2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles 14
1So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in David’s city; and Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days, the land was quiet ten years. 2Asa did that which was good and right in Yahweh his God’s eyes; 3for he took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, 4and commanded Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and to obey his law and command. 5Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun images; and the kingdom was quiet before him. 6He built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because Yahweh had given him rest. 7For he said to Judah, “Let’s build these cities, and make walls around them, with towers, gates, and bars. The land is yet before us, because we have sought Yahweh our God. We have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.
8Asa had an army of three hundred thousand out of Judah who bore bucklers and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand out of Benjamin who bore shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.
9Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million troops and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. 10Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11Asa cried to Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, there is no one besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength. Help us, Yahweh our God; for we rely on you, and in your name are we come against this multitude. Yahweh, you are our God. Don’t let man prevail against you.”
12So Yahweh struck the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. 13Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar: and so many of the Ethiopians fell that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before Yahweh and before his army; and they carried away very much booty. 14They struck all the cities around Gerar; for the fear of Yahweh came on them, and they plundered all the cities; for there was much plunder in them. 15They also struck the tents of livestock, and carried away sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.
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5 commentators · 35 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry2
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
Here is, I. Asa's general character (Ch2 14:2): He did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 1. He aimed at pleasing God, studied to approve himself to him. Happy are those that walk by this rule, to do that which is right, not in…
Here is, I. Disturbance given to the peace of Asa's kingdom by a formidable army of Ethiopians that invaded them, Ch2 14:9, Ch2 14:10. Though still they sought God, yet this fear came upon them, that their faith in God might be tried, and that God might have…
John Gill15
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
So Abijah slept with his fathers, 1 Kings 15:8. and Asa his son reigned in his stead; in his days the land was quiet ten years; the Targum is, the land of Israel; but much better the Septuagint, the land of Judah; these ten years, in which it had rest from…
And Asa did that which was good and right,.... See 1 Kings 15:11.
For he took away the altars of the strange gods,.... Or of a strange people, of the Zidonians, Ammonites, and Moabites, which had remained from the times of Solomon, and which he built for his wives, 1 Kings 11:7. and the high places; built for idols; for as…
Adam Clarke8
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
The land was quiet ten years - Calmet thinks these years should be counted from the fifth to the fifteenth of Asa's reign.
Did that which was good - He attended to what the law required relative to the worship of God. He was no idolater, though, morally speaking, he was not exempt from faults, Kg1 15:14. He suppressed idolatry universally, and encouraged the people to worship the…
Fenced cities - To preserve his territories from invasion, and strengthen the frontiers of his kingdom, see Ch2 14:7.
Keil & Delitzsch2
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
Ch2 14:1-3 Asa's efforts for the abolition of idolatry and the establishment of the kingdom. - Ch2 14:1-4. The good and right in God's eyes which Asa did is further defined in Ch2 14:2-4. He abolished all the objects of the idolatrous worship. The "altars of…
The victory over the Cushite Zerah. - Ch2 14:8. "And there went forth against them Zerah." אליהם for עליהם refers to Asa's warriors mentioned in Ch2 14:7. The number of the men in Judah capable of bearing arms is mentioned only to show that Asa set his hope…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown8
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
Asa did that which was good and right--(compare Kg1 15:14). Still his character and life were not free from faults (Ch2 16:7, Ch2 16:10, Ch2 16:12).
brake down the images--of Baal (see on Ch2 34:4; Lev 26:30). cut down the groves--rather, "Asherim."
he took away . . . the high places--that is, those devoted to idolatrous rites. took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images--All public objects and relics of idolatry in Jerusalem and other cities through his kingdom were…
World English Bible — Public domain