The Impact of Apostasy on the North. 1 Kings 15:16-32

Spiritual regression is what we will see that characterises the life of Asa, the third king in the southern kingdom after the break-up. He is the grandson of Rehoboam. He has a reign that gets high marks from God because early on he is focused on the truth, he knows that the only way the southern kingdom is going to have any kind of blessing is for them to be devoted completely and exclusively to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who gave them the Mosaic covenant. So he cleanses the land. He is involved in what we would call a true biblical revival. As a result of that there was tremendous blessing on the southern kingdom of Judah during the reign of Asa. But by the time we get to the end of Asa’s life he makes the mistake that so many believers make and he starts to coast on past achievements, past successes in his spiritual life, and what eventually happens if we slip into neutral in the spiritual life then it is not difficult to become negative. What happens when we get into a state of being neutral and not being actively positive—unless a person is oriented to an active study of the Word where a relationship with God is a vital part of their life, they are negative. It might be a mild negativity but they are taking God for granted and they are slipping into a form of just coasting in their spiritual life and the next thing they know is they coast right into negative volition. Once we slip our gear out of drive then what characterises being neutral is arrogance. We are either oriented to God in humility, obedient to him and grace oriented, or we are going to be slipping into some pattern of arrogance. That is very easy to do.

Timeline: Approximately 930 BC is when there was the split between the northern and southern kingdoms. Rehoboam dies first and he is succeeded by his son Abijam who only reigns for about two years, and he was followed by Asa. In the north Jeroboam lived until about 910 which is approximately the time that Asa comes top the throne. Then his son Nadab will come to the throne for about one year and then the prophecy that God gave through Ahijah comes to pass and Jeroboam’s line is wiped out by Baasha. He will reign for about 24-25 years until his death, his son Elah comes to the throne for about one year and then Baasha’s line gets wiped out. Then Zimri has a short reign of seven days. Tibni and Omri have a civil war for five years and Omri is the father of Ahab. That sets the stage for understanding the backdrop for Elijah.

All of this has been leading up to Elijah. Why does Elijah come on the scene at the beginning of 1 Kings 17? One day we have never heard of him; the next day he just storms into the throne room of Ahab and announces that it won’t rain until he says so, and then he just as quickly disappears. To understand why that happens the way it happens we have to understand this context—that from 930 when the kingdom split to 874, which is 55 years, the northern kingdom has been getting deeper and deeper into apostasy and idolatry, and eventually the most degraded form of pagan worship, the fertility cult and the introduction of Baal worship through Jezebel. That is what precipitates Elijah’s coming on the scene.

What we have done so far is to look at the 1 Kings account of Abijah and Asa. Abijah was not a good king but Asa turns things around and has a very long reign (approx, 41 years), and this is a time of tremendous blessing in the nation. But then things are going to change again and things will be affected negatively after Asa. In the north it is all negative.

2 Chronicles 14 & 15 give us the primary data on Asa. The narrative on Asa in 1 Kings is comparatively brief because the focus of the writer of 1 Kings is to explain how Israel has gone through the ups and downs of blessing and cursing in relationship to the Mosaic Law and the behaviour of the kings. This has a great application to us. What we should never forget is that what we see in 1 Kings is a divine viewpoint editorial on what makes history go the way it goes. What makes history go the way it goes isn’t technology, military skill, education programs, welfare programs or the lack of them, or any of the things that are emphasised in any of the political campaigns that we have witnessed. The real causative factor in history always boils down to this view of reality which means the view of God in the spiritual life. That is the determinative causative factor in history. What ultimately moves things is always going to be related to that spiritual life factor. It has to do with the attitude of the majority of people in the nation.

In the north it is apostate; in the south it is going to go back and forth. Because of the apostasy in the north there is tremendous instability. Stability in a monarchy has to do with the same person being in charge for a lengthy period of time. Asa is the king for the longest period of time—41 years, Rehoboam just under 20 years, and during that time there are eight different rulers in the north. So who has instability? Who has the most war going on? Who is going to have the most social upheaval and instability? Because things like social factors, political factors and economic factors all flow out of the core spiritual orientation of the people and of believers.

