Asa

“Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father.” That is the verdict on a king of Judah who reigned forty-one years (1 Kings 15). He drove out idols and even removed his own mother, Maachah, from being queen after she made an idol. The record is also fair about his limits: “the high places were not removed,” yet his heart “was perfect with the LORD all his days.” When Baasha of Israel threatened Judah, Asa sent temple silver and gold to the king of Syria to break that alliance. He is a reminder that good kings were still imperfect.

19 verses

1 Kings

1 Kings 15:8

And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 15:9

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

1 Kings 15:10

And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

1 Kings 15:11

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

1 Kings 15:12

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

1 Kings 15:13

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.

1 Kings 15:14

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

1 Kings 15:15

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.

1 Kings 15:16

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

1 Kings 15:17

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.

1 Kings 15:18

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,

1 Kings 15:19

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.

1 Kings 15:20

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 Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.

1 Kings 15:21

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

1 Kings 15:22

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.

1 Kings 15:23

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.

1 Kings 15:24

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.

1 Chronicles

1 Chronicles 3:10

And Solomon's son was Rehoboam, Abia his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son,

1 Chronicles 9:16

And Obadiah the son of Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, that dwelt in the villages of the Netophathites.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

Physician, son of Abijah and grandson of Rehoboam, was the third king of Judah. He was zealous in maintaining the true worship of God, and in rooting all idolatry, with its accompanying immoralities, out of the land (1 Kings 15:8-14). The Lord gave him and his land rest and prosperity. It is recorded of him, however, that in his old age, when afflicted, he “sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians” (comp. Jer. 17:5). He died in the forty-first year of his reign, greatly honoured by his people (2 Chr. 16:1-13), and was succeeded by his son Jehoshaphat.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(physician , or cure).

(1.) Son of Abijah and third king of Judah. (B.C. 956-916.) (His long reign of 41 years was peaceful in its earlier portion, and he undertook the reformation of all abuses, especially of idolatry. He burnt the symbol of his grandmother Maachah’s religion and deposed her from the dignity of "king’s mother,") and renewed the great altar which the idolatrous priests apparently had desecrated. (2 Chronicles 15:8) Besides this he fortified cities on his frontiers, and raised an army, amounting, according to (2 Chronicles 14:8) to 580,000 men, a number probably exaggerated by an error of the copyist. During Asa’s reign, Zerah, at the head of an enormous host, (2 Chronicles 14:9) attacked Mareshah. There he was utterly defeated, and driven back with immense loss to Gerar. The peace which followed this victory was broken by the attempt of Baasha of Israel to fortify Ramah. To stop this Asa purchased the help of Benhadad I. king of Damascus, by a large payment of treasure, forced Baasha to abandon his purpose, and destroyed the works which he had begun at Ramah. In his old age Asa suffered from gout, He died, greatly loved and honored, in the 41st year of his reign.

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(2.) Ancestor of Berechiah a Levite who resided in one of the villages of the Netophathites after the return from Babylon. (1 Chronicles 9:16)