2 Chronicles 14:1-15
1 So Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.
Asa Reigns in Judah (1 Kings 15:9–15)
2 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God, 3 for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images. 4 He commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment. 5 He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was quiet under him. 6 And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest; he had no war in those years, because the LORD had given him rest. 7 Therefore he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the LORD our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered. 8 And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah who carried shields and spears, and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand men who carried shields and drew bows; all these were mighty men of valor.
9 Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. 10 So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 And Asa cried out to the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!”
12 So the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 13 And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar. So the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover, for they were broken before the LORD and His army. And they carried away very much spoil. 14 Then they defeated all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the LORD came upon them; and they plundered all the cities, for there was exceedingly much spoil in them. 15 They also attacked the livestock enclosures, and carried off sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.
After Abijah came his son Asa who learned to keep God’s word from his father, yet took it to a more serious and full extent. The scriptures tell us here that Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God. He removed and destroyed the idols and their worship from God’s people and commanded them to not just obey the word of God, but to seek Him above all else as they pursued the knowledge of Him (Hosea 6:3, Proverbs 18:15) in applying the scriptures to life as we are also called (1 Corinthians 14:20, 2 Peter 3:17-18) to do and pursue. Because Asa did these things by example and command, Judah prospered with quiet and rest from war for a time. When war did come again, Asa turned to the LORD for help and did not rely on his own wisdom, ability, or strength to repel the enemy, but realized their helplessness apart from Him who was omnipotent over all things. He had and exercised faith in God’s work, as we should in Christ our Lord just we have already done in trusting His work on the cross for our salvation from sin’s penalty. Asa went in the strength and honored the name of the LORD their God in relying on Him to do battle for them. God answered with victory over the enemy (Psalm 60:12) and rewards for their faith exercised in their obedience to be used to fight the good fight as we should in Christ against the adversary of our souls (Revelation 12:17, 11) who is put to stop us from proclaiming victory (Isaiah 25:8, 1 Corinthians 15:57, 1 John 5:4) through the gospel of the ultimate victory over death and hell. Our spoils of this war are our faithful works earned to please our Lord (1 Corinthians 3:12-13, 14-15, 1 Peter 1:7) with faith applied to action in word and deed (1 Corinthians 3:7-8) that lead to holiness in our conformity to Christ who has earned our salvation for us already by His work. May we therefore be found doing what is good and right in God’s eyes like Asa and not pursuing pleasing others or showing ourselves to be good or strong apart from His grace in us. Amen!
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