1 Kings 15:9 - Meaning and Application

Here is a brief account of Asa’s reign, and a fuller history of it comes later in 2 Chronicles 14:1-15, 15, and 16:1-14. First, he reigned a long time, forty-one years in Jerusalem (1 Kings 15:10). When we look at the kings of Judah, we find that the number of good kings and bad kings is about equal. Yet it is a comfort to notice that the good kings usually ruled longer, while the bad kings ruled for a shorter time. That helps us see that God’s church was not as badly off during that period as it may first appear.

The Bible says Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord (1 Kings 15:11). That is the true standard of what is right, what pleases God. He followed David, his ancestor, by staying close to God and to the worship God had appointed. This gave him a fine reputation, because he was like David in faith, even though he was not like David in gifts, such as prophecy or psalm writing.

If we match the grace of faithful people who went before us, that is praise enough with God, even if we do not match their abilities. Asa was like David, though he was not like David as a conqueror or a writer. His heart was fully devoted to the Lord all his days (1 Kings 15:14). That means his religion was sincere and steady. What he did for God, he did honestly, with a single aim to honor God.

Asa’s reign was a time of reform. He began by removing evil, and that is where reform must start. He first dealt with immorality. He removed the male shrine prostitutes from the land, shutting down places of sexual sin. A nation cannot prosper while such filthy and dangerous practices are tolerated. Then he turned against idolatry. He removed all the idols, even the ones his father had made (1 Kings 15:12). Since his father had made them, he felt even more responsible to remove them, so the guilt would not pass on to him and his family.

He even rooted out idolatry from the royal family itself (1 Kings 15:13). Maacah, his mother or more likely his grandmother, had an idol in a grove. She had raised him in childhood, and she may have loved that idol deeply, but Asa would not excuse her sin. Reform must begin at home. Bad practices will never be fully stopped in the nation while they are protected in the court. Asa honored and respected his mother in everything else, but he loved God more. Like the Levites in Moses’ blessing (Deuteronomy 33:9), he put duty to God above family ties.

So he acted against her idol in two ways. First, he destroyed it publicly, and burned it by the brook Kidron, likely scattering the ashes there in imitation of Moses (Exodus 32:20) and to show his hatred of idolatry. He would leave no sign of a court idol behind. Second, he removed her from her royal position, or at least from her place of honor at court. He sent her away from public power and into a private life.

He also restored what was good (1 Kings 15:15). He brought into the house of God the things he had dedicated from the spoils taken from the Ethiopians, which he had defeated. He also brought in what his father had vowed, though his father died before he could fulfill that promise. We must not only stop doing evil, we must also learn to do good. We must not only throw away idols of sin, but give ourselves and all we have to God’s honor. When people who were devoted to God in baptism as infants later make that devotion their own and serve him faithfully, they are bringing in the dedicated gifts that they and their fathers promised. It is simply giving God what already belongs to him.

Asa was also wise in the way he governed. He built cities himself to help his people grow and to attract others by making life there more secure and useful (1 Kings 15:23). He also worked hard to stop Baasha from building Ramah, because Baasha meant to cut off traffic between Judah and Jerusalem and keep faithful worshipers from coming there. An enemy should never be allowed to strengthen a town on the border in that way.

Yet Asa was not without fault. In both of the things for which he was praised, he still fell short. The best people still have something lacking in them. He removed the idols, and that was good, but he did not remove the high places (1 Kings 15:14). His reform stopped short there. He tore down the images that competed with the true God, but he allowed the high-place altars to remain. Those were the altars where sacrifices were offered that should have been brought to the temple altar.

He may have thought there was no great harm in them, since godly people had used such places before the temple was built. He may also have been reluctant to upset the people, who liked them and were attached to them by habit and convenience. But in Judah and Benjamin, the tribes under Asa’s rule, those high places were even less excusable because Jerusalem and the temple were so near. They went against God’s law, which required worship at the one place he chose (Deuteronomy 12:11). They lowered people’s respect for the temple and made room for idolatry to creep back in. It was not right that Asa, with reform already underway, did not remove them too.

Still, his heart was fully devoted to the Lord. That gives us comfort. People may be honest and upright with God, and accepted by him, even when they do not do all the good they should have done. In the new covenant, the perfection God requires is not sinless perfection, because then none of us would stand. It means sincerity, a true and undivided heart.

It was good that Asa brought the dedicated gifts into God’s house. But he later took back what had been set apart for God, when he took gold and silver from the temple and sent them as a bribe to Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, to get him to break his agreement with Baasha, king of Israel. Ben-hadad was then to attack Israel and draw Baasha away from building Ramah (1 Kings 15:18-19).

Asa sinned in this. First, he tempted Ben-hadad to break his treaty, which meant breaking public trust. If it was wrong for Ben-hadad to do it, then Asa was wrong to urge him on. Second, Asa failed to trust God, who had already helped him so much, to bring him out of this trouble without using unfair means. Third, he took gold from the temple treasury, which should only have been used in special cases.

The plan worked. Ben-hadad attacked Israel, and Baasha had to leave Ramah with all his forces (1 Kings 15:20-21). That gave Asa a chance to tear down Baasha’s work there, and he used the wood and stones to build some of his own cities (1 Kings 15:22). Even so, the plan was displeasing to God. Asa thought it was wise and that it would secure his peace, but the prophet told him he had acted foolishly, and that from then on he would have wars (2 Chronicles 16:7-9).

The troubles of Asa’s reign were mostly these. Baasha, king of Israel, was a constant problem for him. Baasha reigned twenty-four years, and there was war, in one form or another, all his days with Asa (1 Kings 15:16). This was one result of the split kingdom. The two kingdoms kept hurting each other and weakening each other, which made both easier prey for a common enemy.

In Asa’s old age, he also suffered from gout, a painful disease in the feet. He was diseased in his feet, which made him less able to handle public matters and likely more sharp-tempered with those around him.

The rest of Asa’s acts were recorded more fully in the public records, which this passage refers to (1 Kings 15:23). He reigned a long time, and he ended his reign with honor. He left the throne to a successor who was in no way inferior to him.