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Expositor's Bible Commentary 2 Chronicles 15:1 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: ASA: DIVINE RETRIBUTION 2 Chronicles 14:1-15 ; 2 Chronicles 15:1-19 ; 2 Chronicles 16:1-14 ABIJAH, dying, as far as we can gather from Chronicles, in the odor of sanctity, was succeeded by his son Asa. The chronicler’s history of Asa is much fuller than that which is given in the book of Kings. The older narrative is used as a framework into which material from later sources is freely inserted. The beginning of the new reign was singularly promising. Abijah had been a very David, he had fought the battles of Jehovah, and had assured the security and independence of Judah. Asa, like Solomon, entered into the peaceful enjoyment of his predecessor’s exertions in the field. "In his days the land was quiet ten years," as in the days when the judges had delivered Israel, and he was able to exhort his people to prudent effort by reminding them that Jehovah had given them rest on every side. This interval of quiet was used for both religious reform and military precautions. The high places and heathen idols and symbols which had somehow survived Abijah’s zeal for the Mosaic ritual were swept away, and Judah was commanded to seek Jehovah and observe the Law; and he built fortresses with towers, and gates, and bars, and raised a great army "that bare bucklers and spears,"-no mere hasty levy of half-armed peasants with scythes and axes. The mighty array surpassed even Abijah’s great muster of four hundred thousand from Judah and Benjamin: there were five hundred and eighty thousand men, three hundred thousand out of Judah that bare bucklers and spears and two hundred and eighty thousand out of Benjamin that bare shields and drew bows. The great muster of Benjamites under Asa is in striking contrast to the meager tale of six hundred warriors that formed the whole strength of Benjamin after its disastrous defeat in the days of the judges; and the splendid equipment of this mighty host shows the rapid progress of the nation from the desperate days of Shamgar and Jael or even of Saul’s early reign, when "there was neither shield nor spear seen among forty thousand in Israel." These references of buildings, especially fortresses, to military stores and the vast numbers of Jewish and Israelite armies, form a distinct class amongst the additions made by the chronicler to the material taken from the book of Kings. They are found in the narratives of the reigns of David, Rehoboam, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, Manasseh, in fact in the reigns of nearly all the good kings; Manasseh’s building was done after he had turned from his evil ways. { 1 Chronicles 12:1-40 , etc.; 2 Chronicles 11:5 ff; 2 Chronicles 17:12 ff; 2 Chronicles 26:9 ff; 2 Chronicles 27:4 ff; 2 Chronicles 28:23-24 ; 2 Chronicles 33:14 } Hezekiah and Josiah were too much occupied with sacred festivals on the one hand and hostile invaders on the other to have much leisure for building, and it would not have been in keeping with Solomon’s character as the prince of peace to have laid stress on his arsenals and armies Otherwise the chronicler, living at a time when the warlike resources of Judah were of the slightest, was naturally interested in these reminiscences of departed glory; and the Jewish provincials would take a pride in relating these pieces of antiquarian information about their native towns, much as the servants of old manor-houses delight to point out the wing which was added by some famous cavalier or by some Jacobite Squire. Asa’s warlike preparations were possibly intended, like those of the Triple Alliance, to enable him to maintain peace; but if so, their sequel did not illustrate the maxim, " Si vis pacem, para bellum ." The rumour of his vast armaments reached a powerful monarch: "Zerah the Ethiopian." ( 2 Chronicles 14:9-15 ) The vagueness of this description is doubtless due to the remoteness of the chronicler from the times he is describing. Zerah has sometimes been identified with Shishak’s successor, Osorkon I, the second king of the twenty-second Egyptian dynasty. Zerah felt that Asa’s great army was a standing menace to the surrounding princes, and undertook the task of destroying this new military power: "He came out against them." Numerous as Asa’s forces were, they still left him dependent upon Jehovah, for the enemy were even more numerous and better equipped. Zerah led to battle an army of a million men, supported by three hundred war chariots. With this enormous host he came to Mareshah, at the foot of the Judaean highlands, in a direction southwest of Jerusalem. In spite of the inferiority of his army, Ass came out to meet him; "and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah." Like Abijah, Asa felt that, with his Divine ally, he need not be afraid of the odds against him even when they could be counted by hundreds of thousands. Trusting in Jehovah, he had taken the field against the enemy; and now at the decisive moment he made a confident appeal for help: "Jehovah, there is none beside Thee to help between the mighty and him that hath no strength." Five hundred and eighty thousand men seemed nothing compared to the host arrayed against them, and outnumbering them in the proportion of nearly two to one. "Help us, Jehovah our God; for we rely on Thee, and in Thy name are we come against this multitude. Jehovah, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee." Jehovah justified the trust reposed in Him. He smote the Ethiopians, and they fled towards the southwest in the direction of Egypt; and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar, with fearful slaughter, so that of Zerah’s million followers not one remained alive. Of course this statement is hyperbolical. The carnage was enormous, and no living enemies remained in sight. Apparently Gerar and the neighboring cities had aided Zerah in his advance and attempted to shelter the fugitives from Mareshah. Paralyzed with fear of Jehovah, whose avenging wrath had been so terribly manifested, these cities fell an easy prey to the victorious Jews. They smote and spoiled all the cities about Gerar, and reaped a rich harvest "for there was much spoil in them." It seems that the nomad tribes of the southern wilderness had also in some way identified themselves with the invaders; Asa attacked them in their turn. "They smote also the tents of cattle"; and as the wealth of these tribes lay in their flocks and herds, "they carried away sheep in abundance and camels, and returned to Jerusalem." This victory is closely parallel to that of Abijah over Jeroboam. In both the numbers of the armies are reckoned by hundreds of thousands; and the hostile host outnumbers the army of Judah in the one case by exactly two to one, in the other by nearly that proportion: in both the king of Judah trusts with calm assurance to the assistance of Jehovah, and Jehovah smites the enemy; the Jews then massacre the defeated army and spoil or capture the neighboring cities. These victories over superior numbers may easily be paralleled or surpassed by numerous striking examples from secular history. The odds were greater at Agincourt, where at least sixty thousand French were defeated by not more than twenty thousand Englishmen; at Marathon the Greeks routed a Persian army ten times as numerous as their own; in India English generals have defeated innumerable hordes of native warriors, as when Wellesley- "Against the myriads of Assaye Clashed with his fiery few and won." For the most part victorious generals have been ready to acknowledge the succoring arm of the God of battles. Shakespeare’s Henry V after Agincourt speaks altogether in the spirit of Asa’s prayer:- "O God, Thy arm was here; And not to us, but to Thy arm alone, Ascribe we all Take it, God, For it is only Thine." When the small craft that made up Elizabeth’s fleet defeated the huge Spanish galleons and galleasses, and the storms of the northern seas finished the work of destruction, the grateful piety of