John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 3. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him , etc.] Having such bad examples as both parents to copy after; it chiefly respects idolatrous practices, (see 1 Kings 14:23), and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God ; he did profess the true God, and worshipped him, but not wholly, and only, and sincerely; he worshipped other gods besides him: and so his heart was not as the heart of David his father ; who was a sole and sincere worshipper of God, never departed from him and his service.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-8 - Abijam's heart was not perfect with the Lord his God; he wante sincerity; he began well, but he fell off, and walked in all the sin of his father, following his bad example, though he had seen the ba consequences of it. David's family was continued as a lamp in Jerusalem, to maintain the true worship of God there, when the light of Divine truth was extinguished in all other places. The Lord has stil taken care of his cause, while those who ought to have been serviceabl thereto have lived and perished in their sins. The Son of David wil still continue a light to his church, to establish it in truth an righteousness to the end of time. There are two kinds of fulfilling the law, one legal, the other by the gospel. Legal is, when men do all things required in the law, and that by themselves. None ever thu fulfilled the law but Christ, and Adam before his fall. The gospe manner of fulfilling the law is, to believe in Christ who fulfilled the law for us, and to endeavour in the whole man to obey God in all his precepts. And this is accepted of God, as to all those that are in Christ. Thus David and others are said to fulfil the law.
Original Hebrew וילך1980 בכל3605 חטאות2403 אביו1 אשׁר834 עשׂה6213 לפניו6440 ולא3808 היה1961 לבבו3824 שׁלם8003 עם5973 יהוה3068 אלהיו430 כלבב3824 דוד1732 אביו׃1
