And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as David his father had done.
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?
Grace behind the good record
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.
H. L. RossierGod 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.
What doing right looked like
The verse gives the verdict. The record shows the acts behind it: Asa broke the idols down, and then he built.
C KnappHis 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.
A young king who led others
Asa's reform did not stop at his own conduct. He turned the nation, and he did it when he was still very young.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHe 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.
David as the measure
Other kings of Judah were praised for copying their own fathers. One writer asks what that praise is worth.
The Christian's FriendWhat 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.
VariousThis 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."
How the reign ended
The verse opens a reign that did not end as it began.
H. L. RossierAsa'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.
The Bible TreasuryRemarkable 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.
Summary
- 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.