1 Kings 15 commentary

Abijam's heart was not perfect with the Lord his God; he wanted sincerity; he began well, but he fell off, and walked in all the sins of his father, following his bad example, though he had seen the bad consequences of it. David's family was continued as a lamp in Jerusalem, to maintain the true worship of God there, when the light of Divine truth was extinguished in all other places. The Lord has still taken care of his cause, while those who ought to have been serviceable thereto have lived and perished in their sins. The Son of David will still continue a light to his church, to establish it in truth and righteousness to the end of time. There are two kinds of fulfilling the law, one legal, the other by the gospel. Legal is, when men do all things required in the law, and that by themselves. None ever thus fulfilled the law but Christ, and Adam before his fall. The gospel manner of fulfilling the law is, to believe in Christ who fulfilled the law for us, and to endeavour in the whole man to obey God in all his precepts. And this is accepted of God, as to all those that are in Christ. Thus David and others are said to fulfil the law.

Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That is right indeed which is so in God's eyes. Asa's times were times of reformation. He removed that which was evil; there reformation begins, and a great deal he found to do. When Asa found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence. Reformation must begin at home. Asa honours and respects his mother; he loves her well, but he loves God better. Those that have power are happy when thus they have hearts to use it well. We must not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well; not only cast away the idols of our iniquity, but dedicate ourselves and our all to God's honour and glory. Asa was cordially devoted to the service of God, his sins not arising from presumption. But his league with Benhadad arose from unbelief. Even true believers find it hard, in times of urgent danger, to trust in the Lord with all their heart. Unbelief makes way for carnal policy, and thus for one sin after another. Unbelief has often led Christians to call in the help of the Lord's enemies in their contests with their brethren; and some who once shone brightly, have thus been covered with a dark cloud towards the end of their days.

During the single reign of Asa in Judah, the government of Israel was in six or seven different hands. Observe the ruin of the family of Jeroboam; no word of God shall fall to the ground. Divine threatenings are not designed merely to terrify. Ungodly men execute the just judgments of God upon each other. But in the midst of dreadful sins and this apparent confusion, the Lord carries on his own plan: when it is fully completed, the glorious justice, wisdom, truth, and mercy therein displayed, shall be admired and adored through all the ages of eternity.

CHAPTER 15

1Ki 15:1-8. Abijam's Wicked Reign over Judah.

1. Abijam--His name was at first Abijah (2Ch 12:16); "Jah," the name of God, according to an ancient fashion, being conjoined with it. But afterwards, when he was found "walking in all the sins of his father" [1Ki 15:3], that honorable addition was withdrawn, and his name in sacred history changed into Abijam [Lightfoot].

2. Three years reigned he--(compare 1Ki 15:1 with 1Ki 15:9). Parts of years are often counted in Scripture as whole years. The reign began in Jeroboam's eighteenth year, continued till the nineteenth, and ended in the course of the twentieth.

his mother's name was Maachah--or Michaiah (2Ch 13:2), probably altered from the one to the other on her becoming queen, as was very common under a change of circumstances. She is called the daughter of Abishalom, or Absalom (2Ch 11:21), of Uriel (2Ch 13:2). Hence, it has been thought probable that Tamar, the daughter of Absalom (2Sa 14:27; 18:18), had been married to Uriel, and that Maachah was their daughter.

3. his heart was not perfect with the Lord ... , as the heart of David his father--(Compare 1Ki 11:4; 14:22). He was not positively bad at first, for it appears that he had done something to restore the pillaged treasures of the temple (1Ki 15:15). This phrase contains a comparative reference to David's heart. His doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord (1Ki 15:5) is frequently used in speaking of the kings of Judah, and means only that they did or did not do that which, in the general course and tendency of their government, was acceptable to God. It furnishes no evidence as to the lawfulness or piety of one specific act.

4. for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp--"A lamp" in one's house is an Oriental phrase for continuance of family name and prosperity. Abijam was not rejected only in consequence of the divine promise to David (see on 1Ki 11:13-36).

1Ki 15:9-22. Asa's Good Reign.

10-13. his mother's name was Maachah--She was properly his grandmother, and she is here called "the king's mother," from the post of dignity which at the beginning of his reign she possessed. Asa, as a constitutional monarch, acted like the pious David, laboring to abolish the traces and polluting practices of idolatry, and in pursuance of his impartial conduct, he did not spare delinquents even of the highest rank.

15. he brought in the things which his father had dedicated--Probably the spoils which Abijam had taken from the vanquished army of Jeroboam (see 2Ch 13:16).

and the things which himself had dedicated--after his own victory over the Cushites (2Ch 14:12).

16-17. there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days--Asa enjoyed a ten years' peace after Jeroboam's defeat by Abijam, and this interval was wisely and energetically spent in making internal reforms, as well as increasing the means of national defense (2Ch 14:1-7). In the fifteenth year of his reign, however, the king of Israel commenced hostilities against him, and, invading his kingdom, erected a strong fortress at Ramah, which was near Gibeah, and only six Roman miles from Jerusalem. Afraid lest his subjects might quit his kingdom and return to the worship of their fathers, he wished to cut off all intercourse between the two nations. Ramah stood on an eminence overhanging a narrow ravine which separated Israel from Judah, and therefore he took up a hostile position in that place.

18-20. Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the ... house of the Lord--Asa's religious character is now seen to decline. He trusted not in the Lord (2Ch 16:7). In this emergency Asa solicited the powerful aid of the king of Damascene-Syria; and to bribe him to break off his alliance with Baasha, he transmitted to him the treasure lying in the temple and palace. The Syrian mercenaries were gained. Instances are to be found, both in the ancient and modern history of the East, of the violation of treaties equally sudden and unscrupulous, through the presentation of some tempting bribe. Ben-hadad poured an army into the northern provinces of Israel, and having captured some cities in Galilee, on the borders of Syria, compelled Baasha to withdraw from Ramah back within his own territories.

Ben-hadad--(See on 1Ki 11:14).

22. Then king Asa made a proclamation--The fortifications which Baasha had erected at Ramah were demolished, and with the materials were built other defenses, where Asa thought they were needed--at Geba (now Jeba) and Mizpeh (now Neby Samuil), about two hours' travelling north of Jerusalem.

23. in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet--(See on 2Ch 16:12, where an additional proof is given of his religious degeneracy.)

1Ki 15:25-34. Nadab's Wicked Reign.

25. Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign--No record is given of him, except his close adherence to the bad policy of his father.

27. Baasha smote him at Gibbethon--This town, within the tribe of Dan, was given to the Levites (Jos 19:44). It lay on the Philistine borders, and having been seized by that people, Nadab laid siege to recover it.

29. when he reigned, he smote all the house of Jeroboam--It was according to a barbarous practice too common in the East, for a usurper to extirpate all rival candidates for the throne; but it was an accomplishment of Ahijah's prophecy concerning Jeroboam (1Ki 14:10, 11).

Reigned Abijam over Judah - Of this son of Rehoboam, of his brethren, and of Rehoboam's family in general, see 2 Chronicles 12, where many particulars are added.

His heart was not perfect - He was an idolater, or did not support the worship of the true God. This appears to be the general meaning of the heart not being perfect with God.

The Lord - give him a lamp - That is, a son to succeed him; see 1Kgs 11:36.

