Again was the king as his fathers, reminded that the continuance of God's blessing on the kingdom was founded upon faithfulness: if the king and his people forsook God, He would forsake them. Privilege brings responsibility. See Romans 11:17-2217And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 18Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 20Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. (Romans 11:17‑22); 1 Corinthians 10; Galatians 6:7-107Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 10As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:7‑10); Hebrews 10:26-3126For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26‑31); 1 Peter 4:17, 18,17For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (1 Peter 4:17‑18) and many other passages which bear upon the responsibility of man, and of believers, and do not touch the eternal security of him who trusts in Jesus. There is reward for faithfulness too, as Azariah told Asa (verse 7).
The words of the prophet sank deeply into the king's heart; he took courage and put away the abominations—that which was connected with idolatry—out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord that was before the temple at Jerusalem. He assembled all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon who departed from their homes, to Asa when they saw that the Lord his God was with him; this was in the fifteenth year of Asa's reign. Jeroboam, the first head of the northern kingdom of ten tribes, had died in the second year of Asa's reign; his son Nadab reigned less than two years, and was succeeded by Baasha, who killed him, and kept the throne for twenty-four years.
It was a season of rejoicing for the godly in Asa's kingdom, as there gathered the thousands of his people with those from neighboring and more distant tribes of Baasha's kingdom, to sacrifice at Jerusalem, as in brighter days. There they pledged themselves to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul, and that whoever would not seek Him should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. All Judah (verse 15) rejoiced at the oath, for they took it with all their heart, and sought the Lord with their whole desire, and He was found of them, and He gave them rest round about.
If God be the believer's object, he will be blessed, and so these people of old time found; they were only a small part of the great body of His earthly people, who as a mass were worshiping idols and serving Baasha, the murderer, but God is the unfailing resource of those who, in confession of failure and sin and widespread ruin, seek Him with their whole desire; He will be found of them and give them rest.
Asa, yet more emboldened, removed his mother from her position as the queen mother, because she had made an idol for the "grove" or Asherah; he cut down her idol, stamped it and burned it in the valley Kidron, by Jerusalem. He did not remove the last vestiges of idolatry; the high places yet remained; but his heart was toward God all his days, and he added to the treasures and vessels in the temple.
Thus God, Who sees all, and judges with right estimation, records the life of a man who feared Him: without the deeper exercises of David, the man after God's own heart, and without the power of Solomon, the man of peace and power and wisdom.
Asa presents an example the Christian may well take notice of, and find encouragement in, to walk with God, though much of power has been lost; though the enemy of our souls has triumphed, and God's people are misled.
God first! was Asa's motto, and when occasion required, he showed by his action here recorded, that the ties of nature were second to those that held him in obedience to God and His Word.