Protestant England felt that its foes had been destroyed by the breath of the Lord; " Afflavit Deus et dissipantur ." The principle that underlies such feelings is quite independent of the exact proportions of opposing armies. The victories of inferior numbers in a righteous cause are the most striking, but not the most significant, illustrations of the superiority of moral to material force. In the wider movements of international politics we may find even more characteristic instances. It is true of nations as well as of individuals that- "The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up: The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich; He bringeth low, He also lifteth up: He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes And inherit the throne of glory." Italy in the eighteenth century seemed as hopelessly divided as Israel under the judges, and Greece as completely enslaved to the "unspeakable Turk" as the Jews to Nebuchadnezzar; and yet, destitute as they were of any material resources, these nations had at their disposal great moral forces: the memory of ancient greatness and the sentiment of nationality; and today Italy can count hundreds of thousands like the chroniclers Jewish kings, and Greece builds her fortresses by land and her ironclads to command the sea. The Lord has fought for Israel. But the principle has a wider application. A little examination of the more obscure and complicated movements of social life will show moral forces everywhere overcoming and controlling the apparently irresistible material forces opposed to them. The English and American pioneers of the movements for the abolition of slavery had to face what seemed an impenetrable phalanx of powerful interests and influences; but probably any impartial student of history would have foreseen the ultimate triumph of a handful of earnest men over all the wealth and political power of the slave-owners. The moral forces at the disposal of the abolitionists were obviously irresistible. But the soldier in the midst of smoke and tumult may still be anxious and despondent at the very moment when the spectator sees clearly that the battle is won: and the most earnest Christian workers sometimes falter when they realize the vast and terrible forces that fight against them. At such times we are both rebuked and encouraged by the simple faith of the chronicler in the overruling power of God. It may be objected that if victory were to be secured by Divine intervention, there was no need to muster five hundred and eighty thousand men or indeed any army at all. If in any and every case God disposes, what need is there for the devotion to His service of our best strength, and energy, and culture, or of any human effort at all? A wholesome spiritual instinct leads the chronicler to emphasize the great preparations of Abijah and Asa. We have no right to look for Divine co-operation till we have done our best; we are not to sit with folded hands and expect a complete salvation to be wrought for us, and then to continue as idle spectators of God’s redemption of mankind we are to tax our resources to the utmost to gather our hundreds of thousands of soldiers; we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. This principle may be put in another way. Even to the hundreds of thousands the Divine help is still necessary. The leaders of great hosts are as dependent upon Divine help as Jonathan and his armor-bearer fighting single-handed against a Philistine garrison, or David arming himself with a sling and stone against Goliath of Gath. The most competent Christian worker in the prime of his spiritual strength needs grace as much as the untried youth making his first venture in the Lord’s service. At this point we meet with another of the chronicler’s obvious self-contradictions. At the beginning of the narrative of Asa’s reign we are told that the king did away with the high places and the symbols of idolatrous worship, and that, because Judah had thus sought Jehovah, He gave them rest. The deliverance from Zerah is another mark of Divine favor: And yet in the fifteenth chapter Asa, in obedience to prophetic admonition, takes away the abominations from his dominions, as if there had been no previous reformation, but we are told that the high places were not taken out of Israel. The context would naturally suggest that Israel here means Asa’s kingdom, as the true Israel of God; but as the verse is borrowed from the book of Kings, and "out of Israel" is an editorial addition made by the chronicler, it is probably intended to harmonize the borrowed verse with the chronicler’s previous statement that Asa did away with the high places. If so, we must understand that Israel means the Northern Kingdom, from which the high places had not been removed, though Judah had been purged from these abominations. But here, as often elsewhere, Chronicles taken alone affords no explanation of its inconsistencies. Again, in Asa’s first reformation he commanded Judah to seek Jehovah and to do the Law and the commandments; and accordingly Judah sought tile Lord. Moreover, Abijah, about seventeen years before Asa’s second reformation, made it his special boast that Judah had not forsaken Jehovah, but had priests ministering unto Jehovah, "the sons of Aaron and the Levites in their work." During Rehoboam’s reign of seventeen years Jehovah was duly honored for the first three years, and again after Shishak’s invasion in the fifth year of Rehoboam. So that for the previous thirty or forty years the due worship of Jehovah had only been interrupted by occasional lapses into disobedience. But now the prophet Oded holds before this faithful people the warning example of the "long seasons" when Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. And yet previously Chronicles supplies an unbroken list of high-priests from Aaron downwards. In response to Oded’s appeal, the king and people set about the work of reformation as if they had tolerated some such neglect of God, the priests, and the Law as the prophet had described. Another minor discrepancy is found in the statement that "the heart of Asa was perfect all his days"; this is reproduced verbatim from the book of Kings. Immediately afterwards the chronicler relates the evil doings of Asa in the closing years of his reign. Such contradictions render it impossible to give a complete and continuous exposition of Chronicles that shall be at the same time consistent. Nevertheless they are not without their value for the Christian student. They afford evidence of the good faith of the chronicler. His contradictions are clearly due to his use of independent and discrepant sources, and not to any tampering with the statements of his authorities. They are also an indication that the chronicler attaches much more importance to spiritual edification than to historical accuracy. When he seeks to set before his contemporaries the higher nature and better life of the great national heroes, and thus to provide them with an ideal of kingship, he is scrupulously and painfully careful to remove everything that would weaken the force of the lesson which he is trying to teach; but he is comparatively indifferent to accuracy of historical detail. When his authorities contradict each other as to the number or the date of Asa’s reformations, or even the character of his later years, he does not hesitate to place the two narratives side by side and practically to draw lessons from both. The work of the chronicler and its presence with the Pentateuch and the Synoptic Gospels in the sacred canon imply an emphatic declaration of the judgment of the Spirit and the Church that detailed historical accuracy is not a necessary consequence of inspiration. In expounding this second narrative of a reformation by Asa, we shall make no attempt at complete harmony with the rest of Chronicles; any inconsistency between the exposition here and elsewhere will simply arise from a faithful adherence to our text. The occasion then of Asa’s second reformation was as follows: Asa was returning in