CHAPTER 15 Oct. 21 
Asa’s Dedication to God
The Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded: 2and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you, while you are with Him; and if you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 3Now for a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. 4But when in their distress they turned to Yahweh the God of Israel and sought Him, He was found by them. 5In those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands. 6They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God troubled them with all adversity. 7But you be strong, and don’t let your hands be slack; for your work shall be rewarded. 8When Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Yahweh that was before the porch of Yahweh. 9He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who lived with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon; for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him. 10So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11They sacrificed to Yahweh in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep. 12They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; 13and that whoever would not seek Yahweh the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. 14They swore to Yahweh with a loud voice, and with shouting, trumpets and cornets. 15All Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire; and He was found of them: and Yahweh gave them rest all around. 16Also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah. Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. 17But the high places were not taken away out of Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. 18He brought into God’s house the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

Commentary

15:8 And put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah- But 14:3 says that Asa did this at the start of his reign. Whenever we root out weakness from our lives, it tends to return. The records of Judah’s kings are full of such accounts of purging out the idols- and then we read the same again soon afterwards. The tendency to idol worship was and is very strong.
15:9 The faithful in the 10 tribes relocated to be near the believers in Judah. We should make every effort to fellowship with other believers, even if it may mean relocating.
15:15 All Judah rejoiced at the oath- Joy comes from full dedication to God; indeed true joy can come from nothing else.
Sought Him... and He was found- Christ’s invitation to seek knowing that we shall find is in the context of His teaching that whatever we ask for in prayer will be given; if we knock, the door will be opened (Mt. 7:7; Lk. 11:9). However, this isn’t a blank cheque offer to give us whatever we wish; rather is it teaching that if we pray to find God, if we really seek relationship with Him- we will find it, and thereby all other requests and needs in our lives will appear far less significant.