Today’s passage is a message from one of those lesser-known prophets we spoke of recently. The message was encouraging and Asa responded well. It is interesting. Azariah says “for a long time” Israel was without the true God, including without a teaching priest and without law. So Rehoboam reigned 17 years, Abijah 3 years, add the last year of Solomon and maybe a few years of Asa. In this case “a long time” is 25 years or so.
Asa did several
positive things spiritually (15:12-15): banished the perverted persons, removed
idolatrous queen mother, and he re-tooled the temple worship. On the negative side he did not remove the
high places. This is an issue in Judah, as seen in this list (the lines are
around times when the high places were removed: 1 Chron. 22:43; 2 Ki. 8:18,27;
12:3; 14:4; 15:4,35; 16:4; 18:4; 21:3,21; 23:5,8-9,13,15, 19-20.)
On
that issue, note the following about Jehoshaphat.
·
17:6: he removed the high places & wooden
images
·
20:4,13,20: it seems everyone was in on the
defeat of the enemy.
·
20:33: the high places were not taken away because
the people had not directed their hearts to the God of their fathers.
So, is there a contradiction? I don’t think so. Consider the following:
·
The people were not totally devoted to the Lord.
·
Jehoshaphat made laws and took down the high
places; but the stuff was not burned in the Kidron; and the people still had
wandering hearts.
·
Here are notes from various commentators.
o
Jamieson/Fausset/Brown: says ones where
false gods were worshipped were destroyed, those used by the people to worship
the true God had to be gradually abolished, bec. of popular prejudice.
o Wycliffe Commentary: says the official act was not popularly sustained.
o Brown-Driver-Briggs: 20:33: not taken away (repented of). 17:6: same term. One done by Jehoshaphat, one not done by the people.
Another great study from the time of
Jehoshaphat is his appointment of judges.
Overall, the point was that they served the LORD. Thus, no bribes were permitted. And they were to be people who feared the
LORD. How we would benefit from these
kinds of people in the leadership of our country.
In 1 Chronicles 16:7-10 King Asa was rebuked
by a prophet and got angry. Jehoshaphat
was rebuked by a prophet and responded well (19:1-4). These were two kings who did much good for
Israel. But Asa became hard-hearted late
in his reign and died a terrible death.
Jehoshaphat had a soft spot for the idolatrous and evil NK in the time
of Ahab. It caused him trouble more than
once, and after he died the infection permeated Judah until the demise of
Athaliah, the only “queen” of Judah.
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