4 And he made Judah go after the Lord, the God of their fathers, and keep his laws and his orders.
Make search for the Lord while he is there, make prayer to him while he is near: Let the sinner give up his way, and the evil-doer his purpose: and let him come back to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for there is full forgiveness with him.
I will do wisely in the way of righteousness: O when will you come to me? I will be walking in my house with a true heart. I will not put any evil thing before my eyes; I am against all turning to one side; I will not have it near me. The false heart I will send away from me: I will not have an evil-doer for a friend. I will put to death anyone who says evil of his neighbour secretly; the man with a high look and a heart of pride is disgusting to me. My eyes will be on those of good faith in the land, so that they may be living in my house; he who is walking in the right way will be my servant. The worker of deceit will not come into my house; the false man will have no place before my eyes. Morning by morning will I put to death all the sinners in the land, so that all evil-doers may be cut off from Jerusalem.
And so, when the streets of Jerusalem were getting dark before the Sabbath, I gave orders for the doors to be shut and not to be open again till after the Sabbath: and I put some of my servants by the door so that nothing might be taken in on the Sabbath day. So the traders in all sorts of goods took their night's rest outside Jerusalem once or twice. Then I gave witness against them and said, Why are you waiting all night by the wall? if you do so again I will have you taken prisoners. From that time they did not come again on the Sabbath. And I gave the Levites orders to make themselves clean and come and keep the doors and make the Sabbath holy. Keep this in mind to my credit, O my God, and have mercy on me, for great is your mercy.
They were united with their brothers, their rulers, and put themselves under a curse and an oath, to keep their steps in the way of God's law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to keep and do all the orders of the Lord, our Lord, and his decisions and his rules; And that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the lands, or take their daughters for our sons; And if the peoples of the lands come to do trade in goods or food on the Sabbath day, that we would do no trade with them on the Sabbath or on a holy day: and that in the seventh year we would take no payment from any debtor. And we made rules for ourselves, taxing ourselves a third of a shekel every year for the upkeep of the house of our God; For the holy bread, and for the regular meal offering and the regular burned offering on the Sabbaths and at the new moon and the fixed feasts, and for the sin-offerings to take away the sin of Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. And we, the priests and the Levites and the people, made selection, by the decision of the Lord, of those who were to take the wood offering into the house of God, by families at the regular times, year by year, to be burned on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is recorded in the law; And to take the first-fruits of our land, and the first-fruits of every sort of tree, year by year, into the house of the Lord; As well as the first of our sons and of our cattle, as it is recorded in the law, and the first lambs of our herds and of our flocks, which are to be taken to the house of our God, to the priests who are servants in the house of our God: And that we would take the first of our rough meal, and our lifted offerings, and the fruit of every sort of tree, and wine and oil, to the priests, to the rooms of the house of our God; and the tenth of the produce of our land to the Levites; for they, the Levites, take a tenth in all the towns of our ploughed land. And the priest, the son of Aaron, is to be with the Levites, when the Levites take the tenths: and the Levites are to take a tenth of the tenths into the house of our God, to the rooms, into the store-house; For the children of Israel and the children of Levi are to take the lifted offering of the grain and wine and oil into the rooms where the vessels of the holy place are, together with the priests and the door-keepers and the makers of music: and we will not give up caring for the house of our God.
And they made a public statement through all Judah and Jerusalem, to all those who had come back, that they were to come together to Jerusalem; And that if anyone did not come before three days were past, as ordered by the rulers and the responsible men, all his goods would be put under the curse, and he himself would be cut off from the meeting of the people who had come back. Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin came together to Jerusalem before three days were past; it was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people were seated in the wide square in front of the house of God, shaking with fear because of this business and because of the great rain. And Ezra the priest got to his feet and said to them, You have done wrong and taken strange women for your wives, so increasing the sin of Israel. So now, give praise to the Lord, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and make yourselves separate from the peoples of the land and from the strange women. Then all the people, answering, said with a loud voice, As you have said, so it is right for us to do.
