And also Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol for the Asherah; and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burned it in the valley Kidron.
Asa's reform against idols began in public; in this verse it reaches his own family. He strips his grandmother of her rank and burns her image, which forces a hard question: does loyalty to God still hold when the guilty person is family?
The word "mother" here needs care. Commentators explain her title:
Maachah, his grandmother, most likely had some oversight as "queen-mother." (1 Kings 15:13 calls her the mother of Asa, and 2 Chronicles 15:16 does the same. In these passages "mother" means grandmother.)
Older translations call what she made "a grove." The word is Asherah, and it names an object, not a place:
On the whole it seems most probable that they were wooden symbols of a goddess. They took the form of images or pillars, or plain tree trunks set in the earth… Immorality was almost constantly associated with idolatry. The Greek Old Testament translates the name Asherah here in 2 Chronicles 15:16 as Astarte, the Syrian goddess.
Cleaning up the nation was only half the job:
Asa does not content himself with repelling evil publicly; he purifies his own house. Both must be done together. Otherwise our Christian life will be only an empty show… Maacah was in fact Asa's grandmother, and she had probably been made regent, with the title of queen, when Abijah died. See how firmly Asa sets natural ties aside! He makes no allowance for them when the honour of his God is at stake. Nothing stops him. He takes away all hope that Maacah could hold any influence at all over God's people. In front of everyone he treats her as an enemy of Jehovah. May we imitate him! We are far too ready to go easy on Satan when the sin is in our own families.
Others met the same test in their own homes:
A man's own family circle is the real test of his faithfulness… Gideon too began his work for God by tearing down the altar of Baal that his father had set up. And in the early church a man could not serve as an elder or a deacon unless he managed his own home well.
Maacah had two obvious defences: her closeness to the king and her age. Asa accepted neither:
Also, Asa showed no favouritism to his own close relative — his grandmother — who had made an idolatrous image of Asherah. He removed her from the place of Queen Mother. Not even her age would make any difference in this case. Such evil cannot be excused, no matter who is guilty of it.
Asa also crushed the image and burned it in the Kidron valley. That ground already had a reputation:
In Old Testament times people treated it as a defiled place. Asa burned his mother's idol there (1 Kings 15:13). Josiah also burned the symbols of idolatry there.
The decision cost Asa something. One writer notes it plainly:
He even removed his mother from being queen. No doubt this was a very painful trial for the son, but she was an idolatress.
Yet this high point later becomes the measure of Asa's decline:
What a change in Asa from first to last! At the start he did not spare even his own mother. Later he put Hanani in prison and oppressed some of the people. He is so forgetful of God, of His mercy, of His promise and of His claims on them, that he seeks help from Syria.
- Identify — "Mother" here means grandmother. Maacah held the rank of queen mother, and her "grove" was an Asherah — a wooden symbol of a goddess.
- Purify — Asa cleansed the nation and his own house together. Cleaning up in public only, commentators warn, leaves the Christian life "an empty show."
- Spare no one — Asa let neither family closeness nor old age excuse the evil.
- Publicise — Asa cut the image down, crushed it and burned it in the defiled Kidron valley, where all could see, ending her influence over God's people.
- Persevere — The king who once did not spare his own mother later put Hanani in prison. Early zeal is no guarantee of a faithful finish.
But the high places were not removed from Israel; only, Asa's heart was perfect all his days.
Asa cleared the idols out of Judah and restored the Lord's altar and sacrifices. Yet one thing was left standing, and the same verse still calls his heart whole for a lifetime.
These were not only pagan shrines. Some were used for the worship of the true God — and they still offended Him.
Israel was to destroy all the high places of the pagan nations. That would show how much they hated their wicked ways. But human nature is no better in those who are near to God than in those who are far from Him. The time soon came, sadly, when Israel chose high places for themselves. Some of these were for idol worship, and some for the worship of the Lord. But every high place offended Him, whatever the motives of those who set it up. They were the expression of self-will, of hearts that would not obey His commandments.
Commentators differ on which high places these were and why Asa let them be. One reading points to the limits of his authority.
Though Asa removed the high places from Judah (ch. 14:5), he did not remove these from the rest of Israel (v. 17). Of course, over the ten tribes he did not have the authority he had over Judah. Some from those tribes had chosen to recognise him.
Another reading takes the omission as a real compromise — small in scale, but not small in effect.
This seemed to be of little importance, for he had removed all the abominations from these same cities. But when it is a matter of separation from evil, nothing is unimportant. Without doubt Scripture describes Asa's heart as "perfect all his days." His heart understood what suited the Lord's holiness. But in practice he fell short of it. Tolerating the high places was a grain of sand compared with all his activity. But a grain of sand can stop even the best built machine. A flaw in an iron beam will break the most solid bridge.
Older translations read "perfect" here where the ESV says "wholly true." The word does not claim Asa never failed.
Remarkable is God's word about 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. Noah was perfect. Job was "blameless and upright." God said to Abraham, "walk before me, and be blameless." But Israel and Judah had lost much of the knowledge of truth.
Asa's reform ran on royal decree — and a decree only reaches as far as behaviour.
Did you ever know idolatry, or any sin, put away by commandment? It may hide its head. Idol-worshippers may seem to throw their idols to the moles and the bats. But it still exists, and repressive laws only strengthen it. Its seat is in the heart, and the idol is only the outward symbol, the visible index of the heart's enmity against God.
The failure and the commendation stand in the same verse.
So much had been done. Idolatry was removed, the Lord's altar renewed, the sacrifices to God restored. Yet it could still be said, "But the high places were not removed from Israel" (verse 17). While the high places stood, the people were in danger of going back to idol worship. Despite this, the Spirit of God noted, "only Asa's heart was perfect all his days." It gave the Lord pleasure to record the state of His servant's heart.
Asa's later years held real failures. One writer ties them to the verdict of this verse.
Asa never went back to idolatry, and that is probably why the Spirit of God has recorded that "Asa's heart was perfect all his days." There was still failure. He looked to the enemy of Israel for help instead of to the Lord. He would not humble himself under God's rebuke. He imprisoned Hanani the prophet, and he mistreated some of the people. Then, when his feet were diseased under God's discipline, he turned to the physicians and not to the Lord.
- Self-will. High places offended God even when people used His own name there. They expressed self-will — hearts that would not obey Him.
- Limits. Asa's reach did not cover all Israel. The high places still stand in the record as work left undone.
- Grain. When it comes to separation from evil, nothing is too small. A grain of sand stops the best-built machine.
- Measure. "Perfect" is measured against the truth revealed. Asa's heart was true to the light he had; it does not mean he never failed.
- Pleasure. God notes the failure and still delights to record a whole heart. A royal decree never uproots idolatry, because its seat is in the heart.