Chapter XV
1–15 (no parallel in Kings).
The Prophecy of Azariah the Son of Oded and its Sequel.
¹And the spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:
1. Azariah the son of Oded] is mentioned only in this passage. Compare xvi. 7, where a prophet (Hanani), also known to us only through Chronicles, delivers a rebuke to Asa.
²and he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
2. went out to meet] Compare xix. 2.
if ye seek him] compare 1 Chronicles xxviii. 9.
Verses 3–6 contain the reflections of the Chronicler himself or a glossator on the whole course of Israelite history. The wording is too vague and there are periods in the history too obscure to make it possible to determine the reference definitely.
³Now for long seasons¹ Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law: ⁴but when in their distress they turned unto the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
¹ Or, a long season.
3. without a teaching priest, and without law] The connection between these two is closer than the English suggests. “Law” (Hebrew tōrah) is properly “teaching, guidance.” A “teaching” priest (Hebrew mōreh) is one who gives “tōrah” or “guidance” on doubtful points of morality or ritual. Compare Malachi ii. 7.
⁵And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the lands.
5. vexations] Rather, afflictions; compare Acts xii. 1, “to vex (Revised Version ‘to afflict’) certain of the church.”
of the lands] The reference is probably to the Israelite territory only; compare xi. 23, xxxiv. 33; and 1 Chronicles xiii. 2 (margin).
⁶And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city: for God did vex them with all adversity.
6. nation against nation] Apparently Israel is meant. In the civil strife of the days of the Judges, and again in the contentions of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, Israel seemed at times to be a collection of related but hostile tribes: compare Judges viii. 13–17, ix. 26 ff., xii. 1 ff., xx. 12 ff.
vex] Rather, afflict; see verse 5.
⁷But be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack: for your work shall be rewarded.
7. be ye strong, etc.] The prophet’s warning is continued in this verse.
⁸And when Asa heard these words, and¹ the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord.
¹ Or, even.
8. and the prophecy of Oded the prophet] Some words have fallen out of the text. Read, even the prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded prophesied.
the abominations] compare 1 Kings xiv. 23, 24, xv. 12, 13.
the cities which he had taken) A loose reference to those said to have been captured by Abijah (xiii. 19). There is no record of any taken by Asa himself.
the hill country of Ephraim] The term describes the hilly country between the plain of Esdraelon and the territory of Benjamin.
that was before the porch] Compare vii. 7, viii. 12.
⁹And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and them that sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
9. them that sojourned with them] Compare x. 17, xi. 16, 17, xvi. 1.
out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon] In view of the evidence of Kings and the special character of Chronicles this statement cannot be regarded as having historical value for the time of Asa. Taking it in connection with similar notices in 1 Chronicles ix. 3 (Ephraim and Manasseh), xii. 8, 19 (Gad and Manasseh), 2 Chronicles xxx. 1, 10, 11, 18, xxxiv. 9 (Ephraim and Manasseh; also Zebulun, Issachar, and perhaps Asher) we may infer that these references have significance for the time of the Chronicler (or his source) and were inserted either (a) to gratify the wishes of certain orthodox families in Jerusalem who counted themselves descendants of North Israelite families, especially of Ephraim and Manasseh, and were eager to think that their ancestors had associated themselves with the fortunes of the true Israel at an early date after the separation of the kingdoms or at least in pre-exilic days. Or (b)—an interesting suggestion first advanced by Stade and recently developed by Hölscher (Palästina in der persischen und hellenistischen Zeit, 1903, pp. 30–37)—we may suppose that the reference is not to families resident in Jerusalem but to persons living in the territories once occupied by Ephraim, Manasseh, etc., and loyal to the faith of the orthodox community in Jerusalem. The former view seems favoured by 1 Chronicles ix. 3, the latter by 2 Chronicles xxx. 25 (despite the last words); and on general grounds the latter view seems preferable to the present writer. If so, we have in Chronicles the first traces of the extension of Judaism northwards from Judea into Samaria and Galilee. Hölscher thinks that the evidence of Chronicles can be supported from the late chapters Zechariah ix.–xiv., and from passages in Judith.
Simeon] The territory of this tribe lay in the South (1 Chronicles iv. 28–43; Joshua xix. 1–9), and it is natural to think that at the disruption Simeon followed Judah in allegiance to the house of David. Here, however, and in xxxiv. 6 it is reckoned as one of the ten tribes forming the Northern Kingdom, for what reason it is hard to say. The traditions relating to the tribe are far from clear (see Encyclopedia Britannica s.v. Simeon).
