And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
The verse closes the account of Asa within the section covering the reigns in Judah from Solomon through Rehoboam, Abijah, and Asa and into Jehoshaphat. It presents Asa as the greatest king of Judah after Solomon and the united kingdom, in contrast to backsliding Israel after the division at Solomon's death, where seven kings — Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab — reigned briefly, turned away from God by the calves of gold, and gave little care to God's voice and service despite appeals from God's prophets. It records his acts from first to last in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel, covering a forty-one-year reign that began when he was about twenty years old.
Surrounded by a bad father, bad grandfather, bad grandmother, and heathen influences on every side, with only the prophets Azariah and Hanani and the faithful Levites for good, he did what was good by trusting in God. His first work of reform was to restore the worship of the true God by removing and destroying strange gods, breaking down images, cutting down the groves of heathen worship, removing the wicked queen-mother despite her dignity and influence, and commanding Judah to serve God. For ten years the kingdom had rest, and through that testing time of peace he stayed faithful. When Zerah the Ethiopian invaded, he cried to the Lord that there was none beside Him to help, and the Lord smote the Ethiopians before him.
The verse points to a mixed legacy in which he was one of Judah's truly great kings whose reforms were far-reaching, but whose life ended foolishly because the latter part of his reign was marred by lack of trust in God. After becoming angry at God's prophet for reproving him, his rage marks a turn toward oppression. It places his later actions within the record of his reign following his departure from reliance on God, when in his final illness and painful disease he sought help from physicians rather than from the Lord, leading to an untimely death.
The verse closes the account of Asa within the section covering the reigns in Judah from Solomon through Rehoboam, Abijah, and Asa and into Jehoshaphat. It presents Asa as the greatest king of Judah after Solomon and the united kingdom, in contrast to backsliding Israel after the division at Solomon's death, where seven kings — Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab — reigned briefly, turned away from God by the calves of gold, and gave little care to God's voice and service despite appeals from God's prophets. It records his acts from first to last in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel, covering a forty-one-year reign that began when he was about twenty years old.
Surrounded by a bad father, bad grandfather, bad grandmother, and heathen influences on every side, with only the prophets Azariah and Hanani and the faithful Levites for good, he did what was good by trusting in God. His first work of reform was to restore the worship of the true God by removing and destroying strange gods, breaking down images, cutting down the groves of heathen worship, removing the wicked queen-mother despite her dignity and influence, and commanding Judah to serve God. For ten years the kingdom had rest, and through that testing time of peace he stayed faithful. When Zerah the Ethiopian invaded, he cried to the Lord that there was none beside Him to help, and the Lord smote the Ethiopians before him.
The verse points to a mixed legacy in which he was one of Judah's truly great kings whose reforms were far-reaching, but whose life ended foolishly because the latter part of his reign was marred by lack of trust in God. After becoming angry at God's prophet for reproving him, his rage marks a turn toward oppression. It places his later actions within the record of his reign following his departure from reliance on God, when in his final illness and painful disease he sought help from physicians rather than from the Lord, leading to an untimely death.