1 KINGS

The Reigns of Abijam and Asa

1 Kings 15:1-16:28

INTRODUCTION

With this passage we continue the study of the divided kingdom with the kingdom of Judah in the south and the kingdom of Israel in the north. The histories of the 2 kingdoms can be summed up as constant wavering in Judah and outright rebellion against the Lord in Israel. For much of her history Judah will remain true to the Lord; however, as we shall see, from time to time Judah either lapsed into idolatry or rejected the Lord's leadership. Israel, on the other hand, flat out rejected the Lord from the moment Jeroboam became king.

Because of the different responses to the Lord, the 2 nations will experience different destinies. Judah will enjoy to a large degree some measure of security and prosperity; Israel, on the other hand, is going to dissolve into civil wars and eventual total annihilation. Israel's rejection of the house of David was more than just God's way of disciplining Judah for Solomon's sins; it was the outgrowth of Israel's rejection of the Lord's leadership and the Lord's choice of the Davidic house to rule over a united Israel. As a result, in this passage Baasha will overthrow Nadab the son of Jeroboam and put to death the entire household of Jeroboam, thus fulfilling Ahijah's prophecy regarding the Jeroboam dynasty. Because of Baasha's apostasy. Zimri will rise up against Baasha's son Elah. Zimri's rule will last only 7 days because he likewise will be overthrown by Omri. While Judah enjoys relative stability because of its allegiance to the house of David, Israel plunges into civil war, the punishment for the rejection of God's king.

THE REIGN OF ABIJAM (15:1-8; 2 Chron. 13:1-22)

After Rehoboam had reigned only 17 years, his son Abijam (or Abijam according to 2 Chron.) ascended the throne. (It is interesting that the author reminds us that Macaah the granddaughter of Absalom was the queen mother. She will unfortunately exert her influence upon the reign of her son and her grandson which will lead to disaster for Abijam.) Although 1 Kings dismisses Abijam quickly, 2 Chronicles provides us with an episode in his reign which reveals the duplicity of that reign.

Although 1 Kings informs us that Abijam followed the idolatrous ways of his father, Rehoboam, 2 Chronicles says that during his brief reign of only 3 years Abijam fought Jeroboam in the power of the Lord. Abijam the king of Judah confronted Jeroboam. Whereas Abijam's forces numbered only 400k., Jeroboam's forces stood at 800k., a 2:1 ratio. As they faced off each other for battle, Abijam declared that Jeroboam was in sin first because he had led Israel in rejecting the house of David as the true rulers of a united Israel, and second because he no longer was using the descendants of Aaron for priests and the Levites as ministers. Instead the priesthood in Israel according to Abijam had been so discounted that anybody with a young bull and 7 rams could become a priest in Israel. Judah, on the other hand, had remained true to the Lord not only by worshiping the Lord but also by using the ordained priests and temple servants from the family of Aaron and the tribe of Levi. Each day, he claimed, the bread of the presence was being placed on the tables in the temple and the great lampstands were being lit in Jerusalem.

While these arguments were going on, Jeroboam divided up his forces so that half were in front of Abijam while the other half snuck around to the rear of Judah's forces. Jeroboam now had Abijam surrounded in front and behind. To Abijam's credit he turned to the Lord and prayed for God's favor in battle. As a result of his prayer, Judah won a stunning victory that day against superior numbers, slaughtering over 500k. of the Israelites. The victory was so complete that Israel did not trouble Judah for the next 35 years. Although on the whole Abijam rejected the Lord by following idolatry, this one episode demonstrated his brief allegiance to the Lord. As seen in Abijam's reign Judah had a rollercoaster relationship with the Lord.

THE REIGN OF ASA (15:9-16:28; 2 Chron. 14:1-16:14)

After Abijam had reigned for only 3 years, his son Asa ascended the throne (during the 20th year of Jeroboam's reign). 1 Kings informs us that unlike his father, Asa followed in the spiritual footsteps of his father David who had walked perfectly with the Lord (with the notable exception of his affair with Uriah's wife). As during the reign of his father, Macaah who was Asa's grandmother continued on in the influential role of queen mother (in charge of the harem). Apparently Asa is quite young because he allows her to remain in this position until he has consolidated his power to the point where he can depose her.

