And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah.
Asa's reign over Judah began in the twentieth year of Jeroboam's reign over Israel. He followed the brief reign of Abijam, also called Abijah. This belongs to the historical record of the kings after Israel and Judah divided into two separate kingdoms. It is part of the history of the two separate kingdoms of Judah and Israel for about eighty years, from the revolt of the ten tribes to the death of Jehoshaphat, which gives the histories of the reigns of several kings of both Judah and Israel.
It falls after Jeroboam's idolatry and God's rebuke, in the time after Solomon's sin divided the kingdom into Judah and Israel, when there was war and strife between the two divisions. The chapter begins the account of Asa's reign and introduces the period covered by the account of Israel's apostasy in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of 1 Kings, belonging to a record of the contrasting outcomes of righteousness, backsliding, and sin. Asa began two years before Jeroboam died, and his one good reign over Judah spanned the reigns of all the wicked kings of Israel from Jeroboam through Nadab, Baasha, Elah, and Zimri to Omri, who came to the throne fifty years after the division of the kingdom. The account of the reigns of Abijah and Asa is given more fully in Chronicles. Asa's reign was better, largely for the better, and Judah prospered under his rule.
Asa's reign over Judah began in the twentieth year of Jeroboam's reign over Israel. He followed the brief reign of Abijam, also called Abijah. This belongs to the historical record of the kings after Israel and Judah divided into two separate kingdoms. It is part of the history of the two separate kingdoms of Judah and Israel for about eighty years, from the revolt of the ten tribes to the death of Jehoshaphat, which gives the histories of the reigns of several kings of both Judah and Israel.
It falls after Jeroboam's idolatry and God's rebuke, in the time after Solomon's sin divided the kingdom into Judah and Israel, when there was war and strife between the two divisions. The chapter begins the account of Asa's reign and introduces the period covered by the account of Israel's apostasy in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of 1 Kings, belonging to a record of the contrasting outcomes of righteousness, backsliding, and sin. Asa began two years before Jeroboam died, and his one good reign over Judah spanned the reigns of all the wicked kings of Israel from Jeroboam through Nadab, Baasha, Elah, and Zimri to Omri, who came to the throne fifty years after the division of the kingdom. The account of the reigns of Abijah and Asa is given more fully in Chronicles. Asa's reign was better, largely for the better, and Judah prospered under his rule.