Asa was the third king who reigned over the separated kingdoms of
Judah. His father was Ahijah, of whom it is sternly said, "_He walked
in all the sins of his father, Rehoboam, which he had done before
him_." A worse bringing-up than Asa's could scarcely be imagined. As
a child, and as a lad, he was grievously tempted by his father's
example, and by the influence of an idolatrous court, which was crowded
by flatterers and panderers. The leading spirit of the court-circle
was Maachah, "_the King's mother_," as she is called--the Sultana
Valide. She was a woman of strong character, and held a high official
position. She was the grand-daughter of Absalom, and was notorious for
her fanatical idolatry. In short, she was the evil genius of the
kingdom, like the Chinese Queen-mother of our own times, although,
happily, Asa possessed a force of character which the young Emperor of
China seems to lack. It is certainly noteworthy, that, with so much
against the cultivation of a religious life, "_Asa did that which was
right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father_." Sometimes on
a heap of corruption, which we are glad to hurry past with abhorrence,
God plants a beautiful and fragrant flower, as if in defiance of man's
neglect; and thus Asa appeared in the family, and in the court of
Ahijah, his father--a God-fearing, single-minded lad, with a will of
his own.
As there was hope for him, there is hope for all. Whatever a man's
parentage and circumstances may be, he is not forced into sin, and has
no right to say, "_We are delivered to do all these abominations_."
Amid all his difficulties and discouragements, if he is earnestly
seeking to serve God, and looking to Him for help and hope, he may
triumph over the most adverse circumstances, and prove himself to be a
true citizen of heaven. If he waits in prayer on God, as Joseph did in
Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, and Asa in Ahijah's court, he will not only
be endued with piety, but with an independent spirit, and a resolute
will, which will make him a power for good in the very sphere where he
seemed likely to be crushed by the powers of evil. It is not in vain
that the apostle gave the exhortation, "_Be not overcome of evil, but
overcome evil with good_." Asa was a noble example of obedience to
that command.
It is clear from the narrative, in the First Book of Kings, that Asa
was rich in noble qualities, such as manly resoluteness, political
sagacity, and administrative vigour. But special prominence is given
in the Bible (as one might expect) to his religious sincerity, for it
is emphatically said--"_Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his
days_." This does not mean that he was sinless, that he had reached
moral perfection, but that he had completely, with whole-heartedness,
given himself over to the will of God, to be and to do what He ordained.
The proof of this was seen in the reformation Asa daringly attempted.
This is the record of it--"_He took away the sodomites out of the land,
and removed all the idols that his father had made. And also Maachah
his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made
an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the
brook Kidron_."
Things must have gone badly in the kingdom before he ascended the
throne. Although it was only about twenty years since the death of
Solomon, irreligion and vice had corrupted the nation. The truth is
that evil spreads faster than good in this world, which is evidence
that it has fallen. We have embodied this truth in a familiar
proverb--"Ill weeds grow apace." If we neglect a garden, we are soon
confronted with weeds, not with flowers. Valuable fruit-trees grow
slowly, but a poisonous fungus will spring up in a night.
Evidence of this often appears in national affairs. A few months of
war will suffice to desolate many homes, to destroy fertile fields, and
to burn down prosperous villages, but it is long before that waste can
be repaired, confidence restored, and prosperity and goodwill
re-established. The devil will carry fire and sword through the world
with the swiftness of a whirlwind, but Jesus Christ patiently waits and
weeps over an irresponsive people, as he says, "_Ye will not come to Me
that ye might have life_."
The same contrast in the progress of good and evil appears in our own
experience. If we yield to evil, and indulge sinful passions, we move
so swiftly downward that it is hard to stop,--like an Alpine climber on
a snow-slope, who, having once slipped, in a few minutes' rush loses
all that he has gained by toilsome climbing, and becomes less able to
make new effort because of his wounds and bruises. Among our Lord's
disciples, we see Judas swiftly rushing on self-destruction, whereas
Peter and John received years of discipline, before they were fully
prepared to fulfil their mission. No doubt, in such cases evil may
have been, making slow and stealthy advance under the surface, though
the result appears with startling suddenness, just as gas will escape
without noise, and creep into every corner of the room; but when a
light comes in, death and destruction come in a flash. Evil is an
explosion, good is a growth.
This perhaps accounts for the facts that evil had quickly grown strong
in the kingdom; while, on the other hand, Asa's attempt at reformation
was incomplete and transient. He seems, however, to have done what he
could, and that is more than can be said of many. If he had been a
timid, half-hearted man he might have been content to worship Jehovah
in his private room, and thus rebuke, by his example, any idolaters who
happened to hear of it But his was no policy of _laissez-faire_. He
felt that the evils encouraged by the father ought to be put down by
the son, and this he did with a strong hand, wherever he could reach it.
Unhappily, there is a sad dearth of such reforming zeal in the Church,
and in the world. Even among those who in private lament prevailing
evils there is a singular contentment and tolerance even of those which
might be at once removed. This is grievously common in large centres
of population, where each individual feels insignificant among such
vast multitudes, and loses the sense of individual responsibility in
the vastness of the crowd which surrounds him. How many professing
Christians, for example, deplore drunkenness and impurity, while they
shrink from any kind of open protest, and will not even trouble
themselves to vote for representatives who will fight these evils; and
if a preacher boldly denounces such iniquities they will even beg him
to leave questions of that kind alone, and to confine himself to
doctrinal exposition. We are all too apt to forget that truth and
righteousness, sobriety and holiness, are of God; and that the mission
of Jesus Christ was to establish these, and to put away sin, even by
the sacrifice of Himself. The religion He exemplified was not to be
ranged on the shelves of a library, but to prove itself a living force
in politics, in business, and at home. What was His own doctrine?
"_Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven_." Evils outside the Church, then, are to be combated, and not
tolerated, by all true Christians--even though in the result they are
maligned as renegades to their party, or jeered at as Pharisees or
Puritans. The late Tom Hughes was quite right half a century ago, when
he thus described to the lads before him the lot of a would-be reformer.
"If the angel Gabriel were to come down from heaven, and head a
successful rise against the most abominable and unrighteous vested
interests which this poor old world groans under, he would most
certainly lose his character for many years, probably for centuries,
not only with upholders of the said vested interest, but with the
respectable mass of the people he has delivered. They wouldn't ask him
to dinner, or let their names appear with his in the papers; they would
be careful how they spoke of him in the palaver, or at their clubs.
What can we expect, then, when we have only poor gallant, blundering
men like Garibaldi and Mazzini, and righteous causes which do not
triumph in their hands; men who have holes enough in their armour, God
knows, easy to be hit by respectabilities sitting in their
lounge-chairs, and having large balances at their bankers. But you are
brave, gallant boys, who have no balances or bankers, and hate
easy-chairs. You only want to have your heads set straight to take the
right side; so bear in mind that majorities, especially respectable
ones, are nine times out of ten in the wrong, and that if you see a man
or boy striving earnestly on the weaker side, however wrong-headed or
blundering he may be, you are not to go and join the cry against him.
If you cannot join him, and help him, and make him wiser, at any rate
remember that he has found something in the world which he will fight
and suffer for--which is just what you have got to do for
yourselves--and so think and speak of him tenderly."
Those manly words are worth quoting in full, and they will fitly set
forth the service young Asa rendered to his kingdom, and to the world
at large.