triumph from his great defeat of Zerah, bringing with him substantial fruits of victory in the shape of abundant spoil. Wealth and power had proved a snare to David and Rehoboam, and had involved them in grievous sin. Asa might also have succumbed to the temptations of prosperity; but, by a special Divine grace not vouchsafed to his predecessors, he was guarded against danger by a prophetic warning. At the very moment when Asa might have expected to be greeted by the acclamations of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when the king would be elated with the sense of Divine favor, military success, and popular applause, the prophet’s admonition checked the undue exaltation which might have hurried Asa into presumptuous sin. Asa and his people were not to presume upon their privilege; its continuance was altogether dependent upon their continued obedience: if they fell into sin the rewards of their former loyalty would vanish like fairy gold. "Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah 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." This lesson was enforced from the earlier history of Israel. The following verses are virtually a summary of the history of the judges:- "Now for long seasons Israel was without the true God, and without teaching priest, and without law." Judges tells how again and again Israel fell away from Jehovah. "But when in their distress they turned unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, and sought Him, he was found of them." Oded’s address is very similar to another and somewhat fuller summary of the history of the judges, contained in Samuel’s farewell to the people, in which he reminded them how when they forgot Jehovah, their God, He sold them into the hand of their enemies, and when they cried unto Jehovah, He sent Zerubbabel, and Barak, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies on every side, and they dwelt in safety. Oded proceeds to other characteristics of the period of the judges: "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. And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation and city against city, for God did vex them with all adversity." Deborah’s song records great vexations: the highways were unoccupied, and the travelers walked through by-ways; the rulers ceased in Israel; Gideon "threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites." The breaking of nation against nation and city against city will refer to the destruction of Succoth and Penuel by Gideon, the sieges of Shechem and Thebez by Ahimelech, the massacre of the Ephraimites by Jephthah, and the civil war between Benjamin and the rest of Israel and the consequent destruction of Jabesh-gilead. { Jdg 5:6-7 ; Jdg 6:2 ; Jdg 8:15-17 ; Jdg 9:1-7 ; Jdg 12:6 } "But," said Oded, "be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack, for your work shall be rewarded." Oded implies that abuses were prevalent in Judah which might spread and corrupt the whole people, so as to draw down upon them the wrath of God and plunge them into all the miseries of the times of the judges. These abuses were wide-spread, supported by powerful interests and numerous adherents. The queen-mother, one of the most important personages in an Eastern state, was herself devoted to heathen observances. Their suppression needed courage, energy, and pertinacity; but if they were resolutely grappled with, Jehovah would reward the efforts of His servants with success, and Judah would enjoy prosperity. Accordingly Asa took courage and put away the abominations out of Judah and Benjamin and the cities he held in Ephraim. The abominations were the idols and all the cruel and obscene accompaniments of heathen worship. {Cf. 1 Kings 15:12 } In the prophet’s exhortation to be strong, and not be slack, and in the corresponding statement that Asa took courage, we have a hint for all reformers. Neither Oded nor Asa underrated the serious nature of the task before them. They counted the cost, and with open eyes and full knowledge confronted the evil they meant to eradicate. The full significance of the chronicler’s language is only seen when we remember what preceded the prophet’s appeal to Asa. The captain of half a million soldiers, the conqueror of a million Ethiopians with three hundred chariots, has to take courage before he can bring himself to put away the abominations out of his own dominions. Military machinery is more readily created than national righteousness; it is easier to slaughter one’s neighbors than to let light into the dark places that are full of the habitations of cruelty; and vigorous foreign policy is a poor substitute for good administration. The principle has its application to the individual. The beam in our own eye seems more difficult to extract than the mote in our brother’s, and a man often needs more moral courage to reform himself than to denounce other people’s sins or urge them to accept salvation. Most ministers could confirm from their own experience Portia’s saying, "I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching." Asa’s reformation was constructive as well as destructive; the toleration of "abominations" had diminished the zeal of the people for Jehovah, and even the altar of Jehovah before the porch of the Temple had suffered from neglect: it was now renewed, and Asa assembled the people for a great festival. Under Rehoboam many pious Israelites had left the Northern Kingdom to dwell where they could freely worship at the Temple; under Asa there was a new migration, "for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him." And so it came about that in the great assembly which Asa gathered together at Jerusalem not only Judah and Benjamin, but also Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, were represented. The chronicler has already told us that after the return from the Captivity some of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh dwelt at Jerusalem with the children of Judah and Benjamin, { 1 Chronicles 9:3 } and he is always careful to note any settlement of members of the ten tribes in Judah or any acquisition of northern territory by the kings of Judah. Such facts illustrated his doctrine that Judah was the true spiritual Israel, the real or twelve-tribed whole, of the chosen people. Asa’s festival was held in the third month of his fifteenth year, the month Sivan, corresponding roughly to our June. The Feast of Weeks, at which first-fruits were offered, felt in this month; and his festival was probably a special celebration of this feast. The sacrifice of seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep out of the spoil taken from the Ethiopians and their allies might be considered a kind of first-fruits. The people pledged themselves most solemnly to permanent obedience to Jehovah; this festival and its offerings were to be first-fruits or earnest of future loyalty. "They entered into a covenant to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; they sware unto Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets." The observance of this covenant was not to be left to the uncertainties of individual loyalty; the community were to be on their guard against offenders, Achans who might trouble Israel. According to the stern law of the Pentateuch, { Exodus 22:20 , Deuteronomy 13:5 , Deuteronomy 13:9 , Deuteronomy 13:15 } "whosoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman." The seeking of Jehovah so far as it could be enforced by penalties, must have consisted in external observances; and the usual proof that a man did not seek Jehovah would be found in his seeking other gods and taking part in heathen rites. Such apostasy was not merely an ecclesiastical offense; it involved immorality and a falling away from patriotism. The pious Jew could no more tolerate heathenism than we could tolerate in England religions that sanctioned polygamy or suttee. Having thus entered into covenant with Jehovah, "all Judah rejoiced at their oath because they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire." At the beginning, no