And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah;
Asa takes the throne of Judah in Jeroboam's twentieth year, the third king to rule there since the kingdom split in two. He follows a father who failed God, yet he reigns longer than David or Solomon did. Where did such a king come from, and did he finish as well as he began?
Asa did not inherit his goodness. A promise God made to David, four generations earlier, is why he sits on this throne at all.
Verse 4 says, "for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem." God remembers David and his obedience... The Lord did not forget these things; so we see Abijam's successor and son, Asa, raised up for David's sake as a true witness for God in Judah. Only the grace of God could do this, not the merits of man, and all the more so because Asa grew up under the same female influence as his father had.
Another writer counts the generations, and turns the promise into a warning for parents:
That good son Asa was given for David's sake. And David was Asa's great-great-grandfather! To the fourth generation David's ways brought blessing down on his descendants. We also know that God visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation (Ex. 20:5). This is a deeply solemn thing for each of us to remember. Our walk, day by day, may affect our children for blessing or otherwise, for as much as three or even four generations, or for a very much longer time.
The king's name carried its own message, and his early years spelled it out. He did not stop at tearing things down.
His name, "healing," or "cure," reads like a prophecy. In the earlier part of his reign he brought about a reformation, and rest followed... He was no mere image-breaker. If he had the zeal to break down the images, he also had the wisdom to build fortified cities. To expose evil is very good, but supplying the soul with truth is what protects it from the enemy's invasion.
This verse gives no age for Asa. One writer weighs the wider record and finds a boy on the throne, with his grandmother beside him.
It was a remarkable work for one so young; Asa was probably not yet twelve years old when he became king. Maachah, his grandmother, most likely had some oversight as "queen-mother." (1 Kings 15:13 calls her the mother of Asa... "Mother" in these passages means grandmother.)
Asa's zeal did not stop at the palace door. He stripped his own grandmother of her office because of her idol.
Asa does not content himself with repelling evil publicly; he purifies his own house. These two things must go together, otherwise our Christian life will be only an empty show... With what energy Asa sets aside family ties, making no allowance for them when his God's honour is at stake!... We are far too ready to go easy on Satan when the sin is in our own families. This often forces us to do the same when it is a matter of the family of God.
The reign that begins in this verse ran forty-one years. It did not end well.
Asa's reign was a long one and remarkably blessed. It lasted forty-one years, longer than the reigns of David and of Solomon. Chronicles gives the detailed account of all the faithfulness he showed. Here the Word considers him more from the standpoint of responsibility. The close of his reign shows a very sad lack of faith. Baasha, the king of Israel, comes up against Judah... Asa relies on Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, sends him presents, courts his alliance, and uses him to make Baasha withdraw... What unfaithfulness in this godly king, who had defeated Zerah the Ethiopian and his army of a million men, to fail to commit his interests to the Lord. An alliance with the world may bring us advantages at first, but afterwards we taste its bitter fruits.
A failure like that raises a question. What does Scripture mean by a heart that is "perfect" toward God?
Those whose hearts are perfect are not those who are perfect in the flesh, but those who know there is nothing good in them.
- Given. Asa's reign began with God's promise to David, not with his own merit. God gave David a lamp in Jerusalem, and raised up a good son four generations later.
- Healing. His name means "healing," and his early years matched it. He broke down the images, and rest came to the land.
- Building. He broke down images and built fortified cities. Exposing evil is only half the work. You must also supply the soul with truth.
- Home. Reform that skips your own household is show. Asa removed his own grandmother from office rather than shelter an idol out of family feeling.
- Heart. A perfect heart is not a life without failure. Asa leaned on Syria in a crisis instead of on God. A perfect heart is one that knows there is nothing good in itself.
and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Maachah, daughter of Abishalom.
Asa becomes king of Judah after his father Abijam's short and evil reign. The verse gives him forty-one years in Jerusalem, then names his mother Maacah — the same woman the record already named as his father's mother.
One writer starts from what the verse leaves out — the name of Asa's own mother.
At Abijam's early death his son Asa took the throne over Judah. Asa's own mother is not named here, but verse 10 tells us that his grandmother was Maacah the granddaughter of Abishalom. He reigned much longer than his father — 41 years — and, unlike his father, he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. His father's mother was his own grandmother, yet he did not follow his father's ways.
Another writer counts the length itself as a blessing and sets it beside Israel's two greatest reigns.
Asa's reign was long and unusually blessed. It lasted forty-one years, so it was longer than the reigns of David and of Solomon. Chronicles gives us the detailed account of all the faithfulness he showed. Here the Word looks at him more from the standpoint of responsibility.
The verse calls Maacah the daughter of Abishalom — that is, Absalom. Commentators differ over whether she was his daughter or his granddaughter, and one of them points to what the word mother meant at court.
I am not sure whether Maachah was Absalom's daughter or his granddaughter… In the East the mother's place was, and still is, something of an official position, not the wife's.
So the word mother here is a title, not only a family tie. That is why the record can name the same woman under two kings. Another writer adds that she held real power while Asa was young.
Most likely Maachah was regent because Asa was too young to rule.
This same woman had already guided one king. One writer draws out both the danger in that and the reason Asa turned out differently.
A godless or worldly mother is all the more dangerous for the moral development of her children. By God's order, both in nature and in family relationship, the guiding of their early years naturally falls to her. So during the three years of his reign Abijam walked in all the sins of his father… God remembers David and his obedience. For David's sake we see Abijam's successor and son, Asa, raised up as a true witness for God in Judah. Only the grace of God could do this, not the merits of man, and all the more so because Asa stood under the same female influence as his father had.
Three verses later Asa strips Maacah of the position verse 10 records. One writer sees this as the necessary companion to his public reforms.
Asa is not satisfied with fighting evil in public; he cleans up his own house. Both must go together, or our Christian life will be only an empty show… See with what energy Asa sets natural ties aside, making no allowance for them when the honour of his God is at stake! Nothing stops him. He takes away every hope that Maacah could have any influence at all over God's people, and in front of everyone he treats her as an enemy of the Lord.
Another writer treats the family circle as the real test of a man's faithfulness.
Asa showed no favouritism. He did not spare his own mother (or grandmother) but removed her from her position because of her idolatry… It is in a man's own family circle that his faithfulness is really put to the test.
The reign that begins well does not end well. One writer weighs the failure by when it came.
