1 Kings 15:11-26

The Reign of Asa.

Though this prince reigned forty and one years—a longer period than any of his predecessors, and, with two exceptions, a longer period than any of the kings who came after him—yet his reign, so far as it is recorded here, may be summed up in few words. "Happy is the nation," it has been said, "which has no history." But happier still the nation whose history, like that of Judah in the time of Asa, may be comprehended under these two heads— internal reforms, and external discipline .

I. INTERNAL REFORMS . Two questions present themselves for consideration here. First, What were Asa's reforms? Secondly, In what way were they accomplished?

1. His reforms were practically of two kinds: (a) Moral, and (b) Religious . It is not implied that he either put morality before religion, or believed that the one could be separated from the other. It may be a question in these days—it is at least hotly disputed—whether morality can long support itself without a religious basis and religious sanctions; but it was no question in that dark age, or for many hundred years afterwards. Then it was a choice between the one true religion and the most shameful immoralities practised under the name of religion. All that is meant here, therefore, is that Asa's reforms resulted in purging and raising the tone of public morality by suppressing the idolatry which sanctioned and consecrated impurity.

And let us notice here an instructive contrast between Asa and Solomon. It was the wise king, the most magnificent of the monarchs of the earth, at the height of his prosperity; and towards the end of a long and peaceful reign, built altars for the abominations of neighbouring nations. It was a young prince, unknown to fame, with no special gifts or endowments, with a restricted dominion, and encompassed with difficulties, who was the first to stem this tide of sin and shame with which his great ancestor had flooded the land. "The first last, and the last first." Compare 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 . Wealth has greater dangers than adversity.

2. But let us now consider the way in which these great reforms were brought about.

It has been said that the devil often "comes to a man in the shape of his wife and children" (J. Hinton), and truly a man's real foes are not unfrequently those of his own household. Just as their flattery is the most insidious and mischievous (Whately), so are their faults too often considered venial, and their sins, when manifest, are the hardest to reprove (cf. 1 Kings 1:6 ; 1 Samuel 3:13 ). These are the "hand" and the "eye," which cause men to offend, and which they must cut off or pluck out and cast from them ( Matthew 5:29 sqq.) Hence the charge of Deuteronomy 13:6 sqq.; cf. Matthew 10:37 .

And the moral effect of this act, the public deposition of the queen-mother, can hardly be overestimated. It showed the country that the king was in real earnest; that he was no respecter of persons; that no idolatry could expect tolerance at his hands. Probably but for this he could neither have taken away the Sodomites nor removed the idols. Possibly it was because neither Rehoboam (see 2 Chronicles 11:21 ) nor Abijam dared to deal with the idolatries of Maachah, who would seem to have been a woman of imperious will, that these foreign superstitions had defiled the land so long. Asa struck at their root in removing her from being queen.

It was not merely destructive, as too many so-called reforms have been.

And, as the fruit of this righteous policy, we find that he enjoyed, for a part of his reign at least,

But let us now observe that these reforms and this courageous piety did not exempt him from—

II. EXTERNAL TROUBLES . The quiet only lasted ten years His fenced cities did not save him from invasion. He had to encounter, first, the invasion of Zerah ( 2 Chronicles 14:9 ), and secondly, the aggression of Baasha ( 1 Kings 15:17 ). He may have been tempted to think when that overwhelming host of swart barbarians marched against him that his piety profited him nothing. He may have argued, when he saw the fortress of Ramah threatening his very capital—the city God had chosen to put His name there—that God made no difference between the righteous and the wicked, between His faithful people and the calf-worshipping Israelites. But observe: both these troubles were really blessings in disguise. Afflictions and adversities may be either punitive or disciplinary. Solomon's were of the former, Asa's of the latter class. For

And so we see in the dangers and assaults which this reformer underwent proofs of the loving discipline of God—trials intended for his reformation and for the chastening of his country. It is difficult at first sight to see how so brutal and hateful a thing as war can ever be for the good of any people, especially when we remember that a "victory is the next worst thing to a defeat." But those have some reason on their side who tell us that war is the purgatory of nations, and that battles in the moral are something like thunderstorms in the physical world. There are victims in either case—what hecatombs of victims in some cases—but the atmosphere is all the clearer afterwards. The campaign of Zerah probably taught him and his people to bridle their ambition, and to leave their neighbours alone; it certainly taught Asa and Israel to trust in the Lord and to cling closer to Him. They learned that "Providence does" not "always help the biggest battalions"—that everything turns on the blessing of God. £ They proved the truth of that promise," Five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight," etc. (Le Matthew 26:8 ). Psalms 20:1-9 . might have been penned with reference to this war. It certainly breathes the spirit of that time. "Deo adjuvante "—this is its keynote. And this, too, is the burden of Asa's prayer ( 2 Chronicles 14:11 ), of Azariah's prophecy ( 2 Chronicles 15:2 sqq.), of Judah's praises (verses 12, 14, 15). It has been remarked that in the history of the covenant people we may see pourtrayed the trials, deliverances, etc; of the covenant soul (Keble). And certainly the prosperous reign of Asa is a picture of what a truly Christian life involves. Happy are those whose lives, in their main features, may be thus characterized: "Internal reforms," "external discipline." The three things which, Luther said, made the minister also make the man, "Prayer, meditation, and temptation." The idols must be utterly abolished by "the expulsive force of a new affection;" "the horror," the fear and horrible dread that possesses the unreconciled, must be cast out by perfect love; "everything that defileth" must be consumed by its ardent flames; the heart must be "dedicated," and then the loving correction of God will do the rest, and after we have suffered awhile, in the battle of life, in the chamber of sickness ( 1 Kings 15:28 ), will make us perfect ( 1 Peter 5:10 ), and grant us "quietness and assurance forever."