doubt, they, like their king, "took courage"; they addressed themselves with reluctance and apprehension to an unwelcome and hazardous enterprise. They now rejoiced over the Divine grace that had inspired their efforts and been manifested in their courage and devotion, over the happy issue of their enterprise, and over the universal enthusiasm for Jehovah; and He set the seal of his approval upon their gladness, He was found of them, and Jehovah gave them rest round about, so that there was no more war for twenty years: unto the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign. It is an unsavory task to put away abominations: many foul nests of unclean birds are disturbed in the process; men would not choose to have this particular cross laid upon them, but only those who take up their cross and follow Christ can hope to enter into the joy of the Lord. The narrative of this second reformation is completed by the addition of details borrowed from the book of Kings. The chronicler next recounts how in the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha began to fortify Ramah as an outpost against Judah but was forced to abandon his undertaking by the intervention of the Syrian king. Benhadad, whom Asa hired with his own treasures and those of the Temple; whereupon Asa carried off Baasha’s stones and timber and built Geba and Mizpah as Jewish outposts against Israel. With the exception of the date and a few minor changes, the narrative so far is taken verbatim from the book of Kings. The chronicler, like the author of the priestly document of the Pentateuch, was anxious to provide his readers with an exact and complete system of chronology; he was the Ussher or Clinton of his generation. His date of the war against Baasha is probably based upon an interpretation of the source used for chapter 15; the first reformation secured a rest of ten years, the second and more thorough reformation a rest exactly twice as long as the first. In the interest of these chronological references, the chronicler has sacrificed a statement twice repeated in the book of Kings: that there was war between Asa and Baasha all their days. As Baasha came to the throne in Asa’s third year, the statement of the book of Kings would have seemed to contradict the chronicler’s assertion that there was no war from the fifteenth to the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign. { 1 Kings 15:16 ; 1 Kings 15:32-33 } After his victory over Zerah, Asa received a Divine message which somewhat checked the exuberance of his triumph; a similar message awaited him after his successful expedition to Ramah. By Oded Jehovah had warned Asa, but now He commissioned Hanani the seer to pronounce a sentence of condemnation. The ground of the sentence was that Asa had not relied on Jehovah, but on the king of Syria. Here the chronicler echoes one of the keynotes of the great prophets. Isaih had protested against the alliance which Ahaz concluded with Assyria in order to obtain assistance again the united onset of Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, and had predicted that Jehovah would bring upon Ahaz, his people, and his dynasty days that had not come since the disruption, even the King of Assyria. { Isaiah 7:17 } When this prediction was fulfilled, and the thundercloud of Assyrian invasion darkened all the land of Judah, the Jews, in their lack of faith, looked to Egypt for deliverance; and again Isaiah denounced the foreign alliance: "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Jehovah; the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion." { Isaiah 31:1 ; Isaiah 30:3 } So Jeremiah in his turn protested against a revival of the Egyptian alliance: "Thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria." { Jeremiah 2:36 } In their successive calamities the Jews could derive no comfort from a study of previous history; the pretext upon which each of their oppressors had intervened in the affairs of Palestine had been an invitation from Judah. In their trouble they had sought a remedy worse than the disease; the consequences of this political quackery had always demanded still more desperate and fatal medicines. Freedom from the border raids of the Ephraimites was secured at the price of the ruthless devastations of Hazael; deliverance from Rezin only led to the wholesale massacres and spoliation of Sennacherib. Foreign alliance was an opiate that had to be taken in continually increasing doses, till at last it caused the death of the patient. Nevertheless these are not the lessons which the seer seeks to impress upon Asa. Hanani takes a loftier tone. He does not tell him that his unholy alliance with Benhadad was the first of a chain of circumstances that would end in the ruin of Judah. Few generations are greatly disturbed by the prospect of the ruin of their country in the distant future: "After us the Deluge." Even the pious king Hezekiah, when told of the coming captivity of Judah, found much comfort in the thought that there should be peace and truth in his days. After the manner of the prophets, Hanani’s message is concerned with his own times. To his large faith the alliance with Syria presented itself chiefly as the loss of a great opportunity. Asa had deprived himself of the privilege of fighting with Syria, whereby Jehovah would have found fresh occasion to manifest His infinite power and His gracious favor towards Judah. Had there been no alliance with Judah, the restless and warlike king of Syria might have joined Baasha to attack Asa; another million of the heathen and other hundreds of their chariots would have been destroyed by the resistless might of the Lord of Hosts. And yet, in spite of the great object-lesson he had received in the defeat of Zerah, Asa had not thought of Jehovah as his Ally. He had forgotten the all-observing, all-controlling providence of Jehovah, and had thought it necessary to supplement the Divine protection by hiring a heathen king with the treasures of the Temple; and yet "the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him." With this thought, that the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the earth, Zechariah { Zechariah 4:10 } comforted the Jews in the dark days between the Return and the rebuilding of the Temple. Possibly during Asa’s twenty years of tranquility his faith had become enfeebled for want of any severe discipline. It is only with a certain reserve that we can venture to pray that the Lord will "take from our lives the strain and stress." The discipline of helplessness and dependence preserves the consciousness of God’s loving providence. The resources of Divine grace are not altogether intended for our personal comfort; we are to tax them to the utmost, in the assurance that God will honor all our drafts upon His treasury. The great opportunities of twenty years of peace and prosperity were not given to Asa to lay up funds with which to bribe a heathen king, and then, with this reinforcement of his accumulated resources, to accomplish the mighty enterprise of stealing Baasha’s stones and timber and building the walls of a couple of frontier fortresses. With such a history and such opportunities behind him, Asa should have felt himself competent, with Jehovah’s help, to deal with both Baasha and Benhadad, and should have had courage to confront them both. Sin like Asa’s has been the supreme apostasy of the Church in all her branches and through all her generations: Christ has been denied, not by lack of devotion, but by want of faith. Champions of the truth, reformers and guardians of the Temple, like Asa, have been eager to attach to their holy cause the cruel prejudices of ignorance and folly, the greed and vindictiveness of selfish men. They have feared lest these potent forces should be arrayed amongst the enemies of the Church and her Master. Sects and parties have eagerly contested the privilege of counseli

