
Then, near the end of chapter 15 the account says of him, “Asa’s
heart was fully devoted all his days.”
Despite this final complimentary assessment of his life, I
have always thought that Asa lived one chapter too long. It would have been
good if his story would have ended with the above quote in chapter 15, because
the events of chapter 16 actually belie those words about Asa. I suppose that
you could call chapter 16 “The sins of an old man.”
The Quiet Years
I will get to that final chapter, but first, in between
those two affirming statements about the king in chapters 14 and 15, the
account tells of the reforms that Asa carried out during his early years:
He removed the
foreign altars and high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and chopped down
the Asherah poles. He commanded the people of Judah to seek the LORD, the God
of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandments. He also removed
the high places and incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and under him
the kingdom was at peace. (2
Chronicles 14:3-5 BSB).
Since the kingdom was at peace, Asa used the opportunity of
these quiet years to build up the defenses of the country.
“Let us build cities and surround them with walls and towers
with doors and bars” Asa told the people. ”The land is still ours because we
have sought the LORD our God. We have sought Him and He has given us rest on
every side” (2 Chronicles 14:7
BSB).
They built, and the country prospered. The economy was as
strong as it had ever been since the days of Solomon. Not only did Asa build up
the defensive infrastructure; he also built up the military. He had a standing
army of 580,000 troops, all of them “mighty men of valor.”
The Threat of War
But his was not the strongest army in the region. Zerah the
Ethiopian later came against Judah from the south with an army of 1,000,000
men, including 300 chariots. They advanced well into Judean territory and
threatened to continue their march northward.
It was a formidable invasion force, but we saw that Asa also
had a strong army, be it smaller in number. And he possessed the advantage of
well defended and fortified cities. These were strengths on which he might
rely. Nevertheless, in the face of this danger, the king did not look to these.
He turned instead to the Lord.
“O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty
and the weak” Asa prayed. “Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in
your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not
man prevail against you.” (2
Chronicles 14:11 ESV).
Because of this request and their reliance upon God, on that
day he gave to Asa and the Judeans an overwhelming victory over the Ethiopians.
But the victory seems not to have come by military
strength, at least by this alone. It is actually uncertain how much of a military
victory for the army of Asa that it was, for the text tells us that “the
Ethiopians were shattered before the LORD and His army.”
The First Prophet
As Asa was returning from the battle, he was met by a prophet
named Azariah. I am going to quote the entire statement of the prophet, because
his words contain some very important advice, not only for Asa, but for any
leader of a nation.
Azariah said to the king:
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 many years
Israel has been without the true God, without a priest to instruct them, 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 there
was no safety for travelers, because the residents of the lands had many
conflicts. Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God afflicted
them with all kinds of adversity.
But as for you, be
strong; do not be discouraged, for your work will be rewarded. (2 Chronicles 15:2-7 BSB).
These were encouraging words for Asa, and encouraging words
for any who seek the Lord. Asa was indeed heartened. After the conflict with
the Ethiopians, the king continued his reforms and led the people to enter into
a covenant to seek the Lord. As a result of their dedication, God “gave them
rest on every side.”
Chapter 15 ends this way: “And there was no war until the
thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.”
An Alliance With the World
But then at the beginning of chapter 16, we read these
words: “In the thirty-sixth year of
Asa’s reign, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah.”
Baasha had made some moves to expand his portion of the divided kingdom into Judean territory. He then closed the border that he had expanded into Judean territory. The king of Israel prevented anyone from crossing his claimed border from either direction. The border was completely sealed.
Baasha had made some moves to expand his portion of the divided kingdom into Judean territory. He then closed the border that he had expanded into Judean territory. The king of Israel prevented anyone from crossing his claimed border from either direction. The border was completely sealed.
These actions were understandably unacceptable to Asa, but
by this time in his life, the Judean king had become a seasoned politician. He
knew how to forge alliances with other nations that could help him in these
types of situations. Asa turned to the king of Aram, in the area of present-day
Syria.
