Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 15:23
The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.
23. The rest of all the acts of Asa ] There is a conjunction at the opening of the verse in the original. Hence R.V. Now the rest &c.
The reign of Asa is dealt with more fully in the book of Chronicles. Beside what is told in Kings, we learn there that he built fenced cities in Judah, because the land had rest and no war. His army is described as consisting of 300,000 men of Judah and 280,000 of Benjamin. He defeated Zerah the Ethiopian, who came against him in battle, and with the help of God drove him back as far as Gerar. A prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded encouraged the king to put down idolatry with a strong hand, and he bound his people by a solemn oath to cleave unto the Lord, and those who would not do so he put to death. Asa, we are told, was rebuked by Hanani the prophet after the withdrawal of Baasha, because he had relied on the help of the king of Syria, and he was told that from henceforth he should have wars. In anger Asa imprisoned the unwelcome prophet, and oppressed some of his people at the same time. The long reign of this king was manifestly an active time, both in the religious and political life of Judah.
the cities which he built ] No doubt these are ‘the fenced cities’ spoken of in 2Ch 14:6, as built during the days of peace.
Nevertheless ] R.V. But. The A.V. would make it seem as though the successes described in the early part of the verse ought to have been enough to prevent the disease here mentioned.
diseased in his feet ] In 2Ch 16:12 it is added ‘until his disease was exceeding great’, and then as another token of his weakened trust in God the chronicler continues ‘yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The rest of all the acts of Asa – A few of these are preserved in 2Ch 15:9-15; 2Ch 16:7-12. From the whole narrative of Chronicles we gather that the character of Asa deteriorated as he grew old, and that, while he maintained the worship of Yahweh consistently from first to last, he failed to maintain the personal faith and piety which had been so conspicuous in his early youth.
The cities which he built – Asa, during the earlier part of his reign, before any serious attack had been made upon him, had the prudence to build fenced cities in Judah, with walls and towers, gates and bars, so strengthening himself against a possible evil day 2Ch 14:6-7.
In the time of his old age – See the marginal reference. If it has been rightly supposed that Rehoboam was a young man of 21 or 22 at his accession 1Ki 12:8, Asas age at this time must have been less than 50. It may seem strange to speak of old age in such a case; but Solomon was regarded as old at about 50 (1Ki 11:4 note).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Ki 15:23
Nevertheless in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.
Asa; or, failure at the last
Few personages in Holy Scripture appear to have commenced their career with more decided promise of good, and more energetic measures against evil, than Asa, King of Judah. Asa was the third of those princes of the house of David, whom God, though for the sins of Solomon He had alienated ten tribes from their sway, permitted for His ancient servants sake to retain a throne and a name. Asa was preserved pure amid the corruptions of his age; and his acts immediately on ascending the throne, and for a large portion of his life, showed, not merely that his heart was not perverted to idols–that is, was in this sense perfect before the Lord–but that he leaned on Him, and found Him to be his Strength and his Redeemer. When ten years are over, we find that great change has passed upon Asa. Hostilities are threatened at the hands of Baasha, King of Israel. That prince is building a fortress on his very frontier. His purpose cannot be mistaken. It is to check the growing intercourse between Asas subjects and his own. Asa is naturally alarmed; but in his alarm he seeks not God–he seeks a human, a heathen ally. He bribes the King of Syria., with his own treasures and the treasures of the temple, to break an existing league with Baasha, and invade the north-eastern provinces of Israel. A diversion is thus effected; for Baasha is summoned from his scheme of offence by tidings that the whole of the coast of Gennesaret is being wasted by fire and sword. Asa improves his opportunity. He destroys the rising fortress, Ramah, and applies to the strengthening of two cities for himself the materials prepared by the enemy. Yes, he has repelled the danger, but he has incurred a greater danger. He has made God his enemy, for he has not trusted in Him as his friend. How strange, how very mournful, that he who for more than a quarter of a century had led men to God, should at length have himself turned from Him; that he who, by his life and reign, had preached to others, should himself be a castaway! And is it indeed so? Hanani the prophet has come to remonstrate with him; and his remonstrance, truly though severely kind, must surely move him. Alas! Asas heart is hardened. The voice of honesty grates harshly on him; he is wroth with the prophet; he even imprisons him. And the sacred historian adds, He oppressed some of the people at the same time; it may be, because they reminded him of the oath which they had sworn at his bidding, and in which he had bound himself, that God should be their God. A few more years pass on, of which we read nothing, but of which we must fear much. Asa is now stretched on his sick-bed; a lingering disease is wasting him; at length, it is exceeding great. Two or three years he lies in deep agony, yet he never thinks of God; he seeks not to the Lord, but to the physicians. Is no more said of him than this? Does no repentance for his evil deeds come upon him? No remembrance of his youthful faith, and of the way in which it was rewarded, flash upon him? Does no light illume the chamber of death? No fear of what is beyond death appal him? He had long ceased to live by faith, and he does not die in faith. To the words, he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians, succeeds the simple announcement, and Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one-and-fortieth year of his reign. He died. He died, and was buried in his own sepulchre, which he had provided for the body, however much he had neglected his soul. He was buried with great honour in the city of David. He was buried with an empires lamentation. But what was all this, unless we have reason to suppose that angels received his soul, and conveyed it into Abrahams bosom, there to abide till the resurrection? But what were the causes of his fall? Scripture is silent on this point; we may, however, discover two or three of them.
