CHAPTER 15
. JUDAH MAKES
A SOLEMN COVENANT
WITH GOD.
1. Azariah the son of Oded—This
prophet, who is mentioned nowhere else, appears at this stage of the
sacred story in the discharge of an interesting mission. He went to
meet Asa, as he was returning from his victorious pursuit of the
Ethiopians, and the congratulatory address here recorded was publicly
made to the king in presence of his army.
2. The Lord is with you, while ye be
with him—You have had, in your recent signal success, a
remarkable proof that God's blessing is upon you; your victory has
been the reward of your faith and piety. If you steadfastly adhere to
the cause of God, you may expect a continuance of His favor; but if
you abandon it, you will soon reap the bitter fruits of apostasy.
3-6. Now for a long season Israel
hath been without the true God, c.—Some think that Azariah was
referring to the sad and disastrous condition to which superstition
and idolatry had brought the neighboring kingdom of Israel. His words
should rather be taken in a wider sense, for it seems manifest that
the prophet had his eye upon many periods in the national history,
when the people were in the state described—a state of spiritual
destitution and ignorance—and exhibited its natural result as
widespread anarchy, mutual dissension among the tribes, and general
suffering (Judges 9:23 Judges 12:4;
Judges 20:21; 2 Chronicles 13:17).
These calamities God permitted to befall them as the punishment of
their apostasy. Azariah's object in these remarks was to establish
the truth of his counsel (2 Chronicles 13:17), threatening, in case of neglecting it by describing the
uniform course of the divine procedure towards Israel, as shown in
all periods of their history. Then after this appeal to national
experience, he concluded with an earnest exhortation to the king to
prosecute the work of reformation so well begun [2 Chronicles 13:17].
7. Be ye strong—Great
resolution and indomitable energy would be required to persevere in
the face of the opposition your reforming measures will encounter.
your work shall be
rewarded—What you do in the cause and for the glory of God will
assuredly be followed by the happiest results both to yourself and
your subjects.
8. when Asa heard . . . the prophecy
of Oded the prophet—The insertion of these words, "of Oded
the prophet," is generally regarded as a corruption of the text.
"The sole remedy is to erase them. They are, probably, the
remains of a note, which crept in from the margin into the text"
[BERTHEAU].
he took courage—Animated
by the seasonable and pious address of Azariah, Asa became a more
zealous reformer than ever, employing all his royal authority and
influence to extirpate every vestige of idolatry from the land.
and out of the cities which
he had taken from mount Ephraim—He may have acquired cities of
Ephraim, the conquest of which is not recorded (); but it has been commonly supposed that the reference is to
cities which his father Abijah had taken in that quarter ().
renewed the altar of the Lord
. . . before the porch—that is, the altar of burnt offering. As
this was done on or about the fifteenth year of the reign of this
pious king, the renewal must have consisted in some splendid repairs
or embellishments, which made it look like a new dedication, or in a
reconstruction of a temporary altar, like that of Solomon (), for extraordinary sacrifices to be offered on an
approaching occasion.
9-15. he gathered all Judah and
Benjamin—Not satisfied with these minor measures of
purification and improvement, Asa meditated a grand scheme which was
to pledge his whole kingdom to complete the work of reformation, and
with this in view he waited for a general assembly of the people.
and the strangers with them
out of Ephraim and Manasseh—The population of Asa's kingdom had
been vastly increased by the continued influx of strangers, who,
prompted by motives either of interest or of piety, sought in his
dominions that security and freedom which they could not enjoy amid
the complicated troubles which distracted Israel.
and out of Simeon—Although
a portion of that tribe, located within the territory of Judah, were
already subjects of the southern kingdom, the general body of the
Simeonites had joined in forming the northern kingdom of Israel. But
many of them now returned of their own accord.
10-14. the third month—when
was held the feast of pentecost. On this occasion, it was celebrated
at Jerusalem by an extraordinary sacrifice of seven hundred oxen and
seven thousand sheep, the spoil of the Ethiopians being offered. The
assembled worshippers entered with great and holy enthusiasm into a
national covenant "to seek the Lord their God . . . with all
their heart and with all their soul;" and, at the same time, to
execute with rigor the laws which made idolatry punishable with death
(2 Chronicles 15:13; Deuteronomy 17:2-5;
Hebrews 10:28). The people testified
unbounded satisfaction with this important religious movement, and
its moral influence was seen in the promotion of piety, order, and
tranquillity throughout the land.
9-15. he gathered all Judah and
Benjamin—Not satisfied with these minor measures of
purification and improvement, Asa meditated a grand scheme which was
to pledge his whole kingdom to complete the work of reformation, and
with this in view he waited for a general assembly of the people.
and the strangers with them
out of Ephraim and Manasseh—The population of Asa's kingdom had
been vastly increased by the continued influx of strangers, who,
prompted by motives either of interest or of piety, sought in his
dominions that security and freedom which they could not enjoy amid
the complicated troubles which distracted Israel.
and out of Simeon—Although
a portion of that tribe, located within the territory of Judah, were
already subjects of the southern kingdom, the general body of the
Simeonites had joined in forming the northern kingdom of Israel. But
many of them now returned of their own accord.