Save only in the matter of Uriah - Properly speaking, this is the only flagrant fault or crime in the life of David. It was a horrible offense, or rather a whole system of offenses. See the notes on 2 Samuel 11 (note), and 2 Samuel 12 (note).

There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam - This was mentioned in the preceding chapter, 1Kgs 14:30, and it can mean no more than this: there was a continual spirit of hostility kept up between the two kingdoms, and no doubt frequent skirmishing between bordering parties; but it never broke out into open war, for this was particularly forbidden. See 1Kgs 12:24. Hostility did exist, and no doubt frequent skirmishes; but open war and pitched battles there were none.

But why is this circumstance repeated, and the history of Abijam interrupted by the repetition? There is some reason to believe that Rehoboam is not the true reading, and that it should be Abijam: "Now there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam all the days of his life." And this is the reading of fourteen of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. The Syriac has Abia the son of Rehoboam; the Arabic has Abijam. In the Septuagint the whole verse is omitted in the London Polyglot, but it is extant in those of Complutum and Antwerp. Some copies of the Targum have Abijam also, and the Editio Princeps of the Vulgate has Abia. This is doubtless the true reading, as we know there was a very memorable war between Abia and Jeroboam; see it particularly described 2Chr 13:3 (note), etc.

His mother's name - Our translators thought that grandmother was likely to be the meaning, and therefore have put it in the margin.

The daughter of Abishalom - She is called, says Calmet, the daughter of Absalom, according to the custom of the Scriptures, which give the name of daughter indifferently to the niece, the grand-daughter, and great grand-daughter.

The sodomites - הקדשים hakkedeshim; literally, the holy or consecrated ones. See on 1Kgs 14:24 (note).

She had made an idol in a grove - The original word, מפלצת miphletseth, is variously understood. I shall give its different views in the versions: - "Besides, he removed his mother Maacha from being chief in the sacred rites of Priapus, and in his grove which she had consecrated." - Vulgate. "And Ana, [other copies Maacha], he removed from being governess, because she had made an assembly in her grove." - Septuagint. "Moreover, he deprived Maacha, his mother, of her own magnificence, because she had celebrated a solemnity to her own worship." - Syriac. "And even Maacha, his mother, he removed from the kingdom, because she had made an idol in a grove." - Chaldee. "Besides, he removed Maacha, his mother, from her kingdom, because she had made a high tree into an idol." - Arabic. "Also he removed Maacha, his mother, from the kingdom, because she had made a horrible statue; and our rabbins say that it was called מפלצת miphletseth, because מפליא ליצנותא maphli leytsanutha, it produced wonderful ridicule; for she made it ad instar membri virilis, and she used it daily." - Rabbi Solomon Jarchi.

From the whole, it is pretty evident that the image was a mere Priapus, or something of the same nature, and that Maachah had an assembly in the grove where this image was set up, and doubtless worshipped it with the most impure rites. What the Roman Priapus was I need not tell the learned reader; and as to the unlearned, it would not profit him to know. Maachah was most likely another Messalina; and Asa probably did for his mother what Claudius did for his wife.

The high places were not removed - He was not able to make a thorough reformation; this was reserved for his son Jehoshaphat.

Asa's heart was perfect - He worshipped the true God, and zealously promoted his service; see on 1Kgs 15:3 (note). And even the high places which he did not remove were probably those where the true God alone was worshipped; for that there were such high places the preceding history amply proves, and Jarchi intimates that these were places which individuals had erected for the worship of Jehovah.

Which his father had dedicated - On what account he and his father dedicated the things mentioned below, we know not; but it appears that Asa thought himself bound by the vow of his father.

There was war - That is, there was continual enmity; see on 1Kgs 15:6 (note). But there was no open war till the thirty-sixth year of Asa, when Baasha, king of Israel, began to build Ramah, that he might prevent all communication between Israel and Judah; see 2Chr 15:19; 2Chr 16:1. But this does not agree with what is said here, 1Kgs 16:8, 1Kgs 16:9, that Elah, the son and successor of Baasha, was killed by Zimri, in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Asa. Chronologers endeavor to reconcile this by saying that the years should be reckoned, not from the beginning of the reign of Asa, but from the separation of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. It is most certain that Baasha could not make war upon Asa in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, when it is evident from this chapter that he was dead in the twenty-sixth year of that king. We must either adopt the mode of solution given by chronologists, or grant that there is a mistake in some of the numbers; most likely in the parallel places in Chronicles, but which we have no direct means of correcting. But the reader may compare 2Chr 14:1, with 2Chr 15:10, 2Chr 15:19; 2Chr 16:1.

And Baasha - built Ramah - As the word signifies a high place, what is here termed Ramah was probably a hill, (commanding a defile through which lay the principal road to Jerusalem), which Baasha fortified in order to prevent all intercourse with the kingdom of Judah, lest his subjects should cleave to the house of David. Ramah was about two leagues northward of Jerusalem.

Asa took all the silver - Shishak, king of Egypt, had not taken the whole, or there had been some treasures brought in since that time.

Ben-hadad - This was the grandson of Rezon, called here Hezion, who founded the kingdom of Damascus. See 1Kgs 11:23, 1Kgs 11:24; and Calmet.

There is a league between me and thee - Or, Let there be a league between me and thee; as there was between my father and thy father. There was no reason why Asa should have emptied his treasures at this time to procure the aid of the Syrian king; as it does not appear that there was any danger which himself could not have turned aside. He probably wished to destroy the kingdom of Israel; and to effect this purpose, even robbed the house of the Lord.

Ijon, and Dan, etc. - He appears to have attacked and taken those towns which constituted the principal strength of the kingdom of Israel.

Dwelt in Tirzah - This seems to have been the royal city; see 1Kgs 15:33, and 1Kgs 14:17; and in this Baasha was probably obliged to shut himself up.

None was exempted - Every man was obliged to go and help to dismantle the fortress at Ramah which Baasha had built. This was a general levee en masse of the people: every one was obliged to lend a helping hand, as the state was then supposed to be in danger, and all exemptions necessarily ceased. This is a maxim of civil policy, Ubi adversus hostem muniendi sent limites, omnis immunitas cessat: "Where the boundaries are to be fortified against an enemy, then all exemptions cease.

And the cities which he built - Such as Geba and Mizpah, which he built out of the spoils of Ramah.

He was diseased in his feet - Probably he had a strong rheumatic affection, or the gout. This took place in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, three years before his death; and it is said that he sought to physicians rather than to the Lord, 2Chr 16:12, 2Chr 16:13.

Asa slept with his fathers - Of his splendid and costly funeral we read 1Chr 16:14.

Nadab - began to reign over Israel - He began his reign in the second year of the reign of Asa, and reigned two years.

Smote him at Gabbethon - This was a city in the tribe of Dan, and generally in the possession of the Philistines.

He smote all the house of Jeroboam - This was according to Ahijah's prophetic declaration; see 1Kgs 14:10, 1Kgs 14:14. Thus God made use of one wicked man to destroy another.

There was war - See on 1Kgs 15:16 (note).

Walked in the way of Jeroboam - The entail of iniquity cannot be cut off but by a thorough conversion of the soul to God; and of this, these bad kings seem to have had no adequate notion. The wicked followed the steps of the wicked, and became still more wicked; sin gathers strength by exercise and age.

NOw in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat, reigned Abijam over Judah.

