Who is King Asa in the Bible?

Quick facts

Father: King Abijah, 1Ki 15:8
Predecessor: King Abijah, 1Ki 15:8
Reign:  911 BC – 870 BC
Succession: 3rd king
Kingdom: Kingdom of Judah
Length of reign: 41 years, 1Ki 15:10
Successor: King Jehoshaphat, 1Ki 15:24
Tribe: Judah
Morality: good king, 1Ki 15:11; 2Ch 14:2
Biblical history: 2Ch 14:1-15; 2Ch 15:1-19; 2Ch 16:1-14; 1Ki 15:9-24

Asa reigns over Judah

Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel, during the days of Rehoboam. The first two kings, Rehoboam and Abijah, were evil, leaving Asa to be the first good king to ever rule the Kingdom of Judah. Asa became a king at a time when there was no peace in the region for nation destroyed nation and, city destroyed city; there were wars everywhere. (2 Chronicles 15:3-6).

Asa did what was right in the eyes of God and rid the Kingdom of Judah of many decades of idolatry and immorality. On account of his piety, God blessed him with peace and rest. And because the Lord was with him, great numbers of people from the tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon left North Israel to live in Judah and became Asa’s subjects (2Ch 15:9). Asa used the long period of peace he enjoyed to embark on a lot of developmental projects.

In the 39th year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet and his disease became severe. Asa died with the disease in the 41st year of his reign. He was buried in Jerusalem. The people mourned him and honored him with a great bonfire. Jehoshaphat, his son, succeeded him.

Asa purges his kingdom of idolatry

King Asa brought positive religious reforms to pursue the one true God of Israel. His reforms were:

  • Throughout his kingdom, he took away the altars of the strange gods, the high places, and the incense altars. He broke down the images and cut down the groves.
  • He commanded all his subjects to serve God and to keep His commandments.
  • He repaired the altar which was in front of the entry room of God’s temple.
  • He gathered all his subjects in Jerusalem. They sacrificed 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep to the Lord from the spoils they got from war. And they swore an oath and entered into a covenant to seek the Lord faithfully and to kill whoever would not seek the Lord.
  • Asa removed Maacah, his grandmother, from being queen-mother because she was idolatrous and had made an idol of Asherah. Asa cut down her idol and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
  • He brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, gold, and vessels.

Asa battles with King Zerah

Over time, King Zerah of Ethiopia came out against Judah with an army of a million men and 300 chariots. They came as far as Mareshah and Asa went out against him. The armies of Asa and King Zerah fought in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. Asa prayed to God for help. The Lord enabled the army of Judah to defeat the vast Ethiopian army and pursued them as far as Gerar, killing them all. The men of Judah also attacked all the cities around Gerar and plundered them, carrying away abundant sheep and camels to Jerusalem.

While Asa and his troops were returning, God sent Prophet Azariah to meet them and he said to them, “Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. .. 7 Be ye strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded (2 Chronicles 15:2-7).”

Asa’s mistakes

In the 36th year of the reign of Asa, King Baasha of Israel came against the Kingdom of Judah and built a military post at Ramah so that he might permit no one to go out or come into Jerusalem. This was an attempt to interrupt trade in Jerusalem and strangle the economy of the Kingdom of Judah.

Then Asa took gold and silver from the treasures of the house of God and the king’s house and sent them to bribe Ben-hadad king of Syria in Damascus, telling him to become an enemy of King Baasha and to fight him (2 Chronicles 16:3).

Ben-hadad listened to Asa and sent his armies against the cities of Israel and captured Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. When King Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and left. Then Asa used the stones and the timber for the Ramah project to fortify Geba and Mizpah.

God sent Prophet Hanani to rebuke Asa for acting foolishly and also told him that, because of what he had done, he would have wars (2 Chronicles 16:7-9). Asa became angry with the prophet and imprisoned him.

Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of his subjects around the time he imprisoned the prophet. Also, he could not destroy the high places which the previous idolatrous kings built.

Achievements of Asa

  • Asa defeated King Zerah in battle, destroying his army of 1,000,000 men. (2 Kings 14:9-13)
  • Asa brought reforms, purging the Kingdom of Judah of idolatry and establishing the worship of God. (2Ch 14:3-5; 1Ki 15:12)
  • Asa purged the kingdom of homosexuals who had been there since the time of King Rehoboam, Asa’s grandfather (1 Kings 14:24). Actually, Asa could not remove all the homosexuals. His son King Jehoshaphat would have to deal with the rest (1 Kings 22:46).
  • Asa built fortified cities in Judah (2Ch 14:6) and fortified Geba and Mizpah (2Ch 16:6).
  • He captured cities in the hills of Ephraim. (2Ch 15:8)
  • Asa built a military force of 300,000 warriors from the tribe of Judah armed with large shields and spears and 280,000 shield bearers and archers from the tribe of Benjamin. (2Ch 14:8)

Contemporaries of Asa

  • King Jeroboam I had reigned for 20 years when Asa became king (1 Kings 15:9). Jeroboam I and Asa were not in a good relationship, because King Jeroboam rebelled against the house of David.
  • King Nadab, the son of Jeroboam I, became a king 2 years into Asa’s reign (1 Kings 15:25). They were not in a good relationship for their fathers were enemies.
  • King Baasha became a king three years into Asa’s reign (1 Kings 15:28). The Bible testifies that there was war between them all their days (1 Kings 15:32)”.
  • King Elah, the son of Baasha, became a king 26 years into Asa’s reign (1 Kings 16:8). They were not in a good relationship because Elah’s father was Asa’s enemy of Asa.
  • King Zimri became a king for seven days in the 27th year of Asa’s reign. (1 Kings 16:15)
  • King Omri succeeded Zimri 31 years into Asa’s reign. Nothing, good or bad, happened between these two kings. (1 Kings 16:23)
  • King Ahab, the son of Omri, was made a king 38 years into Asa’s reign. Three years later, Asa died. (1 Kings 16:28-29)
  • Prophet Azariah. He was the prophet who met Asa when he was returning from the war with Zerah. (2Ch 15:1-2)
  • Prophet Hanani. He was the prophet who rebuked Asa for relying on Benhadad I. (2Ch 16:7)

Major events during the reign of King Asa

  • Great numbers of Israelites from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon abandoned the Northern Kingdom of Israel to join the Kingdom of Judah when they saw that the Lord was with King Asa. (2 Chronicles 15:9)
  • Asa won a battle between him and King Zerah of Ethiopia. (2 Chronicles 14:9)
  • Asa fortified cities such as Geba and Mizpah and built other fortified cities in Judah. (2 Chronicles 16:6)
  • Asa rid the kingdom of idolatry. (2 Chronicles 14:3-5)
  • Asa removed Maacah from being queen mother because she was idolatrous. (2 Chronicles 15:16)
  • Asa was able to stop King Baasha from building a military post at Ramah. (2 Chronicles 16:2-4)
  • Asa took gold and silver from the Temple of Solomon to bride Ben-hadad of Syria for help. King Asa was the first king of Judah to do such a thing. (2 Chronicles 16:2-4)

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