Asa of Judah: 910-869 BC

Judah’s First ‘Good King’  ∙  Pharaoh Osorkon and Zerah the Ethiopian  ∙  Covenant Renewal in Judah  ∙  The Alliance with Aram and War with Baasha of Israel  ∙  A Good (but Imperfect) King

Asa of Judah is the first king of Judah identified as a 'good king' – but despite his reign starting off on a positive note (leading to the first of five great religious revivals in Judah’s history), his reign ended negatively. Nevertheless, despite his later pitfalls in life, his ‘goodness’ wasn’t eliminated. His sin became a sort of spiritual apathy in which he trusted in men (and magic) more than Yahweh, and while this is sharply criticized, it doesn’t overshadow the goodness of his early reign. Our mistakes don’t eliminate our good. 

Asa’s story forms a sort of chiasm:

A – A Period of War (with complete victory over Egypt)

B – A Period of Peace (in which the Mosaic Covenant is renewed)

C – A Period of War (with a so-so victory over Israel)

In chiasms, the most important point is what’s found in the middle; in this case, it’s the religious reformation he inaugurated in Judah. During the first Period of War, Asa trusted fully in Yahweh, and Yahweh fought his battles for him; in the second Period of War, Asa trusted in men, and Yahweh let things play out as they would. Though Asa was victorious, he lost out in securing a total victory over his enemies.

Asa would reign for forty-one years, and his father’s and grandfather’s nemesis Jeroboam of Israel died three years into his reign. Jeroboam’s death led to the succession of his son Nadab, but Nadab’s reign was marked by internal strife before he was overthrown by the militant usurper Baasha. The early years of Asa’s reign were marked by relative peace on the northern border as Baasha consolidated his power. This peace came to an, however, with a resurgent Egyptian threat around 900 BC.

Zerah the Ethiopian invaded Judah. Though some scholars speculate that Zerah was a powerful chief of an unnamed Bedouin tribe, most believe that Zerah was a commander in the employ of Pharaoh Osorkon I of Egypt (r. 922-887 BC), the second ruler of Egypt’s 22nd Dynasty. Osorkon was the son of Shoshenq, who had successfully raided the divided kingdom twenty-five years earlier. Osorkon likely participated in the campaigns and would’ve marveled at the gold and silver taken from the Jerusalem Temple. Osorkon, like his father, feared a resurgent Palestinian state; Egyptian hegemony and economic stability depended upon a subservient Judah. No doubt he wished to line his Egyptian temples – and his reputation – with more wealth from Judah, and to this end he ordered another campaign against his easterly neighbor. This campaign was led by Zerah the Ethiopian. 

Asa counterattacks Zerah the Ethiopian outside
the fortress of Mareshah

The text tells us that Zerah invaded with ‘a thousand thousand’ (or a million) men with a contingent of three hundred chariots; though three hundred chariots is likely accurate (chariots were a staple of Egyptian warfare, so much so that Egyptians were viewed as the charioteers, and three hundred chariots would’ve been a standard number for Egyptian auxiliary forces), the ‘thousand thousand’ soldiers is no doubt symbolic. The text is basically telling us that Zerah had a massive army. Asa had a much smaller army consisting of three hundred units of Judean spearmen armed with large shields and spears and two hundred eighty units of Benjamite bowmen armed with small shields and bows. Rehoboam’s fortifications came into play: Zerah’s path into the Judean heartland was blocked by one of Asa’s grandfather’s fortresses at Mareshah, on the southwestern border of Judah and about four miles northeast of Lachish and nearly thirty miles southwest of Jerusalem. Zerah couldn’t move towards Jerusalem without taking care of the fortress, and the time spent besieging the fortress and blocking interference from flanking fortresses gave Asa time to marshal his forces. Asa launched a counterattack, beating his enemy in a headlong flight. He exploited his victory by pursuing Zerah’s ragtag refugees back the way they came, destroying a number of enemy strongholds in the Negev (which Egypt had controlled for the quarter century since Shoshenq’s campaign). This would pave the way for the re-conquest of lost territories in the southern plains by Asa’s son and successor Jehoshaphat. The narrative points out that Asa trusted in Yahweh rather than in men, and because of this, Yahweh orchestrated the rout and subsequent destruction of Zerah’s supersized army. 

