Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 15:1
And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:
Oded is by some identified with Iddo, the prophet and historian of the two preceding reigns. In the Hebrew the two names differ very slightly.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ch 15:1-7
And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah.
Dark shadows on a bright day
We have here shown the necessary connection between Gods service and human weal.
I. The awful apostasy. Turning away.
1. Practical atheism. Without the true God.
2. Deprived of priestly function.
3. Prevalence of moral disorder.
II. The terrible judgments which followed apostasy.
1. Widespread anarchy.
2. Civil dissensions.
3. General calamity.
III. The way of escape from these judgments. The Lord is with you while ye be with Him, etc.
1. There is a fact in Divine procedure.
2. This is a warning for the future. (J. Wolfendale.)
Inspiration and duty
I. An inspired man is qualified to give a message.
II. An inspired man will give his message fearlessly and successfully.
III. Inspired men, men taught of God, not time-servers, required now. (J. Wolfendale.)
Verses 2. The Lord is with you, while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him.
When and how long the Lord is with His people
I. What it is for the Lord to be with His people.
1. Not His general or essential presence.
2. Nor His being with His creatures in a providential way; for so He is with all men.
3. Nor His special presence in a providential way with His own dear children.
4. But it is Gods gracious presence, which Moses so earnestly entreated: If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence; and of which David deprecates the loss: Cast me not away from Thy presence. To enjoy His presence in this sense means–
(1) To have the light of His countenance.
(2) For God to commune with them.
(3) For God to manifest His early loving-kindness to their souls.
II. When or how long will God be with His people.? While ye be with Him.
1. While you keep close to Him in a way of duty; while you are with Him in prayer particularly.
2. While we have communion with them that fear the Lord. God is with them that fear Him; and those who keep company with such persons may expect His presence. Spiritual conversation is like putting fuel to fire; and prayer is like the bellows which blows up the flame.
3. While ye be with Him in public worship and attend the ordinances of His house (Act 2:1-3).
Inferences:
1. The presence of God with His people is a most amazing instance of Divine goodness.
2. There is nothing so desirable to a gracious soul as the presence of God. (J. Gill, D.D.)
When will the Lord be found by His people?
I. God is to be found by His people–
1. In conversion.
2. At the throne of grace.
3. In His public ordinances.
II. When is God to be found by His people thus? When He is sought through the Lord Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. (J. Gill, D. D.)
Being with God
To be with God is–
I. To preserve in our minds a reverent sense of His being, presence, and government.
II. To keep close to His laws.
III. To stand on His side against the opposite power of darkness and sin. (Abp. Seeker.)
God with us
I. What is meant by God with a Church? Luther used to say that there was a great deal of divinity in prepositions. This word with has diversity as well as divinity in its meaning. It means–
1. To be present. God present, seeing and hearing all that is said and done.
2. Blessing. A helping, gracious presence. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man.
3. Divine protection.
II. What is meant by a Church with God?
1. It is a Church faithful and fearless in proclaiming Gods Word. Strike, but hear! said a philosopher to an angry disputant. Laugh, strike, kill, but hear the Word of God! is what the Church says to mockers and persecutors.
2. It is a holy Church. The Emperor of Rome issued a command that all houses, shops, and public institutions, ships or boats, named after members of the Royal Family, should be kept clean, or forego the right to the name. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
3. A Church with God does Gods work. A Church tries to be to men all that Christ was, the earthly organ of His Spirit, the instrument of the mind of Christ.
4. It means a Church in which every member lives in personal communion with God. (J. M. Gibbon.)
The happiness and condition of the presence of God
I. The happiness of the Jewish Church at that time. The Lord is with you. Gods presence as applied to all righteous people implies–
1. An owning and acknowledging them to be His own peculiar people. Gods love to His peculiar people includes in it all relations: that of a–
(1) Father (2Co 6:18);
(2) husband (Hos 2:19);
(3) friend (Joh 15:15; Jam 2:23).
2. His assisting them and prospering all the works that they put their hands to (1Ch 11:9).
3. His protection and defence of them against all their enemies (Gen 15:1; Zec 2:5; Isa 4:5; Isa 46:7; Num 23:1-30; Rom 8:31).
Inferences:
1. Let us notice what are the greatest mischiefs and who are the chief authors of all the evils which can possibly befall a kingdom, even they that would rob us of our God.
2. From hence we may learn the surest way to have our tranquillity and peace secured to us.
3. If we sincerely serve God, we may comfortably and securely rest upon Him to defend and protect us against all dangers {Pro 18:10; Mat 10:29; Num 14:9). Luther tells a famous story of a Bishop of Magdeburg, against whom the Duke of Saxony was preparing to wage war; the bishop, having notice of it, betakes himself presently to his prayers and the reforming of his Church; and when one told him what mighty preparations were making against him, he replied, I will take care of my Church, and then God will fight for and take care of me; which, when the duke heard of, he disbanded his forces and acknowledged himself too weak to deal with that man who had engaged God on his side (Psa 3:6).
II. The condition upon which the happiness of Gods presence is to be enjoyed, while we are with Him. To be with God is to be a holy people. Clemens Alexandrinus speaks of a temple upon which was written, No unholy thing must come near this place; and this is Gods inscription (Heb 1:13). Conclusion: Tis reported of the Prince of Orange at the Battle of Newport, that he said to his soldiers, when they had the sea on one side and the Spaniards on the other, You must either eat up the Spaniards or drink up the sea; so we must either conquer our lusts or drink down the devouring fire of Gods wrath. Let us apply ourselves to the service of God sincerely, and then the Lord will be with us. (E. Lake, D. D.)
Gods presence with His people the spring of their prospe
rity:–
I. God may be said to be with men–
1. In respect of the omnipresence of His essence (1Ki 8:27; Psa 139:7-12).
2. In respect of personal union. God was with him (Act 10:38).
3. In respect of the covenant of grace.
4. In respect of providential dispensations. This is twofold.
(1) General; ordering, disposing, guiding, ruling all things, according to His own wisdom, by His own power, unto His own glory.
(2) Special; attended with peculiar love, favour, goodwill, special care towards them with whom He is so present (Gen 21:22; Jos 1:5; Jer 15:20; Isa 43:1-2). This is the presence here intimated.
II. A peoples abiding with God is twofold.
1. In personal obedience.
2. In national administrations.
III. Observations.
1. All outward flourishing or prosperity of a people doth not always argue the special presence of God with them. The things required to make success and prosperity an evidence of the presence of God are–
(1) That the people themselves prospered be His peculiar people.
(2) That the whole work be good, and have a tendency to Gods glory, wherein they are engaged.
(3) Made useful and subservient to His glory.
2. Even great afflictions, eminent distresses, long perplexities, may have a consistency with Gods special presence. (J. Owen, D. D.)
The presence of God
I. Let our first use be to instruct us particularly.
1. What this special presence is, and wherein it doth consist.
2. What it is for us to abide with God, so as we may enjoy it.
(1) We must have peace with Him in Jesus Christ.
(2) To have His presence continued with us we must–
(a) Ask counsel at His hand, look to Him for direction in all our affairs;
(b) trust in Him for protection;
(c) universally own Gods concernments in the world. His presence with us is the owning of our concernments; and certainly He expects that we abide with Him in the owning of His. The Lords portion is His people.
II. Look on this presence of God as our main concernment (Psa 4:1-8.).
III. Whilst we have any pledge of the presence of God with us, let us not be greatly moved, nor troubled by any difficulties we may meet with.
IV. Let us fix our thoughts on the things which lie in a tendency towards the confirming of Gods special providential presence with us. (J. Owen, D. D.)
The Divine protection promised only to an obedient people
I. A grand promise. The Lord is with you while ye be with Him.
1. God is said to be with any people–
(1) When He upholds among them His true religion and worship.
(2) When He causes His Word to be preached and His will to be declared to them.
(3) When He watches over them and defends them against their enemies, maintaining in a nation peace and prosperity; in short, when He grants to them all spiritual and temporal blessings.
2. A nation is with God–
(1) When true religion is seen upon the throne, when God is there served and honoured, with a spiritual and reasonable service.
(2) When those who are in authority employ it to enforce the observance of Gods laws.
(3) When they themselves observe them.
(4) When subjects obey the laws.
(5) When each person in his station concurs in promoting order, good morals, and piety.
(6) When those who minister at the altar preach by their example; joining pure manners with sound doctrine.
(7) When union reigns among those who are in authority, peace in the Church, and harmony in families, and when parents bestow their chief care upon making their children modest, humble lovers of truth and goodness. In short, when each person sets God before his eyes, and renders to Him, in public and in private, love and obedience.
II. An awful threatening.
1. There are several ways in which we may forsake God. But that against which it is most necessary to warn Christians is the forsaking of God by a wicked life, by dissolute manners, by living as if there were no God, or as if we were not to stand before Him in judgment.
2. God forsakes a people, thus unworthy of His presence, by the calamities and miseries with which He visits them. (S. Partridge, M.A.)
The prophets maxim recommended and confirmed
(a missionary sermon):–
I. It may tend to recommend this Divine maxim if we consider–
1. The effect it had on him to whom it was addressed.
2. The blessing it brought down on those who regarded it.
II. Let us confirm the prophets axiom. The Lord is with them, and with them alone, who are with Him. Consider–
1. The evils which would result from the blessing of God being on our labours while we are not with Him.
(1) Gods being with us is a proof of His approbation of our tempers and dispositions. When we are not with God we are not holy. If God were to convert the heathen by us while we are in such a state, those who were changed by our efforts would naturally infer that the tempers they see in us were those that please God. Thus God would be made to bear a false testimony to us.
(2) Were God to be with us in this great work while we are not with Him, it would be to counteract His great design in calling us by His grace. Gods grand design is to purify His people.
(3) It would be the means of propagating a kind of religion totally different from the mind of Christ. The apostles illustrated their teaching by a holy life.
(4) If God were to grant our missionaries success while they were not walking with Him, they would be totally incapable of nourishing up their converts when they had made them.
2. The pleasing results which would follow if God were to be with a people for so long a period as He was with this people.
(1) Abundant means.
(2) Aid to use these means aright. (D. Marshman.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XV
Azariah’s prophecy concerning Israel, and his exhortation to
Asa, 1-7.
Asa completes the reformation which he had begun, his kingdom
is greatly strengthened, and all to people make a solemn
covenant with the Lord, 8-15.
His treatment of his mother Maachah, 16.
He brings into the house of God the things that has father had
dedicated, 17, 18.
And he has no war till the thirty-fifth year of his reign, 19.
NOTES ON CHAP. XV
Verse 1. Azariah the son of Oded] We know nothing of this prophet but what is related of him here.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
1. Azariah the son of OdedThisprophet, who is mentioned nowhere else, appears at this stage of thesacred story in the discharge of an interesting mission. He went tomeet Asa, as he was returning from his victorious pursuit of theEthiopians, and the congratulatory address here recorded was publiclymade to the king in presence of his army.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded,…. The same with Iddo, as Hillerus h thinks; and some suppose this to be the name of the son as well as the father, but called Azariah, to distinguish him from him, see 2Ch 15:8 on whom came, as the Targum, the spirit of prophecy, instructing him what to say to Asa; and the Jews say i he is the same with Iddo, and he the same that was sent to Jeroboam, to reprove him for the altar he built.
h Onomastic, Sacr. p. 458. i In Hieron. Trad. Heb. in Paralipom. fol. 84. L. & 85. A.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The prophet Azariah’s exhortation to faithful cleaving to the Lord, and the solemn renewal of the covenant. – 2Ch 15:1-7. The prophet’s speech. The prophet Azariah, the son of Oded, is mentioned only here. The conjecture of some of the older theologians, that was the same person as (2Ch 12:15; 2Ch 9:29), has no tenable foundation. Azariah went to meet the king and people returning from the war ( , he went forth in the presence of Asa, i.e., coming before him; cf. 2Ch 28:9; 1Ch 12:17; 1Ch 14:8). “Jahve was with you (has given you the victory), because ye were with Him (held to Him).” Hence the general lesson is drawn: If ye seek Him, He will be found of you (cf. Jer 29:13); and if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you (cf. 2Ch 24:20; 2Ch 12:5). To impress the people deeply with this truth, Azariah draws a powerful picture of the times when a people is forsaken by God, when peace and security in social intercourse disappear, and the terrors of civil war prevail. Opinions as to the reference intended in this portrayal of the dreadful results of defection from God have been from antiquity very much divided. Tremell. and Grot., following the Targ., take the words to refer to the condition of the kingdom of the ten tribes at that time; others think they refer to the past, either to the immediately preceding period of the kingdom of Judah, to the times of the defection under Rehoboam and Abijah, before Asa had suppressed idolatry (Syr., Arab., Raschi), or to the more distant past, the anarchic period of the judges, from Joshua’s death, and that of the high priest Phinehas, until Eli and Samuel’s reformation (so especially Vitringa, de synag. vet. p. 335ff.). Finally, still others (Luther, Clericus, Budd., etc.) interpret the words as prophetic, as descriptive of the future, and make them refer either to the unquiet times under the later idolatrous kings, to the times of the Assyrian or Chaldean exile (Kimchi), or to the condition of the Jews since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans up till the present day. Of these three views, the first, that which takes the reference to be to the present, i.e., the state of the kingdom of the ten tribes at that time, is decidedly erroneous; for during the first thirty years of the existence of that kingdom no such anarchic state of things existed as is portrayed in vv. 5 and 6, and still less could a return of the ten tribes to the Lord at that time be spoken of (2Ch 15:4). It is more difficult to decide between the two other main views. The grounds which Vitr., Ramb., Berth. adduce in support of the reference to the times of the judges are not convincing; for the contents and form (2Ch 15:4) do not prove that here something is asserted which has been confirmed by history, and still less is it manifest (2Ch 15:5) that past times are pointed to. Whether the statement about the return to Jahve in the times of trouble (2Ch 15:4) refers to the past or to the future, depends upon whether the past or future is spoken of in 2Ch 15:3. But the unquiet condition of things portrayed in 2Ch 15:5 corresponds partly to various times in the period of the judges; and if, with Vitr., we compare the general characteristics of the religious condition of the times of the judges (Jdg 2:10.), we might certainly say that Israel in those times was without , as it again and again forsook Jahve and served the Baals. And moreover, several examples of the oppression of Israel portrayed in 2Ch 15:5 and 2Ch 15:6 may be adduced from the time of the judges. Yet the words in 2Ch 15:6, even when their rhetorical character is taken into account, are too strong for the anarchic state of things during the period of the judges, and the internal struggles of that time (Jdg 12:1-6 and 2 Chron 20). And consequently, although Vitr. and Ramb. think that a reference to experiences already past, and oppressions already lived through, would have made a much deeper impression than pointing forward to future periods of oppression, yet Ramb. himself remarks, nihilominus tamen in saeculis Asae imperium antegressis vix ullum tempus post ingressum in terram Canaan et constitutam rempubl. Israel. posse ostendi, cui omnia criteria hujus orationis propheticae omni ex parte et secundum omnia pondera verbis insita conveniant . But, without doubt, the omission of any definite statement of the time in 2Ch 15:3 is decisive against the exclusive reference of this speech to the past, and to the period of the judges. The verse contains no verb, so that the words may just as well refer to the past as to the future. The prophet has not stated the time definitely, because he was giving utterance to truths which have force at all times,
(Note: As Ramb. therefore rightly remarks, “ Vatem videri consulto abstinuisse a determinatione temporis, ut vela sensui quam amplissime panderentur, verbaque omnibus temporum periodis adplicari possent, in quibus criteria hic recensita adpareant . ” )
and which Israel had had experience of already in the time of the judges, but would have much deeper experience of in the future.
We must take the words in this general sense, and supply neither a preterite nor a future in 2Ch 15:3, neither fuerant nor erunt , but must express the first clause by the present in English: “Many days are for Israel (i.e., Israel lives many days) without the true God, and without teaching priests, and without law.” is not accus. of time (Berth.), but the subject of the sentence; and is not subject – “during many days there was to the people Israel no true God” (Berth.), – but predicate, while expresses the condition into which anything comes, and forms part of the following noun: Days for Israel for having not a true God. differs from , “without,” just as differs from ; the latter expressing the being in a condition, the former the coming into it. On , cf. Jer 10:10. is not to be limited to the high priest, for it refers to the priests in general, whose office it was to teach the people law and justice (Lev 10:10; Deu 33:10). The accent is upon the predicates and . Israel had indeed Elohim, but not the true God, and also priests, but not priests who attended to their office, who watched over the fulfilment of the law; and so they had no , notwithstanding the book of the law composed by Moses.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| God’s Message to Asa. | B. C. 945. |
1 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: 2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, 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. 3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. 4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. 5 And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. 6 And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. 7 Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.
It was a great happiness to Israel that they had prophets among them; yet, while they were thus blessed, they were strangely addicted to idolatry, whereas, when the spirit of prophecy had ceased under the second temple, and the canon of the Old Temple was completed (which was constantly read in their synagogues), they were pure from idolatry; for the scriptures are of all other the most sure word of prophecy, and most effectual, and the church could not be so easily imposed upon by a counterfeit Bible as by a counterfeit prophet. Here was a prophet sent to Asa and his army, when they returned victorious from the war with the Ethiopians, not to compliment them and congratulate them on their success, but to quicken them to their duty; this is the proper business of God’s ministers, even with princes and the greatest men. The Spirit of God came upon the prophet (v. 1), both to instruct him what he should say and to enable him to say it with clearness and boldness.
I. He told them plainly upon what terms they stood with God. Let them not think that, having obtained this victory, all was their own for ever; no, he must let them know they were upon their good behaviour. Let them do well, and it will be well with them, otherwise not. 1. The Lord is with you while you are with him. This is both a word of comfort, that those who keep close to God shall always have his presence with them, and also a word of caution: “He is with you, while you are with him, but no longer; you have now a signal token of his favourable presence with you, but the continuance of it depends upon your perseverance in the way of your duty.” 2. “If you seek him, he will be found of you. Sincerely desire his favour, and aim at it, and you shall obtain it. Pray, and you shall prevail. He never said, nor ever will, Seek you me in vain.” See Heb. xi. 6. But, 3. “If you forsake him and his ordinances, he is not tied to you, but will certainly forsake you, and then you are undone, your present triumphs will be no security to you; woe to you when God departs.”
II. He set before them the dangerous consequence of forsaking God and his ordinances, and that there was no way of having grievances redressed, but by repenting, and returning unto God. When Israel forsook their duty they were over-run with a deluge of atheism, impiety, irreligion, and all irregularity (v. 3), and were continually embarrassed with vexatious and destroying wars, foreign and domestic, 2Ch 15:5; 2Ch 15:6. But when their troubles drove them to God they found it not in vain to seek him, v. 4. But the question is, What time does this refer to? 1. Some think it looks as far back as the days of the Judges. A long season ago Israel was without the true God, for they worshipped false gods; it was a time of ignorance, for, though they had priests, they had no teaching priests, though they had elders, yet no law to any purpose, v. 3. These were sad times, when they were frequently oppressed by one enemy or other and grievously harassed by Moabites, Midianites, Ammonites, and other nations. They were vexed with all adversity (v. 6), yet when, in their perplexity, they turned to God by repentance, prayer, and reformation, he raised up deliverers for them. Then was that maxim often verified, that God is with us while we are with him. Whatsoever things of this kind were written aforetime were written for our admonition. 2. Others think it describes the state of the ten tribes (who were now properly called Israel) in the days of Asa. “Now, since Jeroboam set up the calves, though he pretended to honour the God that brought them out of Egypt, yet his idolatry has brought them to downright infidelity; they are without the true God,” and no marvel when they were without teaching priests. Jeroboam’s priests were not teachers, and thus they came to be without law. It is next to impossible that any thing of religion should be kept up without a preaching ministry. In those times there was no peace, v. 5. Their war with Judah gave them frequent alarms; so did the late insurrection of Baasha and other occasions not mentioned. They provoked God with all iniquity, and then he vexed them with all adversity; yet, when they turned to God, he was entreated for them. Let Judah take notice of this; let their neighbours’ harms be their warnings. Give no countenance to graven images for you see what mischiefs they produce. 3. Others think the whole passage may be read in the future tense, and that it looks forward: Hereafter Israel will be without the true God and a teaching priest, and they will be destroyed by one judgment after another till they return to God and seek him. See Hos. iii. 4.
III. Upon this he grounded his exhortation to prosecute the work of reformation with vigour (v. 7): Be strong, for your work shall be rewarded. Note, 1. God’s work should be done with diligence and cheerfulness, but will not be done without resolution. 2. This should quicken us to the work of religion, that we shall be sure not to lose by it ultimately. It will not go unrewarded. How should it, when the work is its own reward?
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
2Ch 15:1
(The 1st edition Hardbound version of the commentary includes the following comments under 1 Kings 15).
Prophetic Warning, 2Ch 15:1-7
Another prophet of the Lord appears for the first time in the Scriptures, Azariah, upon whom God’s Spirit moved. He came meeting Asa and the victorious army of Judah following the slaughter of the Ethiopians. God was sending Azariah with a message of admonition and warning. Its precepts are as true for today as they were in that long gone day. Perhaps the men of Judah and Benjamin were somewhat exultant over the great spoil of so huge an army. Men are inclined to boast in the blessings which God gives them, though it is only by the grace of the Lord they have them. God warned Israel against just such an attitude (De 8:11-18).
Notice 1) Judah and Benjamin are told to hear, that is to pay attention to the word from the Lord they are about to hear; 2) the Lord is with those who are with Him; 3) if He is sought in the proper spirit He will surely be found of the seeker; 4) but, on the contrary He will forsake those who forsake Him. There is a familiar anecdote about Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War. A lady once asked him, “Mr. President, do you think the Lord is on our side?” To which Lincoln is said to have replied, “I do not know, but I certainly hope we are on the Lord’s side.” The prophet was saying to Asa that the Lord’s blessing is assured when His people are with Him, on His side.
Azariah next gives a bit of history about the northern kingdom not elsewhere revealed in the Scriptures. He speaks of the apostasy of that kingdom under her wicked king, Jeroboam and his successors. They had forsaken the true God of Israel, and were without any who taught the law of God or a faithful priest in His service. Then trouble had come to that kingdom, specifically in their terrible loss to Judah in the Battle of Mount Zemaraim. Soon after this old Jeroboam had died, and there was a period of anarchy during which Baasha strove to make himself king by exterminating the family of Jeroboam. City was arrayed against city, the inhabitants of the land suffered great vexation, and there was no peace to be had. But Israel had sought the Lord, and He had heard them.
There were true prophets in the northern kingdom, preaching the truth of God then, though their names and their acts are not recorded. But the distress of the times caused them to seek the Lord. This seems to be part of the warning to Judah. They must not think that it was their goodness, or faithfulness over and above that of the nation of Israel for which God blessed Judah while chastising Israel. God blessed those then who repented and sought His will, then followed His will in obedience. He also blesses those now who likewise remain humble, knowing they are not better than those who are being chastised. It is obedient following which makes the difference, and the tables can be swiftly turned if the condition changes. Therefore, the prophet closed with the words, “Be strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded” cf. 1Co 16:13; Gal 6:9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES
IN discussing the First Book of Chronicles we called attention to the fact that according to Usshers chronology, the two Books, not reckoning the table of genealogy, covered a space of 468 years of history; the First Book only 41 of these, and this second, 427. As to the authorship of these Books, Ezra is commonly accepted.
The analysis of any book is largely the presentation of a personal view. One man divides this Second Book of Chronicles into two portions: The Reign of Solomon, chapters 1 to 9, and The Kings of Judah, chapters 10 to 36.
Scofield in his reference Bible, says of this Book: It falls into eighteen divisions, by reigns, from Solomon to the captivities; records the division of the kingdom of David under Jeroboam and Rehoboam, and is marked by an ever growing apostasy, broken temporarily by reformations under Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah.
It is our purpose to follow neither of these divisions, however natural they may be, but to discuss the volume under three heads: Solomon and the Temple; Rehoboam and the Division, and the History of Judah.
SOLOMON AND THE TEMPLE
The Book opens with a declaration concerning the new king, And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly (2Ch 1:1).
The history that follows gives occasion to say several things concerning this marvelous man of immortal reputation:
First, Solomons kingship enjoyed an auspicious beginning. The man who ascends the throne under the favor of the Lord necessarily begins a reign of promise. If, as in Solomons case, he sensibly recognizes his responsibility and seeks wisdom from the only sufficient source, he adds greater certainty to his success. When, in addition to this, his objectives are high and God-honoring, the glory of his kingdom advances accordingly. Certainly, Solomons preparation to build the temple was not only a noble objective, but one in line with his kingly fathers purpose and prayers, and the great Heavenly Fathers will for him.
The interesting history here of gathering materials and appointing men for this marvelous construction is made more interesting still by the kings personal supervision and spiritual interest. It takes some courage to conduct war, and we believe it takes almost more courage and even a clearer sense of God, to build sanctuaries, make their appointments according to the Divine pleasure, and call the people to worship within the spacious rooms of the same. Yet, when you have read but five chapters of this Book, you find such a work complete, and are not in the least amazed or even surprised to read, The glory of the Lord had filled the house of God (2Ch 5:14).
It is doubtful whether any company of men have done more for the establishment of spirituality in the earth and for the strengthening of the souls of their fellows, than have those who brought sanctuaries into existence and led congregations of people to a genuine worship of the most high God.
The on-going of this Book reveals Solomons conscious dependence. When the altar was erected he stood by it with outstretched hands (2Ch 6:12). That is the attitude of prayer and possibly of adoration. When his lips parted to speak, he says,
O Lord God of Israel, there is no God tike Thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their hearts:
Thou which hast kept with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him; and spakest with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with Thine hand, as it is this day.
Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in My Law, as Thou hast walked before Me (2Ch 6:14-16).
Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let Thy Word be verified, which Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant David (2Ch 6:17).
Then follows an appeal that Gods eyes should be open upon their house day and night; that His ears should hearken to the prayers made in that place, and if sin were committed, that forgiveness should be granted, and if the people fail before the face of the enemy because of sin that they also should be pardoned; that if heaven be shut up on the same ground, upon repentance the dearth should end.
Then he concludes in a more personal petition to Him:
Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all Thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:
Then hear Thou from Heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive (2Ch 6:29-30).
These are only samples of the long petition that followed the dedicatory sermon. They wind up with a sentence like this: O Lord God, turn not away the face of Thine anointed: remember the mercies of David Thy servant (2Ch 6:42). It is a model prayer; it is the petition of a sincere soul; it is the cry of one who knows that the mercy and love of God are the only grounds of hope.
The further text records Solomons fame and death. That fame was based upon Solomons wisdom, accentuated doubtless by the magnificence of the temple, but made more honorable still in the extent of his organization, the luxury of his court and the wealth of his treasury.
Evidently, among the rulers of the earth, the queen of Sheba held conspicuous place, and when the fame of Solomon reached her, she came to prove him with her questions, and impress him with her own riches and glory. The difficult questions were satisfactorily answered, the temple was adequately shown, the table of the king groaned with its good meats, the apparel of the servants was profoundly impressive, and the queen said to the king,
It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:
Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.
Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, winch stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.
Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God (2Ch 9:5-8).
The compliment to the king is followed with a statement of Solomons annual income, the magnificence of his throne, the rich appointments of the palace, the extensive commercial importance of his kingdom, and the willing tributes of the earths lesser lords.
Then, as if the task of telling all was too great, we have this record,
Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the Prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead (2Ch 9:29-31).
It is a surprising end, and yet strangely true to human history. How many men spend all their days in preparing to live, and when the preparation seems almost complete, proceed to die? The last enemy is no respecter of persons. His bow is drawn against the great as well as the humble, the rich as well as the poor, the wise as well as the ignorant. Death respects neither thrones nor kings; he holds the key to the palace room, and even to the throne room. Kings may command their humbler fellows, and even counsel their equals; but where death calls, they also obey.
REHOBOAM AND THE DIVISION
The emptying of a throne is forever fraught with perils. The eternal and pertinent question is this, Who shall come after the king? The tenth chapter answered that concerning the throne of Israel. The answer was an ill omen! Rehoboams tyrannical spirit split the kingdom. When Jeroboam and all Israel came to him, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee (2Ch 10:4), they delicately referred to the increased taxation to which the luxurious court and the personal orgies of Solomon had given rise. They thought, as people commonly do, that the new rule would prove the peoples friend. Their hope was in vain.
The old men, former counselors of Solomon, advised kindness and compassion; but the young bloods, spoiled by their fellowship with royalty, counseled increased oppression; and under their influence he said,
My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions (2Ch 10:14).
It was enough. The war was on; and that war has never ended until this day, for Israel and Judah are not yet one. A man who divides brethren and sets them to battle, little understands the infinite reach of his mischief. The father of Modernism in America, when he fell asleep at a comparatively early age, little dreamed that he had set influences to work that would divide every denomination on the continent, destroy the fellowship of men who loved one another as twins are commonly supposed to love, wreck schools and churches by the thousand, and start a war that may easily exceed the famous Hundred Year War of history.
Israel and Judahblood brothersbecame the bitterest of enemies. For some reason Second Chronicles pays little attention to Israel, but proceeds to trace Judahs history to the year of Cyrus, king of Persia, or through a period of almost a half millennium. The family feud occasionally projects itself into the record, but for the most part, Israel is forgotten, and the doings of Judah are recorded in detail.
The explanation of this is found in the circumstance that Jeroboam rejected the worship of Jehovah (2Ch 11:14-15). When God is once put away, when Gods priest is disposed of, and His minister is heard no more, then degeneracy compels a declining record.
Unitarianism three quarters of a century ago denied the Lord. Its history has amounted to little; and if it were recorded, it would simply prove, as the Jeroboam movement, a breeding place of apostasy; and yet this record regards not one apostasy only, but two.
The man of many favors may forget God.
When Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him (2Ch 12:1).
What a sad commentary on the uncertainty and unstability of human nature! The explanation of Rehoboams failure has fitted thousands, yea millions of cases. He did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord (2Ch 12:14). Of all disappointments, none exceed thisto begin well and end badly; to give promise and create disappointment; to be the subject of Divine favor, and become the slave of Gods adversary.
THE HISTORY OF JUDAH
Chapters 11 to 36 contain the roster of kings. The fortunes of the country answer accurately and inevitably to the characters of their rulers. On the whole, the history is a down-grade. In that respect, it runs true to form. The doctrine of evolution may find an illustration in national life if it goes from the simple to the complex, but in so far as it contends for improvement, history fails to illustrate it. Degeneracy of nations has more often taken place than has social and moral progress.
The foundations of Judah were laid under David; the kingdoms glory appeared under Solomon. From that moment until this, one word expresses Judahs coursedecline.
Africa was once an advanced nation, now a heathen one; Italy once ruled the world, now she holds an inconspicuous place; Greece once represented the climax of physical and mental accomplishment, now she boasts neither. The reasons for decline are varied, but in Judah they were one the God who had made her great was too often forgotten, too willingly offended. When the nations neglect the source of their strength, weakness naturally ensues. Judahs strength was in the Lord, and when her kings forgot Him, despised His Word, entered into unholy alliances that were followed by the people, her fame declined, and her land fainted.
The mixed social condition manifested her sinfulness. We have a phrase, Like people, like priest. We can paraphrase that, Like princes, like people. The study of these kings results in no compliment to human nature. Some of them were utterly evil; most of them were a mixture of the good and bad; two or three of them were sound. Among the utterly evil ones, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Manasseh, Amon and Jehoiakin held first place. The ones that represent a mixture of good and bad were Jeroboam, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jehoiakim; while the truly good consisted of Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah. In all probability the reign of each of these good kings was profoundly affected and made spiritually fruitful by the ministry of Isaiah, the greatest preacher among Old Testament Prophets. It is perhaps a fact of history that no rulers have ever proven faithful to God without the stimulating and salutary influence of the Gospel ministry.
The judgments and mercies of Second Chronicles alike vindicate Jehovah. In this record wickedness does not go unpunished; and yet it is a marvelous revelation of Divine mercy.
There is never the least sign of penitence on the part of the ruler and the people without an immediate and generous response from Jehovah.
When Jehoshaphat declined in his loyalty and effected a sinful coalition with Ahab, judgment fell; but instantly upon his repentance, mercy was shown. Judgment is always and everywhere Gods strange work, the work in which He takes no pleasure. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze 33:11).
Mercy is His nature, His essential character, for to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Pro 28:13).
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.] A prophetic warning (2Ch. 15:1-7). Asas reforms (2Ch. 15:8-11); renewal of covenant (2Ch. 15:12-19), and deposes Maachah.
2Ch. 15:1-7.Azariah warns Asa. Spirit upon A. (cf. Num. 24:2). Oded, by some Iddo, prophet and historian of two preceding reigns. Names differ very slightly in Heb. Seek him (cf. 1Ch. 28:9; Jer. 29:13), as they had done in battle (2Ch. 15:3-6). A future condition predicted according to some. Israel here is used generally for the whole people of God; and the reference is especially to the many apostasies in the days of the Judges (Jdg. 3:7-12; Jdg. 6:1; Jdg. 8:33; Jdg. 10:6), which were followed by repentance and deliverance [Speak. Com.]. Priest, succession unbroken, but occasions when none taught true religion. 2Ch. 15:5. Peace, free communications interrupted; commotions, great vexations (Amo. 3:9; Deu. 28:20). 2Ch. 15:6. Destroyed, different provinces crushed one another by contentions among themselves. 2Ch. 15:7. Strong, i.e., be firm, continue faithful to Jehovah. Reward will follow, as in conquest of Zerah.
2Ch. 15:8-11.Asas religious reforms. Earlier reforms only partial success. Animated by Azariah, he became more zealous, extirpated abominations in his own kingdom, in cities which his father had taken from Jeroboam, and renewed altar of burnt offering before porch. 2Ch. 15:9. Gathered. Pious Israelites drawn into the territory of Judah by reformed worship, for solemn renewal of national covenant. 2Ch. 15:10. Third month, Sivan, corresponding with June. 2Ch. 15:11. Same time, Heb. in that day; the day on which the festival was celebrated, sixth of third month, the Feast of Weeks. Offered peace-offerings, in communion with Jehovah and with one another (Lev. 7:11-21). Spoil, brought by them as thank-offerings (cf. ch. 2Ch. 14:13).
2Ch. 15:12-19.Renewal of national covenant. Seek the Lord and to execute with vigour laws which make idolatry punishable with death (Exo. 22:20; Deu. 17:2-5; Heb. 10:28). 2Ch. 15:15. Oath taken in solemn and joyful emotion. God was found, because sincerely sought, and gave them rest (2Ch. 15:15). 2Ch. 15:16. Maachah (cf. 1Ki. 15:13) held honoured place of queen-mother, like Sultana Walide of East, withdrawn from rank and her idol destroyed. 2Ch. 15:17. High places, hills on which sacrifices were offered, were not entirely destroyed by people, though intended by the King. 2Ch. 15:18. Things, for ornament and repairs. 2Ch. 15:19. War. As B. died in the 26th year of Asa (1Ki. 16:8), it appears, from 2Ch. 15:10 and from ch. 2Ch. 16:1-9, that the date here ought to be, not the 35th, but the 25th year at Asa. This allows a period of repose after the reform of Asa [Murphy].