Obj. How can this be, when he Reigned 3 Years, ver. 2. and Asa, his Successor, began his Reign in the twentieth Year of Ieroboam, v. 9? Ans. Parts of Years are commonly called and accounted Years both in the old and New Testament, and in prophane Writers. So his Reign began with Ieroboam's 18th Year, and continued his whole 19th Year, and ended within his 20th Year, in which also Asa's Reign began. And thus one and the same Year may well be, as it frequently is, attributed to two several Persons.

Marginal references: 2 Chr. 13. [illegible: 1+ letters].

2 Three years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mothers name was Maachah the daughter of Abishalom .

See the last Note, on ver. 1.

Or, of Absalom, as he is called 2 Chron. 11. 21. And because he is here mentioned as a known Person without any addition of his Kindred or Quality, some conceive that this was Absalom's Daughter, called properly Tamar, 2 Sam. 14. 27. and from her Royal Grand-Mother, 2 Sam. 3. 3. Maachah; and that she is called Michajah (which differs not much from Maachah) the daughter of Uriel, 2 Chr. 13. 2. because she was first Married to Uriel, as Iosephus affirms, Antiq. 8. 3. and afterwards to Rehoboam. Others think this was another Person, and that both she and her Father had each of them several names, which was not unusual among the Hebrews.

3 And he walked in all the sins of his father , which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.

Which his Father lived in, Either, First, Before his humiliation. Or rather, Secondly, After his deliverance from Shishak, when, though he did not openly renounce the Worship of God, he seems to have relapsed into his former sins; which otherwise would not have been remembred against him; as David's name and memory is never loaded with the shame of his sins, because he truly repented of them.

Marginal references: Chap. 11. [illegible: 1+ letters].

4 Nevertheless, for Davids sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem :

i. e. A Son and Successor to perpetuate his name and memory, which otherwise had gone into obscurity. The same Phrase is used above, ch. 11. 36. 2 King. 8. 19. 2 Chr. 21. 7.

i. e. That he might maintain that City, and Temple, and Worship, as a witness for God, in the World, against the Israelites and Heathen world, who should have enquired after it, and embraced the True Religion there established and set up, as a Beacon upon an high Hill, that all men might take notice of it.

Marginal references: Or, candle.

5 Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save onely in the matter of Uriah the Hittite .

Quest. How is this true, seeing David sinned in the matter of Nabal, 1 Sam. 25. and Achish, chap. 27. and Mephibosheth, and his indulgence to his Children, Adonijah, Amnon and Absalom; and in the numbring of the People? Ans. This and the like Phrases are not to be understood as exclusive of every sinful action, but onely of a sinful course or state, or of an habitual and continued Apostacy from God, or from his ways, as the very Phrase of turning aside from God or from his Commands, doth constantly imply, as appears from Exod. 32. 8. Deut. 9. 12, 16. 1 Sam. 8. 3. Psal. 78. 57. Isa. 44. 20. 1 Tim. 1. 6. and 5. 15, &c. And thus it is most true. For David's other sins were either sudden and transient acts, proceeding from humane infirmity, and extraordinary temptations, and soon repented of and blotted out, as in the cases of Nabal and Achish; or, mistakes of his judgment, which was not fully convinced of the sinfulness of such actions, as in the other cases alledged: whereas that which concerned Uriah's Wife was a designed and studied sin, long continued in, defended with a succession of other sins, presumptuous, and scandalous to his Government, and to the True Religion, which he so eminently professed.

Marginal references: 2 Sam. 11. 4 and 12. 9.

6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

Which was said, chap. 14. 30. and may be here repeated to signify the Cause and Original of the War between Abijam and Ieroboam, which is implied here, and particularly described, 2 Chron. 13. Abijam continued the War which Rehoboam had begun, and pushed it on to a decisive Battel. But the place may be thus rendred, Yet there was war, &c. i. e. Although God was pleased to shew so much respect to David, as for his sake to continue the Succession to the Kingdom in his Posterity, yet he thought fit to manifest his displeasure against David's Successors for their sins, and to mix their honour and happiness with Wars and Troubles.

7 Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah ? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

In their Annals; whence they were long after this time Translated into the Sacred Book of Chronicles. See above on chap. 14. 19.

Marginal references: * 2 Chr. 13. 3.

9 ¶ And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, reigned Asa over Judah.

In or towards the end of the Year. See above, ver. 1.

10 And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mothers name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

i. e. His Grand-Mothers, as appears from ver. 2. who is called his mother, as David is called Abijam's father, v. 3. and this Asa's father, ver. 11. And so the names of father, and mother, and sons, and daughters, are oft taken, both in Sacred and Prophane Authors, for Grand-Parents and Grand-Children. And his Grand-Mothers name may be here mentioned, rather than his Mothers, because his Mother was either an obscure person, or was long since dead, or indisposed, or unwilling to take care of the Education of her Son, and so he was Educated by the Grand-Mother, who, though she did Poison his Father Abijam with her Idolatrous Principles, ver. 12. yet could not infect Asa, nor with-hold him from prosecuting his good purposes of Reforming Religion. Which is here remembred to his praise.

Marginal references: That is, grandmother.

11 And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD , as did David his father.

As to the Government of his Kingdom, and Life, and the Reformation, and Establishment of Gods Worship.

12 And he took away the Sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

Of whom see chap. 14. 24. not all of them, but those whom he could find out; but some escaped his observation and censure, as appears from chap. 22. 46.

13 And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen , because she had made an idol in a grove, and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron .

i. e. He took from her either the Name and Authority of Queen Regent, which she, having been Rehoboam's Wife, and Abijam's Mother, took to her self during Asa's minority, and abused to the Patronage of Idolatry; or, the Dignity of the Queen-Mother, and those Guards, or other Ensigns of Honour, or Instruments of Power, which, as such, she had enjoyed and misemployed. Otherwise, he removed her from the queen, i. e. from his Wife, that she might not be infected by her, and afterwards infect his Children: which was a prudent and necessary care▪ for the prevention of so great and publick a Mischief.

Heb. a terror, or horror, i. e. an horrible Idol; which it may be he so called, either, because all Idols, though for a season they please, yet in the end will bring dreadful effects upon their worshippers: or, because this was an Idol of a more horrible or terrible shape, more abominable than ordinary, and not to be seen without horror: whether it was that filthy Idol, called Priapus, which was commonly placed in Groves or Gardens; or, Pan, or some other Heathen god, to whose service she in a special manner devoted her self.

That when it was burnt to powder, it might be thrown into the Water, and be unfit for any use. See Exod. 32. 20. Deut. 12. 3.

Marginal references: 2 Chr. 15. 16.; Heb. an horror.; Heb. cut off.

14 But the high places were not removed : nevertheless, Asa his heart was perfect with the LORD all his days.

Obj. He did take these away, 2 Chron. 14. 3. Ans. He took away those which were devoted to the worship of Idols, as is there said, he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, to wit, where they were worshipped: but as for those high places where the True God was Worshipped, he did not take them away; partly, because he thought there was no great Evil in them, because they had been used by David and Solomon, and other Good and Wise men; and because the True God was there worshipped, and that in the manner, though not in the place, which God had appointed; and partly, because he thought the removal of them might do much more hurt than their continuance, to wit, by occasioning the total neglect of Gods Worship by many of the People, who either could not, or through want of competent Faith and Zeal would not go up to Ierusalem to Worship, now especially, when the Israelites, their near Neighbours, formerly their Friends, were become their Enemies, and watched all opportunities to invade or molest them, which they concluded they would do when all their Males were gone up to Ierusalem; and partly, because the People were so obstinately bent towards them, that it was, or at least, seemed to him, impossible to remove them without great offence, or such commotions as were highly dangerous to that Church and State.

i. e. He did sincerely and constantly adhere to the Worship and Service of God. Though he could not hinder the People from using the high places, yet he did intirely Devote himself to the Worship of God in the manner and place prescribed by God.