¹⁰So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
10. in the third month] In this month the Feast of Weeks (i.e. of wheat harvest) was held; Deuteronomy xvi. 9.
¹¹And they sacrificed unto the Lord in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
11. the spoil] Compare xiv. 13–15.
¹²And they entered into the covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul;
12. they entered into the covenant] Compare xxix. 10; 2 Kings xxiii. 3.
¹³and that whosoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
13. should be put to death] According to the Law; Deuteronomy xvii. 2–7.
¹⁴And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
14. shouting] The word (terū‘āh) is used to denote a blast with the festal trumpets; see next note.
trumpets] The word (hăṣōṣĕrāh) means a special kind of trumpet used only for religious purposes; Numbers x. 1–10; 1 Chronicles xv. 24 (note). Driver, Amos, pp. 144–6, gives an illustration derived from the Arch of Titus.
¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.
15. he was found of them] A fulfilment of the promise given in verse 2.
16–19 (1 Kings xv. 13–15).
Other Religious Measures of Asa.
¹⁶And also Maacah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen¹, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah²; and Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
¹ Or, queen mother.
² Or, for Asherah.
16. And also Maacah] “Maacah the daughter of Abishalom” is described as the mother of Abijam (Abijah) in 1 Kings xv. 2 and as the mother of Asa in 1 Kings xv. 10, although Asa is described as the son of Abijam (Abijah) in 1 Kings xv. 8. Most probably Maacah was the grandmother of Asa but retained her position as queen mother during two reigns, i.e. until removed by Asa.
from being queen] Or, as margin, from being queen mother.
an abominable image] Exactly what is meant by this phrase is uncertain. The image was one of peculiarly repulsive appearance, or perhaps of specially degrading significance.
for an Asherah] Revised Version margin (rightly, as representing the meaning of the Chronicler) for Asherah, since Asherah here and in a few other passages (1 Kings xviii. 19; 2 Kings xxi. 7, xxiii. 4, 7) is to be translated as the name of a goddess, about whom however very little is known. Excavations at Ta’anach have revealed that a goddess named Ashirat (= Asherah) was worshipped in Palestine from an early period. The references here and in the passages cited above would therefore seem to be to this goddess. That conclusion, if sound, disposes of the opinion that the Chronicler was mistaken in imagining that “Ashērah” was anything more than a common noun denoting the wooden symbol of a deity. We must of course translate according to the meaning of the Chronicler whether he has fallen into an error or not. See also the note on xiv. 3, p. 224.
the brook Kidron] On the east of Jerusalem, an unclean place; compare 2 Kings xxiii. 4, “in the fields of Kidron.” Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 80.
¹⁷But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
17. the high places] Hebrew bāmōth. These were not necessarily places of idolatrous worship, but they were sanctuaries rigorously forbidden by the Law from the Deuteronomic period onwards, which in the opinion of the Chronicler of course meant from the time of Moses. Failure to “remove” the high places was therefore reckoned by him as a sin in any of the kings, no matter how early in the period of the monarchy.
were not taken away... days] So also 1 Kings xv. 14, but a direct contradiction of the Chronicler’s statement in xiv. 3! Two explanations seem possible; either, “Israel” (contrary to the frequent usage of the word in Chronicles, see xi. 3) here denotes the Northern Kingdom as distinct from Judah, in which case xiv. 3 is to be taken as referring only to Judah, or perhaps these verses 16–19 are an addition to Chronicles inserted by someone who thought the Chronicler had wrongfully neglected 1 Kings xv. 13–15.
perfect] i.e. “whole, undivided in its allegiance.”
¹⁸And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.
18. the things that his father had dedicated] Probably spoils of war; compare 1 Chronicles xviii. 11. It is implied that Abijah had vowed a portion of his spoils, but that Asa first actually presented them in the Temple. The verse is quoted verbatim from 1 Kings xv. 15, and is most obscure, so that there is probability in the view that it is only a misplaced repetition of 1 Kings vii. 51b. No stress can therefore be laid on the suggestion that we may see in this statement an indirect confirmation of Abijah’s victory recorded in 2 Chronicles xiii.
¹⁹And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.
19. there was no more war] This statement can be reconciled with 1 Kings xv. 16, 32 only by interpreting it broadly to mean that nothing serious occurred until the war with Baasha had been going on for several years: a forced interpretation. Perhaps the Chronicler deliberately contradicts Kings “there was war between Asa and Baasha all their days,” assigning to Asa’s reign a time of peace which seemed appropriate to his piety.