Asa's Heart Was Perfect
1 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. 2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 3 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, as the heart of David his father. 4 Nevertheless for David’s sake, Yahweh his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem; 5 because David did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, and didn’t turn away from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 6 Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. 7 The rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 8 Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in David’s city; and Asa his son reigned in his place. 9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah. 10 He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 11 Asa did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, as David his father did. 12 He put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 13 He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah. Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron. 14 But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with Yahweh all his days. 15 He brought into Yahweh’s house the things that his father had dedicated, and the things that he himself had dedicated: silver, gold, and utensils. 16 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 17 Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 18 Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that was left in the treasures of Yahweh’s house, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered it into the hand of his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who lived at Damascus, saying, 19 “Let there be a treaty between me and you, like that between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.” 20 Ben Hadad listened to King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and struck Ijon, and Dan, and Abel Beth Maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. 21 When Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah, and lived in Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah. No one was exempted. They carried away the stones of Ramah, and its timber, with which Baasha had built; and King Asa used it to build Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah. 23 Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. 24 Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in his father David’s city; and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.
A lamp kept burning for a dead man's sake, then a genuinely good king who deposes his own grandmother — and pays Syria with the temple silver.
Nevertheless for David’s sake, Yahweh his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem;
Abijam gets three years and a bad verdict — his heart was not perfect with Yahweh his God 1 Kings 15:3 — and the dynasty continues anyway, on account of somebody who has been dead for two generations. The lamp image 1 Kings 11:36 is the book's way of saying that Judah's survival is not being earned in real time.
The assessment of David that follows is startlingly frank: he did right and didn't turn away from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite 1 Kings 15:5. The exception is stated, by name, centuries later, in a book that has otherwise been holding David up as the standard. Nothing is buried.
Asa did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, as David his father did.
The first thoroughly good king since the division, and his reforms are concrete: the cult prostitutes removed, the idols cleared out, and he also removed Maacah his mother from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah 1 Kings 15:13. The queen mother held real institutional power, and Asa deposes his own grandmother and burns her image at the Kidron. Reform that stops at the family door is not reform, and this one does not stop.
But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with Yahweh all his days.
The two halves of the verse are the book's characteristic verdict on Judah's good kings. The local hilltop shrines survive every reform until Hezekiah, and the writer records both the failure and the wholehearted loyalty without treating them as contradictory. A perfect heart, in this book's vocabulary, is undivided rather than flawless.
Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that was left in the treasures of Yahweh’s house, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered it into the hand of his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who lived at Damascus, saying,
And then the compromise. Baasha fortifies Ramah to blockade Jerusalem, and Asa's answer is to empty the temple treasury to hire Syria into breaking its treaty with Israel. It works — Damascus invades the north and the blockade lifts 1 Kings 15:20–21 — and it is the same move that failed under Rehoboam and will keep failing: buying a great power's protection with the house of God's furniture. The book reports the success and lets the reader notice the price. Chronicles adds a prophet's rebuke for exactly this 2 Chronicles 16:7–9.
Asa carts away the stones of Ramah to fortify Geba and Mizpah 1 Kings 15:22, reigns forty-one years, and ends diseased in his feet. A good king, plainly told, with his best act and his worst in the same chapter.
settled What this mark means