And he made all the people in Jerusalem and Benjamin give their word to keep it. And the people of Jerusalem kept the agreement of God, the God of their fathers. Josiah took away all the disgusting things out of all the lands of the children of Israel, and made all who were in Israel servants of the Lord their God. And as long as he was living they were true to the Lord, the God of their fathers.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 14
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 14 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Asa's Reign - 2 Chronicles 14-16
In 1 Kings 15:9-24 it is merely recorded of Asa, that he reigned forty-one years, did that which was right as David did, removed from the land all the idols which his fathers had made, and, although the high places were not removed, was devoted to the Lord during his whole life, and laid up in the temple treasury all that had been consecrated by his father and himself. Then it is related that when Baasha marched against him, and began to fortify Ramah, he induced the Syrian king Benhadad, by sending to him the treasures of the temple and of his palace, to break faith with Baasha, and to make an inroad upon and smite the northern portion of the land; that Baasha was thereby compelled to abandon the building of Ramah, and to fall back to Tirzah, and that thereupon Asa caused the fortifications of Ramah to be pulled down, and the cities Geba and Benjamin and Mizpah to be fortified with the materials; and, finally, it is recorded that Asa in his old age became diseased in his feet, and died. The Chronicle also characterizes Asa as a pious king, who did that which was right, and removed the high places and sun-pillars in the land; but gives, as to other matters, a much more detailed account of his reign of forty-one years. It states that in the first years, as the land had rest, he built fortified cities in Judah, and had an army fit for war (2 Chronicles 14:1-7); that thereupon he marched against the Cushite Zerah, who was then advancing upon Judah with an innumerable host, prayed for help to the Lord, who then smote the Cushites, so that they fled; and that Asa pursued them to Gerar, and returned with great booty (2 Chronicles 14:8-14). Then we learn that the prophet Azariah, the son of Oded, came to meet him, who, pointing to the victory which the Lord had granted them, called upon the king and the people to remain stedfast in their fidelity to the Lord; that Asa thereupon took courage, extirpated all the still remaining idolatrous abominations from the land, and in the fifteenth year of his reign held with the people a great sacrificial feast in Jerusalem, renewed the covenant with the Lord, crushed out all the remains of former idolatry, although the high places were not destroyed, and also deposited in the temple treasury all that had been consecrated by his father and himself (2 Chron 15). Thereafter Baasha's inroad upon Judah and the alliance with Ben-hadad of Syria are narrated (2 Chronicles 16:1-6), as in the book of Kings; but it is also added that the prophet Hanani censured his seeking help from the king of Syria, and was thereupon put into the prison-house by Asa (2 Chronicles 16:7-10); and then we have an account of the end of his reign, in which several additions to the account in 1 Kings are communicated (2 Chronicles 16:11-14).
2 Chronicles 14:1-3
Asa's efforts for the abolition of idolatry and the establishment of the kingdom . - 2 Chronicles 14:1-4. The good and right in God's eyes which Asa did is further defined in 2 Chronicles 14:2-4. He abolished all the objects of the idolatrous worship. The “altars of the strangers” are altars consecrated to foreign gods; from them the בּמות , high places, are distinguished-these latter being illegal places of sacrifice connected with the worship of Jahve (see on 1 Kings 15:14). The מצּבוה are the statues or monumental columns consecrated to Baal, and אשׁרים the wooden idols, tree-trunks, or trees, which were consecrated to Astarte (see on 1 Kings 14:23 and Deuteronomy 16:21). Asa at the same time commanded the people to worship Jahve, the God of the fathers, and to follow the law.
2 Chronicles 14:4-6
He removed from all the cities of Judah the altars of the high places, and the חמּנים , sun-pillars, pillars or statues consecrated to Baal as sun-god, which were erected near or upon the altars of Baal (2 Chronicles 34:4; see on Leviticus 26:30). In consequence of this the kingdom had rest לפניו , before him, i.e., under his oversight (cf. Numbers 8:22). This ten-years' quiet (2 Chronicles 14:1) which God granted him, Asa employed in building fortresses in Judah (2 Chronicles 14:5). “We will build these cities, and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bolts.” It is not said what the cities were, but they were at any rate others than Geba and Mizpah, which he caused to be built after the war with Baasha (2 Chronicles 16:6). “The land is still before us,” i.e., open, free from enemies, so that we may freely move about, and build therein according to our pleasure. For the phraseology, cf. Genesis 13:9. The repetition of דּרשׁנוּ , 2 Chronicles 14:6, is impassioned speech. “They built and had success;” they built with effect, without meeting with any hindrances.
2 Chronicles 14:7
Asa had also a well-equipped, well-armed army. The men of Judah were armed with a large shield and lance (cf. 1 Chronicles 12:24), the Benjamites with a small shield and bow (cf. 1 Chronicles 8:40). The numbers are great; of Judah 300,000, of Benjamin 280,000 men. Since in these numbers the whole population capable of bearing arms is included, 300,000 men does not appear too large for Judah, but 280,000 is a very large number for Benjamin, and is founded probably on an overestimate.
