Deeper Commentary
2Ch 15:1 The Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded-
I hinted throughout 2 Chron. 14 that things were not quite as
spiritually rosy with Asa and Judah as Asa liked to present. And so this
message from God was to warn Asa of the conditionality of God's help,
implying Asa was tempted to forsake Him.
"Azariah", 'Yah has helped', was the son of Oded, 'repetition'; it was
as if the message that God had helped win the victory of 2 Chron. 14 needed
to be repeated. It seems from :2 that Azariah went out to meet Asa as he
returned to Jerusalem from the victory of 2 Chron. 14:15.
2Ch 15:2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, Hear me, Asa, and all
Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you, while you are with Him; and if you
seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake
you-
The whole way of life of the righteous man is described as seeking God,
knowing we will eventually find Him when the Lord returns to change our
natures. So many times does David parallel those who seek
God with those who keep His word (e.g. Ps. 119:2). We will never achieve
perfect obedience; but seeking it is paralleled with it. Perfection is
simply not achieved by God's people. Therefore the idiom of 'seeking Yahweh'
is used, and is made parallel with obedience to His laws (2 Chron. 14:4) and
not forsaking Him, just holding on to Him in faith, 'being with Him'.
The Lord Jesus was well aware of the connection between God's refusal
to answer prayer and His recognition of sin in the person praying (2 Sam.
22:42 = Ps. 2:2-5). It is emphasized time and again that God will not
forsake those who love Him (e.g. Dt. 4:31; 31:6; 1 Sam. 12:22; 1 Kings 6:13;
Ps. 94:14; Is. 41:17; 42:16). Every one of these passages must have been
well known to our Lord, the word made flesh. He knew that God forsaking
Israel was a punishment for their sin (Jud. 6:13; 2 Kings 21:14; Is. 2:6;
Jer. 23:33). God would forsake Israel only if they forsook Him (Dt.
31:16,17; 2 Chron. 15:2). We can therefore conclude that His desperate “Why
have You forsaken me?” was because He was so intensely identified with our
sins that in the crisis of the cross, He indeed felt forsaken because of
sin. He did not sin, but felt like a sinner; He thereby knows how sinners
feel.
2Ch 15:3 Now for a long time Israel was without the true God, and without
a teaching priest, and without law-
Although this can be read as a general comment upon Israel's history
at the time of the judges (:4), it clearly has relevance to the time of
Asa (see on 2 Chron. 17:9). It would also have been perceived by the
exiles as relevant to them. This again suggests that the spiritual picture
of Asa and Judah in 2 Chron. 14 was presented there in a very rosy way.
Things were not spiritually so wonderful.
The main priestly duty was to teach God's word to the people. A whole
string of texts make this point: Dt. 24:8; 2 Kings 17:27; 2 Chron. 15:3;
Neh. 8:9; Mic. 3:11. Note too the common partnership between priests and
prophets. Because of their role as teachers, it is understandable
that the anger of the first century priesthood was always associated with
Christ and the apostles teaching the people: Mt. 21:33; Lk.
19:47; 20:1; Acts 5:21. The priests felt that their role was being
challenged. As part of the priesthood, our duty is to
all
teach or communicate the word of God to each other. It was God's intention
that natural Israel should obey the spirit of this, so that they would
"teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord" (Heb. 8:11). That was how God intended Israel of old to fulfil this
idea of being a priestly nation.
2Ch 15:4 But when in their distress they turned to Yahweh the God of
Israel and sought Him, He was found by them-
The point was that Asa must learn the lesson from the history of
God's people at the time of the judges, and continue seeking God in
distress as he had done in the conflict of 2 Chron. 14. Sadly at the end
of his life, Asa in his distress didn't turn to Yahweh (2 Chron. 16:12).
2Ch 15:5 In those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him
who came in; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands-
This clearly describes how things were at the time of the judges. But
Asa is being bidden see parallels between that period and his time. And
this invitation surely reveals that things were not well with Judah
spiritually, and Asa was being set up as similar to the judges who revived
God's people.
2Ch 15:6 They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city
against city; for God troubled them with all adversity-
This may be a reference to the fighting within Israel which went on
in the period of the judges (e.g. Jud. 9:44-47; 20:35-45). Asa is being
bidden understand that circumstances repeat, exactly because we are
intended to learn from Biblical history. He was to see that his conflict
with the ten tribes was a repeat of those situations. And to act as the
Godly judges did, in faith.
2Ch 15:7 But you be strong, and don’t let your hands be slack; for your
work shall be rewarded-
"Work" here is put for "faith". For it is faith and not works which
is being appealed for from Asa (:2). This continues the purposeful
confusion between faith and works which is found in James.
2Ch 15:8 When Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet,
he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of
Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill
country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Yahweh that was before the
porch of Yahweh-
This purging of idolatry which took place after the victory
against the Ethiopians in 2 Chron. 14 shows that Asa's claims that Judah
were totally loyal to Yahweh, and therefore as it were deserved victory,
were somewhat hollow. But he was given the victory, and in fact that
elicited from him an awareness that this was by grace, and his claims to
total devotion to Yahweh in 2 Chron. 14:7,11 had been exaggerated. We too
are sometimes given blessing and victory which is inappropriate to our
faith, and the experience elicits in us self examination and repentance.
2Ch 15:9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who lived 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 Yahweh his God was with him-
AV "And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with
them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon". "The strangers"
reflects how religious division soon leads to those divided from being
considered as foreigners. This makes the account absolutely psychological
reality, and is true to observed experience in Christian divisions. Simeon
had inheritance within Judah (Josh. 19:1), so it is unsurprising that
people from there came over to Judah.
