Chapter 15 picks up right after that miraculous victory over the million-man army. They are headed back to Jerusalem with loads of plunder and huge herds of captured livestock.

And a man who we’ve never heard of before, and will only appear this once in scripture, comes out to meet the returning King Asa and his army. Azariah son of Oded is sent by God to deliver a message to the king. Josephus calls Azariah a prophet. He’s like Shemaiah who confronted Rehoboam. He’s a prophet we know nothing about, who just pops into the pages of scripture for a moment and then is gone.

And I have to ask myself, would I be willing to serve the LORD if He only gave me one mission? One task?

Azariah may very well have done more preaching to the people. But whatever the LORD had Azariah doing or saying, it wasn’t anything He chose to record in scripture. He has this one moment. And what a moment it is! The people are SO fired up to serve Yahweh that they began a national anti-idolatry campaign. It kicked off with a huge reaffirming of the covenant with undoubtedly more sacrifices than Jerusalem had seen since the day his great-grandfather Solomon dedicated the temple.

This was not some overnight affair. It took months, perhaps even years. Asa had teams of men going through the land destroying idol shrines and arresting occult practitioners – including his own mother!

Notice that this revival is happening within the covenant community. Asa’s teams aren’t going up into Syria or down to Egypt knocking down their idols. They’re not forcing their unique relationship with Yahweh on neighboring nations. They’re just getting the covenant family’s house in order. If we would see revival in our own nation, it’s got to begin within the household of God. WE have to get rid of OUR idols and cut the occult influences ruthlessly out of our lives.

Notice that peace follows the eviction of the idols. Get rid of the footholds of the kingdom of darkness and peace reigns.

---

Remember Baasha who assassinated King Nadab, the son of Jeroboam and made himself the new king? Well he’s up to no good.

😒 No kidding. Shocker.

The kingdom of Judah is doing well and they are following Yahweh. The Levites have already switched sides and moved to Judah. Now others from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon (which was already within the borders of Judah) are also defecting to Asa. Baasha is hemorrhaging citizens. So he goes right to the border, and builds a huge military base.

When one country builds a big military installation right on another country’s border, that’s usually a sign either of aggression or that they feel threatened. With Baasha, it might’ve been a little of both.

What Baasha does is a HUGE act of aggression. With a big enough military presence there, he could nearly cut off all northern trade to the capital of Judah.

Now, this is a problem, but it’s no million-man army. But Asa doesn’t muster the troops and polish up the silver trumpets. Instead, he scrapes together a pile of temple treasure and pays off the king of Syria to break the alliance he has with Baasha. The Syrians begin attacking and Baasha moves his army back to the north to deal with Syria. And Asa orders everyone to pitch in and help dismantle the military base.

Problem solved. But without faith in Yahweh. And Yahweh isn’t pleased.

Yet another obscure prophet is sent to confront the king.

🤔 So, were there just a bunch of prophets running around that we barely know anything about?

It would seem so. Remember that “school of the prophets” that Samuel built?

😐 Sorta. Something about David hiding out there for a while and learning to be a prophet too… Is that where all these guys are coming from?

I don’t know. But it’s likely.

This guy is called Hanani the Seer. And he gives the message of correction to Asa about how he handled the problem with Baasha. And Hanani tells Asa that the lovely years of peace he has enjoyed are over. From now on, it will be war.

Asa does not receive this correction. Instead he throws poor Hanani in prison and takes out his anger on the people.

The ability to receive correction with grace and humility is a skill we should all develop. Perhaps Asa grew a little self-righteous. After all, he had been more zealous for Yahweh than any king since David. He cleaned up the land. He repaired the temple. He had peace. It’s hard for a successful person to be wrong. It might even be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a successful person to humble himself and repent.

And it looks like Asa might not have ever been able to get back to that place of humble dependence on the LORD.

“In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians.”
‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭16‬:‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I don’t think this verse is a condemnation of physicians. But I do think it’s a problem when we call the doctor’s office before we think to call on the name of the Lord.

We don’t know what the disease was in Asa’s feet. But I think that it’s interesting that his problem was connected to his walk. He did walk with loyalty to Yahweh, but there were also some problems with a lack of faith.

A man who started off with a miraculous victory over a million-man army…. The last thing you’d think he would struggle with would be faith. But it goes to show us that even if we have experienced amazing victories, we can’t coast on their momentum forever. We have to keep our eyes on the LORD even in the good times; perhaps especially in the good times.