Study Desk

He did evil because he did not set his heart to seek and worship and honor the LORD.

And Rehoboam slept with his fathers [in death] and was buried in the City of David; and Abijah his son became king in his place.

He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam [of Israel].

"Do you not know that the LORD God of Israel, gave rule over Israel forever to David and to his sons by a covenant of salt [a permanent pact, extending to each generation of Israel]?

"Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord [the king],

"Behold, God is with us at our head, and His priests [are here] with their signal trumpets to sound an alarm against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed."

Abijah and his people inflicted on them a great defeat, so that 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain.

Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are written in the writing of the prophet Iddo.

So Abijah slept with his fathers [in death], and they buried him in the City of David; and Asa his son became king in his place. The land was at peace for ten years during his days.

Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the LORD his God.

Asa also removed the [idolatrous] high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah. The kingdom was at rest and undisturbed under his reign.

Asa called out to the LORD his God, saying, "O LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and the weak; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in and rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You."

Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that none of them were found alive; for they were destroyed before the LORD and His army. And they carried away a very large amount of spoil.

He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers who were with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to Asa from Israel in large numbers when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

But the high places [of pagan worship] were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless Asa's heart was blameless all his days.

He brought the things that his father [Abijah] had dedicated and those things that he had dedicated into the house of God—silver and gold and utensils.

Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they attacked and conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.

When Baasha heard about it, he ceased fortifying Ramah and stopped his work.

"For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth so that He may support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this; therefore, from now on you will have wars."

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa developed a disease in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his illness he did not seek the LORD, but [relied only on] the physicians.