A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

away the building materials which had been brought there. With them, Judah rebuilt parts of her
own forts of Geba and Mizpah.
While Asa’s plan made sense from a military perspective and was successful in
accomplishing the immediate goal, it also demonstrated a wavering in the king’s faith. When
faced with an apparent threat from Israel, Asa was more willing to depend on the king of Syria
than on the Lord. Again the Lord sent a prophet, this time Hanani, to meet with the king.
However, this time the message from God was not one of encouragement but rather one of
rebuke. Asa’s response to the message was also different. Rather than move into a deeper
relationship with the Lord, he got angry with the prophet and imprisoned him. Because of his
pent-up anger, Asa also began to be oppressive to others about him. God had promised to bless
Asa as long as he sought after the Lord, but as he wandered in his relationship with God, God
began to withdraw His hand of blessing. King Asa, who had enjoyed long periods of peace
during his reign, was now to be engaged in a constant struggle with King Baasha. Within three
years, Asa found himself with a gout-like disease in his feet that would eventually take his life.
Yet in all this, Asa did not return to the Lord.
The final biblical commentary on Asa observes, “And his malady was very severe; yet in
his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians” (2 Chron. 16:12). This is the only
reference to physicians in the Old Testament and some writers have taken this verse to suggest it
is wrong to seek medical help for a physical problem. Such a conclusion overlooks three very
important contextual considerations. First, the physicians referred to here are not trained doctors
as we might use the term today but rather very primitive “medicine men” who might have
believed in mystical or magical powers of herbal and other “homemade” remedies. Their
prescriptions would more often call for warts of toads and eyes of bats than proven medical
remedies to treat properly diagnosed diseases. Second, it has been suggested that the meaning of
the name Asa could be translated “physician. “ The biblical author may be pointing out Asa was
more prepared to trust Asa than the Lord. Third, Asa had earlier entered into the national
covenant that called for a death penalty for one who failed to seek the Lord. Yet in his final
illness, Asa refused to honor his own word. His death was not a judgment of God on the king for
seeking medical help but rather the consequence of Asa’s own refusal to honor an earlier
commitment.
PERSPECTIVE
Despite his wavering during the final years of his life, Asa was essentially a good king.
But even the best of kings has his flaws. Still, Asa was a source of blessing for Judah because he
led his nation back to God. As Israel wandered far from God through a succession of kings, Asa
brought Judah into a deeper relationship with God. Upon the death of Asa, his son Jehoshaphat
ascended to the throne. Jehoshaphat was only five years old when his father had called on God
for help in the battle against Zerah, yet the event seems to have made a profound impression on
the young boy. When Jehoshaphat ruled in Judah, he too sought to follow the Lord
wholeheartedly. In northern Israel, however, King Ahab was earning the reputation of being one
of the most reprobate men to sit on the apostate throne.
FORTY-TWO
ELIJAH: