Study Desk

You should know that the Lord , the God of Israel, gave David and his sons the right to be king over Israel forever. God gave this right to David with an agreement of salt.

But Jeroboam turned against his master. Jeroboam son of Nebat was one of the servants of David's son Solomon.

Then worthless, evil men became friends with Jeroboam. Then Jeroboam and the bad men turned against Rehoboam, Solomon's son. Rehoboam was young and did not have experience. So he could not stop Jeroboam and his bad friends.

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!"

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.

Then Zerah from Ethiopia came out against Asa's army. He had 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots in his army. His army went as far as the town of Mareshah.

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!"

Asa's army chased the Ethiopian army all the way to the town of Gerar. So many Ethiopians were killed that they could not get together as an army to fight again. They were crushed by the Lord and his army. Asa and his army carried many valuable things away from the enemy.

Asa and his army defeated all the towns near Gerar. The people living in those towns were afraid of the Lord . Those towns had very many valuable things. Asa's army took those valuable things away from those towns.

His army also attacked the camps where the shepherds lived and took many sheep and camels. Then they went back to Jerusalem.

King Asa also removed Maacah, his mother, from being queen mother. He did this because she had set up one of those awful poles to honor the goddess Asherah. Asa cut down that Asherah pole, smashed it into small pieces, and burned the pieces in the Kidron Valley.

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.

So Asa took gold and silver from the treasuries of the Lord 's Temple and the king's palace. He gave it to his officials and sent them to King Ben-Hadad of Aram. Ben-Hadad was the son of Tabrimmon. Tabrimmon was the son of Hezion. Damascus was Ben-Hadad's capital city.

King Ben-Hadad made that agreement with King Asa and sent his army to fight against the Israelite towns of Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, and the storage cities in the area of Naphtali.

Asa's feet became infected in his 39th year as king. Even though the infection was very serious, Asa did not go to the Lord for help. He went to the doctors instead.

Asa died in the 41st year as king and rested with his ancestors.

The people buried Asa in his own tomb that he made for himself in the City of David. They laid him in a bed that was filled with spices and different kinds of mixed perfumes, and they burned a large fire for him.

He put groups of soldiers in all the towns of Judah that were made into fortresses. He built fortresses in Judah and in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.