15 And he brought in the things which his father had dedicated , and the things which himself had dedicated, into the house of the LORD, silver, and gold, and vessels.

Abijam, to wit, when he was in distress, and going to fight with Ieroboam, 2 Chron. 13. though afterwards he did not perform his Vows, nor bring in what he had Devoted; whether because he was prevented by Death, or because he afterwards relapsed to Idolatry, as may seem probable from the 12 Verse of this Chapter.

Marginal references: Heb. holy.

16 ¶ And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days .

So long as they two Lived and Reigned together. Which is not so to be understood, as if there were a solemn and declared War continuing all that time (for Asa was quiet in a great measure for his first ten years, 2 Chr. 14. 1. till the Israelites had recovered themselves from that dreadful blow given them by Abijam, 2 Chron. 13. and Baasha began to Reign in Asa's third Year) but so that there were many private and particular Hostilities practised among them; in which sense the same Phrase is used, chap. 14. 30.

17 And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah , and built Ramah , that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah .

Perceiving Asa's great success; of which see 2 Chron. 14▪ and 15. and the defection of many of his own Subjects to him, upon that occasion, 2 Chron. 15. 9. he began to bestir himself, and commenceth a War against him.

i. e. Repaired and Fortified.

A City of Benjamin; which either belonged to the Kingdom of Israel, from the division (as some other places of that Tribe are supposed to have done; of which see on 1 King. 11. 13.) or belonged to Iudah, but was now Invaded and taken by Baasha, and Fortified.

Therefore he chose this place, because it was in the way from his Kingdom to Ierusalem, and, as some add, in, or near the straits of the Mountains, where they could easily discover and hinder all Passengers that way.

Marginal references: 2 Chr. 16. 1.

18 Then Asa took all the silver, and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the kings house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants: and king Asa sent them to Benhadad the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,

These poor remainders, which, either Shishak had left at that time, chap. 14. 26. or, Abijam, or Asa, or others, both of Israel and Iudah, had dedicated; which probably was not inconsiderable, because Asa had got great spoils from Zerah, 2 Chron. 14. and he and his numerous and prosperous People did at this time express a great Zeal for the House and Worship of God.

Wherein he committed three great faults, amongst many others, First, he Alienated things Consecrated to God, without necessity. Secondly, He did this out of Carnal fear and distrust of that God whose Power and Goodness he had lately experienced. Thirdly, He did this for an ill intent, to hire him to the breach of his League and Covenant with Baasha, v. 19. and to take away part of that Land which by Right, and the special Gift of God, belonged to the Israelites.

Marginal references: 2 Chr. 16. 2.

19 There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father : behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold: come, and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me .

Whereby it appears, that albeit he was an adversary to Israel all Solomon's days, chap. 11. 25. yet after the division of the Kingdoms of Israel and Iudah, he was in League with both of them, either, because his designs lay upon the enlargement of his Empire other ways; or rather, because he thought it his Wisdom and Interest to leave them to themselves to undo one another by their intestine Wars, and so to prepare the way to his Conquest of both; whereas his Invading of either of them might have made up the breach, and forced them to unite against their common Enemy. And therefore as soon as he was free from this fear, and one of them needed and earnestly desired his help against the other, he gladly embraced the opportunity.

That being called to defend himself, he may be forced to depart from my Territories.

Marginal references: Heb. go up.

20 So Ben-hadad hearkned unto king Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had, against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maachah, and all Cinneroth , with all the land of Naphtali.

The Northern parts of Baasha's Kingdom, which were nearest to his own Kingdom of Damascus, and most remote from those parts where Baasha was now employed, which were in the most Southern parts of his Dominions.

21 And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building of Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah .

Now the Royal City of Israel. See chap. 14. 17. There he abode to defend his own Kingdoms, and durst not return to oppose Asa, lest the Syrian King should make a second and worse Invasion. So Asa met with success in his ungodly course, as on the other side good men sometimes meet with disappointment in a good cause and course. So there is no judging of Causes by Events.

22 Then king Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah, (none was exempted ) and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded: and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah .

All sorts of Persons were obliged to come, except those who were disenabled by age, or infirmity, or absence, or by the publick service of the King and Kingdom in other places.

i. e. Repaired and strengthned them, for they were built before. See Ier. 41. 9. Quest. Why did he not rather perfect the Fortifications of Ramah which Baasha had begun? Ans. Because Baasha might have returned and recovered it afterwards; and he thought it most convenient that there should be no City nor Fort in that place.

Marginal references: Heb. free.

23 The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless , in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.

Notwithstanding the great things which he had done, and the glory and prosperity which he enjoyed, he felt the effects of humane infirmity, and of his own sins; of which see 2 Chron. 16. 12, 13.

25 ¶ And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel, in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two years .

Not compleat, as appears from v. 28. and 33.

Marginal references: Heb. rei[illegible: 1+ letters]d.

26 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin .

i. e. In the worship of the Calves which his Father had made.

27 ¶ And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him, and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines , (for Nadab and all Isaael laid siege to Gibbethon)

i. e. Of the Tribe, which is oft called an house, as Iudg. 10. 9. Psal. 135. 20. Hos. 1. 7.

Who, taking advantage of the division between Israel and Iudah, had retaken this Town, which belonged to the Tribe of Dan, Ios. 19. 44. and belonged to the Levites, Ios. 21. 23. upon whose departure to Iudah, 2 Chron. 11. 14. the Kings of Israel seized their Towns and Lands to their own use, as was noted before; which made them so much concerned for this Town, to besiege both now and many Years after this time, chap. 16. 15.

28 Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah, did Baasha slay him , and reigned in his stead.

How this agrees with 2 Chron. 16. 1. see in the notes there.

Which he did, not to fulfil God's Threatning, but onely to advance himself; and therefore this is called Murder, Chap. 16. 7.

29 And it came to pass when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam, he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD , which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite:

So God over ruled Baasha's ambition and cruelty, to fulfil his own Counsel and Prediction.

p i. e. Any of the Males of that Family. See Deut. 20. 16. Iosh. 10. 40.

Marginal references: Chap. 14. 10.

30 Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin , by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.

So that same wicked Policy which he used to Establish the Kingdom in his Family, proved his and their Ruine: which is very frequently the event of ungodly Counsels.

1Ki 15:1-2

Reign of Abijam (cf., 2 Chron 13). - Abijam reigned three years, and his mother’s name was Maacah, daughter (i.e., grand-daughter) of Absalom. We have the same in 2Ch 11:20-21; but in 2Ch 13:2 she is called Michajahu, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. If אבישׁלום was without doubt Absalom, the well-known son of David, as we may infer from the fact that this name does not occur again in the Old Testament in connection with any other person, since Absalom had only one daughter, viz., Thamar (2Sa 14:27), who was fifty years old when Solomon died, Maacah must have been a daughter of this Thamar, who had married Uriel of Gibeah, and therefore a grand-daughter of Absalom. This is sustained by Josephus (Ant. viii. 10, 1). The form of the name מיכיהוּ is probably an error in copying for מעכה, as the name is also written in 2Ch 11:20, 2Ch 11:21, and not a different name, which Maacah assumed as queen, as Caspari supposes (Micha, p. 3, note 4).

