1 Kings 15:9–24 (NIV)✞: Asa King of Judah
Passage
Asa was a good king. Mostly. I think the summary of his reign would be verse 11, but let’s quote a larger passage to get a clear view of how he served the LORD:
11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done. 12 He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made. 13 He even 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 and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14 Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life. 15 He brought into the temple of the LORD the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.
So far so good! This is a summary Asa could have been proud of. However, there is also continual war between Asa and Baasha (king of Israel, whom we haven’t covered yet), and Baasha seems to be more powerful than Asa. In fact, Baasha goes so far as to capture Ramah, a city in Asa’s territory in Judah, and create a blockade, “to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah” (verse 17 (NIV)✞).
In response, instead of trusting in the LORD Asa takes whatever gold and silver is left in the treasuries of the temple and the palace and sends it to Ben-Hadad, a foreign king—the NIV calls him “the king of Aram” while the ESV calls him “king of Syria”—to form a treaty. The ESV Study Bible notes point out that this is a revival of a previous treaty that was set up between Abijah and the Syrians.
Ben-Hadad agrees and attacks Baasha/Israel, capturing a number of towns, so Baasha abandons Ramah and withdraws back into Israelite territory. Asa then has his people carry off all of the stones and timber Baasha had been using ot build up Ramah and uses the material to build up two of his other cities (Geba and Mizpah). I couldn’t figure out why he decided to build up those cities instead of just keeping Ramah and building that up, however.
The final notes we’re told about Asa are that he ends up with diseased feet in his old age, and then when he dies he’s succeeded by his son Jehoshaphat.
Thoughts
Although the passage text doesn’t condemn Asa for his actions in forming the alliance with the Syrians—nor does the ESV Study Bible specifically call it out, though the note quoted above says that he was only “relatively” faithful, so maybe they’re referring to this—I’m taking that as a lack of trust in the LORD. It’s something I think we’ll be seeing a lot of kings of Judah falling into; it is, afterall, a relatively small nation compared to the nations around it, so one could argue that kings of Judah would need even stronger faith in the LORD than kings of Israel. Then again, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed…
Asherah / Asherah Poles / High Places
Something we’ll be seeing a lot of through the rest of the Old Testament will be mentions of “Asherah poles” and worship of the goddess Asherah, as well as mention of “high places.” In Asa’s case he did pretty well, rooting out worship of Asherah even when it came to his own family, though he failed to remove the “high places.”
I don’t have a lot of specific information on the goddess Asherah, or the images that were used in her worship (often referred to as “Asherah poles” in the Old Testament, though some doubt whether that’s the best translation), nor do I know what specifically is meant by “the high places.” I don’t think the specifics are necessary, though.
What I do know is that these forms of idolatry are going to be ever-present for the rest of the book of 1&2 Kings, and probably even throughout the prophets (if I recall correctly)! Even when it comes to the good kings in Judah, who obey God and are faithful to Him, there will often be a note that they still weren’t able to remove the “high places,” and, if memory serves, I think there are also instances where kings are called out as being “good” kings even though they don’t remove the Asherah images/poles/whatever.
What this tells me is two things: 1) these forms of idolatry were truly entrenched into the lives of God’s people, but 2) no matter how entrenched they were, God expected better of His people.
The Idolatry was Entrenched
The very fact that Asherah worship and “high places” are mentioned so often in 1&2 Kings tells me that these forms of idolatry were truly enmeshed in the lives of God’s people at that time. In fact, if I were to guess I’d say that they probably weren’t considered a “big deal” by most people. “I worship the LORD but if I also have this image of Asherah what’s the harm? If I also go to the ‘high places,’ what’s the big deal?” I believe it’s the “what’s the big deal” sins that are hardest to root out.
If someone in the local church starts taking part in witchcraft ceremonies they would likely be removed from the church’s membership, but if that same person is looking at horoscopes… well, what’s the harm? If someone started worshiping Baal then they’d probably get their membership revoked, but if they value money too highly… who cares? If someone commits adultery we might revoke their membership, but if they’re looking at porn… should we be making mountains out of molehills?
This is tricky, because I’m actually not advocating that the “lesser” examples above should be grounds for ejecting people from the local church. Except… am I? I think there are “minor” sins that should be treated with forbearance, but 1&2 Kings show that there are also sins that get so deeply rooted into a society that they stand the test of time, even when people’s faith in God doesn’t.
Frankly, if God were to send prophets to modern-day North America in the 21st Century He might not point out any of the sins I’ve just mentioned; He would quite likely point out something that doesn’t even occur to us, because it’s so “minor” we don’t think about it. (Though… something tells me the money thing might attract His attention…)
It’s no Excuse
To be clear, when I talk about how entrenched some of these sins are, I’m not saying that God will therefore turn a blind eye. Yes, He may very well judge us differently for sins that we’re actively committing vs. ones we don’t think about—meaning, I would guess that purposeful, willful disobedience is worse than mindless “going with the flow”—but, at the same time, God and His prophets never stopped talking about Asherah worship and high places, throughout the Old Testament; He never said to His people, “Well, I know everyone is doing it, so it’s not a big deal.” He told them time and time again to stop it.
One of the reasons I love multiculturalism in the Church is that different cultures see the blind spots in others. I think white Christians in particular need to be very careful about this—we don’t have a good history of worshipping side-by-side with other believers, we’re more likely to ignore what people say and try to make them exactly like us—but if we’re more willing to listen than we are to critique, there can be good opportunities to see our own blind spots and examine our own hearts.
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