1 Kings 15:12

_AND HE TOOK AWAY THE SODOMITES OUT OF THE LAND, AND REMOVED ALL THE IDOLS THAT HIS FATHERS HAD MADE._ And he took away the sodomites out of the land х_ HAQªDEESHIYM_ (H6945)] - male prostitutes, priests, or men-servants in the temple of Ashtaroth (Astarte), who went about as mendicants, generally dressed like females. AND REMOVED ALL THE IDOLS THAT HIS FATHERS HAD MADE, х_ HAGILULIYM_ (H1544)] - trunks, logs; i:e., idols....

9-24 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That is right indeed which is so in God's eyes. Asa's times were times of reformation. He removed that which was evil; there reformation begins, and a great deal he found to do. When Asa found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence. Reformation must begin at home. Asa honours and respects his mother; he loves her well, but he loves God better. Those that have power are happy when thus they have hearts to use it well. We must not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well; not only cast away the idols of our iniquity, but dedicate ourselves and our all to God's honour and glory. Asa was cordially devoted to the service of God, his sins not arising from presumption. But his league with Benhadad arose from unbelief. Even true believers find it hard, in times of urgent danger, to trust in the Lord with all their heart. Unbelief m...

Verse 1 Kings 15:12. _THE SODOMITES_] הקדשים _hakkedeshim_; literally, _the_ _holy_ or _consecrated ones_. See on 1 Kings 14:24....

EXPOSITION THE REIGNS OF ABIJAM AND ASA, KINGS OF JUDAH. _The Reign of Abijam_. 1 KINGS 15:1 NOW IN THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR OF KING JEROBOAM, THE SON OF NEBAT, REIGNED ABIJAM [see note on 1 Kings 14:31. It is implied in 2 Chronicles 11:20-14 that he was not the firstborn among Rehoboam's twenty-eight sons, but the eldest son of the favourite wife. As he left behind him thirty-eight children ...

AND HE TOOK AWAY THE SODOMITES OUT OF THE LAND,.... Which were in the times of Rehoboam, 1 Kings 14:24, and continued in his father's reign; those he took away, either by driving them out of the land, or by putting them to death according to the law of God, Leviticus 20:13 even as many of them as he had knowledge of, for some remained, see 1 Kings 22:46, AND REMOVED ALL THE IDOLS THAT HIS FATHERS HAD MADE; or suffered to be made, as Solomon, Rehoboam, and Abijam, see 1 Kings 11:7....

3. ABIJAM AND ASA, KINGS OF JUDAH CHAPTER 15 _ 1. Abijam of Judah (1 Kings 15:1; 2 Chronicles 13)_ 2. Asa of Judah (1 Kings 15:9; 1 Kings 2 Chronicles 14-16) Abijam is called in Chronicles Abijah; in 2 Chronicles 13:21 he is called Abijahu. Abijam was undoubtedly the older form. It is possible that on account of his great address of rebuke to Jeroboam (2 Chronicles 13:4) they may have called him Abijah (Jehovah is my fat

ABIJAM AND ASA OF JUDAH, AND NADAB AND BAASHA OF ISRAEL. Abijam, called Abijah (2 Chronicles 13:1), had a short and evil reign. It would appear, notwithstanding 1 Kings 15:8, that he was succeeded by his brother Asa, as both are said to have had the same mother, Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom. Josephus says the granddaughter of Absalom; see 2 Chronicles 11:20). Except that Asa could not remove the high places he is said to have done right during his long reign of forty-one years. Asa deposed Maacah from the position of queen-mother for her idolatry. She had made (1 Kings 15:13) an abominable image (Heb. a horror o

_and he took_(R.V. PUT) _away_ The same word is so rendered in 2 Chronicles 15:8, of these very reforms. Literally it means -caused to pass by." _idols that his fathers had made_ Not only those in Judah and Benjamin, but also those that were set up in the hill country of Ephraim, in the cities which Abijam had taken from Jeroboam....

C. THE REFORMATION UNDER ASA 15:9-24 At the outset of his reign, Asa launched a national movement to bring his people back to the old paths of fidelity to God. But as time went on, Asa's religious fervor cooled. The text here briefly alludes to these two aspects of his reign: (1) Asa's exercise of faith (1 Kings 15:9-15); and (2) Asa's failure of faith (1 Kings 15:16-22). To these two major themes the historian adds (3) his customary concluding statement regarding this king (1 Kings 15:23-24). _1. ASA'S EXERCISE OF FAITH_ (1 Kings 15:9-15) TRANSLATION (9) And in the twenti

THE REIGNS OF ABIJAM AND ASA, NADAB AND BAASHA 2. Abishalom] i.e. Absalom. In 2 Chronicles 13:2 his mother is called Micaiah, the daughter of Uriel, and if this is correct, Absalom was probably her grandfather, and her mother the Tamar mentioned in 2 Samuel 14:27....