King Asa and the Prophets

A Study of a good king
2 Chronicles 14‑16

King Asa was a good king, the best that Judah had known since the days of David his great‑great‑grandfather, whom he strongly resembled in so many ways. Like David, he combined a resolute and fervent faith in God with a pronounced flair for military strategy. To him God was a God of battles and would always fight for Israel while they maintained their faith in Him. As with David he experienced the attentions of prophets who alternately praised and condemned him according to whether he acted in harmony with the expressed will of the Lord or against it. His reign had its shadows but in the main it was one of light. The kingdom of Judah knew more happiness under his rule than had been their lot since the early part of David’s reign a century earlier.

Asa succeeded to a kingdom that had already lapsed from the high state of religious fervour and zeal it had known under King David. Then, the people held fast to the Divine promise that the throne of David would endure forever and Israel remain the channel of Divine blessing and enlightenment to mankind. That was three generations ago. Since then, Solomon, whose reign had commenced so auspiciously, had died leaving a land covered with the trappings of pagan worship. Under his son, Rehoboam in the south, and the rebel leader Jeroboam in the north, the situation had greatly worsened so that by the time Asa came to the throne there was apostasy from the faith inside the kingdom and enemies on the border waiting to invade. Asa was the first of the kings who tried to stem the tide.

His first move was to restore the worship of God and eliminate paganism. He knew that the enemies of the nation were poised to attack but he put first things first. He believed, and declared his belief, that if the nation put itself right with God then there would be Divine protection. So the historian records his initial achievement. "Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God: for he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: and commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment." (2 Chron.14:2‑4) This last phrase can only mean that the observance of the covenant with attendant Passover celebration and the Day of Atonement sacrifices had fallen into disuse. It was going to be some time yet before all these things could be restored, but at least the king had made a start by removing the system of false worship that pervaded the land with, of course, their associated apostate priesthood. The presence of these was a powerful influence constantly drawing the people away from the standards of uprightness and leading them further into sin. Their true reconciliation to God through the covenant was to come as the next stage. This is a picture of humanity in this age and the next. Before the standards of righteousness can be set before men and the long process of reconciliation to God begin, Satan must be bound (Rev.20:2) so that he may deceive the nations no more. All evil forces and powers in the world will be suppressed so that people may set out on their upward climb towards the heavenly city without that handicap.Asa was a realist. He knew that he stood in imminent danger of attack by his enemies. His faith in God was strong, as strong as the faith of many Christians today, but he was a man of his times and his faith envisaged the power of his God exerted to the aid of his own strong right arm, which he must exert as a testimonial and demonstration of his faith. "Trust in God and keep your powder dry" is a modern sentiment that Asa also held although not in those precise terms. So, having done all that he could for the present in cleansing the nation from its moral defilement, he set about playing his own part, that he considered the Lord would expect him to play, in the defence of his country against its threatening invaders.

The Lord gave him a breathing space for ten years during which "the land had rest." (2 Chron.14:6). That expression means that the reformation of the nation was sincere and some definite effort was being made to conform to the terms of the Covenant. Asa used those ten years to build fortified cities (we would call them frontier fortresses) and equip an army of half a million men in combat. And at the end of the ten years Zerah the Ethiopian invaded Judah from the south with a million men and three hundred chariots.

Despite the enemy’s overwhelming superiority in numbers, there is no doubt that these half million Israelis could have given a very good account of themselves as they have done in similar circumstances in much more recent times. But in Asa’s mind this half million was only an auxiliary defence, something material with which to face the enemy. His true defence was the Lord, and this he declared to his troops. "Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on thee, and in thy name go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God: let not man prevail against thee." (14:11)

How the Lord discomfited the invaders is not recorded; it is only said that He did, and that they fled, and Israel gathered much spoil. In the days of Samuel a similar exhibition of faith had brought about the enemy’s defeat by means of a great hailstorm; two centuries after Asa the army of Sennacherib was decimated by a sudden pestilence. Probably here also the Ethiopian forces were routed by some unexpected phenomenon of Nature.

As the triumphant victors returned in jubilation to Jerusalem they were met by a prophet of God, Azariah the son of Oded. (15:1). There was yet a century or more to run before the earliest of the prophets whose writings appear in the Old Testament came upon the scene, but previous to them there were men of like characteristics who proclaimed the true faith to an oft‑times heedless people. This Azariah was one such. Like all of his fraternity, he claimed and exercised the right to stand before kings and pronounce praise or blame according to the king’s faithfulness to God or the reverse. In this case it was to be praise. Coupled with the praise was the everlasting warning, for there was no respect of persons with the prophets any more than there was with God "Hear ye me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin; the LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you." (15:2) Israel, he went on to say, had been a long time without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without the Law of Moses. A pitiable descent indeed from the high hopes entertained two generations previously when Solomon had dedicated the splendid Temple he had built to the glory of God. Then all the people "bowed themselves…to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the LORD, saying, for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever." (2 Chron.7:3) But, went on Azariah, "when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them." (15:4)

That seems to indicate that Asa had carried the people with him in his reforming zeal, and that the nation had returned to allegiance to God. Consequently, there was a great upsurge of national feeling and a wholesale repudiation of false gods, culminating in a notable Feast of Pentecost at which the nation solemnly re‑affirmed its acceptance of the Mosaic Covenant. It was a noteworthy day for Judah, one that they celebrated with shouting and trumpets and cornets. "All Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire; and He was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about." (15:15).