2Ch 15:10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third
month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa-
The feast of weeks began on the sixth day of the third month.
2Ch 15:11 They sacrificed to Yahweh in that day, of the spoil which they
had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep-
Remember that 'hundred' and 'thousand' are not always to be taken as
literal numbers, but can refer to groups. The sacrifices often feature
offerings in groups of seven (Num. 29:32; 1 Chron. 15:26). Presumably
these were offered as peace offerings, although there is no evidence of
the burnt offerings and sin offerings which were intended to precede peace
offerings.
2Ch 15:12 They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh the God of their
fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul-
2
Chron. 15:12,15 parallels seeking God with having our whole desire for
Him, giving all our heart and soul to Him. God judges a man’s life with
regard to where the essential, dominant desire of his heart is focused.
This is why some of the kings of Judah are introduced with the comment
that they did right in God’s sight- even though it becomes apparent that
they did many wrong things, and sometimes died committing wrong acts. But
surely they were judged on their dominant desire, where their heart was,
and not on their specific acts of failure. For David, the salvation
promised to him through Christ was “all my desire” (2 Sam. 23:5). The
direction of his life was towards that end.
2Ch 15:13 and that whoever would not seek Yahweh the God of Israel, should
be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman-
This smacks of hypocrisy and a commitment made on the cusp of
religious extremism, rather than humble spirituality. For as noted
throughout 2 Chron. 14 and 2 Chron. 15:3,5,8, they themselves had not
wholly sought Yahweh. And now they condemn such persons to death. But not
so many years later they needed to be brought back to Yahweh (2 Chron.
19:4). See on :14.
2Ch 15:14 They swore to Yahweh with a loud voice, and with shouting,
trumpets and cornets-
The loudness of their voice corroborates the impression noted on :13,
that this was unspiritual religious extremism.
2Ch 15:15 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 Yahweh gave them rest all around-
This joy was at an oath which threatened death against anyone who
didn't worship Yahweh (:13), when they themselves had not been
wholeheartedly for Him. And yet despite the hypocrisy, Yahweh "was found
of them". Again, we see His sensitivity to any faith and spirituality.
This is not to say that He accepts just whatever we give Him, and that, by
extension, we can serve God on our own terms. But it is also so that God
is very sensitive to all movements towards Him and for Him.
2Ch 15:16 Also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being
queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah. Asa cut
down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron-
This would have been difficult for him, given it was his mother. The
Lord may have thought of this as He crossed the same brook, the night
before His death.
2Ch 15:17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel.
Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days-
As discussed on :15, this is not to say that we are free to serve God
on our own terms, picking and choosing our issues of obedience and
compliance. Rather does this reflect how human external behaviour, even if
it is sinful, is not always a reflection of the basic, core position of
the human heart. Human behaviour is so complex in its motivation, and
there is often a connection between the heart and external behaviour which
is very indirect and can even at times be inverse. In other words, we may
act the opposite of what we really think. But God alone can know and judge
these complexities. This is why we must not judge; because we cannot
judge. We do not see the heart.
Asa and Jehoshaphat removed the high places, but in a sense they didn't
(1 Kings 15:14 cp. 2 Chron. 14:5; 17:6 cp. 20:33). We read of how the land
was purged of Baal, Sodomites etc.; but in a very short time, we read of
another purge being necessary. Partial cleansing of idolatry amounted to
no cleansing. Hezekiah, Manasseh and Josiah all made
major purges within a space of 80 years. Jeremiah therefore condemns the
Jews who lived at the time of Josiah's reformation for not knowing
God in their hearts. Many a Western Christian has this very
same tendency. We too must ask ourselves whether our spirituality is
really just a product of the crowd mentality; as the crowd shouted one day
"Hosanna to the Son of David", a few days later they wanted Jesus to be
delivered rather than Barabbas, but within minutes they were persuaded to
cry for the crucifixion of the Son of God. Church life, Bible studies, the
breaking of bread... inevitably, there is a crowd mentality developed
here. There is a feeling of devotion which wells up within us as a
community, as an audience, as we sit there, as we stand in praise and
worship together. But the real spirituality is far deeper than
this. We must seriously ask whether our spirituality, our feelings of
devotion, our true repentance, are only stimulated by these
meetings?
2Ch 15:18 He brought into God’s house the things that his father had
dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and
vessels-
The reference is to what he captured from the Ethiopians and looted
from the tribesmen around Gerar (2 Chron. 14:14,15); and to what his
father Abijah had taken from Jeroboam (2 Chron. 13:16). We note that
Abijah dedicated things to God, but despite that, "he walked in all the
sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not
perfect with Yahweh his God" (1 Kings 15:3). External generosity isn't
anywhere near as valuable as a heart totally given over to God.
2Ch 15:19 There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign
of Asa-
1 Chron. 14:1 likewise notes that Asa's reign began with 10 years of
peace. The land itself was at peace but that didn't mean Judah were not at
war. For Baasha became king of Israel in the third year of Asa (1 Kings
15:28,33) and “there was war between Asa and Baasha all their days” (1
Kings 15:32). Then there was then this 20 years peace later on (2 Chron.
15:10, 19). The impression is given that Asa's [partial] faithfulness to
Yahweh meant there was peace, and peace is a fruit of loyalty to Yahweh.
See on 2 Chron. 16:1.
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