HOMILETICS
RECIPROCAL FELLOWSHIP.2Ch. 15:2
The prophet met Asa in returning from victorious pursuit. Signal success a proof of Gods presence; victory the reward of implicit trust in him. Keep close to God and he will bless you; forsake him and you reap the fruits of apostasy. As you deal with him he will deal with you.
I. A distinguished privilege. Gods presence with them. In the ordinances of his house, in special providence, and covenant engagements. God owns them as his people, protects them from enemies, and prospers them in all things. This a glory and happiness beyond description. Not in good things common to them with the world, but the distinguished privilege of Gods people, to possess his favour and enjoy his presence. Happy is that people whose God is the Lord.
II. The conditions on which this privilege is enjoyed. While ye be with Him. Nothing bestowed arbitrarily nor kept without care. The duration and degree of happiness on certain conditions.
1. Reasonable conditions. If we do not seek, nor care for God, is it likely that he will be with us? How can two walk together except they be agreed?
2. Scriptural conditions. A doctrine of Scripture that Gods continual favour depends upon obedience and perseverance, continuance in well-doing. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
3. Wise conditions. To put us on guard and caution against danger. To comfort in sorrow and encourage in effort. Seek and ye shall find. Serve and you shall succeed. Forsake God and present triumphs, present enjoyments are not secure.
DARK SHADOWS ON A BRIGHT DAY.2Ch. 15:1-7
Azariah did not congratulate Asa on splendid victory, nor indulge in flattery to court princely favour. The speech appears unsuitable for the occasion. Whether it unfolds future apostasy or describes past history, it is a prophetic warning, a gloomy picture on a bright day. It proves necessary connection between Gods service and human weal, and dwells on apostasy with its fearful consequences.
I. The awful apostasy. Turning away.
1. Practical atheism. Without the true God. A God of truth (Jer. 10:10), the God of Amen (Isa. 65:16). Idols not true, nonentities. An idol is nothing in the world. Hence true here not only opposed to error and idolatry, but to emptiness, deceit, and Gods character. Everything else a lie, and idolatry the greatest lie. Practically to be without God, to be in darkness, error, and uncertainty.
2. Deprived of priestly function. No instruction and guidance for ministers, or no reverence and regard for their office. Sad when the light of ministry is darkened. Without a teaching priest descriptive of spiritual destitution. For duty of a priest is to keep (store up and distribute) knowledge, and they (people) shall seek the law (Gods will) at his mouth, &c. (Mal. 2:7-8).
3. Prevalence of moral disorder. Without law. Where no direction is, no law can govern. Gods law forgotten, and every one a law to himself. Right neither taught nor practised. Rectitude perverted, and whatever straight made crooked. Natural conscience and Gods command defied, and as in age of Nero nothing unlawful.
II. The terrible judgments which followed apostasy. Consequences of forsaking God set forth in expressive terms.
1. Widespread anarchy. No peace to him that went out (2Ch. 15:5). No free intercourse nor safe abode in any village. The highways were unoccupied, i.e., rested from noise of chariots, and the feet of the travellers walked (for safety) through by-ways (winding, unfrequented ways) (Jdg. 5:6). In times of public panic resort to subterranean hiding-places (ch. 2Ch. 6:2).
2. Civil dissensions. Vexations in various regions of the land. Nation was destroyed of nation, beaten in pieces by oppression and war. Gilead against Ephraim, and Benjamin against other tribes, until almost exterminated (cf. Jdg. 12:4; Jdg. 20:33-48; illus. by Wars of the Roses, the Commonwealth, and American Civil War).
3. General calamity. For God did vex them with all adversity, confounded them with all kinds of oppressions, social and national. Depth of corruption brought severity of chastisement. Idolatry and evil-doing most provoking; judgment most crushing and bitter, retribution like a consuming fire. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened (with smoke, 2Ch. 15:18), and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire (Isa. 9:19).
Take heed: for God holds vengeance in His hand
To hurl upon their heads that break His law [Shakes.].
III. The way of escape from these judgments. The Lord is with you, while ye be with him, &c.
1. This a fact in Divine procedure. Proved in days of Judges, division of the two kingdoms, recent victory, and in all periods of national history. Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath forsaken you.
2. This a warning for the future. Victory over Zerah should teach something. Gods blessing upon all who steadfastly adhere to him, but abandon him and he will abandon you. Hence be quickened in your work (2Ch. 15:7). Resolve with energy to carry it on amid opposition. The most blessed results to yourself and others will follow. If thou seek him he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever.
ASAS CONTINUED REFORMS.2Ch. 15:8-19
The warning had influence. Asa obeyed, took courage, and entered upon measures judicious, decisive, and extensive.
I. The character of the reforms upon which he entered. Destructive of evil and establishment of good.
1. He sought to extirpate idolatry. Put way the abominable idols. (a) Idolatry most prevalent. In his own territory, the land of Judah and Benjamin; in cities taken by his father (2Ch. 15:8). (b) Idolatry most abominable. Idol of kings mother horrible, of some monstrous kind; so obscene that it was publicly burned under the walls of Jerusalem (2Ch. 15:16). We should purify our hearts and land; destroy gods material, literary and moral, worshipped in our days.
2. He engaged in needful repairs. Renewed the altar, &c. (2Ch. 15:8). Reconstructed a temporary altar like that of Solomon (2Ch. 7:7), for extraordinary sacrifices on special occasions; or renewed, embellished the one desecrated in reigns of Rehoboam and Abijah. All reforms began here. Prophets and reformers of O.T. especially concerned for the altar and restoration of Divine worship. Decayed altars signify neglected sacrifices, perverted religion, and practical apostasy. In revivals, offerings, and thanksgiving restored.
3. He pledged the nation to solemn covenant. They entered into a covenant. Humble for sin, they renewed their obligations; joined together in pledges to keep the law and punish disobedience, (a) To seek the Lord. Seek the laws, favour, and help of their fathers God, whom they had forsaken. Seek with heart and soul, with diligence and energy. Naturally without God, he must seek in faith, penitence, and under guidance of Holy Spirit, (b) To punish idolators. Punishment severe, put to death; impartial, small or great, man or woman; universal, whosoever, &c. Must not go too far in penalty and severity. Christianity advances by charity, not by persecution. We do not find this engagement expressly made in other renewals of the covenant. It would, however, be implied in them, since it was one of the commandments (see Exo. 22:20; Deu. 13:9-15; Deu. 17:2-7) [Speak. Com.].
II. The spirit in which he carried out these reforms.
1. A spirit of vigour. No trifling with the occasion. His foundation broad, and the policy built upon it gracious, energetic, and complete.
2. A spirit of impartiality. Gods of high places and gods of groves; images from the city and of the palace. He would not allow even his mother to keep an idol. Many are great reformers in national, not in private matters. Earnest before the public, too lenient at home. Asa knew nothing about father or mother, partiality or concession. The royal grove cut down, the favourite god stamped upon, consumed in the flame, and its ashes thrown into the brook.
3. A spirit of gratitude. He presented votive offerings in the temple. The things that his father had dedicated, spoils from Abijams victory over Jeroboam; spoils of his own from Zerah, the Ethiopian, were presented as thank-offerings to him by whose power they had been gained, and to whom all silver and gold belong. Things dedicated to holy use should not be desecrated nor withheld. Our vows should be performed and our first-fruits offered to God. Gratitude helped by the vow of it. Vow and pay to the Lord your God; let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.
THE SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT.2Ch. 15:10-15
Entered into the covenant. It is evident that a covenant existed before this; they renew it with gladness and enthusiasm. Solemn renewals of original covenant made in the wilderness (Exo. 24:3-8) occur from time to time in Jewish history after intervals of apostasy. This renewal in reign of Asa is the first on record. The next falls 300 years later, in reign of Josiah (2Ki. 23:3). There is a third in the time of Jeremiah (Neh. 10:28-29). On such occasions the people bound themselves by solemn oath to observe all directions of the law, and call down Gods curse upon them if they forsook it [Speak. Com.].
I. The assembly by which it was ratified. Representatives from Judah and Benjamin, strangers from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon. The kings own subjects and those who had transferred allegiance to him from Israel. Outsiders invited, welcomed, and encouraged to acquaint themselves with God and walk in his commands.
II. The solemnities by which it was accompanied. Besides rededications of themselves and stern but wholesome league against idolatry
1. Innumerable sacrifices. They offered unto the Lord seven hundred oxen and seven hundred sheep.
2. Exultant joy. With shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets. People testified unbounded satisfaction with loud voice and instruments. The revival of religion, the manifestation of Gods presence, a source of pure and permanent joy. When his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
2Ch. 15:1-2. Inspiration and duty.
1. An inspired man is qualified to give a message. Suitable, intelligent, and timely.
2. An inspired man will give his message fearlessly and successfully.
3. Inspired men, men taught of God, not time-servers, required now.
2Ch. 15:2. If ye seek him.
1. A fact in national history;
2. A truth in Christian experience;
3. A correction in general tendencies. Neither to presume nor to despair.
2Ch. 15:3. A picture of utter destitution in spiritual life. Without the true God. Then Israel had false gods! Yes, innumerable gods even Israel acquired, notwithstanding the commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. It is not a commandment that can keep a man at home. No bill of stipulations can convert your children and make them filial. We may have a time-bill for the action of the whole day, but the world was never yet saved by commandments. Israel trampled ten of them under foot, and we have trampled ten thousand. We can do despite unto the spirit of grace; we can insult God. Without a teaching priest,not an ornament, nor a ceremonialist, but a teaching priest. A man whose business it was to expound the law and make the people understand it. So they preached in olden time; they took the law syllable by syllable, explained it word by word, and sentence by sentence; they analysed it, took it member from member. They put it together again and hurled it upon the people like a thunderbolt from heaven. They had naught else to expound, because they thought nothing else worthy of exposition. We are lost in details. Any man may get up a lecture, if he has great quoting power. It is almost impossible not to get up a lecture; the temptations are innumerable, and in many cases irresistible. Only one speech is worth listening to, that is the speech which begins in eternity, sweeps down through time, leaves behind it immortal lessons, and ascends to the fountain of origin. Demand the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. Be in earnest. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, &c. [Dr. Parker].
2Ch. 15:8-10. The influence of a great example. When Asa entered earnestly upon reformI. He drew others to his side. The halting decide, the half-hearted kindle, before a zealous man. They fell to him out of Israel in abundance. Armies often perish, churches decay for want of leaders. II. He succeeded in his efforts. Success not given to hesitancy and idleness. Asa positive, determined, rallied others round him and accomplished great things. III. He gained freedom from attachment. And the Lord gave them rest round about. A bold, defiant attitude frightens the foe. Numbers and Gods help will overcome them and ensure peace.
Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.
2Ch. 15:15. Heart service.
1. God will not accept a divided heart. This useless. The whole or none. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
2. God requires the whole heart. With all their heart.
3. This requirement eminently reasonable and fit.
4. The heart must be willingly given. Devotion only true when free. When King William (Rufus) tried to force Anselm to a certain course, he replied, Treat me as a free man, and I devote myself and all I have to your service. Treat me as a slave, and you shall have neither me nor mine. The servant (bondslave) of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:1).
5. When thus sought and served he will be found. Search me, O God, and prove me.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 15
2Ch. 15:1-7. Gods presence. Walking together is a very common action of human fellowship; much interchange of thought and opinion takes place in the long daily walks of two friends, but this implies a certain evenness and similarity of gait; for how can two walk together except they be agreed? In common parlance this is spoken of as keeping step; and that this very thing is required of us, we see in a very striking and reiterated warning in Lev. 26:12; Lev. 26:21-28, where God promises to walk among His people, ready, as it were, for this steady, even step. But if ye walk contrary unto me, or as in margin, If ye walk at all adventures with me; or by another reading, If ye walk at haphazard with me, in a jerking, spasmodic, contrary fashion, such as, alas! we know too well, then will I also walk contrary unto you [Mrs. Gordon].
My business now is with my God to walk,
And guided by His holy eye to go;
Sweet fellowship with Him to cultivate,
And His unclouded countenance to know
[J. F. Elwin].
2Ch. 15:12. Covenant. Charles Kingsley wrote, on entering his 22nd year: My birth-night. I have been for the last hour on the seashore; not dreaming, but thinking deeply and strongly, and forming determinations which are to affect my destiny through time and eternity. Before the sleeping earth, and the sleepless sea and stars, I have devoted myself to Goda vow never (if He gives me the faith I pray for) to be recalled.
2Ch. 15:15. The Lord gave rest. In 1815, when the British Parliament were voting honours and emoluments to Wellington, and considering the measures necessary towards forming a peace establishment, suddenly all their plans were interrupted and their peace prospects dissipated by the intelligence that Napoleon had escaped from Elba. Nothing like this will occur during the rest which God gives. His enemies once subdued will be subdued for ever.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
4. THE REIGN OF ASA (1416)
TEXT
2Ch. 14:1. So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years. 2. And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Jehovah his God: 3. for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and brake down the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, 4. and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. 5. Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images: and the kingdom was quiet before him. 6. And he built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because Jehovah had given him rest. 7, For he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars; the land is yet before us, because we have sought Jehovah our God; we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side, So they built and prospered. 8. And Asa had an army that bare bucklers and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valor.
9. And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and he came unto Mareshah. 10. Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11. And Asa cried unto Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, there is none besides thee to help, between the mighty and him that hath no strength: help us, O Jehovah our God; for we rely on thee, and in thy name are we come against this multitude. O Jehovah, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. 12. So Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. 13. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before Jehovah, and before his host; and they carried away very much booty. 14. And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of Jehovah came upon them: and they despoiled all the cities; for there was much spoil in them. 15. They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.
2Ch. 15:1. And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: 2. and he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah is with you, while ye are with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. 3. Now for a long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law: 4. but when in their distress they turned unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. 5. And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in; but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. 6. And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God did vex them with all adversity. 7. But be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack; for your work shall be rewarded.
And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Jehovah, that was before the porch of Jehovah. 9. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and them that sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw Jehovah his God was with him. 10. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11. And they sacrificed unto Jehovah in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. 12. And they entered into the covenant to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; 13. and that whosoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. 14. And they sware unto Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting and with trumpets, and with cornets. 15. And 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 Jehovah gave them rest round about.
16. And also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah and Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. 17. But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. 18. And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19. And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.
2Ch. 16:1. In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 2. Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of Jehovah and of the kings house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, 3. There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. 4. And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. 5. And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building Ramah, and let his work cease. 6. Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.
7. And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on Jehovah thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand. 8. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceeding many? yet, because thou didst rely on Jehovah, he delivered them into thy hand. 9. For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars. 10. Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in the prison-house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.
11. And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 12. And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to Jehovah, but to the physicians. 13. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign. 14. And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers art: and they made a very great burning for him.
PARAPHRASE
2Ch. 14:1. King Abijah was buried in Jerusalem. Then his son Asa became the new king of Judah, and there was peace in the land for the first ten years of his reign, 2. for Asa was careful to obey the Lord his God. 3. He demolished the heathen altars on the hills, and broke down the obelisks, and chopped down the shameful Asherim-idols, 4. and demanded that the entire nation obey the commandments of the Lord God of their ancestors. 5. Also, he removed the sun-images from the hills, and the incense altars from every one of Judahs cities. That is why God gave his kingdom peace. 6. This made it possible for him to build walled cities throughout Judah. 7. Now is the time to do it, while the Lord is blessing us with peace because of our obedience to him, he told his people. Let us build and fortify cities now, with walls, towers, gates, and bars, So they went ahead with these projects very successfully. 8. King Asas Judean army was 300,000 strong, equipped with light shields and spears. His army of Benjaminites numbered 280,000, armed with large shields and bows. Both armies were composed of well-trained, brave men.
9, 10. But now he was attacked by an army of 1,000,000 troops from Ethiopia with 300 chariots, under the leadership of General Zerah. They advanced to the city of Mareshah, in the valley of Zephathah, and king Asa sent his troops to meet them there. 11. O Lord, he cried out to God, no one else can help us! Here we are, powerless against this mighty army. Oh, help us, Lord our God! For we trust in you alone to rescue us, and in your name we attack this vast horde. Dont let mere men defeat you! 12. Then the Lord defeated the Ethiopians, and Asa and the army of Judah triumphed as the Ethiopians fled. 13. They chased them as far as Gerar, and the entire Ethiopian army was wiped out so that not one man remained; for the Lord and his army destroyed them all. Then the army of Judah carried off vast quantities of plunder. 14. While they were at Gerar they attacked all the cities in that area, and terror from the Lord came upon the residents. As a result additional vast quantities of plunder were collected from these cities too. 15. They not only plundered the cities, but destroyed the cattle tents and captured great herds of sheep and camels before finally returning to Jerusalem.
2Ch. 15:1. Then the spirit of God came upon Azariah (son of Oded), 2. and he went out to meet King Asa as he was returning from the battle. Listen to me, Asa! Listen, armies of Judah and Benjamin! he shouted. The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you look for him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3. For a long time now, over in Israel, the people havent worshiped the true God, and have not had a true priest to teach them. They have lived without Gods laws. 4. But whenever they have turned again to the Lord God of Israel in their distress, and searched for him, he has helped them. 5. In their times of rebellion against God there was no peace. Problems troubled the nation on every hand. Crime was on the increase everywhere. 6. There were external wars, and internal fighting of city against city, for God was plaguing them with all sorts of trouble. 7. But you men of Judah, keep up the good work and dont get discouraged, for you will be rewarded.
8. When King Asa heard this message from God, he took courage and destroyed all the idols in the land of Judah and Benjamin, and in the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim, and he rebuilt the altar of the Lord in front of the Temple. 9. Then he summoned all the people of Judah and Benjamin, and the immigrants from Israel (for many had come from the territories of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, in Israel, when they saw that the Lord God was with King Asa). 10. They all came to Jerusalem in June of the fifteenth year of King Asas reign, 11. and sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheepit was part of the plunder they had captured in the battle. 12. Then they entered into a contract to worship only the Lord God of their fathers, 13. and agreed that anyone who refused to do this must diewhether old or young, man or woman. 14. They shouted out their oath of loyalty to God with trumpets blaring and horns sounding. 15. All were happy for this covenant with God, for they had entered into it with all their hearts and wills, and wanted him above everything else, and they found him! and he gave them peace throughout the nation.
16. King Asa even removed his mother Maacah from being the queen mother because she made an Asherah-idol; he cut down the idol and crushed and burned it at Kidron Brook. 17. Over in Israel the idol-temples were not removed. But here in Judah and Benjamin the heart of King Asa was perfect before God throughout his lifetime. 18. He brought back into the Temple the silver and gold bowls which he and his father had dedicated to the Lord. 19. So there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of King Asas reign.
2Ch. 16:1. In the thirty-sixth year of King Asas reign. King Baasha of Israel declared war on him and built the fortress of Ramah in order to control the road to Judah. 2. Asas response was to take the silver and gold from the Temple and from the palace, and to send it to King Ben-hadad of Syria, at Damascus, with this message: 3. Let us renew the mutual security pact that there was between your father and my father. See, here is silver and gold to induce you to break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he will leave me alone. 4. Ben-hadad agreed to King Asas request and mobilized his armies to attack Israel. They destroyed the cities of Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim and all of the supply centers in Naphtali. 5. As soon as King Baasha of Israel heard what was happening, he discontinued building Ramah and gave up his plan to attack Judah. 6. Then King Asa and the people of Judah went out to Ramah and carried away the building stones and timbers and used them to build Geba and Mizpah instead.
7. About that time the prophet Hanani came to King Asa and told him, Because you have put your trust in the king of Syria instead of in the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped from you. 8. Dont you remember what happened to the Ethiopians and Libyans and their vast army, with all of their chariots and cavalrymen? But you relied then on the Lord, and he delivered them all into your hand. 9. For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them. What a fool you have been; From now on you shall have wars. 10. Asa was so angry with the prophet for saying this that he threw him into jail. And Asa oppressed all the people at that time.
11. The rest of the biography of Asa is written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel and Judah. 12. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became seriously diseased in his feet but he didnt go to the Lord with the problem, but to the doctors. 13, 14. So he died in the forty-first year of his reign, and was buried in his own vault that he had hewn out for himself in Jerusalem. He was laid on a bed perfumed with sweet spices and ointments, and his people made a very great burning of incense for him at his funeral.
COMMENTARY
Asa, the son Abijah, succeeded his father on the throne in Judah. The military activity of Abijah in the civil strife with Jeroboam and the northern kingdom brought a brief period (ten years) of comparative peace to Judah. Certain alliances between the southern kingdom and Syria had been established (1Ki. 15:19). It is possible that Asa became king when he was quite young. He reigned for forty one years. 2Ch. 14:1-8 describe the first ten years of Asas reign. He launched a religious reformation. Jehovahs will was the primary consideration. Strange gods had been carried into Judah along with all of the related idolatrous ritual. There was but one genuine altar for religious sacrifices. It was located in the Temple. The foreign altars, by Asas command, were to be destroyed. The high places were sometimes established on a natural elevation. On occasion devotees of a god would expend much labor to prepare a place suitable for the worship of the idol. The term pillar may mean an obelisk, a four sided post tapering as it rises and terminating in a pyramid. A pillar may simply refer to an image designed for worship. The Asherim were fashioned like poles or posts and sometimes were set up as groves of trees. The word is the plural for Asherah which was the female counterpart for Baal. Any reference to the Asherim immediately involved the Baalistic fertility cult. The sun images were made in the form of a pyramid and were often located in very prominent positions in the temples of Baal. They probably combined expressions of worship both of Baal and of the sun. In the days of Ahaz, king of Judah, shrines dedicated to sun worship were built in Jerusalem. These were equipped with priests, priestesses, horses and chariots (2Ki. 21:3-6). Asa indicated his intentions to be a worthy successor of David by clearing out all of the idolatrous establishments. When the land was well saturated with the furniture of paganism and when the people had so widely adopted heathen worship, a complete reformation was impossible, Asa commanded Judah to seek Jehovah. He was urgent about the matter. Jehovah rewarded Asas good faith. The land was quiet; Jehovah had given him rest. The king busied himself with fortifying the villages in Judah. He encouraged his people as he said, the land is yet before us. The tribe of Judah provided an army of three hundred thousand men trained to carry spears and shields. The tribe of Benjamin equipped two hundred eighty thousand archers. The raising of this large army indicated that the peaceful days would soon be past.
Asa was soon called upon to do battle with the Ethiopians.[58] This attack probably came about 900 B.C. Zerah was a Cushite who had a great army of about one million foot soldiers supported by three hundred chariots. He brought this army into the country of Judah to Mareshah which lay about twelve miles northwest of Hebron. This is the same Mareshah of which Micah spoke (Mic. 1:15). Asas military forces were ill-equipped to engage this great host out of Ethiopia. Asa demonstrated his true metal when he cried unto Jehovah his God. The king admitted Judahs helplessness apart from Jehovah. He confidently believed that Judahs God could scatter the enemy and he appealed for Jehovah to prove once more that no enemy of Jehovah could prevail as he contested Jehovahs righteous reign. The historian sets the record in proper perspective when he writes, so Jehovah smote the Ethiopians.
[58] Cook, F. C., The Bible Commentary, I Samuel-Esther, p. 390
Gerar lay some twenty miles south west of Mareshah. With the Ethiopians in full retreat, Asas army took full advantage of the situation. The enemy was broken before Jehovah. Asas army was able to recapture much that the enemy had taken and the people of the southern kingdom returned loaded with the spoils of battle. The villages around Gerar were on the south west border of the Judah country. Asa took advantage of this military exercise as he spoiled these border villages and took with him cattle, sheep, and camels, The victory march back to Jerusalem must have been one of the truly happy occasions of Asas reign.
LESSON EIGHTEEN 15-17
ASA, THE REFORMER; HANANI, MAN OF GOD.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JEHOSHAPHAT
4. THE REIGN OF ASA-Continued (1416)
INTRODUCTION
King Asa worked a religious reformation among his people. Asas alliance with Syria brought the prophets rebuke. Jehoshaphat provided good leadership for Judah.
TEXT
(Scripture text in Lesson Seventeen)
PARAPHRASE
(Scripture text in Lesson Seventeen)
COMMENTARY
Azariah, son of Oded, appears on the scene to bring the word of Jehovah to Asa. There are twenty eight different persons in the Old Testament named Azariah. The name Azariah means Jehovah is keeper. The prophet addressed his words specifically to Judah and Benjamin. The northern kingdom is called Israel in 2Ch. 14:3. Asas only hope was to trust Jehovah. He must go with God. He must seek the Lord. The alternative carried with it some terrible consequences. If Jehovahs people are unfaithful, He will forsake them. Those Hebrews who had been a part of the northern kingdom had suffered anguish that could not be described. God had abandoned them. There was no priest to plead their cause. They did not even have the advantage of hearing the reading of the Law. There were some Israelites who in their extremity had turned to God in deep repentance. Azariah reminded Asa that Jehovah had heard their cry. The majority of the people in the northern kingdom had been carried into captivity and there they lost their identity. Azariah told Asa that these awful sorrows could be avoided if king and people would seek Jehovah. He charged the king to be courageous and promised that Asas good work would be rewarded.
Azariahs ministry moved Asa to destroy all of the idols he could find in his kingdom. 2Ch. 14:8 speaks of the prophecy of Oded. Oded is mentioned here only because he was Azariahs father. The king repaired the altar of burnt offering and set it where it was supposed to be in the court of priests just in front of the Temple. The good work that Asa accomplished was advertised throughout the kingdom. From scattered places in the land of Palestine the people came to Jerusalem. Seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep were offered to Jehovah on the altar. The third month corresponds nearly with our month of May.
Jehovahs word through Azariah produced good results. As the king provided good leadership, the people were encouraged to do Gods will. Once again the covenant (as in Gen. 12:1-3) was renewed. This commitment to the Lord was complete as Moses had demanded in his day (Deu. 6:4-5). Asa was so certain that his reformation was what the Lord desired that he dared to pronounce the death penalty on anyone who would not cooperate. An idolatrous city, a false prophet, or a person who worshipped idols were to be destroyed or put to death according to the Law (Deuteronomy 13). In this matter there was to be no respect of persons. 2Ch. 14:14 and 2Ch. 14:15 describe what happens when Gods Spirit moves His people. Azariah had come clothed in the Spirit. He shared the Spirit with Asa. The king by his strong leadership and his fear of Jehovah shared the Spirit with all of the people. They pledged themselves to the Lord. They praised Him with song and musical instruments. Peace reigned in their hearts and in their land.
If a king deprived a queen mother of her authority in the kingdom, he had to have a very good reason for his action. From Bathshebas time the queen mother had exercised considerable power in Jerusalem. Maacah, queen mother had set up an Asherah (a pole or an obelisk) which she used in her worship of Baal. Asa dared to ruin her place of worship and to remove her from the government of Judah. Making dust out of an image reminds us of the golden calf at Sinai. The Kidron valley had already been desecrated by heathen worship, so it was a proper place to burn this idol. Asa did what he could to work a complete reformation. He was not able to remove all idolatry because so much of it remained in the hearts of the people. He did what he could to re-establish the Temple and make it the true center of worship for Jehovahs people. He could not live long enough nor could he exercise sufficient authority to completely cleanse the people and the land. His heart was perfect all his days. This does not mean that he made no mistakes or that he did not sin. He conscientiously tried to do Gods will.
Baasha was used by Jehovah to bring the dynasty of Jeroboam to an end. Nadab, Jeroboams son, had sinned like his father. One day Nadab was in the village of Gibbethon about twenty miles north west of Jerusalem. Baasha killed Nadab and began to reign as Israels king (1Ki. 15:25-28). Late in the reign of Asa, Baasha fortified the southern boundary of his kingdom at Ramah (about eight miles north of Jerusalem). Baasha did not want his people to have any contact with the southern kingdom. Asa was alarmed at Baashas military action and he made a counter move in buying protection from Benhadad and the Syrians. Such alliances were contrary to Jehovahs purpose; however, Asas move was very effective in causing Baasha to discontinue his fortifying the southern border of Israel. Once more the Temple was robbed of its treasures in order to pay the Syrians. Ben-hadad was in an agreement with Baasha. He did not hesitate to break this pact. The Syrians attacked the northern border of Baashas kingdom at Ijon, Dan, and Abel-maim. These places were located in Naphtali not far from Mount Hermon. When Baasha learned about these border attacks, he withdrew from Ramah. Asa took advantage of the situation and used stones and timbers out of Ramah to fortify Geba and Mizpah on the north border of the southern kingdom. Geba was about ten miles north of Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin. Mizpah was about three miles north west of Geba.
Hanani appeared at this time to rebuke Asa for trusting in Syria rather than in Jehovah. A seer was one who by Jehovahs endowment had more knowledge and understanding than ordinary persons. Samuel was called a seer when Saul was hunting his fathers lost asses (1Sa. 9:9). Hanani implied that the Syrians should have been defeated in battle instead of being paid money as allies. Asa was reminded of the great victory over the Ethiopians (2Ch. 14:9) which Jehovah granted because Asa and Judah trusted God. The prophet declared that nothing happens among men which is hidden from Jehovahs eyes. Wherever He finds one whose heart is perfect, He provides whatever may be needed. The man with the perfect heart relies on the Lord and thinks His thoughts after Him. Asa was charged with foolishness and was informed that he would be involved in war for the remainder of his reign. Like other prophets who had spoken unpopular messages, Hanani was mistreated by Asa. He was thrown into a house of stocks, a place of torture. Asa was so upset by the words of the seer that he turned his wrath upon some of the citizens of his kingdom. In these matters Asa showed himself to be unworthy of the high office which he filled.
Historians were a part of Asas cabinet and they kept careful records of his reign. So Asas life was recorded in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. The kings last years were most difficult. He was involved in war and all of the attendant political problems. He also suffered from diseased feet. He could have been afflicted with gout.[59] In these extreme circumstances he failed to call on God. He forgot his manner of life when he was a great reformer. Asa turned only to physicians for healing and forgot to turn to Jehovah in prayer. He began his reign very well. He concluded his life in misery and shame. After a reign of forty one years he died. He was granted all of the honors of a kingly burial and his remains were placed in a grave which he had prepared for himself. The great burning had to do with spices and incense burned at the time of the kings death.
[59] Clarke, Adam, A Commentary and Critical Notes, Vol. II, p. 663
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XV.
ASAS REFORMATION OF RELIGION.
(a) ADDRESS OF THE PROPHET AZARIAH BEN ODED (2Ch. 15:1-7).
This section also is peculiar to the Chronicle.
(1) And the Spirit of God.Literally, And Azariah son of Oded, there fell upon him spirit of God (i.e., a holy inspiration). The prophet is unknown, except from this chapter. The name Oded comprises the same radical letters as Iddo (2Ch. 9:29; 2Ch. 12:15); but whether the same prophet or another be meant, is beyond decision.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. Azariah the son of Oded is mentioned only here. He was probably a member of one of the prophetic schools, and was full of enthusiasm and zeal for Jehovah. He appears, like others of his order, to counsel and admonish kings and princes by the word of the Lord.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Idolatry Eradicated.
v. l And the Spirit of God, who is also the Spirit of prophecy, came upon Azariah, the son of Oded, otherwise unknown;
v. 2. and he went out to meet Asa, v. 3. Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God and without a teaching priest and without Law. v. 4. But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel and sought Him, He was found of them. v. 5. And in those times there was, v. 6. And nation was destroyed of nation, v. 7. Be ye strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak, v. 8. And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded, the prophet, v. 9. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
This chapter is something like an oasis in our history, and was perhaps such in the real life of Asa also. Presumably it covers a period of some twenty years. Reading between the lines, and indeed chapters, we may very well suppose that the mission of “Azariah son of Oded” to Asa now was one of all mercy. Great salvation had been shown to him and his people, and as time went on they might forget the Saviour, and imagine the work was all their own. Moreover, their own proper work had tarried, and beside caution and humility (in season for him as a returning conqueror-king, verse 2), Asa needed stimulus; perhaps the Lord’s loving-kindness knew that he needed every kindly encouragement. For there are not wanting signs that he was before his people, and felt the drag of them upon him as Moses himself did. These are the features of the physical geography, so to say, of the chapter, which comprises the rousing warning of Azariah the prophet (verses 1-7); Asa’s renewal of the altar in its own structure, and in worthy sacrifices upon it (verses 8-11); his and his people’s hearty reconsecration of themselves (verses 12-15); and his own personal, practical carrying out of reform, though his people apparently did not keep pace with him (verses 16-19).
2Ch 15:1
The Spirit of God came. For “came,” read the literal Hebrew “was,” as also in our 2Ch 20:14, where instead of “God” (), we find “the Lord“ (). In our 2Ch 24:20, we have again “God,” with the verb “clothed” (). The grand original of the expression is, of course, found in Gen 1:2, where the name is “God.” Compare Pharaoh’s question in Gen 41:38; Exo 31:3; Exo 35:31; Num 24:2; Jdg 3:1; Jdg 6:34 (the verb “clothed” is used in this last); five other times in Judges we have the Spirit of the Lord; in Samuel six times, and “the Spirit of God” another six times; in Kings, three times “the Spirit of the Lord.” These passages exhibit incontestably the function, and the manifold function, of the Spirit! Azariah the son of Oded. The Vulgate and Alexandrian Septuagint read here simply Oded; and Movers has suggested that “Oded the son of Azariah” is the correct reading for what now stands in the text; these are contrivances to meet the difficulty which the eighth verse occasions, and they are not so simple certainly as the proposal of Keil and Bertheau (following the Arabic Version) to omit altogether from verse 8 the repetition of the name of the prophet, under the plea that the words, “of Oded the prophet,” may so conceivably be owing to a copyist’s meddlesome marginal reminiscence of verse 1. It would have been, perhaps, a yet simpler method of overcoming the difficulty to account that the words, “Azariah the son of,” had through a copy error slipped out of the text, except that the previous word, “the prophecy,” is not in the construct state, and this favours Keil and Bertheau’s suggestion (see our 2Ch 9:29), or rather the suggestion of the Arabic Version, which before them omits the words, “of Oded the prophet.” The Vatican Septuagint has the readings in beth verses as Englished in the Authorized Version. Some think Oded may be one with Iddo of 2Ch 9:29; 2Ch 12:15; 2Ch 13:22; pointing out that the Hebrew characters would permit it, if we suppose a vav added to the name Oded. This conjectural attempt to give this Prophet Azariah for son to Iddo seems to gain no great point. Of this Azariah nothing else is known; he is described as “son of Oded” probably to distinguish him from Azariah the high priest, son of Johanan (see Dr. Smith’s ‘Bible Dictionary,’ 1.142, second column, 3). (For the rest on this subject, see note on verse 8.)