And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah. 2 Chronicles 15:1-7 Dark shadows on a bright day J. Wolfendale. We have here shown the necessary connection between God's service and human weal. I. THE AWFUL APOSTASY. Turning away. 1. Practical atheism. "Without the true God." 2. Deprived of priestly function. 3. Prevalence of moral disorder. II. THE TERRIBLE JUDGMENTS WHICH FOLLOWED APOSTASY. 1. Widespread anarchy. 2. Civil dissensions. 3. General calamity. III. THE WAY OF ESCAPE FROM THESE JUDGMENTS. "The Lord is with you while ye be with Him," etc. 1. There is a fact in Divine procedure. 2. This is a warning for the future. ( J. Wolfendale. ) Inspiration and duty J. Wolfendale. I. An inspired man is QUALIFIED TO GIVE A MESSAGE. II. An inspired man WILL GIVE HIS MESSAGE FEARLESSLY AND SUCCESSFULLY. III. INSPIRED MEN, MEN TAUGHT OF GOD, NOT TIME-SERVERS, REQUIRED NOW. ( J. Wolfendale. ) The Lord is with you, while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him. 2 Chronicles 15:2 When and how long the Lord is with His people J. Gill, D.D. I. WHAT IT IS FOR THE LORD TO BE WITH HIS PEOPLE. 1. Not His general or essential presence. 2. Nor His being with His creatures in a providential way; for so He is with all men. 3. Nor His special presence in a providential way with His own dear children. 4. But it is God's gracious presence, which Moses so earnestly entreated: "If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence"; and of which David deprecates the loss: "Cast me not away from Thy presence." To enjoy His presence in this sense means — (1) To have the light of His countenance. (2) For God to commune with them. (3) For God to manifest His early loving-kindness to their souls. II. WHEN OR HOW LONG WILL GOD BE WITH HIS PEOPLE.? "While ye be with Him." 1. While you keep close to Him in a way of duty; while you are with Him in prayer particularly. 2. While we have communion with them that fear the Lord. God is with them that fear Him; and those who keep company with such persons may expect His presence. Spiritual conversation is like putting fuel to fire; and prayer is like the bellows which blows up the flame. 3. While ye be with Him in public worship and attend the ordinances of His house ( Acts 2:1-3 ).Inferences: 1. The presence of God with His people is a most amazing instance of Divine goodness. 2. There is nothing so desirable to a gracious soul as the presence of God. ( J. Gill, D.D. ) When will the Lord be found by His people? J. Gill, D. D. I. GOD IS TO BE FOUND BY HIS PEOPLE — 1. In conversion. 2. At the throne of grace. 3. In His public ordinances. II. WHEN IS GOD TO BE FOUND BY HIS PEOPLE THUS? When He is sought through the Lord Jesus Christ, "the way, the truth, and the life." ( J. Gill, D. D. ) Being with God Abp. Seeker. To be with God is — I. TO PRESERVE IN OUR MINDS A REVERENT SENSE OF HIS BEING, PRESENCE, AND GOVERNMENT. II. TO KEEP CLOSE TO HIS LAWS. III. TO STAND ON HIS SIDE AGAINST THE OPPOSITE POWER OF DARKNESS AND SIN. ( Abp. Seeker. ) God with us J. M. Gibbon. I. WHAT IS MEANT BY GOD WITH A CHURCH? Luther used to say that there was a "great deal of divinity in prepositions." This word "with" has diversity as well as divinity in its meaning. It means — 1. To be present. God present, seeing and hearing all that is said and done. 2. Blessing. A helping, gracious presence. "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man." 3. Divine protection. II. WHAT IS MEANT BY A CHURCH WITH GOD? 1. It is a Church faithful and fearless in proclaiming God's Word. "Strike, but hear!" said a philosopher to an angry disputant. "Laugh, strike, kill, but hear the Word of God!" is what the Church says to mockers and persecutors. 2. It is a holy Church. The Emperor of Rome issued a command that all houses, shops, and public institutions, ships or boats, named after members of the Royal Family, should be kept clean, or forego the right to the name. "Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord." Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 3. A Church with God does God's work. A Church tries to be to men all that Christ was, the earthly organ of His Spirit, the instrument of "the mind of Christ." 4. It means a Church in which every member lives in personal communion with God. ( J. M. Gibbon. ) The happiness and condition of the presence of God E. Lake, D. D. I. THE HAPPINESS OF THE JEWISH CHURCH AT THAT TIME. "The Lord is with you." God's presence as applied to all righteous people implies — 1. An owning and acknowledging them to be His own peculiar people. God's love to His peculiar people includes in it all relations: that of a — (1) Father ( 2 Corinthians 6:18 ); (2) husband ( Hosea 2:19 ); (3) friend ( John 15:15 ; James 2:23 ). 2. His assisting them and prospering all the works that they put their hands to ( 1 Chronicles 11:9 ). 3. His protection and defence of them against all their enemies ( Genesis 15:1 ; Zechariah 2:5 ; Isaiah 4:5 ; Isaiah 46:7 ; Numbers 23 ; Romans 8:31 ).Inferences: 1. Let us notice what are the greatest mischiefs and who are the chief authors of all the evils which can possibly befall a kingdom, even they that would rob us of our God. 2. From hence we may learn the surest way to have our tranquillity and peace secured to us. 3. If we sincerely serve God, we may comfortably and securely rest upon Him to defend and protect us against all dangers ( Proverbs 18:10 ; Matthew 10:29 ; Numbers 14:9 ). Luther tells a famous story of a Bishop of Magdeburg, against whom the Duke of Saxony was preparing to wage war; the bishop, having notice of it, betakes himself presently to his prayers and the reforming of his Church; and when one told him what mighty preparations were making against him, he replied, "I will take care of my Church, and then God will fight for and take care of me"; which, when the duke heard of, he disbanded his forces and acknowledged himself too weak to deal with that man who had engaged God on his side ( Psalm 3:6 ). II. THE CONDITION UPON WHICH THE HAPPINESS OF GOD'S PRESENCE IS TO BE ENJOYED, while we are with Him. To be with God is to be a holy people. Clemens Alexandrinus speaks of a temple upon which was written, "No unholy thing must come near this place"; and this is God's inscription ( Hebrews 1:13 ). Conclusion: 'Tis reported of the Prince of Orange at the Battle of Newport, that he said to his soldiers, when they had the sea on one side and the Spaniards on the other, "You must either eat up the Spaniards or drink up the sea"; so we must either conquer our lusts or drink down the devouring fire of God's wrath. Let us apply ourselves to the service of God sincerely, and then the "Lord will be with us." ( E. Lake, D. D. ) God's presence with His people the spring of their prospe rity : — I. GOD MAY BE SAID TO BE WITH MEN — 1. In respect of the omnipresence of His essence ( 1 Kings 8:27 ; Psalm 139:7-12 ). 2. In respect of personal union. "God was with him" ( Acts 10:38 ). 3. In respect of the covenant of grace. 4. In respect of providential dispensations. This is twofold.(1) General; ordering, disposing, guiding, ruling all things, according to His own wisdom, by His own power, unto His own glory.(2) Special; attended with peculiar love, favour, goodwill, special care towards them with whom He is so present ( Genesis 21:22 ; Joshua 1:5 ; Jeremiah 15:20 ; Isaiah 43:1, 2 ). This is the presence here intimated. II. A PEOPLE'S ABIDING WITH GOD IS TWOFOLD. 1. In personal obedience. 2. In national administrations. III. OBSERVATIONS. 1. All outward flourishing or prosperity of a people doth not always argue the special presence of God with them. The things required to make success and prosperity an evidence of the presence of God are —(1) That the people themselves prospered be His peculiar people.(2) That the whole work be good, and have a tendency to God's glory, wherein they are engaged.(3) Made useful and subservient to His glory. 2. Even great afflictions, eminent distresses, long perplexities, may have a consistency with God's special presence. ( J. Owen , D. D. ) The presence of God I. Let our first use be TO INSTRUCT US PARTICULARLY. 1. What this special presence is, and wherein it doth consist. 2. What it is for us to abide with God, so as we may enjoy it.