2 Chronicles 15

In 2 Chronicles 15, Azariah a prophet of Yehovah is sent to speak to King Asa.  His words will affect a change that will cause Judah to prosper for over 2 decades.  What Azariah tells Asa to do is something we all need to understand and implement in our own lives.  Without it, we are no better than those who profess to believe, but do not possess the faith.

2 Chronicles 15:1

¹ And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: ² And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; Yehovah with you, while you be with Him; and if you seek Him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

This is the simplest concept of the Bible.  Yehovah is with you, when you are with Him.  That means you need to go where He is.  If you seek Him, He will be found.  But you cannot do it half-heartedly.  If you forsake Him, He will forsake you.  If you disregard Him completely, He will disregard you completely.  He is not looking to commune with a rebellious and wicked people.  At some point, the individual has to make the decision to repent.  Yehovah only goes after the righteous one.  Asa was a righteous individual.

The thought expressed in 2 Chronicles 15:1 can be found in 2 Timothy 2:11-13.

¹¹ A faithful saying: For if we be dead with, we shall also live with: ¹² If we suffer, we shall also reign with: if we deny, He also will deny us: ¹³ If we believe not, He abides faithful: He cannot deny Himself.

God is righteous, but there is a limit.  Thank God for the Restitution of All Things, Acts 3:19-23.

¹⁹ Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; ²⁰ And He shall send Yeshua Messiah, which before was preached to you: ²¹ Whom the heaven must receive until the times of Restitution of All Things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. ²² For Moses truly said to the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you of your brethren, like to me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say to you. ²³ And it shall come to pass every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.

Asa was a descendent of David as were all the kings in Judah.  The only exception was when Athaliah, who reigned for 6 years.  Asa was a good king.  It is stated about Asa in 2 Chronicles 14:1-5.

¹ So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years. ² And Asa did good and right in the eyes of Yehovah his Redeemer: ³ For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: ⁴ And commanded Judah to seek Yehovah Redeemer of their fathers, and to do the Torah and the commandment. ⁵ Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.

These are just a few of the reforms that Asa did.  He brought a time of rest to the land.  He had won great battles.  Because Asa and the people were given great victories, more was expected of them, Matthew 13:12.

¹² For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever has not, from him shall be taken away even that he has.

For Asa and the people, a decision had to be made.  Were Asa and the people willing to go forward?  For the truth is no one can stand still.  Either we slip towards disrepute or we go forward in righteousness.

2 Chronicles 15:3

³ Now for a long season Israel without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without Torah.

This is a tough pill for many to swallow.  To realize how far they have fallen from the glory of God.

As for Asa and the people, it appears that Azariah may have talked to them after a great victory, 2 Chronicles 14:9-12.

⁹ And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came to Mareshah. ¹⁰ Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹ And Asa cried to Yehovah his Redeemer and said, Yehovah, it is nothing with You to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, Yehovah our Redeemer; for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. Yehovah, You our God; let not man prevail against You. ¹² So Yehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

Even though Yehovah had answered them when they were threatened by the Ethiopians, Azariah said they were without a True God and Torah.  This may not be clear to many.  However, just because God answers prayers, it does not mean you are walking with Him.  Answered prayer and being in His presence are two totally different things.  One is His hand and the other is His face.  Yes God is there to help, but if that is all you are looking for, then Yehovah may not be the God of choice for you.  He is much more than that.  Very few will realize that in this lifetime.  However, it should not be a deterrent to any believer from fulfilling Psalm 27:8.

⁸ Seek My face; my heart said to You, Your face, Yehovah will I seek.

God desires a relationship of purity with His people.  It is a small price for anyone to pay considering what He has done for us.  It is very little that is expected of us and even smaller what we actually do.  Simply, we are to do Matthew 6:33.

³³ But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.

2 Chronicles 15:4

⁴ But when they in their trouble did turn to Yehovah God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found of them.

Thankfully so, Yehovah does not make perfection a requirement to help us.  He is much more lenient in His approach to us than we are to others.  Yehovah always watches over His people, Psalm 121:4.

⁴ Behold, He that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

2 Chronicles 15:5-6

⁵ And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. ⁶ And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.

For 15 years, there was relative peace in Judah.  When we called upon Him, He made sure that the problem would not return.  His solutions are final, ours seem to be incomplete and temporary.  Eventually, it is time to grow up and mature into a spiritual believer.

2 Chronicles 15:7

⁷ Be you strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

The final word of the prophesy was the part most of us want.  However, this should be known without having to be said.  What most people do not realize is that obedience to Torah is the pathway to blessings, Deuteronomy 4:40.

