2 Chronicles 15

The Spirit of God came on Azariah, the son of Oded.

1And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:

Note"The Spirit of God came on" someone is a set Hebrew expression for a sudden, temporary seizing that makes a person speak or act as God's messenger. It marks the words that follow as prophecy rather than the speaker's own opinion.

2Azariah went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa, and all of Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you look for him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you.

2And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

NoteJudah and Benjamin were the two tribes that made up the southern kingdom, ruled from Jerusalem by David's descendants. After Solomon's death the other ten tribes broke away and formed a separate northern kingdom, which the book usually calls "Israel." Asa is king of the south only.

3For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them, and without the law.

3Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

Note"The law" translates *torah*, the body of instruction given through Moses. Teaching it was part of a priest's job, not just performing sacrifices, so "without a priest to teach them" and "without the law" describe one situation: no one passing on the instruction. Which period of Israel's past the prophet has in mind is not stated, and readers have proposed everything from the era of the judges to the recent northern kingdom.

4But when trouble came and they turned back to the LORD, the God of Israel, and looked for him, they found him.

4But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.

5In those times no one could travel safely, going out or coming back. Great trouble fell on everyone living in those lands.

5And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.

6One nation was crushed by another, and one city by another, because God brought every kind of hardship on them.

6And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.

7So be strong. Do not let your hands go weak, because your work will be rewarded."

7Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

Note"Do not let your hands go weak" is a Hebrew idiom for losing nerve. Slack, dropping hands are the picture of a person giving up; strong hands mean courage to carry on.

8When Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage. He got rid of the disgusting idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from the towns he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He also repaired the altar of the LORD that stood in front of the covered entrance of the LORD's temple.

8And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.

NoteVerse 1 names the prophet as Azariah son of Oded, and here the Hebrew reads simply "Oded." Ancient translations and most modern ones supply "Azariah son of" at this point, treating the shorter reading as a copying slip. The "covered entrance" is the porch or portico at the front of the temple, a roofed entryway. The altar in front of it was the large altar for burnt offerings, standing in the open courtyard. The hill country of Ephraim lay in the northern kingdom's territory; the towns Asa "captured" there were taken in earlier border fighting.

9He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, along with the people from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were living among them. Large numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

9And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

NoteThese were people from northern tribes who had left the northern kingdom and settled in Judah as resident outsiders. Their arrival is a defection: they are transferring loyalty from the northern king to Asa.

10So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of Asa's reign.

10So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

NoteThe third month of the Hebrew year falls in our May–June. It is the month of the Festival of Weeks, the harvest festival that already brought crowds to Jerusalem, which may be why the assembly was called then. Asa's fifteenth year is somewhere around 895 BC.

11At that time they sacrificed to the LORD seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the goods they had taken in battle.

11And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

NoteThe animals came from plunder taken in the battle described in the previous chapter. Sacrificed animals were normally eaten by the worshipers afterwards, so numbers on this scale mean a public feast for a very large gathering.

12Then they entered into an agreement to seek the LORD, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their soul.

12And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;

NoteA covenant was a binding agreement sworn before God, with stated terms and stated penalties, closer to a treaty or a sworn contract than to a promise. Verse 13 gives this one's penalty clause.

13The agreement said that anyone who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.

13That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

14They swore this to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, and with trumpets and horns.

14And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.

NoteTwo different instruments: straight metal trumpets, blown by priests as signals at ceremonies, and the ram's horn, a curved horn with a blaring note used for alarms and public announcements.

15All Judah was glad about the oath, because they had sworn it with all their heart. They had looked for God with all their desire, and they found him. And the LORD gave them peace on every side.

15And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about.

16King Asa also removed his mother Maachah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a disgusting idol pole. Asa cut her idol down, crushed it, and burned it at the Kidron Valley stream.

16And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

Note"Queen mother" was a formal position at court, not just a family relationship; the king's mother held rank and influence of her own, which is why she could be removed from it. Maachah was in fact Asa's grandmother, the mother of his father Abijah; Hebrew uses "mother" for a grandmother as well. The "idol pole" is an Asherah, a wooden pole or carved image representing the goddess Asherah, set up at places of worship. The King James "grove" reflects an old guess at the word's meaning. The Kidron Valley runs along the east side of Jerusalem, just outside the city. It served as the dumping and burning ground for objects removed from the temple.

17But the high places where people worshiped were not removed from Israel. Even so, Asa's heart was fully devoted to the LORD his whole life.

17But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

Note"High places" were local open-air shrines, often on hilltops, where people sacrificed outside Jerusalem. Chapter 14 says Asa did remove them, and the two statements have been reconciled in different ways: that "Israel" here means the northern kingdom, outside Asa's control, or that they were removed and crept back.

18He brought into the house of God the things his father had set apart for God, and the things he himself had set apart: silver, gold, and various containers and utensils.

18And 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.

19And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign.

19And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

NoteChronicles' dates for Asa's reign are hard to fit with the chronology in 1 and 2 Kings, where the northern king said to attack him in the next chapter had already died. One long-standing suggestion is that the numbers are counted from the division of the kingdom rather than from Asa's accession; no explanation has settled the question.