2Ch 15:1-15.
JUDAH
MAKES A
SOLEMN
COVENANT WITH
GOD.
1. Azariah the son of Oded--This prophet, who is mentioned nowhere
else, appears at this stage of the sacred story in the discharge of an
interesting mission. He went to meet Asa, as he was returning from his
victorious pursuit of the Ethiopians, and the congratulatory address
here recorded was publicly made to the king in presence of his army.
2. The Lord is with you, while ye be with him--You have had, in your
recent signal success, a remarkable proof that God's blessing is upon
you; your victory has been the reward of your faith and piety. If you
steadfastly adhere to the cause of God, you may expect a continuance of
His favor; but if you abandon it, you will soon reap the bitter fruits
of apostasy.
3-6. Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God,
&c.--Some think that Azariah was referring to the sad and disastrous
condition to which superstition and idolatry had brought the
neighboring kingdom of Israel. His words should rather be taken in a
wider sense, for it seems manifest that the prophet had his eye upon
many periods in the national history, when the people were in the state
described--a state of spiritual destitution and ignorance--and
exhibited its natural result as widespread anarchy, mutual dissension
among the tribes, and general suffering
(Jud 9:23; 12:4; 20:21;
2Ch 13:17).
These calamities God permitted to befall them as the punishment of
their apostasy. Azariah's object in these remarks was to establish the
truth of his counsel
(2Ch 15:2),
threatening, in case of neglecting it by describing the uniform course
of the divine procedure towards Israel, as shown in all periods of
their history. Then after this appeal to national experience, he
concluded with an earnest exhortation to the king to prosecute the work
of reformation so well begun
[2Ch 15:7].
7. Be ye strong--Great resolution and indomitable energy would be
required to persevere in the face of the opposition your reforming
measures will encounter.
your work shall be rewarded--What you do in the cause and for the
glory of God will assuredly be followed by the happiest results both to
yourself and your subjects.
8. when Asa heard . . . the prophecy of Oded the prophet--The insertion
of these words, "of Oded the prophet," is generally regarded as a
corruption of the text. "The sole remedy is to erase them. They are,
probably, the remains of a note, which crept in from the margin into
the text" [BERTHEAU].
he took courage--Animated by the seasonable and pious address of
Azariah, Asa became a more zealous reformer than ever, employing all
his royal authority and influence to extirpate every vestige of
idolatry from the land.
and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim--He may
have acquired cities of Ephraim, the conquest of which is not recorded
(2Ch 17:2);
but it has been commonly supposed that the reference is to cities which
his father Abijah had taken in that quarter
(2Ch 13:19).
renewed the altar of the Lord . . . before the porch--that is, the
altar of burnt offering. As this was done on or about the fifteenth
year of the reign of this pious king, the renewal must have consisted
in some splendid repairs or embellishments, which made it look like a
new dedication, or in a reconstruction of a temporary altar, like that
of Solomon
(2Ch 7:7),
for extraordinary sacrifices to be offered on an approaching
occasion.
9-15. he gathered all Judah and Benjamin--Not satisfied with these
minor measures of purification and improvement, Asa meditated a grand
scheme which was to pledge his whole kingdom to complete the work of
reformation, and with this in view he waited for a general assembly of
the people.
and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh--The population
of Asa's kingdom had been vastly increased by the continued influx of
strangers, who, prompted by motives either of interest or of piety,
sought in his dominions that security and freedom which they could not
enjoy amid the complicated troubles which distracted Israel.
and out of Simeon--Although a portion of that tribe, located within the
territory of Judah, were already subjects of the southern kingdom, the
general body of the Simeonites had joined in forming the northern
kingdom of Israel. But many of them now returned of their own accord.
10-14. the third month--when was held the feast of pentecost. On
this occasion, it was celebrated at Jerusalem by an extraordinary
sacrifice of seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep, the spoil of
the Ethiopians being offered. The assembled worshippers entered with
great and holy enthusiasm into a national covenant "to seek the Lord
their God . . . with all their heart and with all their
soul;" and, at the same time, to execute with rigor the laws which made
idolatry punishable with death
(2Ch 15:13;
De 17:2-5;
Heb 10:28).
The people testified unbounded satisfaction with this important
religious movement, and its moral influence was seen in the promotion
of piety, order, and tranquillity throughout the land.
18. the things that his father had dedicated--probably part of the
booty obtained by his signal victory over Jeroboam, but which, though
dedicated, had hitherto been unrepresented.
and that he himself had dedicated--of the booty taken from the
Ethiopians. Both of these were now deposited in the temple as votive
offerings to Him whose right hand and holy arm had given them the
victory.