The first ten years of Asa's reign are marked by unswerving loyalty to the Lord. He not only fortifies the cities against possible invaders, he also restores to a considerable degree the glory of the Temple, lavishing gold and silver upon it. If Asa had a fault, it was that he did not remove the high places as sites of worship. Although worship was being conducted in the Jerusalem temple, it was also being carried out on the high places in Judah.

After the first 10 years of his reign Asa faces his first crisis, invasion. Zerah, the leader of an Ethiopian army, descends upon Judah with an army numbering 1 million men. (It is most likely that this Ethiopian army was a subdivision of an even greater Egyptian army.) Asa to his credit turns to the Lord for help. He does not go to Israel or Assyria for support but instead relies completely upon the Lord. The result is that Asa and the army of Judah achieve a great victory that day. They soundly defeat the Ethiopians. Because of Asa's loyalty to the Lord, Judah experiences peace until the 35th year of his reign

During the 35th year of Asa's reign, Baasha the king of Israel feels quite confident about the prospects of attacking Judah. He descends south to the city of Ramah (which was in Asa's territory) and starts to fortify it. Ramah lay right on the road which connected Israel with Judah. By capturing and fortifying Ramah, Baasha hopes first to stop the flow of pilgrims from Israel to Jerusalem and second to control the trade routes. How does Asa respond to this new threat? By going to the Lord? No, instead he sets a dangerous precedent which will eventually lead to Judah's undoing--he turns to another foreign power to assist him. He turns to Benhadad the ruler of Aram whose capital city was Damascus. Baasha and Benhadad had earlier formed an alliance. In order to break that alliance and bring Benhadad into an alliance with himself, Asa takes the gold and precious metals from the Temple and sends them to Benhadad as a tribute. Benhadad complies, allies himself with Asa against Baasha, and attacks the northern cities of Israel (the cities just north of the Sea of Galilee). Surrounded on both sides by hostile forces, Baasha is forced to give up Ramah in addition to other southern villages/cities and to retreat to Tirzah his capital for protection. Asa's plan works brilliantly.

After Asa's military and strategic victory he receives a visit from Hanani, a seer. The seer rebukes him for going to Aram for help instead of reaching out to the Lord. Asa's response to the situation was totally incomprehensible in light of the fact that earlier the Lord had helped him defeat a far superior force upon the invasion of the Ethiopians. Since the Lord had not failed him when facing a superior force, why then had he refused to turn to the Lord when facing an inferior one? God is always on the lookout for people whose hearts are totally His so that He can demonstrate His power greatly through them (2 Chron. 16:9). To be sure, by going to Benhadad Asa got what he wanted--the defeat of Baasha, but he failed to get what God wanted--the destruction of Israel and the destruction of Aram. If Asa had turned to the Lord, God would have restored to him the full inheritance God had promised Abraham, the land from Egypt to the Euphrates River (2 Chron. 16:7). This was not the response from the Lord that Asa had been expecting. As a result, since he could not imprison the Lord, he chose to imprison His seer Hanani.

God though gives him one last chance. During the 39th year of Asa's reign, he is struck with a disease of the "feet." (Although the word may literally mean "feet," sometimes this is used as an euphemism for the male sex organs.) Now God had helped him in a major way upon the Ethiopian invasion and had sternly rebuked him when he did not turn to him during the Israelite campaign. How was Asa going to respond to this new situation? He has not learned his lesson. He turns instead exclusively to the doctors. Within 2 years of his being struck by this disease, Asa is dead.

Although the last 6 years of Asa's reign were failures, the first 35 years were marked by his faithfulness and loyalty to God. As a result, on the balance his reign is considered wildly successful. Only Hezekiah and Josiah among the later kings will eclipse him.

APPLICATIONS FROM THIS PASSAGE

It appears that Asa followed in the steps of his great great grandfather David in more ways than one. Like David, Asa had been faithful to God during the early and major parts of his reign; however, also like David, Asa failed when he was older. (This same pattern is seen in Solomon's life as well; apparently this was becoming a dangerous family trait.) Asa's actions seem so incomprehensible. Why is it that many times the period of youth is the time when people are fervent and faithful in their relationship to God and yet the period of old age is the time of failure? More than one Christian who was active as a younger adult became quite inactive when he became older.