1Ki 15:3-5

Abijam walked as king in the footsteps of his father. Although he made presents to the temple (1Ki 15:15), his heart was not שׁלם, wholly or undividedly given to the Lord, like the heart of David (cf., 1Ki 11:4); but (כּי, after a previous negative) for David’s sake Jehovah had left him a light in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him and to let Jerusalem stand, because (אשׁר) David had done right in the eyes of God, etc., i.e., so that it was only for David’s sake that Jehovah did not reject him, and allowed the throne to pass to his son. For the fact itself compare 1Ki 11:13, 1Ki 11:36; and for the words, “except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite,” see 2 Sam 11 and 12.

1Ki 15:6-8 “And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all his life;” i.e., the state of hostility which had already existed between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued “all the days of his life,” or so long as Abijam lived and reigned. If we take חיּיו כּל־ימי in this manner (not כּל־ימיהם, 1Ki 15:16), the statement loses the strangeness which it has at first sight, and harmonizes very well with that in 1Ki 15:7, that there was also war between Abijam and Jeroboam. Under Abijam it assumed the form of a serious war, in which Jeroboam sustained a great defeat (see 2 Chron 13:3-20). - The other notices concerning Abijam in 1Ki 15:7, 1Ki 15:8 are the same as in the case of Rehoboam in 1Ki 14:29, 1Ki 14:31.

1Ki 15:9

Reign of Asa (cf., 2 Chron 14-16). - As Asa ascended the throne in the twentieth year of the reign of Jeroboam, his father Abijam, who began to reign in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam (1Ki 15:1), can only have reigned two years and a few months, and not three full years.

1Ki 15:10

Asa reigned forty-one years. “The name of his mother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.” This notice, which agrees verbatim with 1Ki 15:2, cannot mean that Abijam had his own mother for a wife; though Thenius finds this meaning in the passage, and then proceeds to build up conjectures concerning emendations of the text. We must rather explain it, as Ephr. Syr., the Rabbins, and others have done, as signifying that Maacah, the mother of Abijam, continued during Asa’s reign to retain the post of queen-mother or הגּבירה, i.e., sultana valide, till Asa deposed her on account of her idolatry (1Ki 15:13), probably because Asa’s own mother had died at an early age.

1Ki 15:11-14

As ruler Asa walked in the ways of his pious ancestor David: he banished the male prostitutes out of the land, abolished all the abominations of idolatry, which his fathers (Abijam and Rehoboam) had introduced, deposed his grandmother Maacah from the rank of a queen, because she had made herself an idol for the Ashera, and had the idol hewn in pieces and burned in the valley of the Kidron. גּלּלים is a contemptuous epithet applied to idols (Lev 26:30); it does not mean stercorei, however, as the Rabbins affirm, but logs, from גּלל, to roll, or masses of stone, after the Chaldee גּלל (Ezr 5:8; Ezr 6:4), generally connected with שׁקּצים. It is so in Deu 29:16. מפלצת, formido, from פּלץ, terrere, timere, hence an idol as an object of fear, and not pudendum, a shameful image, as Movers (Phöniz. i. p. 571), who follows the Rabbins, explains it, understanding thereby a Phallus as a symbol of the generative and fructifying power of nature. With regard to the character of this idol, nothing further can be determined than that it was of wood, and possibly a wooden column like the אשׁרים (see at 1Ki 14:23). “But the high places departed not,” i.e., were not abolished. By the בּמות we are not to understand, according to 1Ki 15:12, altars of high places dedicated to idols, but unlawful altars to Jehovah. It is so in the other passages in which this formula recurs (1Ki 22:24; 2Ki 12:4; 2Ki 14:4; 2Ki 15:4; and the parallel passages 2Ch 15:17; 2Ch 20:33). The apparent discrepancy between the last-mentioned passages and 2Ch 14:2, 2Ch 14:4, and 2Ch 17:6, may be solved very simply on the supposition that the kings (Asa and Jehoshaphat) did indeed abolish the altars on the high places, but did not carry their reforms in the nation thoroughly out; and not by distinguishing between the bamoth dedicated to Jehovah and those dedicated to idols, as Thenius, Bertheau, and Caspari, with many of the earlier commentators, suppose. For although 2Ch 14:2 is very favourable to this solution, since both בּמות and הגּכר dna בּמו מזבּחות are mentioned there, it does not accord with 2Ch 17:6, where הבּמות cannot be merely idolatrous altars dedicated to the Canaanitish Baal, but unquestionably refer to the unlawful altars of Jehovah, or at any rate include them. Moreover, the next clause in the passage before us, “nevertheless Asa’s heart was wholly given to the Lord,” shows that the expression סרוּ לא סרוּ nois does not mean that the king allowed the unlawful Jehovah-bamoth to remain, but simply that, notwithstanding his fidelity to Jehovah, the bamoth did not depart, so that he was unable to carry the abolition of them thoroughly out.

1Ki 15:15

He brought the sacred offerings of his father and his own sacred offerings into the house of Jehovah; probably the booty, in silver, gold, and vessels, which his father Abijam had gathered in the war with Jeroboam (2Ch 13:16-17), and he himself on the conquest of the Cushites (2Ch 14:12-13). The Keri וקדשׁי is a bad emendation of the correct reading in the Chethîb קדשׁו, i.e., קדשׁו (קדשׁיו); for יהוה בּית is an accusative, and is to be connected with ויּבא.

1Ki 15:16-17

The state of hostility between Judah and Israel continued during the reign of Asa; and Baasha the king of Israel advanced, etc. These statements are completed and elucidated by the Chronicles. After the great victory obtained by Abijam over Jeroboam, the kingdom of Judah enjoyed rest for ten years (2Ch 14:1). Asa employed this time in exterminating idolatry, fortifying different cities, and equipping his army (2Ch 14:1-7). Then the Cushite Zerah invaded the land of Judah with an innumerable army (in the eleventh year of Asa), but was totally defeated by the help of the Lord (2Ch 14:8-14); whereupon Asa, encouraged by the prophet Azariah, the son of Oded, proceeded with fresh zeal to the extermination of such traces of idolatry as still remained in the kingdom, then renewed the altar of burnt-offering in front of the temple-hall, and in the fifteenth year of his reign held, with the whole nation, a great festival of thanksgiving and rejoicing to the Lord at Jerusalem (2Ch 15:1-15). The next year, the sixteenth of his reign and the thirty-sixth from the division of the kingdom (2Ch 16:1), Baasha commenced hostilities, by advancing against Judah, taking possession of Ramah, the present er Râm (see at Jos 18:25), which was only two hours and a quarter from Jerusalem, and fortifying it. The occupation of Ramah is not expressly mentioned indeed, but it is implied in יהוּדה על ויּעל על יה, which affirms the hostile invasion of Judah. For Ramah, from its very situation in the heart of the tribe of Benjamin and the immediate neighbourhood of Jerusalem, can neither have been a border city nor have belonged to the kingdom of Israel. The intention of Baasha, therefore, in fortifying Ramah cannot have been merely to restrain his own subjects from passing over into the kingdom of Judah, but was evidently to cut off from the kingdom of Judah all free communication with the north. וגו תּת לבלתּי, “that they might not give one going out or one coming in to Asa;” i.e., to cut off from the others all connection with Asa, and at the same time to cut off from those with Asa all connection with this side. The main road from Jerusalem to the north passed by Ramah, so that by shutting up this road the line of communication of the kingdom of Judah was of necessity greatly disturbed. Moreover, the fortification of Ramah by Baasha presupposes the reconquest of the cities which Abijam had taken from the kingdom of Israel (2Ch 13:19), and which, according to 2Ch 13:19, were still in the possession of Asa.

