I Kings 15:1 – 24 and II Chronicles 13 - 16
With Rehoboam and Jeroboam, we begin a list of kings over Israel and Judah whose reigns are described in terms of whether they were faithful to the Lord and whether they committed the same sins as their fathers before them, whether they did what was right in the Lord’s sight.
After the death of Rehoboam, his son Abijam (also known as Abijah) ruled, but he didn’t last long – only three years. While Rehoboam didn’t go to war with Jeroboam, Abijam did. He “committed the same sins as his father before him and he was not faithful to the Lord his God.”
The next king of Judah was Abijam’s son Asa. He reigned a lot longer – 41 years. Asa “did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight.” While he didn’t remove the pagan shrines, he did banish male and female shrine prostitutes and got rid of the idols his ancestors had made. He even went so far as to depose his grandmother Maacah, one of Absalom’s daughters, from her position of queen mother. She apparently had made an “obscene” Asherah pole.
What puzzles me is how Asa came to be a good king, one who did what was pleasing in God’s sight. His father and grandfather had been evil men. His grandmother obviously was not faithful to the Lord. Who influenced him to follow the Lord?
On the other hand, Asa did have his problems. Instead of trusting God when King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah, he made a treaty with King Ben-hadad of Aram. When Hanani the seer came to King Asa and told him he had missed his opportunity to destroy the army of the king of Aram, because he had not trusted the Lord, Asa threw Hanani into prison and began to oppress the people. Asa also did not ask for God’s help with a foot disease he developed in the thirty-ninth year of his reign.
Tomorrow, it’s I Kings 15:25 – 16:34 and II Chronicles 17.
Tropical Storm Debbie
We’re still under the influence of Tropical Stomr Debbie although today was much better than yesterday, at least so far. I was even able to drive to Publix between bands of thunderstorms.
It did get pretty bad last night; in fact, I slept in my clothes, including wearing my shoes. The front end of my camper is up off the ground pretty far and when the wind is high, it shakes a bit. It was really fun in complete darkness after the power went out. Fortunately, I had some flashlights at hand – I’m compulsive about stuff like that.,
Until next time…
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