After success against Zerah, the prophet Azariah called for revival in Judah. His call was taken up by the king and the Judean people, and they renewed the Mosaic Covenant with a promise to seek Yahweh with all their heart and soul. Whoever didn’t see the Lord, regardless of their age or gender, was to be put to death. The revival was sealed with the sacrifice of seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. Asa then initiated a program of reform: he repaired damage sustained to the Temple (adding some choice furniture to the complex), banished the male and female pagan prostitutes from the land, and destroyed all his household idols (likely relics from his father and grandfather). The Hebrew word for ‘idols’ in the text is the same word used for ‘dung,’ so that it literally says Asa purged his household of all the ‘shit.’ He deposed his corrupt grandmother Maacah and destroyed an Asherah pole (literally ‘a horrible thing’) that she’d built; he took his household idols and her Asherah pole and destroyed them in the Kidron Valley. The Kidron, located just east of Jerusalem’s walls, would become a hot-spot for Judean reformers trashing pagan artifacts. All the valuables captured in wars fought by his father Abijah and himself were dedicated to Yahweh and placed in the Temple. Asa’s only defect was that though he removed all the pagan ‘high places,’ he left the ‘high places’ devoted to Yahweh intact. Though Judeans worshipped Yahweh at these high places scattered throughout Judah, it was an illegal form of worship and disgusting to Yahweh.

The Judean people were glad to renew the covenant.
They sought Yahweh, and He gave them rest from their enemies.
Judah became the envy of pious Israelites – and they began migrating south.
Baasha of Israel wouldn’t stand for this weakening of his kingdom.
He set his teeth against Judah, sealed an alliance with Aram, and went to war.

Many of the pious citizens of northern Israel defected to Asa when they saw he was making a sincere effort to restore the true worship of Yahweh, and this galled King Baasha of Israel. Such migrations weakened his martial hold on his kingdom, and he sought an end to it. He forged an alliance of mutual assistance with Ben-hadad of Aram: together they would take fire and sword to Judah, and Baasha would build a ‘Berlin Wall’ to keep Judeans in the south and Israelites in the north.

Asa had trusted Yahweh when facing Zerah the Ethiopian, but his trust against Baasha would be placed in men rather than God. His spirituality suffered during the Period of Peace following the renewal of the covenant; a complacency grew up, as can easily happen when we are absent troubles in the world. Though his religious fervor was tempered, he didn’t ‘go pagan’ as his father and grandfather had done. Nonetheless he was still drifting towards a secular life and outlook. It’s no surprise that when war returned, Asa put his faith in foreign alliances and money; he went so far as to plunder the Temple to preserve his kingdom. Baasha, coordinating with the King of Aram, launched a vicious assault on Judah in 894 BC (around the 14th to 16th year of Asa’s reign). The King of Israel had forged a military alliance with the rising star of Aram, Ben-hadad (r. 896-874 BC), and the two of them set their teeth against Judah. Baasha wanted to prevent pious Israelites from migrating to Judah, and he longed to reclaim southern territory lost to Abijah during the reign of Jeroboam; for his part, Aram – longtime enemy of both Israel and Judah – likely made friendly with Baasha in the hope of nibbling away at Judah. Baasha invaded northern Judah and came within four miles of Jerusalem, stopping at the town of Ramah where he began building a fortress and establishing chokepoints to strangle southern Judah from her trade lifelines (Ramah dominated the north-south and east-west trade routes in the area). These fortifications also acted as a ‘Berlin Wall’ preventing northern Israelites from crossing into Judah.