Asa took the silver and the gold from the treasuries of the
house of the Lord and from his own treasuries in the royal palace, and sent
this all to the king of Aram in Damascus. With this wealth Asa sent this
message:
“Let there be a treaty between me and you, between my father
and your father. See, I have sent you silver and gold. Now go and break your
treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”
The strategy worked. Baasha discontinued his aggressive
posture toward Judah, retreated back into his own territory, and the war was
averted. It seemed a good solution. Never mind that the king of Aram was
actually no friend of Asa and would have overtaken even Judah if he thought
that his nation would succeed. It may have been an inauspicious alliance, but it was
one that solved the present problems for Asa.
The Second Prophet
But Asa was soon visited by another prophet of God. This one
had the name of Hanani. This prophet did not have such encouraging words for
Asa as did the first prophet thirty-some years earlier. This time, it turns out
that Asa’s strategy was not one that pleased the Lord.
This prophet told the king, “Because you have 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.”
The prophet Hanani reminded Asa of the battle of many years
previous when the Ethiopians came up against Judah. “Was this not a vast army
with many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he
delivered them into your hand.”
Then the prophet spoke these words which were not only
providential for Asa’s ears, but also for our very own:
For the eyes of the
LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of
those whose heart is fully devoted to Him (2 Chronicles 16:7-9 BSB).
Hanani then concluded with this ominous warning: “You have
acted foolishly in this matter. Because of this, from now on you will be at
war.”
These words angered Asa. So enraged was he at the messenger
of God that he had the prophet put in prison. In fact, in this later stage of
his life, Asa’s entire character began to change as he began to oppress even his
own people.
Internal Warfare
Despite Hanani’s forewarnings of perpetual war for Asa, we
are not actually told of any further military confrontations that the king
faced in his remaining five years until he died. We are told only of this
conflict of internal oppression that he himself created with his own people.
Asa’a war was a domestic war.
It was also an internal war, as Asa soon began to confront a
battle for his own health. The king developed a disease in his feet, an ailment
which became severe. It was a disease which would eventually contribute to his
death. The text includes a statement about this foot disease which is very
telling of Asa’s spiritual condition at this stage of his life.
“Yet even in his illness he did not seek the Lord, but only
the physicians.”
He had forgotten his dependence on the Lord God.
Our Own Internal War
I would like to relate this statement about how Asa viewed
his own physical ailment to our own condition with COVID-19 in our day. You may
think that what I will say next is a jump or a stretch in relating this
statement in Second Chronicles to our own experience, but it is something that
I have thought about.
Asa failed to seek the Lord about healing, preferring
instead to rely only upon physicians. When I look at the list of names on
President Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force, I see the names of twenty-two (if I
counted correctly) very capable individuals—most of them doctors or others with
medical connections.
We have become accustomed to seeing Doctors Deborah Birx and
Anthony Fauci on the evening news telling us to wash our hands, wear face masks
and maintain a six-foot social distance.
I have no doubt that everyone on the task force is a good person with
good things to tell us. All have our best interests in mind and also the best
interest of the country.
But my question in relation to the story of Asa’s foot
disease is this: “Where is the prophet?” “Where is the man of God also on the
evening news who is telling us that we should be seeking the Lord?”
Too politically incorrect? Afraid that we will offend the
atheists? Worried that we will alienate potential voters? Probably all of these
questions have an affirmative answer, but they also demonstrate to what point
our nation has declined.
Lincoln’s Proclamations
During the Civil War, as President Lincoln was facing the
severe crisis in his own time, called for the nation to fast and to pray for
national peace and unity. His first proclamation was to set apart the last
Thursday in September, 1861. A portion of that proclamation read:
I do earnestly
recommend to all the people, and especially to all ministers and teachers of
religion of all denominations and to all heads of families, to observe and keep
that day according to their several creeds and modes of worship in all humility
and with all religious solemnity, to the end that the united prayer of the
nation may ascend to the Throne of Grace and bring down plentiful blessings
upon our country.
It was not Lincoln’s only proclamation for fasting and
praying. Even more pointed are his words in his second proclamation to prayer
for the 30th of March, 1863. This proclamation to me seem to be particularly
relevant to today’s situation.
Lincoln’s words:
We have been the
recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these
many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power
as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have
forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace
and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined,
in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by
some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with
unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of
redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
The words sound as if they might have been spoken by the
prophet Hanani of Second Chronicles.