1. He was tried, in the first place, by great success. People are inclined to think that success is no trial. They are much mistaken. Nothing is more liable to produce self-confidence, and neglect of Him who bestoweth on the wise their wisdom, and on the strong their strength. Unless a man watches himself very narrowly, pride will insinuate itself even into the midst of his thanksgivings; complacent thoughts of his own foresight underlie his recognition of Gods providence; convictions of his own good desert qualify his confessions of sin. Idols had bowed at Asas word. Profligacy had shrunk abashed from his presence. The appointments of the temple had risen to fresh splendour on his opening the doors of his treasury. The ancient renown of his people had revived under his sway. The borders of his kingdom had been extended by his policy. He had spoken, and cities long dismantled had resumed their coronal of towers. He had led out his armies, and barbarians had fled before him. Whatever he had taken in hand, the Lord had made it to prosper. This was at length too much for him. He dwelt on his wisdom, it became foolishness–on his strength, and it turned to weakness; in a word, he forgot God, who, as He had raised him up, had power to cast him down.
2. But mark a second point in which Asa was tried, and having been tried was found wanting. He was placed in the perilous position of having to guide and instruct others–to provide for their spiritual welfare–to correct whatever tendencies he discovered towards vice or towards idolatry. Now, little as we are accustomed so to view it, this is a great snare to any one. The mother, who teaches her child to pray; the father, who watches over his sons moral progress; the master, who is a strict censor of the behaviour of his servants; the Scripture reader, the district visitor, the nurse of the sick, the almoner of the poor; yea, even the minister of God who has professionally to bring before his people the means of grace and the hopes of glory, the right use of the one, and the sober entertainment of the other; these persons are all of them in danger of neglecting themselves; of placing themselves, as it were, ab extra, to the duties which they have to inculcate; of losing their interest in them as things in which they have a deep personal concernment. Such persons are tempted then in the contemplation of their works, to forget themselves, to abate their self-discipline, and, when the novelty of their employment has passed away, to fall back upon other things; it may be, to end with languor, disgust, or carelessness, if not with utter faithlessness and sin. Gradually, indeed, and very slowly, such lethargy may creep over the soul; as gradually as the fumes of the chafing-dish overpower the senses of the sleeper, or as the deathlike chill of the mountain steals over the weary traveller, and lulls him into a slumber from which there is no awakening–but like these, it is subtle, silent, fatal. It is only sure-walking that is safe-walking. To be sure we must not be secure, we must be careful; carefulness is the earnest of safety; carefulness, whose maxim is, Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall; carefulness, which, in the words of our Litany, petitions the Almighty for deliverance not merely in the time of tribulation, but in the time of wealth. (J. A. Heasey, D. C. L)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 23. And the cities which he built] Such as Geba and Mizpah, which he built out of the spoils of Ramah.
He was diseased in his feet.] Probably he had a strong rheumatic affection, or the gout. This took place in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, three years before his death; and it is said that he sought to physicians rather than to the Lord, 2Ch 16:12-13.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Nevertheless; notwithstanding the great things which he had done, and the glory and prosperity which he enjoyed, he felt the effects of human infirmity, and of his own sins; of which see 2Ch 16:12,13.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. in the time of his old age hewas diseased in his feet(See on 2Ch16:12, where an additional proof is given of his religiousdegeneracy.)
1Ki15:25-34. NADAB’SWICKED REIGN.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?…. Some of which are to be met with in the canonical book of that name, 2Ch 14:1, and others in the annals of the kings, out of which the Scripture account was taken:
nevertheless, in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet; seized with the gout, as the Jews say a, and which was two years before his death, see 2Ch 16:12.
a T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 48. 2. So Clemens of Alexandria, Stromat. l. 1. p. 326.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Commentary on 1Ki 15:23-24 AND 2Ch 16:7-14
Prophetic Rebuke,
If Asa thought he was acting properly, in the will of the Lord, in sending to buy the aid of Ben-hadad he soon learned how sadly mistaken he was. God sent yet another of His prophets to remonstrate with him, Hanani, who is called a seer, or one who receives visions from the Lord.
He called Asa’s diplomacy what it was, reliance on the power of a man, the king of Syria, and the rejection of the power of God. What made this such a flagrant breach of Asa’s celebrated piety was his total disregard of his miraculous deliverance from the host of Ethiopians and Libyans who had come against him a few years earlier. He had then readily turned to the Lord and admitted his sole hope to be in Him, but now when the king of Israel come down to fortify a city on his frontier he forgets God and sends off to the idolatrous king of Syria for help. Asa had been so successful he must have begun to think he could direct his own affairs without seeking the Lord. His self-esteem is like that of the Pharisees rebuked by John (Mat 3:9).
