2 Chronicles 15:16

MORE ABOUT ASA'S REFORMS

"And also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being the queen (mother), because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah and Asa cut down her image and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa."

The unceasing war against Chronicles by the radical critics focuses upon two things in this paragraph.

(1) "In 2 Chronicles 15:17 we read that the high places were not taken away, but in 2 Chronicles 15:8 that they were!"[8] This is typical of the type of unprincipled and dishonest efforts of unbelievers to discredit Chronicles. Note that 2 Chronicles 15:8 does not even mention the high places! Furthermore, the abominations which Asa put away were those "in the cities"; and many of them continued to be observed in the rural areas. "Even Asa's best efforts were not sufficient to eradicate pagan practices entirely."[9]

(2) The other attack is directed against an alleged `contradiction' between 1 Kings 15:16, which says, "There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days," and the word here in 2 Chronicles 15:19 that, "There was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa." Cook suggested that a corrupted text is responsible for this;[10] but Barker has an even better explanation: "What this says, actually, is that a state of war was chronic between Asa and Baasha."[11] Of course, this savage hatred between the two Israels continued without intermission as long as the Northern Israel existed.

"The mother of Asa ... had made an abominable image for an Asherah" (2 Chronicles 15:16). This was some kind of a pillar, called here an image; and we have been encouraged by some to think of it as an incense altar (See the RSV). However, the word abominable, as used here, is also rendered unspeakable, horrible, etc. by translators. These words are much too strong for anything innocent.

The Douay Version translates this passage like it is: "Maacah the mother of Asa made in a grove an idol of Priapus." This was an image of the human phallus, which in all probability was the usual form these pillars took. Curtis (Madsen) accepted this meaning of this passage, writing that, "This understanding of it is as good as any, and it is generally accepted."[12] "In Greek and Roman mythology, this was the god of male procreative power."[13]