His name is Nadab. He's an evil king, but he only has a two-year

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