Asa comes on, and he comes on strong. He starts off doing that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord. Even though he messes up a little at the end his ultimate evaluation is that he did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord. He removed the altars and the high places and does all of these things to clean out the bad. Then he mandates that the people obey the Lord and implements the Law, and then moves from dealing with the spiritual issues first to dealing with the physical issue of their military security second. He makes sure the nation is going to be protected and that their national identity is going to be preserved. Within three years he is tested by the invasion by the Pharaoh of Egypt.

2 Chronicles 16:1 ^NASB “In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent {anyone} from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.”

1 Kings 16:8 ^NASB “In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel at Tirzah, {and reigned} two years.” According to this verse Baasha is going to die in the 26^th year of Asa’s reign, but in 2 Chronicles it says Baasha is going to attack from the south. He has been dead for ten years! The explanation isn’t simple. The problem with the explanation that it is a copyist’s error is that there is no manuscript documentation for that, even though that could have happened. There is no MS that has an alternate reading; it is not in the LXX or any of the ancient Greek translations of the Old Testament. So perhaps there is a different and a better understanding. There is and it is complicated.

There were two ways in which the people of the ancient world would count the years of the king. The first way is called a non-accession way and the other is the accession year reign. The accession year reign means that the year in which the king comes to the throne would not be counted at all as an official year. His official reign would not be counted until the first day of the new year. So as they add up the years they would say that only the next year, the first official year beginning with the new year would be his official year. This was the way in which the northern kingdom counted the years. The non-accession year system means that the year the king began to rule is his first year.

Jeroboam comes to the throne in 930. That is his first year. The battle with the Egyptians is dated as being in the 15^th year of Asa’s reign. So if he comes to the throne in 910 then 895 is the year they have that huge celebration where they cleanse the temple. From 930-895 is 35 years, plus that other year that is part of the year that is counted in the north. That would give them 36 years. So the way the writer of Chronicles is counting is in the 36^th year from the time of the split. The reason for getting that is because if we look at 2 Chronicles 15:19 is says there was no war until the 35^th year of the reign of Asa. The Hebrew translation is awkward there and the phrase “of Asa” is added. It should read: “there was no war until the 35^th year.” That would be the 35^th year since the split between the north and the south. So that in the 36^th year since the split is when Baasha the king of Israel came up against Judah. Why is he coming up against Judah? Because Asa has just demonstrated his military might and has defeated this one-million foot-soldier army plus about 300 chariots.

There is also another factor. After Jeroboam established the northern kingdom and the two altar sites what happened to all the believers in the north? The Levites who were believers all headed south into the southern kingdom. As time went by there were also other believers in the north who headed south. 2 Chronicles 15:9 ^NASB “He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who resided with them, for many defected to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.” What kind of instability would that have produced in the northern kingdom? And what is the king in the north going to be thinking when he starts seeing his people start heading south? He wants to secure his border. Baasha moves south to Ramah in order to blockade the southern kingdom so that he can protect the north from any possible invasion from this super-victorious army that Asa has had in the south, and also to keep his people from fleeing down to the south because it is obvious God is blessing Asa and not Baasha. The city of Ramah sat astride the major trade route, so once Baasha moved into that territory he is going to effectively cut off the flow of goods from the north to the south and from the south to the north, and he is going to control all commerce. So there are a lot of economic things going on in this particular action that is taken. In the south Asa is trying to figure out how to handle this. Rather than challenge Baasha with an army he goes into the house of the Lord and takes all the silver and gold out of the treasury and uses that as a bribe or an enticement, a tribute to the king of Syria to break his treaty with Baasha and to invade the northern part of the land in order to pull Baasha out of Ramah so that he will have all his attention up in the north. This would free things up in the south so that goods can flow back and forth.

But there is a problem with him doing it this way. He is trusting in his own manipulation of the events by bribing the king of Syria rather than trusting in God. So it shows that his faith in God which was so strongly manifest in victory over the Egyptians has now become an attempt to handle his problems on his own without going to the Lord. This is going to bring about a judgment from God on him. He is successful in his manoeuvre, and what we learn from that is that human viewpoint systems of problem-solving are often successful. But that doesn’t mean they are right and it doesn’t mean that believers can use them. Just because systems of psychology and counselling work doesn’t mean that is the way believers are to be facing and handling their problems. Asa is typical of many believers who, rather than trusting in the sufficiency of grace and the sufficiency of God’s Word, try to solve the problem on their own.

2 Chronicles 16:4 ^NASB “So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim and all the store cities of Naphtali.” All of these locations are in the north. [5] “When Baasha heard {of it,} he ceased fortifying Ramah and stopped his work. [6] Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with them he fortified Geba and Mizpah.” They just completely dismantled everything that Baasha had built at Ramah and with those resources built two other cities. But at that time Asa is going to be challenged by God with the fact that he has failed to fully trust God. [7] “At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand.” So Asa could have had a conquest of Syria technically. [8] “Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand.” Didn’t you learn anything? [9] “For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.” God is looking for those who are really committed to trusting Him and to rely upon the sufficiency of His Word and His grace. The problem is that even those who are supposed to be mature spiritually often fail to take God at His Word and to trust in His sufficiency. That is the problem with Asa.

The conclusion: “You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.” There are consequences to spiritual failure. The interesting thing is this word which is sued for “foolish.” The whole concept of foolish in the Old Testament is contrasted to wise. The wise person is the person who fears the Lord—“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The fool is the one who says in his heart, “There is no God.” This isn’t the position of the atheist out there, the fool that psalm is talking about is the person who in terms of their mentality, the way they live, is operating as if God doesn’t exist. That’s foolish. Asa is operating foolishly because he is operating and planning as if God isn’t there to provide for him and to protect him. He is acting like a functional atheist; he is not trusting in God.

The reaction of arrogance: 2 Chronicles 16:10 ^NASB “Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him for this…” When arrogance, self-absorption and self-justification get challenged the reaction is anger, bitterness and hostility because the person doesn’t get their way. “…And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.” The word “some” isn’t there in the original—he oppressed his people at the same time. So he not only takes it out on the prophet but he take sit out on his people. He becomes an oppressive dictator as the king, punishing the people for his own spiritual failure.

A spiritual evaluation from God on Asa’s reign. 2 Chronicles 16:11 ^NASB “Now, the acts of Asa from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.” That is, the account in 1 Kings 15. [12] “In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians.” His malady is severe so that he can’t walk. This isn’t saying that if we get sick don’t go to a doctor. It is a different economy, different dispensation, different promises in the Mosaic Law in relation to the reign of these kings of Israel. Rather than seek the Lord Asa seeks the physicians and he has continued under divine discipline. It is during this two-year period of time that he enters into a co-regency with his son Jehoshaphat. So that last period of a year and a half or so is a co-regency. Asa is basically in hiding because of his illness and his misery and then finally he dies. 2 Chronicles 16:13 “So Asa slept with his fathers, having died in the forty-first year of his reign. [14] “They buried him in his own tomb which he had cut out for himself in the city of David, and they laid him in the resting place which he had filled with spices of various kinds blended by the perfumers’ art; and they made a very great fire for him.” The burning has to do with a celebration of his life because he was a much-beloved king in Israel and there was much experienced blessing under his reign because of his earlier positive volition to the Lord.

1 Kings 15:23 ^NASB “Now the rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might and all that he did and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.” That reference to the chronicles of the kings of Judah is not a reference to 1 & 2 Chronicles. It was probably a resource that was used by the writer of 1 & 2 Chronicles. There is no spiritual analysis in this verse; it just says he was diseased in his feet.

1 Kings 15:24 ^NASB “And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.” That takes us to about 60 years from the split of the northern and southern kingdoms. The rest of this chapter, from v. 25 to 16:28 is going to deal with what happens in the north.

1 Kings 15:25 ^NASB “Now Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.” The second year of Asa, using the non-accession year reckoning in the north, means that this is his first official year, no matter what part of that year it is. His length of reign is going to be two official years, but in non-accession year reckoning this can be only one actual year. [26] “He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father [Jeroboam I] and in his sin which he made Israel sin”—idolatry related to the golden calf. [27] The fulfilment of the prophecy that Ahijah had given his father, that all of his sons would be killed in a horrible way and their bodies would be just left out in the open to rot. “Then Baasha the son of Ahijah [not the prophet] of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.” This is the kind of environment generated by paganism. [28] “So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place.” He took the throne in the second year of Asa and reigned for two years. [29] “It came about as soon as he was king, he struck down all the household of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam any persons alive, until he had destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, [30] {and} because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.” There is political disruption because of sin. Sin doesn’t just affect the spiritual life, it affects every area that we are engaged in.

1 Kings 15:31 ^NASB “Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? [32] There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.”