Azariah's Word and the Covenant
1 The Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded. 2 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. 3 Now for a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law. 4 But when in their distress they turned to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 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. 6 They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God troubled them with all adversity. 7 But you be strong! Don’t let your hands be slack, for your work will be rewarded.” 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 Yahweh’s altar that was before Yahweh’s porch. 9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who lived with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon; for they came to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him. 10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. 11 They sacrificed to Yahweh in that day, from the plunder which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep. 12 They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; 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. 14 They swore to Yahweh with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets. 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 by them. Then Yahweh gave them rest all around. 16 Also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen mother, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; so Asa cut down her image, ground it into dust, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel; nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. 18 He brought the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated, silver, gold, and vessels into God’s house. 19 There was no more war to the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.
A prophet states the rule the whole book runs on, and a king acts on it against his own family.
The prophet meets Asa on the way back from the victory, which is the more dangerous moment, and states a rule in one sentence.
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.
That is word for word the charge David gave Solomon at the end of the previous volume 1 Chronicles 28:9, and it is the machinery of this entire book. Every reign in it is a run of that sentence. What makes it bearable rather than merely severe is that it is symmetrical and that the first move is always available: the seeking comes before the finding.
The prophet then gives a historical case rather than a threat. There was a long period without a teaching priest, and without law; in their distress they turned and sought, and he was found by them 2 Chronicles 15:3–4. The rule is presented as something that has already been tested by people worse placed than his audience.
And the description of those times is unnervingly modern in its details: no safety in travel, nation against nation, and city against city 2 Chronicles 15:5–6. The disorder is attributed to God's troubling rather than to politics.
Asa took courage 2 Chronicles 15:8, and the phrase implies the reform was not obviously safe. He clears the images, renews the altar in front of the porch, and calls an assembly that draws people out of the northern tribes as well.
The covenant they enter has a clause that should not be softened. They bound themselves to seek Yahweh... with all their heart and with all their soul, and that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman 2 Chronicles 15:12–13.
No enforcement of that clause is recorded, and the narrative that follows shows none. What the passage reports is the oath itself, sworn with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and the joy of the people at having sworn it 2 Chronicles 15:14–15. It stands as a measure of how far a nation could go in binding itself, and the book neither commends the penalty nor applies it.
The cost lands on Asa personally in the next verse. His grandmother is removed from her position as queen mother for having made an image, and the image is ground to dust and burned 2 Chronicles 15:16. A reformer who had cleared the countryside finally reaches his own household, and does there what he had done everywhere else.
The summary is honest about what was left undone. The high places were not all removed — nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days 2 Chronicles 15:17. Wholeness of heart is judged separately from completeness of achievement.
settled What this mark means