2 Chronicles 11:22

22 Rehoboam designated Abijah son of Maacah as the "first son" and leader of the brothers - he intended to make him the next king.

2 Chronicles 11:22 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 11:22

And Rehoboam made Abijah the son of Maacah the chief
The chief of all his sons, head over them, being the son of his most beloved wife, and her firstborn however, and perhaps might be of a greater capacity than the rest of his children:

to be ruler among his brethren;
or over them; gave him greater authority, and intrusted him with more power, set him above them, and treated him as heir apparent to the crown: for he thought

to make him king;
either to take him into partnership in the throne with him in his lifetime, or to appoint and declare him to be his successor.

2 Chronicles 11:22 In-Context

20 Then he married Maacah, Absalom's daughter, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.

21 Maacah was Rehoboam's favorite wife; he loved her more than all his other wives and concubines put together (and he had a lot - eighteen wives and sixty concubines who produced twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters!).

22 Rehoboam designated Abijah son of Maacah as the "first son" and leader of the brothers - he intended to make him the next king.

23 He was shrewd in deploying his sons in all the fortress cities that made up his defense system in Judah and Benjamin; he kept them happy with much food and many wives.