II Chronicles 13-16
Dear RTB’ers,
Sorry about not posting yesterday. Unexpected travel came up after my three-hour morning class and I wilted into bed for the night! So today, four chapters, one on Abijah and three on Asa. For both of these men, I Kings gives much shorter accounts, only eight verses for Abijah and only sixteen for Asa.
So, Abijah… He gives a great speech, fully seeking the Lord, and the Lord gives him a tremendous victory. The account in I Kings does not necessarily disagree, but it certainly downplays Abijah’s faith and his victory. As to his faith, I Kings 15:3b has “his heart not fully devoted to the Lord”. Similarly, I Kings 15:6 is the only verse that speaks of that war: And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. Today’s chapter on Abijah paints a much more glowing picture!
Asa’s three chapters cover wars and religious reforms. As to the wars, seeking the Lord instead of outside “help” is certainly the better way to go – a mighty victory over the invading Egyptians and a victory over the Northern Kingdom topped with Asa’s failure to reply on Syria instead of the Lord. Asa is confronted for this action by Hanani the seer: Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. … For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars. (vv. 16:7, 9) Asa then becomes diseased in his feet and continues to seek outside help instead of seeking the Lord: Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians. (v. 16:12b) Asa is highly regarded by the authors of both I Kings and II Chronicles, but suffers a sad ending to his great beginning…!
Blessings!
Fred