18. the things that his father had
dedicated—probably part of the booty obtained by his signal
victory over Jeroboam, but which, though dedicated, had hitherto been
unrepresented.
and that he himself had
dedicated—of the booty taken from the Ethiopians. Both of these
were now deposited in the temple as votive offerings to Him whose
right hand and holy arm had given them the victory.
CHAPTER 15
. JUDAH MAKES A SOLEMN COVENANT WITH GOD.
1. Azariah the son of Oded—This prophet, who is mentioned nowhere else, appears at this stage of the sacred story in the discharge of an interesting mission. He went to meet Asa, as he was returning from his victorious pursuit of the Ethiopians, and the congratulatory address here recorded was publicly made to the king in presence of his army.
2. The Lord is with you, while ye be with him—You have had, in your recent signal success, a remarkable proof that God's blessing is upon you; your victory has been the reward of your faith and piety. If you steadfastly adhere to the cause of God, you may expect a continuance of His favor; but if you abandon it, you will soon reap the bitter fruits of apostasy.
3-6. Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, c.—Some think that Azariah was referring to the sad and disastrous condition to which superstition and idolatry had brought the neighboring kingdom of Israel. His words should rather be taken in a wider sense, for it seems manifest that the prophet had his eye upon many periods in the national history, when the people were in the state described—a state of spiritual destitution and ignorance—and exhibited its natural result as widespread anarchy, mutual dissension among the tribes, and general suffering (Judges 9:23 Judges 12:4; Judges 20:21; 2 Chronicles 13:17). These calamities God permitted to befall them as the punishment of their apostasy. Azariah's object in these remarks was to establish the truth of his counsel (2 Chronicles 13:17), threatening, in case of neglecting it by describing the uniform course of the divine procedure towards Israel, as shown in all periods of their history. Then after this appeal to national experience, he concluded with an earnest exhortation to the king to prosecute the work of reformation so well begun [2 Chronicles 13:17].
7. Be ye strong—Great resolution and indomitable energy would be required to persevere in the face of the opposition your reforming measures will encounter.
your work shall be rewarded—What you do in the cause and for the glory of God will assuredly be followed by the happiest results both to yourself and your subjects.
8. when Asa heard . . . the prophecy of Oded the prophet—The insertion of these words, "of Oded the prophet," is generally regarded as a corruption of the text. "The sole remedy is to erase them. They are, probably, the remains of a note, which crept in from the margin into the text" [BERTHEAU].
he took courage—Animated by the seasonable and pious address of Azariah, Asa became a more zealous reformer than ever, employing all his royal authority and influence to extirpate every vestige of idolatry from the land.
and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim—He may have acquired cities of Ephraim, the conquest of which is not recorded (); but it has been commonly supposed that the reference is to cities which his father Abijah had taken in that quarter ().
renewed the altar of the Lord . . . before the porch—that is, the altar of burnt offering. As this was done on or about the fifteenth year of the reign of this pious king, the renewal must have consisted in some splendid repairs or embellishments, which made it look like a new dedication, or in a reconstruction of a temporary altar, like that of Solomon (), for extraordinary sacrifices to be offered on an approaching occasion.
9-15. he gathered all Judah and Benjamin—Not satisfied with these minor measures of purification and improvement, Asa meditated a grand scheme which was to pledge his whole kingdom to complete the work of reformation, and with this in view he waited for a general assembly of the people.
and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh—The population of Asa's kingdom had been vastly increased by the continued influx of strangers, who, prompted by motives either of interest or of piety, sought in his dominions that security and freedom which they could not enjoy amid the complicated troubles which distracted Israel.
and out of Simeon—Although a portion of that tribe, located within the territory of Judah, were already subjects of the southern kingdom, the general body of the Simeonites had joined in forming the northern kingdom of Israel. But many of them now returned of their own accord.
10-14. the third month—when was held the feast of pentecost. On this occasion, it was celebrated at Jerusalem by an extraordinary sacrifice of seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep, the spoil of the Ethiopians being offered. The assembled worshippers entered with great and holy enthusiasm into a national covenant "to seek the Lord their God . . . with all their heart and with all their soul;" and, at the same time, to execute with rigor the laws which made idolatry punishable with death (2 Chronicles 15:13; Deuteronomy 17:2-5; Hebrews 10:28). The people testified unbounded satisfaction with this important religious movement, and its moral influence was seen in the promotion of piety, order, and tranquillity throughout the land.
9-15. he gathered all Judah and Benjamin—Not satisfied with these minor measures of purification and improvement, Asa meditated a grand scheme which was to pledge his whole kingdom to complete the work of reformation, and with this in view he waited for a general assembly of the people.
and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh—The population of Asa's kingdom had been vastly increased by the continued influx of strangers, who, prompted by motives either of interest or of piety, sought in his dominions that security and freedom which they could not enjoy amid the complicated troubles which distracted Israel.
and out of Simeon—Although a portion of that tribe, located within the territory of Judah, were already subjects of the southern kingdom, the general body of the Simeonites had joined in forming the northern kingdom of Israel. But many of them now returned of their own accord.
18. the things that his father had dedicated—probably part of the booty obtained by his signal victory over Jeroboam, but which, though dedicated, had hitherto been unrepresented.
and that he himself had dedicated—of the booty taken from the Ethiopians. Both of these were now deposited in the temple as votive offerings to Him whose right hand and holy arm had given them the victory.