The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 63, Asa The King Of Judah, Part Four

Today we'll be studying the final years of the reign of King Asa of Judah. He was king for forty-one years. He became king of Judah during the twentieth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel. We will be studying in the coming days what's been happening in the kingdom of Israel during Asa's reign but King Jeroboam died two years after Asa became king of Judah. Jeroboam's son Nadab succeeded him as king but only reigned for two years because a man named Baasha of the tribe of Issachar assassinated him and assumed the throne in his place. Although we'll be reading of these events later in our study of the kings, it's important for us to know who Baasha is before we begin today's text from 2 Chronicles 16 and 1 Kings 15.

"There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns. Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah." (1 Kings 15:16-17) The chronicler tells us exactly when Baasha did this thing: "In the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah." (2 Chronicles 16:1) Baasha's actions interrupt a major route into Judah. Some scholars believe Baasha does this not only to hamper Judah economically but primarily to hamper people spiritually: to prevent his subjects from the northern kingdom from going to Jerusalem to worship at the temple.

Baasha seizes control of Ramah, which is believed to have lain five miles north of Jerusalem, five years before the death of King Asa. We don't know King Asa's age at this time because we don't know at what age he ascended to the throne, but it appears as if he has become spiritually lazy in the latter years of his reign. We know he never dabbled in idolatry as some of the previous kings did, for the Bible already informed us that he remained faithful to the Lord all his life, but in his latter years he is not relying on the Lord in the same manner he did when the Cushite army came up against him somewhere between the tenth and fifteenth year of his reign. When Baasha invades his territory during the thirty-sixth year of his reign, instead of calling upon the Lord for help he makes a treaty with the heathen king of Syria (Syria is referred to as "Aram" in our text.)

"Asa then took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord's temple and of his own palace. He entrusted it to his officials and sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. 'Let there be a treaty between me and you,' he said, 'as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you a gift of silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.' Ben-Hadad agreed with Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maakah and all Kinnereth in addition to Naphtali. When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and withdrew to Tirzah. Then King Asa issued an order to all Judah---no one was exempt---and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using there. With them King Asa built up Geba in Benjamin, and also Mizpah." (1 Kings 15:18-22, 2 Chronicles 16:2-6) 

Asa has the right to do as he wishes with the silver and gold from his own household, although he should have trusted the Lord to help him instead of using silver and gold to bribe an idolatrous king to switch his allegiance from Israel to Judah, but Asa has no right to remove articles from the Lord's temple. We don't know why Asa is not as confident in the Lord in his latter years as he was in his younger years. Perhaps it's because he enjoyed such a long era of peace (approximately twenty years according to yesterday's study) that he didn't maintain as close of a relationship with the Lord as he should have. No one enjoys times of hardship but there's no doubt that hardships build spiritual muscle. Asa's two decades of peace and prosperity may have caused him to become spiritually flabby, so to speak. The Lord sends a prophet to Asa to let him know he has done wrong but Asa does not receive this message in the right spirit.

"At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: 'Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.' Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people." (2 Chronicles 16:7-10) Syria will someday become a greater threat than the northern kingdom of Israel ever was, so the prophet says, "The army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand." 

"The events of Asa's reign, from beginning to end, are written in the books of the kings of Judah and Israel. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and was buried with his ancestors." (2 Chronicles 16:11-13) It's not a sin to seek help from physicians; the Lord has mercifully provided us with physicians and medications so we can live longer and more comfortable lives. Asa's sin is that he only sought help from physicians. 

I think it's very likely that Asa's ailment is a result of his refusal to repent at the message of the Lord through the prophet Hanani. Asa not only refused to repent of making an alliance with Ben-Hadad, but he also imprisoned Hanani and oppressed his own people in some manner. It may be that some of his people protested the alliance with Ben-Hadad and Asa punished them for their disagreement. The illness may have come on him so that he would acknowledge his waywardness from the Lord, repent, and turn back to Him. If he had done so, he might have received physical healing and have enjoyed an even longer reign than forty-one years. But he doesn't call out to the Lord a single time for help, as far as we can tell, and the ailment that struck him in his thirty-ninth year takes his life in his forty-first year. Scholars and modern-day physicians think his ailment was a type of circulatory problem and that the lack of good circulation to his feet may have eventually caused gangrene which in turn would have caused blood poisoning, leading to septic shock and death.

"They buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier covered with spices and various blended perfumes, and they made a huge fire in his honor." (2 Chronicles 16:14) "And Jehoshaphat his son succeeded him as king." (1 Kings 15:24b)