1Ki 15:18-19

In order to avert the danger with which his kingdom was threatened, Asa endeavoured to induce the Syrian king, Benhadad of Damascus, to break the treaty which he had concluded with Baasha and to become his ally, by sending him such treasures as were left in the temple and palace.Asa had sought help from the Lord and obtained it, when the powerful army of the Cushites invaded the land; but when an invasion of the Israelites took place, he sought help from the Syrians. This alteration in his conduct may probably be explained in part from the fact, that notwithstanding the victory, his army had been considerably weakened by the battle which he fought with the Cushites (2Ch 14:9), although this by no means justified his want of confidence in the power of the Lord, and still less his harsh and unjust treatment of the prophet Hanani, whom he caused to be put in the house of the stocks on account of his condemnation of the confidence which he placed in the Syrians instead of Jehovah (2Ch 16:7-10). הגּותרים may be explained from the face that the temple and palace treasures had been plundered by Shishak in the reign of Rehoboam (1Ki 14:26); and therefore what Asa had replaced in the temple treasury (1Ki 15:15), and had collected together for his palace, was only a remnant in comparison with the former state of these treasures. The name בּן־הדד, i.e., son of Hadad, the sun-god (according to Macrobius, i. 23; cf., Movers, Phöniz. i. p. 196), was borne by three kings of Damascus: the one here named, his son in the time of Ahab (1Ki 20:1, 1Ki 20:34), and the son of Hazael (2Ki 13:24). The first was a son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezyon. According to 1Ki 15:19, his father Tabrimmon (good is Rimmon; see at 2Ki 5:18) had also been king, and was the contemporary of Abijam. But that his grandfather Hezyon was also king, and the same person as the Rezon mentioned in 1Ki 11:23, cannot be shown to be even probable, since there is no ground for the assumption that Hezyon also bore the name Rezon, and is called by the latter name here and by the former in 1Ki 11:23.

1Ki 15:20

Benhadad consented to Asa’s request, and directed his captains to advance into the kingdom of Israel: they took several cities in the north of the land, whereby Baasha was compelled to give up fortifying Ramah and withdraw to Thirza. Ijon (עיּון) is to be sought for in all probability in TellDibbin, on the eastern border of Merj Ayun; and in Ajun, although Ajun is written with Aleph, the name Ijon is probably preserved, since the situation of this Tell seems thoroughly adapted for a fortress on the northern border of Israel (vid., Robinson, Bibl. Res. p. 375, and Van de Velde, Mem. p. 322). Dan is the present Tell el Kadi; see at Jos 19:47. Abel-Beth-Maachah, the present Abil el Kamh, to the north-west of Lake Huleh (see at 2Sa 20:14). “All Chinneroth” is the district of Chinnereth, the tract of land on the western shore of the Lake of Gennesareth (see at Jos 19:35). כּל־ארץ נ על, together with all the land of Naphtali (for this meaning of על fo gninaem  compare the Comm. on Gen 32:12). The cities named were the principal fortresses of the land of Naphtali, with which the whole of the country round was also smitten, i.e., laid waste.

1Ki 15:21 ויּשׁב, and remained at Thirza, his place of residence (see at 1Ki 14:17).

1Ki 15:22

Asa thereupon summoned all Judah נקי אין, nemine immuni, i.e., excepto, no one being free (cf., Ewald, §286, a.), and had the stones and the wood carried away from Ramah, and Geba and Mizpah in Benjamin built, i.e., fortified, with them. Geba must not be confounded with Gibeah of Benjamin or Saul, but is the present Jeba, three-quarters of an hour to the north-east of Ramah (see at Jos 18:24). Mizpah, the present Nebi Samwil, about three-quarters of a geographical mile to the south-west of Ramah (see at Jos 18:26).

1Ki 15:23-24

Of the other acts of Asa, the building of cities refers to the building of fortifications mentioned in 2Ch 14:5-6. The disease in his feet in the time of his old age commenced, according to 2Ch 16:12, in the thirty-ninth year of his reign; and he sought help from the physicians, but not from the Lord; from which we may see, that the longer he lived the more he turned his heart away from the Lord (compare 2Ch 16:10).

1Ki 15:25

The Reign of Nadab lasted not quite two years, as he ascended the throne in the second year of Asa, and was slain in his third year.

1Ki 15:26-31

He walked in the ways of his father (Jeroboam) and in his sin, i.e., in the calf-worship introduced by Jeroboam (1Ki 12:28). When Nadab in the second year of his reign besieged Gibbethon, which the Philistines and occupied, Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house, I the family or tribe, of Issachar, conspired against him and slew him, and after he became king exterminated the whole house of Jeroboam, without leaving a single soul, whereby the prediction of the prophet Ahijah (1Ki 14:10.) was fulfilled. Gibbethon, which was allotted to the Danites (Jos 19:44), has not yet been discovered. It probably stood close to the Philistian border, and was taken by the Philistines, from whom the Israelites attempted to wrest it by siege under both Nadab and Baasha (1Ki 16:16), though apparently without success. לא השׁאיר כּל־נשׁמה as in Jos 11:14 (see the Comm. on Deu 20:16).

1Ki 15:32 1Ki 15:32 is simply a repetition of 1Ki 15:16; and the remark concerning Baasha’s attitude towards Asa of Judah immediately after his entrance upon the government precedes the account of his reign, for the purpose of indicating at the very outset, that the overthrow of the dynasty of Jeroboam and the rise of a new dynasty did not alter the hostile relation between the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah.

1Ki 15:33-34

The Reign of Baasha is described very briefly according to its duration (two years) and its spirit, namely, the attitude of Baasha towards the Lord (1Ki 15:34); there then follow in 1Ki 16:1-4 the words of the prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani (2Ch 16:7), concerning the extermination of the family of Baasha; and lastly, in 1Ki 16:5-7, his death is related with the standing allusion to the annals of the kings. The words of Jehu concerning Baasha (1Ki 16:1-4) coincide exactly mutatis mutandis with the words of Ahijah concerning Jeroboam.“There was something very strange in the perversity and stolidity of the kings of Israel, that when they saw that the families of preceding kings were evidently overthrown by the command of God on account of the worship of the calves, and they themselves had overturned them, they nevertheless worshipped the same calves, and placed them before the people for them to worship, that they might not return to the temple and to Asa, king of Jerusalem; though prophets denounced it and threatened their destruction. Truly the devil and the ambition of reigning blinded them and deprived them of their senses. Hence it came to pass, through the just judgment of God, that they all were executioners of one another in turn: Baasha was the executioner of the sons of Jeroboam; Zambri was the executioner of the sons of Baasha; and the executioner of Zambri was Omri.” -  C. a Lapide.