I think that part of the reason for his failure is that after a period of time he minimized God's role in the war with Ethiopia and maximized his role as the commander-in-chief. Unjustified pride seems to be his downfall. When it was all said and done, he believed that he was more responsible for Judah's victory than God. As a result, whenever he got older, he relied upon himself and his own wisdom; therefore, he did the "wise" thing and turned to Aram for help. Such strategy would mean that Israel was now surrounded. It was a "brilliant" strategy which worked; however, it was not God's strategy.

There are many benefits to getting older--wisdom being the chief one. How wonderful it would be to have the mind of a 40-year-old in the body of a 16-year old. That 16-year old would then realize that the problems he was facing today were temporary, that the sun does come up tomorrow, and that many of the people he thinks it is so important to please are not really all that important. That is the positive side of age.

The negative side of getting older is that sometimes our wisdom is not all that wise. The only true wisdom is that which comes from God, and older people should know that. I was reading in Jeremiah (10:23) this morning that the right paths of a person are not "within" him; direction is only outside, a person, that is, from God. The older person must pray and discover God's wisdom as much as the younger person because sometimes what God communicated in the past is not what He is communicating in the present. Maybe God told a younger generation in years past to tear down a wrap-around balcony in order to beautify a sanctuary; He may not though be telling the present generation the same thing.

Unless you understand the fear of change the older generation feels, you do not understand the older generation. Everything around them is changing--their careers (gone), their health (declining), their homes (being downsized), their relations with their children (who have moved off to other parts of the country), their loved ones (all who are older have died), their friends (who are in the process of dying), and their church (which now uses choruses instead of the hymns they sang during the most wonderful time of their lives). Unless you understand this, you don't understand older people.

We miss out on the greater blessings of God because we refuse to listen to Him--even for good reasons. Older people need to realize though that life is change. It is so much characterized by change that one of the primary purposes of Buddhism (one of the world's major religions) is to address change. Older people need to realize though that life is change and that no matter how hard they may resist it, change is going to happen. The proper response to change is to accept it and adapt one's lifestyle to it. Older people (of which I am rapidly becoming one) need to let each emerging generations express worship and institutional make-up the way they think best or what suits them best. We need to remember that what was so wonderful in our younger years was not the specific hymn we sang or the committee we served on; it was our relationship with the Lord. The excitement of the Lord's presence is what made our younger years so compelling. That is what we must focus on and nothing else. When it is all said and done then, focusing on the Lord is what will give us fulfillment, not clinging to a specific style of worship or church organization. For our own sakes we need to cling to Him and not to the past in order to avoid change.

Unfortunately, older people are not the only ones who miss out on what God has for them because they did not pursue Him. Asa did achieve a great victory by entering into an alliance with Aram; however, he missed out on an even greater blessing by relying on Benhadad and not on the Lord. By allying himself with Aram, Asa got a few pitiful cities out of the deal, when instead he could have once more restored the united nation of Israel to the status of superpower in the Middle East. I fear that many of us who are younger because we are being "cautious" and "wise" are missing out on the lives God has for us; the same applies if the younger generation in trying to be daring is actually reckless because it is not implementing the Lord's wisdom. We don't have to beg God to give us this incredible life; Hanani tells us that God is searching far and wide for people whom He can support greatly. It's just that He is not going to support our own "wise" decision. He is going to support us whenever we follow Him and implement His wise decisions in our own lives. I fear that on Judgment Day many of us who are saved are going to be shown how wonderful our lives would have really been if we had just followed the Lord instead of our own plans. Christ said, "I came that they might have life and might have it abundantly." We need to be honest with ourselves and ask if that is what is happening in our own individual lives and in the corporate life of our church. Am I experiencing God's life on a daily consistent basis? Are our 30+ baptisms really a miracle? Are the SS units we are ministering to really experiencing God's miracle? Look around you and see if the church is having an impact upon a large segment of our community which can only be described as miraculous? If not, we're conquering a few cities; however, we have failed to obtain the full inheritance God has for us.