He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers 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?
The men he put away
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:
William KellyThe 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.
Tearing down his own father's work
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:
Leslie M. GrantBecause 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.
Where such a heart comes from
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:
H. L. RossierThe 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.
Removing, not merely disapproving
Asa's verbs are physical: he put away, he removed. One writer draws the line between disliking evil and getting rid of it:
Hamilton SmithThere 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.
Idols come back
Clearing idols out once did not settle the matter. One writer notes how often they turn up again:
J. N. DarbyHe 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.
What Asa built after he had broken
Asa did not stop at pulling things down. He built as well, and one writer draws out the lesson:
C. KnappHe 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.
Summary
- 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.