Bible Commentaries

Oded is by some identified with Iddo, the prophet and historian of the two preceding reigns. In the Hebrew the two names differ very slightly.

“Israel” here is used generally for the whole people of God; and the reference is especially to the many apostasies in the days of the Judges, which were followed by repentance and deliverance.

The allusion is probably to the destructions recorded in Judges 9:45; 20:33-48.

Some versions have “the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded,” which is perhaps the true reading.

Strangers … - i. e. “Israelites of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.” The separation of the two kingdoms had made their Israelite brethren “strangers,” or “foreigners,” to Judah.

In the third month - i. e. the month Sivan Esther 8:9, corresponding with our June.

The prevalence of the number “seven” in the religious system of the Jews has been noticed often. Seven bullocks and seven rams were a common offering Numbers 29:32; 1 Chronicles 15:26; 2 Chronicles 29:21; Job 42:8; Ezekiel 14:23. At the larger sacrifices, however, it is seldom that we find the number seven at all prominent (compare 2 Chronicles 30:24; 2 Chronicles 35:7-9; 1 Kings 8:63).

Solemn renewals of the original covenant which God made with their fathers in the wilderness Exodus 24:3-8 occur from time to time in the history of the Jews, following upon intervals of apostasy. This renewal in the reign of Asa is the first on record. The next falls 300 years later in the reign of Josiah. There is a third in the time of Nehemiah (see the marginal references). On such occasions, the people bound themselves by a solem oath to observe all the directions of the Law, and called down God‘s curse upon them if they forsook it.

Comparing this verse with marginal references, it would seem that in 2 Chronicles 14:3, 2 Chronicles 14:5 the intention and endeavors of the monarch are in the writer‘s mind, while here he is speaking of the practice of the people. However earnestly the most pious monarchs sought to root out the high-place worship, they failed of complete success. Compare a similar discrepancy, to be similarly explained, in the history of Jehoshaphat 2 Chronicles 17:6; 2 Chronicles 20:33.

The heart of Asa was perfect all his days - Not that Asa was sinless (see 2 Chronicles 16:2-10, 2 Chronicles 16:12); but that he was free from the sin of idolatry, and continued faithful to Yahweh all his life.

The five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa - This cannot be reconciled with the chronqlogy of Kings 1 Kings 16:8: and the suggestion in the marg. implies the adoption of a mode of marking time unknown either to himself or any other Scriptural writer. It is supposed that the figures here and in 2 Chronicles 16:1 are corrupt, and that in both verses “twentieth” should replace “thirtieth.” The attack of Baasha would then have been made in the last year of Asa‘s reign; and ten years of peace would have followed Asa‘s victory over Zerah.