2 Chronicles 14

2 Chronicles 14:1

2 Chronicles: God desires loyal people

The *Kingdom called Judah An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on 2 Chronicles chapters 10 to 36 www.easyenglish.info Ian Mackervoy This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 14 Asa – 2 Chronicles 14:1b-16:14 The *LORD gives a time of peace – 2 Chronicles 14:1b-7 v1b Then Abijah’s son Asa became king. During Asa’s rule, the country had peace for 10 years.

v2 Asa did what the *LORD his God considered good and right. v3 He removed the foreign *altars and the high places where people *worshipped their gods. He broke down the stone columns, and he cut down the images of *Asherah. v4 Asa ordered the people in Judah to follow the *LORD, the God of their *ancestors. He told them to obey the *LORD’s laws and commands. v5 Asa removed the high places for *worship and the images from all the cities of Judah. So, the *kingdom had peace while Asa was king. v6 He built strong cities to defend Judah during the time of peace. He had no war in those years, because the *LORD gave peace to him.

v7 Asa said to the people in Judah, ‘Let us build up these towns. We will put walls round them with *towers, gates and bars on the gates. This country is still ours, because we have obeyed the *LORD our God. We have followed him, and he has given to us peace all round.’ So, they built and they were successful.

Verse 1b Asa the son of Abijah became king when his father died. He ruled as king of Judah for 41 years.

Out of Asa’s 41 years as king, the writer chose 4 main events for his record. In the first 10 years, Asa removed false gods from Judah. And the *LORD gave to him a time of peace (14:1a-8). Then Asa fought with and he defeated Zerah (14:9-15). After that, Asa led his people to follow the *LORD (chapter 15). And in the final section, Asa asked for help from the king of Aram against Baasha of *Israel (chapter 16).

Verses 2-6 Asa was a good king because he was loyal to the *LORD. But later he did not ask the *LORD for help. When the *prophet told him about his mistake, he refused to *repent (16:9-10).

He removed the *altars for foreign gods. He removed the high places where people *worshipped false gods. And he removed the images of gods from all the cities in Judah. But it seems that the people began to *worship at the high places again. And later he did not remove those high places for *worship (15:17).

The stone columns were from the time before the *Israelites came to the country. The people believed that the local gods lived in the columns.

Asa cut down the *Asherah poles. The workers in wood made these images of *Asherah and they became gods for the people. *Asherah was a female god and she was the wife of the male god Baal.

Asa then ordered the people to *worship the *LORD. They should pray to him alone and not to other gods.

There was peace for the first 10 years of Asa’s rule. He used that time to make the cities in Judah strong for defence.

Verse 7 They were safe in the country that the *LORD had given to them. And they enjoyed a time of peace. Both of these good things were because they obeyed the *LORD. But the country was small and weak. So, Asa asked the people to make the country able to defend itself.

The people in Judah did as Asa had asked. In each of the cities, they built defences. They built walls and *towers. They made strong gates with bars. Asa trusts in God’s help in battles – 2 Chronicles 14:8-15 v8 Asa had an army of 300 000 men from Judah. These men carried large *shields and *spears. Also there were 280 000 men from Benjamin. These men carried small *shields and they had bows and arrows. All of these men from Judah and Benjamin were brave soldiers.

v9 Zerah from the country called Cush came against them. He had a vast army of 1 000 000 men and 300 *chariots. And he came to the city called Mareshah. v10 Asa went out to fight Zerah. And he prepared for battle in the Valley called Zephathah at Mareshah.

v11 Then Asa prayed to the *LORD his God. He said, ‘*LORD, only you can help weak people against strong people. Help us, *LORD our God, because we depend on you. We have come to fight against this enormous army in your name. *LORD, you are our God. Do not let men defeat you.’

v12 The *LORD defeated the army from Cush in front of Asa and the army of Judah. The soldiers from Cush ran away. v13 Asa and his army chased them all the way to the town called Gerar. So many soldiers from Cush died there that their army could not fight again. The *LORD and his army had defeated them. And Judah’s soldiers carried away a large quantity of valuable things. v14 And they destroyed all the towns near Gerar because the people there were afraid of the *LORD. Asa’s army took many valuable things from those towns. v15 They also attacked the camps where the *shepherds lived. And they took away very many sheep, goats and camels. Then they went back to Jerusalem.

Verse 8 Asa had an army of 580 000 men. There were 300 000 men from Judah and 280 000 men from Benjamin. The soldiers from Judah had large *shields and *spears. The men from Benjamin had small *shields, bows and arrows. This large number does not mean that they were a professional army. They were men who were capable with these *weapons. They were ready. And Asa could use them if there was a need.

Verses 9-10 We are not sure who Zerah was. He was from Cush. Some translations have Ethiopia but it is not the country that we now call Ethiopia. Another name for the country that he came from was Nubia. This country was to the south of Egypt. (It was part of the modern country called Sudan.)

Zerah probably led the army on behalf of King Osorkon 1st of Egypt. (Osorkon became king when Shishak died.) There is another theory that Zerah was Osorkon 2nd. He was the 3rd king after Shishak.

Zerah came with a large army of 1 000 000 men and 300 *chariots to attack Judah. They came to Mareshah. Mareshah was a city in the territory of Judah.

The 1 000 000 may not be a definite number. It may just mean a very large number. But the size of this army was nearly twice the size of Judah’s army.

Near Mareshah there was a valley called Zephathah. Asa took his army there. And the two armies prepared for battle.

Verse 11 Asa could see that his army could not win against the much larger army. So, he prayed to the *LORD his God. Asa knew that nobody except God could help him against such a strong enemy. It did not matter to the *LORD how strong the enemy was. Nothing was too hard for the *LORD. So, Asa and Judah had to depend on the *LORD.

Asa did not run away from a battle that he could not win without help. But he trusted in the *LORD and he went forward to fight. He expected the *LORD to answer his prayer. He expected the *LORD to help Judah to win. If Zerah won, it would be against the God of *Israel. The *LORD could not let men defeat him.

Verses 12-15 As the army of Judah attacked, God defeated the army of Zerah in front of them. The army from Cush ran away in terror from the battle. Asa’s army chased them all the way to the town called Gerar. Gerar was south east of Gaza and it was on the route back to Egypt. The *LORD and Judah’s army destroyed Zerah’s army. And Judah’s soldiers carried away a large quantity of valuable things from the enemy.

Asa killed so many of the army from Cush that they could not recover. The king of Egypt did not attack Judah again until the time of Josiah (35:20). Even then, King Neco of Egypt did not come to fight against Judah.

In the town called Gerar and the villages round it, lived the *Philistines. The *Philistines and *Israel were often fighting. It is probable that the *Philistines had helped Zerah. So, Asa attacked all the towns and villages round Gerar.

The local people were so afraid of the *LORD that they could not defend themselves against Asa. Asa’s men took away many valuable things from these towns and villages. They also attacked the camps of the *shepherds. And they took away their sheep, goats and camels. It is probable that these *shepherds had supplied food to Zerah.

Asa returned to Jerusalem with all that his men had taken.

© 2010, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

November 2010

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