(1) We must have peace with Him in Jesus Christ.(2) To have His presence continued with us we must — (a) Ask counsel at His hand, look to Him for direction in all our affairs; (b) trust in Him for protection; (c) universally own God's concernments in the world. His presence with us is the owning of our concernments; and certainly He expects that we abide with Him in the owning of His. "The Lord's portion is His people." II. LOOK ON THIS PRESENCE OF GOD AS OUR MAIN CONCERNMENT ( Psalm 4 .). III. Whilst we have any pledge of the presence of God with us, LET US NOT BE GREATLY MOVED, NOR TROUBLED BY ANY DIFFICULTIES WE MAY MEET WITH. IV. LET US FIX OUR THOUGHTS ON THE THINGS WHICH LIE IN A TENDENCY TOWARDS THE CONFIRMING OF GOD'S SPECIAL PROVIDENTIAL PRESENCE WITH US. ( J. Owen , D. D. ) The Divine protection promised only to an obedient people S. Partridge, M.A. I. A GRAND PROMISE. "The Lord is with you while ye be with Him." 1. God is said to be with any people —(1) When He upholds among them His true religion and worship.(2) When He causes His Word to be preached and His will to be declared to them.(3) When He watches over them and defends them against their enemies, maintaining in a nation peace and prosperity; in short, when He grants to them all spiritual and temporal blessings. 2. A nation is with God —(1) When true religion is seen upon the throne, when God is there served and honoured, with a spiritual and reasonable service.(2) When those who are in authority employ it to enforce the observance of God's laws.(3) When they themselves observe them.(4) When subjects obey the laws.(5) When each person in his station concurs in promoting order, good morals, and piety.(6) When those who "minister at the altar" preach by their example; joining pure manners with sound doctrine.(7) When union reigns among those who are in authority, peace in the Church, and harmony in families, and when parents bestow their chief care upon making their children modest, humble lovers of truth and goodness. In short, when each person "sets God before his eyes," and renders to Him, in public and in private, love and obedience. II. AN AWFUL THREATENING. 1. There are several ways in which we may forsake God. But that against which it is most necessary to warn Christians is the forsaking of God by a wicked life, by dissolute manners, by living as if there were no God, or as if we were not to stand before Him in judgment. 2. God forsakes a people, thus unworthy of His presence, by the calamities and miseries with which He visits them. ( S. Partridge, M.A. ) The prophet's maxim recommended and confirmed D. Marshman. (a missionary sermon): — I. IT MAY TEND TO RECOMMEND THIS DIVINE MAXIM IF WE CONSIDER — 1. The effect it had on him to whom it was addressed. 2. The blessing it brought down on those who regarded it. II. LET US CONFIRM THE PROPHET'S AXIOM. The Lord is with them, and with them alone, who are with Him. Consider — 1. The evils which would result from the blessing of God being on our labours while we are not with Him.(1) God's being with us is a proof of His approbation of our tempers and dispositions. When we are not with God we are not holy. If God were to convert the heathen by us while we are in such a state, those who were changed by our efforts would naturally infer that the tempers they see in us were those that please God. Thus God would be made to bear a false testimony to us.(2) Were God to be with us in this great work while we are not with Him, it would be to counteract His great design in calling us by His grace. God's grand design is to purify His people.(3) It would be the means of propagating a kind of religion totally different from the mind of Christ. The apostles illustrated their teaching by a holy life.(4) If God were to grant our missionaries success while they were not walking with Him, they would be totally incapable of nourishing up their converts when they had made them. 2. The pleasing results which would follow if God were to be with a people for so long a period as He was with this people.(1) Abundant means.(2) Aid to use these means aright. ( D. Marshman. ) Now for a long season. 2 Chronicles 15:3, 4 The schism of the ten tribes Joseph B. Owen, M.A. These words — I. SUGGEST A WARNING. A land "without teaching priests" soon realises the rest of the text by becoming "without the true God, and without law." II. GIVE ENCOURAGEMENT to send "teaching priests" on their holy mission to bring the people "to the law and to the testimony," so that they may hear "the whole counsel of God." ( Joseph B. Owen, M.A. ) Be ye Strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak. 2 Chronicles 15:7 Religious resolution N. Emmons, D.D. I. THAT RESOLUTION IS NECESSARY IN PROMOTING THE CAUSE OF RELIGION. Resolution is the essence of that mental strength which gives energy to all the powers and faculties of body and mind. It is composed of love, zeal, and confidence. Such resolution has always had a principal influence in effecting all the great things which have ever been effected by the men of the world. Necessary in religion. The Scriptures inculcate it ( 2 Chronicles 19:11 ; Ezra 10:4 ). Examples of resolution: Moses, Elijah, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, John the Baptist, Peter and John, Paul, Luther, Calvin, etc. II. THAT THE FRIENDS OF GOD HAVE GOOD GROUND FOR SUCH UNSHAKEN RESOLUTION IN PROMOTING SUCH A GREAT AND GOOD DESIGN. 1. The friends of God have often been succeeded in their sincere attempts to promote His glory in the salvation of sinners. 2. The promotion of religion is such a noble and laudable design that it is even glorious to fail in the attempt. 3. Those who espouse the cause of religion have reason to expect the peculiar presence and assistance of God in their pious exertions. 4. They also have the approbation and prayers of all good men. 5. They are equally sure of the esteem and affection of all those whom they shall be instrumental in converting. 6. Their efforts shall finally meet a glorious recompense of reward. III. INFERENCES. 1. That the friends of God have been very negligent in promoting His cause in the world. 2. That none will ever do much to forward the work of spreading the gospel without a large share of Christian zeal and resolution. ( N. Emmons, D.D. ) Strong hands W. Birch. In the Bible, the human hand is often used as a figure to express actions of life. As a symbol, Elisha poured water over the hands of Elijah; meaning that he would henceforth be his servant, and minister unto him in deeds of kindness. The reason why the hand represents so many things is because of its manifold uses. What firmness in its grasp, and what delicacy in its touch! It can forge an anchor or make a needle; fell a tree or feel to read the Bible; and do a thousand things which would seem very wonderful if they were not so familiar. "Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak." I. THAT MAN WILL HAVE STRONG HANDS WHO REGULARLY LIFTS THEM UP IN PRAYER. If you lift up your hands in prayer as the apostles did, you shall have strength to do great deeds for God. II. LET YOUR HANDS BE STRONG IN CLEAVING TO THE CROSS OF CHRIST. ( W. Birch. ) Success the N. Hutchings. certain fruit of faithful labours : — Applying these words to the work of Sabbath schools, consider — I. THE WORK. 1. Its object is the benefit of the rising generation. 2. Its tendencies as to the interests of society at large are beneficial. 3. It accords with the spirit of Christianity and the predictions of sacred writ ( Isaiah 11:9 ). II. THE EXHORTATION. 1. To faith. 2. To union. 3. To perseverance. III. THE REWARD. This is to be found — 1. In the satisfaction of your own minds. 2. In the success of your efforts. 3. In the approbation of your Lord. ( N. Hutchings. ) And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers. 2 Chronicles 15:12-15 The covenant renewed Monday Club Sermons. "Entering into a covenant" is what we name "a revival"; they made it a national act, we separate it entirely from political affairs. I. THE PREPARATIONS FOR REVIVAL. 