There would be at least one more proclamation by Lincoln for
fasting and prayer. This one on the first Thursday of August in 1864. In part
this proclamation read:
Whereas when our
own beloved country, once, by the blessing of God, united, prosperous, and
happy, is now afflicted with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly fit for us
to recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation, and in sorrowful
remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals to
humble ourselves before Him and to pray for His mercy—to pray that we may be
spared further punishment, though most justly deserved.
Trump’s Proclamation
In our own day, President Trump also issued a national day
of prayer regarding our own contemporary type of civil war with the coronavirus
COVID-19. This proclamation was on just this past Thursday, May 7. You may have
missed it, since the network television outlets did not mention Trump’s
proclamation as they opened their newscasts with their usual “Breaking News.” But the proclamation was made.
In his declaration, President Trump referred to similar
proclamations in our nation’s history, not only by President Lincoln, but also
by Presidents Washington and Reagan. A portion of President Trump’s proclamation
is as follows:
“During the past
weeks and months, our heads have bowed at places outside of our typical houses
of worship, whispering in silent solitude for God to renew our spirit and carry
us through unforeseen and seemingly unbearable hardships.”
“Even though we
have been unable to gather together in fellowship with our church families, we
are still connected through prayer and the calming reassurance that God will
lead us through life’s many valleys…”
“I encourage all
Americans to observe this day, reflecting on the blessings our nation has
received and the importance of prayer, with appropriate programs, ceremonies,
and activities in their houses of worship, communities, and places of work,
schools, and homes consistent with the White House’s ‘Guidelines for Opening up
America Again.’”
These were good words spoken by our president, but there is
one element missing from them. It is an element which President Lincoln did not
fail to include in his proclamations. This is the call for repentance.
Again allow me to repeat some of the words of our sixteenth
president about our nation during his day. They are words that apply even
greater to our country in our own hours than when Lincoln spoke them a century and a half ago:
“Intoxicated with
unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of
redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us…It is
peculiarly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation,
and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as
individuals to humble ourselves before Him, and to pray for His mercy”
In our day we may speak of beautiful sentiments concerning
our dependence upon God, but even in this crisis of the coronavirus, by our
actions and priorities we are demonstrating that our actual belief is that
medical science is our savior.
Our Savior
“The vaccine…” a news commentator recently said on one of
our major news outlets, “the development of a vaccine is the only thing that
can give us a solution to this crisis.”
I disagree. I would rather adapt the words of King Asa as he
faced his first battle: “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between us as
your people and this unseen enemy. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you.
In your name we have come against this threat to our lives. O Lord, you are our
God; let not a virus prevail against you.”
It is not as if I am suggesting that we abandon medical
intervention. King Hezekiah of Judah, who came several generations after Asa, also
developed a life-threatening physical ailment in his life. He was also visited
by a prophet. This was the prophet Isaiah, who spoke the word of God in that
king’s day.
After seeing Hezekiah and hearing the word of the Lord,
Isaiah advised the people attending the king to prepare a poultice to apply to
the infected area (2 Kings 20:1-7). Hezekiah’s healing was the answer to his
prayer to God, but Isaiah also employed a healing salve for the infection.
So we must also use the tools given to us to combat this
newest plague which has infected the world, but we must do so knowing that it
is God who is sovereign, not medical science.
King Solomon reigned in Judah before Asa, and was actually
Asa’s great-grandfather. Solomon also spoke some words that are especially relevant
in our day. When he prayed at the dedication of the temple, he spoke these
words toward heaven:
When famine or
plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or
when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may
come, then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make... may You
forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know
his heart—for You alone know the hearts of all men—so that they may fear You all
the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers (1 Kings 8:37-40
BSB).
Our nation suffered another severe crisis on 9/11/2001. That
crisis was one that brought many in our country to their knees in prayer. Since
that day, the Old Testament verse of 2 Chronicles 17:14 has been so often
repeated that it has almost become a mantra for us in this country. It is not a
bad thing to have this as a refrain for our nation, but when will we actually
follow its advice?
If my people, who
are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and
turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive
their sin and will heal their land.
I think this even includes COVID-19
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.