For the next twenty years the nation enjoyed peace and prosperity. Time and time again is it exemplified in the history of Israel that when the national, no less than the individual life, is guided by the principles of religious faith and respect for Divine law the result is an orderly, contented and prosperous society. Only when the disruptive factors of personal greed and social injustice are allowed to gain the upper hand does the community degenerate into a rabble of conflicting interests, leading eventually to anarchy. There lies the moral for today. As in the days of Solomon and Rehoboam, the attainment of a high level of material wealth and power has led to self‑indulgence and selfishness. There is growing rejection of the self‑discipline of religious faith on the part of an increasing number, leading more and more into anarchy, "every man’s hand against his neighbour" (Zech.14:13) as the prophet of old had it. It is to be feared that the present‑day world will not learn the lesson any more than did Israel, until, as He did with Israel, God allows the whole edifice of human society to crumble into ruins and then steps in to make a fresh start. He promised He would do that with Israel when they had ruined their own nationhood. The same promise applies to the rest of the world, and both promises will be redeemed together in the coming Messianic Age which is to succeed the dissolution of the present world system.

So, the people of Judah had peace from the fifteenth year to the thirty‑fifth year of Asa, the Temple, cleansed and re‑dedicated, and adorned with treasures of gold and silver so that it regained the magnificence it had enjoyed in the days of Solomon, again becoming the centre of the nation’s worship.

However, in the thirty‑sixth year there came a challenge from outside. Baasha, king of the northern ten‑tribe nation, began making ominous moves on Judah’s northern frontier. He evidently had plans to invade Judah. Not that there was cause for apprehension on that account. He had at most a few hundred thousand men. Twenty years earlier Asa had witnessed the overwhelming defeat of a million Ethiopians, hardy trained warriors, at the hand of the Lord, whilst all that Asa and his men had to do was to look on. One would think with that memory in mind Asa would exercise the same faith in face of this new menace and expect the same results. Inexplicably he did not.

To what extent he listened to the counsels of advisers who, softened by years of peace and prosperity, did not set the same store by faith in God as he had done twenty years previously, is not known. Whether he had become worldly‑minded or less in tune with God during the passage of these years is likewise not known. Perhaps he had. Perhaps a lifetime as king over a prosperous people had measurably dimmed what we today would call his ‘spiritual perception.’ At any rate the high pinnacle of faith which he had so courageously mounted in those days of the Ethiopian invasion was not in evidence now. He did not, this time, go to God and say "Help us. LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army." (2 Chron.14:11 NIV) Instead he turned to more material means of defence. He stripped the Temple of its gold and silver treasure, which in theory, having been offered to God, were sacred to, and the property of the Lord. He sent these to Ben‑Hadad, king of Syria as a bribe to induce him to launch an attack on the ten‑tribes from the north and so draw them away from his own frontier. The ruse worked; the ten‑tribe people found themselves attacked in the rear and abandoned their plans to invade Israel.

Why did he do it? Why this singular loss of faith when a precisely similar situation had been so easily and satisfactorily resolved by God in his previous experience? There is one factor that is not always taken into account. Unlike the Ethiopians, the ten‑tribe nation was a part of Israel, God’s chosen people. Despite their present apostasy they were joint heirs with Judah of the Divine commission to be a light to the nations, to declare God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. Did Asa cherish a secret fear that although God might readily oppose and defeat the alien Ethiopians, He would not so proceed against His own people of the ten‑tribes? Was that the nagging apprehension which drove Asa to invoke an earthly power whom he knew could afford the necessary aid? If so, here is another instance of how the natural mind can go grievously astray in trying to apply human standards and human knowledge to the things of God. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen.18:25) is and was then, a scriptural principle which Asa could and should have taken to himself and left the issue of this invasion threat to God as he had done before.The king probably congratulated himself upon the outcome of his stratagem but not for long. He received a visit from another prophet, Hanani. This time he was not congratulated; the message Hanani brought him was decidedly unwelcome. "Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, He delivered them into thine hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars." (16:7‑9).

True to the prediction, Asa had no further peace; wars and threats of wars with Syria, despite the bribe, filled the remaining six years of his reign. It was his own fault. He had despoiled the Temple of God to buy the help of a human ally who turned out in the end to be just another enemy. The golden years of his reign were brought to an end by his own act.

Hanani suffered for his candour. The king, in a rage, put him in prison and that is the last that is heard of Hanani. Asa suffered also. Two years before his death he became "diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe" (2 Chron.16:12 RSV) but even in this he did not seek the Lord but had recourse to physicians. In that day and age this meant allying himself with the exponents of magic and dark arts, the only physicians of his time and nation. It does seem that despite his earlier stalwart faith, Asa did, regrettably end his life on a much lower level of kinship with God. The early prophet commended him for his faith but the latter one condemned him.

It is a solemn thought that maybe material prosperity and a life of ease can constitute a more severe test of faith and constancy than one of adversity and suffering. The harder life develops the stronger character. But in the last analysis it is "he that endures to the end" who is saved. Our Christian faith must survive not only the alternate periods of prosperity and adversity that may come our way but also the disintegrating influence of time. Instead of the goal becoming nearer and brighter as the years go by, to some it recedes and shines more dimly. There are those whose love waxes cold before they reach the end of the way. Sometimes they wonder if, after all, God is so all‑powerful or so actively interested in the welfare of His creatures, as they at first believed. Against all that come the stirring words of Hanani, spoken to king Asa on this historic occasion. Standing as an ever present reminder of our Lord’s attitude toward each one of us: "the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show his might in behalf of those whose heart is blameless toward him." (2 Chron.16:9 RSV)

AOH