1 Kings and 2 Chronicles work together to spell out detail....the Northern kingdom, Israel and the Southern Kingdom, Judah, continue to battle. Isreal has evil kings that cause the people to sin in the eyes of the Lord, so you see that reigns are not blessed and are a very short time. Eight kings reigned in Israel during the 41 year reign of Asa in Judah. The Lord loves David and most of the reigns are compared to his because even though David sinned, he had a close personal relationship with God and was fully committed to Him.
Asa is highlighted because he is a King of Judah that gets rid of evil worship....he even deposed his grandmother from her position of queen mother because she had made an Asherah pole. There was peace in the kingdom of Judah as a result. During a battle in which the Cushites attacked, Asa prayed to the Lord and defeated the Cushites. The Lord delivered them.
During the last years of Asa's reigns he sought help from Ben-Hadad, king of Aram instead of the Lord. Asa bribed him for help with the temple treasures and it seemed to work. Hanani, the seer had to confront Asa and tell him that God wasn't pleased, and instead of Asa repenting, he was mad that he was challenged and threw Asa in jail.
Key verse for Asa: For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.....
Asa has a disease of the feet....again he doesn't seek God but turns only to physicians....much of this malady has been debated by scholars. It may have been gout, but that was very uncommon....It may have been gangrene......The NSRV says that a disease of the feet is a euphemism for the sexual organs indicating that he had venereal disease. He had something "cruddy" because scripture tells us that he had to be cremated (he was on a bier and burned) .
Why all this stuff about Kings? Remember that God had set things up perfectly, but the people demanded a king like all the other nations had, so God allowed it. Problem is that these Kings are human. How easy it is to stray from God when your "human-ness" gets in the way and you listen to the wrong direction. Note the cycles that when one is in the will of God, there is peace. When against the will of God, there is judgement. The cycle continues over and over again and this is what we are to take note of......we fall in the same cycles.....
Look what comes up from the depths of the sea.
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It seems to go to the beginning of this reading....15:2..."And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, "hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you, whilre you are with Him. If You seek him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, he will forsake you." "
ReplyDeleteAnd for 35 years Asa had no war and his heart was loyal .
But then Asa started making deals with Ben hadad king of Syria......he took silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord.......he took from the Lord to make treaty with someone else. he did not do as God wished but as he wanted, therefore, he starts having wars and gets a bad disease. Once his heart was not with God, God was not with him
Am I right on this?
You are absolutely correct...
ReplyDeleteAsa got proud and the striking of the deal with a foreign power instead of seeking God first like he had been doing started the spiritual downslide.....