⁴⁰ You shall keep therefore His statutes, and His commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you mayest prolong days upon the earth, which Yehovah your Redeemer gives you, for ever.

It almost seems as if the Torah will lead to blessings.  That is exactly what it is saying.  If one wants to live a successful and prosperous life, they should follow Torah.  The reason most Christians do not, is because they have been taught otherwise.  They have been taught that Torah is a curse.  Too many twist Paul’s words, Galatians 3:10.

¹⁰ For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Galatians 3:10 has been used to claim that the law, Torah is a curse.  But that is not what Paul was writing.  The curse is not the law.  The curse comes from a broken law.  The law will bless the one who keeps the law.  However, if one does not do the law; they are cursed because of disobedience.  It does not matter if one believes in the law.  One is still accountable to the law either way, Galatians 3:11.

¹¹ But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

Paul is expressing that spiritual salvation never comes through the law.  Torah for all its good, did not have a provision for the sin of Adam outside of Yeshua.  That had to be corrected by Messiah.  He was the only one who could.  However, Paul writes in Philippians 2:12-13.

¹² Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. ¹³ For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

This would seem to contradict that works do not justify the individual.  However, Philippians 2:12-13 is speaking of a different type of salvation.  This is referring to the salvation of the soul or the walk of the believer.  Yes, spiritual salvation is a free gift; however, what you do with it determines your total worth in the kingdom.  There is no free pass once Spiritual Salvation is obtained.  God desires us to grow into a mature righteous believer.  However, this cannot be done on our own nor does God do it independent of us in this lifetime.  We are to work out our Soul Salvation with fear and trembling to perform God’s good pleasure, Galatians 3:12.

¹² And the law is not of faith: but, The man that does them shall live in them.

This is where Christians really start to get confused.  True the law is not of faith, it is a promise.  Do the law and things will go well for you and your children.  That is not faith.  That is a spiritual law.  One does not have to believe in it for it to affect their life.  To live in the law is to be blessed by the law.  This is exactly what the entire scriptures state.  There is no contradiction, Galatians 3:13.

¹³ Messiah has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree:

Messiah did not redeem us from the law, He redeemed us from the curse.  The curse comes from the broken law.  The curse was the sacrificial system.  If one breaks the law, they had to bring a sacrifice.  However, if one went too far in breaking particular laws; there was other consequences.  Further, all sin had to be paid for.  So no matter how good we may think we are, there are not enough animals in the world for all the sins that we have and will commit.

Disobedience to Torah is the very reason why so many bad things happen to so called good Christians.  They may seem good by the world’s standard or some church, but by God’s standard Torah, they are sinners.  As such, bad things happen to them.  Mainly because, they have been breaking the law and will not repent.  They will not repent, because they have been taught a lie.  Many suffer today needlessly, because it is taught in most churches that the law, Torah is not for today.

One ought to consider actually studying for themselves, before disregarding something in the Bible.  If something is eternal, then it is always eternal.  Torah is an eternal teaching of God.

So it is no surprise that if we fulfill a prophesy there is a reward.

2 Chronicles 15:8

⁸ And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of Yehovah, that was before the porch of Yehovah.

This verse presents a problem, some have a tendency to ignore.  It states that the prophecy was from Oded the prophet.  However, 2 Chronicles 15:1 would lead one to believe the prophesy came from Azariah the son of Oded.  Some have changed more modern translations so that 2 Chronicles 15:8 is in agreement with 2 Chronicles 15:1.  However, what if both were correct and father and son went out together or some other possibility.  We should be careful before adding or taking away from the word, Deuteronomy 4:2.

² You shall not add to the word which I command You, neither shall you diminish  from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yehovah your Redeemer which I command you.

We are not to add nor take away from what is written.  This is in scriptures several times.  What may seem obvious to many, may not be.  We should consider the word sacred and observe this.

Once Asa heard the prophesy, he knew exactly what needed to be done.  It took courage to do what Asa did.  One can only have this type of courage, when they have absolute faith in what they are doing.  He was going against the tide that was present.  The idols and the abomination that he got rid of did not all of a sudden just show up one day.  People had done this and their faith was in it.  Asa was about to get rid of all idols and strange gods in one move.  This could be an upheaval to many.

2 Chronicles 15:9

⁹ And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers 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 Yehovah his Redeemer was with him.

However, Asa did not do this on his own.  When a prophesy like this comes, many are just looking for a leader they can follow.  People wanted to do the right thing.  For many, their hearts were prepared for this.  They could see that the Glory of God was with Asa.

