Christian teaching

Asa the righteous

Lets begin by getting oriented. Asa was the great, great grandson of David, the third king of Judah, which he ruled for 41 years. His story is told in 1 Kings 15:9-24 and 2 Chronicles 14-16:14. We will be looking at this latter account.

2 Chronicles 14:2-4 says, “And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment.”

Here we learn here that Asa was righteous. Specifically, he opposed idolatry and he commanded keeping the Law of God. Even though this is fairly early in the history of Judah, they had already strayed from God for a long time. As we hear from a prophet later in our story – “For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law” – 2 Chronicles 15:3.

So Asa was a reformer, leading the people back to God. Because of his obedience, v. 6 tells us, God gave him peace. Verses 7-8 go on to say that Judah prospered, and Asa had a good and sizeable army. So things were going well for him. But, then came

A Time of Testing

Zera, the Ethiopian came up from the south against Judah with a million man army and 300 chariots. This was much larger than Asa’s army and more technologically advanced.

As Asa prepared for this, he prayed – “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you” – 2 Chronicles 14:11. This is a beautiful prayer of trust in God.

And God answered Asa’s prayer. God completely defeated the Ethiopian army, and they carried off much plunder.

Azariah’s Words

Just after this, the prophet Azariah spoke to all Judah and said, “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” – 2 Chronicles 15:2.  Asa aligned himself with the Lord, not with idols, and so in his trouble, when he relied upon the Lord, the Lord was with him.

Azariah goes on to encourage Asa in righteousness. “But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded” – 2 Chronicles 15:7. And Asa responds by becoming even more faithful to God. As we see in Chapter 15:

• He removed more idols
• He repaired the altar in front of the temple
• He held a nationwide covenant renewal where all dedicated themselves to seek the Lord
• He deposed his own grand/mother for idolatry. She was no longer queen mother.
• He brought wealth into the temple
• As 2 Chronicles 15:15 says, they “sought the Lord with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.”

So this is a really good story of someone relying on God and responding to God to do what is right, as well as leading others in this. Unfortunately, it doesn’t end here.

Another Test

Sometime after this another test came to King Asa. 2 Chronicles 16:1-3 describes this:

• Baasha, King of Israel invaded Judah and was building a fort just north of Jerusalem to cut Asa off.
• Asa bribed Ben-Hadad, king of Syria. He took wealth from the temple (and his own) to send to this pagan king.
• Ben-Hadad then invaded northern Israel.
• Baasha had to move his armies north to counter Ben-Hadad.
• Asa dismantled Baasha’s fort in Judah.

Was this a stroke of genius?? Not really. In the first test Asa relied upon God. In the second test Asa turned to a pagan king for help. Before, we find Asa putting treasures into the Temple. Now, we find him taking these and giving them to Ben-Hadad.

The Words of Hanani

Another prophet, Hanani, confronts Asa: “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. . . . You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars” – 2 Chronicles 16:7-9.

This was a massive failure for King Asa. It may look good from the perspective of world politics, but it was a failure as a leader of God’s people. It was also a failure practically. He was seeking to be free of war through this, but ended up getting a promise of war for the rest of his reign.

Hanani confronts him with this and Asa is furious. Instead of repentance he puts Hanani in stocks in jail and is cruel to others.

The End

Finally, the story ends on a sour note.  “In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians” (perhaps more like magicians or witch doctors) – 2 Chronicles 16:12.

So his lack of reliance on the Lord continued till his death. Such a good beginning, such a bad end for King Asa.

Three Lessons

1. A warning: God wants to help us, but if we forsake him, he will forsake us. This comes from the words of Azariah. “The Lord is with you while you are with him . . . but if you forsake him, he will forsake you” – 2 Chronicles 15:2. Asa began right. He relied on the Lord and was delivered. But then he forsook the Lord. He relied on his own plans and wisdom, and the results were devastating.

If you forsake the Lord and rely on yourself, your wealth, your wisdom, your plans – anything other than the Lord . . . don’t expect God to step in and help you in your time of trouble. The warning is clear – if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

2. A promise: God eagerly seeks to help those whose heart is true. Hanani told Asa,– “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose hearts are fully committed to him” – 2 Chronicles 16:9 ESV/NIV.

This is  beautiful promise to us. God is looking all throughout the whole earth. For who? God is looking for those who are fully committed to him, who rely on him, who seek him, who are with him. Why is God doing this? To give them strong support in their difficult times just as God helped Asa in his first test.  This is a powerful promise and word of encouragement.

3. An invitation: Become fully committed to God. Perhaps you are struggling in your commitment to God. Receive this invitation – seek God; give yourself fully to God; rely on God.

As you hear this story of Asa, learn from it! Don’t be like Asa when his heart was not fully committed to God and he relied on himself and received the consequences. Be like Asa when he removed the idols. Remove your idols – whatever you rely on instead of God. Give yourself fully to God. Then when you seek him, you will find him. Then God will find you too, one whose heart is true. And God will strengthen you, establish you and give you peace.

William Higgins