Asa
The good king of Judah who removed the foreign altars and high places, commanded Judah to seek YHWH, and won a great victory by crying to YHWH when an army of a million men came against him — yet who in his old age trusted in Syria rather than in YHWH.
The Good King Who Wavered
Scripture: 2 Chronicles 14-16
The Biblical Record
Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of YHWH. He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones, cut down the Asherah poles. He commanded Judah to seek YHWH and obey his commands. When Zerah the Cushite came against him with an army of a million men, Asa called to YHWH: there is no one besides you to help. YHWH struck down the Cushites. But in his thirty-sixth year, when Baasha of Israel threatened him, Asa went to the king of Syria for help rather than to YHWH. The seer Hanani came to rebuke him: because you relied on the king of Syria and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.
Asa in the Sanctum
Asa is the figure of the believer whose life tells two stories: the first marked by genuine faith that moves YHWH, the second marked by the trust-in-human-alliances failure that undermines the legacy. The Sanctum holds both stories as a warning that the faith of earlier years does not automatically carry over into later ones.
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