Hanani embarrassed the king before his men by his rebuke. He stated a truism of all ages, “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.”
Note that the prophet did not tell Asa that the Lord’s all-seeing eye was searching for those who were disobedient to punish them, but that he was searching for those whose hearts were perfect that he might strengthen them. In other words, He was looking for an opportunity to help Asa, and Asa had said, in effect, “! don’t need your help.” So Hanani told the king he had acted very foolishly. He had lost an opportunity to subjugate the Syrian king, and for that he would now have wars. He did not know the lesson Paul stressed to the Philippians (Php_4:13).
Asa reacted in a very ungodly manner and flew into a rage. He threw Hanani into prison and persecuted those who took the prophet’s side. the stubborn and obstinate king spent the rest of his life in defiance of God, so that there is nothing more good related of him in the Scriptures. At last the Lord struck him with a disease of his feet, which became progressively worse and gave him much pain.
Even then he refused to repent and call on the Lord, but relied on physicians alone, and they were unable to help him. He died relatively young, and the people honored him for the great things he had done. He was buried in his fine sepulchre he had prepared in the burial place of the kings in the city of David. Sweet odors and spices were burned in great quantity at his funeral. What a paradox his life had been! His reward was surely diminished by his adamant refusal to repent of his misdeed (note 2Jn 1:8).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(23) All his might.This phrase, not used of Rehoboam or Abijah, is significant, indicating the increased power of Judah under Asa.
The cities which he built.Fortification of cities (see 2Ch. 11:5-10; 2Ch. 14:6) was naturally the traditional policy of the kingdom of Judahsmall in extent, menaced by more powerful neighbours, but having an exceedingly strong country and central position.
Diseased in his feet.In the Chronicles it is added significantly, in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians (2Ch. 16:7-12); and from the same records it appears that in his last days Asa ventured to defy the prophetic authority by the imprisonment of Hanani the seer. Prosperity, it is implied, had somewhat deteriorated his character, though he still continued faithful to the worship of God. Certainly, Jehoshaphat on his accession still found much to do for the religious condition of his people.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2 3.
Cities which he built See 2Ch 14:6-7.
Diseased in his feet The disease is supposed by most interpreters to have been the gout. 2 Chronicles adds, (2Ch 16:12,) that “in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.” From the fact that the writer of Chronicles mentions the sins of Asa, which are passed over in silence by the writer of Kings, Wordsworth argues against the assumption of some, that the writer of Chronicles was partial to the house of David, and sought to cover up their faults. Chronicles makes no mention of Solomon’s apostasy, and Kings says nothing of Asa’s sins. Thus one of these sacred historians supplies the omissions of the other, and yet both together do not assume to give an exhaustive history of the subjects they take in hand. Large portions of their narrative are professedly excerpts from the public annals.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 15:23 The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.
Ver. 23. He was diseased in his feet. ] He that imprisoned the prophet is imprisoned in his bed; there being more pain in those fetters put by God upon Asa than in those put by Asa upon Hanani. This good man was the worse a while for whipping.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The rest. Compare 2Ch 14:9, 2Ch 15:10.
are they not. ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
rest of all: 1Ki 15:7, 1Ki 15:8, 1Ki 14:29-31
in the time: 2Ch 16:12-14, Psa 90:10
Reciprocal: 1Ki 22:39 – the rest 2Ki 8:23 – General 2Ki 20:20 – the book 2Ch 16:11 – Judah Isa 10:29 – Geba
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 15:23. Nevertheless he was diseased in his feet Notwithstanding the great things which he had done, and the glory and prosperity which he had enjoyed, he felt the effects of human infirmity, and of his own sins. He probably had the gout, which made him less active than he had been before this disease seized him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
15:23 The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless in the time of his old age he was diseased in his {h} feet.
(h) He had gout and put his trust physicians rather than in the Lord, 2Ch 16:12.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Asa’s death 15:23-24
Asa experienced some personal discipline for his trust in the flesh (1Ki 15:23; 2Ch 16:12). It may have been because of his ill health (gout?) that Asa’s son, Jehoshaphat, became coregent with him late in his reign (873-870 B.C.). [Note: See Edwin Thiele, "Coregencies and Overlapping Reigns Among the Hebrew Kings," Journal of Biblical Literature 93 (1974):174-200.] McFall believed Jehoshaphat’s coregency began in 872 or 871. [Note: McFall, p. 45.] When Asa died, Ahab was reigning in Israel (874-853 B.C.).
Asa’s heart was right with God his whole reign (1Ki 15:14), as David’s had been. Nevertheless, like David, he also sinned. He experienced personal blessing in the form of a long reign and victory over his enemies because of his commitment to Yahweh. He also became a source of blessing to Judah.