College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
1 Kings 15:9-24
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 twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Asa reigned over Judah. (10) And forty-one yean he reigned in Jerusalem; and the name of his grandmother[373] was Maachah the descendant of Abishalom. (11) And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, like David his father. (12) And he removed the male temple prostitutes from the land, and took away all the idols which his fathers had made. (13) And also Maachah his grandmother he removed from the position of principal lady because she had made an idol for Asherah; and Asa cut down her idol and burned it at the brook Kidron. (14) But the high places he did not remove; nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect with the LORD all his days. (15) And he brought the holy things of his father and his own holy things into the house of the LORD: silver, and gold, and vessels.
[373] The Hebrew word -em usually translated mother, can refer to any ancestress.
Third King of Judah
ASA BEN ABIJAM 911 870 B.C.
(Healing, or Cure)
1 Kings 15:9-24; 1 Kings 2 Chronicles 14-16
Synchronism
Asa 1 = Jeroboam 20[374]
Contemporary Prophets
Azariah, Hanani, Jehoram
Mother (?): Maachah
Appraisal: Good
Better is a poor and wise child, than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished. Ecclesiastes 4:13
[374] According to the Septuagint, Asa began to reign during the twenty-fourth year of Jeroboam.
COMMENTS
It appears that Maachah the granddaughter of Absalom (cf. 1 Kings 15:2) retained her position of power in the court of Judah into the reign of Asa. It is not certain why the grandmother rather than the mother of Asa is named in 1 Kings 15:10. Perhaps Asa's mother died while he was quite young and he was reared by his grandmother Maachah.
In spite of the fact that he grew up in a palace dominated by an idolatrous grandmother and a hypocritical father, Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord (1 Kings 15:11). He removed the cult prostitutes from the land (cf. 1 Kings 14:25) and took away the wooden idols[375] (lit., logs) which his predecessors Abijam and Rehoboam had made (1 Kings 15:12). He removed his grandmother from her powerful position as principal lady because she had made an idol (lit., horrible thing) to Asherah the Canaanite mother-goddess. This horrible thing,[376] Asa cut down, carried to the brook Kidron on the east side of Jerusalem, and burned (1 Kings 15:13).
[375] The Hebrew word is not the usual one for idols. It is etymologically related to the word meaning to roll. It may, therefore, refer to idols without specific form, something which may be rolled.
[376] The Hebrew word literally means something that causes shuttering. Some scholars believe that the writer was referring to its repulsive appearance, others to its degrading significance.
Unfortunately Asa did not go far enough in his reforms, for he did not remove the high places, the unauthorized Yahweh shrines scattered throughout the land (1 Kings 15:14). A problem arises here in that the Chronicler asserts that Asa took away the high places (2 Chronicles 14:3). Yet the Chronicler adds that the high places were not taken away out of Israel (2 Chronicles 15:17). How are these statements to be reconciled? Several suggestions have been made: (1) Perhaps he ordered the high places removed, but was not able to completely rid the countryside of them. (2) Or perhaps he did remove them, but they were gradually reintroduced. (3) But the most likely suggestion is that two different kinds of high places are in view. Asa removed the pagan high places, but did not remove the high places dedicated to Yahweh. In spite of this defect in the devotion of Asa, the author still can describe the heart of this king as being perfect with the Lord (1 Kings 15:14). All of the valuables captured in the wars fought by his father and by himself, Asa dedicated to the Lord and placed in the house of God (1 Kings 15:15).
3. ASA'S FAILURE OF FAITH (1 Kings 15:16-22)
TRANSLATION
(16) Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. (17) And Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah and built Ramah in order not to permit anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. (18) And Asa took all the silver and the gold which was left in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the treasuries of the house of the king, and gave them to his servants. And King Asa sent unto Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who resided in Damascus, saying, (19) A covenant between me and you, between my father and your father. Behold I have sent to you a present of silver and gold. Come break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. (20) And Benhadad hearkened unto King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. And they smote Ijon and Dan and Abel-beth-maachah, and all Chinneroth with all the land of Naphtali. (21) And it came to pass when Baasha heard, that he ceased building Ramah and stayed in Tirzah. (22) Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout ail the land, none was exempted; and they took up the stones of Ramah and its wood which Baasha had built. And King Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.
