Week 21 2 Chronicles 14-16
It looks to me like Asa was a good king in many ways.
He did what was pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord his God. For example:
He got rid of pagan altars & shrines & idols
He repaired the altar in the temple
He led the nation back to the worship of the Lord
He prayed for help when Ethiopia attacked Judah – O Lord, you are our God: do not let mere men prevail – and he got his help!
Asa remained fully committed to the Lord throughout his life.
But that said Asa doesn’t end up with an absolutely pristine record:
Example #1: he paid a mercenary army to protect Judah. But a prophet named Hanani chastised Asa for his lack of faith: the eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! Asa’s reaction? He threw Hanani in jail.
Example #2: Asa developed a foot disease at the end of his life and even when the disease became life-threatening, he did not seek the Lord’s help but sought help only from his physicians.
It looks like Asa did not make any deliberate choices to do wrong. But he did make a couple of choices not to do the best thing. So I’ll keep those asterisks in mind when I read that Asa remained fully committed to the Lord throughout his life.
Note: quotes from 2 Chronicles 14:2 11 15:17 16:9 12 (NLT)