The expression “exalted thee out of the dust,” instead of “from among the people” (1Ki 14:7), leads to the conjecture that Baasha had risen to be king from a very low position. גּבוּרתו (his might) in 1Ki 16:5 refers, as in the case of Asa (1Ki 15:23), less to brave warlike deeds, than generally to the manifestation of strength and energy in his government.

Abijam's Reign. (b. c. 958.)

1 Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah. 2 Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. 3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father. 4 Nevertheless for David's sake did the Lord his God give 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 the eyes of the Lord , and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. 7 Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 8 And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead.

We have here a short account of the short reign of Abijam the son of Rehoboam king of Judah. He makes a better figure, 2 Chron. xiii., where we have an account of his war with Jeroboam, the speech which he made before the armies engaged, and the wonderful victory he obtained by the help of God. There he is called Abijah—My father is the Lord, because no wickedness is there laid to his charge. But here, where we are told of his faults, Jah, the name of God, is, in disgrace to him, taken away from his name, and he is called Abijam. See Jer. xxii. 24.

I. Few particulars are related concerning him. 1. Here began his reign in the beginning of Jeroboam's eighteenth year; for Rehoboam reigned but seventeen, ch. xiv. 21. Jeroboam indeed survived Rehoboam, but Rehoboam's Abijah lived to succeed him and to be a terror to Jeroboam, while Jeroboam's Abijah (whom we read of ch. xiv. 1) died before him. 2. He reigned scarcely three years, for he died before the end of Jeroboam's twentieth year, v. 9. Being made proud and secure by his great victory over Jeroboam (2 Chron. xiii. 21), God cut him off, to make way for his son Asa, who would be a better man. 3. His mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom, that is, Absalom, David's son, as I am the rather inclined to think because two other of Rehoboam's wives were his near relations (2 Chron. xi. 18), one the daughter of Jerimoth, David's son, and another the daughter of Eliab, David's brother. He took warning by his father not to marry strangers; yet thought it below him to marry his subjects, except they were of the royal family. 4. He carried on his father's wars with Jeroboam. As there was continual war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, not set battles (these were forbidden, ch. xii. 24), but frequent encounters, especially upon the borders, one making incursions and reprisals on the other, so there was between Abijam and Jeroboam (v. 7), till Jeroboam, with a great army, invaded him, and then Abijam, not being forbidden to act in his own defence, routed him, and weakened him, so that he compelled him to be quiet during the rest of his reign, 2 Chron. xiii. 20.

II. But, in general, we are told, 1. That he was not like David, had no hearty affection for the ordinances of God, though, to serve his purpose against Jeroboam, he pleaded his possession of the temple and priesthood, as that upon which he valued himself, 2 Chron. xiii. 10-12. Many boast of their profession of godliness who are strangers to the power of it, and plead the truth of their religion who yet are not true to it. His heart was not perfect with the Lord his God. He seemed to have zeal, but he wanted sincerity; he began pretty well, but he fell off, and walked in all the sins of his father, followed his bad example, though he had seen the bad consequences of it. He that was all his days in war ought to have been so wise as to make and keep his peace with God, and not to make him his enemy, especially having found him so good a friend in his war with Jeroboam, 2 Chron. xiii. 18. Let favour be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness, Isa. xxvi. 10. 2. That yet it was for David's sake that he was advanced, and continued upon the throne; it was for his sake (v. 4, 5) that God thus set up his son after him; not for his own sake, nor for the sake of his father, in whose steps he trod, but for the sake of David, whose example he would not follow. Note, It aggravates the sin of a degenerate seed that they fare the better for the piety of their ancestors and owe their blessings to it, and yet will not imitate it. They stand upon that ground, and yet despise it, and trample upon it, and unreasonably ridicule and oppose that which they enjoy the benefit of. The kingdom of Judah was supported, (1.) That David might have a lamp, pursuant to the divine ordination of a lamp for his anointed, Ps. cxxxii. 17. (2.) That Jerusalem might be established, not only that the honours put upon it in David's and Solomon's time might be preserved to it, but that it might be reserved to the honours designed for it in after-times. The character here given of David is very great—that he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord; but the exception is very remarkable—save only in the matter of Uriah, including both his murder and the debauching of his wife. That was a bad matter; it was a remaining blot upon his name, a bar in his escutcheon, and the reproach of it was not wiped away, though the guilt was. David was guilty of other faults, but they were nothing in comparison of that; yet even that being repented of, though it be mentioned for warning to others, did not prevail to throw him out of the covenant, nor to cut off the entail of the promise upon his seed.

Asa's Reign. (b. c. 914.)

9 And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah. 10 And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. 11 And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord , as did David his father. 12 And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 13 And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron. 14 But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days. 15 And he brought in the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which himself had dedicated, into the house of the Lord , silver, and gold, and vessels. 16 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 17 And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 18 Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord , and the treasures of the king's house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants: and king Asa sent them to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, 19 There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. 20 So Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. 21 And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building of Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah. 22 Then king Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted: and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah. 23 The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. 24 And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.

We have here a short account of the reign of Asa; we shall find a more copious history of it 2 Chron. xiv., xv., and xvi. Here is,

I. The length of it: He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem, v. 10. In the account we have of the kings of Judah we find the number of the good kings and the bad ones nearly equal; but then we may observe, to our comfort, that the reign of the good kings was generally long, but that of the bad kings short, the consideration of which will make the state of God's church not altogether so bad within that period as it appears at first sight. Length of days is in Wisdom's right hand. Honour thy father, much more thy heavenly Father, that thy days may be long.

II. The general good character of it (v. 11): Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and that is right indeed which is so in God's eyes; those are approved whom he commends. He did as did David his father, kept close to God, and to his instituted worship, was hearty and zealous for that, which gave him this honourable character, that he was like David, though he was not a prophet, or psalmist, as David was. If we come up to the graces of those that have gone before us it will be our praise with God, though we come short of their gifts. Asa was like David, though he was neither such a conqueror nor such an author; for his heart was perfect with the Lord all his days (v. 14), that is, he was both cordial and constant in his religion. What he did for God he was sincere in, steady and uniform, and did it from a good principle, with a single eye to the glory of God.

III. The particular instances of Asa's piety. His times were times of reformation. For,

1. He removed that which was evil. There reformation begins; and a great deal of work of that kind his hand found to do. For, though it was but twenty years after the death of Solomon that he began to reign, yet very gross corruption had spread far and taken deep root. Immorality he first struck at: He took away the sodomites out of the land, suppressed the brothels; for how can either prince or people prosper while those cages of unclean and filthy birds, more dangerous than pest-houses, are suffered to remain? Then he proceeded against idolatry: He removed all the idols, even those that his father had made, v. 12. His father having made them, he was the more concerned to remove them, that he might cut off the entail of the curse, and prevent the visiting of that iniquity upon him and his. Nay (which redounds much to his honour, and shows his heart was perfect with God), when he found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence, v. 13. When it appeared that Maachah his mother, or rather his grandmother (but called his mother because she had the educating of him in his childhood), had an idol in a grove, though she was his mother, his grandmother,—though, it is likely, she had a particular fondness for it,—though, being old, she could not live long to patronise it,—though she kept it for her own use only, yet he would by no means connive at her idolatry. Reformation must begin at home. Bad practices will never be suppressed in the country while they are supported in the court. Asa, in every thing else, will honour and respect his mother; he loves her well, but he loves God better, and (like the Levite, Deut. xxxiii. 9) readily forgets the relation when it comes in competition with his duty. If she be an idolater, (1.) Her idol shall be destroyed, publicly exposed to contempt, defaced, and burnt to ashes by the brook Kidron, on which, it is probable, he strewed the ashes, in imitation of Moses (Exod. xxxii. 20) and in token of his detestation of idolatry and his indignation at it wherever he found it. Let no remains of a court-idol appear. (2.) She shall be deposed, He removed her from being queen, or from the queen, that is, from conversing with his wife; he banished her from the court, and confined her to an obscure and private life. Those that have power are happy when thus they have hearts to use it well.