COMMENTS
The state of hostilities between Israel and Judah which had begun in the reign of Rehoboam continued throughout the reign of Asa (1 Kings 15:16).[377] In the fifteenth year of Asa,[378] Baasha king of Israel attacked Judah in an effort to reconquer the territories lost to Abijam following the battle of Zemaraim (cf. 2 Chronicles 13:19). Apparently Baasha was able to regain some of this territory. In addition he began to build a fortress at Ramah only five miles distant from Jerusalem on the frontier of the two kingdoms. As well as controlling traffic on the main north-south road, Ramah also controlled the head of the Descent of Beth-horon to the foothills of Ephraim and the coastal plains. From this fortress, Baasha could prevent any of his subjects from defecting to Judah or even from going to the Temple to worship. It seems that Baasha was concerned about the large numbers of his subjects who were migrating to Judah because they saw that the Lord was with Asa (2 Chronicles 15:9). He hoped that by building, i.e., fortifying, Ramah he would virtually seal off the northern approaches of Judah (1 Kings 15:17).
[377] That there was no actual armed confrontation between the two kingdoms for at least the first ten years of Asa's reign is proved by 2 Chronicles 14:1. Thus war in 1 Kings 15:16 must be interpreted in the broad sense of hostility.
[378] 2 Chronicles 16:1 dates this invasion to the thirty-sixth year of Asa. But Baasha died in the twenty-seventh year of Asa (1 Kings 15:33). Therefore, Baasha must have undertaken the fortification of Ramah in the thirty-sixth year of the kingdom of Asa (i.e., the kingdom of Judah) which would be the fifteenth or sixteenth year of Asa's reign.
Naturally Asa was quite concerned about Baasha's fortification of Ramah. Why Asa himself did not undertake an attack against Baasha is not clear. The record states that he elected to rid himself of the danger at Ramah by political strategy and foreign alliance. The treasures which had accumulated in the Temple and palace since the Shishak invasion were gathered and sent by servants to Benhadad[379] the king of Aram (KJV Syria) who lived in Damascus (1 Kings 15:18). Aram was the first of the possessions of Solomon to regain its independence (1 Kings 11:24). Both Israel and Judah,[380] it would seem, had alliances with this increasingly powerful state. By sending this enormous gift to Benhadad, Asa hoped to bribe the Aramean king to break his non-aggression pact with Israel and attack Israel from the north (1 Kings 15:19). With Asa's overtures to Benhadad, the author introduces the powerful Aramean kingdom of Damascus which was to play such a decisive role in the subsequent history of Israel. Asa's short-sighted policy was interpreted as a lack of faith and was severely condemned (2 Chronicles 16:7-10).
[379] In the genealogy of Benhadad in 1 Kings 15:18 there is no mention of Rezon, the founder of the state of Damascus. It is possible, as Kraeling suggests (AAI, p. 48, n. 2), that the Rezon of 1 Kings 11:23 is the same as the Hezion of 1 Kings 14:18. In this case Rezon would be the royal title. The name Benhadad (son of Hadad) points to the supreme deity of the Arameans, Hadad, who was known to the Canaanites as Baal.
[380] It may have been Abijam's treaty with Benhadad which allowed him to take the initiative against Jeroboam of Israel and soundly defeat him. Jeroboam's successor seems to have followed the policy of the kings of Judah by entering into a treaty with Benhadad.
Benhadad gleefully complied with Asa's request. Damascus was most anxious to obtain Israelite territory along the important trade route to Acco on the coast. The Aramean therefore sent his forces against the northern cities of IsraelIjon, Dan,[381] and Abel-beth-maachah[382]as well as the district of Chinneroth on the western edge of the Sea of Galilee and the tribal region of Napthali (1 Kings 15:20). This invasion was the beginning of internecine warfare between Israel and Damascus which lasted over a century.
[381] Formally Laish, this town was captured by the tribe of Dan during the Conquest period.
[382] Or Abel-maim (2 Chronicles 16:4). Rebels led by Sheba took their last stand against David here (2 Samuel 20:15).
