Well, today I began teaching Good King, Bad King to our adult life group at church. I’ve written about this off and on. The lesson series will be about the kings of Judah and Israel, which were a series of good and bad kings. It seems that Israel had more bad then good, while Judah may have had about the same.

I began with King Asa, third king of Judah after the division. I’ve blogged about Asa before:

The first prophet speaks to him
Asa’s first religious reforms
Asa and the high places of Judah
Asa responds to a threat from Israel
Another prophet confronts Asa
The Jerusalem Assembly: good or bad?

For life group I’m breaking this down into two lessons. The first covers Asa’s early years, and focuses on the good he did. The second covers his later years, and focuses on the mistakes he made then.

The class went well, despite the fact that I left the handouts I had prepared on the kitchen table, including the creative non-fiction piece I was going to read to start the class. I relayed the creative non-fiction from memory as best I could. As expected, no one was able to guess which king it was about. During class, several people focused in on the Jerusalem assembly, and were troubled about it, specifically the part that anyone who did not take the oath to follow I AM wholeheartedly was to be killed. I wasn’t going to bring that up this week, but rather next week, but it might be good to have it now. Next week it will be easier to show that assembly as possibly the turning point (for the worse) in Asa’s life.

I’m ready for next week already. I think now I will go and write some on my harmony of the gospels, either finish up an unfinished appendix or possibly some passage notes. I’m not quite ready to jump back in with Suite 101 yet, due to the picture deal. Maybe in a couple of days.

The Bible records two major military issues for King Asa: first the invasion of a combined Cushite and Libyan army from the south, and later a threat from the sister nation Israel from the north. The first one drove Asa to prayer, as he knew his forces were outnumbered and they had no hope for victory if God did not intervene. The second drove Asa to form an alliance with Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, in so doing plundering his own temple and personal treasury. In other words, he either bribed Ben-Hadad or hired him to provide mercenaries.

In each case a prophet came to Asa. The first was Azariah, who gave Asa a message of hope and encouragement. The second was Hanani, who chastised Asa, told him he had chosen poorly, and advised that as a result God’s intentions had been thwarted. The second time Asa continued to behave badly, apparently to the end of his days. The first time, he instituted more religious reforms and called for an assembly of the nation in Jerusalem to renew their religious zeal.

The Jerusalem Assembly. Let’s see what the scripture has to say about it.

Then he [Asa] assembled all Judah and Benjamin and the people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who had settled among them, for large numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
…..They assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. At that time they sacrificed to the LORD seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep and goats from the plunder they had brought back. They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul. All who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. They took an oath to the LORD with loud acclamation, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the LORD gave them rest on every side. 2nd Chronicles 15:9-15

On the surface, this sounds pretty good. They sought God wholeheartedly; they found Him. They did this with oaths and with loud acclamations. Wait, this is what troubles me, both the oaths and loud acclamations, the trumpets and horns and shouting. The enthusiasm of the moment may have caused many to be carried away and do things and make oaths that were not wholehearted–that and the threat that if they didn’t do so they would be put to death. What would you do if everyone was shouting and declaring oaths to God, with trumpets and horns blaring and saying anyone who didn’t take the oath would be put to death?

I’m sure many were sincere, but just as many were either caught up in the moment or afraid not to make the oath.

Throughout the history of the church, the whole business of enthusiasm has waxed and waned, been in favor and out of favor. During Wesley’s days it was generally frowned on. Get too enthusiastic and people wondered about you. During the 18th century revivals in America, it was embraced. Certainly some enthusiasm is good. I hope everyone who considers themselves a disciple of Jesus is enthusiastic about being so. But could a lot of enthusiasm cause one to lose his head, declare impossible oaths and promise things that cannot be delivered? I wonder.

The idea that anyone who did not follow I AM in the nation should be put to death is found in the Law of Moses. Today it seems harsh, little better than the jihads of radical Islam. If we dislike the Islamic practice of converting to Islam or be killed, how can we embrace the Israeli practice resulting from the Jerusalem assembly?

And what of its effects on Asa? It would appear he got carried away with his assembly. Everyone agreed with him, either wholeheartedly or not. When a king has no one to disagree with him, he will tend to get puffed up. Thus, twenty plus years later, when Hanani confronted his error, rather than humble himself, Asa threw the messenger in jail. This led to a downhill progression, where he oppressed his people and failed to seek I AM when he had a need.

Was the Jerusalem Assembly under Asa a good thing or a bad thing? All I know for sure is, before that assembly, Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and after that assembly he made bad choices and was chastised by God’s prophet. The enthusiasm of the great assembly vs. the quiet affirmation of a person in a one-on-one conversation with God. I like the former, but I think I like the latter better.

As I said in yesterday’s post, King Asa, when faced with war with Israel, sought an alliance with the ungodly Aram rather than muster his own army. The result was that Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, attacked Israel from the north and the Israeli king backed off from his border with Judah and turned 180 to fight the country he had had a peace treaty with. Asa then took the occasion to build up his own defenses: “[He] issued an order to all Judah–no one was exempt–and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using there. With them King Asa built up Geba in Benjamin, and also Mizpah.” [1st Kings 15:22-24] Never mind that the Law of Moses allowed certain exemptions from service such as this. Asa said no one was exempt.

Then came Hanani the seer to see Asa. This is the second occasion recorded where a prophet came to give God’s word to Asa. Azariah did so after the Cushite war, encouraging Asa. Might Hanani be about ready to do the same thing? Nay:

Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war. 2nd Chronicles 16:7b-9

Wow! This prophet doesn’t mince words. Asa’s use of reversal of entangling alliances as a means to avoid war was a bad thing, not a good thing. That phrase “the king of Aram has escaped from your hand” is a curious addition. At the time when Israel threatened Judah, Judah was not at war with Aram. But Aram was aligned with Israel, and Israel was about, so it seemed, to war against Judah. Might this have dragged in Aram to assist their ally? If so, Judah would have found itself fighting both Israel and Aram.

But it seems that was God’s plan. The prophet said Aram had escaped from Judah. God was probably intending to deliver Judah from those two nations, expecting that Asa would cry out to Him. Unfortunately, Asa did not cry out to the LORD his God. He proceeded with his own best judgment, which turned out not very good.

But a man can make a mistake and recover from it, right? Doesn’t that happen again and again throughout the Bible. Yes, so let’s see what Asa’s response was.

Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.
…..…In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians. 2nd Chronicles 16:10, 12

So it seems Asa did not repent. In fact he got worse. He imprisoned God’s messenger to him, then seems to have gone off the deep end, brutally oppressing people, and forgetting that I AM could help him in his illness.

A sad, sad story. Even though Asa did great things, won great military victories, instituted great religious reforms, had great personal piety, and was honored by the people at his death, Asa’s last days do not reflect what they could have and should have been.

What caused this? How does a man go from the pinnacle of success to the depths of bad behavior? I’m going to explore this in the next post.