Asa, the grandson of Rehoboam, began well. He removed his mother from her place because of her idolatry. But when Baasha put him in trouble, he made an alliance with Ben-hadad. When hard times pull a man off the path of righteousness, it is more serious than when good times tempt him away… God's word about Asa is remarkable. He did not remove the idolatrous high places, yet his heart was perfect with the Lord all his days. Perfection is always measured against the truth God has revealed.
- Inherited — Asa took his father's throne and his father's queen mother. The verse names her to show what he started with.
- Official — mother here is a court title, not only a family tie, so the record can give the same Maacah to two kings.
- Broken — what he inherited did not decide him. Under the influence that ruined Abijam, Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
- Tested — his reform reached his own house. Removing Maacah proved the public work was not for show.
- Measured — forty-one years, longer than David's or Solomon's, yet ending in an alliance with Ben-hadad. God still calls his heart perfect all his days.
And Asa did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, as David his father.
Asa became king of Judah after his father Abijam, and the record of him breaks the pattern. Two questions sit in the verse. What does doing right in the LORD's eyes look like? And why is David — not Asa's own father — the measure?
The good verdict on Asa did not begin with Asa. One writer traces it back to David — who failed badly, was disciplined, and was restored.
God remembers David and his obedience, even though he had turned aside from what was right in the matter of Uriah. But after the bitter discipline this required, his restored soul found fellowship with his God again. The Lord did not forget these things; so we see Abijam's successor and son, Asa, raised up for David's sake as a true witness for God in Judah. Only the grace of God could do this, not the merits of man — and all the more so because Asa grew up under the same female influence as his father. His grandmother Maachah tried to promote idolatry during his reign, but Asa's faith fought that influence, rebuked it, and destroyed it, so that the rights of the Lord might be known again in Judah.
The verse gives the verdict. The record shows the acts behind it: Asa broke the idols down, and then he built.
His name, "healing," or "cure," reads like a prophecy of the reform and rest he brought in the earlier part of his reign. He made a most excellent beginning... He was no mere image-breaker. If he had the zeal to break down the images, he also had the wisdom to build fortified cities. To expose evil is very well, but filling the soul with truth is what protects it from the enemy's attack.
Asa's reform did not stop at his own conduct. He turned the nation, and he did it when he was still very young.
He did what was right in the sight of the Lord... He was not satisfied with this work, but he also commanded Judah to seek the Lord. The land was quiet. The Lord blessed him and the land for this faithful work. It was a remarkable work for one so young. Asa was probably not yet twelve years old when he became king.
Other kings of Judah were praised for copying their own fathers. One writer asks what that praise is worth.
What does it mean that Jotham walked in his father's steps? It was good as far as it went, but it was not piety, nor obedience, of the highest kind. Scripture says of both Hezekiah and Josiah that David their father was their model... David was the man after God's own heart; Uzziah was not, and to remember this is to see the difference. It is the often-repeated truth, that to see what God's mind is, we must go back to the beginning.
David's mark was not a flawless life but a whole heart. That is where the failing kings fell short.
This great thing is said of David, that he followed the LORD with all his heart. There was power in the LORD to engage His people's hearts completely. This became the standard for judging later faithless kings: "his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father."
The verse opens a reign that did not end as it began.
Asa's reign was long and remarkably blessed... Chronicles gives us the detailed account of all the faithfulness he showed. Here the Word considers him more from the side of responsibility. A very sad lack of faith marks the close of his reign. To oppose Baasha, the king of Israel, Asa relies on Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, sends him presents, and courts his alliance... What unfaithfulness in this godly king, who had defeated Zerah the Ethiopian and his army of a million men, to fail to trust his interests to the Lord! An alliance with the world may bring us advantages at first, but afterwards we taste its bitter fruits.
Even so, God's verdict on Asa stands. (Older translations say his heart was "perfect" with the LORD; the ESV reads "wholly true.") One writer ties that word to the truth God had revealed at the time.
Remarkable is God's word concerning Asa: though he did not remove the idolatrous high places, yet his heart was perfect with the LORD all his days. (1 Kings 15:14; 2 Chron. 15:17.) Perfection is always in relation to the truth revealed.
- Grace first. Asa's good reign came for David's sake — grace raising him up, not merit earning it.
- Grace shown. Doing right in the LORD's eyes meant breaking the images down, and then building. Clear the evil out; put truth in its place.
- Grace spreading. He was not content with his own obedience; he commanded Judah to seek the LORD, and the land was quiet.
- Grace measured. David, not his own father, is the standard. To know God's mind, go back to the beginning — and what marked David was a whole heart.
- Grace tested. A reign that began so well leaned on Syria at its close. Yet God still called his heart perfect, measured by the truth revealed in that day.
And he put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his father had made.
Asa became king of Judah after two generations of kings had let pagan worship settle into the land. His first recorded act was demolition. Two questions follow. What was he tearing down? And what does it cost a man to destroy what his own family built?
Older translations call these men "sodomites." One writer traces the Hebrew word behind them. It has a masculine and a feminine form, and both carry the idea of consecration — here, consecration to the goddess Astarte:
The ordinary view is far more probable: it supposes a "consecration" to the corrupt Astarte, or Venus, of early and later idolatry... The masculine form of the word occurs in Deuteronomy 23:17; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7 and Job 36:14. Can it be argued that holy men, or seers, are intended there? If the masculine form plainly means a class of people of extreme moral corruption, then the argument about the feminine form falls to the ground. They are forms of the same word, and the idea of holiness, or consecration, of course runs through both alike. Terrible to say, prostitution was an almost universal element of heathen holiness!
So the two halves of the verse describe one problem. These men were not an immoral fringe beside the idols. They belonged to the idol worship itself. The same word appears in chapters before Asa and long after him.
Asa did not inherit a clean slate. He inherited shrines his own father had built. Removing them meant overruling his father in front of everyone:
Because he acted rightly, he took action against the corrupt worship of idols. He banished those who practised sodomy and prostitution in their religious ceremonies, and he removed all the idols his father had made (v.12). This was no light matter. The idol worshippers would resist him fiercely, claiming that he was dishonouring his father. But he meant to honour the Lord, and he would not let family ties get in the way of obeying God's Word.
Asa grew up inside the system he tore down. The same influences that ruined his father surrounded him too. One writer traces his stand back to grace alone:
The Lord did not forget these things. So we see Asa, Abijam's son and successor, raised up for David's sake as a true witness for God in Judah. Only the grace of God could do this, not the merits of man. That is all the more clear because Asa lived under the same female influence his father had.
