Maacah (wife of Rehoboam)

Maacah ("Name means::oppression") was the wife of King Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. King Rehoboam was the king who reigned when Israel divided into two kingdoms. Maacah is mentioned in as the mother of Abijam (called Abijah in ) the son of Rehoboam, and thus, Rehoboam's wife as well as Queen Mother during the time of her son Abijam's reign and during her grandson's reign.

Though Rehoboam had 18 wives and sixty concubines, says he loved Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom, more than all the others. Probably here "daughter of Absalom" should have the sense of granddaughter since in, Absalom was said to have had only one daughter, Tamar, and says Absalom left no son (so his three sons must not have survived). This fits well with, where her name is spelled Micaiah, and she is said to be the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. This would mean that Maacah was the daughter of Tamar (and the granddaughter of Absalom) and Tamar's husband Uriel. Often, "son of" or "daughter of" can refer to grandson or granddaughter or other descendants such as when Jesus, in refers to a woman born thousands of years after Abraham as a "daughter of Abraham".

Rehoboam's first wife was Mahalath, the daughter of Jerimoth, the son of David, but his love for Maacah may be intended to explain why he made his son Abijah king in his place. In, Abijah was appointed chief prince. It seems that Maacah continued in her position of Queen Mother even into the reign of her grandson Asa, because records that she was removed from this position because she had ordered the construction of an Asherah pole. It was important to the people of Judah to see that even someone in the King's family had no right to worship idols.

16 Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron.