2 Chronicles 15:1

_AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD CAME UPON AZARIAH THE SON OF ODED:_ Azariah the son of Oded. This prophet, who is mentioned nowhere else, appears at this stage of the sacred story in the discharge of an interesting mission. He went to meet Asa as he was returning from his victorious pursuit of the Ethiopians, and the congratulatory address here recorded was publicly made to the king in presence of his army....

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...

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....

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,...

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 2 Chronicles 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....

CHAPTER 15 THE REIGN OF ASA, WARNING AND REFORMATION _ 1. The warning message of Azariah (2 Chronicles 15:1)_ 2. Asa's response and reformation (2 Chronicles 15:8) 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 God's 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; an

The words of Azariah the son of Oded (not mentioned elsewhere) form a kind of introduction to the account of Asa's religious reforms; if the words in 2 Chronicles 15:3 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 1 Kings 15:11....

AND. This chapter supplementary to 1 Kings 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 2 Chronicles 28:9. Hebrew. _'oded._...

4. THE REIGN OF ASA (14-16) TEXT 2 Chronicles 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

AZARIAH] not mentioned elsewhere....