Study Desk

God himself is with us. He is our ruler, and his priests are with us. God's priests blow his trumpets to wake you up and make you excited about coming to him. Men of Israel, don't fight against the Lord , God of your ancestors, because you will not succeed!"

Then the men in Abijah's army shouted. When the men of Judah shouted, God defeated Jeroboam's army. Jeroboam's whole army from Israel was defeated by Abijah's army from Judah.

The men of Israel ran away from the men of Judah. God let the army from Judah defeat the army from Israel.

So at that time the Israelites were defeated, and the people of Judah won. The army from Judah won because they depended on the Lord , the God of their ancestors.

Asa did what the Lord his God said was good and right.

He commanded the people of Judah to follow the Lord , the God their ancestors had worshiped, and to obey his laws and commands.

Asa said to the people of Judah, "Let's build these towns and make walls around them. Let's make towers, gates, and bars in the gates. Let's do this while we still live in this country. This country is ours because we have followed the Lord our God. He has given us peace all around us." So they built and had success.

Asa called out to the Lord his God and said, " Lord , only you can help weak people against those who are strong! Help us, Lord our God! We depend on you. We fight against this large army in your name. Lord , you are our God! Don't let anyone defeat you!"

The Spirit of God came on Azariah, who was Obed's son.

For a long time Israel was without the true God. And they were without a teaching priest, and without the law.

But when the Israelites had trouble, they turned again to the Lord , the God of Israel. They looked for him and found him.

One nation would destroy another nation and one city would destroy another city. This was happening because God gave them all kinds of trouble.

Then Asa gathered all the people from Judah and Benjamin and the people from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had moved from the country of Israel to live in the country of Judah. A great many of these people came to Judah because they saw that the Lord , Asa's God, was with him.

Then they made an agreement to serve the Lord God with all their heart and with all their soul. He is the God their ancestors served.

Anyone who refused to serve the Lord God was to be killed. It did not matter if that person was important or not or if that person was a man or woman.

All the people of Judah were happy about the oath, because they had promised with all their heart. They followed God with all their heart. They looked for God and found him, so the Lord gave them peace in all the country.

Asa did not destroy the high places, even though he was faithful to God all his life.

Asa and his father had given some special gifts to God. Asa put these gifts of gold, silver, and other things into the Temple.

At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, "Asa, you depended on the king of Aram to help you and not the Lord your God. That's why the king's army has escaped from you.

He looked for the God his ancestors followed. He followed God's commands and did not live the same way the Israelites lived.