But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true to the LORD 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.)
A Verdict That Breaks a Family Pattern
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:
George C WillisAsa'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.
What "Perfect" Means Here
The word does not mean Asa was without sin. One writer traces it back to a command God gave Israel in Deuteronomy:
The Christian's FriendThe 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:
The Bible TreasuryGod'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.
Why the High Places Mattered
High places were worship sites on hilltops. One writer shows why even those built for the true God were wrong:
W. W. FeredayThe 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.
A Small Thing With Large Consequences
Set beside everything Asa demolished, the leftover shrines look trivial. One writer refuses to treat them that way:
Henri L. RossierWhen 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).
The Heart God Is Looking For
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:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinGod 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).
Summary
- 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.