charioteers of northern Israel

Instead of relying on Yahweh to deliver him, Asa sought to counter the threat by turning Aram against Israel. He plundered the Temple’s treasures to purchase Ben-hadad’s friendship; Ben-hadad, greedy for both money and land, turned against Israel. Israel’s northern boundaries butted up against southern Aram and would be easier pickings, especially with the bulk of Baasha’s forces focused to the south. Ben-hadad threw himself against northern Israel, sacking several Israelite towns in the Rift Valley north of the Sea of Galilee. These towns included Ijon (Israel’s most northerly town, sited at the heart of the Biqa valley; if it wasn’t fortified, it was probably garrisoned by Israelite chariots), the cultic center of Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and Kinnereth. The King of Aram also seized Naphtali, a geographical region that included all of Galilee and nearly all the country north of the Jezreel Valley and the area east of the Sea of Galilee. Though we have no lists of Israelite fortifications, scholars have deduced from the enumeration of fortresses attacked by Ben-hadad in 885 that Israel had a line of fortresses that have been dubbed ‘The Naphtali Line.’ These fortresses likely had a fourfold purpose: first, they could block the descent from the Golan Heights (the Syrian plateau); second, they could prevent the ascent into Galilee from its eastern approaches; third, they could arrest hostile movement along the Upper Jordan valley; and fourth, they could serve as launch-points for offensive actions against the Golan Heights and Biqa valley. Ben-hadad threw his forces against this Naphtali Line and overwhelmed them. It’s unknown how long Ben-hadad was able to hold onto his Israelite conquests, but they were back in Israelite hands a few decades later during the reign of King Jehu (2 Kings 10.29).

Baasha, bunkered down in Ramah, had no choice but to quickly withdraw and counteract the turncoat. After his hurried retreat north, Judean soldiers plundered what the Israelites left behind, and they followed up the liberation of Ramah with a short thrust into Israel’s southern territory. The resulting boundary, which left Bethel in Israel to the north and Mizpah and Geba in Judah to the south, formed the traditional boundary between Judah and Israel until the fall of Israel in 722 BC. The Judeans used the confiscated materials from Baasha’s Ramah fortifications to build two prominent Judean fortresses at Geba and Mizpah. Geba was located four miles northeast of Jerusalem and guarded the Micmash Pass; Mizpah was eight miles north of Jerusalem and dominated the watershed highway on the frontier between Israel and Judah. Excavations at Mizpah have revealed a wall with eleven towers dating to this period; the wall was twelve to fifteen feet thick and thirty-five to forty feet in height. 

Thus Asa was able to push back Baasha and gain some ground for Judah. It was a victory, sure enough, but it wasn’t as total as the victory won against Zerah years earlier. Yahweh spoke against Asa through the prophet Hanani (father of the prophet Jehu, who in turn denounced King Baasha). Hanani criticized Asa for trusting in a pagan king rather than in Yahweh. Because of this, he’d won a shallow victory; if he’d put his trust in God rather than in men, Yahweh would’ve not only delivered him from King Baasha but would’ve also given Ben-hadad into his hands! Because of his lack of trust, the rest of Asa’s reign would be plagued by war. Asa didn’t like what Hanani had to say, so he threw the prophet in prison; obviously the king’s heart was no longer in the right place.

Both Kings and Chronicles give an interesting footnote to the end of Asa’s reign. They note that Asa was plagued by a ‘foot disease’, which the Talmud (basically a commentary on the Old Testament) theorizes to be gout. The Chronicler emphasizes how Asa didn’t turn to Yahweh for help for his ailment but relied wholly on physicians (we should note that these physicians didn’t practice ‘natural medicine’ but also pagan magic). Hanani’s words hadn’t sunk into Asa’s heart; this is no surprise, as Asa had the prophet imprisoned. Nevertheless Asa died as a ‘good king,’ and the throne of Judah went to his son Jehoshaphat. Asa had built himself an elaborate tomb, perhaps in imitation of Egyptian pharaohs, and a funeral fire was burned for him – a practice unknown in Judah but popular enough with Assyrian monarchs.'