Bible Commentaries
1 Kings 15

III

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE TWO KINGDOMS

1 Kings 12:25-15:8; 2 Chronicles 11:5-13:22

The theme of this section is the beginnings of the two rival kingdoms, or the measures adopted by the rival kings to establish their respective kingdoms. This is a period of twenty-four years and covers the reigns of Jeroboam and his son Nadab) kings of Israel, and of Rehoboam and his son Abijah, kings of Judah.

The initial measure adopted by Jeroboam to establish his kingdom was as follows: First, he built a city at Shechem, where the great popular assembly was held, and which was and had been since Jacob’s time, a holy place. That, he made his capital. Second, as a large part of his territory, including two and a half tribes, was across the Jordan, he built another city and fortified it at Penuel, so as to command the fords of the Jordan, and this secured his kingdom on both sides of this river. Third, he established his residence at Tirzah, first mentioned in the book of Joshua, and in Solomon’s Song we have the expression: "As beautiful as Tirzah." It was also in the hill country of Ephraim, and it was a beautiful mountain palace.

The initial measure of Rehoboam was to fortify and supply with provisions, garrisons, and munitions of war, fifteen cities on the southern and western frontiers, for a defense mainly against Egypt. A new dynasty had come to the front in Egypt. Shishak was a very formidable and vigorous opponent, not to be compared with the weak dynasty with which Solomon made an alliance by marriage. This Shishak was really a great man. Egypt was the power that Rehoboam and Judah feared.

Other measures of Jeroboam were political expedients in, order to keep the ten tribes from going to Jerusalem to the great feasts. He saw what had been the great power of Jerusalem and its Temple and worship as a unifying force, and he said to himself, "If my people go every year to Jerusalem they will imbibe its spirit, and the result will be that they will ultimately turn back to Rehoboam the king of Judahä and will kill me. Now, how am I to stop this annual pilgrimage of my people to Jerusalem?" And these were the expedients that he devised: First, he established calf worship. He had two molten calves put up, viz: one at Dan, in the extreme upper part of his territory and one at Bethel, the place where Jacob was converted and a holy place. It will be remembered that when the tribe of Dan left the territory allotted to them, they migrated to the very northern part of the country, captured the places there, and worshiped the images they had taken there from Micah. There had been, then, ever since the times of the judges, a place of worship at Dan, but it was an image worship.

Second, he established a new order of priesthood. He refused to permit the Levites and their priests, left in the citiesin his territory, to minister for him; he was afraid of them. And so he created a new order of priesthood by taking any man from any tribe that pleased him and making him a priest. Third, he made a new feast to take the place of the Feast of Tabernacles. That feast the Jews generally attended, and millions would go every year, and they would dwell in tents. Now, he determined to have a feast to take the place of the Feast of Tabernacles, and as the season of the year was later in the northern part of the country, he made his feast just one month later than that of Tabernacles, as the record tells us: "He ordained a feast devised in his own heart." The Feast of Tabernacles was on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and he put his feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, just a month later.

Fourth, he established high places for worship of wooden images. In the book of Judges we learn how Gideon cut down the groves, that is, the forest of images. However, Jeroboam established what is called in the Revised Version, "he-goat worship." What is meant by it? Among the Greeks it was the worship of Pan. Pan is an image with a man’s face and the form of a goat; these he-goats are sometimes called satyrs. These are heathen minor deities, and allusion is made to them in the book of Leviticus. They are sometimes called devils, and that is what they really were, i. e., demons: it was a kind of demon worship. Now, for his priesthood he made houses at Dan and at Bethel, and in all of these high places, and there this he-goat, or demon worship, was carried on. These were his political expedients.

The calf worship that he established was a mixture of calf and Jehovah worship. When Moses stayed up in the mountain so long, the people asked Aaron to mold a calf for them to worship, as a symbol of Jehovah. It was not an entire abandonment of Jehovah worship, but it was the worship of Jehovah under the symbol of a calf, and they said of that calf that Aaron made, "Behold the god that brought you up out of the land of Egypt." That was an express violation of the commandment, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven or molten image, in the likeness of anything in the heaven above or the earth beneath, and bow down and worship before it."

This fundamental innovation in religion weakened his kingdom and strengthened Judah. Now, 2 Chronicles 11:16-17 tells us as follows: "And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice unto the Lord, the God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, strong, three years: for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon."

The priests and the Levites were the teaching forces, as well as the guides in religion. When they banish religious teachers from a kingdom, or expatriate its best men, they do a great harm to that kingdom; they take away those who have the power to keep up the religious idea. That was a tremendous loss to the nation of Israel. These were laymen, too, the best people of the land. As I have already said, one of the peculiarities of the book of Chronicles is to record every secession from Israel back to Judah, and we will come to many a one before we get through, and thus we will see that a remnant of the ten tribes was saved.

Now, it weakened Jeroboam in the following ways: It completely separated his people from God; second, it perpetuated a sin for 253 years that readily ate out the heart of the religious nature of the people and caused their ultimate downfall. Two passages of Scripture show how far-reaching the effect of this sin was. 1 Kings 14, commencing at 1 Kings 14:15 reads as follows: "The Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers. . . . And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he hath sinned, and wherewith he has made Israel to sin." Now, when we come to the end of the period of the divided kingdom, we will find the other passage, 2 Kings 17:21-23. This passage accounts for the downfall of the ten tribes. Commencing at 1 Kings 14:21: "For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam, the son of Nabat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight. . . . So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria, unto this day." Now, we cannot overemphasize the magnitude of a sin that destroys a nation, and I do not know any sin but the sin of Adam more far-reaching in its consequences than the sin of Jeroboam.

How often at the end of a reign of an Israelitish king does this refrain come: "He did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin"? We may say that this was the inscription on the tomb of every Israelitish king, not one of them a good man. I used to say that sin is like Bermuda grass, indestructible, and that no man can commit a single sin; that it is a great breeder, it makes other sins. I have used this illustration: A hunter may think that he sees just one quail, but when he flushes him there is always a pair or a covey. And I have used this passage from Longfellow’s "Hiawatha" to show the multiplying power of sin: Never swoops the soaring vulture Oil his quarry in the desert, on some Sick or wounded bison, but another vulture watching From his high aerial lockout Sees the downward plunge and follows. And a third pursues the second; Coming from the invisible ether, first a speck, And then a vulture, till the air is dark with pinions.

All have witnessed the way in which buzzards flock to a car-cass. From these illustrations we get some conception of this multiplying power of sin. And I repeat that aside from the sin of Adam, no sin described in the Bible as I can now recall, has such a long fearful sweep as the sin of Jeroboam. Jehovah announced his displeasure by sending a man out of Judah, a man of God, it does not give his name – and he came to Bethel on the day that the worship of the calf was to commence, and came into the presence of Jeroboam who was about to officiate as high priest and used these words (what solemn words they are): "Oh, Altar, Altar, Thus saith the Lord: Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall they burn upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out." How long before that was fulfilled? We have to turn forward to the reign of Josiah to find an exact fulfilment of it.

Let us see how Jeroboam received this announcement of the prophet of God. In 1 Kings 13:4 we have these words: "And it came to pass, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Beth-el, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him." And his hand which he put forth toward the prophet became rigid (he could not move it) and it dried up. There he stood with that dried up, shriveled arm. He then begged the prophet to pray for him, and the prophet prayed for him and the hand was healed.

The tragic end of the nameless prophet was as follows: Jeroboam asked this prophet to be his guest. He declined because God had told him not to go into anybody’s house, and not to tarry in that place, but to come straight back when he had delivered his message. The prophet refused to accept the invitation of Jeroboam. But there was an old man in Bethel, who was himself a prophet, there were schools of the prophets established over the land. Now, this prophet heard of the miracles performed by the prophet from Judah and sent after the man of God, urging him to come back and take bread with him. The nameless prophet said, "I have been commanded not to do that." The other said, "I also am a prophet, and bid you to come back," and he went back, and then came the warning to him that he should die. On leaving the house a lion met him and smote him from the ass upon which he was riding and killed him. The lion did not eat him – he was not mangled – but the people found his dead body there.

I shall never forget that when I was a little bit of a child this was the Sunday school lesson, "The Fate of the Disobedient Prophet." There was a picture of it in the Sunday school book. The old prophet that lived there at Bethel took him and buried him in a secret place, that his bones should not fall under the denunciation he had himself given. The old prophet said to his children, "When I die, bury me by the side of this man of God; I do not want my bones taken up and burned on that altar."

Jeroboam did not relent in his purpose on the announcement of this prophecy and its marvelous sign, for that very day the altar split wide open and the ashes fell out; and then there was the miracle of staying his hand, but he did not repent and give up his evil purpose. The record says, "After this thing Jeroboam returned not away from his evil ways, but made again from among all the people priests of the high places; whosoever would, he consecrated him that there might be priests of the high places. And this thing became a sin unto the house of Jeroboam," and he destroyed it off the face of the earth. So this sin not only destroyed the people ultimately, but it destroyed him and all of his house. His policy in the main accompanied his object. The record tells us that the people, the main body of them, quit going to Jerusalem, but joined in this idolatrous worship that Jeroboam had prescribed. The effect on Jeroboam himself was destructive. The record says that the Lord smote him and all of his house perished – not a man, woman, or child was left. This is voiced by Jehovah himself, and the occasion of it was that his son was sick, and he told his wife to go to the prophet, Ahijah, who had announced to him that he would get ten tribes in the division of the kingdom. He told his wife to disguise herself, and take presents with her, and go and ask that prophet that the child might live. But the Spirit of God informed the prophet of the disguise before the woman got there, and he met her with this terrible announcement: "And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, – he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. Go, tell Jeroboam, that because of this evil I will cut off every man child, him that is shut up and him that is left out, and I will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweepest away refuse, and him that dieth in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the fields shall the fowls eat. The Lord hath spoken. Rise and get thee to thine own house, and when thy feet enter into the city the child shall die. And all Israel shall mourn for him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s family shall come to the grave." He is the only one of the family that shall ever receive burial. And then he goes on to say that this sin would destroy the entire nation. This is one of the most solemn utterances in the Bible.

The next measure adopted by Jeroboam to establish himself was an alliance with Shishak. It will be remembered that he fled to Egypt in the days of Solomon, and married into the family of this very Shishak. He made an alliance with Shishak to invade Judah, of which we will speak presently. Jeroboam himself reigned twenty-two years; his son reigned after him two years; his dynasty, therefore, lasted twenty-four years. Rehoboam and his son Abijah, and his son Asa, came to the throne before Jeroboam died. The attitude of the two kingdoms toward each other was war continually, all the days of Jeroboam’s life and the life of his son. But Rehoboam prospered three years – just as long as the people remained faithful unto God. His sin and the sin of his people we find in 1 Kings 14:22-24, and some of it is awful. Let us look at it: "And Judah did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord;... For they also built them high places on every high hill and under every green tree; and there were also Sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord drove out before the children of Israel."

This sin was punished. The record tells us that Shishak, the king of Egypt, invaded the land with a vast army, with much cavalry and many chariots of war. He easily broke through those fifteen cities of defense and came up to Jerusalem, and as his armies surrounded Jerusalem Rehoboam and all the peopie prayed to God and repented of their sins. Mark this difference between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. And God delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. But Shishak carried away all of those rich treasures that had been gathered by Solomon; the golden shields he took away with him, and made the land tributary to Egypt.

Archeology throws some light on this invasion of Shishak. Not a great while ago, in uncovering the ruins of the temple of Karnak on the Nile, there was found the inscription of Shishak on his return from this invasion. It shows what cities he captured, and how he had taken away the treasures from Jerusalem. But the important light that it throws on the period is this: Among the cities captured it gives the names of the Levitical cities in Israel. He did not destroy any of the cities of Jeroboam, but all the Levitical or Canaanite cities that remained faithful to Judah he captured. That is shown in the inscriptions – such of them as are discernible. Is it not strange that after thousands of years the spade keeps turning up proof of the truth of the Bible? When archeology first commenced the radical critics said that it would destroy the Bible. Inscriptions on monuments, deep carvings in rock that the dust of centuries has settled upon, are brought to light and demonstrate that this book does not deal in lies. We need to fear nothing as having the power to destroy the testimony of this book.

The length of Rehoboam’s reign was seventeen years; that of his son was three years. The great event in Abijah’s reign was the war with Jeroboam. He raised an army of 4,000,000 men and went into Ephraim and met Jeroboam with 8,000,000 men, and Jeroboam divided his forces into two parts, to take them on two sides. But before the battle commenced there was a prelude that to me has always been interesting. We find it in 2 Chronicles 13:4-12, as follows: "And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel; ought ye not to know that Jehovah the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his Lord. And there were gathered unto him worthless men, base fellows, that strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of Jehovah in the land of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude) and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have ye not driven out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the people of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and we have priests ministering unto Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work; and they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense: the shewbread also they set in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken him. And, behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against Jehovah, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper."

That was a very hard message, and in the battle which followed Abijah’s army killed more Israelites than there were in his own army – he had only 40,000 men and he killed half a million. The effect of this battle was terrific. The record tells us that Jeroboam never recovered from that battle. But Abijah was a very strong man, yet not as faithful to Jehovah as he boasts to Jeroboam.

The state of affairs at the end of the twenty-four years was as follows: Jeroboam was dead, smitten of God; his son, after an inglorious reign of two years, was murdered by Baasha, and only one of the family of Jeroboam ever received burial; Baasha killed every one of them that was alive. Now, in the other kingdom, Asa, one of the greatest of the kings of Judah, had come to the throne, and that is the way they stand at the end of the twenty-four years.

QUESTIONS

1. What was the time period of this chapter, who were the kings of Israel and Judah and the time each reigned respectively?

2. What were the initial measures adopted by Jeroboam to establish his kingdom?

3. What was the initial measure of Rehoboam and why this particular measure?

4. What other measures, or political expedients, adopted by Jeroboam?

5. What was the calf worship which he established?

6. What was the effect of this fundamental innovation and how do you account for it?

7. What was the sad refrain at the end of the reign of each of the Israelitish kings? Illustrate.

8. How did Jehovah show his displeasure and what was the fulfilment of the prophecy of the "nameless prophet"?

9. How did Jeroboam receive the message and what the result?

10. Relate the tragic story of the nameless prophet.

11. What was the effect of this great demonstration on Jeroboam?

12. Did his policy in the main accomplish his object?

13. What was the effect on Jeroboam himself?

14. How was this voiced by Jehovah and what the occasion of it?

15. What was the next measure adopted by Jeroboam to establish himself?

16. How long did Jeroboam reign, how many kings of Judah during his reign, how long his dynasty and what its end?

17. What was the attitude of the two kingdoms toward each other?

18. How long did Rehoboam prosper?

19. What was his sin and the sin of his people?

20. How was this sin punished?

21. What light does archeology throw on the invasion of Shishak?

22. What was the length of Rehoboam’s reign, how long his son’s reign and what great event of Abijah’s reign?

23. What was the effect of the battle between Abijah and Jeroboam?

24. What were the characteristics of Abijah?

25. What was the state of affairs in each kingdom, respectively, at the end of twenty-four years?

Verses 9-22

IV

THE REIGN OF ASA AND THE PARALLEL FORTUNES OF ISRAEL

1 Kings 15:9-22; 2 Chronicles 14:1-16:14

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. 1 Kings 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 2 Chronicles 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.

2 Chronicles 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 2 Chronicles 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 2 Chronicles 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 Hosea 4:1-5).

There is a remarkable date in 2 Chronicles 15:19; 2 Chronicles 16:1, when compared with 1 Kings 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 1 Chronicles 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 1 Kings 15:19 and 2 Chronicles 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 2 Chronicles 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. 2 Chronicles 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" (Mark 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 2 Chronicles 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 2 Chronicles 15:19; 2 Chronicles 16:1, comparing with 1 Kings 16:8.

20. Winy is Azariah’s prophecy attributed to Oded in 1 Chronicles 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"?