2Ch 15:2
He went out to meet him; literally, into his presence; but the Authorized Version rendering is very correct, as well as happy in expression (see 1Ch 14:8; also see the remarkable and interesting verse, 2Ch 28:9). The prophet was the leader, the teacher, the suggester of the right and opportune thing to the people, but to the prophet the Lord himself was Leader, Teacher, Prompter, and it was exactly so now. To the very moment, the quickened moment of new thought and for new deed, divinest instruction and suggestion are ministered. The Lord is with you will forsake you. The original occasion of the beautiful language and word of covenant in the heart of this second part of the verse is enshrined in Deu 4:29 (see also 1Ch 28:9; 2Ch 24:20; Jer 29:11-14). It is just conceivable that these words by themselves are what are designated “the prophecy” (and “the prophecy”) in Deu 4:8. They may be in the first place regarded as ancient quotations. They are also characterized by a certain self-containedness and weightiness of matter as compared with the historic illustrations of the following four verses. No corroborative external evidence of this conjecture, however, is forthcoming.
2Ch 15:3
Now for a long season. This translation is wrong; translate rather first, And many the days to Israel to not have true God, and to not have teaching priest, and to not have Law. So far no tense is limited, however naturally through the very drift of the passage it may seem that experience is being challenged, and so necessarily the past tense desiderated, not, however, in aorist shape, but in what some French grammarians call present perfect. For Azariah may well contemplate his illustration as good from long of old, to the very moment he was speaking. The unfortunate wealth of illustration to hand of his position may pardon the doubtfulness of commentators as to the source from which it may be supposed he would have drawn his most effective instances. It will not be the unlikeliest guide to follow the triple description of the alleged apostasy, misfortune, or iniquity “of Israel,” e.g. (say) it happened to them to not have the true God; happened to them to not have teaching priest; happened to them to not have the Law (this meaning, to not have it authoritatively proclaimed, taught, ministered). When did these three things happen altogether most notoriously? They describe, not the transgressions of an individual king, but the state of the people and kingdom as a whole. If it were possible to conceive the description as a flagrant anachronism, a retrospective post-Captivity amplification, which the writer (in his glow of work and thought) was unconsciously and irresistibly betrayed into putting into the lips of the Prophet Azariah, all doubt would end; for the description would suit no state of things and no period better than that of the divided kingdoms, especially applying to the career of the separate kingdom of Israel. Our account, unfortunately, is unchecked just here by a parallel. It is, however, impossible to suppose this without any tittle of external authority for it, much less enough to proceed upon. Some so crave the illustration that they are prepared to suppose all the tenses of these verses present and future rather than past and “present perfect.” But, in fact, no doubt the history of Israel since the death of Moses illustrated the language of Azariah passim to a degree beyond all “that is written” or that we know. And then we may certainly consider theft the expression chosen, “many days” (which some translate “many a day,” “many a time “), even the word “years” not being employed, leaves it open to us to go to short episodes of an irreligious and disastrous character in the history of Israel. Lastly, the long stretch of fully three hundred years, extending throughout the Book of Judges (its last five chapters in right order or wrong)into the opening seven chapters of 1 Samuel, provides one running comment, superabundant almost to repetitiousness, for the illustration of our verses 3-7; in many cases absolutely picking out the very colours to match (e.g. Jdg 5:6; Jdg 20:29, Jdg 20:31, compared with our Jdg 20:5). To distinguish and separate the very numerous references that might be made is merely supererogatory, and spoils the unmatched mosaic work of the history (Jdg 2:15, Jdg 2:18, Jdg 2:19; Jdg 3:12-15; Jdg 4:1-3; Jdg 5:6, Jdg 5:19-21, Jdg 5:31 : Jdg 6:1-5, Jdg 6:7-10; Jdg 9:32-37; Jdg 10:6-16; Jdg 11:19, Jdg 11:20; Jdg 12:5, Jdg 12:6; Jdg 17:5, Jdg 17:6, Jdg 17:13; Jdg 20:29, Jdg 20:31; 1Sa 2:30 -35; 1Sa 4:9-22; 1Sa 7:3, 1Sa 7:8; 1Sa 13:19-22). It is a long-stretched-out history of a practically atheistic, priest-less, lawless life; divided into narratives of invasion, oppression, servitude, smart, cry for help manifestly more the cry of pain and cowardice than of penitence and repentance, resolution and vow, andfor another trial and still anotherof Divine pity, forbearance, and deliverance
2Ch 15:6
Among other patent instances, not the least remarkable are found in Jdg 20:35-45; Jdg 9:44-47; these forecast and heralded that final rupture of Rehoboam and Jeroboam, which showed the “house divided against itself,” and the sure consequences thereof.
2Ch 15:7
Work rewarded (so Jer 31:16; Ecc 4:9; Pro 11:18; and compare with them the crown of all the rest, Gen 15:1).
2Ch 15:8
These words and the prophecy. In addition to what is said under 2Ch 15:1 on the question of the occurrence here of the name Oded, where we should have looked for the name Azariah, it may be noted that it is open to possibility that “these words” certainly referring to the language of Azariah, the “prophecy” may have in view some quotation more or less well known from Oded, satisfied by the latter part of verse 2 or By verse 7. This is not very likely; still, the conjunction “and” would thereby better account for itself. Nevertheless, it would still remain that the word “prophecy” is not in construct but absolute state, and we cannot count the difficulty removed, comparatively unimportant as it may be. He took courage, and put away, etc. These words may express either Asa’s accomplishing of the reforms spoken of in the former chapter (verses 3-5), or quite as probably his perseverance and renewed diligence and vigour in the same; the language, “he took courage,” favours this latter view. The cities which he had taken from, etc. Some say that the reference here and in 2Ch 17:2 also must be understood to be to Abijah‘s victory and spoils (2Ch 13:19), and that these two places must accordingly be in slight error. If this passage had stood alone, this view might have been more easy to accept, but the words in 2Ch 17:2 explicitly state that Asa had taken such cities, and the mere fact that the history does not record when, nor even show any very convenient gap into which Asa’s taking of such cities after conflict with Israel might well fit in, can scarcely be allowed to override the direct assertion of 2Ch 17:2. At the same time, the work that would devolve on Asa in holding the cities his father Abijah had first taken, may easily account for all, and have been accounted Asa’s taking, in the sense of taking to them, or retaking them. Renewed the altar. The altar, the place of which was before the porch, was the altar of burnt offering. The Hebrew for “renewed” is . The Vulgate translates insufficiently dedicavit. Bertheau thinks the renewal designs simply the purification of it from idolatrous defilements, although he admits that this is to assume that it had been defiled by idolatrous priests. Keil says the altar might well need genuine repair after the lapse of sixty years from the building of the temple. Of the nine occurrences of the word. five are metaphorical(as e.g. Psa 51:10), but of the remaining four distinctly literal uses, including the present, three must mean just strictly “repair” (2Ch 24:4, 2Ch 24:12; Isa 61:4), and the probability may therefore be that such is the meaning now. Many, however, prefer the other view. The work of Ass, as described in 2Ch 14:3-5, was one of taking away, breaking down, and cutting down; but this item shows it now, in his fifteenth year, become also one of renewing. and repairing. The porch of (so 2Ch 29:17; 1Ki 7:6, 1Ki 7:7, 1Ki 7:12; Eze 40:7); , though in construct state, the kametz impure.
2Ch 15:9
He gathered. As the following verses go on to show, Ass wisely gathered all beneath his sway, with a view to sacrifice and to record anew hallowed resolve as a nation. The strangers. It is a significant comment on the estranging effect of religious schism (for the schism was religious even beyond what it was national) that so comparatively soon these of the tribes of Israel should have become called “strangers” by the side of Judah and Benjamin. They fell to him in abundance. Another significant comment on the sameness of human nature in all time; the weak and the multitude will see, learn, do duty, less under pure conviction of right, than under the strong commanding influence of observation of where and with whom success goes, even if that success necessitate the owning of the Divine blessing as its cause (2Ch 11:16 and 1Ch 12:19). It should be noted, not for the sake of satire of human nature, but for the inculcation of the infinite importance of godly influence and example. Out of Simeon (see also 2Ch 34:6). The “lines” of the Simeonites fell to them originally (Jos 19:1) within Judah. The difficulty suggested by their being called, apparently, “strangers,” and being certainly classed with the comers from “Ephraim and Manasseh,” may be variously overcome, either by supposing that they had become more estranged from Judah in religious position than it was possible to them to have become in merely geographical; or that they had in some degree outgrown their own proper habitat, and had to some extent colonized a more northerly region (Gen 49:7); or that, though, indeed, our compiler’s composition undoubtedly places the Simeonites summoned, among the strangers, through mentioning them after Ephraim and Manasseh, yet this location of their name be held accidental, rather than due to special design.
2Ch 15:10
In the third month. The “Feast of Weeks” began about the sixth of this third month Sivan. In the fifteenth year. It has been conjectured from 2Ch 14:1 that Zerah the Ethiopian, or Cushite, invaded Judah in Asa’s eleventh year. The present sacrificial festival, in his fifteenth year, evidently was held very shortly after the close of Asa’s victory over Zerah This infers a rather longer duration of the war than is otherwise to be gathered from the face of the history. The interval, it is true, may be explained by supposing that Ass lingered long to restore the state of things where Zerah’s vast host had unsettled it.
2Ch 15:11
These offerings were probably chiefly of the nature of peace offerings (Le 2Ch 7:11-21). In the mention of the “spoil” (2Ch 14:13, 2Ch 14:15) nothing is said of oxen. Seven hundred seven thousand. The number seven is common when the sacrifices were in units (as e.g. Num 29:32; 1Ch 15:26, etc.), but uncommon in hundreds and thousands, for see 1Ki 8:63; 2Ch 35:7-9, comparing, however, 2Ch 30:24.
2Ch 15:12
They entered into a covenant. For the original, see Exo 24:6-8; Deu 4:29; for two other solemn renewals of it, see 2Ki 23:1-3; 2Ch 34:29-33; where, however, the stringent engagement of the following verse, though sufficiently to be inferred, is not notified. To seek; Hebrew, . (for similar use of , with infinitive after, etc; see Neh 10:30; Jer 34:10).
2Ch 15:13
Whosoever would not should be put to death (see Exo 22:20; Deu 13:9; Deu 17:2-6).
2Ch 15:14
The loud voice, the shouting, and the trumpets, and cornets, spoke alike the determination, and the united joyful determination of the people (2Ch 23:13; Neh 12:27, Neh 12:42, Neh 12:43).
2Ch 15:15
For the probable duration of the rest round about, spoken of in the last clause, see under 2Ch 15:19.
2Ch 15:16
Maachah the mother of Asa; i.e. the grandmother (2Ch 11:20-22; 2Ch 13:2; 1Ki 15:2, 1Ki 15:10, 1Ki 15:13) of Asa; and the statement amounts to this, that Asa removed her from the dignity she had enjoyed, with all its influences of “queen-mother.” An idol in a grove. This, probably, literally translated, says, an hideous fright for, i.e. in place of Asherah, i.e. Ashtoreth, or Astarte; but some translate to Asherah. The word we translate “an hideous fright” () occurs only here and in the parallel (1Ki 15:13), and its derivation root guides to this rendering; but some give it the idea of an object of reverent fear among idols. Asa cut down. So it was enjoined (Exo 34:13-15). And stamped it; Hebrew, ; hiph. of ; the meaning being “stamped it” in the dust, from its upright position, finally burning it. The word is used in 2Ch 34:4, 2Ch 34:7; 2Ki 23:6, 2Ki 23:15; Exo 30:36; Mic 4:13. The word used in the parallel is “cut off;” or “cut down; of course also preparatory to burning. At the brook Kidron. The Kidron was a torrent rather than a brook. It flowed between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, and finally emptied itself into the Dead Sea. The references to Kidron in the Old Testament are interesting, hut all reinvested with heightened interest from those in the New Testament. The first two references in the Old Testament are 2Sa 15:23; 1Ki 2:37. Passing these, the present place, with its parallel, brings the Kidren valley next under notice as, the place of destruction for Maachah’s obscene phallic abomination, and then (2Ki 11:16) as the place where Athalish was destroyed. Its associations are similar when spoken of in 2Ki 13:4, 2Ki 13:6, 2Ki 13:12; 2Ch 29:16; 2Ch 30:14, becoming the “regular receptacle for the impurities and abominations of the idol-worship, when removed from the temple and destroyed by the adherents of Jehovah.” In the time of Josiah, this valley was the common burying-place of the city (2Ki 23:6; Jer 26:23; Jer 31:40). (For Robinson’s description of the modern state of the Kidron valley, see Dr. Smith’s ‘Bible Dictionary,’ 2.14-16).
2Ch 15:17
The high places were not taken away out of Israel. It is possible, but scarcely tenable, that, by Israel, the northern kingdom may be here intended. But for the apparent discrepancy with those places which say that Asa did take away “the high places” (2Ch 14:3, 2Ch 14:5), see notes under them, and 7. 1, pp. 16; 17; of ‘Introduction to 1 Chronicles.’ “The high places” were hills on which sacrifices were illegitimately offered instead of at the chosen placeat Jerusalem. The heart of Asa was perfect all his days. The words, “with Jehovah,” following after the word “perfect” in the parallel (1Ki 15:17), makes the already plain plainer. The exact meaning is that Asa was consistently free from idolatry to the end.
2Ch 15:18
Except for an unimportant difference of the Keri and Chethiv kind in one word, this verse is identical with the parallel (1Ki 15:15). The silver, gold, and vessels were, of course, for the repair, restoration, and replacing of the revered fittings and ornaments of the temple. From what sources and after what victories the father of Asa and Asa himself had drawn these supplies is not given either here or in the parallel, but it is natural to suppose that Abijah’s victory over Jeroboam (2Ch 13:16) and Asa’s over Zerah would have been the chief occasions to finnish them.
2Ch 15:19
There was no more war. The Hebrew text should be adhered to, which simply says, there was not war unto, etc The five and thirtieth year. There can be little doubt that the text originally said “twentieth,” not “thirtieth” (see also 2Ch 16:1-14.-1). The parallel, after the identical words Of the previous verse already noted, goes on emphatically to speak of the fact that “there was war between Asa and Baasha all their days;” and the same statement is repeated in the thirty-second verse of the same chapter (1Ki 15:16, 1Ki 15:32). The following verse (33) says that Baasha’s twenty-four-year reign began in Asa’s third year. Putting the various and apparently somewhat varying statements together, they must be held to say, first, that a state of war was, indeed, chronic between Asa and Baasha (which way of putting need not disturb the correctness of 2Ch 14:5, 2Ch 14:6, and of the fifteenth verse of our chapter), but that in the six and twentieth year of Asa, which would be the last or last but one of Baasha’s life, latent war gave place to active hostilities, and Baasha (2Ch 16:1) came up to Judah to invade it, and to build Ramaha course of conduct which was the beginning of the end for him.
HOMILETICS
2Ch 15:1-19
The hour of happiness improved.
Perhaps we are not warranted to say that it was immediately after Asa’s victory over Zerah, or able to say how soon it was after it, that Azariah the son of Oded came with his message to him and “all Judah and Benjamin,” under that direct and ever-typical leading of “the Spirit.” Nor does the parallel enlighten us on this point. The history, however, here follows on with the account of Azariah’s appearance to Asa, and gives us the impression that it was at a certain favourable crisis, in happy quickened hours, due to the fresh memories of the divinely given victory, the manifest and most merciful interposition of Heaven, that the prophet came. Coming, he did thus the very thing the prophet is ever ordained to do. He breaks in on the lower life, on the life prone to forget, on the life able enough nevertheless to take higher ground and onward action, and reminds it, in plainest fidelity and undoubting firmness of speech, of such great realities as these.
I. ITS ABIDING PRIVILEGEGOD‘S DWELLING PRESENCE, HIS CONSTANTLY RESIDENT PRESENCE, HIS HABITUAL INDWELLING, ON THE ONE SUPPOSITION AND CONDITION OF HIS PEOPLE‘S ALLEGIANCE. “The Lord is with you, while ye be with him.” It is a simple, powerful, ever-necessary reminder for the earliest, opening intelligence of the baptized; for the unfolding, growing, intelligent piety of the confirmed; for the devoutness and all the trembling awe of the communicant; and for all the Church, individually or collectively, in the dangerous, doubtful, fickle, forgetful, tempted course of human life. He is faithful, his mercies fail not, his memory is ever fresh, punctual and to be relied upon, andwonderful assurance to lay to heartit is not we who have to wait for him!
II. ITS PERPETUAL OPPORTUNITYTHE OPPORTUNITY OF OBTAINING, SIMPLY FOR THE SEEKING, DIVINE INTERPOSITION. Life and human character need and have the special and occasional as well as the abiding and daily, the exceptional as well as the familiar, hill and valley as well as the level way, dark trial and deep grief as well as the wonted discipline of earth for imperfect creatures, joys as well as peace, and in a word abounding vouchsafements of grace and strength, as well as the unbroken stream of day after day.
III. ITS TREMBLING DANGERTHE DANGER OF BEING FORSAKEN OF ITS CHIEF GOOD, THROUGH FORSAKING ITS GOD. HOW lightly men treat the love which is most sensitive as well as most neededliable to be grieved, offended, quenched, or absent none can tell how long, as none can tell where the sin and the folly that drove that love, shall cease to drive their victim! To be forsaken of God is absolutely the worst forsakenness, the dreariest solitariness, the poorest poverty. And the sentence, “Let him alone,” or “Let them alone,” how its echoes wander and trailsometimes endlessly I
IV. ITS SUPREME EXERTION OF ENERGY. There are times, and there are enterprises, where no outer energy, no inner devotion, can be misplaced. Resolution, courage, and covenant, mutual exhortation, meeting together, edifying one another, and “the speaking oft to one another” on the part of them “that fear the Lord,” vowing to the Lord and praying to him, and praising him with singing and music, and “with all the heart, and all the desire,” “putting away the idols, stamping them to dust, and burning them,” “renewing the altar and renewing ever the sacrifices thereof,”this enthusiasm becomes certain occasions and spreads a holy contagion. The life that is devoid of it has missed its way and its joy on earth even; the lives that are destitute of it have doomed themselves. Other associations, other bonds, other enterprises, may make them sport, but can scarcely fail in the very act to make them their sport! Now, Asa and his people had found and were following the better way; and oh that such a heart may continue in them! Grateful, happy, and inspirited hours of life were used by the prophet and the king and his people for thinking greater things, resolving on greater things, and carrying them into execution. They should be similarly utilized by us. In hours uplifted by genuine healthful happiness, in periods of higher feeling and tone of thought, we should gladly seize the opportunity to raise the standard of our own conduct, and then fix the standard to which to work, and from which, even in lower mood, we shall, of God’s help, not depart.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
2Ch 15:1, 2Ch 15:2
God’s presence and departure.
It is characteristic of the Hebrew prophet that as the king comes back flushed with victory he meets the conqueror, not with honied words of congratulation, but with faithful words of admonition. What he says to the king may be taken as applicable to the servant of God generally.
I. A PROPHETIC CONFIRMATION OF THE GOOD MAN‘S EXPERIENCE. “Jahve was with you (has given you the victory) because ye were with him (held to him)” (Keil). So far fidelity to Jehovah had proved to be the condition of prosperity. Under his banner they had marched to victory; while they were true to him, he had been in the midst of them, and had been there to bless them. This is the common, indeed the constant, experience of the good. The service of God is always a success. It means rest of soul at all times; it means calmness and a wise joy in prosperity; it means resignation and comfort in the time of trouble; it means strength for duty and courage for temptation; it means excellency in life and hope in death. To be with God in the sense and spirit of self-surrender to his will is to have his gracious presence with us, shedding light and gladness on our path. This is the testimony of the good.
II. A PROPHETIC PROMISE OF THE GOOD MAN‘S HERITAGE. “If ye seek him, he will be found of you.” Behind us is a part (larger or smaller) of our life, and we thank God for all that he has been to us as we have held on our way. But before us is another portion; it may be a very serious, it may be even a critical, passage of our life. We shall want not only our own resources at their best, and the kindest and wisest succour of our friends, but the near presence and effective aid of our heavenly Father. We shall want his guidance, that we may know the path we should take; his guardianship, that we may be preserved from the wrong-doings, from the errors and mistakes, into which we shall otherwise be betrayed; his illumination, that we may tightly discharge our duties and rise to the height of our opportunities; his sustaining grace, that we may bear ourselves bravely and meekly in the day of our adversity and defeat. All this we shall have if we seek it truly. And that means if we seek it
(1) in moral and spiritual integrity, our heart being set on the service of Christ;
(2) with our whole heart, earnestly and perseveringly;
(3) believingly, building our hope on his Word.
III. I PROPHETIC WARNING OF THE GOOD MAN‘S DANGER. “If ye forsake him, he will forsake you.”
1. There is a practical danger of spiritual and, therefore, of moral declension. Such is our nature, that we are apt to let love become cold; to allow zeal to wane and wither; to permit our best habits to be encroached upon by the pressure of lower cares and pleasures; to forsake God. The records of Christian experience contain only too many instances of such departure.
2. We have, then, to fear the withdrawal of God from us; the loss of his Divine favour, of his indwelling Spirit, of his benediction and reward.
3. Therefore let us watch and pray, that we enter not. into the outer shadow of condemnation.C.
2Ch 15:7
Spiritual strength a sacred obligation.
“Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak.” This is in the imperative mood; it is a commandment. Strength is represented as a sacred duty; and weakness, consequently, as a culpable failure. To be spiritually strong is an obligation as much as an endowment. It may, indeed, be urged that there is
I. CONSTITUTIONAL WEAKNESS, which is to be borne with rather than to be blamed. Some human spirits are less fully endowed than others; some bring with them sad consequences of their progenitors’ sin (Exo 20:5). It requires tenfold more spiritual courage and exertion on the part of these to be loyal and faithful than on the part of their brethren who are more richly equipped or less heavily weighted. We need to know much before we judge men. Only the Divine Father, who knows us altogether, who knows, therefore, the limitations and the propensities of our nature which we have received from himself or from our ancestors, can say how much we are to be blamed, how much to be pitied. But undoubtedly there is
II. MORAL WEAKNESS, for which we are responsible, of which we are guilty, “Let not your hands be weak.” But how often the hand is weak because the life has been low, and because the heart has been wrong! All vice leads down to weakness. And not vice alone, but all folly; the foolish and blameworthy disregard of the laws of our mind and of our body. Not only excessive indulgence in any one direction (mental or physical), but unregulated and ill-proportioned activity, ends in weakness; so that he who might have been an active and efficient workman in many a good field of usefulness is helpless; his hand hangs down; there is “no strength in his right hand,” because there has been no wisdom in his mind.
III. SPIRITUAL STRENGTH, which we are under obligation to acquire. There is much of real, effective strength which it is open to us all to obtain if we will. God is saying to us, “Be ye strong;” and if we do what he gives us the means of doing, we shall be strong. What are the sources of spiritual strength?
1. Christian morality. And this includes
(1) the care of the bodythe regulation of its instincts and craving, ministering to its necessities;
(2) the culture of the mindincreasing its knowledge and nourishing its power;
(3) the training of the heart.
2. Sacred service. Our capacity for serving Christ and man depends very largely indeed on our making a continuous effort to serve. “To him that hath is given,” i.e. to him that puts out his talent is given another; to him that expends his strength in paths of holy usefulness is given multiplied power to speak and strike for God and truth. Our present strength depends upon our growth in power; and that depends upon the measure of our exercise in the field of sacred work.
3. Divine communication. “Thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul” (Psa 138:3); “In Christ who strengtheneth me” (Php 4:13). Strength is one of the “good things” our heavenly Father will give to “them that ask him” (Mat 7:11).C.
2Ch 15:7
The reward of Christian work.
“Your work shall be rewarded.” The very words recur in the prophecies of Jeremiah (Jer 31:16); and the sentiment is frequently expressed by our Lord and by his apostles. It appears distinctly in the solemn statement of Jesus Christ, “The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father and then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Mat 16:27; see also Rom 2:6, Rom 2:7; 1Co 3:8; Rev 22:12). What is the reward for which we are to look? Not
I. THE REWARD OF HIRED LABOUR. Hired labour is rewarded precisely and particularly. So much money for so much work, measured by the hours occupied or the work done. There is a nice calculation of what has been wrought on the one hand, and of what is given in exchange on the other. It is supposed that the one is the equivalent of the other. But our Divine Saviour does not call us into his field on this arrangement. We are not his day-labourers, engaged at a certain price; we are his fellow-workersemployed under him, indeed, but engaged with him in the completion of his great “work.” He is not treating us as slaves or even as common servants, but as children and as friendsas those whom he loves and desires to bless with true well-being. We aspire to
II. THE REWARD OF THE LABOUR OF LOVE. Our Divine Master invites us to stand by his side and work out with him the redemption of our race. He charges us to be as he was in the world; to work as he did, in the spirit of entire self-surrender, of wholehearted love; to put forth our strength in his service and in the cause of righteousness and human elevation; and he tells us that we shall secure a “full reward.” We shall find that in:
1. The possession of his good pleasure. The true soldier finds his best reward in the commendation of his commander; the true scholar in the approval of his teacher; the true workman in the smile of him in whose service he is engaged. We, as Christian workmen, look for our deepest joy in the smile and the approval of our Lord. We hope for no moment of keener ecstasy than that when we shall hear him say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” To live in the known and felt possession of Jesus Christ’s benediction is one of the purest, as it is one of the most appreciated, rewards, we can receive.
2. The enlargement of our own powers of service. As we work in the cause of heavenly wisdom and of spiritual well-being, our power for action is constantly enlarging, until feebleness becomes strength, and strength becomes might. The more we do the more we are capable of doing (see previous homily).
3. The expansion of our sphere of service. “Thou hast been faithful in a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things” (Mat 25:21). “I will ask for no reward, except to serve thee still;” or, may we not say,” except to serve thee mor “?to serve thee in that broader sphere, with those nobler opportunities into which thou wilt introduce me. For our Master does thus enlarge us now, as one fruit of our labour; and he will soon reward us by a far more generous enlargement, when he “cometh with his Father” and when “his reward is with him.”C.
2Ch 15:14, 2Ch 15:15
The secret of joy in the service of Christ.
How comes it to pass that the service of Christ should be associated in any mind with austerity and gloom? How is it that every one does not connect that service in his thought with gladness of heart and brightness of life? This misfortune may be attributable to misconception, to a mental error, to the misreading of some words of the Master or of his apostles; or it may be the consequence, physical as much as spiritual, of a particular temperament; but it is most frequently caused by lack of thoroughness in the service of the Lord.
I. THE MISTAKE OF HALF–HEARTEDNESS IN THE SERVICE OF CHRIST. During the reigns of Rehoboam and Abijah, when king and people both showed much abatement of zeal in the worship of Jehovah, we do not read of any record like that of the text. Of Rehoboam we find that “he fixed not his heart to seek the Lord”. Abijah could say nothing more for himself than that he had “not forsaken the Lord” (2Ch 13:10), and his later days, like his grandfather’s, were apparently darkened by indulgence. There was no fervour of piety, and there was no fulness of joy in the land. And we find that everywhere and always it is so. Half-heartedness in holy service is a profound mistake. It gives no satisfaction to our Lord himself. It leads to no height of Christian worth, to no marked excellency of character. It fills the soul with no deep and lasting joy. It is very likely to decline and to expire, to go out into the darkness of doubt, or worldliness, or guilt.
II. THE WISDOM OF WHOLE–HEARTEDNESS. “All Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire and the Lord gave them rest.” There was no imaginable step they could have taken which would have caused so much elation of heart and ensured so enviable a national position. Ass and his people showed the very truest wisdom, something more and better than sagacious policy or statecraft, when they sought the Lord with all their heart. They did that which gave them a pure and honest satisfaction in the present, and which, more than any other act, secured the future. And though we certainly are not invited to manifest the thoroughness of our devotion in the same severities that characterized their decision (2Ch 15:13), we do well when we follow there in the fulness of their resolve. For to seek Christ the Lord with all our heart and our “whole desire” is the one right and the one wise thing to do.
1. It secures to us the abiding favour and friendship of the Eternal; he is then “found” of us.
2. It brings profound personal rest; then Christ speaks “peace” to ushis peace, such as this world has not at its command.
3. It secures a feeling of friendship toward all around us: “rest round about.” The heart is filled with that holy love which desires to bless all who can be reached.
4. It fills and sometimes floods the heart with sacred joy. The full realization of the presence and love of Christ, the fervent worship of the Lord of all grace and truth, earnest work done in his Name and in his strength,these are a source of enlarging and ennobling joy. The true key-note of the Christian life is this: “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again rejoice.”C.
HOMILIES BY T. WHITELAW
2Ch 15:1-7
A conqueror’s welcome.
I. A MESSAGE FROM GOD. (2Ch 15:1, 2Ch 15:2.)
1. Its banter. Azarlah, “Whom Jehovah aids,” the son of Oded; mentioned only here. Jehovah may, and often does, transmit messages of moment through humble and obscure messengers. What fitted Azariah to be the bearer of the Divine announcements was the coming upon him of the Spirit of Eiohim, the Spirit being the Revealer and Interpreter of the Divine will to the soul of man (Num 11:26; Job 32:8; Eze 2:2; 1Co 12:8). That the Spirit of God came upon a man did not prove him to have been a good man, Balaam (Num 24:2) and Saul (1Sa 10:10) being witness; though there is no reason to doubt that Azariah was a true prophet of Jehovah. The Spirit came by measure upon him, as upon other holy men of the old dispensation through whom God spoke to his people; on Christ, through whom God’s highest and last message has been sent to mankind, the Spirit was poured out without measure (Isa 11:2; Joh 3:34; Rev 3:1). Hence the supreme importance attaching to the gospel.
2. Its recipients. “Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin.” God claims a right to address sovereigns as well as their subjects. Between princes and peasants in his sight is no difference (Act 10:34; 1Pe 1:17). God’s messages in the Law and the gospel are directed equally to all. The monarch is as much under the Law as the subject; the subject has as valid a title to the provisions of the gospel as the monarch. Asa and his warriors were returning from a victorious campaign, when Jehovah’s prophet interposed with notes of warning. These were timely, since the king and his veterans were in danger of self-laudation and serf-confidenceof ascribing their recent splendid exploits to their own skill and prowess, and of trusting to their own valour to protect them in future, without troubling themselves to think about Jehovah, his religion, or his help. So men (not excepting Christians) are never more in peril of forgetting God than when fortune smiles upon them (Deu 8:13), and never more need to be admonished than when rejoicing in deliverances wrought for them by God,
3. Its contents. A doctrine, a promise, a warning.
(1) The doctrine. That Jehovah was with them, while they were with him. With all God is as to his immanent presence, since he fills heaven and earth (Jer 33:24), and besets all individually behind and before (Psa 139:1-12); but with his people he is, in the special sense of gracious manifestation, to accept (Num 17:4), protect (2Ch 20:17; Jer 42:11), assist (1Ch 22:18; Hag 1:13), and bless (Exo 20:24). Only his presence with them is ever conditioned by their being with him in the sense of believing in, loving, and obeying him (Joh 14:23).
(2) The promise. That if they sought Jehovah, Jehovah should be found of them. If they sought him in the way of penitence, faith, love, obedience, he should be found of them in the way of acceptance, grace, assistance. This promise, always true of Jehovah in his relations with Israel (1Ch 28:9; 2Ch 30:19; Psa 119:2; Jer 29:13; Amo 5:4), is equally true of his relations with believers on Christ (Heb 11:6; Jas 4:8).
(3) The warning. That if they for-sock God, God would forsake them. If they went back from the path of reform upon which they were entered, he also would withdraw his countenance and aid from them. So Moses (Deu 31:16, Deu 31:17)and Joshua (Jos 24:20) had warned their contemporaries and David his son Solomon (1Ch 28:9). The same condition is addressed to all (Jer 17:1-27 :33; Heb 10:38).
II. A LESSON FROM HISTORY. (Verses 3-6.)
1. The possibility of lapsing into religious apostasy. Such times had formerly existed in Judah, and hence in the future might reappear (Ecc 1:9; Ecc 3:15). Whether Azariah’s language depicted the condition of Judah then (Grotius), or in the future (Luther), or in the past, in the days of Rehoboam and Abijah (Syriac, Arabic), or in the period of the judges (Vitringa, Bertheau), is open to debate. As the prophet has not definitely stated the time, he may have designed to express truths of force at. all limes (Keil). Of such days as the prophet alludes to, Judah and Israel had both before had experience. The description of them is peculiarly affecting.
(1) No true God; i.e. no knowledge of the true God; or, what is worse, the knowledge of the true God, but not his worship or service. Such times had existed soon after the death of Joshua (Jdg 2:10-15; Jdg 10:6), and were yet to reappear in Israel under Ahab (1Ki 18:20, 1Ki 18:21), and in Judah under Ahaz (2Ch 28:1-6). “Without God”a correct characterization of the unbelieving world (Job 21:14; Psa 10:4; Eph 2:12).
(2) No teaching priest; i.e. the priests they had either no knowledge of the true God, of his character and requirements, and so could not teach the People; or, if they did, they were satisfied with the mere performance of their altar duties, without caring for the spiritual welfare of the people. If the first, they were disqualified for being priests by reason of their ignorance (Mal 2:7); if the second, they were chargeable with indolence (Mal 1:6) or hypocrisy (Neh 9:34), or both. If, under the old covenant, priests were required to instruct the people in the tenets and precepts of religion, much more is it incumbent on Christian pastors to be also teachers (Eph 4:11). A ministry that does not preach or teach ipso facto stands condemned.
(3) No Law; i.e. the Torah of Moses, unknown, or forgotten, or disobeyed. When men or nations depart from God, they begin by pulling down his altars, and end by trampling on his commandments. And if there be no God, this is just as it should be. If God is not, to pretend to worship him is a farce, and ministers of religion may be dispensed with; if God is not, there is no Supreme Authority to claim from man obedience, and man may at once assume lordship over himself. But if God is, it will be more prudent to let his altars remain, to see that his ministers teach, and take order that his precepts be obeyed.
2. The certainty that religious apostasy will be followed by national disaster. So it had been in the past, and so it would be in the future.
(1) Social disturbance, danger, and violence had been, and would be, the order of the day. “And in those times there was,” or is, “no peace to him that went out or to him that came in.” Such had been Israel’s condition in the days of Shamgar the son of Anath (Jdg 5:6), and under the oppression of the Midianites (Jdg 6:2). Irreligion necessarily gravitates towards violence. He that breaks God’s commandments without a qualm of conscience seldom scruples about making havoc with man’s when opportunity occurs. Exemplified in the age of Noah (Gen 6:4, Gen 6:11, Gen 6:12), in the last days of Greece and Rome, and in the French Revolution of 1798.
(2) Political anarchy had commonly attended these times in the past, and would more than likely do so again on their recurrence. “Great vexations came upon all the inhabitants of the countries, and nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city”literally, “and they were broken in pieces, nation against nation and city against city;” “for God did,” or does, “vex them with all adversity.” The language, descriptive of such a reign of terror as commonly accompanies civil war, was verified in a form comparatively mild in the war of the tribes of Israel against Benjamin (Jdg 20:20), and in the struggle of the Gileadites with Ephraim (Jdg 12:4). Amos (Amo 3:9) depicted such commotions, confusions, tumults, as occurring, or about to occur, in Samaria in his time. In the final overthrow of the two kingdoms, the prophet’s words received their most startling illustration (Isa 9:18-20). In the ultimate destruction of all peoples hostile to God, they will,obtain their highest and fullest realization (Zec 14:13; Mat 24:7).
3. The only way of escaping from the miseries and horrors of such evil times, viz. by repenting and turning to Jehovah. “But when in their distress,” etc. So had it been in the days of the Egyptian oppression (Exo 2:23), and in those of the Midianite supremacy (Jdg 6:6). So had it been in the experience of Asa himself, whose cry unto Jehovah on the field of war had been heard (2Ch 14:11). So would it be again, if in the season of their calamity they remembered God (2Ch 7:14). The doctrine here enunciated holds good of individuals as well as of nations; e.g. David (2Sa 21:1; Psa 18:6; Psa 34:4; Psa 138:3), Jehoshaphat (2Ch 17:4, 2Ch 17:10), Uzziah (2Ch 26:5). The ear of God is open to every cry of a distressed soul (Psa 34:15). “Fools, because of their transgression,” etc. (Psa 107:17-19).
III. AN EXHORTATION FROM A PROPHET. (Verse 7.)
1. The counsel. Action.
(1) Vigorous. “Be strong therefore.” Courage in conceiving and doing the right thing was the special demand of the hour. The right thing at that moment in Judah was to adhere to Jehovah, reform the abuses that during the previous reigns had crept into his worship, and exterminate the idolatrous rites that had been introduced by earlier king. More disastrous for the country had these been than Zerah’s invasion. Nothing more required of the followers of God and soldiers of Jesus Christ in any age or land than an heroic determination to resist sin and follow holiness, oppose error and defend truth, renounce idolatry and cleave to the worship of the Father (Deu 31:6; Jos 1:7; Psa 27:14; 1Co 16:13; 2Ti 2:1).
(2) Persevering. “Let not your hands be weak” Not enough to begin well; to continue well is indispensable. Weariness in well-doing a frequent phenomenon, much needing to be guarded against (Gal 6:9). Steadfastness in the faith and in the maintenance of good works expected of Christians (1Co 15:58; Php 4:1; Col 1:23; 2Th 3:13; 2Ti 3:14; Heb 10:23).
2. The encouragement. Recompense. “Your work shall be rewarded.”
(1) With inward satisfaction, as being in itself a right work (Pro 14:14). This an invariable accompaniment of well-doing, and, apart from further consequences, ample remuneration.
(2) With Divine approbation, as being a work God regards with favour. Already expressed in the Word (Heb 13:16), this will eventually be proclaimed by the mouth of God (Mat 25:21, Mat 25:23).
(3) With ultimate success, as being a work destined to triumph over every form of evil. The cause of God and truth, of Christ and the gospel, may be long and bitterly opposed, but ultimate victory rests with it (Rev 11:15).
Learn:
1. The superiority of the new dispensation in having God’s Son as its Messenger (Heb 1:1, Heb 1:2).
2. The equity of God‘s dealings with men in providence and in grace (1Sa 2:30; Eze 18:29).
3. The miserable state of the heathen world, as destitute of the true knowledge of God (Eph 2:12; Eph 4:17, Eph 4:18).
4. The value of affliction as a means of religious improvement (Job 33:17-19; Eze 20:37; Lam 3:27; 2Co 4:17; Heb 12:11).
5. The secret of national prosperityrighteous-ness (Pro 14:34).
6. The duty of persevering in religion (Joh 15:4; Act 11:23; 2Ti 1:14; 1Pe 5:9; Rev 2:27).
7. The certainty that faith shall not lose its reward (Luk 6:35; 1Co 3:14; Heb 10:35).W.
2Ch 15:8-19
Ancient covenanters.
I. SERIOUS PREPARATIONS. (2Ch 15:8-11.)
1. The purgation of the land from idols. Encouraged by the words of the son of Odednot Oded, as in the textAsa, on reaching his capital, determined to convene a national assembly, and enter into a solemn league and covenant to carry out the work of reformation so auspiciously begun (2Ch 14:2-5), and so manifestly owned of Jehovah in the splendid victory he had granted over the Cushite invader (2Ch 14:12). As a preliminary, he “put away the abominations,” i.e. the idols, “from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim.” In the same spirit acted Jacob, before going up to meet with Jehovah at Bethel (Gen 35:2); and Moses, before the interview of Israel with Jehovah at Sinai (Exo 19:14); Hezekiah, before he celebrated the Passover (2Ch 30:14); and Josiah, before he renewed the covenant (2Ch 34:3-7). If such preparation on the part of Israel was needful to qualify her for an interview with Jehovah even in external celebrations (Amo 4:12), much more is a similar preparation of the heart indispensable on the part of souls who come before God in any act of spiritual worship (2Ch 19:3; 2Ch 20:33; 1Sa 7:3; Psa 57:7; Luk 1:17). In particular, all known sin must be abandoned (Isa 1:16, Isa 1:17).
2. The renewal of the altar of the Lord. The great brazen altar of Solomon (2Ch 4:1) had probably been defiled by idol-rites during preceding reigns, and required reconsecration (Bertheau); while, after sixty years of service, it almost certainly stood in need of repairs (Keil). Most likely Asa’s renovation of the altar was of both kindsan external reparation and a religious consecration. It is commonly a sign that a Church or nation is in earnest in entering upon religious reformation when it attends to the externals as well as to the internals of religionwhen it corrects abuses, repairs defects, and adds improvements in the outward means of grace, as well as endeavours to impart to these fresh attractiveness and zeal Individuals begin not well who neglect to engage all their powers of body, mind, and heart in the work, or to seek for these a new and gracious baptism from above (Rom 12:1).
3. The invitation of the people to a national assembly. Without the hearty consent and cooperation of the people, reforms of no kind can be effectedas little religious as political or social, and just as little these as those. Accordingly, all Judah and Benjamin, with such Israelites as sympathized with the new movement, were summoned to Jerusalem on a certain day to covenant to seek Jehovah. As early as the days of Rehoboam, strangers from the northern kingdom had found their way into the southern (2Ch 11:16); Asa’s victory over Zerah having been accepted as a proof that Jehovah was on the side of Judah’s king, the number of these immigrants largely increased (2Ch 15:9). What was wanted then in Judah and Israel to rally the pious is demanded stilla leader, who has God upon his side, because he is on the side of God.
4. The gathering of the pious in Jerusalem. It showed the spirit of the people that they responded at once to their monarch’s call. Followers that will not follow are a hindrance to those who would lead in reformations in either Church or state, Union is strength, and generally victory; disunion weakness, and always defeat.
II. SOLEMN TRANSACTIONS. (2Ch 15:12-14.)
1. The presentation of the spoils. These, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep, formed part of the plunder taken from Zerah’s army (2Ch 14:14,2Ch 14:15), and were now presented to Jehovah; as Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek on returning from the slaughter of the kings (Gen 14:20); as the Israelites in the wilderness after the slaughter of the Midianites levied a tribute unto the Lord (Num 31:11-47); as Saul said he intended to sacrifice unto the Lord the sheep and oxen he had reserved from the spoil of the Amalekites (1Sa 15:21); and as victorious generals among the Romans were accustomed to dedicate to Jupiter part of the spoils taken from the enemy. As Asa’s victory had been achieved solely through Divine help, this was becoming as well as right. Those whom God renders successful in their callings should honour him with the firstfruits of their increase (Pro 3:9). Every man as God hath prospered him, a rule of Christian giving (1Co 16:2).
2. The formation of a covenant.
(1) The objecttwofold.
(a) “To seek the Lord God of their fathers,” etc. (verse 12)a right thing for nations and individuals to doyea, for all, whether they covenant with and swear to one another concerning it or not. To seek God, a nation’s and individual’s life (Isa 55:3, Isa 55:6; Psa 69:32; Amo 5:4), and the only source of true prosperity for either (Psa 70:4; Psa 119:2; Amo 8:14; Lam 3:25). That the god a nation or an individual seeks is the god of his or its fathers, is no proof that that god is the true God; but, being the true God, he possesses an additional claim on the worship and homage of both individual and nation, from the fact that he is and has been their fathers’ God. If God is to be sought at all, it should be with the whole heart (Jer 29:13). Nothing short of this is religion.
(b) To “put to death,” etc. (verse 13). Under the theocracy religious toleration was impossible, for the reason that idolatry was high treason. “A theocratic government is a government of constraint. Freedom of conscience would have been an unmeaning sound under the Jewish economy”. Church and state in Judah were one. No such identification existed among heathen nations, though approximations towards it were often seen. Nor does such identification exist under the gospel. Hence neither Church nor state now has authority to put to death those who decline the religion prescribed by either. The reformed Churches of England and Scotland were slow in perceiving that the extermination of heretics by the sword of the civil magistrate, however legitimate under the Jewish theocracy, was not permissible in the Church of Jesus Christ. Under the gospel God alone is Lord of the conscience; and to each man pertains the right of choosing his own religion, his own creed, and his own worship, without dictation, not to say coercion, from either king or parliamentbeing answerable for the choice he makes in the first place to his own conscience, and in the last place to God, whose creature and subject he is. This is the doctrine of religious equality, which should be carefully distinguished from that of religious toleration, which proceeds upon the erroneous assumption that Church and state possess the right, but decline to exercise the power of coercion, and agree to allow, what they might justly put down, diversity of faith and practice in religion.
(2) The formsimple. “They sware unto the Lord;” i.e. bound themselves with an oath to carry out the twofold purpose above described. This they did with enthusiasm (verse 14), which is always good in a good thing (Gal 4:18), and especially good in religion (Luk 13:24; Joh 9:4; Eph 5:16; Heb 6:11).
(3) The sceneimpressive. In more points than one this high transaction under Asa had a parallel in the National Covenant, which was formed by the Scottish people in Edinburgh on the last day of February, 1638, when in the churchyard of Greyfriars, in the grey dawn, a parchment was spread upon a gravestone, and one by one the nobility, gentry, burgesses, ministers of religion, and common people, with uplifted hand and solemn oath, affixed to it their names, engaging with one another to maintain the Presbyterian form of Church government, and, at the point of the sword, to exterminate the prelatical.
III. SIGNIFICANT RESULTS. (Verses 15-19.)
1. The joy of the people. (Verse 15.) This proved they had been in earnest. They exulted in the unanimity and heartiness with which the covenant had been made, and in the prospect thus opened up for the attainment of its objects.
2. The zeal of the king. (Verses 16-18.)
(1) The deposition of the queen-mother, Maachah, the mother of Abijah and grandmother of Asa. High rank, venerable age, and near relationship to Asa had given her at court and in the land commanding influence, which she exercised in the interest of idolatry. Her removal by Asa showed him sincere in desiring to effect a reformation (Luk 14:26).
(2) The destruction of her abominable image. This, which was made of wood, and is supposed by some to have been an obscene figure, pudendum, representing the productive power of naturewhich is doubtful (Bertheau and Keil)was an object of horror and detestation to the Hebrews; its destruction was another indication of the spirit by which Asa was actuated. The only defect in his reformation activity, was that he did not at the same time abolish the high places connected with the worship of Jehovah.
(3) The introduction into the temple of the dedicated gifts of his father and of himself. The former, consisting of the spoils Abijah had taken in the war with Jeroboam (2Ch 13:16)silver, gold, and vesselshad been used by the conqueror either to adorn some heathen temple or to enrich the royal treasury, but were now surrendered by Asa to the house of the Lord. The latter, composed of similar materials plundered by himself in the Cushite war (2Ch 14:14, 2Ch 14:15), he also presented to their rightful Owner, Jehovah. To restore the former was as much a duty as to give up the latter. “Asa, like a good son, pays his father’s debts and his own” (Bishop Hall).
3. The approbation of Jehovah. Intimated by the fact that for the next twenty years the land enjoyed rest (verse 19). “When a man’s ways please God, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Pro 16:7). Were nations to please God by their ways, he would “make wars cease to the end of the earth” (Psa 46:9).
Learn:
1. The stimulus good men derive from God’s Word, exemplified in the effect produced upon Asa by Oded’s prophecy (verse 8).
2. The purifying power of true religion on the soulsymbolized by Asa’s purgation of the land (verse 8).
3. The attractive influence upon others of those who have God with themseen in the rallying of the pious round Asa (verse 9).
4. The supreme duty of individuals and nationsto seek the Lord (verse 12).
5. The lawfulness of men covenanting with each other for such a purpose, but not of compelling others (verse 13).
6. The necessity in religion of proving the heart’s sincerity by the hand’s activity and liberality (verses 11, 18).
7. The propriety of being thorough in all undertakings connected with religionthe want of this a defect in Asa (verse 17).W
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
b. Abijah.Ch. 13
2Ch 13:1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. 2He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mothers name was Michaiah,1 daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.
3And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. And Abijah began the war with an army of valiant warriors, four hundred thousand chosen men: and Jeroboam prepared war against him with eight hundred thousand chosen 4men, valiant in might. And Abijah arose on Mount Zemaraim, which is in 5Mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel. Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David 6for ever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? And Jeroboam son of Nebat, servant of Solomon son of David, arose and rebelled against his 7master. And vain men, of no account, gathered unto him, and withstood Rehoboam son of Solomon; and Rehoboam was young and weak of heart, and held not out against them. 8And now ye are saying that ye will hold out against the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and with you are golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods. 9Have ye not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests like the nations of the lands? whosoever cometh to fill his hand with a young steer and seven rams is a 10priest to them that are no gods. And we, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests that minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their business. 11And they burn unto the Lord burnt-offerings every morning and every evening, and incense of spices, and laying of bread on the pure table, and the candlestick of gold and its lamps to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the Lord our God; but ye 12have forsaken Him. And behold, with us, at our head, are God and His priests, and the clanging trumpets to sound against you: sons of Israel, fight not against the Lord God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.
13And Jeroboam led round an ambush to come behind them; and they were 14before Judah, and the ambush was behind them. And Judah turned, and behold they had the battle before and behind; and they cried unto the Lord, 15and the priests sounded with the trumpets. And the men of Judah shouted; and when the men of Judah shouted, God smote Jeroboam and all Israel 16before Abijah and Judah. And the sons of Israel fled before Judah; and God gave them into their hand. 17And Abijah and his people smote them with a great slaughter; and there fell slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen 18men. And the sons of Israel were humbled at that time; and the sons of Judah prevailed, because they trusted in the Lord God of their fathers. 19And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him: Bethel and her daughters, and Jeshanah2 and her daughters, and Ephron3 and her 20daughters. And Jeroboam had no more strength in the days of Abijah; and 21the Lord smote him, and he died. And Abijah strengthened himself, and took to him fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons and sixteen daughters. 22And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his words, 23are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo. And Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years.
c. Asa. The Prophets Azariah Son of Oded and Hanani.Ch. 1416
. Asas Theocratic Zeal and Care for the Defence of the Kingdom: 2Ch 14:1-7
2Ch 14:1.And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord 2his God. And he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high 3places, and brake the pillars, and cut down the Asherim. And commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the 4commandment. And he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-statues: and the kingdom was quiet before him.
5And he built fenced cities in Judah; for the land had rest, and there was 6no war with him in those days; for the Lord gave him rest. And he said to Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls and towers, gates and bars, and the land is yet before us; because we have sought the Lord our God, and He hath given us rest around: and they built and prospered. 7And Asa had an army, bearing shield and spear, out of Judah three hundred thousand, and out of Benjamin, bearing shield and drawing bow, two hundred and eighty thousand: all these were men of valour.
. Asas Victory over Zerah the Ethiopian: 2Ch 14:8-14
8And Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with a host of a thousand 9thousand, and three hundred chariots; and he came to Mareshah. And Asa went out against him, and they joined battle in the valley of Zephathah at 10Mareshah. And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, no one is nigh Thee to help with the mighty or with no might; help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude: 11O Lord, Thou art our God; no man may hold out against Thee. And the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians 12fled. And Asa, and the people that were with him, pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians fell, so that there was no recovery; for they were broken before the Lord, and before His host; and they carried off very great 13spoil. And they smote all the cities round Gerar; for the terror of the Lord 14was upon them. And they smote also the tents of cattle, and took sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.
. The Prophetic Warning of Azariah Son of Oded: 2Ch 15:1-7
2Ch 15:1-2.And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. And he went forth before Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; the Lord is with you, while ye are with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you; and if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you. 3And many days will be to Israel without the true God, and without a teaching 4priest, and without a law. And he shall return in his trouble unto the Lord God of Israel, and seek Him, and He shall be found of him. 5And in those times is no peace for him that goeth out or cometh in, but great vexations 6on all the inhabitants of the lands. And nation shall be smitten4 by 7nation, and city by city; for God hath vexed them with all trouble. But be ye brave, and let not your hands be slack; for there is a reward for your labour.
. Asas Reform of Worship, and Renewal of Covenant with the Lord: 2Ch 15:8-19
8And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded5 the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from Mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord. 9And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them, out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon; for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10And they gathered at Jerusalem, in the third month of the fifteenth year of 11the reign of Asa. And they sacrificed to the Lord in that day, of the spoil they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. 12And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their 13heart, and with all their soul. And whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, small or great, man or woman. 14And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with clangour, and with trumpets and cornets. 15And all Judah was glad at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire, and He was found of 16them: and the Lord gave them rest round about. And also Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol for Asherah: and Asa cut down her idol, and crushed it, and burnt it in the brook Kidron. 17But the high places were not taken away out of Israel; but the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. 18And he brought the things which his father and himself had consecrated into the house of God, silver and gold, and vessels. 19And there was no more war unto the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
. The War with Baasha of Israel: 2Ch 16:1-6
2Ch 16:1.In the thirty-sixth year6 of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to let no one come out or go in to 2Asa king of Judah. And Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the kings house, and sent to Benhadad king 3of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus,7 saying: A league is between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. 4And Benhadad hearkened unto King Asa, and sent the captains of his army against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelmaim, 5and all the stores of the cities of Naphtali. And when Baasha heard 6it, he left off building of Ramah, and let his work cease. And Asa the king took all Judah, and carried away the stones of Ramah, and its timber, with which Baasha had built, and built therewith Geba and Mizpah.
. Hananis Prophetic Warning: Asas Transgression and End: 2Ch 16:7-14
7And at that time came Hanani the seer to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped from thy hand. 8Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubites a huge host, in chariots and horsemen very many? and when thou didst rely on the Lord, He gave them into thy hand. 9For the eyes of the Lord run throughout all the earth, to prove Himself strong for those whose heart relies wholly on Him: thou 10hast done foolishly in this; for henceforth thou shalt have wars. And Asa was displeased with the seer, and put him in the prison; for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.
11And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, behold, they are written in 12the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Asa, in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, was diseased in his feet, until his disease was very great: and in his disease also he sought not the Lord, but to the physicians. 13And Asa slept with his fathers; and he died in the forty-first year of his reign. 14And they buried him in his own tomb, which he had dug for himself in the city of David; and they laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours of divers kinds, compounded by art; and they made a very great burning for him.
EXEGETICAL
The histories of both reigns, that of Abijah and that of Asa, are presented here in a very extended form, when compared with the parallel accounts in 1Ki 15:1-24; and in particular, there are several discourses of a prophetic nature in the history of Abijah, one addressed by this king himself on Mount Zemaraim to Jeroboam and the army of Israel (ch 13:412), and in that of Asa, the warnings of the seers Azariah son of Oded and Hanani (2Ch 15:2-7; 2Ch 16:7-10), by the insertion of which the Chronist has considerably enlarged his account. But with respect to the history of war and worship, his representation is a far richer gain from the ancient sources than that preserved in 1 Kings 15.
I. Abijah: 2 Chronicles 13; comp. 1Ki 15:1-8.In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam. This date of the beginning of Abijahs reign is also given in 1 Kings, and also the three years duration of his reign (he is, moreover, always called ; see on 2Ch 11:22).And his mothers name was Michaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. As Abijahs mother is called Maachah, not merely 2Ch 11:20 ff., but also 1Ki 15:2, the present name must be regarded as a mistake for the original . Her father, Uriel of Gibeah, is to be regarded as the husband of Tamer the daughter of Absalom, and herself, therefore, as the grand-daughter of the latter; see on 2Ch 11:20. From the Maachah, further mentioned 2Ch 15:16 (and 1Ki 15:13), the mother of Asa, whom he removed from the dignity of a gebirah (mistress, Sultana Walide, queen-mother) for her idolatry, she is scarcely to be considered different; rather is her designation there as mother to be supposed = grandmother, and her continued regency under her grandson Asa is to be explained simply from the brief duration of Abijahs reign, and the probable minority of Asa at his death (comp. Athaliahs attempt to reign instead of her grandson Joash, 2 Chronicles 22). Against the assumption by Thenius and Bertheau of the diversity of the two Maachahs (of whom the mother of Abijah was the daughter of Absalom, but the mother of Asa in reality the one who is here falsely called a daughter of Uriel of Gibeah), see Keil, p. 261, Rem.
2Ch 13:3 ff. Abijahs War with Jeroboam.And Abijah began the war with 400,000 chosen men. Neither this number nor the double number of the warriors of Jeroboam should be taken strictly, as is abundantly clear from the substantial agreement of both numbers with the results of Joabs enumeration under David (800,000 men-at-arms of Israel and 500,000 of Judah; comp. 1 Chronicles 21). Less probable is the assumption of an error in transcription, resting on a change of the numeral letters, as the cause of these almost incredibly high numbers (Kennicott, Dissert. Gen. 27; J. Pye-Smith, The Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, 6th edit. vol. 1. p. 29); for to explain the fact in this way, we must assume several such mistakes or corruptions in similar circumstances, which would be very strange. Comp. also on 2 Chronicles 17, and Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.
2Ch 13:4. And Abijah arose on Mount Zemaraim, obviously a steep cliff or summit lying between the contending armies, from which the king addressed the foe in like manner as Jotham once addressed the Shechemites from Mount Gerizim, Jdg 9:7. That every single warrior of the host of Israel, numbering several hundred thousands, could have heard his words is not said, and need not be assumed. The situation of Mount Zemarami is no longer to be ascertained. It was probably in the neighbourhood of Bethel, near which is a town, Jos 18:22, named (Zemaraim), the ruins of which may have been found in el Sumra, between Jerusalem and Jericho, near the valley of the Jordan. At all events, the locality should be sought east of Bethel (Robinson, Phys. Geogr. of the Holy Land, p. 38), and this el Sumra may lie too far in a south-easterly direction.
2Ch 13:5. Do you not know, literally, Is it not to you, concerns it not you, to know? comp., for example, 1Ch 13:4.That the Lord gave to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt, by an irrevocable covenant; comp. Lev 2:13; Num 18:19. belongs to the whole sentence, as accusative of restriction (therefore: in the manner of a covenant of salt).
2Ch 13:7. And vain men, of no account, gathered unto him, properly, sons of worthlessness, children of Belial, a phrase occurring not elsewhere in Chronicles, but again in 1Ki 21:10; 1Ki 21:13. On , loose, fickle men, comp. Jdg 9:4; Jdg 11:3.And withstood Rehoboam, showed themselves strong against him ( ); comp. the ( ) resistance afterwards shown on the part of Rehoboam to this opposition.Rehoboam was young and weak of heart, faint-hearted, unstable. The term , young, used of Rehoboam when already king, appears not specially to favour the former statement (2Ch 12:13) that he was then forty-one years old, and to require the change of this age into twenty-one years. Moreover, Abijah relates in this his speech the events in the revolt of the ten tribes from Rehoboam in a very inexact way (Rehoboam did not show himself weak of heart on that occasion, but rather hard and daring of heart, etc.); for he clearly wishes to justify his father as far as possible, and roll all the blame of the revolt of the ten tribes on Jeroboam and his worthless followers (Keil).
2Ch 13:8. The kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David, the theocratic kingdom founded by David, and hereditary in his house (comp. 1Ch 29:23 and the like).
2Ch 13:9. Have ye not made you priests like the nations of the lands, not divinely called, but only humanly chosen, priests, like those of heathendom; comp. 1Ki 12:31.Whosoever cometh to fill his hand, that is, institute and consecrate himself priest of the new worship; comp. Exo 28:41; Exo 29:9; Exo 32:29; see 1Ki 13:33. The following words: with a young steer (literally, with a steer the son of the herd, and seven rams, belong not so much to fill as to cometh ( , as Psa 40:8). As according to Exodus 29 the offerings to be made on the consecration of a priest consisted of a young steer as a sin-offering, a ram as a burnt-offering, and a ram of consecration, and this presented on seven days in succession (thus in all seven steers and fourteen rams), the offering appears here to be imperfectly stated, not on account of an inaccurate report, but because Abijah might know that in fact there had been a considerable deviation from the strict requirements of the law, in order the more speedily to obtain a new priesthood. Indeed, it was a priesthood of non-gods or ungods (comp. Deu 32:21) which was so founded.
2Ch 13:10. And the Levites in their business (in the business, ), performing their office in the legal way; comp. 1Ch 23:28 ff.
2Ch 13:11. Burn unto the Lord burntofferings, fumigate, turn into smoke, , which is then zeugmatically connected with the laying of the shew-bread and the lighting of the lamps, which are also parts of the priestly office. On these various priestly functions, that are then combined as a keeping of the charge of the Lord (Lev 8:35), comp. Exo 29:38 ff; Exo 25:30 ff; Exo 27:20 ff.; Lev 24:7 ff.
2Ch 13:12. The clanging trumpets to sound are made prominent, because God had expressly designated them in the law as the pledges on account of which He would remember and help His people in war, Num 10:9.
2Ch 13:13 ff. Judahs Victory over the Superior Force of Israel.To come behind them; comp. Jos 8:2; Jdg 20:29 ff.
2Ch 13:15. And the men of Judah shouted. Keil rightly says: In and the loud cry of the warriors and the clanging of the priests with the trumpets are combined, and is to be referred neither alone to the war-cry of the combatants assailing the enemy, nor, with Berth. (and Kamph.), to the blowing of the clanging trumpets; comp. also Jdg 7:19 ff. (Gideon in the conflict with the Midianites).
2Ch 13:17. Smote them with a great slaughter; for the phrase, see Num 11:33; Jos 10:30. For the number 500,000, which appears inconceivably great as the number of those who fell in the one field at Zemaraim, comp. Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.
2Ch 13:18. The sons of Israel were humbled (comp. in 2Ch 12:6 f.), or weakened by their enormous loss (comp. Jdg 3:30; Jdg 8:28; 1Sa 7:13).
2Ch 13:19. Bethel and her daughters, her daughter towns; comp. Neh 11:25. Besides this border city of south Israel, well known from Gen 12:8; Gen 28:19; Gen 35:15, Jos 7:12, etc. (the present Beitin), are named the otherwise unknown Jeshanah (or Jesyna; comp. Crit. Note), and an Ephron, as cities taken by Abijah from the conquered. The last has scarcely anything but the name common with Mount Ephron on the south border of Benjamin (Jos 15:9), but should probably be identified with Ophrah near Bethel (Jdg 6:11), or the town Ephraim situated there, mentioned Josh. 11:54 (comp. Josephus, B. J. iv. 9. 9), especially if we are to read , with the Masorah; see Crit. Note.
2Ch 13:20. And Jeroboam had no more strength; , as 2Ch 20:37; 1Ch 29:14.And the Lord smote him, and he died, not snatched him away by a sudden death (of which nothing is known from 1 Kings), but smote him, visited him with misfortune (comp. in 2Ch 13:15 and 2Ch 21:18) till his death, referring probably to that which is related in 1Ki 14:1-18.
2Ch 13:21 ff. Family History of Abijah; his End.And Abijah strengthened himself (, as 2Ch 12:13), and took to him fourteen wives. Comp. the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections in the previous section, No. 3. Abijah must have had most of these fourteen wives before he ascended the throne, or at least before his war with Jeroboam. That he took them after the war follows only apparently from the position in the narrative, which has no chronologic import.
2Ch 13:22. Are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo. Comp. on this source of our author, Introd. 5, II. p. 17.
2 Chronicles 13:23. And Asa . . . in his days the land was quiet ten years, in consequence of the great victory of his father over Jeroboam, and the weakening of the northern kingdom thereby occasioned; comp. 2Ch 14:4-5; 2Ch 15:19.
II. Asa: 1. His Theocratic Zeal and Care for the Defence of the Kingdom: 2Ch 14:1-7; comp. 1Ki 15:9-12; 1Ki 15:14-15.And Asa did that which was good and right; comp. 2Ch 31:20.
2Ch 14:2. Took away the altars of the strange gods, consecrated to strange gods, of the idolatrous foreign countries; comp. Gen 35:2; Gen 35:4. That only these, and not also high places, or illegal places of sacrifice consecrated to Jehovah, were removed by him, is clear from 2Ch 15:17.And brake the pillars, the memorial stones erected to Baal (); comp. Exo 34:13; Jdg 3:7; 2Ki 3:2. Likewise the Asherim, wooden posts and holy frees consecrated to Astarte; comp. 1Ki 14:23, and Bhr on the passage.On 2Ch 14:3, comp. 2Ch 15:12.
2Ch 14:4. And he took away . . . the high places and the sun-statues; , the statues before the altars of Baal, consecrated to him as the sun-god; comp. 2Ch 34:4; Lev 26:30; Movers, Die Phnizier, i. 343 ff.And the kingdom was quiet before him, that is, under him, under his eye (); comp. Num 8:22; Psa 72:5; Pro 4:3.
2Ch 14:5. Built fenced cities in Judah . . . in those days, during this quiet of ten years. Comp. Rehoboams fortifications, 2Ch 11:5 ff.
2Ch 14:6. Let us build these cities. What cities? It is not said; but certainly Geba and Mizpah, which were built after the war with Baasha (2Ch 16:6). Asa assigns as the motive for these buildings: the land is yet before us, free, open to us, unoccupied by the foe; comp. Gen 13:9.And they built and prospered. Vulg. very free, yet in substance correct; nullumque in exstruendo impedimentum fuit.
2Ch 14:7. Bearing shield and spear. The great or long shield () is here meant, in opposition to the short or round shield () then mentioned; the same difference as in 2Ch 9:15-16. That the Jews had exclusively only long shields and spears, and the Benjamites only short shields and bows, as armour, need not be assumed; the representation is only relative, summary, and not to be pressed, as also the numbers (300,000 of the Jews and 280,000 of the Benjamites) are obviously only round. They are, moreover, so far as the whole population fit to bear arms is concerned, by no means incredible. With respect to the comparatively high number of 280,000 Benjamites, we are to consider not only their lighter armour (which might be borne by younger and weaker men), but also that Benjamin was an eminently warlike tribe, a ravening wolf according to Jacobs prophetic word, Gen 49:27, that must have taken the field with all possible force. Comp. also on 1Ch 7:6-11, and the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.
2. Asas Victory over Zerah the Ethiopian: 2Ch 14:8-14, a section wanting in Kings.And Zerah the Ethiopian came out against him. This Zerah (Sept. ; Vulg. Zara) counts with most recent expositors, on account of the similarity of name, as the same with the Egyptian King Osorchon I., successor of Shishak-Sesonchis, and so the second king of the twenty-second or Bubastite Dynasty (comp. Unger, Manetho, p. 233; Thenius on 1Ki 15:23); whereas Hitzig rather identifies him with the Sabakos of Herodotus (Gesch. des V. Isr. p. 165 f.; comp. Herod, II. 137 ff., 152), but Brugsch takes him for an Ethiopian, not Egyptian, ruler, who, under the reign of Takeloth I. (about 944 b.c.), invaded the southwest of Asia and Egypt as a conqueror. The last assumption certainly agrees best, as well with the Biblical chronology as with the designation of Zerah as a Kushite.With a host of 1,000,000. On this number, as scarcely to be pressed, but rather depending on a rough and ideal estimate, see the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.And he came to Mareshah, mentioned in 2Ch 11:9, between Hebron and Ashdod.
2Ch 14:9. And Asa went out against him, literally, before him; comp. 15:2; 1Ch 19:14; 1Ch 14:8.In the valley of Zephathah, scarcely = Tell es Safieh (Robinson, Pal. ii. 625), but a place nearer Mareshah, perhaps that described by Robinson, II. 613.
2Ch 14:10. Lord, no one is nigh Thee to help, no one is able like Thee (literally, with Thee; comp. 2Ch 20:6; Psa 73:25) to help.With the mighty, or with no might, between the mighty and the impotent ( with following, as Gen 1:13, etc.); the help of God is conceived as imparted either to the mighty or the weak, and therefore as between both. Some conceive the passage otherwise; Vulg., Ramb., S. Schmidt, etc.: Domine, non est apud te ulla distantia utrum in paucis auxilieris an in pluribus; Berth., Keil, etc.: No other than Thou can help in an unequal combat, that is, help the weaker part; Kamph. (writing conjecturally for ): It is impossible that anything could prevail ( , as 2Ch 13:20, etc.), whether the mighty or the weak. Substantially correct, though inexact, Luther: It is no difference with Thee to help among many, or where there is no power.In Thy name we go against this multitude, trusting to Thy help.No man may hold out against Thee. For the omission of with , comp. 2Ch 20:37 (1Ch 29:14; 2 Chron. 13:25). On the sentence, comp. (partly at least) Psa 9:20 a.
2Ch 14:12. And Asa . . . pursued them unto Gerar, the old Philistine city, now Khirbet el Gerar, three and a half hours south-east of Gaza.And the Ethiopians fell, so that there was no recovery, not so that there was none left living (Berth., Kamph., etc), but so that they could not rally, ut eis vivificatio, i. e. copias restaurandi ratio non esset (J. H. Mich., Keil, etc.). stands for of the older style, in the sense of so that not (comp. Ew. 315, c). , preservation of life, revival, as Gen 45:5; Ezr 9:8-9.For they were broken (, as Eze 30:8) before the Lord, and before His host; Asas army is here so called as the instrument of the divine justice against the haughty foe. To think of a host of angels that had contended invisibly on the side of the Jews (Starke and other older writers, with allusion to Gen 32:2 f.) is without any warrant, as the term , especially in the singular, stands for a single earthly army.
2Ch 14:13. And they smote all the cities around Gerar, probably because, like the Philistines generally, they had made common cause with the Cushites, and joined them against the Jews.For the terror of the Lord, a terror occasioned by the Lord, and therefore the more powerful; comp. 17:10, 20:29; 1Sa 11:7.
2Ch 14:14. And they smote also the tents of cattle, the herds of the nomad tribes in the neighbourhood of Gerar (in the northern regions of the wilderness of Shur and Paran, the old country of the Amalekites).
3. Prophetic Warning of Azariah Son of Oded to Asa returning Home: 2Ch 15:1-7 (likewise peculiar to Chronicles).Upon Azariah son of Oded. The names of both father and son occur only here: the identification of Oded with Iddo (2Ch 9:29; 2Ch 12:15) is an idle fancy of some ancients.
2Ch 15:2. Before Asa, to meet him; comp. on 2Ch 14:9.The Lord is with you, while you are with Him. Comp. Jam 4:8; and with respect to the following sentence, 1Ch 28:9; 2Ch 12:5; 2Ch 24:20; Jer 29:13.
2Ch 15:3. And many days will be to Israel without the true God. The Sept. and Vulg., Luther, Clericus, and most moderns rightly refer these words to the future, and thus conceive them to be a prediction of that which was to happen with respect to the relation of Gods people to the Lord,a prediction of like import with Hos 3:4-5. For this view speaks, on the one hand, the generality of the term Israel, which appears to be used here in the same ideal sense as in 2Ch 11:3; 2Ch 12:1, and, on the other hand, the absence of any more precise date in , by which that which is said is characterized as a general truth holding for all times; but the reference to any definite earlier time, with which, besides, the closing monition in 2Ch 15:7 would ill agree, is absolutely excluded. Neither the time of the judges, with its illegal conditions and its closing reformation by Samuel, is described by the prophet (against Vitr. and Ramb.), nor the last decennium of the southern kingdom before the reforms of Asa (as the Syr., Arab., Raschi, Berth., think), nor, finally, the circumstances of the northern kingdom since Jeroboam (Targ., Tremell., Grotius, etc.). The last opinion is certainly the most arbitrary of all; for what occasion had the prophet to greet the king of the southern kingdom, returning as a conqueror after deliverance from a great danger, with a reflection on the errors and calamities of the northern kingdom? But if we refer the words as a prophecy to the future, no unsuitable limitation must be introduced (as, for example, to the Babylonish exile, of which Kimchi, Mariana, S. Schmidt, have thought). It is the whole future of the people of God, of which the prophet asserts the law: If ye turn away from God, He will turn away from you. Comp. besides, Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 1. On the true God, properly, God of truth, , comp. Jer 10:10 and Isa 65:16 ( ). , properly, to not a god of truth; , not essentially different from , 1Ch 22:4, 2Ch 20:35, is distinguished from only as is distinguished from : the latter expresses the being in a state, the former the falling into it (Keil).Without a teaching priest, without priests to perform the function of teaching (Lev 10:10; Deu 33:10); the special reference to the high priest (Vitr. and others) has no ground in the context. To the defect in teaching priests corresponds the defect in a law; for where there is no , there is no !
2Ch 15:5 f. The prophetic address returns after a passing brief promise of salvation (2Ch 15:4 b) to the description of the lamentable effects of the future apostasy from God.N peace for him that goeth out or cometh in, thus no free, peaceful intercourse; on going out and in, comp. 2Ch 16:1; Zec 8:10; Jos 6:1; on the following great vexations (), Deu 28:20; Amo 3:9. All the inhabitants of the lands are all the inhabitants of the provinces of Israel (or Judah); see 2Ch 34:33. The view of the speaker here scarcely extends over the whole inhabited globe (Kamph.), although in the following verse he transcends the boundaries of Judah, and depicts its attraction into the confusion and conflict of the neighbouring nations.And nation shall be smitten by nation. Kamphausens rendering: they are pushed nation on nation, is too farfetched, and by no means required by the meaning of . The Jews had a striking fulfilment of this gloomy foreboding of a bellum omnium contra omnes in the times of Nebuchadnezzar; a second in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, with respect to which Christ also makes use of similar prophetic expressions, Luk 21:10; Luk 21:26, and the parallels.For God hath vexed them with all trouble; comp. Jdg 4:15; Zec 14:13.
2Ch 15:7. But be ye brave, and let not pour hands be slack; comp. Zep 3:16; Neh 6:9; and the hands becoming slack as a figure of sinking courage, 2Sa 4:1; Isa 35:3; Heb 12:11. On the closing promise of reward, comp. Jer 31:16; 1Co 3:8; 1Co 15:58.
4. Asas Reform of Worship and Renewal of Covenant with the Lord: 2Ch 15:8-19.And when Asa heard . . . this prophecy of Oded the prophet. The Hebrew text has not , but . This circumstance points to a corruption of the passage, as well as the absence of before , which was to be expected according to 2Ch 15:1. As the readings of the Sept. and Vulg. (see Crit. Note) may be only later attempts at emendation, and as the assumption of a double name of Azariah, according to which he was at times called by the name of his father (Starke and other ancients), is certainly as questionable as the transposition of the corresponding names in 2Ch 15:1 into Oded son of Azariah (Mov.), it appears most advisable to remove the words ) from the text as an old gloss (Berth.), or (with Keil) to assume the omission of several words after (say ).He took courage (), according to Azariahs exhortation: be ye brave, .Put away the abominations, properly, make to pass over (, as 1Ki 15:12) the abominations, the idols; comp. 2Ki 23:13; 2Ki 23:24; Eze 30:7-8; Dan 9:27.Which he had taken from Mount Ephraim, , as 2Ch 13:19; 2Ch 17:2. According to the former of these passages, it appears that these were the cities that Abijah, Asas father, had taken. In fact this assumption is necessary, because no war of Asa with the northern kingdom had taken place at this time. A co-operation of Asa as lieutenant or joint-commander with his father in that war seems a questionable assumption, on account of his then very great youth (perhaps his minority; comp. on 2Ch 13:1).And renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord, the altar of burnt-offering, that might have been in need of repair sixty years after its erection by Solomon (2Ch 8:12). Yet , renovare (comp. 2Ch 24:4), might possibly also be taken in the sense of consecrate again, after the previous defilement by idolatry (Vulg.: dedicavit; Berth., Kamph., etc.).
2Ch 15:9 ff. The Great Festival on the Renewal of the Theocratic Covenant.And the strangers with them, out of Ephraim. That by these strangers are meant not merely the theocratically – disposed immigrants into Judah under Rehoboam (11:16), but also a newer addition to them that had come under Asa himself, is expressly asserted in the following words (comp. 30:11, 18). The mention of Simeon with Ephraim and Manasseh, and therefore as a district belonging to the northern kingdom, is scarcely to be explained by a migration of many Simeonites to North Palestine (Berth., Kamph.), but rather by th fact that the tribe of Simeon, though in a geographical situation it belonged to the kingdom of Judah, yet in the point of idolatry had made common cause with the northern kingdom by the erection of that impure worship of Jehovah at Beersheba, of which Amo 4:4; Amo 5:5; Amo 8:14 speaks along with Bethel and Gilgal (correctly Keil, Net., etc.).
2Ch 15:10. In the third month of the fifteenth, year of the reign of Asa, in the spring of the year 940 b.c.; comp. Hitzig, Gesch. p. 197.
2Ch 15:11. And they sacrificed . . . of the spoil they had brought, in the war with the Ethiopians and their allies; for this war, though it broke out in the eleventh year of Asa (2 Chronicles 13:23; 14:8), might have extended even to the present date, and therefore lasted for four years; the statement in 2Ch 14:8-14 admits of this very well.
2Ch 15:12. They entered into a covenant, a new covenant of peace with God; comp. , Jer 34:10; Neh 10:30.
2Ch 15:13. And whosoever . . . should be put to death, according to the strict letter of the law, Deu 17:2-6; comp. 2Ch 13:10; 2Ch 13:17. Observe the present trace of a far higher age of the book of Deuteronomy than the time of Josiah, where modern criticism places its origin. Comp. Schrder, Deuteron. Einl. pp. 25, 32; Kleinert, Das Deuteron. und der Deutoronomiker, 1872, especially p. 136 ff.
2Ch 15:14. And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice. On the musical instruments accompanying this act of the solemn renewal of the covenant, comp. 23:13; Neh 12:27 ff.
2Ch 15:16-18. Comp. Bhr on the almost literally coinciding parallel 1Ki 15:13-15.And also Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed. In 1 Kings stands simply , his mother, because there Maachah had been mentioned just before (2Ch 15:10). For the rest, comp. on 2Ch 13:1.And Asa cut down her idol, and crushed it, and burnt it. The crushing (comp. Exo 32:20; 2Ki 23:15) is mentioned only by the Chronist; in 1 Kings is wanting.
2Ch 15:17. Out of Israel is wanting in 1 Kings. It naturally means the southern kingdom as the legitimate and normal people of Israel; comp. 2Ch 15:3.But the heart of Asa was perfect, entirely devoted to the Lord. The expressly added 1 Kings is here omitted, because the , as predicate to , is plain enough of itself (comp. 2Ch 16:9; 2Ch 19:9); that is, Asas exclusive interest in the worship of Jehovah at Jerusalem, not in that (still tolerated) worship on the high places, is distinctly enough expressed.
2Ch 15:19, introducing the following account of the war.And there was no more war unto the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa. The contradiction to 1Ki 15:16 : And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days, is in so far only apparent, as there denotes only a state of hostility, here a formal war actually carried on in open field. It is not so easy to explain the difficulty involved in the date: unto the thirty-fifth year of Asas reign; see on 16:1.
5. Asas War with Baasha: 2Ch 16:1-6; comp. 1Ki 15:17-23.In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa. As, according to 1Ki 16:8; 1Ki 16:10, Baasha died in the twenty-sixth year of Asas reign, and his successor Elah was killed before two years more had elapsed, and therefore in the twenty-seventh or twenty-eighth year of this king, the misplacing of the war between Asa and Baasha in the thirty-sixth year of the latter involves an error, and a very old one, already noted by the Sept., and provided with an attempt at emendation (see Crit. Note). A mistake of the pen, that, as 2Ch 10:19 shows, existed perhaps in the sources of the Chronist, is probably the ground of this error; and 36 appears to have been miswritten for 16 (and in accordance with this, in 2Ch 15:19, 35 for 15). From the similarity of the numeral (30) to (1o) in the old Hebrew character, this change was very possible; and the circumstance that Asas reform of worship, 2Ch 15:10, took place in the third month of his fifteenth year, agrees on the whole very well with this determination of time; there results an interval of a year or a year and a half between the reform and the new war. The solution preferred by most of the old expositors, that the thirty-sixth year of the kingdom of Asa, that is, the thirty-sixth year from the founding of the kingdom of Judah by Rehoboam, which coincides with the sixteenth year of the reign of Asa, is meant (des Vignoles, Ramb., Starke, Mich., and Hengstenberg, Gesch. des Reiches Gottes, iii. 169), is not consistent with the word , which in this connection always signifies reign, sovereignty. The attempts made by Movers (Chron. p. 255 ff.) and Thenius (on 1 Kings 15) to explain this surprising mistake are too artificial, and arbitrary (see, on the contrary side, Berth. p. 325). On the following particulars, coinciding almost word for word with 1Ki 15:17 ff, comp. Bhrs exposition.
2Ch 16:2. And sent to Benhadad. Instead of the form , presented here and generally in the Old Testament, the Assyrian monuments constantly exhibit this name in the form Binhidri (Schrader, Die Keilinschriften, p. 101 f.), thus agreeing with, the of the Sept. ( = ).
2Ch 16:4. And they smote Abel-maim = Abel-beth-maachah of the parallel text in 1 Kings, as is clear from 2Sa 20:14.And all the stores of the cities of Naphtali. For this 1 Kings has: And all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. That the one of the two readings has arisen from the other by misunderstanding or miswriting seems certain; perhaps the in 1 Kings is corrupted from (Gesen.-Dietrich im Lex.), though our might possibly also be an explanation of the , 1 Kings 15, whereby the Chronist might have characterized the high fertility of the district of Cinneroth (or Cinnereth, Jos 19:35) by the symbolic expression: stores (corn-magazines) of the cities of Naphtali (so Keil).
2Ch 16:5. And let his work cease. Instead of this, 1Ki 15:21 : and dwelt in Tirzah. In our , scarcely anything else is t be seen but an attempt at interpretation, where the words had become illegible (Berth., Kamph.); for after the words: he left off building of Ramah, a second repetition of the thought, that Baasha gave up his undertaking against Judah, was obviously superfluous (against Keil).
2Ch 16:6. And built therewith Geba and Mizpah, the former (Geba of Benjamin in 1 Kings) half an hour north-east, the latter an hour south-west, of Jerusalem. The historical character of this notice is confirmed by Jer 41:9, where a pit made by Asa in Mizpah is mentioned.
6. Hananis Prophetic Warning: Asas Transgression and End: 2Ch 16:7-14.And at that time came Hanani. This prophet () is otherwise unknown, though he appears to be identical with the father of the prophet Jehu ben Hanani, who about this time announced to Baasha the downfall of his house (1Ki 16:1); comp. 19:2. That this Hanani was the author of the prophetic sentence () quoted by Hos 7:12, whereby Israel is warned against a league with foreign powers, or more definitely, that the present oracle of Hanani, without naming its author, is quoted in this passage of Hosea, is the quite untenable conjecture of some moderns, for example, Frst (Gesch. der bibl. Lit. ii. 206, 293).Therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped from thy hand, the occasion has escaped thee of smiting both at once, Baasha of Israel and his presumptive ally the Syrian king. Comp. the rebuke by Elisha of Joash of Israel, for smiting only three times with the arrows instead of five or six times (2Ki 13:15 ff.).
2Ch 16:8. Confirmatory reference to the victory of Asa over Zerah (14:8 ff.). For the Lubites, comp. on 13:3f.
2Ch 16:9. For the eyes of the Lord, etc., literally, for Jehovah, His eyes. On to prove himself strong for any one, that is, help him mightily, comp. 1Ch 11:10. On running about, , comp. Jer 5:1; Zec 4:10. Before the relative is omitted; comp. 1Ch 15:12.For henceforth thou shall have wars, entanglements in unhappy worldly transactions, in the dangerous mazes of the policy of the great powers; a prediction of misfortune that was abundantly fulfilled, if not in Asa himself, yet in his successors until the exile.
2Ch 16:10. Put him in the prison, properly, house of the stocks; turning round, is the well-known instrument of torture for locking round the culprit, in which Jeremiah also and Paul were forced to languish (Jer 20:2; Jer 29:26; Act 16:24). Comp. the equivalent , Job 13:27; Job 33:11.And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time, from anger at the deserved censure of the prophet (on the suitableness and importance of this address, see the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections). , properly, shatter, in Pi.: oppress, misuse, as Job 20:19.
2Ch 16:11-14. Asas End. On 2Ch 16:11, comp. Introd. 5, II.
2Ch 16:12. And Asa . . . was diseased in his feet, probably with gout; the following also: his disease was very great (literally, till it reached a great height, ), Points to severe suffering of this kind.And in his disease also he sought not the Lord, but to the physicians., first with the accusative of the object , as is usual elsewhere, then with , by which preposition is elsewhere designated, inquiring or seeking help from God or from idols (1Ch 10:14; 1Sa 28:7; 2Ki 1:2 ff.); thus here expressing a superstitious trust in the physicians, and accordingly not opposed to the right of making use of medical aid, especially in cases of sickness; so far from this, that inversely the not seeking of the Lord may be regarded as a not seeking of his priests who were in Israel, analogous to the Egyptian priests, the legitimate physicians (as is done by K. Ad. Menzel in his posthumous work, Religion und Stadtsidee, 1872, p. 29).
2Ch 16:14. Asas solemn burial is related by the Chronist with surprising detail, probably on account of the heathenish pomp and luxury which it displayed, reminding us of the manner of the Egyptian Pharaohs.And they buried him in his own tomb, literally, in his own sepulchres; comp. 2Ki 22:20; Job 21:32. This preparation of a burial-place or mausoleum, different from the common tombs of the kings, reminds us of the customs of the Egyptian kings, or at all events (comp. our Remark on Job 3:14) indicates a haughty inclination to self-apotheosis incompatible with a genuine theocratic disposition; comp. Isa 22:16 ff.Laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours of divers kinds. On , kinds, comp. Ps. 165:13, Dan 3:5; the term may well serve to describe more precisely the foregoing , spices (Son 4:10 ff.).Compounded by art, properly, compounded by compounding of work, by the work of the artificer; comp. Exo 30:25; Exo 30:35, and 1Ch 9:30. is in this connection ; the assumption that the latter word is omitted is unnecessary.And they made a very great burning for him, namely, of the sweet-smelling substances of the kind mentioned. Such burnings of incense were always made at the burial of the kings of Judah, as appears from Jer 34:5. But what the Chronist notices as culpable is the exaggerated splendour and lavish excess with which the custom was observed in the burial of Asa, as if it were the burial of a Pharaoh of Egypt (comp. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, etc., ii. 385 f.; Uhlemann, Egypt. Alterthumsk. ii. 325). Against the assumption of some, as Michaelis (De combustione et humatione mortuorum apud Hebros, in his Syntagma dissertatt. i. 225 sqq.), that the body of the king was burned among the spices, see Geier, De luctu Hebror. c. vi, who rightly maintains that such cases as the burning of Saul and his sons were exceptions to the general custom of Hebrew antiquity.
Evangelical and Ethical Reflections and Apologetic Remarks on 2 Chronicles 13-16
1. To much that is original, and in a theological sense important, in the comparatively full account given by our author of the reigns of Abijah and Asa, belong especially the three speeches which it contains, of which the old parallel text presents neither a brief rsum nor even a passing trace. All three are in a high degree characteristic, and point to a primitive tradition, true in all essentials to word and deed as their source. The address of Abijah to the Ephraimites from Mount Zemaraim is strictly an oratio pro domo, a defence of a royal representative of the house of David maintaining the good cause of his theocratic inheritance. With no little skill, and with much diplomatic art as well as downright popular rhetoric, all is put forward that can be said for the legitimate kingdom and worship, and against the usurpation of Jeroboam. There is reference, on the one hand, to the unchangeableness of the covenant with Jehovah (13:5), to the divine origin of the Davidic dynasty (as a kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David, 2Ch 16:8), to the beauty and established order of the service of God in the central sanctuary at Jerusalem, and to the hereditary legal chartered dignity of the theocratic priesthood (2Ch 16:10-12); and, on the other hand, to the unworthy aims of the revolution party led by Jeroboam (the men of Belial who took advantage of the tender youth, inexperience, and weakness of Rehoboam, 2Ch 16:7), to the folly of the worship of the golden calves, the illegal and heathenish character of its priesthood, the hopelessness of a contest with Jehovah, the God of their fathers (2Ch 16:8-9; 2Ch 16:12), in the tone now of fine irony, now of bitter scorn, and now of threatening earnest. The whole, inclusive of the partisan, one-sided, and somewhat distorted reference to the procedure in the separation of the kingdom (2Ch 16:7), appears a masterpiece of political eloquence, the present form of which (taken, no doubt, from the Midrasch of the prophet Iddo quoted in 2 Chronicles 16:22) may be ideally conceived; but the chief context and process of thought can scarcely be a pure invention. No less original and characteristic are the two prophetic speeches inserted in the history of Asas reign. The speech of Azariah son of Oded (2Ch 15:2-7) unfolds at the moment a gloomy picture of the future godlessness of the people forsaking their God more and more, and of the troubles and judgments arising from their unfaithfulness, where the tone of jubilant gladness for the great victory secured, and the announcement of optimistic expectations, would have seemed most natural. Instead of a panegyristic flatterer courting princely favour, a deeply-earnest prophet of woe greets the king returning in triumph, who has certainly words of acknowledgment for that which has been performed by the conquerors, but clothes his praise in the form of an exhibition of necessary connection between devotion to God and the gracious reward of such devotion, and dwells with visible predilection on the times of apostasy, with its tragic consequences, that were coming notwithstanding all the admonitions of the prophets. The speech appears badly enough to suit the festive moment that forms its occasion; but it testifies to the unusually deep glance into the inmost heart of the people which the speaker filled with the terrible earnest of the coming destiny has long taken. And as such testimony, it fails not also of its effect, but rather proves, as the consequent energy of the king in purifying the form of worship shows, a true comfort and strengthening for good (, confortatio; comp. , Sept. , 2Ch 16:8), an impulse at least effectual for a time to return to the path of theocratic truth and righteousness, a model (Hos 3:4-5 f., 9:3, 4, where there seems to be an allusion to it) and primitive form held in esteem by later prophets of genuine prediction, the fundamental thought of which, as it recurs (mutatis mutandis) in the woe-foreboding addresses of an Isaiah to Hezekiah (Isaiah 39; 2 Kings 20), and a Huldah to Josiah (2Ch 34:22 ff.), stands forth not essentially different in the pictures of the future presented in the New Testament (Mat 24:5 ff.; 2Th 2:3 ff.; 1Jn 2:18 ff.; Luk 18:8, etc.). In severs rebuke of a temporary departure of the king from the path of theological strictness and conscientiousness marked out for him by the prophetic word of Azariah, proceeds the second of the two prophetic speakers, Hanani (2Ch 16:7-9). With a sharp lecture he treats the king, looking for nothing but praise for his victory over Baasha. That he made not Jehovah but the Syrian heathens his stay, he pronounces not only imprudent but directly foolish (2Ch 16:9). His sagacity, not unexercised in political matters, lets him know immediately, under the influence of the illuminating Spirit of God, that the calling in the help of the Syrian power must draw to it the dependence, not merely of the conquered Israelites, but also of the Jews. Wherefore he not only blames the misled princes weakness of faith and fear of man, and emphatically lays before him, that the eyes of the Lord are only strong for those who serve Him with entire devotion, but hurls upon, him a hard , stulte egisti (unduly softened by the Sept. into a weak ). He suffers for this boldness the same punishment which Jeremiah brought upon himself, when he, a no less zealous preacher of the truth that man should not make flesh his arm than Hanani, had spoken hard words against the obstinacy and folly of his contemporaries (Jer 20:2; comp. Jer 17:5; Jer 19:15).Here again is nothing that is not in the highest degree original and powerful, breathing the stern prophetic spirit of Samuel and Nathan. Both speeches may show in their present form the elaborating hand of the Chronist, but in matter they appear with incontestable evidence as documents taken from the prophetic historical sources of the writer, of a time bordering upon and cognate with the spirit of Elijah and Elisha.
2. In a religious and moral respect, the two kings described in our section appear again somewhat better than Rehoboam, who trod in the paths of the degenerate Solomon. In particular, Asa receives due praise for his theocratic zeal, as he busied himself as a reformer of the worship of God, that had been in several ways disfigured by superstition. The Deuteronomic law, which threatens every partaker in such idolatry with death, he not only binds upon the people by an oath (Deu 15:13-14 f.), but puts in practice the judicial rigour of this statute even against his own mother (grandmother), as he removes her from her dignity as queen-mother on account of her worship of Astarte, and so makes judgment begin at the royal house itself (Deu 16:16). Inasmuch as he certainly does not set aside (Deu 16:17) the worship on the high places, he does not rise to the height of theocratic rigour and purity which was attained in the subsequent reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah. The later time and the end of his reign also were tarnished by bursts of passion and acts of violence towards pious men of God, as the prophet Hanani; and a severe and painful disease is not able to bring him back to the early well-known simplicity of his devotion to Jehovah (2Ch 16:12; comp. 15:17). He seeks not the Lord, but betakes himself to the physicians; the impure juggling method, mingled no doubt with superstition and idolatry, pursued by the medicine men or goet of his time, gave him more confidence than the helping hand of the God of truth, with whose witnesses he had also quarrelled. So it fared otherwise with him than with the pious Hezekiah, who without medical aid, by the miraculous help of God obtained through the prophet, was delivered from a dangerous sickness, and had fifteen years added to his life (2 Kings 20; 2Ch 32:24). The word of the wise Sirach was verified in him: He that sinneth before his Maker shall fall into the hand of the physician (Sir 38:15). Like the woman having the issue of blood, he must become , Mar 5:26. In setting forth the impotence of these human helpers exclusively sought by him (comp. Sir 10:11 : 8), there is no absolute condemnation of medical art or science, but merely a gentle hint of the state of his heart, enslaved to worldly and idolatrous lusts, God-estranged and unbelieving, on account of which might justly be addressed to him the question of the prophet Jeremiah: Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? Jer 8:22; or also that question of Elijah: Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? 2Ki 1:3. Comp. also, with respect to Asas religious and moral character, the weighty remark of Bengel (Beitrge zum Schriftverstndniss, p. 17f.): Asa was righteous (15:17), and yet he behaved so badly at the last (16:10, 12). How can this be? Answer.He has not turned to idols all his life long; he has constantly held the Lord to be the right, true, and only God. But it was, as it were, an atheismus practicus, that he withdrew his confidence from Him. He thought, Shall I have been pious so long, and yet now receive a reprimand? If he had only received it like David: I have sinned, etc., all would have been right, etc.
3. In an apologetic respect, we have to observe, in conjunction with the remarks made under No. 1, that weighty credentials of an internal kind support the two great wars as the Chronist relates them here, in completion of the very imperfect account in the books of Kings of these episodes in the history of the reigns of Abijah and Asa. That Abijahs conflict with Jeroboam, after the total dissolution of the army of the latter, led to the annexation of the three towns Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron to the southern kingdom (2Ch 13:19), is a notice so definite and concrete, that no scepticism of de Wette and Gramberg, with its assertion of the feigned character of the narrative in question, can be accepted, as, on the other hand, the attempt of Ewald, while admitting a kernel of historical fact, to stamp at least the speech of Abijah on Mount Zemaraim as a free composition of the Chronist, is wrecked on the highly original contents of this speech (see No. 1, and comp. Keil, Commentar, p. 264 f., Remarks). The passage 1Ki 15:15 also, where the things dedicated by Abijah are mentioned, which his son Asa afterwards brought into the house of the Lord along with his own dedicated gifts, affords an indirect proof that both rulers had gained great victories and taken much spoil from their foes (comp. 2Ch 14:12-13 f.), by which must be meant the victory of the former over Jeroboam, and that of the latter over Zerah (comp. Thenius on this passage, and Berth. on Chron. p. 324). The credibility of the account of this last great battle derives support also from what is related at its close of the conquest and spoliation of the cities around Gerar, and the cattle tents of the nomad tribes dwelling south of Palestine, a detail, again, that gives the lie altogether to the suspicion of pure notion.Only the very high numbers in the account of the slaughter should be regarded as falling beyond the range of the historically exact. They are perhaps not to be understood according to the nominal value of the numbers given, but only an expression conceived in figures of the contemporaries of these wars, which imports that the two kings (first Abijah and Jeroboam, then Asa and Zerah) had summoned to the field the whole military strength of their kingdoms (Keil, p. 265). In the war of Abijah with Jeroboam, this is favoured by the approximative accordance of the numbers 800,000 and 400,000 with results of the census by David, as well as the round ideal sum of 500,000 as the number of those who fell on the side of Israel, a number that perhaps only indicates that Jeroboam had lost more than half his force. In the war with the Ethiopian king, the corresponding assumption is favoured by the round number 1,000,000, as well as by the circumstance that exact accounts, resting on actual numbering, and not on a mere estimate, of the strength of the enemy, were not at the command of the observers and reporters on the Jewish side (comp. above on the passages in question). The necessity of a merely ideal and approximate conception of these numbers is evident, if we compare the statements, resting on actual numbering, of the strength of the men-at-arms in the several tribes in the genealogical summaries (1 Chronicles 5-7). The smallest of the numbers there named (for example, 44,760, 87,000, 22,034, 20,200, 17,200, 26,000) are round. It is the same with the numbers referring to the warriors from the several tribes at the elevation of David to the throne in 1 Chronicles 12; comp. the remarks on this in p. 120 f.
Footnotes:
[1]On the probable error of the pen here ( for ), see Exeg. Expl.
[2]For the Sept. has (but Josephus, Antiq. viii. 11.3: ).
[3]For the Kethib , supported by the Sept. and Vulg., the Keri is .
[4]For some mss. read ; but the pual is required by the context.
[5]Sept. cod. Vat.: () ; on the contrary, c. Al., ed Ald., etc.: Vulg.: Oded prophet. Perhaps the words should be cancelled as an old gloss. See the Exeg. Expl.
[6]So all the mss. and versions but the Sept., which has , by a mistake of for , or on the ground of some peculiar chronological reckoning.
[7]Properly, Darmascus; see 1Ch 18:5-6, and the Crit. Note thereon. For the , given by the Sept. for , comp. the Exeg. Expl.
[8] I, we believe, in the notorious corruption of the text (see Fritzcshes Libb. apocr. V. T. p. 409), with Hirzig (Der proph. Daniel, p. 142), should be read here instead of .
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The history of Asa is continued through this chapter. Encouraged by Azariah, on whom the Spirit of God descended to teach the king, he entereth further in the reformation of Judah from the remains of idolatry. He removeth his mother from being queen in consequence of her idolatry.
2Ch 15:1
What a mercy it was that the Lord did not forsake his people in the midst of their idolatry, but poured out of his Holy Spirit occasionally upon the minds of some to preserve a sense of his presence among them. Sweet thought!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Asa: Life and Lessons
2Ch 14:22Ch 152Ch 15
ASA was a good king of Judah; he “did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.” Not only “good and right” because these might be variable terms. There are persons who set themselves to the presumptuous and impious task of settling for themselves, what is “right” and what is “good.” In the case of Asa, he did not invent a righteousness, nor did he invent a goodness which he could adapt to his own tempers, ambitions, and conveniences: he was right and good and “did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.” Whilst the land had peace, Asa set to work and built walls and towers and fences, and did all that he could for the good of his country. Zerah, an Ethiopian warrior, did not understand silence. He mistook quietness for languor; he made the vulgar mistake of supposing that quietness was indifference. He did not know that repose is the very highest expression of power. So he brought against Asa, king of Judah, no fewer than a million soldiers “a thousand thousand” to us a large number, to the Orientals quite a common array. What was to be done? Asa did not shrink from war, though he never courted it. He must meet the foe in battle. Before doing so he must pray:
“And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help [rather, “it is alike to thee to help the powerful or the weak” thou canst as easily, i.e., help the weak as the strong] 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 we go [comp. 1Sa 17:45 ] against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man [or, mortal man] prevail against thee” ( 2Ch 14:11 ).
Having risen from their knees, they launched themselves against the Ethiopians, and were mighty as men who answer straw with steel. They fought in God’s name and for God’s cause, and the thousand thousand of the Ethiopians were as nothing before the precise and terrific stroke of men who had studied war in the school of God.
Asa, then, began upon a good foundation; he established himself upon a great principle. That is what all young people especially should take to heart right seriously. To such we say: do not make an accident of your lives a thing without centre, purpose, certitude, or holiness. Regard it as a trust from God. Be right in your great foundation lines, and you will build up a superstructure strong, after the nature and quality of the foundation upon which you build. Do not snatch at life. Do not take out an odd motto here and there and say, “This will do for the occasion.” Life should be deeply laid in its bases, strongly cemented together in its principles, noble in its convictions; then it can be charitable in its concessions and recognitions. On what is your life based? What is the point at which you are aiming? If you have no broad foundation, no solid rock, no complete purpose and policy, then you are adventurers, speculators, and the turn of the wheel will mean your present or ultimate ruin.
“And he [Asa] took courage, and put away the abominable idols [abominations] out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord” ( 2Ch 15:8 ).
Let us not trifle with the occasion by suggesting that we have no idolatries to uproot, no heathen groves to examine, to purify, or to destroy. That would indeed be making light of history, and ignoring the broadest and saddest facts of our present circumstances. The world is full of little gods, man-made idols, groves planted by human hands, oppositions and antagonisms to the true theism of the universe. We are so apt to think that the idols are a long way off, far beyond seas; or that they existed long centuries ago and spoke languages now obsolete or forgotten. Nothing of the kind; they live here, they build to-day. Our gods are a million strong. We do not call them gods, but we worship them none the less. Luck, Accident, Fortune, Fashion, Popularity, Self-indulgence these are the base progeny of idols that did once represent some ideal thought and even some transcendental religion. Idolatry has retrograded; polytheism has gone quickly backward. To worship the sun! Why, there is reason in it; verily, sometimes he looks as if made to be worshipped, to be hailed with song and to be followed with adoring wonder in his infinite course of illumination. But we worship accident, fortuitous circumstances, probabilities. We calculate at the counter of our gods where the men we often mock fell down and dumbly worshipped what they did not understand. Theirs the nobler idolatry! having in it a touch of heavenly philosophy. Asa said, in effect, “We must be right about our gods before we can be right with one another.” That is true teaching. With a wrong theology we never can have a thoroughly sound and healthy economical system. To be wrong in our conception of God is to be wrong in every point in the line of our thinking. The points themselves may be apparently sustained by great force of reasoning and great witness of concurrent facts; but when connected with their starting point they are vitiated by the mistake which was originally made. Looking on all human history we find that the conception of God any god which any people have held, has ultimately determined their fortunes. We rest on this philosophy. We believe in a God of righteousness, purity, mercy; a Father-God, loving all, redeeming all, caring for each as if each were an only child; patient with us, careful about us, studying our littlenesses, and making our infirmities the starting-points of new beneficences. We cannot be true to that conception of God, and have along with it a morality that we can palter with, and duties with which we can trifle. The conviction of a theology so massive, so substantial, so rational, will make itself felt in every pulsation of individual thought and social relationship.
This was the corner-stone upon which Asa built his great and gracious policy. What was the effect of it upon other people? We find that the effect then was what it must always be:
“They fell to him out of Israel in abundance [comp. chap. 2Ch 11:16 ], when they saw that the Lord his God was with him” ( 2Ch 15:9 ).
Such is the influence of a great leadership. If Asa had been halting, the people would have halted too. Asa was positive, and positiveness sustained by such beneficence begets courage in other people. “They fell to him out of Israel in abundance” that is, they came over to him and were on his side. They ranked themselves with Asa; they looked for his banner and called it theirs, “when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.” Nations perish for want of great leaders. Social reformers are dependent to a large extent upon the spirit of the leadership which has adopted them. The Church is always looking round for some bolder man, some more heroic and dauntless spirit, who will utter the new truth, if any truth can be new say rather, the next truth; for truth has always a next self, a larger and immediately-impending self, and the hero, who is also martyr, must reveal that next phase of truth and die on Golgotha for his pains. Can we not, in some small sense, be leaders in our little circles, in our business relations, in our family life, in our institutional existence? Many people can follow a tune who cannot begin one. That is the philosophy we would unfold and enforce. You would suppose from the immediate answer to the leader that any man in the whole thousand could have begun the tune the reality of the case being, that the leader alone, perhaps, might be able to start it; yet, the moment his clear, dominating tone is heard, a thousand men took it up as if they had begun it. It is so in morals. Many persons can feel a speech who cannot make one. That is the secret of true speaking. So the reporter does not report the speech only; he reports the whole proceedings. Hence the interruptions are as essential to the understanding of a meeting as is the eloquence itself. We must know who applauded, where they applauded, how much they applauded; so that, having read the reporter’s notes, we know what a thousand men or more felt and said, for every hearer in a great and responsive audience is as truly a speaker as is the one man who gives articulation to the common sentiment of the multitude. We want leaders men who will have the courage to say now and then, “Let us pray.” The people are waiting for good leadership. They know the shepherdly voice when they hear it; “There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding,” and you might have had a more unanimous following if your leadership had been less marked by ambiguity and equivocation. Your family might have been more united if to firmness you had added grace if to grace you had added firmness. Regard all leaders with prayerful hopefulness in so far as they want to do good and to be good. Sympathise with them, say to Asa, even the king, “What thou hast done thou hast well done; in God’s name we bless thee for the purification of the land and for the encouragement of all noble things.”
Asa showed the limits of human forbearance and human philosophy. He broke down in the very act of doing that which was right because he went too far. He made a covenant and the people made it along with him.
“And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman” ( 2Ch 15:12-13 ).
That is the danger. You cannot make men religious by killing them, by threatening them, by inflicting upon them any degree of penalty. Do not force a child to church. Lead it; lure it; make the church so bright and homelike and beautiful that the child will eagerly long for the time to come when the door will be opened. We conquer by love. The Christian cause advances, not by persecution but by charity; not even by argument but by love. Controversy has done nothing for the truth compared with what has been done by holiness, purity, nobleness, patience, and the quiet heroisms which can only be accounted for by the existence of deep and real religious convictions.
Asa was impartial. There was a touch of real grandeur about the man. He would not even allow his mother to keep an idol. The queen had an idol of her own “in a grove.”
“And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it and burnt it at the brook Kidron’ ( 2Ch 15:16 ).
Thus ruthlessly Asa disestablished that little royal church. See how burningly in earnest the man was; and what a man will do when his earnestness is fervent! He knows nothing about fathers, mothers, partialities, or concessions. He says, “Light is the foe of darkness, and you cannot have any little dark corner of your own. This light must find you out, chase away every shadow and purify every secret place in human life and thought.” Many men fail to follow Asa just at that point. They are great reformers upon a public scale; but their own houses are stables that need to be cleansed. They are quite violent progressists in all national matters; but the moment they go home and shut the house-gate upon themselves they fall into all kinds of confusion and tumult and false relationship. “Now,” said Asa, in effect, “what is good for the public is good for the individual; what is good for the subject is good for the queen. Cut down the queen’s idol, cut down the queen’s grove; and when you have got the little god, stamp on it, burn it, throw the ashes into the brook; and because the queen no longer repents of her idolatry, she must leave her throne.” We want more men of that kind. They will have uncomfortable lives, they will not be popular men; they will be fools according to the world’s arithmetic, they will be madmen in the estimation of cold minds; but they are God’s sons, children of the light, born not of men, not of blood, but born of God, born in heaven.
Let us consider this man’s case well, and apply it to ourselves. We must have no persecution, no threatening, no driving; only prayer, reasoning, hope, love; inform the mind, guide the reason, multiply the schools, double the circulation of all good books, inspire the affections, purify the very source and spring of the will; and our victories will not be so many coarse and costly destructions, but will be as the triumph of light over darkness, fair as the morning and beneficent as the summer.
Prayer
Almighty God, we pray thee for the true vision. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. We cannot see thee otherwise. This way is thine own, it is therefore best, and we pray to be led in it like little children. We want to see God. We would see thee every day, we would walk with thee, and talk with, thee, and be thy friends; we need not see death because of our companionship with thee, but breathe ourselves into heaven: but we do not understand what it is to see thee; our idea is wrong, our whole thought has gone astray, we are fools before heaven. Thou art in us, thou art round about us, thou art in every flower that blooms, and in every star that burns, and in every wind that breathes over the earth. Why do we not see thee, and love thee? wait for thee, and never go out without thee? The heart of man is stubborn, his eyes are blind, and his will has strayed away in deserts and foreign lands. Oh that some mighty one might be sent to us to speak the right word in the right tone, to hurl upon us the great thunder, or speak to our aching hearts in the still small voice, anyhow, that we may see and feel the living God. Thou art in our life, thou art giving it shape and tone and colour and meaning; thou art raising up men, and putting down men, and altering the face of the earth; and behold we wonder, but seldom pray. This is the Lord’s doing, all this shaping and directing and toning life, and it is marvellous in our eyes: but our hearts do not receive the revelation with openness and frankness and joy. We have heard of thee through Jesus Christ thy Son, who said if we saw him we saw thyself. This was wondrous, we did not know its meaning; but we listened, and read and thought, and lo, a new day dawned upon our minds, and before we were fully aware the. whole heaven was alight with a new glory, and from that time we have spoken of the marvellous light; we have said, Jesus Christ brought life and immortality to light; he has made everything beautiful with light; God is light. May we therefore continue to study the words of Jesus Christ thy Son, and may his Spirit be in us, and may we be led from the doctrine to the sacrifice, from the infinite gospel to the infinite atonement, which is its very centre and glory; may we be led to the cross of Christ, symbol of misery and weakness and yet made into the symbol of immortal victory and eternal rest. Lead us day by day; lead us into all truth; sanctify us by thy word: thy word is truth; may it dwell in us, rule in us, be a light in our understanding, and a fountain of consolation in our hearts, and may our whole life be shaped and directed by the Spirit of the living word. Help us to bear life’s burdens, sometimes so heavy, sometimes too heavy; help us in the restless night to meditate lovingly upon God; help us in the long uphill work to put our confidence in the Almighty. Dry our tears when they blind us to any beauty, but multiply them like a river when they help us to see thee better. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
2Ch 15
“And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah [the same expression as in Num 24:2 . (Comp. 2Ch 20:14 ; 2Ch 24:20 )] the son of Oded [by some identified with Iddo, the prophet and historian of the two preceding reigns]” ( 2Ch 15:1 ).
Inspiration and Action
SUCH words as these should make us solemn, and glad. Here is the eternal force, the Spirit of God; here is the transitory medium, the individual man upon whom that force so suddenly and graciously acted. God is still here, man is still here: why should inspiration cease? Men still depend upon the living God for instruction, truth, law, guidance; and men are still made in the image and likeness of God; they are the very elect and chosen of the heavenly One: why should he turn his back upon them, and withhold from them the living air, which, breathing through their souls, should purify and ennoble every faculty? There is no reason why inspiration should cease; there is, on the other hand, every reason why inspiration should continue and abound. Dangers will of course arise in connection with a proposition of this kind, but the proposition is not the less true because the dangers are many and serious. Man can pervert any thing. He would defile the heavens if he could touch them; he has killed all the flowers he would put out the stars if his wicked fingers could get at them. We are not, therefore, to be alarmed by the suggestion of danger, perversion, and the like, when we state the great and noble doctrine of the continuity of divine inspiration in human history. Accidents may have changed, but that great organic line continues the substance of revelation, the illumination of mind, the preparation of heart, the subduing and sanctification of will, the sudden creation of light amid the cloud and storm of life. We ourselves are witnesses to these divine and beneficent interpositions. Here is the greatest event in human experience, signified and expressed by these few words “The Spirit of God came upon Azariah.” There is no mistaking it when it does come upon a man. Thunderbolts are not easily mistaken for feathers, for puffs of summer wind; they bring with them an impression that is easily remembered. It is so with inspiration. The whole sky is lighted up suddenly as if by a fiat; every faculty enlarges, burns, and becomes eager for action in beneficent directions; all proportions are altered instantaneously; great things become small, insignificant things are charged with great meanings; time dies like a bubble in the air, and nothing is so present to the imagination and the whole consciousness as eternity. Let this inspiration come in what form it may, the impression is the same. Say it comes in the form of what is known as “conversion.” We thus introduce the word because it is falling into disuse. We are practically ashamed of it Shame be to us, like a scorching fire on the cheek, that we should so hesitate to use the greatest word in personal experience. When a man is converted all things become new; the heavens are so much higher, yet so much nearer; the earth so much lovelier and more useful for spiritual ends, being enriched with symbols and types, and hints, endless and beautiful ineffably. Our whole relation to one another also is changed; we love do we? our enemies; we pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us. That is the ideal purpose of conversion, and even if we half turn the other cheek, it is miracle enough for this cloudy grey of life, it exhausts what manhood is now realised by the strongest of us, and is accepted of God as the beginning of a new manhood. The inspired man makes his own impression, undertakes his own work, dictates his own terms of commerce with men, comes suddenly, speaks loudly, clearly, sweetly, commandingly; he seldom hints, he declares, he reveals; he is blessed with that great gift Authority. “When Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” The words did not half die on his lips; his doctrines did not come with apologies; his great propositions did not ask to be allowed to come into the economies and philosophies of the day; they stepped down from above and brought their own credentials with them. They would have been less if the speaker had been less, but he being above them superscribed them with authority which the people willingly and unanimously acknowledged. The inspired man is fearless. Asa the king is nothing to him, because he has been with the living God. As we have often seen, everything depends upon the point of origin, as to whether we are surprised or afraid by anything upon the earth: where do we come from? Whom did we see last? The last presence that the prophet saw was the Presence of God; therefore Asa became but a common man; if Asa had first been seen, he might have over-awed the prophet, who was the son probably of a poor man, or a man unknown. When a man comes from heaven, even the metropolis of a land is a very small gathering of very small stones. Nothing is great to him who has been closeted with God great in any sense that can overpower his moral impulses, or quench his moral convictions. The inspired man is a qualified man. He knows what he is about. Other men labour and fret, and writhe under the burden they have to carry. His power expresses itself in perfect ease; he is in no hurry; he is calm, because he is great; he is masterful, because he is wise; he has lived and moved and had his being in God. Men are variously qualified. Some are only qualified by education the poorest of all qualifications. To-day we worship the idol that is called Culture. If a man knows twenty languages he is called a man of culture though he never say one word worth hearing in any of them. There are men who could read through the Bodleian Library, and forget it; there are others who could have read through the Alexandrian Library, and have been suffocated, overweighted. Yet that is the fetish we worship to-day the examination-paper, the certificate written by a man who can write nothing but what he copies. This kind of instruction we are thankful for up to a given point. There is another kind of qualification that deserves the name of Inspiration. In our coldness we may call it insight, a species of intuition; we may warm to such a tepid degree as to call it genius, but the real holy, blessed name is Inspiration, the life that has been bathed in heaven, expending itself upon earth in the cheering, directing, healing, and uplifting of mankind. Education labours: Inspiration flies. Education discovers by long processes, and then announces in halting terms what it has discovered: inspiration comes at the other end, and brings it straight down from heaven, and affirms it with all the frankness of honesty, and all the holy positiveness of personal experience. We need all kinds of inspiration in the Church, all kinds of qualification; the one must not contemn the other in scornful terms. There are hewers of wood, and drawers of water, and men who have talent to shape a pillar, and, having shaped it in uprightness, to crown it with the mystery of curvature and colour. The whole ministry thus becomes one, and must be recognised as such.
The inspired man has a message to deliver. The model may well be taken from the speech of Azariah
“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 [comp.1Ch 28:91Ch 28:9 , and Jer 29:13 ]; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you” ( 2Ch 15:2 ).
A very intelligible message; an eternal proposition. If ye seek me, ye shall surely find me if ye have rent, not your garments, but your hearts. “Them that honour me, I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” No other law is possible. There is nothing dogmatic or arbitrary about this declaration; it roots itself in reason, and grows up towards the sun in firmest fellowship, because it belongs to the household of light. We cannot shake ourselves clear of this bondage; we may deafen ourselves to the proposition; we may turn away from it in irrational hilarity; we may fill our ears with multiplied noises; we may create a pagan Pentecost of our own: but there comes a time, one quiet, solemn hour, in which we call ourselves fools, and ask to be permitted to pray. Let all experience verify this. No man can succeed who is not on the side of God. The word “succeed” is here used in its largest signification. He does not succeed who gathers a table which he cannot enjoy, who piles up luxuries until they become the merest commonplaces of daily life. A man may easily out-build and out-decorate himself; he may look round to see where he can put something more. Is there an end of furnishing, decorating, table-spreading, wine-drinking, banqueting? There is, and it comes quite soon; nature says, Enough: and if we insult her we pay the penalty of satiety, and and she binds us with a tremendous tyranny to realise the consequences of our misdoing. Let this declaration of Azariah be the foundation-stone of life, and what wisdom we shall see! How we shall start everything from the divine point! How we shall take everything into the sanctuary, and hold it up to the light, and look what it is like when the sun shines upon it, and shines through it! How many things we shall put away as worthless and vile! What new libraries we shall purchase and delight in! What new associations we shall initiate and enjoy! The whole horizon would be cleared, and every man according to his capacity would be living a wise, honest, healthy, godly life. Fight about theological terms as we may, this great moral revelation abides, waits the lulling of the storm, and then utters itself with quiet and royal solemnity “The Lord is with you, while you be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.” We cannot run into the darkness and enjoy the sunlight. No man can take the sun with him into the darkness: the terms are contradictory, the relations are impossible. No man can cut himself off from the currents of eternity, and maintain his duration. For a time he may seem to live as ever just as the train goes after the engine has been detached, spending the impulse of momentum, but having no power of origination in itself; when its little stock of force is exhausted, there it stands, and it can never move again. Let this proposition enter into the memory, take its place in the heart, ascend the throne of life, and rule it with a sceptre of light.
Here is a picture of the utterest destitution in spiritual life:
“Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God [rather, Many a time hath Israel been without the true God. Israel here is used generally for the whole people of God; and the reference is especially to the many apostacies in the days of the Judges (Jdg 3:7 , Jdg 3:12 ; Jdg 4:1 ; Jdg 6:1 ; Jdg 8:33 ; Jdg 10:6 ), which were followed by repentance and deliverance], and without a teaching priest [The Israelites had never been without priests of one kind or another; but there had been occasions when none of their priests taught them the true doctrine], and without law” [seeJdg 17:6Jdg 17:6 ; Jdg 21:25 ] ( 2Ch 15:3 ).
The long season referred to was a period of thirty years. The inspired man, therefore, had great space to work in. It is because of the length of the dearth, therefore, that the very first sign of harvest or abundance is welcomed like a descending heaven. George Whitefield would be no preacher to-day. The world is full of preachers. Many men think they can preach, when other people do not agree with them. Israel had been for thirty years in religious darkness: when a spark of fire was struck, what an effect it had! England was sunk in indifference when the great revival began, and what a revelation it was from heaven! How the Bible became a new force, a new book, an uncalculated energy; how men’s minds were stirred, how persecution raged, and how prayer defied persecution, and ennobled itself at the very fires that were meant to consume its piety! When religion becomes a commonplace there can be no revival. When every man supposes himself to know everything that can be known, instruction is impossible. A preacher can only, like George Whitefield, attain an immortal celebrity, because he appears at a time when he is the contrasting figure; he is unlike everything else, and his speech is unlike all other speech; it is his uniqueness that ensures his fame. “Without the true God,” then Israel had false gods? Yes, innumerable gods even Israel acquired, notwithstanding the commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me!” It is not a commandment that can keep man at home. No bill of stipulations can convert your children and make them filial. We may have a time-bill for the action of the whole day, but the world was never yet saved by commandments. Israel trampled ten of them under foot, and we have trampled ten thousand. We can do despite unto the Spirit of grace; we can insult God! Any child can close his eyelids, and shut out the sun God’s minister, God’s angel, coming with the Gospel of light; yet the little child can close its eyes and practically say, Avaunt! I will never give thee house-room. It would not be a child if it could not say so. We should not be able to pray if we could not blaspheme. “Without a teaching priest,” not an ornament, not a ceremonialist, but a teaching priest. A man whose business it was to expound the law and make the people understand it. So they preached in the olden time; they took the law syllable by syllable, explained it word by word, and sentence by sentence; they analysed it, took it member from member; they put it together again and hurled it upon the people like a bolt from heaven. They had naught else to expound, because they thought nothing else worthy of exposition, We are lost in details. Any man may now get up a lecture, if he has great quoting power. It is almost impossible not to get up a lecture; the temptations are innumerable, and in many cases irresistible. But there is only one lecture worth delivering, only one speech really worth listening to, and that is the speech that begins in eternity, sweeps down upon time, leaves behind it immortal lessons, and ascends to the fountain of origin. Surely, one would say, if men could speak words from heaven, they would be thronged, they would be almost mobbed on the streets by people hungering and thirsting for the living God, crying, Give us bread! or we die; water! or we perish of thirst. It is not so. We have outlived God; we have forgotten the Most High. Miracles are commonplaces. All miracles must become such. The things that alarmed us once, alarm us no longer; the things that delighted us once, no longer fascinate us. What are miracles to one race are the commonest domestic economies to others. The missionary says that if you go to any savage tribe and strike a match, the whole tribe will fall flat down on the earth instantly. That is not a matter of romance; that is a matter of certified fact. But strike another, and then a third; strike a match every day for a week, and not a man in the tribe would pay the slightest attention to it When God made the stars, who can tell what sensation was created through the universe! Now he may make any number, and we are surprised that he does not make more. Jesus Christ wrought miracles, and the people said, It was never so seen in Israel Do another! They told one another about the miracles, and wanted to make a demonstration of them, but he said, “There shall no sign be given to you, ye blind generation.” The great fear, therefore, is that, having the true God, and the teaching priest, and the law, we may get so accustomed to them as to become not receivers but critics. The world is choked with critics. The Church is poisoned with criticism. Imagine men going to the well for water, and imagine them going in a professional capacity, each being an analytical chemist. You never got any water from an analytical chemist; there was always lead in it “.00009”; and as for the bread, you would never eat a mouthful if you first consulted the analytical chemist; and there is no place in the wide world so disagreeable to live in as next door to an analytical chemist. Send for water by people who are thirsty, and who know the value of it, and after you have quenched your thirst you can do what you like with the analytical chemist. But it is so now with the Church. We go as theological chemists; we do not go with broken hearts, contrite spirits, yearning souls, crying, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” We take measures, we examine colours, we speak of the proportion of the discourse, and its weight here, its bulk there; we take a homiletic view of it: but no man can live long upon homiletics. Better be in earnest “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Better demand the great substantial gospel of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ and his cross. Insist upon that. How can it become a commonplace? Surely it will sing a new song every day, and show a new countenance to us every morning, and charm us with some unsuspected delight, hour by hour, and as the day closes we will say, Thou hast kept the good wine until now. Lord, I have heard of thy greatness and thy goodness, and the beauty and largeness of thy gospel; but the half hath not been told me.
“And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets [The acclamations of the people, accompanied by the loud blasts upon trumpet and clarion, naturally enhanced the solemnity of the oath]. And 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” [No state ventured to attack the powerful monarch who had defeated the vast levies of Egypt; and Asa on his part was apparently of a peaceful disposition] ( 2Ch 15:14-15 ).
It is pleasant now and again to be caught within the range of genuine human and religious excitement. There is an excitement that is vicious, but every blessing may be turned into a curse, and we are not to turn away from the blessing because it can by vicious hearts be depraved. Excitement of a genuine kind, balanced by intelligence, inspired by gratitude, sparkling with tears of the heart, is almost essential to our higher spiritual education. It is beautiful to notice how this kind of excitement operates in the direction of personal enlargement of ministry. The people could not be content with their own voices. This self-impatience has to do with the development of our best nature. We want sometimes we cannot tell what, but it is something beyond. We are sure there must be instruments and ministries which, if we could seize them, would multiply our personality and crown our weakness with ineffable strength. What do we find here? “A loud voice,” and “shouting:” but that would not do alone. Men will have assistance; in this instance the assistance came in the form of trumpets and cornets, and if they could have laid their hands upon them, they would have had the whirlwind, and the thunder, and all heaven’s resources to express the love that burned with holy glow in their excited and grateful hearts. We must take care how we undervalue revivals, excitements, various ranges and qualities of spiritual enthusiasm. Such enthusiasm would be distasteful to us if our poor souls were not in the same key. What can be less welcome, less harmonic than great religious excitement and gladness when we ourselves are sunk in worldliness, and in sordidness of the most pitiable description? Then such excitement becomes a rebuke, a judgment, a chastisement; we would close our ears, and run away from it, and call it sensational, unhealthy, undesirable; and thus we would tell falsehoods to our own souls. On the other hand, what a mistake it would be to suppose that there can be no spiritual life, of the highest and purest, and tenderest kind, apart from a loud voice, and shouting, and trumpets and cornets; the truth is not exhaustively stated by either one experience or another. Whatever man can feel may indicate a further necessity in the instruments of his education. Whatever can most centrally touch his heart is essential to his spiritual culture. Let us rest assured of this, that if there is a danger on the side of excitement, there is a deadlier danger on the side of indifference. When men talk about religious quietness, and peacefulness, and restfulness, let them be careful lest they be abusing terms, or lest they be excusing themselves from sacrifices and endeavours that would call up dormant faculties, slumbering or neglected powers. It is easy for indifference to complain of excitement: it is easy for excitement to undervalue a quietness that cannot express itself in kindred enthusiasm. There is a middle line in life, but that middle line in life would become monotonous if we could not occasionally ascend, yea, and vary our progress, for then, after such association and variation, we return to the great average scheme and thought of life with recruited power, with renewed and sanctified hope. How poor is the condition of the soul that is never, so to say, maddened by religious inspiration! Such a soul cannot believe the Bible except in the narrowest and most superficial sense. The Bible is never quiet; when it seems to be peaceful it is then expressing the last result of momentum, energy, force, terrific impulse. The earth is at rest because the earth never stops. Do not mistake death for peace; do not mistake indifference for restfulness; and never imagine that you can live in nothing but excitement: the foam, the froth, makes but a poor banquet for necessitous and hungering souls. Who would obliterate red-letter days from the history of the Church? What a cavity would be left if we took Pentecost out of the New Testament! As we perused the sacred record, in the absence of that baptismal day, we should feel that something was wanting; not something little, impoverished, but something great and affluent and mighty. Every soul should have its pentecostal day. We need it to fall back upon sometimes when the devil is heavy upon us; we say, when he lays his tremendous stroke upon our souls, This will certainly overwhelm us, there is no answer to this; then our soul is reminded of the pentecostal time when we were real Christians, if but for one moment. We cannot obliterate that moment from our recollection. There was a time when we saw God; it was but a moment, a flash, an unmeasurable period of time, but the sight is an everlasting recollection, and ought to be a steadfast and inexhaustible inspiration.
Prayer
Almighty God, thou art the Lord and Master; we are thy creatures: grant unto us the spirit of obedience, that we may do thy will with delight and readiness, and count it the only possible heaven upon earth. We rejoice that we are in the body which thou thyself hast constituted; thou hast made us such members as seemed best to thy wisdom: let each accept his lot, and be thankful; it is enough to be in the body, to have been chosen by God for that position: may we receive our election herein, and recognise the good hand of God, and live in a spirit of thankfulness, and be always ready to do the Lord’s will. Thou knowest how peculiar we are, in that we sometimes consult ourselves; we ask ourselves what we should prefer, what would be easiest or pleasantest; we do not always consult the cross, the sacrifice, the point of agony. Help us to know that we have no law in ourselves; we are not authorities; we are creatures, not creators; we are under government, and if we would live wisely we must live obediently; may our obedience have a divine origin, a divine motive, then shall it have a divine reward. Help us to go through life in a spirit of trustfulness; may we live in the spirit of Christ, then we shall count the cross as but a stopping-place on the way to eternal glory. Dry our tears when they are hot and large; help us to bear life’s burdens when our poor little strength gives way, and at all times and in all things may we show that we are the sons of God by displaying a filial obedience. This we say, every word of it, at the cross; the one altar where no prayer was ever lost. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
IV
THE REIGN OF ASA AND THE PARALLEL FORTUNES OF ISRAEL
1Ki 15:9-22
In the introductory chapter I mentioned certain helpful books. Three of them I rename as very helpful on this lesson: Hengenstenberg’s “Kingdom of God in the Old Testament,” Vol. II; Geikie’s “Hours with the Bible,” Vol. IV; Edersheim’s “History of Israel,” Vol. V. On this section we need not look at Josephus. He has something to say about it, but it is worth very little. My advice is to master thoroughly 2 Chronicles 14-16; the Chronicles record is far better than the record in Kings.
The time period of Asa’s reign is 955 B.C. to 914, forty-one years, and the contemporaneous kings of Israel, and the dynasties are as follows: Jeroboam and his son Nadab, first dynasty; Baasha and his son Elah, second dynasty; Zimri, third dynasty — he reigned just a week; Omri and his son Ahab, fourth dynasty. For a while there was a contestant against Omri, Tibni by name, but this contest lasted only three years.
The general character of Asa is: “And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father” (meaning his forefather). So we have a long and good reign, and it is a wonder that, while about half the kings of Judah were bad kings, the reign of the good men extended 200 years of the 253; so, that at least four to one, in time, Judah was governed by good men.
A great blessing marked the beginning of his reign. The record tells us that there were ten years of peace, resulting mainly from the great victory of his father, Abijah, gained over Jeroboam the son of Nebat. It is a great blessing when we have a peaceful opportunity to set in order a church or a nation, or to prepare for a great enterprise wisely.
This peace interval was graciously employed as follows: First, he put down idolatry in all its forms throughout his kingdom. Second, he fortified many cities, and the record tells us that he made Jehovah his chief defense. Well does that psalm say, “He laboreth in vain to build a house except the Lord build the house; and they watch in vain to keep a city except the Lord keep the city.” Third, he raised and disciplined an army consisting of 300,000 spearmen of the tribe of Judah, that is, they had long lances and heavy targets; a target is simply a big shield. Also he had 280,000 slingers and archers. These had a little shield, and carried bows and slings. They were of the tribe of Benjamin. That certainly shows that by this time the bulk of the tribe of Benjamin was standing with Judah. The Benjaminites were left-handed and were great archers and slingers. At one place back of us in the history we learned that they could sling stones a great distance with great accuracy. David was an adept with the sling himself. That is a big contingent from Benjamin, 280,000.
The second great event of his reign was the great victory over Zerah, the Ethiopian, who invaded Judah with a million men and three hundred chariots of war. The battle was fought at Maresha, a place between Hebron, a southern Jewish town, and Ashdod, an old Philistine town in the south.
Some say that this great number, a million men, is not credible, but we must remember that in those days, when war was made, the whole available male population went into the army like Indian tribes and later we learn that Xerxes led three million men against the Greeks though by measurement, not count, only 1,800,000 of them were soldiers. And we learn still later in the interbiblical period, that the last Darius, king of Persia, at the battle of Arbela, had 1,400,000 men. The record says, “Zerah the Ethiopian.” The word in the Hebrew is “Cushite.” We get “Ethiopian” in our text from the Septuagint Version. The Greeks called the Cushites “Ethops,” which meant “browned black in the sun.” But where were the Cushites? In the northern part of Arabia, from which place they crossed the narrow intervening sea to Africa, and established themselves in what is now called upper Egypt the Nile runs north toward the Mediterranean Sea; then upper Egypt would be southern Egypt. 1Ki 16:8 tells us that there were Lybians in the army, as well as Ethiopians, and we know that Lybia in Africa is on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, west of the mouth of the Nile. Quite a number of my commentaries say that Zerah was the same as Ozorchon, the son of Shishak. But that is not quite clear to my mind. I do know from one of my histories that about 944 B.C., the Cushites, when they crossed over the intervening seas, invaded Egypt, and then passed back into Asia. We will have to leave it that way.
Asa’s appeal to Jehovah when he saw this great host, and how God responded to him are found in 2Ch 14:11 : “And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, there is none to help beside thee . . . O Lord our God; for we rely on thee, and in thy name are we come out against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let no man prevail against thee.” I gave that to a professor of homiletics once and asked him to analyze it as he would a sermon, and he said that I put the question to him only to give me an opportunity to tell him how to do it. Well, now, let’s analyze that: “There is none beside God who can help the weak against the mighty”, that is a fine start for a prayer, the announcement of a great doctrine. “We rely upon thee”, that is faith. “And in thy name we come out against this multitude”, that identifies the people’s case with God himself. “Therefore, Lord, let no man prevail against thee.” It was a fine prayer, and the response was that the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
There were mighty results of this victory. The record says that there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves, for they were destroyed before the Lord, and before his hosts; or as the margin puts it, “so that none remained alive.” That must have been a terrific slaughter. The second result was that they carried away very much booty. Of course, the arms would be gathered up, the jewels and the camp equipage, and the munitions of war. Notice that these Egyptians fled toward Egypt, by the lower road toward Gerar; and so they smote all the cities about Gerar; and the fear of the Lord came upon them) and they spoiled all the cities, and they carried away sheep in abundance and camels.
2Ch 14:15 says, “They smote also the tents of the cattle.” Now, what does that mean? It means that following such an army were herds of cattle for feeding the army, and the “tents” would be the shelters of the herdsmen. To smite the tents of the cattle is to smite the herdsmen that drove the cattle. Stonewall Jackson, in one of his hungry days, when his men were half-starved, having heard that Banks was coming with immense supply trains and herds of cattle, said, “This army can whip any army that has a herd of cattle along.”
The warning of the prophet Azariah, who went to meet Asa returning from that great battle, we find in 2Ch 15:1-7 . The time we need to be most watchful is in the moment of a great victory. When the times are hard, when we are pressed to the wall, we are apt to be humble and look to God; but when it looks like everything is going our way, the danger is that we will be puffed up. Now the prophet of God met that army coming, with all those spoils and said, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you be with him; if ye seek him he will be found of you; if ye forsake him he will forsake you.” What a warning, that! “God is with you while you are with God; but if you turn away from God, he will turn away from you.” Notice 2Ch 15:3 of that warning: “Now for long seasons Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law. But when in their distress, they turned unto the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. And in those days there was no peace to him that went out: nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the land. And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, city against city; for God did vex them with all adversity.” .Here I raise this question: Is that a prophecy of future events, or is it a historical retrospect quoted to enforce the text, “If you are with God, he is with you, if you forsake him, he will forsake you”? It may surprise the reader that some commentaries construe it as prophecy: “For a long time Israel will be without the true God.” Henstenberg, one of my favorites, takes that position, but he is mistaken, I think: the tense forbids it. The prophet is enforcing his exhortation by the past history of the people, well known to those whom he addressed. Then I raise another question: If a retrospect, what events of the past verify it? My answer is that if we look to the period of the judges alone we may find every particular verified. Deborah says that before she came to the front the highways were not travelled; they were not safe; that the people were scattered; and in the time of Samson it is said that the Israelite was not only not allowed to have arms, but he must go to a Philistine to get permission to sharpen his ax or goad, on his grindstone, and that tribe was against tribe. There is abundant historical verification, looking at it as a retrospect. We are in a bad fix when we have to go to the enemies of religion to get a grindstone to sharpen our ax. One of Israel’s later prophets foretells a similar condition. It is in the prophecy of Hosea. (See Hos 4:1-5 ).
There is a remarkable date in 2Ch 15:19 ; 2Ch 16:1 , when compared with 1Ki 16:8 : “And there was no more war unto the fifth and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.” Now we know that another war comes before that date, so what about this date? I give you my method of reconciling the difficulty: the word “reign” in this passage should be translated “kingdom” (which is a good translation), “And there was no more war unto the fifth and thirtieth year of the kingdom of Asa.” That means from Rehoboam’s time, and that exactly corresponds with the facts, as may be demonstrated, because the very next war we are going to tell about occurred before the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign, and the man who conducted the war was dead before we get to the thirty-fifth year of Asa, and the cause of the war is an event of this section.
Azariah’s prophecy is attributed to Oded, in 1Ch 15:8 , thus: “And when Asa heard these words of the prophecy of Oded the prophet.” Above he is called Azariah, the son of Oded. My solution of this difficulty is that the father, himself a prophet, may have sent a son to deliver the prophecy.
Now let us look at the elements of the second great reformation under Asa: “And he put away the Sodomites out of the land; he took courage and put away all the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim [his father had captured them in the war with Jeroboam]; and he renewed the altar of the Lord which was before the porch of the Lord. And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated and he himself had dedicated, silver and gold and vessels. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and them that sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. So they gathered themselves together in Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.” And there was a great convocation including multitudes from Israel, and the record says that the object of that great convocation was to renew the covenant with God, and solemnly take oath that they would not only seek Jehovah alone, but would put to death him that suggested the worship of a false god. His grandmother, the queen regent, Maacah, the granddaughter of Absalom, had been the occasion of this idolatry, and had herself set up idols. He not only destroyed the idols of his grandmother, but he removed her from her position as queen regent in the realm. He burnt the idol that she worshiped, and poured out the ashes into the brook Kidron. This is a great reformation, and the result is expressed thus: “And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting and with trumpets, and 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.” It is a solemn thing when one assembles a-great convocation, and submits to the people the true worship of God, and induces them to enter into a covenant before God to follow him, and to turn aside from idols. Whenever anyone does that in any community, whenever he brings about such a result as that, already he has become one of earth’s great reformers.
Now let us take up the occasion and reason of the war of Baasha, king of Israel, against Asa and the step taken in view of this reason, thus: “And Baasha, King of Israel, went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.” We have just learned the fact which disturbed Baasha: “For they fell to Asa out of Israel in abundance, when they saw the Lord his God was with him.” Now, the king of Israel, when he saw that immense secession of his people going over to Judah, determined to make war to stop it. The step that he took was to build Ramah within five miles of Jerusalem, and to fortify it, so that it would command the entrance into Jerusalem.
Asa freed himself from this attack of Baasha, by taking the treasuries, even the sacred treasures out of Jerusalem, the Temple, and sending them as tribute to Benhadad, the king of Syria, whose country lay north of the ten tribes, and making an alliance with him, “to step on the tail of this army invading him.” Note that 1Ki 15:19 and 2Ch 16:3 , both commence this way: “There is a league between me and thee, between my father and thy father”, or, “there is a league between me and thee as there was between my father and thy father.” How shall we explain that? Notice that the words, “there is” are in italics: that shows that the translators supplied those words. Let us supply better words: “Let there be a league between thee and me as there was between my father and thy father.” There was no league extant between Asa and Benhadad; on the contrary Benhadad had leagued with Baasha; and he says, “Now let there be a league between me and thee, and break your league with Baasha.” The result of the bribe was that Benhadad marched an army against Israel, the ten tribes, took many of their cities, and Baasha had to leave Ramah and his fortifications and go back to fight for his own country. Asa disposed of Baasha’s fortifications at Ramah, by having these fortifications taken down, and the material used in building two fortifications, or cities, that were to protect Jerusalem and hold these roads. There is an ancient and also a far future tragic event associated with Ramah. The ancient event was the death of Jacob’s wife, Rachel, at that place, and the great mourning that followed it. The far distant future event was the slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem by Herod, where the New Testament says, “The voice of Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted because they were not.”
