Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

For a link to 2 Chronicles 13, click HERE.

And Abijah rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. Asa his son succeeded him as king, and in his days the country was at peace for ten years.
Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to obey his laws and commands. He removed the high places and incense altars in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him. He built up the fortified cities of Judah, since the land was at peace. No one was at war with him during those years, for the Lord gave him rest.
“Let us build up these towns,” he said to Judah, “and put walls around them, with towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God; we sought him and he has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.
Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah, equipped with large shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin, armed with small shields and with bows. All these were brave fighting men.
Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with an army of thousands upon thousands and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. Asa went out to meet him, and they took up battle positions in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.
Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.”
The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the Lord and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder. They destroyed all the villages around Gerar, for the terror of the Lord had fallen on them. They looted all these villages, since there was much plunder there. They also attacked the camps of the herders and carried off droves of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

• 2 Chronicles 14:1-15

The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”
When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple.
Then he assembled all Judah and Benjamin and the people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who had settled among them, for large numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
They assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. At that time they sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep and goats from the plunder they had brought back. They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul. All who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. They took an oath to the Lord with loud acclamation, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side.
King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down, broke it up and burned it in the Kidron Valley. Although he did not remove the high places from Israel, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. He brought into the temple of God the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.
There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

• 2 Chronicles 15:1-19

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.
Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. “Let there be a treaty between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.”
Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim and all the store cities of Naphtali. When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using. With them he built up Geba and Mizpah.
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.
The events of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his ancestors. They buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier covered with spices and various blended perfumes, and they made a huge fire in his honor.

• 2 Chronicles 16:1-14

 Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

2 Chronicles 13:5 ‘covenant of salt’: “Salt is associated elsewhere with the Mosaic covenant sacrifices (Lev. 2:13), the priestly covenant (Num. 18: 19), and the New Covenant symbolic sacrifices in the millennial kingdom (Ezek. 43:24). The preservative quality of salt represents the fidelity or loyalty intended in keeping the covenant. Here, it would refer to God’s irrevocable pledge and intended loyalty in fulfilling the Davidic covenant and God’s desire for the loyalty of David’s lineage to Him if the people are to enjoy the blessings of the covenant.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 13:8 ‘kingdom of the Lord’: “Abijah reminds all that the Davidic covenant is God’s expressed will concerning who would rule on His behalf in the earthly kingdom. Thus, Judah is God’s nation, since the king is in the line of David. gold calves. Cf. 11:15; 1 Kings 12:25-33. Israel was full of idols and false priests, having driven out all the Levitical priests and, with them, the true worship of God.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 13:15 ‘God struck Jeroboam and all Israel’: “At the time of certain defeat, with 400,000 troops behind and the same number in front, Judah was saved by divine intervention. What God did is unknown, but the army of Israel began to flee (v. 16), and the soldiers of Judah massacred 500,000 of them in an unimaginable blood bath (v. 17).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 13:19 ‘Bethel’: “A city located twelve miles north of Jerusalem. Although their exact locations are unknown, Jeshanah and Ephron are believed to be in the vicinity of Bethel.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics

2 Chronicles 13:20 ‘he died’: “Again God acted, in a manner not described, to end the life of this wicked ruler (c. 910 B.C.).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 14:1-2 ‘Asa’: “First Kings 15:11 says that Asa did as his forefather David had done—honoring God while building the kingdom (vv. 6-8). Times of peace were used for strengthening.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 14:9 ‘Mareshah’: “Located about eight miles southeast of Gath and twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem. Rehoboam had earlier reinforced this city (11:8).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 14:13-15 ‘spoil’: “It appears that this great horde was a nomadic people who moved with all their possessions and had set up their camp near Gerar. The spoils of Judah’s victory were immense.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 15:1 ‘Spirit of God’: “An act of the Holy Spirit, common in the OT, enabling servants of God to speak or act uniquely for Him. Azariah. This man was a prophet, mentioned only here, who met Asa as he returned from the victory and spoke to him before all his army.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 15:4 ‘prayer and obedience’: “Intensity of prayer is no criterion of its effectiveness. A man may throw himself on his face and sob out his troubles to the Lord and yet have no intention to obey the commandments of Christ. Strong emotion and tears may be no more than the outcropping of a vexed spirit, evidence of stubborn resistance to God’s known will. …
“No matter what I write here, thousands of pastors will continue to call their people to prayer in the forlorn hope that God will finally relent and send revival if only His people wear themselves out in intercession. To such people God must indeed appear to be a hard taskmaster, for the years pass and the young get old and the aged die and still no help comes. The prayer meeting room becomes a wailing wall and the lights burn long, and still the rains tarry.
“Has God forgotten to be gracious? Let any reader begin to obey and he will have the answer. ‘Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him’ (John 14:21).
“Isn’t that what we want after all?”