Asa's verbs are physical: he put away, he removed. One writer draws the line between disliking evil and getting rid of it:
There must be separation from the evil that led to their departure from the Lord. Idolatry must be judged and "put away." This is more than a protest against evil; it involves dealing with the evil. We are often willing to protest against evil while shrinking from dealing with it. We may plead that it is hard to deal with. We may fear the result. We shrink from the dislike it may bring on us. So, under one excuse and another, we dodge our plain responsibility.
Clearing idols out once did not settle the matter. One writer notes how often they turn up again:
He takes away the strange gods, for we keep finding them again. It takes energy to cast them out and to keep them from coming back.
Asa did not stop at pulling things down. He built as well, and one writer draws out the lesson:
He was no mere image-breaker. If he had the zeal to break down the images, he also had the wisdom to build fortified cities. To expose evil is very good, but to furnish the soul with truth is what protects it from the invasion of the enemy.
- Removed — what. The men and the idols went together. These men were consecrated to a corrupt goddess, and prostitution counted as part of pagan holiness.
- Removed — despite whom. The idols were his father's. Asa put obedience above family loyalty, even though the worshippers accused him of dishonouring his father.
- Removed — by grace. Asa grew up under the same influences that ruined his father. His stand came from God's grace, which remembered David — not from his own merit.
- Removed — not just resisted. Judging evil goes past protesting it. Difficulty, consequences and unpopularity are the usual excuses for dodging the responsibility.
- Removed — then replaced. Idols come back unless energy keeps them out. Breaking images down is only half the work. Truth in the soul is what keeps the enemy out.
And also Maachah his mother he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol for the Asherah; and Asa cut down her idol, and burned it in the valley of Kidron.
Asa's reform reached past the shrines of Judah into his own palace. There the highest-ranking woman in the kingdom had set up an idol, and removing her cost Asa both a family tie and a powerful ally.
The word "mother" here does not carry its usual sense. The woman named in the verse came from an earlier generation.
It was a remarkable work for someone so young. Asa was probably not yet twelve years old when he became king. Maachah, his grandmother, most likely had some oversight as "queen-mother." (In 1 Kings 15:13 she is called the mother of Asa, and the same is true in 2 Chronicles 15:16. In these passages "mother" means grandmother.)
Commentators differ on her exact descent. One writer leaves that question open, but is clear about what her title meant:
I am not sure whether Maachah was Absalom's daughter or his granddaughter. She may well have been his granddaughter... In the East the mother's place was, and still is, something like an official position — not the wife's.
The ESV calls the object "an abominable image for Asherah." Older translations say an idol "in a grove" — but that word does not mean a stand of trees.
The word "grove" suggests a row of trees, but that cannot be the meaning, because groves were set up "under every green tree"... The groves were made of wood, as we know from the fact that they were cut down and burned... They are always linked with idols and images.
This was not just mistaken religion. God had told Israel to destroy this kind of worship completely.
They were to destroy their altars, their images and their groves. The word groves is "asherah." It was an image used in grossly immoral practices... This worship flourished among all the ancient nations, but the Canaanites used it most of all.
Asa had already stripped idols out of the land. Here he finishes the job in his own household. Commentators treat that as the test of whether a reform is real.
Asa is not satisfied with driving evil out in public; he cleans up his own house as well. These two things must be done together; otherwise our Christian life will be only an empty show... See how strongly Asa sets aside natural family ties! He makes no allowance for them when the honour of his God is at stake. Nothing stops him. He removes any hope that Maacah could have influence over God's people, and in front of everyone he treats her as an enemy of the LORD. May we do the same!
The same writer applies this to us. When we go easy on sin in our own families, we end up going easy on it in God's family too, and so evil spreads and defiles many.
Removing the queen mother was not a safe move. It would anger her and go against popular feeling.
Asa did not spare even his grandmother. She had made an obscene image of Asherah, so he removed her from being the queen mother and cut down and burned the image she had made. Her grandson's faith would surely anger her, but Asa did not fear popular opinion when it went against the truth of God.
Another writer sets Asa alongside others who put God ahead of family.
It is in a man's own family circle that his faithfulness is really put to the test. Levi was tested at Massah, where he said of his father and mother that he had not seen him, and did not acknowledge his brothers or know his own children. Gideon too began his work for God by breaking down the altar of Baal that his father had set up. And in the early church men could not serve as elders or deacons unless they managed their own homes well. And He who is called "Faithful and True" said, when the moment called for it, "Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?"
Asa did not store the image away out of sight. He burned it in a place with a reputation — the valley east of the city.
In Old Testament times people treated it as a defiled place. Asa burned his mother's idol there. Josiah also burned the symbols of idolatry there, and it seems to have been the common burial ground.
- Home. Public reform and a clean house at home belong together. Without both, as one writer says, "our Christian life will be only an empty show."
- Throne. Maacah was most likely Asa's grandmother. In the East the queen mother held an official position, not just a family one.
- Fire. Asa cut the image down and burned it in a defiled valley: no storing it away, no compromise, nothing hidden.
- Idol. The "grove" was a wooden image of Asherah. It belonged to an immoral worship that God had told Israel to destroy, not a harmless family heirloom.
- Cost. Asa set aside both family ties and popular opinion. He treated the highest-ranking woman in the kingdom as an enemy of God. Faithfulness at home costs that much.
But the high places were not removed; only, Asa's heart was perfect with Jehovah all his days.
Asa burned his own grandmother's idol and removed her from her royal position, yet he left the shrines on the hills standing. God still calls his heart wholly true — how can both stand together? (Where the ESV says "wholly true to the LORD," older translations say "perfect with the LORD." The writers quoted below use that older wording.)
God's verdict on Asa's father in verse 3 was the exact opposite. One writer ties the praise to the act reported just before it:
Asa's grandmother made an idol in a grove. Her brave young grandson removed her from being queen for this sin, destroyed her idol, and burned it by the brook Kidron (1 Kings 15:13). What a joy to God's heart this act must have been. And we read God's comment on this king: "Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days" (1 Kings 15:14). How one envies such a record! What a contrast to his father's record in verse 3: "his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God."
Family ties did not soften his stand against idols.
