1 Kings 15:9-24--Asa Reigns in Judah

1 Kings 15:9-24
English Standard Version

Asa Reigns in Judah
9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, 10 and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 11 And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as David his father had done. 12 He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 13 He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron. 14 But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true to the LORD all his days. 15 And he brought into the house of the LORD the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels.
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16 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 17 Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 18 Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house and gave them into the hands of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, 19 “Let there be a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” 20 And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. 21 And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah, and he lived in Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah, none was exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah. 23 Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, 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? But in his old age he was diseased in his feet. 24 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 place.

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Asa, the son of Abijam, began to reign in Judah in the 20th year of Jeorboam, king of the northern kingdom of Israel.  He reigned 41 years in Jerusalem, longer than Saul, David, or Solomon.  Typically, we'll be able to look at the length of a king's reign and it will tell us something about how closely the followed the Mosaic Covenant (the Law of Moses), for it was part of that conditional covenant that if the king would live by the Law, teach the others to follow the Law, and do justice according to the Law that things would go well with that king and he would have a long reign.  Those who were Law-breakers and encouraged or promoted Law-breaking among the people usually had much shorter reigns (like Abijam did).

The text verifies for us that Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his "father" (ancestor) David had done.  While he did not put the cult prostitutes to death, he did take away their citizenship and make them leave the land of Israel, and he removed all the idols that his father Abijam had made.  He also removed his mother Maacah as queen mother because she made an abominable image of Asheroth which Asa cut down and burned at the brook called Kidron.

However, the text reserves some criticism for Asa in that he could have done more.  He did not remove the high places where people gathered to worship the pagan gods and goddesses.  Even with this being said, the LORD still said that the heart of Asa was truly devoted to Him for all of his days.   Asa worshiped the LORD in His holy Temple and brought not just the required sacrifices, but freewill offerings of sacred vessels and gifts and of gold and silver as well as other valuable treasures from the personal treasuries of himself and his father (who had likely never paid his tithe to the LORD since he followed after idols).

During the time of Asa, the Northern Kingdom of Israel had a new king ascend to the throne whose name was Baasha, and there was war between Asa and Baasha all their days (there will always be conflict between the godly and the godless).  This was not just cold war, but it broke out into active war where the northern kingdom of Israel invaded the southern kingdom of Judah at Ramah in order to make it impossible for people to go to or come from King Asa.

Then Asa did something understandable, but foolish.  He took all the money from the LORD's treasury and the king's treasury (essentially all the wealth in the nation) to pay the king of Syria to bribe him to break his covenant that he had with Israel and to help them fight against Israel instead.  We get no indication that Asa prayed to the LORD before taking this action, nor do we get any indication that he emptied the treasuries at the instruction of the LORD.  He was facing a large army with the combined forces of Israel and Syria for sure, but he forgot that the LORD fights for His people (we often forget this too and we try to secure our own victory, even in impossible situations).

Syria began attacking the Northern Kingdom of Israel from the north so that they were now facing war on two fronts, and Syria conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.  (These are all in the northern part of Israel near their border with Syria).  This made the king of Israel abandon his southern campaign to protect his own land, just as the king of Judah had requested from the king of Syria.  The fortifications of Ramah that Baasha was trying to build were torn down by Asa and all the men of Israel and were used to build up Geba and Mizpah in the land of Benjamin.

The end of Asa's story ends similarly to the other kings that we've read about, though it also mentions that he built other cities.  That's something new.  We are also encouraged to go read the book of Chronicles to find out more about him, but one more interesting fact is given to us about him in his old age.  Apparently the LORD allowed him to be afflicted with a disease in his feet (we'll need to see 2 Chronicles 16:12 to see why this is important).  Apparently this disease led to his death and he sought treatment from all kinds of physicians for it, but he never sought the LORD for healing (it is implied that the LORD might have healed him and given him  a longer life and longer reign if Asa had done so).  So we see that a pattern seems to be established, especially as Asa gets older that he does not seek the LORD's council on important issues such as war and his own health.  After his death, he was buried among the other kings in Jerusalem and his son Jehoshaphat took the throne in his place.  Next time we'll jump back to the Northern Kingdom of Israel to talk about Nadab, the son of Jeroboam and then after that Nadab's son Baasha (who we mentioned in the story of King Asa).