References (53)
And Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father. And Asa his son reigned in his place.
[Asa was the third ruler of the Southern Kingdom (reigned 905-874 BC).]
And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah.
Asa did what was right (upright, sincere) in the eyes of the Lord (Yahweh) like his ancestor (father – Hebr. av) David.
Yes, he even deposed his grandmother [mother/grandmother] Maacha from her position as queen mother, because she had done an abomination, an Asherah [pole for idol worship]. And Asa cut down her idol and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
But the high places were not removed, nevertheless Asa's heart was wholly with the Lord (Yahweh) all his days.
And there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days.
And Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah and built Ramah to prevent anyone from coming to Asa, king of Judah.
And Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasury of the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and the treasures of the king's house, and gave them into the hands of his servants, and King Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who dwelt in Damascus, saying
And Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and struck Ijon and Dan and Abel-Beth-Maacah and all Kinnereth [Galilee] with all the land of Naphtali.
And King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah, no one was exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timber with which Baasha had built, and King Asa built Geva in Benjamin with it and Mizpah.
The rest of the acts of Asa, and all his might, and what he did, and all the cities that he built, are written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah. But in his old age he became diseased in his feet.
And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.
[Jehoshaphat becomes the fourth king of the Southern Kingdom. He is described in . He reigns from 872 to 848 BC.]
[Second king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) – Nadab (903-902 BC)]
And Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign in Israel [the Northern Kingdom] in the second year of Asa king of Judah [Asa was the fourth king of the Southern Kingdom], and he reigned over Israel two years.
And in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha slew him (Nadab) and reigned in his stead.
And there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days.
[The third king of Israel (the northern kingdom) – Baasha (909-886 BC). His story is found in .] In the third year of
Asa's reign in Judah, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, began to reign over all Israel in
Tirtsah [northeast of Shechem; present-day Tell el-Farah] and reigned for 24 years.
[Fourth king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) – Elah (886-885 BC)]
In the 26th year of Asa's reign over Judah, Elah, son of Baasha, began to reign over Israel in Tirzah [capital of the Northern Kingdom, northeast of Shechem], and he reigned for two years.
Zimri went there and struck him down and killed him—this happened in the 27th year of Asa's reign over Judah—and reigned in his [Elah's] place.
In the 27th year of
Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned
[only] seven days in
Tirtsah [northeast of Shechem; present-day Tell el-Farah]. And the people were encamped against Giveton, which belongs to the Philistines.
In the 31st year of
Asa, king of Judah
[4th king of the Southern Kingdom], Omri began to reign over Israel and reigned for 12 years, 6 years of which he reigned in
Tirtsah [northeast of Shechem; present-day Tell el-Farah].
[The seventh king of Israel (the northern kingdom) – Ahab (874-853 BC)
His name Achav means "father's brother".]
Ahab (Hebr. Achav), son of Omri, became king of Israel [the eighth king of the northern kingdom]. This happened during the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah [the southern kingdom]. Ahab, son of Omri, reigned over Israel in Samaria for 22 years [874-853 BC].
And Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, king of Israel.
And he walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn aside from them, doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord (Yahweh).
And the remnant of the male temple prostitutes (Hebr. qadesh) who remained from the days of his father Asa, he drove out of the land.
Solomon's son was Rehoboam (Hebr. Rechavam),
his son Avijah,
his son Asa,
his son Jehoshaphat,
[Asa reigned for 41 years (911-817 BC). If Rehoboam () was no more than 21 years old when he ascended the throne, Asa must have been only a boy, no more than 10 or 11 years old, when he ascended the throne.]
Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. His son Asa succeeded him as king. During his reign, the land had peace for ten years [until about 900 BC].
Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim).
Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah, who carried large shields and spears. In addition to these, 280,000 men from Benjamin came, carrying small shields and drawing bows. All these were brave warriors.
Asa went out against him, and they drew up for battle in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah [].
Then Asa cried out to the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim): "Lord (Yahweh), there is no one besides you who can help in the battle between the strong and the weak. So help us, Lord (Yahweh), our God (Elohim), for we rely on you, and we have come here in your name against this multitude. Lord (Yahweh), you are our God (Elohim). Let no man stand against you."
And the Lord (Yahweh) caused the Cushites [Ethiopians] to be defeated by Asa and Judah, so that they fled.
Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar [in the western Negev desert], and so many of the Cushites fell that none of them recovered (escaped with their lives), for they were struck down by the Lord (Yahweh) and his army. And the people took great spoil.
He went out to Asa and said to him, "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord (Yahweh) is with you when you are with him, and if you seek him, he will be found by you. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
When Asa heard these words and this prophecy from the prophet Oded [his son Azariah], he took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He reestablished the altar of the Lord that stood before the Lord's tabernacle.
[It was Azariah, the son of Oded, who spoke the prophecy, see . The fact that the Hebrew text has Oded here may be a patronymic, where the father's name is used for the son. This spelling is not unusual. Jesus is called "the son of David" in and Moses is used for "the sons of Moses," see . The Greek translation Septuagint replaces Oded with Azariah, the Latin translation Vulgate and the Syrian translation add and translate "Azariah, son of Oded".]
They gathered in Jerusalem in the third month of Asa's 15th year of reign [ca. 896 BC in the spring, perhaps during the Passover festival in Jerusalem].
King Asa also removed his grandmother (mother/grandmother – Hebr. im) Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had set up an idol for Asherah. Asa cut down her idol, smashed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
However, the high places were not removed from Israel, but Asa's heart was devoted to God as long as he lived.
And there was no war until the 35th year of Asa's reign.
In the 36th year of Asa's reign, Basha, king of Israel, went up against Judah and began to fortify Ramah [just over a mile north of Jerusalem] to prevent anyone from coming to or from Asa, king of Judah.
Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and the royal palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying
Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa and sent his commanders against the cities of Israel and captured Ijon, Dan, and Abel-Majim, as well as all the storehouses in the cities of Naphtali.
But King Asa took all Judah with him, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber that Baasha had used to fortify Ramah. With these, Asa fortified Geba and Mizpah.
At that time, the seer Hanani came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him, "You relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, and therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.
But Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, so furious was he with him for this. At the same time, Asa also acted violently against other members of the people.
The rest of the acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
In the 39th year of his reign, Asa developed a very serious disease in his feet. But despite his illness, he did not seek the Lord (Yahweh), but only doctors.
And Asa rested in Hos and died in his 41st year of reign.
He placed soldiers in all the fortified cities of Judah and troops in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.
He walked in the ways of his father Asa and did not turn aside from them, for he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
[Since Elijah's prophecies were mostly directed at Israel (the northern kingdom), he is not quoted very often in the Books of Chronicles, which focus on Judah (the southern kingdom).]
And a letter came to him from the prophet Elijah, saying:
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh), the God (Elohim) of your father David:
You have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or in the ways of Asa, king of Judah,
And the cistern (well) into which Ishmael threw all the dead bodies of the men he had killed beside Gedaliah was the one that King Asa had made out of fear of Baasha, king of Israel. Ishmael, the son of Netanyahu, filled it with those who had been killed.
Solomon begot Rehoboam (Rechavam),
Rehoboam begot Abijah (Avijam),
Abijah begot Asa,
Asa begot Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat begot Joram,
Joram begot Uzziah [here Matthew skips three generations – Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, see ; ; ],