The word does not mean Asa was without sin. One writer traces it back to a command God gave Israel in Deuteronomy:
The Israelites were instructed, "You shall be perfect with the Lord your God" (Deut. 18:13). This was about not copying the detestable practices of the Canaanites in their idol worship. It was not at all a question of sin, or the absence of sin, in the heart of any one Israelite. In the same book, Moses tells them, "Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day" (Deut. 29:4). Being perfect referred only to faithfulness to God in rejecting every kind of idolatry.
A second measure also applies — how much truth God had revealed at the time:
God's word about Asa is remarkable. He did not remove the idolatrous high places, yet his heart was perfect with the LORD all his days (1 Kings 15:14; 2 Chron. 15:17). Perfection is always in relation to the truth revealed. Noah was perfect. Job was "perfect and upright." God said to Abraham, "Walk before Me, and be perfect." But Israel and Judah had lost much of the knowledge of the truth. Idolatry had long been darkening their minds and hiding truth that God had revealed earlier.
High places were worship sites on hilltops. One writer shows why even those built for the true God were wrong:
The Word alone had to govern them in everything to do with worship, as indeed in everything else. God would choose His own centre. His people had to come there with their burnt offerings and sacrifices... Sadly, the time soon came when Israel chose high places of their own. Some were for idolatrous worship, and some for the worship of the LORD. But all of them were offensive in His sight, whatever the motives of those who set them up. They expressed self-will — hearts that were not subject to His commandments.
Set beside everything Asa demolished, the leftover shrines look trivial. One writer refuses to treat them that way:
When it is a matter of separation from evil, nothing is unimportant... Tolerating the high places was a grain of sand compared to all he did. But a grain of sand can stop even the best built machine. A flaw in an iron beam will break the most solid bridge. And Judah's full security rested on Asa's careful faithfulness to His God. From this point on, after ten years of rest and prosperity, we notice decline in this man of God.
Commentators differ on how far Asa is to blame. One writer reads the shrines left standing as lying outside his real reach: "he did not have the same authority over the ten tribes as he did over Judah" (Leslie M. Grant).
Asa's later years brought a serious fall, yet the verse covers "all his days." God's word to him after that failure says what a perfect heart is:
God sent Hanani to rebuke the king for what he had done... Hanani's closing words are beautiful: "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him." The Lord looks for faith, for confidence. Our hearts are perfect toward Him when we trust Him and obey His Word. Then all His power is with us and for us.
One writer notes why God recorded Asa's heart at all: "It gave the Lord pleasure to record the state of His servant's heart... Nothing that is done for God is ever forgotten by Him" (An Outline of Sound Words).
- Perfect, not sinless. The word describes undivided loyalty to God against idolatry, not the absence of sin in the heart.
- Measured by light. God measures perfection against the truth He has revealed, and Judah had lost much of that truth.
- The unfinished corner. God chose one centre for worship. Every high place expressed self-will instead — even one meant for the true God.
- Small grain, stopped machine. In separation from evil, nothing is minor. The shrines Asa left standing mark where his decline begins.
- What God watches for. He shows Himself strong for those whose heart is perfect toward Him. He looks for trust and obedience, and He never forgets what we do for Him.
And he brought into the house of Jehovah the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated, silver and gold and vessels.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
Asa ruled Judah in the south, and Baasha ruled Israel in the north, two halves of one nation. Their war ran the whole length of both reigns — so why did brothers fight each other for a lifetime, and what did it cost them?
Solomon's reign had ended in peace. What came next looked nothing like it, and one writer explains why.
This whole account is filled with wars and cruelty. It follows Solomon's reign of peace, which ended so quickly because the king and his people were unfaithful... This is one of the main symptoms of decline. War breaks out — relentless war between people of the same race. Next the kings of Israel are the ones who start the fighting. They feel their position threatened because Judah keeps up God's testimony. A nation that has turned to idols after knowing the true God cannot bear God's testimony so close by. It hates it and wages desperate war against it.
The problem was not just the war. It was who stood on each side of it.
War between Asa and Baasha (Judah and Israel) is a sad testimony to the weakness of both peoples, for they were brothers (v.32). Why was their time not spent rather in fighting the common enemies of Israel?
Baasha's method was a blockade. He fortified Ramah, a town on the border, to stop his own people crossing over. One writer explains what drove him, and where Asa gave him an opening.
This happens again and again. Those like Baasha still keep up a profession of true religion, though it is mixed with deadly errors. They cannot bear a testimony near them that attracts souls. Sadly, by tolerating evil in some measure, Asa himself gave an occasion for this hostility.
Another writer points out what was pulling Baasha's people toward Judah.
Baasha made a treaty with Ben-Hadad king of Syria. He also built up Ramah as a fortress on his southern border. He wanted to stop his people, as far as he could, from moving to Judah, where Asa's prosperity attracted them.
Constant pressure wears a man down. Asa had trusted God before. This time he paid Baasha's own ally to change sides.
When war threatened Asa from Baasha and Israel, the faith of Asa sadly faltered... Why did Asa not simply commit this matter to the Lord in prayer? But he failed badly by enlisting the help of the Lord's enemies against his own brothers the Israelites. He also took the silver and gold left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord to pay Syria for this help (v.18). God will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 42:8), but Asa in effect gave God's glory — the gold — to Ben-Hadad! So Asa made the fatal mistake of enlisting the world's help to fight against his own brothers, the children of Israel (v.19). Instead of making a treaty with Syria, how much better it would have been for Asa to seek the restoration of Israel! But in our day believers too often use shocking means to fight other believers who have offended them. They also use what belongs to God to serve their own selfish ends. Asa did the same with the gold and silver from the house of the Lord.
There was a better way, and a prophet had urged it from the start of the split.
Next came Shemaiah, the prophet to Rehoboam. He urged the king and his people not to fight against their brothers, the children of Israel (1 Kings 12:22; 2 Chronicles 11:2). That was the only fitting course for those who still kept the lamp of David. They were the Lord's witnesses. They ought to accept the division as the result of their own sin. And they ought to commit themselves to God, who would know how to put things right once His judgment had run its course and borne its fruit.
- Decline — Endless war between people of one nation is not just politics. It is a main symptom of decline, and it follows unfaithfulness.
- Division — Baasha attacks because he cannot bear a true testimony next door. He even fortifies the border to stop his people crossing over.
- Distraction — The war showed the weakness of both sides. Brothers fought each other while the real enemies went unopposed.
- Downfall — Long pressure exposed Asa. He hired the world's help against his own brothers and paid with gold from God's house. He never simply took the matter to God in prayer.