• A. W. Tozer, The Size of the Soul

2 Chronicles 15:8 ‘the prophecy of Oded’: “Verse 1 says ‘Azariah the son of Oded,’ but ‘Azariah the son of Oded,’ which corresponds with verse 1, is the preferred reading. vestibule. This refers to the area outside the Holy Place, where the altar of the burnt offering was located.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 15:9 ‘Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon’: “This indicates that not all the people in the ten tribes which constituted the apostate northern kingdom of Israel had abandoned God. Many migrated south into Judah, so that all tribes were represented in the mix of Jews in Judah.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 16:3 ‘my father … your father’: “A previously unmentioned treaty between Abijah (c. 913-911 B.C.) and Tabrimmon (c. 912-890 B.C.).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 16:7 ‘Hanani’: “God used this prophet to rebuke Asa (1) for his wicked appropriation of temple treasures devoted to God to purchase power, and (2) for his faithless dependence on a pagan king instead of the Lord, in contrast to before when opposed by Egypt (14:9-15). army of the king of Syria has escaped. Asa forfeited, by this sin, the opportunity of gaining victory not only over Israel, but also Syria. This could have been a greater victory than over the Ethiopians, which would have deprived Syria of any future successful attacks on Judah. Though God had delivered them when they were outnumbered (13:3ff.; 14:9ff.), the king showed his own spiritual decline, both in lack of trust and in his treatment of the prophet of God who spoke truth (v. 10).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 16:9 ‘Relying Solely on God’: “Asa is noticeable in the early part of his life for the fact that he set up the worship of God and carried it out with great diligence, though his mother was an idolater and his father, Abijah, was little better. He had enjoyed no training as a youth that could lead him aright; yet he was decided, even in the first days of his reign, for the Lord, his God, and acted in all things with an earnest desire to glorify Jehovah and to lead his people away from all idols to the worship of the true God. However, a life may begin well and yet be clouded before its close. In the middle of his reign, Asa was put to the test by a serious trial. He was attacked by the Ethiopians, and they came against him in mighty swarms—an army of a million footmen and three hundred thousand chariots. It appeared as if the whole land would be eaten up. But Asa believed in God, and, therefore, when he had mustered his little band, he committed the battle to the Lord his God. He threw his entire burden on God in prayer and then marched to the battle with holy confidence, and God gave him the victory. We would not have thought a person who could perform that grand action would become, a little after, full of unbelief. But the greatest faith of yesterday will not give us confidence for today unless the fresh springs that are in God will overflow again. Asa even set to work in obedience to a prophetic warning to purge his country by a thorough reformation. He destroyed even his own mother’s idol. But when later faced with a smaller trouble, Asa thought he could manage it well himself by the help of an arm of flesh. Believers frequently behave worse in little trials than in great ones. So this good man, by his lack of faith, fell into many sins. Asa faithlessly summoned Benhadad, the king of Syria, who made quick work of Israel, Asa’s enemy. God was pleased, for wise reasons, to allow the policy of his erring servant Asa temporarily to prosper. And when rebuked by God’s prophet, Asa refused to repent. Thus Asa’s life after that period was a life of war and pain; his evening was clouded, and his sun set in tempest. Asa does not appear to have had any peace until at last he fell asleep; and then, I trust, his dying bed was as sweetly perfumed with penitence and pardon as his funeral couch was odoriferous with fragrant spices. To rest in the Lord—that is our business. To rely only on him—that is our sole concern.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

2 Chronicles 16:12 ‘In a Special Way, Disease Belongs to God’: ”In the Bible we find a strange statement: ‘Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians” (2 Chr. 16:12). The passage refers to a pious man whom the Bible otherwise gives high praise for his zeal for God. Yet with all his piety this man was thinking in a very modern way, because he made a strict distinction between matters of religion, in which one turned to God, and earthly matters, in which one sought help in earthly places. Diseases, especially bodily diseases, are earthly matters with earthly causes and earthly remedies. Diseases therefore are the doctor’s business, not God’s. That is thought out very reasonably and perhaps even very religiously. But it is wrong. Certainly diseases have their earthly causes and earthly remedies, but this falls far short of telling us everything and does not give the most crucial information about the nature of illness. Certainly someone who is sick should go to the doctor and seek help there. But with this alone, the most important thing has not been done or even recognized. Behind the earthly causes and remedies of disease stand supernatural causes and supernatural remedies. As long as we pass them by, we miss the truth about our own illness and do not meet it face-to-face. Its curse and its blessing remain unknown.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You, devotional (Nov. 4) compiled from several of his writings