2. He re-established that which was good (v. 15): He brought into the house of God the dedicated things which he himself had vowed out of the spoils of the Ethiopians he had conquered, and which his father had vowed, but lived not to bring in pursuant to his vow. We must not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well, not only cast away the idols of our iniquity, but dedicate ourselves and our all to God's honour and glory. When those who, in their infancy, were by baptism devoted to God, make it their own act and deed to join themselves to him and vigorously employ themselves in his service, this is bringing in the dedicated things which they and their fathers have dedicated: it is necessary justice—rendering to God the things that are his.

VI. The policy of his reign. He built cities himself, to encourage the increase of his people (v. 23) and to invite others to him by the conveniences of habitation; and he was very zealous to hinder Baasha from building Ramah, because he designed it for the cutting off of communication between his people and Jerusalem and to hinder those who in obedience to God would come to worship there. An enemy must by no means be suffered to fortify a frontier town.

V. The faults of his reign. In both the things for which he was praised he was found defective. The fairest characters are not without some but or other in them. 1. Did he take away the idols? That was well; but the high places were not removed (v. 14); therein his reformation fell short. He removed all images which were rivals with the true God or false representations of him; but the altars which were set up in high places, and to which those sacrifices were brought which should have been offered on the altar in the temple, those he suffered to stand, thinking there was no great harm in them, they having been used by good men before the temple was built, and being loth to disoblige the people, who had a kindness to them and were wedded to them both by custom and convenience; whereas in Judah and Benjamin, the only tribes under Asa's government which lay so near Jerusalem and the altars there, there was less pretence for them than in those tribes which lay more remote. They were against the law, which obliged them to worship at one place, Deut. xii. 11. They lessened men's esteem of the temple and the altars there, and were an open gap for idolatry to enter in at, while the people were so much addicted to it. It was not well that Asa, when his hand was in, did not remove these. Nevertheless his heart was perfect with the Lord. This affords us a comfortable note, That those may be found honest and upright with God, and be accepted of him, who yet, in some instances, come short of doing the good they might and should do. The perfection which is made the indispensable condition of the new covenant is not to be understood of sinlessness (then we were all undone), but sincerity. 2. Did he bring in the dedicated things? That was well; but he afterwards alienated the dedicated things, when he took the gold and silver out of the house of God and sent them as a bribe to Benhadad, to hire him to break his league with Baasha, and, by making an inroad upon his country, to give him a diversion from the building of Ramah, v. 18, 19. Here he sinned, (1.) In tempting Benhadad to break his league, and so to violate the public faith. If he did wrong in doing it, as certainly he did, Asa did wrong in persuading him to do it. (2.) In that he could not trust God, who had done so much for him, to free him out of this strait, without using such indirect means to help himself. (3.) In taking the gold out of the treasury of the temple, which was not to be made use of but on extraordinary occasions. The project succeeded. Benhadad made a descent upon the land of Israel, which obliged Baasha to retire with his whole force from Ramah (v. 20, 21), which gave Asa a fair opportunity to demolish his works there, and the timber and stones served him for the building of some cities of his own, v. 22. But, though the design prospered, we find it was displeasing to God; and though Asa valued himself upon the policy of it, and promised himself that it would effectually secure his peace, he was told by the prophet that he had done foolishly, and that thenceforth he should have wars; see 2 Chron. xvi. 7-9.

VI. The troubles of his reign. For the most part he prospered; but, 1. Baasha king of Israel was a very troublesome neighbour to him. He reigned twenty-four years, and all his days had war, more or less, with Asa, v. 16. This was the effect of the division of the kingdoms, that they were continually vexing one another, and so weakened one another, which made them both an easier prey to the common enemy. 2. In his old age he was himself afflicted with the gout: He was diseased in his feet, which made him less fit for business and peevish towards those about him.

VII. The conclusion of his reign. The acts of it were more largely recorded in the common history (to which reference is here had, v. 23) than in this sacred one. He reigned long, but finished at last with honour, and left his throne to a successor no way inferior to him.

The Reign of Nadab and Baasha. (b. c. 954.)

25 And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two years. 26 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord , and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. 27 And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon. 28 Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead. 29 And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the Lord , which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite: 30 Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger. 31 Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 32 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, twenty and four years. 34 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord , and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.

We are now to take a view of the miserable state of Israel, while the kingdom of Judah was happy under Asa's good government. It was threatened that they should be as a reed shaken in the water (ch. xiv. 15), and so they were, when, during the single reign of Asa, the government of their kingdom was in six or seven different hands, as we find in this and the following chapter. Jeroboam was upon the throne in the beginning of his reign and Ahab at the end of it, and between them were Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Tibni, and Omri, undermining and destroying one another. This they got by deserting the house both of God and of David. Here we have, 1. The ruin and extirpation of the family of Jeroboam, according to the word of the Lord by Ahijah. His son Nadab succeeded him. If the death of his brother Abijah had had a due influence upon him to make him religious, and the honour done him at his death had engaged him to follow his good example, his reign might have been long and glorious; but he walked in the way of his father (v. 26), kept up the worship of his calves, and forbade his subjects to go up to Jerusalem to worship, sinned and made Israel to sin, and therefore God brought ruin upon him quickly, in the second year of his reign. He was besieging Gibbethon, a city which the Philistines had taken from the Danites, and was endeavouring to re-take it; and there, in the midst of his army, did Baasha, with others, conspire against him and kill him, (v. 27), and so little interest had he in the affections of his people that his army did not only not avenge his death, but chose his murderer for his successor. Whether Baasha did it upon a personal pique against Nadab, or to be avenged on the house of Jeroboam for some affront received from them, or whether under pretence of freeing his country from the tyranny of a bad prince, or whether merely from a principle of ambition, to make way for himself to the throne, does not appear; but he slew him and reigned in his stead, v. 28. And the first thing he did when he came to the crown was to cut off all the house of Jeroboam, that he might the better secure himself and his own usurped government. He thought it not enough to imprison or banish them, but he destroyed them, left not only no males (as was foretold, ch. xiv. 10), but none that breathed. Herein he was barbarous, but God was righteous. Jeroboam's sin was punished (v. 30); for those that provoke God do it to their own confusion; see Jer. vii. 19. Ahijah's prophecy was accomplished (v. 29); for no word of God shall fall to the ground. Divine threatenings are not bugbears. 2. The elevation of Baasha. He shall be tried awhile, as Jeroboam was. Twenty-four years he reigned (v. 33), but showed that it was not from any dislike to Jeroboam's sin that he destroyed his family, but from malice and ambition; for, when he had rooted out the sinner, he himself clave to the sin, and walked in the way of Jeroboam (v. 34), though he had seen the end of that way; so strangely was his heart hardened with the deceitfulness of sin.