- Direction — The answer to division was never the sword. Accept the break as the fruit of sin. Seek the restoration of the other side. Leave the remedy with God.
And Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, in order to let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
Baasha's answer to losing people was not an army but a wall: he fortified Ramah on the border to stop all movement between his kingdom and Asa's. Two questions follow — why did Israel's king fear that traffic so much, and why did Judah's king answer a wall by buying a foreign army?
Baasha's aim was to seal his own people in. One writer sees the same instinct at work long after his reign:
Baasha had lost several of his cities. So he built Ramah to cut off all contact from then on, "that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah." He could not attack Asa without putting himself in danger. So he set out to stop his own subjects from leaving him and joining God's testimony... This pattern shows up again and again. People like Baasha still keep up a profession of true religion, though it is mixed with deadly errors — and they cannot bear a testimony near them that attracts souls.
Baasha picked Ramah for where it stood, on the main road between the two kingdoms. One writer also weighs the timing, since the thirty-sixth year does not fit the other dates given for Baasha:
Compare this verse with 1 Kings 15:33 and 16:8 and you meet a problem with the dates. By those references Baasha must have been dead ten years before the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign... The only apparent way out is to date "the thirty-sixth year" from the beginning of Judah as a kingdom separate from Israel. That would place the event in the sixteenth year of Asa's actual reign... Ramah stood on the main road from the northern kingdom. It would be only natural for Baasha to move at once and fortify this key city on the border, and so stop any more of his people going over to Asa.
Commentators differ here. Rossier suggests the date "may be a simple copyist's error."
So what was pulling Israelites across the border? One writer names it:
Baasha and Asa king of Judah were at war all their days. Baasha made a treaty with Benhadad king of Syria, and he built up Ramah as a fort on his southern border. He wanted to stop, if he could, the flow of his own subjects into Judah, where the prosperity under Asa was drawing them.
The buffer zone paints a picture, and then the same writer turns the question on Asa:
Baasha, king of Israel, had become alarmed at the thought of some in Israel defecting to Judah. So he came and built Ramah as a buffer between the two companies. What a picture this is! Those who have left the Lord's center will do all they can to keep their followers from returning to the place the Lord has for them. This was not a direct attack on Judah, but Asa took it as an offense. Why then did he not appeal to God, as he did when the Ethiopians attacked?
Shut in by the new fortress, Asa bought foreign help. It worked, and it cost him:
Baasha, the king of Israel, comes up against Judah and starts to build Ramah. His goal is to shut Asa up in his kingdom so that he cannot get out. To block this, Asa leans on Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria. He sends him gifts, courts his alliance, and uses him to drive Baasha away. The plan looked like a success: the king of Israel abandoned Ramah... But what unfaithfulness in this godly king! He had defeated Zerah the Ethiopian and his army of a million men, yet he failed to commit his interests to the Lord. An alliance with the world may bring us advantages at first, but later we taste its bitter fruit.
The whole episode turns on fear. One writer names what God was looking for instead:
He was very afraid of Baasha... "The fear of man brings a snare." How this reveals the weakness of man! After all the proofs of the LORD's mercy and power, Asa could turn away from Him like this and enter an unholy alliance with a pagan king. He got what he was after, and Baasha had to give up his plan. But God had watched it all... "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him." The Lord looks for faith, for confidence.
- Wall — Baasha did not invade. He fortified Ramah as a buffer to stop all movement in and out of Judah.
- Motive — the wall stood against a pull. Asa's prosperity was drawing his own people south.
- Pattern — those who leave the Lord's center work to keep their followers from going back. They cannot bear a testimony nearby that attracts souls.
- Snare — Asa had beaten an army of a million men, yet he feared Baasha. The fear of man brought him the snare of a bought alliance.
- Eyes — the wall came down, but God had watched it all. His eyes search the earth for a heart that trusts Him, not for a king who can pay.
And Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king's house, and gave them into the hand of his servants; and king Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying,
Asa had watched God destroy a huge invading army. Now a smaller enemy was walling up Ramah to shut Judah in, and Asa did not pray — he took the silver and gold from God's house and hired a foreign king.
One writer cannot explain the failure. He sets it beside the far greater danger Asa had already come through:
It is hard to explain this sudden failure in Asa's faith. Only recently, with God's help, he had completely destroyed the huge army of Zerah the Ethiopian. Now, facing an enemy not half as dangerous, his faith fails, and he leans on human strength to save him... It was the beginning of Asa's downfall. He got the rescue he wanted, but it cost him the rebuke of God and wars to the end of his reign.
The money Asa handed over had already been given to God. One writer follows his steps in order:
It is hard to know anything sadder than this account of Asa. No doubt he belonged to the Lord, but he had lost his closeness to God and leaned on his own resources. And he begins by robbing God. Then he asked a worldly man to do a plainly dishonourable thing — to break his treaty with Baasha king of Israel... If we lose that closeness with God, there is no telling what we may do. It is sad to think that our sinful nature has more room to work in a believer than in someone who is not saved.
Asa bought treachery with money given to God.
Baasha ruled Israel, the other half of God's own people. Asa hired an enemy of God to fight them, and one writer brings that home to believers today:
He failed badly by getting help from the Lord's enemies against his own brothers, the Israelites... God will not give His glory to another (Isa. 42:8), but Asa in effect gave God's glory (the gold) to Ben-Hadad!... How much better it would have been for Asa to seek Israel's restoration instead of a treaty with Syria! But too often, in our day, believers use shocking means to fight other believers who have offended them. They also use what belongs to God (as Asa used the gold and silver from the house of the Lord) to serve their own selfish ends.
Asa's offer leans on a treaty his father Abijam once made:
An alliance with the world may bring us advantages at first, but afterwards we taste its bitter fruits... How sad to hear these words from a godly king: "There is a treaty between me and you, as between my father and your father!" Abijam had walked "in all the sins of his father," and now Asa identifies himself with him. His father had allied himself with the enemies of God's people; Asa owns that alliance and seeks it out!
The plan worked. That is what makes it so costly:
Asa, instead of looking to the Lord, allies himself with Syria. The alliance produced the effect he wanted, but it stirred up the nations against Israel. And this was not all; alliance with the world prevents our overcoming the world. Had he not done this, the Syrians would have fallen into the hands of Asa... Hurt in his pride, and annoyed at missing such a good chance, Asa puts in prison the seer who brought him this word, and he oppresses the people.
This failure did not begin here. One writer traces it to an earlier compromise that changed how Asa saw the world:
Asa fears Baasha. Since he has given way on one point, he can no longer see the world as a system he must never compromise with and never ask help from. He knows he is weak, just as he was when the Ethiopian attacked. But he no longer has the same confidence that all his strength is in God.
Commentators differ: some see a sudden lapse, others an old compromise finally showing.
One writer weighs what this reign could have been:
He began well. His start was very bright indeed. Had he gone on in simplicity and in the energy of faith, what a different story he would have left behind. Instead of coming into port like a ship that had met a great hurricane — broken, with no mast or sail — he would have come in with flags flying and all sail set.
- Crack — one early compromise left Asa able to lean on the world he once refused.
- Collapse — the smaller threat broke the man the bigger one had not. Yesterday's rescue does not supply today's faith.
- Cost — Asa handed God's silver and gold to Ben-hadad, and paid him to break his word.
- Conquest lost — the plan worked, yet Syria slipped out of his hand. An alliance with the world stops you overcoming it.
- Close — Asa still reached port as the Lord's, but broken and stripped, not under full sail.
There is a league between me and thee, [as] between my father and thy father; behold, I send thee a present of silver and gold go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.
Asa of Judah had already watched God destroy a huge invading army. Yet when a smaller threat came from Baasha of Israel, he emptied God's house to hire the king of Syria to break his treaty with Israel. The plan worked — and that is exactly what makes the verse so searching.
Asa was afraid. The strange part is that God had already given him every reason not to be. One writer sets the two moments side by side and follows where buying Syria's help led.
It is hard to explain this sudden failure in Asa's faith. Not long before, with God's help, he had destroyed the huge army of Zerah the Ethiopian. Now he faces an enemy not half as dangerous, his faith fails, and he leans on human strength to rescue him. It was the beginning of Asa's downfall. He did get the rescue he wanted, but it cost him God's rebuke and wars to the end of his reign.
The silver and gold Asa sent were not his own. And what he asked for was that a foreign king break his sworn word.
No doubt he belonged to the Lord, but he was out of communion with God, and relied on his own resources. And he begins by robbing God. Then he asked a worldly man to do something plainly dishonourable. If we lose that communion, there is no telling what we may do. It is sad to think that the flesh has more room to work in a believer than in someone who is not converted.
Asa also aimed Syria's army at his own people.
God will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 42:8), but Asa in effect gave God's glory (the gold) to Ben Hadad! So Asa made the fatal mistake of using the world's help to fight his own brothers, the people of Israel. Instead of making a treaty with Syria, how much better it would have been for Asa to seek the restoration of Israel! But too often today, believers use shocking methods against other believers who have offended them. They also use what belongs to God to serve their own selfish ends.
Asa's opening line appeals to an old family arrangement. That appeal is the telling part, because of the kind of man his father was.
But how sad to hear a godly king say: "Let there be a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father!" Abijam had walked "in all the sins of his father." Now Asa makes himself one with him. A league with the world at first may bring us advantages, but afterwards we taste its bitter fruits.
Ben-hadad took the money, and Asa got what he paid for. On the surface he had won.
By taking this path the king appears to escape a great disaster. But he loses all the blessing of a walk of faith, and he will prove that sadly. Oh, how much happier he was when he felt he had no strength of his own, and still stood against the countless army of Zerah!
The success came at a cost Asa could not see.
Instead of looking to the Lord, Asa makes an alliance with Syria. It produced the effect he wanted, but it stirred up the Gentile nations against Israel. And this was not all; alliance with the world prevents our overcoming the world. If he had not done this, the Syrians would have fallen into Asa's hands. For "the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him." A solemn and precious word! Asa's pride was wounded, and he was angry at having missed such a good opportunity. So he puts the prophet who gave this testimony in prison, and he oppresses the people. God disciplines him, and sadly he does not seek God in that discipline.
Asa's faith held through his years of rest. Trouble from Baasha is what broke him.
He set aside his mother because of her idolatry. But when Baasha brought trouble on him, he made an alliance with Ben-hadad. When hardship pulls a man off the path of righteousness, that is more serious than when prosperity tempts him away. Hardship usually drives a believer who has wandered back to God. It is one of the means grace employs.
- Pressure tests. A smaller threat than Zerah's army broke Asa. The test was never the size of the enemy, but where he looked first.
- Payment. He paid for the alliance out of God's house. He gave away what belonged to God to buy what God would have given free.
- Partnership. His appeal to his father's treaty tied him to a man who had walked in all his father's sins. A league with the world tastes sweet first and bitter later.
- Profit. It worked. Asa got the rescue he wanted, and in winning it he lost the whole blessing of a walk of faith.
- Price. Alliance with the world stops us overcoming the world. The Syrians God meant to hand over to Asa escaped, and wars followed to the end of his reign.
And Ben-Hadad hearkened to king Asa, and sent the captains of his forces against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-Beth-Maachah, and all Kinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.
Asa paid the king of Syria to attack Israel, and the plan worked: Baasha had to abandon the fort he was building against Judah. Commentators ask who really won, and what Asa lost by winning this way.
One writer traces what Asa's money bought.
The wealth Asa offered bought Ben Hadad's help. So he attacked some cities of Israel — Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, all Chinneroth, and the land of Naphtali (v.20). This accomplished what Asa desired, because Baasha had to give up the building of Ramah (v.21).
The soldiers Asa paid for attacked his own people. The money that hired them came from God's house.
He failed badly by enlisting the help of the Lord's enemies against his own brothers the Israelites. Not only that — he took the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord to pay for this help from Syria (v.18). God will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 42:8), but in effect Asa gave God's glory (the gold) to Ben Hadad! So Asa made the fatal mistake of enlisting the world's help to fight against his own brothers, the children of Israel (v.19).
A prophet came to Asa with God's reading of the victory. One writer draws out the rule behind it.
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah. He said to him, "Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand." How remarkable the government of God is. Whatever wrong step we take to reach a goal, it not only fails to reach it, but brings its own chastening with it. The very thing we least want comes upon us. God would have stopped not only Israel, but Syria too. Instead, the army of the king of Syria escaped out of his hands.
Asa had once faced a far larger army and trusted God alone.
It is difficult to account for this sudden defect in Asa's faith. Not long before, with God's help, he had wiped out the huge army of Zerah the Ethiopian. Now he faces an enemy not half as dangerous, and his faith fails. He depends for rescue on human strength. This was the beginning of Asa's downfall. He got the deliverance he wanted, but it cost him the rebuke of God and wars to the end of his reign.