When we step out in total faith, God prepares the hearts of the people who are to go with us.  It was no different in the days of Asa.  As evident by what the people were willing to do.

Note that the strangers from the Northern Kingdom joined themselves to Judah.  They left Israel, because they never came to be part of another heathen religion.  They were looking for Yehovah, the only true Redeemer.

Also Simeon joined up.  Their lands were originally in the midst of Judah, Joshua 19:9.

⁹ Out of the portion of the children of Judah the inheritance of the children of Simeon: for the part of the children of Judah was too much for them: therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of them.

2 Chronicles 15:10

¹⁰ So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

In the third month, this could have possibly been during Shavous.  It was a migratory festival.

2 Chronicles 15:11-13

¹¹ And they offered to Yehovah the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. ¹² And they entered into a covenant to seek Yehovah Redeemer of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; ¹³ That whosoever would not seek Yehovah God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. ¹⁴ And they swore to Yehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with silver trumpets, and with shofars.

Asa who immediately took action could not have known the will of the people.  We cannot make decisions based on the people; however in this case, they were prepared to follow Asa.

It is one thing to bring numerous offerings.  It is another thing to enter into a covenant with Yehovah.  It is even greater to do it with all your heart and soul.  It is far more than we could imagine, when the people are willing to kill any dissenters in the land.

This may seem unfair, in that, others could not make the choice for themselves.  However, if you believe that, then you do not understand what you are involved in.  Christianly is not the wide road, where all can do whatever they want.  Christianity is the narrow way, Matthew 7:13-14.

¹³ Enter in at the strait gate: for wide the gate, and broad the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in at that place: ¹⁴ Because strait the gate, and narrow the way, which leads to life, and few there be that find it.

We are to go the narrow way.  We do not look for agreement with anyone except Yehovah.  He gave us a standard, it is not up for debate.  We do not debate, we bow the knee to Him and vow our allegiance.

Further, to allow dissenter is to allow the potential to return to the ways that they were willing to leave behind.  One of the greatest tools for finding and following God, is to be sanctified to Him completely.  Yes, we have to spend time in the world, but be careful who you allow to influence you.  Never take your eyes off of Yehovah Himself.

If you still find this hard to accept, then what will occur in the millennium will turn your stomach.  Because God has a standard and many fall short of the glory.  It will be a lot easier if we prepare today, rather than to be surprised later.

2 Chronicles 15:15

¹⁵ And all 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 Yehovah gave them rest round about.

Of course they rejoiced; however, it was not some simple yea.  It was an exuberance that is not seen among most believers.  Our joy should be overwhelming all the time.  If you find it hard to rejoice with abandon, then maybe you do not have much to rejoice about.  That usually happens to those who are not in the spirit or fail to walk daily continuously with Yehovah.

Because of their covenant and the seriousness of it, God was found of them.  Because of that, God gave them rest for over 20 years.

2 Chronicles 15:16

¹⁶ And also Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

This was how serious Asa was, he went against family.  Something very few are willing to do today.  Even though, Yeshua warned us in Matthew 10:33-38.

³³ But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven. ³⁴ Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. ³⁶ And a man’s foes they of his own household. ³⁷ He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁸ And he that taketh not his cross, and follows after Me, is not worthy of Me.

Luke provides some additional detail, Luke 12:51.

⁵¹ Suppose that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, No; but rather division:

And Luke 14:26-27.

²⁶ If any come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ And whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.

This is the part of the Gospel that no ones like to talk about.  Following Yeshua and His word is more important than pleasing others, including family.  If we would follow Yeshua, we might be surprised how many would follow including family.  As for those who do not, we have to leave them in God’s hands.  We all need to decide who is our Lord and Master.

2 Chronicles 15:17

¹⁷ But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

Although, Asa did not take away all the high places, Yehovah was still with Him.  However, we should strive to be exactly like Him.  We cannot decide what is allowable and what is not.

2 Chronicles 15:18

¹⁸ And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. ¹⁹ And there was no more war to the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

Things had been taken from the Temple in past years and new things were dedicated.  Asa put these back.

Unfortunately for Asa, in the 36^th year of his reign, he formed an alliance that he should never have, 2 Chronicles 16:1-3.

¹ In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ² Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of Yehovah and of the king’s house, and sent to Benhadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, ³ There is a league between me and you, as between my father and your father: behold, I have sent you silver and gold; go, break your league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

Basically Asa slipped and went downhill from there.  We must be vigilant to stay on the path of righteousness.  No matter what occurs, there is only one Redeemer.  Our only alliance that matters is the one with Yehovah.

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