Week 21 2 Chronicles 14-16
I noticed a couple of time-stamps that marked events during king Asa’s reign.
1) when Asa became king there was peace in the land for ten years
2) then an Ethiopian named Zerah attacked Judah. That ended the decade of peace but Asa still depended on the Lord. Later (it was in late spring, during the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign) a big public event reconfirmed Asa & Judah’s covenant loyalty to the Lord
3) after that there was no more war until the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign (an impressive twenty-year span of peace)
4) then the War of Year 36 was started by Baasha of Israel. Asa’s solution – a terrible & inexplicable decision – was to hire mercenaries from Damascus. A prophet – Hanani – told Asa from now on, you will be at war. That forecast came in Asa’s thirty-sixth year and he died in the forty-first year of his reign.
So…
Years 1-10: peace (devoted to the Lord)
Years 11-15: conflict (devoted to the Lord)
Years 16-36: peace (devoted to the Lord)
Years 37-41: conflict (not devoted to the Lord)
41-years as king. 36-years devoted to the Lord. But during those last 5-6 years something went wrong.
Hanani’s diagnosis was this: the eyes of the Lord search the whole earth…to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him
By that he meant that the Lord had searched the earth and would have helped Asa if he’d stayed fully committed to him.
But Asa had tailed off on the last lap.
Note: quotes from 2 Chronicles 14:1 6 8 15:10 19 16:9 13 (NLT)