CHAPTER 14 Oct. 21 
King Asa Begins Well
So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet ten years. 2Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Yahweh his God. 3He took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and broke down the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, 4and commanded Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and to obey the law and the commandment. 5Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun images. The kingdom was quiet before him. 6He built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because Yahweh had given him rest. 7For he said to Judah, Let us build these cities, and make walls around them, with towers, gates, and bars. The land is yet before us, because we have sought Yahweh our God. We have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered. 8Asa had an army that carried shields and spears: out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew bows, two hundred and eighty thousand. All these were mighty men of valour. 9There came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a million troops, and three hundred chariots; and he came to Mareshah. 10Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11Asa cried to Yahweh his God and said, Yahweh, there is none apart from You to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength. Help us, Yahweh our God; for we rely on You, and in Your name are we come against this multitude. Yahweh, You are our God. Don’t let man prevail against You. 12So Yahweh struck the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. 13Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar. There fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before Yahweh and before His army; and they carried away very much booty. 14They struck all the cities around Gerar; for the fear of Yahweh came on them. They despoiled all the cities; for there was much spoil in them. 15They struck also the tents of the herdsmen, and carried away sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.

Commentary

14:3 This shows that the previous king’s claim to such great spirituality in Judah was hypocritical; see on 13:12.
14:11 Him who has no strength- All Asa’s human strength he considered as non-existent. He had learnt the lesson of 12:3 [see note there]; that the only strength is in God. God brought Asa to this realization by putting him in a situation where he was hopelessly outnumbered, just as He tried to teach Abijah in13:12.We see God working to a pattern in these men’s lives, just as He does with us. He puts us in situations which are quite beyond our own strength- and then makes a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13; 2 Cor. 1:8; 8:3). This not only strengthens our faith for the next crisis we face, but awes us into an appropriate humility.