The sin of Asa’s alliance with Benhadad and how Jehovah announced his displeasure, are found in 2Ch 16:7-9 : “And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceeding many? 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 behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars.” Washington, President of the “United States, in his farewell address said, “Beware of entangling alliances.” Well, Asa made such an entangling alliance, which proved very harmful to him; it would have been far better if he had relied upon Jehovah and whipped both of them.
Asa’s added transgression was to put the prophet in prison who rebuked him. Now, when one gets mad at the truth being told to him and confesses that it is the truth; and when he tries to put away the truth by imprisoning the people who tell the truth, he should remember this: “The word of God cannot be bound.” One may imprison the speaker, but the word of God that he told cannot be bound. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time. Of course, when one goes wrong in one thing, he will likely add another wrong. (I omit all the references to Israel just now because I have reserved for a later discussion the House of Omri).
A disease overtook Asa in his old age: “And in the ninth and thirtieth year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet; and his disease was exceeding great.” I suppose he had the gout. Anyhow, the gout comes to people who live luxuriously and especially those who drink much port wine are sure to have it. 2Ch 16:12-13 seems to veil a sarcasm against the physicians: “Asa was diseased in his feet . . . yet in his disease he sought not Jehovah, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers.” The New Testament has a similar passage, concerning the afflicted woman who “had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse” (Mar 5:26 ). I sometimes quote these passages when joking with my friends, the doctors. Dr. Broadus well says that nothing better could have been expected from the medical practice of that day. An intelligent modern physician would laugh to scorn the remedies prescribed by physicians of New Testament times, much less Asa’s more distant days. The old-time symbol of a physician was a duck that looked like it was just about to say, “quack.” The practice was a mixture of magic, witchcraft, and superstition, like the old granny’s remedies in Edward Eggleston’s Hoosier Schoolmaster.
In 2Ch 16:14 we have the last reference to Asa: “And they buried him in his own sepulchre, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.” Was he cremated? Some commentaries quote this to show how early the cremation of bodies commenced. But that is not the thought at all. He is following the Egyptian method of having the body embalmed. They put him in a bed of sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art. The burning was the burning of incense at the mouth of the tomb. It was not the cremation of the body. The object was to preserve the body so it would not decay.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the theme of this section and what helps especially commended?
2. What was the time period of Asa’s reign, who the contemporaneous kings of Israel, and how many and what dynasties?
3. What was the general character of Asa and how do the kings of Judah compare with those of Israel?
4. What great blessing marked the beginning of his reign and how was it obtained?
5. How was it utilized?
6. What was the second great event of his reign and where did it take place?
7. Is the great number of men given here credible and what is the proof?
8. What is the origin, meaning and application of the name “Ethiopian”?
9. Where were the Cushites?
10. What is the proof that this was also an Egyptian army?
11. Who, then, according to some, was this man, Zerah?
12. Give and analyze Asa’s appeal to Jehovah when he saw the great host and God’s response to him.
13. What were the mighty results of this victory?
14. What is the meaning of “tents of the cattle”?
15. Analyze the warning of the prophet, Azariah, who went to meet Asa returning from the great battle.
16. Is that a prophecy of future events or is it a historical retrospect, quoted to enforce the text?
17. If a retrospect, what events of the past verify it? Explain and illustrate.
18. Cite a passage from one of Israel’s later prophets who foretells a similar condition.
19. Explain the remarkable date in 2Ch 15:19 ; 2Ch 16:1 , comparing with 1Ki 16:8 .
20. Winy is Azariah’s prophecy attributed to Oded in 1Ch 15:8 ?
21. Give an account of the second great reformation of Asa.
22. What was the occasion and reason for the war of Baasha, king of Israel, against Asa, and what step taken in view of this reason?
23. How did Asa free himself from this attack of Baasha? Explain fully his words to Benhadad.
24. How did Asa dispose of Baasha’s fortifications at Ramah?
25. What ancient and what far distant future events associated with Ramah?
26. What was sin of Asa’s alliance with Benhadad and how did Jehovah announce his displeasure?
27. What was Asa’s added transgression?
28. What disease overtook Asa in his old age?
29. What is the author’s sarcasm relative to Asa’s sickness and death?
30. What was the last reference to Asa and what the meaning of “a great burning for him”?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
2Ch 15:1 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:
Ver. 1. The son of Oded. ] Alias Iddo the seer.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2 Chronicles Chapter 15
Nevertheless, Asa has a warning from Azariah, who says, “Jehovah 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. Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God and without a teaching priest, and without law. But when they in their trouble did turn unto Jehovah, God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found of them. And in those times [there was] no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations [were] upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. Be ye strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded” (2Ch 15 ). Asa takes courage from this for the time, and puts away still more of the abominations out of Judah and Benjamin. And, further, he even put down his mother from being queen – no doubt a most serious trial to the son, but she was an idolatress. “And Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.” He was sincere, upright. “And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.”
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
And. This chapter supplementary to 1Ki 15.
the Spirit. Hebrew. ruach. App-9. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), for His gift of prophecy. One of the eight occurrences outside the book of Samuel.
Azariah. Not mentioned elsewhere.
Oded. See 2Ch 28:9. Hebrew. ‘oded.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 15
And as they were returning now with all the spoils of war, the victory of God,
The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: and he went out to meet Asa, and he said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you ( 2Ch 15:1-2 ).
Now the prophet meets him, Azariah meets him and lays out just a plain statement of truth, “The Lord is with you as long as you’ll be with Him; and if you seek Him, He’ll be found of you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.” This is God’s eternal truth. This is always true of every man. The Lord will be with you just as long as you’ll be with Him. And if you seek Him, you will find. But if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. God’s basic truth. Unalterable, unchanging.
Now at this point, Asa is flushed with victory. He has just seen God work in a mighty way, an answer to prayer. And in those occasions, you’re on spiritual highs that you can’t believe when you’ve just seen God do a marvelous work. And I’m sure that Asa just smiled and said, “All right, praise the Lord. But you didn’t need to add that last part, man. There’s no way I’d ever forsake God. After all, look what God has just done. You don’t need to warn me about that.”
Wait a minute. Beware whenever God warns you of anything no matter how strong you may feel that you are in that particular area, because God doesn’t waste words with you. And if God is warning you about a particular thing, there’s a reason why God is warning you about that. So listen, because sure enough, those are the areas where the person gets tripped up. The very area that God is warning them about.
I don’t think that any of you ever get tripped up in anything but what God hasn’t given you advance warning on that issue. But you ignored it. “I’m very strong in that area. I can handle this.” And you were warned of God. “Stay away, don’t go.” “Oh well, Lord, I know how to handle it. I’m, you know, and I know when to leave and… ” “Don’t go!” “But Lord, You don’t understand, you see, I’m going to go and witness for You. And then I know the time to leave, Lord, and I’ll be all right.” And then as you’re weeping and saying, “God, I don’t know why I did it. Lord, help me.” He said, “Well, didn’t I tell you not to go? I gave you the warning. You just weren’t listening. You weren’t obeying.” God doesn’t warn you needlessly.
And so the Lord gave the warning to the king. And he said,
Now for a long time Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without the law. But in their trouble they turned to Jehovah, the God of Israel, they sought him, and he was found of them. And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with adversity. Be ye strong therefore, let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded. And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and he put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they came to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul ( 2Ch 15:3-12 );
What a beautiful covenant. “Guys, let’s just covenant together now. We’re going to seek God with all of our heart and all of our soul.” You know, that’s neat when a bunch of people get together and really covenant. “Hey, God’s going to be first in our lives. We’re going to put the Lord above everything else. We’re going to seek God with all of our hearts and with all of our souls.” What a marvelous thing when people will covenant together in the excitement of a spiritual revival or fervor in this kind of a commitment. “God, I surrender everything to You. I’m Yours, Lord. I’m going to live full on for You.” And you covenant with God that you’re going to seek Him completely. They also determined,
That whosoever would not seek the LORD would be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman ( 2Ch 15:13 ).
Now this is a little bit overzealous. You cannot legislate righteousness. If there were laws that could make men righteous, then Jesus would not have to die. But yet, it’s admirable; their zeal for the Lord was at such a high pitch. “We’re going to serve the Lord and if anybody doesn’t follow, you know, we’ll wipe them out.”
And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, with cornets ( 2Ch 15:14 ).
I mean, this was just a real fanatical spiritual meeting. Shouting, praising God, sounding with trumpets. “God, we’re going to serve You. God, we’re going to commit ourselves. Lord, You’re going to be the God over our land. We’re going to put You first.” And really, it was the time of great national strength and excitement.
I would like to have been there. I would like to have shared in the excitement of that moment when the hearts of the people were all turned towards God in this religious excitement.
And all of Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with their heart, and they sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about. And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being the queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was complete. And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa ( 2Ch 15:15-19 ) “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
2Ch 15:1-7
2Ch 15:1-7
ASA’S FAITHFUL EFFORTS TO BRING ISRAEL BACK TO GOD;
AZARIAH’S ADMONITION FOR ISRAEL
“And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Obed: and he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: for Jehovah is with you while ye are with him; and if ye seek him he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. Now for a long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law: but when in their distress they turned unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in; but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God did vex them with all adversity. But be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack; for your work shall be rewarded.”
Azariah’s purpose here is clear enough, namely, the encouragement of God’s people to be constant in their faithfulness to their God, for it was their lack of faithfulness which had so frequently resulted in manifold sorrows for the Chosen People.
2Ch 15:3-6 are interpreted in various ways. Cook believed that, “They refer to the many apostasies of God’s people in the times of the Judges.” Curtis (Madsen) applied the words to, “The Northern Kingdom”; and Keil stated that, “We must take the words in a general sense, applying then exclusively neither to the past nor to the future, because the truth uttered here has force at all times.”
“Without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law” (2Ch 15:3). There were many times in Israel’s history when these conditions prevailed. “It was not that Israel did not have instruction; Israel would not receive it.”
E.M. Zerr:
2Ch 15:1. The prophets were not always under the inspiration of God; it was only when some communication was to be delivered. (Heb 1:1.) At the time we have reached in our study, God wished to give a message of encouragement and instruction to Asa, and sent his Spirit upon the prophet for that purpose.
2Ch 15:2. Note the condition on which the Lord would be with his people, while ye be with him. That condition was always in force whether expressly stated or not.
2Ch 15:3. God has always been, and his law was in existence at that time. Israel had been without God for the reason indicated in the preceding verse. They were without law simply because they had forsaken it. The priests were expected to be teachers of the law of God. (Lev 10:8-11; Deu 17:9 ; Mal 2:7.) They had become negligent of their duty and the prophet complained about it.
2Ch 15:4. The constancy of God’s compassion was indicated when the people returned and sought his favor, and they were not disappointed in their expectations.
2Ch 15:5-6. Those times refers to the periods described in 2Ch 15:3. As a punishment for the disobedience of his people, God suffered the foreign nations to come against them to vex and damage them.
2Ch 15:7. The prophet was not implying that Asa was then guilty of neglect as described, for he had very recently waged a courageous battle against the heathen. The speech was for the purpose of encouraging him, and he was assured of being rewarded.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
This chapter chronicles with greater detail the occasion and value of the reform wrought in Judah during Asa’s reign. Here appears a man mentioned nowhere else. His name was Azariah. Suddenly anointed by the Spirit of God, he appeared to the king, and in a brief prophetic word gave direction to all his life and reign.
If the message was brief, it was yet weighty. As to enunciation of principles, it occupies only half a verse in our Bibles. “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.” The rest is illustrative application of the principle by reference to then existing conditions, ending with a direct appeal. The principle is of perpetual application. It represents God as unchanging. All apparent changes on His part are really changes in the attitude of men toward Him. Man with God, finds God with him. Man forsaking God, finds that he is forsaken of God. These are the extremes of the one truth. Between them, not contradicting them, but complementing them, is the declaration that the seeker finds. A recognition of these principles must inspire the heart with courage. It certainly did in Asa’s case. Upon the ground of that announcement he purged his country to a large extent, even deposing his mother in his loyalty to the principle.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
2Ch 15:8-9, 2Ch 15:12-15
I. We see here that the heart of a revival lies in a renewal of the covenant of the Church with God. A dead Church holds back from God the dead world. An awakened Church is the pioneer of an awakened world.
II. A second feature in this ancient revival of religion was a public proclamation of a revived faith before the world. Religious men are too much in earnest to be still about it. They are moved by a great power. It will express itself as becomes a great power. It is the instinct of religious faith to bear its witness to the world.
III. The old Jewish revival was attended with a great influx of converts from without. So commonly works a pure revival upon the world. Very rare is the exception in which the heart of the world does not respond to the heart of the Church.
IV. A fourth feature of a true revival of religion is a thorough reformation of public and private morals. To put away idolatrous worship was what we should call a reformation in morals. Idolatry was immorality concentrated in its most hideous forms. No religious zeal could have been genuine in a monarch which did not sweep the land clean of them.
V. Such awakenings are often followed by periods of temporal prosperity. “The Lord gave them rest round about.” No other civilising power equals that of true religion. It never hurts a man for any of the right uses of this world to make a Christian of him.
A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book, p. 43.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 15 The Reign of Asa, Warning and Reformation
1. The warning message of Azariah (2Ch 15:1-7)
2. Asas response and reformation (2Ch 15:8-19)
But the Lord knew the danger which threatened Asa. He had begun well. He was faithful to Jehovah, and he and the people had a wonderful demonstration that the Lord hears and answers prayer. Would he continue and end as well as he had begun? The Spirit of God came at this important time upon Azariah (whom the Lord helps). When victorious Asa returned the prophet met him and delivered his message. It was a needed and timely message, for the danger for Gods people is always the greatest after a victory is won and outward success and prosperity is enjoyed. 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. This has, of course, nothing to do with the question of salvation and the possession of eternal life, which the believer hath in Christ. To bear a real testimony, fruit unto God and have the victory at all times, a close walk with the Lord is needed. Apart from this, Gods people are helpless and must needs dishonor their Lord. Verses 3-6 picture the results of departure from the Lord, such as were among Israel during the period of the judges. Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak; for your work shall be rewarded.
And Asa hearing these words, believed what the prophet had said and then acted upon them. It is the true path to blessing, learning, believing and obeying. The abominable idols were removed and the altar before the porch of the LORD, which had fallen into disuse, was renewed by him. (2Ch 8:12). A great sacrificial scene followed. In connection with it they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD. The religious enthusiasm ran so high that they determined to put to death every person who did not seek the LORD. And when they sought Him with their whole desire He was found of them and gave them rest. These are precious and encouraging words. He is the LORD, who changeth not. It is still true today and ever will be true. He will be found by those who seek Him with their whole desire.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
the Spirit: 2Ch 20:14, 2Ch 24:20, Num 24:2, Jdg 3:10, 2Sa 23:2, 2Pe 1:21
Reciprocal: 2Ch 15:8 – Oded
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lessons from the Life of Asa
2Ch 15:1-19
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
We wish to present to you “The life of rest,” from certain verses found in chapter 14. These verses are really introductory to the 15th chapter, which is to be studied today.
1. In 2Ch 14:1 we read that Asa had quietness: “And Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years.”
Now comes a statement which explains why the land was quiet. 2Ch 14:2 says, “And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.”
It is interesting to observe that Asa took away the altars of the strange gods. He broke down the images and cut down the groves. Then Asa commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers. Thus it was that the kingdom was quiet before him.
If we want a quietness of spirit and a rest of heart, we must get it from God; but we must get it by entering into the way of obedience. Christ said, “Come unto Me, * * and I will give you rest.” That is the rest which is given. It is the rest from our sins.
Christ also said, “Take My yoke upon you, * * and ye shall find rest.” It is of this rest that we speak just now. It is a found rest, and it is found in the place of obedience and of worship.
2. In 2Ch 14:6 we read, “And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the Lord had given him rest. This verse shows us that when we have rest, we can do constructive work for the Lord. As long as there are wars and fightings in our members; as long as we live in confusion and in strife, there is no opportunity whatsoever to build ourselves up in those spiritual attributes which should be ours in Christ Jesus. We cannot do two things at once. We cannot at the same time develop our spiritual life and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, while we are disturbed in spirit and mind over the conflicts of this life.
3. In 2Ch 14:7 we read, “We have sought Him, and He hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered.” Our minds go back to those days when the Children of Israel had overthrown their enemies in the land of Canaan, It is then that we read that they had rest. It was not until the nations of the land of Canaan had been overthrown and the people established in the land that the Lord gave them rest.
We are reminded of the statement in Hebrews where it says “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” As the Lord gave Israel rest, He would also give us rest. He will give us rest from our enemies. He will give us rest from the ravages of Satan. This rest is known as the Millennial rest. It is a rest to the physical creation which has, for six thousand years, been travailing in pain. It is a rest to the nations of the world, which for six thousand years have been given over to war among themselves.
It is a rest for the Jews, who, during the centuries, have been driven from pillar to post, despised and rejected of men.
God grant that we may enter into that rest.
I. SACRED PARALLELISMS (2Ch 15:2)
1. “The Lord is with you, while ye be with Him.” The wonderful promise of our Lord Jesus, which He made as He was about to leave the earth, was “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” The Lord certainly promised in good faith and He will verify His pledge; however, the condition as suggested in our Scripture is that He is with us while, we be with Him. This seems to us to very plainly suggest that the Lord desires to be with us at all times, and yet His presence and blessing are dependent upon our being with Him.
Could we imagine, for one moment, that our Lord can be with us to own, to guide, and to bless us, if we are walking in the ways of the world? He may be with us in one sense-to chasten us and to woo us back again into His favor. However, He cannot be with us in that intimate fellowship, that comradeship, that partnership, with which He is with us when we are walking in His will and way.
2. “If ye seek Him, He will be found of you.” Somebody perhaps says that the Lord is out seeking the lost, and that He is also seeking those who wander from the fold. This is very true: however, He never truly finds us until we seek for Him. If there is a seeking Saviour, and a seeking sinner, each hunting for the other, it cannot be long until they get together, at any rate. The man who is lost in trespasses and sins can never expect to find the Lord until he asks, and seeks, and knocks. Is it not written “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near”? God would place upon man the responsibility of seeking.
3. “if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you.” Can God manifest Himself unto one who is a disobedient and gainsaying son? What else can a just God do, but forsake the one who leaves Him? The prodigal son in the far country had forsaken his father, and, although his father loved him, he could not follow him in any deeper sense of the word, and dwell with him in his evil way.
II. WITHOUT GOD AND WITHOUT PEACE (2Ch 15:3-5)
1. 2Ch 15:3 says, “Now for a long season Israel hath been without the True God.” The Children of Israel had gone away from God and had worshiped Baalim.
In the Book of Ephesians we read, “At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the Covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” These words were spoken about the Gentile world when they went after false gods. Now Israel had left their own God. The verse tells us further that they were without a teaching priest, and without the Law. Could anything be sadder than this?
2. 2Ch 15:5 says, “In those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in.” This is always the result of having no God. If I am without God, I am without peace. We have just learned of how the people had peace and rest when Asa, their king, did good and right in the eyes of the Lord; however, when they had left their God, they were driven from pillar to post, and suffered untold vexations because of the inhabitants of the country, which led them into captivity.
Think you that the young man or the young woman who leaves the Lord Jesus to enter into the world, will have peace in his heart or soul? This is impossible. Jesus Christ alone is the Prince of Peace, and He is our Peace.
An old Scotch woman was dying. Her pastor said, “Janet, have you made your peace with God?” She said, “No, but Christ made peace for me.” It is then that the God of Peace comes to rule in our hearts. It is then that we have a peace that surpasses understanding; a peace which the world did not and could not give. When we are walking with God, and have the peace of God, then we have the God of Peace.
III. REBUILDING THE ALTAR (2Ch 15:7-8)
1. Asa was encouraged by the Prophet Oded. When Asa sought the Lord, the Lord sought him. When Asa was for the Lord, the Lord was for him. Thus it was that Oded encouraged Asa, saying, “Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.” “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.” There are so many of us “who run well for a season. Who hinders us?” The Apostle Paul said, “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
2. Asa renewed the altar of the Lord. It was all very well for the king to put away the false idols, but it was necessary for him to go a step further and to enthrone the Lord his God. Thus it was that he not only turned from the wrong, but he did the right.
If any of the young people who read this think that to turn away from their evil ways is enough, they must remember that unless they enthrone Christ in their hearts, in the place of the idols they tear down, they will utterly fail.
We read how Abraham came out of Ur of the Chaldees. We also read that he went into the land of Canaan. The one step should ever be only the prelude to the other. It is written, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Forget not that it is again written, “Keep yourselves from idols.” Turning away from all such things, let us yield ourselves wholly unto God, and rebuild the altars which are fallen down. Let us adore the Lord Jesus Christ, and in all things give Him the preeminence.
IV. RALLYING TO A GOD-ENDUED LEADER (2Ch 15:9-10)
1. Asa gathered all the people together. He sent for Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh and out of Simeon. These all came gladly when they saw that the Lord his God was with Asa. This was the right thing for them to do. Paul said, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” When we see a man who is endued with power from on high, a man who is separating himself from evil, and dedicating himself fully to God, let us rally to him.
We should never, indeed, seek to serve men, nor to follow them, only as they follow Christ. We are not to be led along by every man who may appear on the horizon of our lives. We are to cease from men whose breath is in their nostrils. However, when a man is following the Lord and turning from his evil way, we should hold up his hands and encourage him.
2. God has His chosen leaders. God called John the Baptist from among the masses and the multitudes followed Him. The Lord called twelve men, whom He called disciples. These men, because of their union with Christ, and their special calling, became leaders among the people. God called the Apostle Paul and sent him forth as a leader and a teacher. He also called Philip, and Stephen, and Apollos, and Barnabas, and Titus, and Timothy, and many others.
God still calls men. He maketh some to be apostles, some teachers, some pastors, some evangelists. He has Divinely appointed elders, stewards, and deacons, to whom He delegates authority and power in the churches. To all such men, called of God, we should give honor-we should give due recognition-“Honour to whom honour” is due.
So long as the leaders among us are subject to Christ, it is all right for us to recognize their temporary leadership. However, we should never become followers of men to the exclusion of being followers of Christ.
V. BRINGING IN THEIR TITHES AND OFFERINGS (2Ch 15:11)
“And they offered unto the Lord the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.”
1. They brought in their offerings. This was customary in Israel. The time came, however, according to Malachi, when the people brought unto the Lord the blind, the lame, and the halt. They gave to the Lord the worthless and the diseased; for this the Lord God gave them a just rebuke.
He said, “A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master”: but “you * * despise My Name.” He told them that they offered polluted bread upon His altar. He said, “If ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?” Thus it was that God sent a curse upon Israel.
When we think of offering unto the Lord our gifts, our minds go to the churches of Macedonia. It is written of them: “How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” They first gave themselves unto God, and then they brought their gifts to Him. This church became a witness and an ensample to other churches everywhere.
2. They gave their offerings unto the Lord. We must recognize in all our gifts that they are given to our God. “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.” When we give to God we give to the greatest Giver there is, for He “giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” Let us, therefore, give “not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
It is written, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over.” It is true, and cannot be denied, that “he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” If we give to God, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you.” The more we give, the more we receive.
VI. COVENANTING WITH GOD (2Ch 15:12-15)
1. They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God.
This was a new step with them who for many years had wandered away from God. Now, however, they turned toward Him with all their heart and all their soul. According to 2Ch 15:13 they went so far as to say, “Whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death.” In this decision they knew no difference and showed no partiality toward the small or the great, toward man or woman.
Have we entered into a covenant with our Lord? Have we told Him that we are His, and that all we have is His?
2. They sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with the trumpet and with the cornet. The people had no desire to leave any loopholes. They made their Lord the Lord of all. They vowed that they would serve Him not partly, but wholly. Their vow was made with joy and happiness. They were genuine and sincere. Let us measure our consecration with theirs. Have we come to Him and made our oath of utter allegiance? Have we been ready to say, “I am Thine, and all I have is Thine”? If we have not done this thing, then we have been robbing God.
3. They gave not only their money and goods, but they gave themselves. This is exactly what the churches of Macedonia did. The truth is that God would not be satisfied with us if He did not possess our hearts. The greatest giving we can do is to present ourselves a living sacrifice. This is our rational and reasonable service.
So all Judah rejoiced. They sought the Lord, and they were found of Him. They entered onto a higher ground, and into a new sphere of service. Any gift, whether it be of goods, money, or ourselves, that is not given with joy and rejoicing, is an unworthy gift. Back of our gifts God looks to see the Spirit in which the gift is made. He wants to see a heart abounding with love and joy.
VII. FAITHFUL TO GOD AT ALL COSTS (2Ch 15:16-18)
1. Putting God above mother. 2Ch 15:16 tells us concerning Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, “He removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove.” This must have been hard to do. The ties that bound Asa to his mother were just as strong as the ties that bind us to our mothers. In the action of his mother, Asa saw a heart that was not right with God. She was worshiping a god that saw not, neither knew, nor understood.
2. Cutting down a mother’s idol. Asa went so far as to cut down the idol of his mother, and he stamped it, and burned it. It always costs to go through with God. Somewhere, perhaps in the very home itself, we will find that our consecration is a step toward sacrifice and the sacrifice of that which may be dear to our souls.
3. Asa’s heart was perfect toward the Lord all his days. He never rescinded his decree. He brought into the House of God the things that His father had dedicated; thing’s of silver and gold and vessels, all were acclaimed of the Lord.
4. There was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa. Thus it was that God watched over His servant and protected His people. Is it not true that it pays to serve Jesus every day? In the world we may have tribulation, and our fidelity to God may cost us even the giving up of a loved one, such as a mother; however, in spite of all the sufferings and persecutions, God will make up to us a hundredfold of blessing. He surely shows Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward Him.
AN ILLUSTRATION
The biggest thing about King Asa was not his kingly regalia, but his love to God.
A touching incident occurred in connection with the arrival of Lord Chelmsford, the State Governor, at Brisbane. The swearing-in ceremony took place at Government House, his Excellency wearing the Windsor uniform. After the actual swearing-in part was over, his Excellency was returning thanks for the kindly welcome he had received, etc., and during a pause in his speech a. childish voice corning from the gallery said, “Why, it’s daddy!” It was one of the small Chelmsfords, who until then had never seen her father in Windsor uniform. Relationship was more dear to the child’s heart than regimentals. Is it not so in eternal matters? Beyond all the pomp of earth is the privilege through becoming children of God (Joh 1:12), of crying, “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15), for “like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him” (Psa 103:13).
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
2Ch 15:1-2. The Spirit of God came upon Azariah Both to instruct him what to say, and to enable him to say it plainly and boldly. And he went out to meet Asa Now returning victorious, with his army, from the war with the Ethiopians. And he said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa and all Judah, &c. He does not come out to meet them in order to compliment them, or congratulate their success, but to excite them to their duty: which is the proper business of Gods ministers, even with princes and the greatest men. The Lord is with you To defend you against all your enemies, as ye now have seen, and may hereafter expect; while ye be with him While ye persist in that good course upon which you have entered. For the continuance of his presence with you depends upon your perseverance in the way of your duty. If you seek him he will be found of you If you sincerely desire his favour, and seek it in the way he hath appointed, especially by prayer and supplication, and complying with his will in all things, you shall obtain it: but if you forsake him And his commandments and ordinances of worship; he will forsake you And then you will be undone, and will find that your present triumphs were no security to you. Let not this victory, then, make you presumptuous, or self- confident: for you are upon your good behaviour; and if you leave God, he will leave and destroy you, after he has done you all this good.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ch 15:1. Azariah the son of Oded; whose father is named, to distinguish him from the highpriest of that name.
2Ch 15:3. For a long season, Israel, the ten revolted tribes, had been without the true God, and without a teaching priest to read and expound the law. What in such dark times could be expected but national ruin?
2Ch 15:16. She had made an idol in a grove. Maachah, queen dowager, as we now say, still enjoyed the Gebireh, or chief rank. This act of decision would strike terror into the heart of idolaters. Our learned Selden, in his treatise on the gods of Syria, a work much followed in Pooles Synopsis, contends that the Hebrew word Asherah, here rendered grove, should in every place where it implies an idol, be rendered Astart, as in the Greek. Dr. Wall, profiting by Selden, quite relieves our version in the following places. Manasseh set up a graven image of the grove in the house of the Lord. 2Ki 21:7. It should read, image of Astart. Josiah brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, and stamped it to powder. 2Ki 23:6. It cannot be a grove of trees, but the image of Astart. Throw down the altar of Baal, and the grove that is by it. Jdg 6:25. The Hebrew is, upon it; the right reading would be, the image which is upon it. Ahab made a grove, that is, an image of Astart, who was the god or goddess of his wife Jezebel, and of her nations the Sidonians. 1Ki 16:33. And the prophets of the groves four hundred; that is, the prophets of the Astarts, or Ashtaroth. 1Ki 18:19. See also on 1Ki 15:13.
REFLECTIONS.
Asa returning in triumph, and intoxicated no doubt with victory and spoil, was about to make an entrance into his capital, too much in the spirit of a carnal conqueror. Therefore the Lord graciously instructed him by Azariah, the son of Oded, how to consolidate the fruits of victory by going against Israels spiritual enemies, and destroying every vestige of idolatry in his kingdom.
To effectuate this most desirable work he addresses the hopes and fears of Asa, by reminding him of the conditions of the covenant. The Lord is with you, while ye be with him. If ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he also will forsake you. In this manner also David exhorted Solomon, 1Ch 28:9; and thus all the prophets sought to reform and convert their countrymen. Let the christian therefore rejoice with trembling, let him in prosperity as well as in affliction lay the axe to the root of every sin.
From this victory, and from Azariahs sermon, Asa took occasion to follow the example of Moses, of Joshua, and of Samuel, to renew the national covenant with the Lord. And how much better was this, after so great a victory, than what we now call a grand military fte, where drunkenness, blasphemy, and all kinds of wickedness ensue, and where it has the appearance of giving thanks to hell for the blessings conferred by heaven. What can be so grand, so wise and grateful, as a nation taking occasion from signal mercies to come into a closer bond with heaven.
But the most glorious trait in Asas reformation was the removal of his grandmother from much of her dignity, because she had degraded herself to be a priestess to Astart. This was a godlike deed; for in the divine economy, judgment must first begin at the house of God. What an example of justice and of terror! If the queen could not escape, what superstitious woman would dare to transgress? What an example for the heads of houses to follow. He would spare vice neither in mother, nor in servant, nor in son, nor in himself. Lord help us, in like manner, to put away every sin, and to covenant with thee on the purest principles, and on the broadest scale.
After the renewal of the covenant, great prosperity followed on the kingdom: and when did either men or nations renew their covenant with heaven, without being partakers of covenant blessings?
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ch 15:1-19. The words of Azariah the son of Oded (not mentioned elsewhere) form a kind of introduction to the account of Asas religious reforms; if the words in 2Ch 15:3-6 refer to any definite period, it must be to that of the Judges, for the description of the state of the nation does not agree with any other period recorded in the OT. The whole of this section, however, reads like a midrashic expansion of 1Ki 15:11-15.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
A MESSAGE FROM GOD
(vv.1-7)
As Asa returned from his victory, the Lord sent a prophet, Azariah, son of Oded, to meet him with encouraging words, telling Asa, “The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you” (v.2).
Abijah reminded Asa that for a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest and without law” (v.3). This refers especially to the time of the Judges, when everyone did what was right in his own eyes. In that book we are told that many times, when in trouble, if they turned to the Lord and He delivered them (v.4). But the general condition was so low that God troubled them because of their self-will. But Azariah urges Asa to show himself strong against such dangers (v.7).
ASA’S REFORMS
(vv.8-19)
In verse 8 the prophecy is said to be that of Oded, so that Azariah, Oded’s son, was evidently only the messenger to deliver Oded’s prophecy. This word from God had real effect on Asa to give him fresh courage to remove from Judah and Benjamin the abominable idols that had been entertained by his father. He also took such idols away from the cities he had captured from Ephraim.
When it is mentioned that he restored the altar of the Lord, this may mean that he restored the proper sacrifices to be offered on that altar, for there seems to be no evidence that the altar itself had been damaged.
Besides this, Asa was diligent to encourage all the people in the proper worship of the Lord. He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and others even from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon, who were willing to come when they learned of the Lord’s blessing of Asa in contrast to the idolatry of the ten tribes. In this great gathering in the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign, they offered to the Lord 700 bulls and 7,000 sheep which had been taken as plunder (vv.10-11). How good it was to draw the attention of the people to the value of the sacrifice, for every case of recovery in Israel was attended by sacrifice, a reminder of the importance of the sacrifice of Christ as being the source of all blessing for His people.
On this occasion they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul, specifying too that any who would not agree to this should be put to death (vv.12-13). As in the case of various other covenants being made, this was simply a renewing of the covenant of law as first given by Moses, and as in those cases, so in this case, it was not long before the covenant was broken. At this time, however, they took an oath before the Lord, with a great display accompanying it (v.14). They had sworn with all their heart and sought the Lord with all their soul. There is no doubt they meant it, but they did not suspect the treachery of their own hearts. Still, God respected the good intentions they had, and gave them rest all around for the time being (v.15), Only in the New Testament do we find the law set aside because it is ineffective, and the pure grace of God introduced as the only principle that can truly bring forth fruit for God. The epistle to the Galatians is a most valuable treatise on this subject.
Also, Asa showed no favouritism to his own close relative his grandmother who had made an idolatrous image of Asherah (v.16). He removed her from the place of Queen Mother. Not even her age would make any difference in this case. Such evil can not be excused, no matter who is guilty of it. Asa cut down and crushed her image, then burned it.
Though Asa removed the high places from, Judah, (ch.1-1:5), he did not remove these from the rest of Israel (v.17). Of course he did not have the same authority over the ten tribes as he did over Judah, though some from those tribes had chosen to recognise him. But in the main, Asa’s heart remained faithful to the Lord. It is also reported that he brought into the house of the Lord silver and gold utensils that both His father and he had dedicated. It seems Abijah had not carried through his promise in dedicating these things, and Asa fulfilled this for him as well as adding his own contribution.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
15:1 And the Spirit of God came upon {a} Azariah the son of Oded:
(a) Who was called Obed as his father was, 2Ch 15:8.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. Asa’s reform ch. 15
The Chronicler featured Azariah’s sermon (2Ch 15:1-7), Asa’s reformation (2Ch 15:8-15), and Maacah’s removal (2Ch 15:16-19) during the middle part of Asa’s reign.
A message from the prophet Azariah was the spark that ignited revival in Asa’s day. Gerhard von Rad named the literary form in which a confessional statement is made with a quotation from the canonical prophets as "the Levitical Sermon" (cf. 2Ch 15:2-7; 2Ch 16:7-9; 2Ch 19:6-7; 2Ch 20:15-17; 2Ch 20:20; 2Ch 29:5-11). [Note: Gerhard von Rad, The Problem of the Hexateuch and Other Essays, pp. 267-80.] Asa responded to Azariah’s challenge by rededicating the temple, himself, and his people to the Mosaic Covenant. He even executed those who refused to submit to that covenant (Exo 22:20; Deu 13:6-9). His removal of the powerful dowager queen (2Ch 15:16) shows that he put spiritual purity above family loyalty. Other significant queen mothers during the monarchy were Bathsheba, Jezebel, and Athaliah. Unfortunately, Asa’s revival did not result in the removal of the high places in Israel (2Ch 15:17), even though Asa destroyed them in Judah (cf. 2Ch 14:3). Asa’s heart was not sinless, but it was blameless all his days (2Ch 15:17). Zeal for the house and worship of the Lord marked him as a true son of David.
The writer counted Simeon among the northern tribes because many of the Simeonites, although some lived within the tribe of Judah, allied with their northern brothers in their religion (cf. 2Ch 34:6). [Note: Keil, pp. 364-65.] Many Simeonites had apparently moved north into Israel.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
ASA: DIVINE RETRIBUTION
2Ch 14:1-15; 2Ch 15:1-19; 2Ch 16:1-14
ABIJAH, dying, as far as we can gather from Chronicles, in the odor of sanctity, was succeeded by his son Asa. The chroniclers history of Asa is much fuller than that which is given in the book of Kings. The older narrative is used as a framework into which material from later sources is freely inserted. The beginning of the new reign was singularly promising. Abijah had been a very David, he had fought the battles of Jehovah, and had assured the security and independence of Judah. Asa, like Solomon, entered into the peaceful enjoyment of his predecessors exertions in the field. “In his days the land was quiet ten years,” as in the days when the judges had delivered Israel, and he was able to exhort his people to prudent effort by reminding them that Jehovah had given them rest on every side. This interval of quiet was used for both religious reform and military precautions. The high places and heathen idols and symbols which had somehow survived Abijahs zeal for the Mosaic ritual were swept away, and Judah was commanded to seek Jehovah and observe the Law; and he built fortresses with towers, and gates, and bars, and raised a great army “that bare bucklers and spears,”-no mere hasty levy of half-armed peasants with scythes and axes. The mighty array surpassed even Abijahs great muster of four hundred thousand from Judah and Benjamin: there were five hundred and eighty thousand men, three hundred thousand out of Judah that bare bucklers and spears and two hundred and eighty thousand out of Benjamin that bare shields and drew bows. The great muster of Benjamites under Asa is in striking contrast to the meager tale of six hundred warriors that formed the whole strength of Benjamin after its disastrous defeat in the days of the judges; and the splendid equipment of this mighty host shows the rapid progress of the nation from the desperate days of Shamgar and Jael or even of Sauls early reign, when “there was neither shield nor spear seen among forty thousand in Israel.” These references of buildings, especially fortresses, to military stores and the vast numbers of Jewish and Israelite armies, form a distinct class amongst the additions made by the chronicler to the material taken from the book of Kings. They are found in the narratives of the reigns of David, Rehoboam, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, Manasseh, in fact in the reigns of nearly all the good kings; Manassehs building was done after he had turned from his evil ways. {1Ch 12:1-40, etc.; 2Ch 11:5 ff; 2Ch 17:12 ff; 2Ch 26:9 ff; 2Ch 27:4 ff; 2Ch 28:23-24 ; 2Ch 33:14} Hezekiah and Josiah were too much occupied with sacred festivals on the one hand and hostile invaders on the other to have much leisure for building, and it would not have been in keeping with Solomons character as the prince of peace to have laid stress on his arsenals and armies Otherwise the chronicler, living at a time when the warlike resources of Judah were of the slightest, was naturally interested in these reminiscences of departed glory; and the Jewish provincials would take a pride in relating these pieces of antiquarian information about their native towns, much as the servants of old manor-houses delight to point out the wing which was added by some famous cavalier or by some Jacobite Squire.
Asas warlike preparations were possibly intended, like those of the Triple Alliance, to enable him to maintain peace; but if so, their sequel did not illustrate the maxim, “Si vis pacem, para bellum.” The rumour of his vast armaments reached a powerful monarch: “Zerah the Ethiopian.” (2Ch 14:9-15) The vagueness of this description is doubtless due to the remoteness of the chronicler from the times he is describing. Zerah has sometimes been identified with Shishaks successor, Osorkon I, the second king of the twenty-second Egyptian dynasty. Zerah felt that Asas great army was a standing menace to the surrounding princes, and undertook the task of destroying this new military power: “He came out against them.” Numerous as Asas forces were, they still left him dependent upon Jehovah, for the enemy were even more numerous and better equipped. Zerah led to battle an army of a million men, supported by three hundred war chariots. With this enormous host he came to Mareshah, at the foot of the Judaean highlands, in a direction southwest of Jerusalem. In spite of the inferiority of his army, Ass came out to meet him; “and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.” Like Abijah, Asa felt that, with his Divine ally, he need not be afraid of the odds against him even when they could be counted by hundreds of thousands. Trusting in Jehovah, he had taken the field against the enemy; and now at the decisive moment he made a confident appeal for help: “Jehovah, there is none beside Thee to help between the mighty and him that hath no strength.” Five hundred and eighty thousand men seemed nothing compared to the host arrayed against them, and outnumbering them in the proportion of nearly two to one. “Help us, Jehovah our God; for we rely on Thee, and in Thy name are we come against this multitude. Jehovah, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee.”
Jehovah justified the trust reposed in Him. He smote the Ethiopians, and they fled towards the southwest in the direction of Egypt; and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar, with fearful slaughter, so that of Zerahs million followers not one remained alive. Of course this statement is hyperbolical. The carnage was enormous, and no living enemies remained in sight. Apparently Gerar and the neighboring cities had aided Zerah in his advance and attempted to shelter the fugitives from Mareshah. Paralyzed with fear of Jehovah, whose avenging wrath had been so terribly manifested, these cities fell an easy prey to the victorious Jews. They smote and spoiled all the cities about Gerar, and reaped a rich harvest “for there was much spoil in them.” It seems that the nomad tribes of the southern wilderness had also in some way identified themselves with the invaders; Asa attacked them in their turn. “They smote also the tents of cattle”; and as the wealth of these tribes lay in their flocks and herds, “they carried away sheep in abundance and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.”
This victory is closely parallel to that of Abijah over Jeroboam. In both the numbers of the armies are reckoned by hundreds of thousands; and the hostile host outnumbers the army of Judah in the one case by exactly two to one, in the other by nearly that proportion: in both the king of Judah trusts with calm assurance to the assistance of Jehovah, and Jehovah smites the enemy; the Jews then massacre the defeated army and spoil or capture the neighboring cities.
These victories over superior numbers may easily be paralleled or surpassed by numerous striking examples from secular history. The odds were greater at Agincourt, where at least sixty thousand French were defeated by not more than twenty thousand Englishmen; at Marathon the Greeks routed a Persian army ten times as numerous as their own; in India English generals have defeated innumerable hordes of native warriors, as when Wellesley-
“Against the myriads of Assaye Clashed with his fiery few and won.”
For the most part victorious generals have been ready to acknowledge the succoring arm of the God of battles. Shakespeares Henry V after Agincourt speaks altogether in the spirit of Asas prayer:-
“O God, Thy arm was here; And not to us, but to Thy arm alone, Ascribe we all Take it, God, For it is only Thine.”
When the small craft that made up Elizabeths fleet defeated the huge Spanish galleons and galleasses, and the storms of the northern seas finished the work of destruction, the grateful piety of Protestant England felt that its foes had been destroyed by the breath of the Lord; “Afflavit Deus et dissipantur.”
The principle that underlies such feelings is quite independent of the exact proportions of opposing armies. The victories of inferior numbers in a righteous cause are the most striking, but not the most significant, illustrations of the superiority of moral to material force. In the wider movements of international politics we may find even more characteristic instances. It is true of nations as well as of individuals that-
“The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up: The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich; He bringeth low, He also lifteth up: He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes And inherit the throne of glory.”
Italy in the eighteenth century seemed as hopelessly divided as Israel under the judges, and Greece as completely enslaved to the “unspeakable Turk” as the Jews to Nebuchadnezzar; and yet, destitute as they were of any material resources, these nations had at their disposal great moral forces: the memory of ancient greatness and the sentiment of nationality; and today Italy can count hundreds of thousands like the chroniclers Jewish kings, and Greece builds her fortresses by land and her ironclads to command the sea. The Lord has fought for Israel.
But the principle has a wider application. A little examination of the more obscure and complicated movements of social life will show moral forces everywhere overcoming and controlling the apparently irresistible material forces opposed to them. The English and American pioneers of the movements for the abolition of slavery had to face what seemed an impenetrable phalanx of powerful interests and influences; but probably any impartial student of history would have foreseen the ultimate triumph of a handful of earnest men over all the wealth and political power of the slave-owners. The moral forces at the disposal of the abolitionists were obviously irresistible. But the soldier in the midst of smoke and tumult may still be anxious and despondent at the very moment when the spectator sees clearly that the battle is won: and the most earnest Christian workers sometimes falter when they realize the vast and terrible forces that fight against them. At such times we are both rebuked and encouraged by the simple faith of the chronicler in the overruling power of God.
It may be objected that if victory were to be secured by Divine intervention, there was no need to muster five hundred and eighty thousand men or indeed any army at all. If in any and every case God disposes, what need is there for the devotion to His service of our best strength, and energy, and culture, or of any human effort at all? A wholesome spiritual instinct leads the chronicler to emphasize the great preparations of Abijah and Asa. We have no right to look for Divine co-operation till we have done our best; we are not to sit with folded hands and expect a complete salvation to be wrought for us, and then to continue as idle spectators of Gods redemption of mankind we are to tax our resources to the utmost to gather our hundreds of thousands of soldiers; we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
This principle may be put in another way. Even to the hundreds of thousands the Divine help is still necessary. The leaders of great hosts are as dependent upon Divine help as Jonathan and his armor-bearer fighting single-handed against a Philistine garrison, or David arming himself with a sling and stone against Goliath of Gath. The most competent Christian worker in the prime of his spiritual strength needs grace as much as the untried youth making his first venture in the Lords service.
At this point we meet with another of the chroniclers obvious self-contradictions. At the beginning of the narrative of Asas reign we are told that the king did away with the high places and the symbols of idolatrous worship, and that, because Judah had thus sought Jehovah, He gave them rest. The deliverance from Zerah is another mark of Divine favor: And yet in the fifteenth chapter Asa, in obedience to prophetic admonition, takes away the abominations from his dominions, as if there had been no previous reformation, but we are told that the high places were not taken out of Israel. The context would naturally suggest that Israel here means Asas kingdom, as the true Israel of God; but as the verse is borrowed from the book of Kings, and “out of Israel” is an editorial addition made by the chronicler, it is probably intended to harmonize the borrowed verse with the chroniclers previous statement that Asa did away with the high places. If so, we must understand that Israel means the Northern Kingdom, from which the high places had not been removed, though Judah had been purged from these abominations. But here, as often elsewhere, Chronicles taken alone affords no explanation of its inconsistencies.
Again, in Asas first reformation he commanded Judah to seek Jehovah and to do the Law and the commandments; and accordingly Judah sought tile Lord. Moreover, Abijah, about seventeen years before Asas second reformation, made it his special boast that Judah had not forsaken Jehovah, but had priests ministering unto Jehovah, “the sons of Aaron and the Levites in their work.” During Rehoboams reign of seventeen years Jehovah was duly honored for the first three years, and again after Shishaks invasion in the fifth year of Rehoboam. So that for the previous thirty or forty years the due worship of Jehovah had only been interrupted by occasional lapses into disobedience. But now the prophet Oded holds before this faithful people the warning example of the “long seasons” when Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. And yet previously Chronicles supplies an unbroken list of high-priests from Aaron downwards. In response to Odeds appeal, the king and people set about the work of reformation as if they had tolerated some such neglect of God, the priests, and the Law as the prophet had described.
Another minor discrepancy is found in the statement that “the heart of Asa was perfect all his days”; this is reproduced verbatim from the book of Kings. Immediately afterwards the chronicler relates the evil doings of Asa in the closing years of his reign.
Such contradictions render it impossible to give a complete and continuous exposition of Chronicles that shall be at the same time consistent. Nevertheless they are not without their value for the Christian student. They afford evidence of the good faith of the chronicler. His contradictions are clearly due to his use of independent and discrepant sources, and not to any tampering with the statements of his authorities. They are also an indication that the chronicler attaches much more importance to spiritual edification than to historical accuracy. When he seeks to set before his contemporaries the higher nature and better life of the great national heroes, and thus to provide them with an ideal of kingship, he is scrupulously and painfully careful to remove everything that would weaken the force of the lesson which he is trying to teach; but he is comparatively indifferent to accuracy of historical detail. When his authorities contradict each other as to the number or the date of Asas reformations, or even the character of his later years, he does not hesitate to place the two narratives side by side and practically to draw lessons from both. The work of the chronicler and its presence with the Pentateuch and the Synoptic Gospels in the sacred canon imply an emphatic declaration of the judgment of the Spirit and the Church that detailed historical accuracy is not a necessary consequence of inspiration. In expounding this second narrative of a reformation by Asa, we shall make no attempt at complete harmony with the rest of Chronicles; any inconsistency between the exposition here and elsewhere will simply arise from a faithful adherence to our text.
The occasion then of Asas second reformation was as follows: Asa was returning in triumph from his great defeat of Zerah, bringing with him substantial fruits of victory in the shape of abundant spoil. Wealth and power had proved a snare to David and Rehoboam, and had involved them in grievous sin. Asa might also have succumbed to the temptations of prosperity; but, by a special Divine grace not vouchsafed to his predecessors, he was guarded against danger by a prophetic warning. At the very moment when Asa might have expected to be greeted by the acclamations of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when the king would be elated with the sense of Divine favor, military success, and popular applause, the prophets admonition checked the undue exaltation which might have hurried Asa into presumptuous sin. Asa and his people were not to presume upon their privilege; its continuance was altogether dependent upon their continued obedience: if they fell into sin the rewards of their former loyalty would vanish like fairy gold. “Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah 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.” This lesson was enforced from the earlier history of Israel. The following verses are virtually a summary of the history of the judges:-
“Now for long seasons Israel was without the true God, and without teaching priest, and without law.”
Judges tells how again and again Israel fell away from Jehovah. “But when in their distress they turned unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, and sought Him, he was found of them.”
Odeds address is very similar to another and somewhat fuller summary of the history of the judges, contained in Samuels farewell to the people, in which he reminded them how when they forgot Jehovah, their God, He sold them into the hand of their enemies, and when they cried unto Jehovah, He sent Zerubbabel, and Barak, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies on every side, and they dwelt in safety. Oded proceeds to other characteristics of the period of the judges:
“There was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in; but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation and city against city, for God did vex them with all adversity.”
Deborahs song records great vexations: the highways were unoccupied, and the travelers walked through by-ways; the rulers ceased in Israel; Gideon “threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.” The breaking of nation against nation and city against city will refer to the destruction of Succoth and Penuel by Gideon, the sieges of Shechem and Thebez by Ahimelech, the massacre of the Ephraimites by Jephthah, and the civil war between Benjamin and the rest of Israel and the consequent destruction of Jabesh-gilead. {Jdg 5:6-7; Jdg 6:2; Jdg 8:15-17; Jdg 9:1-7; Jdg 12:6}
“But,” said Oded, “be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack, for your work shall be rewarded.” Oded implies that abuses were prevalent in Judah which might spread and corrupt the whole people, so as to draw down upon them the wrath of God and plunge them into all the miseries of the times of the judges. These abuses were wide-spread, supported by powerful interests and numerous adherents. The queen-mother, one of the most important personages in an Eastern state, was herself devoted to heathen observances. Their suppression needed courage, energy, and pertinacity; but if they were resolutely grappled with, Jehovah would reward the efforts of His servants with success, and Judah would enjoy prosperity. Accordingly Asa took courage and put away the abominations out of Judah and Benjamin and the cities he held in Ephraim. The abominations were the idols and all the cruel and obscene accompaniments of heathen worship. {Cf. 1Ki 15:12} In the prophets exhortation to be strong, and not be slack, and in the corresponding statement that Asa took courage, we have a hint for all reformers. Neither Oded nor Asa underrated the serious nature of the task before them. They counted the cost, and with open eyes and full knowledge confronted the evil they meant to eradicate. The full significance of the chroniclers language is only seen when we remember what preceded the prophets appeal to Asa. The captain of half a million soldiers, the conqueror of a million Ethiopians with three hundred chariots, has to take courage before he can bring himself to put away the abominations out of his own dominions. Military machinery is more readily created than national righteousness; it is easier to slaughter ones neighbors than to let light into the dark places that are full of the habitations of cruelty; and vigorous foreign policy is a poor substitute for good administration. The principle has its application to the individual. The beam in our own eye seems more difficult to extract than the mote in our brothers, and a man often needs more moral courage to reform himself than to denounce other peoples sins or urge them to accept salvation. Most ministers could confirm from their own experience Portias saying, “I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.”
Asas reformation was constructive as well as destructive; the toleration of “abominations” had diminished the zeal of the people for Jehovah, and even the altar of Jehovah before the porch of the Temple had suffered from neglect: it was now renewed, and Asa assembled the people for a great festival. Under Rehoboam many pious Israelites had left the Northern Kingdom to dwell where they could freely worship at the Temple; under Asa there was a new migration, “for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him.” And so it came about that in the great assembly which Asa gathered together at Jerusalem not only Judah and Benjamin, but also Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, were represented. The chronicler has already told us that after the return from the Captivity some of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh dwelt at Jerusalem with the children of Judah and Benjamin, {1Ch 9:3} and he is always careful to note any settlement of members of the ten tribes in Judah or any acquisition of northern territory by the kings of Judah. Such facts illustrated his doctrine that Judah was the true spiritual Israel, the real or twelve-tribed whole, of the chosen people.
Asas festival was held in the third month of his fifteenth year, the month Sivan, corresponding roughly to our June. The Feast of Weeks, at which first-fruits were offered, felt in this month; and his festival was probably a special celebration of this feast. The sacrifice of seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep out of the spoil taken from the Ethiopians and their allies might be considered a kind of first-fruits. The people pledged themselves most solemnly to permanent obedience to Jehovah; this festival and its offerings were to be first-fruits or earnest of future loyalty. “They entered into a covenant to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; they sware unto Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.” The observance of this covenant was not to be left to the uncertainties of individual loyalty; the community were to be on their guard against offenders, Achans who might trouble Israel. According to the stern law of the Pentateuch, {Exo 22:20, Deu 13:5, Deu 13:9, Deu 13:15} “whosoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.” The seeking of Jehovah so far as it could be enforced by penalties, must have consisted in external observances; and the usual proof that a man did not seek Jehovah would be found in his seeking other gods and taking part in heathen rites. Such apostasy was not merely an ecclesiastical offense; it involved immorality and a falling away from patriotism. The pious Jew could no more tolerate heathenism than we could tolerate in England religions that sanctioned polygamy or suttee.
Having thus entered into covenant with Jehovah, “all Judah rejoiced at their oath because they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire.” At the beginning, no doubt, they, like their king, “took courage”; they addressed themselves with reluctance and apprehension to an unwelcome and hazardous enterprise. They now rejoiced over the Divine grace that had inspired their efforts and been manifested in their courage and devotion, over the happy issue of their enterprise, and over the universal enthusiasm for Jehovah; and He set the seal of his approval upon their gladness, He was found of them, and Jehovah gave them rest round about, so that there was no more war for twenty years: unto the thirty-fifth year of Asas reign. It is an unsavory task to put away abominations: many foul nests of unclean birds are disturbed in the process; men would not choose to have this particular cross laid upon them, but only those who take up their cross and follow Christ can hope to enter into the joy of the Lord.
The narrative of this second reformation is completed by the addition of details borrowed from the book of Kings. The chronicler next recounts how in the thirty-sixth year of Asas reign Baasha began to fortify Ramah as an outpost against Judah but was forced to abandon his undertaking by the intervention of the Syrian king. Benhadad, whom Asa hired with his own treasures and those of the Temple; whereupon Asa carried off Baashas stones and timber and built Geba and Mizpah as Jewish outposts against Israel. With the exception of the date and a few minor changes, the narrative so far is taken verbatim from the book of Kings. The chronicler, like the author of the priestly document of the Pentateuch, was anxious to provide his readers with an exact and complete system of chronology; he was the Ussher or Clinton of his generation. His date of the war against Baasha is probably based upon an interpretation of the source used for chapter 15; the first reformation secured a rest of ten years, the second and more thorough reformation a rest exactly twice as long as the first. In the interest of these chronological references, the chronicler has sacrificed a statement twice repeated in the book of Kings: that there was war between Asa and Baasha all their days. As Baasha came to the throne in Asas third year, the statement of the book of Kings would have seemed to contradict the chroniclers assertion that there was no war from the fifteenth to the thirty-fifth year of Asas reign. {1Ki 15:16; 1Ki 15:32-33}
After his victory over Zerah, Asa received a Divine message which somewhat checked the exuberance of his triumph; a similar message awaited him after his successful expedition to Ramah. By Oded Jehovah had warned Asa, but now He commissioned Hanani the seer to pronounce a sentence of condemnation. The ground of the sentence was that Asa had not relied on Jehovah, but on the king of Syria.
Here the chronicler echoes one of the keynotes of the great prophets. Isaih had protested against the alliance which Ahaz concluded with Assyria in order to obtain assistance again the united onset of Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, and had predicted that Jehovah would bring upon Ahaz, his people, and his dynasty days that had not come since the disruption, even the King of Assyria. {Isa 7:17} When this prediction was fulfilled, and the thundercloud of Assyrian invasion darkened all the land of Judah, the Jews, in their lack of faith, looked to Egypt for deliverance; and again Isaiah denounced the foreign alliance: “Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Jehovah; the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.” {Isa 31:1; Isa 30:3} So Jeremiah in his turn protested against a revival of the Egyptian alliance: “Thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.” {Jer 2:36}
In their successive calamities the Jews could derive no comfort from a study of previous history; the pretext upon which each of their oppressors had intervened in the affairs of Palestine had been an invitation from Judah.
In their trouble they had sought a remedy worse than the disease; the consequences of this political quackery had always demanded still more desperate and fatal medicines. Freedom from the border raids of the Ephraimites was secured at the price of the ruthless devastations of Hazael; deliverance from Rezin only led to the wholesale massacres and spoliation of Sennacherib. Foreign alliance was an opiate that had to be taken in continually increasing doses, till at last it caused the death of the patient.
Nevertheless these are not the lessons which the seer seeks to impress upon Asa. Hanani takes a loftier tone. He does not tell him that his unholy alliance with Benhadad was the first of a chain of circumstances that would end in the ruin of Judah. Few generations are greatly disturbed by the prospect of the ruin of their country in the distant future: “After us the Deluge.” Even the pious king Hezekiah, when told of the coming captivity of Judah, found much comfort in the thought that there should be peace and truth in his days. After the manner of the prophets, Hananis message is concerned with his own times. To his large faith the alliance with Syria presented itself chiefly as the loss of a great opportunity. Asa had deprived himself of the privilege of fighting with Syria, whereby Jehovah would have found fresh occasion to manifest His infinite power and His gracious favor towards Judah. Had there been no alliance with Judah, the restless and warlike king of Syria might have joined Baasha to attack Asa; another million of the heathen and other hundreds of their chariots would have been destroyed by the resistless might of the Lord of Hosts. And yet, in spite of the great object-lesson he had received in the defeat of Zerah, Asa had not thought of Jehovah as his Ally. He had forgotten the all-observing, all-controlling providence of Jehovah, and had thought it necessary to supplement the Divine protection by hiring a heathen king with the treasures of the Temple; and yet “the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” With this thought, that the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the earth, Zechariah {Zec 4:10} comforted the Jews in the dark days between the Return and the rebuilding of the Temple. Possibly during Asas twenty years of tranquility his faith had become enfeebled for want of any severe discipline. It is only with a certain reserve that we can venture to pray that the Lord will “take from our lives the strain and stress.” The discipline of helplessness and dependence preserves the consciousness of Gods loving providence. The resources of Divine grace are not altogether intended for our personal comfort; we are to tax them to the utmost, in the assurance that God will honor all our drafts upon His treasury. The great opportunities of twenty years of peace and prosperity were not given to Asa to lay up funds with which to bribe a heathen king, and then, with this reinforcement of his accumulated resources, to accomplish the mighty enterprise of stealing Baashas stones and timber and building the walls of a couple of frontier fortresses. With such a history and such opportunities behind him, Asa should have felt himself competent, with Jehovahs help, to deal with both Baasha and Benhadad, and should have had courage to confront them both.
Sin like Asas has been the supreme apostasy of the Church in all her branches and through all her generations: Christ has been denied, not by lack of devotion, but by want of faith. Champions of the truth, reformers and guardians of the Temple, like Asa, have been eager to attach to their holy cause the cruel prejudices of ignorance and folly, the greed and vindictiveness of selfish men. They have feared lest these potent forces should be arrayed amongst the enemies of the Church and her Master. Sects and parties have eagerly contested the privilege of counseling a profligate prince how he should satisfy his thirst for blood and exercise his wanton and brutal insolence; the Church has countenanced almost every iniquity and striven to quench by persecution every new revelation of the Spirit, in order to conciliate vested interests and established authorities. It has even been suggested that national Churches and great national vices were so intimately allied that their supporters were content that they should stand or fall together. On the other hand, the advocates of reform have not been slow to appeal to popular jealousy and to aggravate the bitterness of social feuds. To Hanani the seer had come the vision of a larger and purer faith, that would rejoice to see the cause of Satan supported by all the evil passions and selfish interests that are his natural allies. He was assured that the greater the host of Satan, the more signal and complete would be Jehovahs triumph. If we had his faith, we should not be anxious to bribe Satan to cast out Satan, but should come to understand that the full muster of hell assailing us in front is less dangerous than a few companies of diabolic mercenaries in our own array. In the former case the overthrow of the powers of darkness is more certain and more complete.
The evil consequences of Asas policy were not confined to the loss of a great opportunity, nor were his treasures the only price he was to pay for fortifying Geba and Mizpah with Baashas building materials. Hanani declared to him that from henceforth he should have wars. This purchased alliance was only the beginning, and not the end, of troubles. Instead of the complete and decisive victory which had disposed of the Ethiopians once for all, Asa and his people were harassed and exhausted by continual warfare. The Christian life would have more decisive victories, and would be less of a perpetual and wearing struggle, if we had faith to refrain from the use of doubtful means for high ends.
Odeds message of warning had been accepted and obeyed, but Asa was now no longer docile to Divine discipline. David and Hezekiah submitted themselves to the censure of Gad and Isaiah; but Asa was wroth with Hanani and put him in prison, because the prophet had ventured to rebuke him. His sin against God corrupted even his civil administration; and the ally of a heathen king, the persecutor of Gods prophet, also oppressed the people. Three years after the repulse of Baasha a new punishment fell upon Asa: his feet became grievously diseased. Still he did not humble himself, but was guilty of further sin he sought not Jehovah, but the physicians. It is probable that to seek Jehovah concerning disease was not merely a matter of worship. Reuss has suggested that the legitimate practice of medicine belonged to the schools of the prophets; but it seems quite as likely that in Judah, as in Egypt, any existing knowledge of the art of healing was to be found among the priests. Conversely, physicians who were neither priests nor prophets of Jehovah were almost certain to be ministers of idolatrous worship and magicians. They failed apparently to relieve their patient: Asa lingered in pain and weakness for two years, and then died. Probably the sufferings of his latter days had protected his people from further oppression, and had at once appealed to their sympathy and removed any cause for resentment. When be died, they only remembered his virtues and achievements; and buried him with royal magnificence, with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices; and made a very great burning for him, probably of aromatic woods.
In discussing the chroniclers picture of the good kings, we have noticed that, while Chronicles and the book of Kings agree in mentioning the misfortunes which as a rule darkened their closing years, Chronicles in each case records some lapse into sin as preceding these misfortunes. From the theological standpoint of the chroniclers school, these invidious records of the sins of good kings were necessary in order to account for their misfortunes. The devout student of the book of Kings read with surprise that of the pious kings who had been devoted to Jehovah and His temple, whose acceptance by Him had been shown by the victories vouchsafed to them, one had died of a painful disease in his feet, another in a lazar-house, two had been assassinated, and one slain in battle. Why had faith and devotion been so ill rewarded? Was it not vain to serve God? What profit was there in keeping His ordinances? The chronicler felt himself fortunate in discovering amongst his later authorities additional information which explained these mysteries and justified the ways of God to man. Even the good kings had not been without reproach, and their misfortunes had been the righteous judgment on their sins.
The principle which guided the chronicler in this selection of material was that sin was always punished by complete, immediate, and manifest retribution in this life, and that conversely all misfortune was the punishment of sin. There is a simplicity and apparent justice about this theory that has always made it the leading doctrine of a certain stage of moral development. It was probably the popular religious teaching in Israel from early days till the time when our Lord found it necessary to protest against the idea that the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices were sinners above all Galileans because they had suffered these things, or that the eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them were offenders above all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This doctrine of retribution was current among the Greeks. When terrible calamities fell upon men their neighbors supposed these to be the punishment of specially heinous crimes. When the Spartan king Cleomenes committed suicide, the public mind in Greece at once inquired of what particular sin he had thus paid the penalty. The horrible circumstances of his death were attributed to the wrath of some offended deity, and the cause of the offence was sought for in one of his many acts of sacrilege, possibly he was thus punished because he had bribed the priestess of the Delphic oracle. The Athenians, however, believed that his sacrilege had consisted in cutting down trees in their sacred grove at Eleusis; but the Argives preferred to hold that he came to an untimely end because he had set fire to a grove sacred to their eponymous hero Argos. Similarly, when in the course of the Peloponnesian war the Aeginetans were expelled from their island, this calamity was regarded as a punishment inflicted upon them because fifty years before they had dragged away and put to death a suppliant who had caught hold of the handle of the door of the temple of Demeter Theomophorus. On the other hand, the wonderful way in which on four or five occasions the ravages of pestilence delivered Dionysius of Syracuse from his Carthaginian enemies was attributed by his admiring friends to the favor of the gods.
Like many other simple and logical doctrines, this Jewish theory of retribution came into collision with obvious facts, and seemed to set the law of God at variance with the enlightened conscience. “Beneath the simplest forms of truth the subtlest error lurks.” The prosperity of the wicked and the sufferings of the righteous were a standing religious difficulty to the devout Israelite. The popular doctrine held its ground tenaciously, supported not only by ancient prescription, but also by the most influential classes in society. All who were young, robust, wealthy, powerful, or successful were interested in maintaining a doctrine that made health, riches, rank, and success the outward and visible signs of righteousness. Accordingly the simplicity of the original doctrine was hedged about with an ingenious and elaborate apologetic. The prosperity of the wicked was held to be only for a season; before he died the judgment of God would overtake him. It was a mistake to speak of the sufferings of the righteous: these very sufferings showed that his righteousness was only apparent, and that in secret he had been guilty of grievous sin.
Of all the cruelty inflicted in the name of orthodoxy there is little that can surpass the refined torture due to this Jewish apologetic. Its cynical teaching met the sufferer in the anguish of bereavement, in the pain and depression of disease, when he was crushed by sudden and ruinous losses or publicly disgraced by the unjust sentence of a venal law-court. Instead of receiving sympathy and help, he found himself looked upon as a moral outcast and pariah on account of his misfortunes; when he most needed Divine grace, he was bidden to regard himself as a special object of the wrath of Jehovah. If his orthodoxy survived his calamities, he would review his past life with morbid retrospection, and persuade himself that he had indeed been guilty above all other sinners.
The book of Job is an inspired protest against the current theory of retribution, and the full discussion of the question belongs to the exposition of that book. But the narrative of Chronicles, like much Church history in all ages, is largely controlled by the controversial interests of the school from which it emanated. In the hands of the chronicler the story of the kings of Judah is told in such a way that it becomes a polemic against the book of. Job. The tragic and disgraceful death of good kings presented a crucial difficulty to the chroniclers theology. A good mans other misfortunes might be compensated for by prosperity in his latter days; but in a theory of retribution which required a complete satisfaction of justice in this life there could be no compensation for a dishonorable death. Hence the chroniclers anxiety to record any lapses of good kings in their latter days.
The criticism, and correction of this doctrine belong, as we have said, to the exposition of the book of Job. Here we are rather concerned to discover the permanent truth of which the theory is at once an imperfect and exaggerated expression. To begin with, there are sins which bring upon the transgressor a swift, obvious, and dramatic punishment. Human law deals thus with some sins; the laws of health visit others with a similar severity; at times the Divine judgment strikes down men and nations before an awestricken world. Amongst such judgments we might reckon the punishments of royal sins so frequent in the pages of Chronicles. Gods judgments are not usually so immediate and manifest, but these striking instances illustrate and enforce the certain consequences of sin. We are dealing now with cases in which God was set at naught; and, apart from Divine grace, the votaries of sin are bound to become its slaves and victims. Ruskin has said, “Medicine often fails of its effect, but poison never; and while, in summing the observation of past life not un-watchfully spent, I can truly say that I bare a thousand times seen Patience disappointed of her hope and Wisdom of her aim, I have never yet seen folly fruitless of mischief, nor vice conclude but in calamity.” Now that we have been brought into a fuller light and delivered from the practical dangers of the ancient Israelite doctrine, we can afford to forget the less satisfactory aspects of the chroniclers teaching, and we must feel grateful to him for enforcing the salutary and necessary lesson that sin brings inevitable punishment, and that therefore, whatever present appearances may suggest, “the world was certainly not framed for the lasting convenience of hypocrites, libertines, and oppressors.”
Indeed, the consequences of sin are regular and exact; and the judgments upon the kings of Judah in Chronicles accurately symbolize the operations of Divine discipline. But Rain, and ruin, and disgrace are only secondary elements in Gods judgments; and most often they are not judgments at all. They have their uses as chastisements; but if we dwell upon them with too emphatic an insistence, men suppose that pain is a worse evil than sin, and that sin is only to be avoided because it causes suffering to the sinner. The really serious consequence of evil acts is the formation and confirmation of evil character. Herbert Spencer says in his “First Principles” “that motion once set up along any line becomes itself a cause of subsequent motion along that line.” This is absolutely true in moral and spiritual dynamics: every wrong thought, feeling, word, or act, every failure to think, feel, speak, or act rightly, at once alters a mans character for the worse. Henceforth he will find it easier to sin and more difficult to do right; he has twisted another strand into the cord of habit: and though each may be as fine as the threads of a spiders web, in time there will be cords strong enough to have bound Samson before Delilah shaved off his seven locks. This is the true punishment of sin: to lose the fine instincts, the generous impulses, and the nobler ambitions of manhood, and become every day more of a beast and a devil.