2 Chronicles 15 Bible Commentary
Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown
2Ch 15:1-15. JUDAH MAKES A SOLEMN COVENANT WITH GOD.
1. Azariah the son of Oded--This prophet, who is mentioned nowhere else, appears at this stage of the sacred story in the discharge of an interesting mission. He went to meet Asa, as he was returning from his victorious pursuit of the Ethiopians, and the congratulatory address here recorded was publicly made to the king in presence of his army.
2. The Lord is with you, while ye be with him--You have had, in your recent signal success, a remarkable proof that God's blessing is upon you; your victory has been the reward of your faith and piety. If you steadfastly adhere to the cause of God, you may expect a continuance of His favor; but if you abandon it, you will soon reap the bitter fruits of apostasy.
3-6. Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, &c.--Some think that Azariah was referring to the sad and disastrous condition to which superstition and idolatry had brought the neighboring kingdom of Israel. His words should rather be taken in a wider sense, for it seems manifest that the prophet had his eye upon many periods in the national history, when the people were in the state described--a state of spiritual destitution and ignorance--and exhibited its natural result as widespread anarchy, mutual dissension among the tribes, and general suffering (Jud 9:23; 12:4; 20:21; 2Ch 13:17). These calamities God permitted to befall them as the punishment of their apostasy. Azariah's object in these remarks was to establish the truth of his counsel (2Ch 15:2), threatening, in case of neglecting it by describing the uniform course of the divine procedure towards Israel, as shown in all periods of their history. Then after this appeal to national experience, he concluded with an earnest exhortation to the king to prosecute the work of reformation so well begun [2Ch 15:7].
7. Be ye strong--Great resolution and indomitable energy would be required to persevere in the face of the opposition your reforming measures will encounter.
your work shall be rewarded--What you do in the cause and for the glory of God will assuredly be followed by the happiest results both to yourself and your subjects.
8. when Asa heard . . . the prophecy of Oded the prophet--The insertion of these words, "of Oded the prophet," is generally regarded as a corruption of the text. "The sole remedy is to erase them. They are, probably, the remains of a note, which crept in from the margin into the text" [BERTHEAU].
he took courage--Animated by the seasonable and pious address of Azariah, Asa became a more zealous reformer than ever, employing all his royal authority and influence to extirpate every vestige of idolatry from the land.
and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim--He may have acquired cities of Ephraim, the conquest of which is not recorded (2Ch 17:2); but it has been commonly supposed that the reference is to cities which his father Abijah had taken in that quarter (2Ch 13:19).
renewed the altar of the Lord . . . before the porch--that is, the altar of burnt offering. As this was done on or about the fifteenth year of the reign of this pious king, the renewal must have consisted in some splendid repairs or embellishments, which made it look like a new dedication, or in a reconstruction of a temporary altar, like that of Solomon (2Ch 7:7), for extraordinary sacrifices to be offered on an approaching occasion.
9-15. he gathered all Judah and Benjamin--Not satisfied with these minor measures of purification and improvement, Asa meditated a grand scheme which was to pledge his whole kingdom to complete the work of reformation, and with this in view he waited for a general assembly of the people.
and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh--The population of Asa's kingdom had been vastly increased by the continued influx of strangers, who, prompted by motives either of interest or of piety, sought in his dominions that security and freedom which they could not enjoy amid the complicated troubles which distracted Israel.
and out of Simeon--Although a portion of that tribe, located within the territory of Judah, were already subjects of the southern kingdom, the general body of the Simeonites had joined in forming the northern kingdom of Israel. But many of them now returned of their own accord.
10-14. the third month--when was held the feast of pentecost. On this occasion, it was celebrated at Jerusalem by an extraordinary sacrifice of seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep, the spoil of the Ethiopians being offered. The assembled worshippers entered with great and holy enthusiasm into a national covenant "to seek the Lord their God . . . with all their heart and with all their soul;" and, at the same time, to execute with rigor the laws which made idolatry punishable with death (2Ch 15:13; De 17:2-5; Heb 10:28). The people testified unbounded satisfaction with this important religious movement, and its moral influence was seen in the promotion of piety, order, and tranquillity throughout the land.
18. the things that his father had dedicated--probably part of the booty obtained by his signal victory over Jeroboam, but which, though dedicated, had hitherto been unrepresented.
and that he himself had dedicated--of the booty taken from the Ethiopians. Both of these were now deposited in the temple as votive offerings to Him whose right hand and holy arm had given them the victory.