The Aramean invasion in the north forced Baasha to abandon his plans to fortify Ramah and to withdraw to the safety of his capital at Tirzah (1 Kings 15:21).[383] Swiftly Asa mustered his workmen, advanced on Ramah, and dismantled the fortifications which Baasha had started. The confiscated materials were used to build two prominent Judaean fortresses, one at Geba[384] and one at Mizpah[385] (1 Kings 15:22). The former fortress became the northern limit of the kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 23:8).
[383] Whether or not Baasha attempted to regain the territory lost to Benhadad is uncertain.
[384] Geba, about five miles east of Gibeon, was strategically important to Asa because it guarded a valley which led down to the Israelite stronghold of Jericho. Geba served as a base for Saul and Jonathan in their campaign against the Philistines (1 Samuel 14) and as a staging area for Assyrian troops in their advance against Jerusalem (Isaiah 10:29).
[385] Mizpah is probably to be identified with Tell an-Nasbeh four miles north of Ramah. It would appear that Asa took advantage of the distraction in the North to extend his Northern frontier. There is, however, widespread disagreement as to the interpretation of this passage owing to the lack of general agreement concerning the location of Ramah, Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah. See Honor, JCBR, p. 217 for alternative views.
3. CONCLUDING STATEMENT REGARDING ASA (1 Kings 15:23-24)
TRANSLATION
(23) And the rest of the acts of Asa, all his might, all which he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless, at the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. (24) And Asa slept with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoshaphat his son ruled in his stead.
COMMENTS
In the concluding words relating to the reign of Asa the historian alludes to the might of this king. The Chronicler indicates that Asa had an army consisting of three hundred thousand-men of Judah and two hundred eighty thousand men of Benjamin (2 Chronicles 14:8). With this army Asa won a smashing victory over the mammoth forces of Zerah the Ethiopian (2 Chronicles 14:9-15). The historian also alludes to the cities constructed by Asa in the early part of his reign when the land was at peace (cf. 2 Chronicles 14:6-7).
In Kings only one exception to the otherwise happy and prosperous reign of Asa is noted. In the closing years of his reign, the king was diseased in his feet (1 Kings 15:23), yet he sought not to the Lord but to the physicians (2 Chronicles 16:12). At his death the people made a great burning for Asa, i.e., they burned incense for him (2 Chronicles 16:14). The king was buried in a sepulcher which he himself had prepared in the city of David, i.e., the old part of the city of Jerusalem (1 Kings 15:24; cf. 2 Chronicles 16:14).
THE ARAMEAN KINGS OF DAMASCUS
Kings
ApproximateDate
References
Notes
Hezion
940-913
1KINGS 11-23 1 Kings 14:18
Founded the Aramean kingdom of Damascus e. 940, during the reign of Solomon
Tabrimmon
913-890
Apparently had an alliance with Abijani of Judah (cf. 1 Kings 14:19)
Benhadad I
890-841
(1) Asa of Judah sent gifts to bribe him. As a result he attacked Israel and captured certain cities. (2) Ahab twice defeated him; entered into an alliance with him. (3) His assassination fulfilled a prediction made by Elisha.
Hazael
841-801
1 Kings 19:15-17 2 Kings 8:7-15 2 Kings 8:28-29 2 Kings 9:14-15 2 Kings 10:32-33 2 Kings 13:3; 2 Kings 13:22 ff. 2 Kings 12:17-18
(1) Elijah was commissioned to anoint him (2) Elisha prophesied his oppression of Israel. (3) Murdered Benhadad. (4) Fought against Jehoram at Ramoth-gilcad. (5) Reduced Jehu to a position of vassal. (6) Continued attacks in reign of Jchoahaz. (7) One incursion brought him to the gates of Jerusalem where he received tribute from king Joash.
Benhadad II
801-780
2 Kings 13:22 2 Kings 6:24 to 2 Kings 7:20 2 Kings 13:14-19; 2 Kings 13:25
(1) Continued to oppress Israel: beseiged Samaria. (2) Israel began to recover lost territory.
Rezin
750-735
Isaiah 7 2 Kings 15:37 2 Chronicles 28:5
Joined forces with Pekah of Israel to attack Judah in 735.