The ally Asa hired kept a profit for himself. One writer weighs what the escape cost.
Ben-hadad breaks his alliance with Baasha. He uses the chance to strike the cities of Ephraim and make himself master of the store cities of Naphtali. Baasha stops building Ramah, and Asa and his people carry its stones away to build fortresses against Israel. The king seems to have escaped a great disaster by taking this path. But he loses all the blessing of a walk of faith, and he will give sad proof of this. How much happier he was when he felt himself to be without strength and yet stood against the vast army of Zerah!
Success feels like approval. One writer turns the warning toward us.
Asa would no doubt feel himself justified, as many do who consider that the end justifies the means. He gained his object through friendship with the world! Suppose he had instead asked the Lord for grace and guidance, to be freed from the threatened opposition of the ten tribes. God would surely have stepped in, in the best way possible. But we face the same danger. After we have found great blessing through depending on the Lord, we may start depending on our own ability to get what we want.
Help bought from the world comes with a bill.
If the church gives ground to the world, the world often helps the church — but the church ends up paying tribute to it. The sense of God's almighty power is gone, and the church falls.
- Reliance misplaced — Asa turned from the God who had wiped out a huge army and leaned on human strength instead. He met a smaller enemy with weaker faith.
- Reliance paid for — Asa paid Ben-hadad with gold from the Lord's house, handing God's glory to a foreign king to hire war on his own people.
- Reliance rewarded — the raid on Ijon, Dan and Naphtali worked; Baasha left Ramah, and Asa built its stones into his own fortresses.
- Reliance exposed — Hanani turned the success inside out. The Syrian army Asa hired was the army God would have handed him.
- Reliance costly — the bought peace brought war to the end of Asa's reign. Help from the world arrives, but you end up paying tribute for it.
And it came to pass when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah.
Ben-hadad's troops attack Israel's northern towns, so Baasha drops his building work at Ramah and goes home to Tirzah. Asa's plan worked on the surface, and that is what makes this verse so searching.
Baasha's fortress was not aimed at conquest. It was built to keep his own people in.
Baasha had lost several of his cities, so he built Ramah to cut off all contact from then on, to let no one go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. He could not attack Asa without putting himself in danger. So he wanted to stop his own people from leaving him and joining God's testimony. This happens again and again. Those who, like Baasha, still claim the true religion, though mixed with deadly errors, cannot bear a testimony near them that draws souls.
Asa's answer was to buy help. The stones of Ramah ended up in his own cities.
Ben Hadad agreed to be hired for the wealth Asa offered him, and so he attacked some cities of Israel... This did get Asa what he wanted, because Baasha had to give up the building of Ramah. Then Asa sent his people to take the building materials Baasha had collected at Ramah. He used them to build two other cities, Geba and Mizpah.
The result was real. It still settled nothing.
Baasha king of Israel builds Ramah to stop anyone going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. But it was in vain. Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, listens to king Asa... Still, everything seems to go well for the moment, because God does not judge all at once.
Baasha stopped building. Asa lost something he could not buy back.
At first Asa's unfaithfulness seems to bear excellent fruit. Ben-hadad takes the silver and gold brought out of the house of the Lord, breaks his alliance with Baasha, and uses the moment to strike the cities of Ephraim. Baasha stops building Ramah, and Asa and his people carry its stones away to build fortresses against Israel. This path seems to have saved the king from a great disaster. But he loses all the blessing of a walk of faith, and he will soon give sad proof of it. Oh, how much happier he was when he felt he had no strength at all, and still stood against the countless army of Zerah!
Tirzah was the capital Baasha had chosen for himself. The choice says something about the man.
He was from the tribe of Issachar, and he had the family trait — an eye for whatever looked "pleasant." So he made the beautiful city of Tirzah his royal home during his reign. Some trace its name from ratzah, "pleasant." He may have known that God meant to cut off Jeroboam's family. Even so, his motive was not righteousness. He was no better than the men he murdered, and he kept walking in their sin.
So the loser goes home safe to a pleasant city.
Asa's success did not close the matter.
He got the object he wanted, and Baasha had to give up his plan. But God had watched it all. He sent Hanani to rebuke the king for what he had done. The LORD reminds him of the far greater army that had threatened him, and of the rescue He had worked... "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him." The Lord looks for faith, for confidence.
The pattern outlives Asa. Help bought from the world arrives, and then sends its bill.
God enters into alliance with us, and He wants us to break every alliance with the world, because the world stands judged. No one can belong to the world and to Jesus at the same time... If the church gives way to the world, the world often helps the church, but the church becomes the world's subject. There is no longer the sense of the almighty power of God.
- Fear built it. Baasha could not attack Asa, so he built Ramah to keep his own people from going south to where God was honoured.
- Fear answered it. Asa met the threat with money, not faith. He spent silver and gold from the house of the Lord to hire the king of Syria.
- Fear won. The stones came down and Baasha went home to pleasant Tirzah. Nothing looked wrong, because God does not judge all at once.
- Fear cost. Asa got the object he wanted and lost the blessing of faith. He had been happier facing a far bigger army with no strength at all.
- Faith sought. God's eyes range over the whole earth to show Himself strong for hearts that are wholly His. That is why Asa's victory ended in a rebuke.
And king Asa called together all Judah none was exempted; and they carried away the stones and the timber from Ramah, with which Baasha had been building; and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.
Asa calls out all Judah — no one exempt — to tear down Baasha's unfinished fortress at Ramah and carry off its stones and timber. It reads like a victory report, but Asa bought that victory from a foreign king instead of trusting God, which raises a hard question: what is such a win worth?
Baasha built Ramah to shut the road between the two kingdoms. One writer explains why he wanted that road closed:
Baasha had lost several of his cities. He built Ramah to cut off all contact from then on, "in order to let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah." He could not attack Asa without putting himself in danger. So he wanted to stop his subjects from leaving him and joining God's testimony... This principle comes up again and again. People like Baasha still keep up a profession of true religion, though it is mixed with deadly errors. They cannot tolerate a testimony near them that attracts souls.
