LESSON VII.

ASA IN JUDAH AND NADAB IN ISRAEL.

B.C. 953.-2 CHRON. xiv.; 1 KINGS xv. 27-30.

So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David and Asa his son reigned in his stead.

And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God:

For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves:

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And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.

Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images and the kingdom was quiet before him.

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And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the LORD had given him rest.

Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us; because we have sought the LORD our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered.

And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valour.

And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two years.

And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.

And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon.

Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead.

And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite :

Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.

And there came out against Judah Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.

* Wooden pillars in honour of Ashtoreth.

Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.

So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the LORD, and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil.

And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the LORD came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was exceeding much spoil in them.

They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance; and returned to Jerusalem.

COMMENT. In the same year began two new reigns in Israel and Judah, for Jeroboam never recovered the blow that Abijah's victory had given him, and was stricken unto death. His son Nadab reigned little more than a year. He was besieging Gibbethon, a city properly belonging to the Levites, but which had been seized by the Philistines, when one of the fierce chiefs of the rich tribe of Issachar, Baasha by name, rose against him, and did what had never been done before in Israel, slew every creature of Jeroboam's family, thus fulfilling Ahijah's prophecy. Meantime, Asa, the son of Abijah, in Judah, though still a very young man, was applying himself to purify the kingdom from the idolatry that had arisen in the latter reigns, destroying the mountain shrines where the people wilfully resorted, breaking the images of the sun god, and burning the wooden pillars of the moon goddess, so far as he dared, for it seems that he did not overpower the resistance either of his grandmother Maachah or of some of the cities; but the Book of Kings tells us that his heart was perfect, that is, undivided, and in earnest to devote himself and his people wholly to the Lord. Therefore he was signally blest. Ethiopia, the wild country south of Egypt, had a powerful king, here called Zerah, on the old monuments Azereh-Amen, who after the death of Shishak not only conquered Egypt, but led his army on into Judah, which was always the first place attacked by any Egyptian conqueror, because

of its being the highway to Syria. Asa met him at Zephathah, in the plain of Judah, with an army which was as nothing to that of the invader; but the king cried aloud to God in a beautiful prayer, worthy of a true son of David: "It is nothing to Thee to help with many or with few;" and help was given. The Ethiopians were utterly discomfited, and driven not only out of the Philistine country, through which they had advanced, but could not even retain their hold on Egypt, and had to retreat to their own country beyond the cataracts of the Nile. Such was the blessing upon heart-whole trust in God.

LESSON VIII.

THE REFORMATION UNDER ASA IN JUDAH.

B.C. 941.-2 CHRON. XV. I-19.

And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:

And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him ; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.

And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.

And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.

Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.

And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;

That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.

And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about.

And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.

And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

COMMENT.-When Asa was returning from his great victory over the Ethiopians,-that victory gained in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the prophet Azariah was sent by the Lord to meet him and his army, and remind them how trouble and disaster had uniformly followed whenever the Law of God and His appointed form of worship had been forsaken, and how a blessing had always come whenever He was called upon in His own way. Asa, as has been already seen, had been trying to purify the land of idols and high places since the beginning of his reign, but had apparently been much hindered by the opposition of his subjects and of his grandmother, Queen Maachah. The prophet therefore calls on him to be strong, and let not his hands be weak; and the exhortation, made before the whole army of Judah, immediately after the great victory, and their king's prayer, had a great effect upon the warriors, who no longer withstood his reformations: nor was it only the men of his own kingdom, but many even from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon became convinced that only at Jerusalem would God accept their service, and joined in putting away the idols and restoring true religion. Probably Simeon, which was to the south of Judah, at a distance from the other tribes, did ever after

hold with it, since we several times find Simeonites mentioned at Jerusalem. Really good and religious persons living in the bounds of Israel continued to make their way to the Temple for the festivals, though often with great danger. There was a great gathering at Jerusalem for, as it seems, the Feast of Weeks, an offering of the spoil and a solemn renewal of the covenant; and indeed the hearts of the people seem to have been thoroughly touched, and they rejoiced in the blessing of the Lord and the prosperity He had given then.

Asa now ventured on carrying the reformation into his own family. It was the custom in Judah, as in other Eastern kingdoms, that the king's mother should be regarded as queen rather than the king's wife, and Maachah, or Michaiah, the favourite wife of Rehoboam, had retained her position as queen after her son Abijah's early death, either from her rank as a descendant of David, or because Asa's own mother, whose name is never given at all, may have died early. The Hebrew language has no distinctive word for "grandparents" or "grandchildren," and thus, where the grandfather is the more distinguished person, the parentage is often ascribed to him, passing over the intermediate generation. Maachah had maintained her favourite worship of the moongoddess Ashtoreth, and her wooden pillar, till Asa, convinced that her evil example ought no longer to be tolerated, removed her from her royalty, and destroyed her image, letting its remnants be washed away to the Dead Sea by the brook Kidron. He was able in great measure to restore the treasures that had been taken from the Temple during Shishak's invasion, and remained peaceful and prosperous till the thirty-fifth year, not of his own reign, but of the kingdom of Judah, i.e. B.C. 940, the thirteenth of his own reign. The Book of Kings says he had peace for ten years. This must have been from B. C. 950 to B. C. 940-from Zerah's invasion to the war with Baasha of Israel.