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by Charlie Wolcott

Asa was the last king of Judah to possibly have been born under the united kingdom of Israel under Solomon’s rule. Asa is Solomon’s great-grandson and yet only twenty years had passed between Solomon’s death and Asa’s ascension. As we do not know Asa’s age when he became king, nor do we know when he was born, it does make it more challenging to know when to place Asa’s upbringing and under whom. We do know some facts, though. We know Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he became king and Asa reigned for 41 years, which means Jehoshaphat was born six years into Asa’s reign. If Asa became king at age 20, that would mean he lived into his sixties before dying of his foot disease. But that foot disease could have hit at any age.

Due to Rehoboam being 41 when he became king, likely fathering Abijam twenty years earlier, Asa could have been born early enough to know Solomon as a toddler. I have bounced around the idea that maybe Asa could be the “son” that Solomon spoke to with the warnings against bad peers and the adulteress, but I have a hard time picturing Asa being old enough to receive such instruction. But for some reason, Asa was the first king after the nation split to follow the ways of the Lord. He was the first to actively tear down high places. Even David was not recorded to tear down high places, and neither was Saul. But that may be due to the lack of them. David never married foreign wives, and Solomon was the first recorded to build them. So, all these places where there was idol worship at hilltops, under great trees, in caves, etc. were built in Solomon’s time or later. Solomon was the one who introduced them, and this would be an issue that would mark every king that followed.

Besides tearing down high places, removing his own mother from the throne due to her idolatry, and walking in the ways of David, Asa dealt with two major battles: one against an army of one million Ethiopians and another against Basha of Israel. In the first battle, Asa trusted in the Lord. In the second, he didn’t and was rebuked for it. In the end, Asa got a foot disease, and it would take his life because he did not seek the Lord. See Katie Erickson’s post about Asa’s life with all Scriptural references here.

Asa grew up under the administration of Rehoboam. While he may have been too young to truly understand the politics of Jeroboam’s rebellion, by the time the battles started, he clearly saw them. Asa would have been a teenager or young adult during his father’s reign, and he would have seen the moment that Abijam trusted the Lord. I do not believe this was the only catalyst that would have turned Asa to the Lord, but it may have been one of them. There were a few prophets during this time such as Ahijah, Hanani, Azariah, and Jehu (not the king of Israel), but few were active in Judah during Asa’s youth.

As the Temple was less than 50 years from its inauguration, the reading of the Law was still going on. We do know that through some wicked kings, this practice ceased (such as prior to Josiah’s time when the Book of the Law was found), but while Rehoboam and Abijam were marked as evil kings, they merely allowed the idolatry that was going on to continue and to our knowledge did not bring in new idols. Yet somehow, Asa learned how to love and trust God even to the point of choosing God over blood as he removed his own mother from her position as queen mother for her idolatrous practices. Asa getting into position to have the courage to tear down the high places and sources of idolatry would take someone giving him a good upbringing.

But Asa’s walk of faith faded, and I don’t believe any of the setup in Asa’s life led to his downfall to any significant degree. He had a 41-year rule and was very likely king for more of his life than he was not. When God gave Asa a victory over a million soldiers, somehow a much smaller army needed the help of another, and that character trait had to come from during his time as king – pride, laziness, or something. When David refused to go to battle, that was outside his character. Yet here for Asa, his refusal to trust God not only led him to being rebuked, but it sparked a downward trend where he died without seeking the Lord.

Asa is a warning that if you start strong and end badly, often it’s the ending that is most remembered. The 2007 Patriots had the best team in the NFL and went 16-0 in the regular season only to lose the Super Bowl. Asa started out great and strong, but he finished weak. Asa was given a strong foundation to be able to take the strong stance he took against the idolatry going on in his nation, but he did not stand on that foundation for long. Asa did not repent of his unbelief as he died, at least by the records we are given. He wasn’t the worst to do this. When I get to King Joash, we will have the penultimate example of a solid, strong foundation only to completely jump off board. Yet King Asa and Joash are examples that Proverbs 22:6 is not talking about teaching Biblical principles and morals, but rather teaching the child via his strengths and characters for God’s purposes. Asa and Joash departed the faith, but Asa was still given a king’s burial. Joash, however, was not. Asa teaches us never to take our faith for granted and to not get comfortable with it. It is subtle and quick, but we can depart that faith and never know it until it is too late.

Next week, we’ll shift to Israel and spend three weeks looking at seven kings, all of which began during Asa’s reign and concluded into Jehoshaphat’s reign.

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