The victory over the Cushite Zerah . - 2 Chronicles 14:8. “And there went forth against them Zerah.” אליהם for עליהם refers to Asa's warriors mentioned in 2 Chronicles 14:7. The number of the men in Judah capable of bearing arms is mentioned only to show that Asa set his hope of victory over the innumerable host of the Cushites not on the strength of his army, but on the all-powerful help of the Lord (2 Chronicles 14:10). The Cushite זרח is usually identified with the second king of the 22nd (Bubastitic) dynasty, Osorchon I; while Brugsch, hist. de l'Eg. i. p. 298, on the contrary, has raised objections, and holds Zerah to be an Ethiopian and not an Egyptian prince, who in the reign of Takeloth I, about 944 b.c., probably marched through Egypt as a conqueror (cf. G. Rösch in Herz.'s Realenc. xviii. S. 460). The statement as to Zerah's army, that it numbered 1,000,000 warriors and 300 war-chariots, rests upon a rough estimate, in which 1000 times 1000 expresses the idea of the greatest possible number. The Cushites pressed forward to Mareshah, i.e., Marissa, between Hebron and Ashdod (see on 2 Chronicles 11:8).
2 Chronicles 14:9
Thither Asa marched to meet them, and drew up his army in battle array in the valley Zephathah, near Mareshah. The valley Zephathah is not, as Robins., Pal. sub voce , thinks, to be identified with Tel es Safieh, but must lie nearer Mareshah, to the west or north-west of Marâsch.
2 Chronicles 14:10
Then he called upon the Lord his God for help. וגו עמּך אין we translate, with Berth., “None is with Thee (on עמּך , cf. 2 Chronicles 20:6; Psalms 73:25) to help between a mighty one and a weak,” i.e., no other than Thou can help in an unequal battle, i.e., help the weaker side; while the Vulg., on the contrary, after the analogy of 1 Samuel 14:6, translates, “non est apud te ulla distantia, utrum in paucis auxilieris an in pluribus;” and the older commentators (Schmidt, Ramb.) give the meaning thus: “perinde est tibi potentiori vel imbecilliori opem ferre.” But in 1 Samuel 14:16 the wording is different, so that that passage cannot be a standard for us here. “In Thy name (i.e., trusting in Thy help) are we come against this multitude” (not “have we fallen upon this multitude”). וגו יעצר אל , “Let not a mortal retain strength with Thee” ( עצר = כּח עצר , 2 Chronicles 13:20; 1 Chronicles 29:14), i.e., let not weak men accomplish anything with Thee, show Thy power or omnipotence over weak men.
2 Chronicles 14:11
God heard this prayer. Jahve drove the Cushites into flight before Asa, scil. by His mighty help.
2 Chronicles 14:12
Asa, with his people, pursued to Gerar, the old ancient Philistine city, whose ruins Rowlands has discovered in the Khirbet el Gerar, in the Wady Jorf el Gerar (the torrent of Gerar), three leagues south-south-east of Gaza (see on Genesis 20:1). “And there fell of the Cushites, so that to them was not revival,” i.e., so many that they could not make a stand and again collect themselves, ut eis vivificatio i. e. copias restaurandi ratio non esset, as older commentators, in Annott. uberior. ad h. l., have already rightly interpreted it. The words are expressions for complete defeat. Berth. translates incorrectly: “until to them was nothing living;” for לאין does not stand for לאין עד , but ל serves to subordinate the clause, “so that no one,” where in the older language אין alone would have been sufficient, as in 2 Chronicles 20:25; 1 Chronicles 22:4, cf. Ew. §315, c ; and מחיה denotes, not “a living thing,” but only “preservation of life, vivification, revival, maintenance.” For they were broken before Jahve and before His host. מחנהוּ , i.e., Asa's army is called Jahve's, because Jahve fought in and with it against the enemy. There is no reason to suppose, with some older commentators, that there is any reference to an angelic host or heavenly camp (Genesis 32:2.). And they (Asa and his people) brought back very much booty.
2 Chronicles 14:13
“They smote all the cities round about Gerar,” which, as we must conclude from this, had made common cause with the Cushites, being inhabited by Philistines; for the fear of Jahve had fallen upon them. יהוה פּחד יהוה . here, and in 2 Chronicles 17:10; 2 Chronicles 20:29, as in 1 Samuel 11:7, the fear of the omnipotence displayed by Jahve in the annihilation of the innumerable hostile army. In these cities Judah found much booty.
2 Chronicles 14:14-15
They also smote the tents of the herds of the wandering tribes of that district, and carried away many sheep and camels as booty.