Asa and the Idols

Working backwards through 2 Chronicles, we encounter Jehosephat’s predecessor, Asa. This king laid the groundwork for a godly kingdom by removing the foreign idols from the households and public squares.



In Thailand there are Buddhas all over. They garnish the street corners, or sit centrally in the squares and temple complexes across the land. The golden statues even mingle amidst the debauchery in Bangkok’s brothel-laden districts. The offerings of prostitutes, placed hurriedly at Buddha’s golden feet. Inching through traffic on Sukhumvit, the little Buddha sits on the dashboard of each taxi. In the countryside Buddha simulacrums dot the landscape. Sometimes these are very unique, usually they are not quite as shiny, often weathered and cracked, but still, the same idol. The poorest of the poor offer their Orange Crush, noodles, flowers, and incense to these lifeless figurines. If you don’t think about it too much it’s comedic. If you do think about it, it’s incredibly sad.



I wonder if Judah looked like this. Alters dotting the city. Can you imagine the amount of courage it would take to uproot these idols. It’s easy to read 1st and 2nd Chronicles like a history textbook. They leave out the drama, the passion of the story. You must read between the lines.

Can you imagine the repercussions of Asa’s edict? There must have been massive dissent, as there always is when a leader takes away an entrenched practiced. I wonder how much opposition Asa incurred from his advisors, from the wealthy and powerful, from the “old guard,” that saw no harm in these foreign idols? Who did he get to enforce the destruction of idolatry? Was there an “idol police?”Asa, this guy in his twenties, shaking things up! Did he ever second guess himself? In the midst of all the opposition did he ever doubt? How was he so sure of his convictions?
Perhaps that is why 2 Chronicles 15: 7 says “But you be strong, and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.” The next verse says “He took courage and removed the abominable idols.”

Asa did some amazing things for the Lord. He “took courage.”