Asa did not win these stones in battle; he paid for them. One writer names what he paid with, and sees believers doing the same today:
When war threatened Asa from Baasha and Israel, Asa's faith sadly faltered... Why did Asa not simply bring this matter to the Lord in prayer? But he failed badly by enlisting the help of the Lord's enemies against his own brothers the Israelites. Not only this — he took the silver and gold left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord to pay for this help from Syria. God will not give His glory to another, but Asa in effect gave God's glory (the gold) to Ben Hadad! ... Too often in our day, believers use shocking means to fight other believers who have offended them. They also use things that belong to God — as Asa used the gold and silver from the house of the Lord — to reach their own selfish ends.
Asa got what he wanted. One writer weighs that gain against what it cost him:
At first Asa's unfaithfulness seems to bear excellent fruit. Ben-hadad accepts silver and gold brought out of the house of the Lord as tribute, breaks his alliance with Baasha... Baasha stops building Ramah; Asa and his people carry its stones away to build fortresses against Israel. By taking this path the king seems to have escaped a great disaster. But he loses all the blessing of a walk of faith, and he will soon give sad proof of it. Oh, how much happier he was when he felt himself to be without strength and yet stood against the countless army of Zerah!
Nothing in the verse looks like failure. That is the danger:
Very likely Asa thought he had made a wise move in what he did, for it worked out just as he planned. Many people will say that the end justifies the means, but this is far from the truth. At the judgment seat of Christ we may find that things which produced results that satisfied us were actually "wood, hay, straw." They will be burned up, because they were not the fruit of faith toward the Lord Jesus. Asa's lack of faith in this case did not honour God.
Another writer adds that Asa could have defeated Syria himself. Instead "he missed his opportunity," and the price was "wars to the end of his reign" (C Knapp).
The name Mizpah means watch-tower — a reminder of "the need for watchfulness against the enemy outside" (Hamilton Smith). Long after Asa died, the town he rebuilt became a refuge for the survivors of Judah:
Gedaliah lived at Mizpah, a strong city that Asa, king of Judah, had built with the stones of Ramah. Jeremiah went there. So did everyone from the surrounding regions who had escaped, along with the poor people who were left, all seeking Gedaliah's protection.
- Threat. Baasha walled off Ramah to stop his people crossing to Judah. The aim was to cut them off from God's testimony.
- Shortcut. Asa did not pray. He emptied the treasuries of the house of the Lord to hire Ben-hadad, handing God's gold to a foreign king to fight his own brothers.
- Stones. The building materials in this verse are the spoils of that bargain, reused for fortresses pointed back at Israel.
- Success. The plan worked just as Asa intended. That is the warning: results that satisfy us can still be "wood, hay, straw" at the judgment seat, if faith did not produce them.
- Loss. Asa escaped the crisis but lost the blessing of a walk of faith. He was happier facing Zerah's vast army with no strength of his own.
And the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Only, in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.
Asa's reign ends with three plain facts: his death, his burial with the kings in the city of David, and his son Jehoshaphat on the throne. Behind that quiet summary lies a life that began bright and dimmed at the end. Commentators ask what God wants us to learn from the ending, and from the honour of his burial.
Scripture uses the phrase about sleeping with his fathers for good kings and bad kings alike. One writer warns against reading too much into it.
"Asa slept with his fathers" (v. 24) — the same words that are said of Jeroboam, of Rehoboam, and of so many others. It may be a special favour, for the opposite is said of certain wicked kings and of their descendants (compare 1 Kings 14:11). But this favour is far from showing that the Lord took pleasure in them. It does not show that beyond the grave they found the happiness their hearts had looked for in vain in the world. It is still the same everywhere here below. Sons are buried beside their fathers; they die what you might call a natural death, and that lets us draw no comforting conclusion about their eternal future.
The verse just before records the disease of Asa's old age. Commentators see where it struck as a picture of how he had been walking.
He was a relatively good king. Even so, his foot disease reminds us that his walk in his later years fell short. Sadly, 2 Chronicles 16:12 records that he did not seek the Lord about his disease, but the physicians. God does not object to physicians, for Luke was a "beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14). But to seek help from physicians, perhaps many of them, rather than from the Lord is a sad lack of faith. If a believer does need a physician, he should pray that the Lord will give that physician wisdom to treat his case.
Another writer turns the same picture into a question.
"You were running well. Who hindered you?" might be asked of many besides the Galatians and Asa. Important as a good beginning is, it is not all: we are called to run with endurance the race that is set before us. But when God's people become diseased in their feet, they stop running well. They may try one thing after another to recover — ritualism, revivalism, the union of churches, and so on. Every one of those is a "physician of no value." "Restore to me the joy of your salvation," wrote a notable backslider. It is the Lord who says through His prophet that He will heal their backsliding.
The same writer treats the illness as God's own dealing with a man dear to Him.
Asa is dear to God, and that is exactly why he himself becomes the object of God's discipline. Sad to say, this discipline did not produce fruit! He had lost communion with God. He had rejected His word. He was angry with the prophet and with those loyal to the prophet. So he falls into moral hardness: in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians. He turns what God sent to bring his heart closer into an excuse to move further away.
A detail in a much later book points back to where the trouble started.
Jeremiah 41:9 refers to a pit (or cistern) made by Asa "for fear of Baasha king of Israel." In this passing way, God uses this late and last note about king Asa to remind us how his decline began: the fear of man, which brings a snare.
The history records Asa's failures. God's own later words about him read differently.
Asa's history shows his weaknesses. Yet when God comments on his character, He gives no hint of them (2 Chronicles 20:32; 21:12). He loves to praise whatever is lovely in His servants' lives, and He exposes their failures and follies only when He must. May we in this, as in all things else, be "imitators of God" (Ephesians 5:1).
The verse does not end in darkness. The throne passes to Jehoshaphat.
The last days of Asa were evil, and the cloud hanging over Judah was darkening. Even so, there is a gleam of brightness during his son's reign. Under Jehoshaphat's rule the fear of the Lord fell on the surrounding nations. The Lord established his kingdom.
- Fear — the decline traces back to fear of a human enemy, remembered in a pit Asa dug long before he died.
- Feet — the disease that marked his old age matched a walk that had gone wrong; failing feet mean a race no longer run well.
- Physicians — seeing a doctor is not the fault. Going to doctors instead of the Lord is. Ask God to give the doctor wisdom.
- Discipline — the illness was God's dealing with a man dear to Him, meant to draw him back. Hardness turned the cure into an excuse to drift further.
- Grace — he still slept with his fathers, and God's later words about him name no failure. Then the throne passed to a son under whom brightness returned.