1. The persons who led. A faithful prophet and an obedient king. Of Azariah we know nothing beyond the short record of this chapter. This suggests that a man is important to the world only for the work he does. The king was ready to learn from this obscure prophet and to lead the people to consecration. Happy the pastor who finds the wealth, authority, and zeal of his Church willing to receive the sacred message humbly from his lips and faithfully lead where he points the way. 2. The truths they used. The same that inspire every true revival (ver. 2). Divine faithfulness, human responsibility, mercy for the penitent, punishment for the hardened. II. THE REVIVAL. In this blessed work there was — 1. Repentance. 2. Atonement (ver. 11). 3. Consecration. III. THE JOY OF RECONCILIATION (ver. 15). Lessons: 1. The reformer must begin at his own house. 2. Service for God may cost pain. 3. The true leader is called of God. 4. Every true leader is a rallying-point for others (ver. 9). ( Monday Club Sermons. ) A revival A. Phelps. I. We see here that the heart of a revival lies IN A RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT OF THE CHURCH WITH GOD. An awakened Church is the pioneer of an awakened world, 2. A second feature in this ancient revival of religion was A PUBLIC PROCLAMTION OF A REVIVED FAITH BEFORE THE WORLD. Religious men are too much in earnest to be still about it. They are moved by a great power. It will express itself as becomes a great power. It is the instinct of religious faith to bear its witness to the world. III. The old Jewish revival was attended WITH A GREAT INFLUX OF CONVERTS FROM WITHOUT. So commonly works a pure revival upon the world. Very rare is the exception in which the heart of the world does not respond to the heart of the Church. IV. A fourth feature of a true revival of religion is A THOROUGH REFORMATION OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE MORALS. To put away idolatrous worship was what we should call a reformation in morals. Idolatry was immorality concentrated in its most hideous forms. No religious zeal could have been genuine in a monarch which did not sweep the land clean of them. V. SUCH AWAKENINGS ARE OFTEN FOLLOWED BY PERIODS OF TEMPORAL PROSPERITY. "The Lord gave them rest round about." No other civilising power equals that of true religion. It never hurts a man for any of the right uses of this world to make a Christian of him. ( A. Phelps. ) A revival: an imperious necessity G. E. Reed. The text gives an account of the ancient revival of religion under King Asa. Other revivals are portrayed by the sacred writers. From these we learn — I. THAT REVIVALS ARE BY NO MEANS NEW THINGS. Nor are they things of modern invention. II. THAT THE PROGRESS OF RELIGION IS NOT IN A UNIFORM STEADY LINE. III. THAT REVIVALS OF RELIGION ORDINARILY COMMENCE IN HUMBLE AND OBSCURE WAYS, AND ARE ORDINARILY HELPED ON BY THE HUMBLEST INSTRUMENTALITY. IV. THAT THEY ARE ORDINARILY ACCOMPANIED BY A GREAT DEAL OF WHAT PEOPLE ARE PLEASED TO TERM EXCITEMENT. V. THAT TRUE REVIVAL OF RELIGION ARE MARKED BY MARVELLOUS TRANSFORMATIONS OF CHARACTER AND REFORMATIONS IN THE LIFE. ( G. E. Reed. ) And all Judah rejoiced at the oath Judah's solemn engagement Job Orton. I. THE SOLEMN ENGAGEMENT INTO WHICH THEY ENTERED, AND THE TEMPER THEY MANIFESTED THEREIN. 1. They bound themselves to nothing new. It was to seek the Lord God of their fathers. 2. They swore to do this. 3. They entered into this engagement with great sincerity and with great cheerfulness. II. THE HAPPY CONSEQUENCE OF JUDAH'S SOLEMN ENGAGEMENT. "The Lord was found of them." ( Job Orton. ) And He was found of them A. Maclaren, D.D. The search that always finds: — I. THE SEEKING. The highest bliss is to find God, the next highest is to seek Him. 1. Our text lays emphasis on the whole-heartedness of the people's seeking after God. One reason why the great mass of professing Christians make so little of their religion is because they are only half-hearted in it. If you divide a river into two streams the force of each is less than half the power of the original current; and the chances are that you will make a stagnant marsh where there used to be a flowing stream. "All in all or not at all" is the rule for life in all departments. 2. "They sought; Him with all their heart." That does not mean that there are to be no other desires, for it is a great mistake to pit religion against other things which are meant to be its instruments and its helps. 3. The one token of seeking God is casting out idols. There must be detachment if there is to be attachment. If some climbing plant, for instance, has twisted itself round the unprofitable thorns in the hedge, the gardener, before he can get it to go up the support that it is meant to encircle, has carefully to detach it from the stays to which it has wantonly clung, taking care that in the process he does not break its tendrils and destroy its power of growth. The heart must be emptied of base liquors if the new wine of the kingdom is to be poured into it. II. THE FINDING WHICH CROWNS SUCH SEEKING. 1. Anything is possible rather than that a whole-hearted search after God should be a vain search. For there are in that search two seekers — God is seeking for us more truly than we are seeking for Him. 2. This is the only direction for a man's desires and aims in which disappointment is an impossibility. 3. Our wisdom is to make this search. What would you think of a company of gold-seekers, hunting about in some exhausted claim for hypothetical grains — ragged, starving — and all the while in the next gully were lying lumps of gold for the picking up? And that figure fairly represents what people do and suffer who seek for good and do not seek after God. II. THE REST WHICH ENSUES ON FINDING GOD. We have no immunity from toil and conflict, but disturbance around is a very small matter if there be a better thing — rest within. A vessel with an outer casing and a layer of air between may be kept at a temperature above that of the external atmosphere. So we may have conflict and strife, and yet a better rest than that of my text may be ours. ( A. Maclaren, D.D. ) Happy earnestness J. A. Kerr Bain, M.A. This verse represents well the happy combination of sacrament and life. It brings before us whole-heartedness for God, with special regard to two of its features. I. JOY. "And all Judah rejoiced at the oath," etc. A wholeness of devotedness to God is consistent with every department of activity and every form of interest which is not in itself sinful. It is as a soul to the body of all secular occupation, however absorbing. The wide onward lift of the tidal wave in mid-ocean does not more interfere with the commerce of the countries, the heightening sun of the springtime does not more embarrass the progress of the land over which it smiles, than the full-hearted service of God breaks in upon the lawful interests of a man among the engagements of his every-day existence. This joy implies — 1. Enthusiasm. This may be reckoned the atmosphere which surrounds the joy of whole-heartedness for God. 2. Willingness. A wide compliance with a competent and kindly force that presses on us from without. Predominant willingness contributes largely to a Christian man's joy. 3. Rightness. The approval of conscience. 4. Undividedness of affection. II. PROSPEROUSNESS. "And He was found of them: and Jehovah gave them rest round about." This signifies — 1. That we find what we seek. There are neighbourhoods where the mists lie so often and so long upon the grand outlines of the landscape, that a clear day is in some sense a day of discovery, of "finding," though nothing is there then which was not there always. There have been those who for years have looked through a filmy dimness of eyesight upon those they loved, whose movements were to them like the movements of featureless shades; when the films were one day purged from the eyes was it not almost more than a figure of speech they spoke when they said they had "found" those loved faces and forms again? So this energising of the heart for God restores vision, and vision restores reality. God in Christ becomes near. 2. That we miss much that we had hitherto found. Hostile movements from around are comparatively allayed, and the hush that has fallen upon these reflects itself upon the soul in restfulness. ( J. A. Kerr Bain, M.A. ) Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. 