2 Chronicles 16:14 ‘great burning’: “Due to the longevity of his reign and his notable accomplishments, Asa was honored by the people in their memorial of his death. Cremation was rarely used by the Hebrews (cf. 21:19; 1 Sam. 31:13; Amos 6:10). Later, Jehoram was not honored by fire (21:19) because of his shameful reign.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

My Thoughts

Adijah reigned for three years.  He went to war against Jeroboam.  He told the Israelites to return under the reign on the line of David.  The Israelites had appointed priests to worship golden calves.  The true Levitical line of priests had been deposed, and those priests went to Judah.  Judah worshipped the true God in the temple.

While Adijah said all this, Jeroboam secretly surrounded Adijah, but because Adijah placed his trust in the Lord, 500,000 Israelites were killed, cities around Bethel were captured, and Jeroboam fled.  Jeroboam soon died.

Adijah died and was replaced as king by Asa.  Asa reigned in peace for ten years.  He did not remove the high places, but he removed the altars, crushed the stones, and tore down the Asherah poles.  He built up the fortified cities saying that this would be a blessed work because they trusted God.

Zerah of Cush attacked with thousands of thousands of soldiers.  Asa and his advisors prayed to God for strength, and they defeated the much more powerful army and sent Zerah away.  They chased the army beyond Gerar.  And they plundered the cities in that area.

Asa deposed his grandmother Maakah as queen mother.  She had fashioned a detestable idol.  He destroyed the idol also.

But then in his 36^th year of his reign, Baasha of Israel went to war against him.  At this point, Asa sent gold and silver to Ben-Hadad of Aram and caused him to break the treaty with Baasha.  Ben-Hadad attacked Israel and took several cities.

God sent the prophet Hanani to Asa to tell him that he had done wrongly.  God had defeated Zerah, the Cushite.  Baasha was a lesser threat, but it was God’s power that had made Asa strong.  Asa became angry.  He imprisoned Hanani.  More importantly, he did not repent.  Hanani had told him that he would no longer see peace as long as he reigned for not seeking God.  He had a disease of the feet.  He did not seek God.  He sought doctors instead.

I heard a discussion amongst pastors on a television show recently.  They said that we could not lose our salvation once God enters our heart, but fellowship with God, that closeness we can have with God can be lost by sin entering into our lives and not trusting God in everything.  I have written about it many times that one of my biggest faults is to see an easy task, know that I have the skill to complete it, and then charge ahead.  Asa did this, but God said that the biggest enemy was Ben-Hadad, not Baasha.  Because Asa took the wrong course and went ahead without praying first, he would be in a state of war for the rest of his reign.

You wonder how many times that we have thought the task to be easy and we charged ahead…  How many of those times did God have something greater for us, if we had only gone to Him for even the little things.

Without that fellowship, that closeness with God, Asa had a foot disease, but sought doctors instead of God.  Seeking doctors is not wrong, but Asa had lost that close relationship with God and his strength was gone as a result.  Yet, Asa did not repent.

This is a great lesson for each of us.  The tasks may not be in the range of going to war when drastically outnumbered, but those simple prayers about the simple things of life are meaningful in that they strengthen our fellowship and personal relationship we have with God.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

2 Chronicles 13:1-14:1 Abijah King of Judah 1. Many Bible stories tell that God routed enemies when his people were outnumbered. What do these stories say about God‘s strategy vs. human strategy? About risk taking?
“2. What gods or ‘not gods’ (v.9) compete for people‘s adoration today? Why do these ‘not gods’ have any appeal? What ‘not gods’ tend to compete for your adoration?
2 Chronicles 14:2-15 Asa King of Judah 1. If you were to go on a rampage against modern ‘Asherah poles,’ what are your top two or three targets? Why?
“2. Asa relied on the Lord to fight this battle. What battle are you fighting now? How can you rely on the Lord to fight it?
2 Chronicles 15: 1. Has a sermon ever changed your life or behavior? Tell your group about one that did.
“2. How is Asa’s response to the sermon a model for people today? ln what ways can you ‘take courage’ after a sermon?
“3. What would it mean for God to be ‘found’ by your nation? By your church? By you?
“4. Do you feel God is in hiding’? If so, where is he?
2 Chronicles 16: 1. Recall a time when your response to a reprimand was anger. Was there something in it to take courage from instead?
“2. Why does God want you to rely on him? Share a time when you relied on the Lord.”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There are two sets of questions for 2 Chronicles 13-14 as indicated above.  There is one set of questions each for 2 Chronicles 15 and 16.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.