2 Chronicles 15:17 Spiritual backsliding H. Melvill, B.D. We learn from the text that we cannot always infer the state of the heart from external symptoms. I. YOU MAY HAVE THE APPEARANCE OF SOMETHING WRONG WHILE THE HEART IS SOUND. This was Asa's case. II. Conversely you MAY HAVE THE HEART UNSOUND WHILST AS YET THERE IS BUT LITTLE TRACE OF IT IN THE HEART AND LIFE. In tracing this disease, consider — 1. Its working.(1) The heart's relapse towards positive evil. There is the presentation to the mind of something of some worldly, fleshly things as pleasant and desirable; and then there not having been an immediate curbing of the rising inclination, the thoughts come to dwell with more and more complacency upon the object; and the man begins to wish that it might be lawful to have it, and to cast about and contrive for the modes of possession. And when the inclination has thus been formed and strengthened, it proposes to the understanding whether the enjoyment may not be had without hazard to the soul;and then there will soon be devised something plausible in the shape of an apology or warrant, something that shall serve to put conscience off its guard, or even make it concur in the prosecution of the design.(2) The heart's decline from the love of godliness and of God. 2. Its symptoms. There was a time when you felt God to be your "chief good" — do you feel Him less so now? There was a time when you delighted in prayer — has it become more of a task now? Once you thought much of the work of Christ and longed to be with Him in heaven — are you now more contented with earth and more disposed to say, "It is good for us to be here"? Once you found sufficient scope for fervent affections in secret communion with God, in meditating on His perfections, and in admiring His love in the gift of His Son — now do your affections seem stifled unless you have some showy work on which to fasten them, some dazzling novelty with which to engage them? ( H. Melvill, B.D. ) Caution in judging others H. Melville, B. D. How ready are we to condemn and find fault with our neighbour, if his conduct do not seem in every respect consistent with his Christian profession! How soon we think he may be nothing but a hypocrite if we observe certain things in which he fails to carry out the principles of the gospel, though perhaps we know little or nothing of his peculiar circumstances, dangers, and temptations! It is enough for us that the "high places" are not "taken away"; immediately we condemn Asa, and infer that his heart cannot be right with God. Let the text teach charity first; and while we are not to shut our eyes to what is wrong, or count it matter of indifference whether or not the "high places are removed," when the removing is that to which the Christian stands pledged, let us be cautious of judging our brethren, and delivering a verdict against them, when we are told, though "the high places were not taken away out of Israel, nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days." ( H. Melville, B. D. ) Perfection, limited by power H. Melville, B. D. Some of you might, indeed, be ready to make a wrong use of our text. You may say, "If Asa's heart was perfect with God, though he did not remove the high places, so may ours be, though you may see things in our conduct which may not be wholly consistent with a Christian profession." Yet, before using the case of Asa to justify the assertion that your heart may be right whilst your conduct is wrong, it may be as well to observe how far Asa had gone in the extermination of idols. The text merely says that the "high places" were "not taken away out of Israel." Asa was king of Judah, but not of Israel; though he would seem to have possessed much influence in that kingdom. There was no reason to doubt that, where his power was clear, he had exerted it in restoring the worship of the true God; if he had not he would not have punished his nearest relations. You read that he removed Maachah, his mother, being queen, "because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron." You learn, in like manner, what was done with the idol of the high priest. So that, if he did not carry reform into Israel, he was vigorous in its application in his own fancily and household. When you can say as much — when you can say that, to the utmost of your power, you have laboured to serve God in your own family and household and neighbourhood, maintaining His cause among all those who come more immediately within the sphere of your influence — then you may hope that, as with Asa, the heart is perfect with God, though there are high places yet, in far distant lands, whose overthrow you have not attempted. ( H. Melville, B. D. ) Unsoundness of heart suspected on insufficient grounds H. Melville, B. D. And yet, in speaking on the case of the backslider in heart, it becomes us to take heed that we make not those sad who may be disposed, without sufficient cause, to write bitter things against themselves. It is not every person who suspects himself of unsoundness of heart who is really a backslider. We must declare there is commonly much greater cause for fear with your forward, confident, bustling professors, who would be quite offended if suspected of spiritual decline, than with the timid, scrupulous individual who is always ready to think worse of himself than others think of him. Tried by conscience — alas! what hardens conscience like contact with the world? — it may still make a man accuse himself of backsliding who is all the while "pressing toward the mark for the prize of his high calling in Christ." Bodily sickness may be regarded as the taking away of the quickenings of the Spirit; the clouding of the understanding, and the clogging of the affections, will often make a believer fearful of spiritual relapse; he mistakes the infirmity of the body for disease of the soul — a decay of memory for a decay of piety; as though there must be less of devotedness, of abhorrence of sin, of meek reliance upon Christ in our dangers, our confusions, our difficulties in spiritual exercises, because of that unenlightenment of mind which is but the result, or symptom, of declining strength. Though a person may be quite correct in calling himself a backslider, yet the probabilities are greater for him who has no fears and no suspicions that he is really a backslider than for another who does not wait to be charged, but is painfully apprehensive of being in fault. For certainly, as a general rule in religion, to advance is, in some senses, to appear to go back. To grow in grace is to grow in knowledge of ourselves; and, alas! who can know himself better, and not think himself worse? If, however, we would not have the timid unduly severe in accusing themselves, we would have all diligent, and him "that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" ( H. Melville, B. D. ).

15:1-19 The people make a solemn covenant with God. - The work of complete reformation appeared so difficult, that Asa had not courage to attempt it, till assured of Divine assistance and acceptance. He and his people offered sacrifices to God; thanksgiving for the favours they had received, and supplication for further favours. Prayers and praises are now our spiritual sacrifices. The people, of their own will, covenanted to seek the Lord, each for himself, with earnestness. What is religion but seeking God, inquiring after him, applying to him upon all occasions? We make nothing of our religion, if we do not make heart-work of it; God will have all the heart, or none. Our devotedness to God our Saviour, should be avowed and shown in the most solemn and public manner. What is done in hypocrisy is a mere drudgery.