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1–8. The reign of Abijah of Judah. 9–24. Reign of Asa. 25–34. Israelite kings: Nabat and Baasha. 1 Kings 15:1. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah reigned over Judah. 1 Kings 15:2. He reigned in Jerusalem for three years; His mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom. In Art. 1, 7–8 the name of Abijah in Hebrew. Masor. the text reads: Aviam (according to Gesenius, in the common meaning - vir maritimus), Vulg.: Abiam; meanwhile in (2 Chronicles 13:1) the words: “Avia”, in LXX; in (1 Kings 15:1) – ´Αβιού, and in (2 Chronicles 13:1) ´Αβιά (the common noun of the latter form: “his father Jehovah”). The correct form should be recognized as the latter, as formed according to the model of other names with the name Jehovah (Abia is also found in (1 Kings 15:1) according to code 253 in Kennicott); the first form (3 Books of Kings) is probably an accidental typo or represents a consonance, for example, of the names: Hiram, Miriam, etc.; least of all can one see here (with Benzinger) the deliberate removal of the name Jehovah from the name of the wicked king. Maachah, the mother of Abijah, according to Josephus (Jude. Ancient. VIII, 10, 1) was the granddaughter of Absalom (cf. 2 Sam. 14:27), which, based on the time that has elapsed since the death of Absalom and the time of the birth of Rehoboam (3 Kings 14:21), is more appropriate to the circumstances, although it allows for a strained meaning of Heb. baht (not daughter, but granddaughter). In (2 Chronicles 13:2) instead of the name of Absalom there is the name of a certain Uriel, in contradiction with (2 Chronicles 11:20). 1 Kings 15:3. He walked in all the sins of his father, which he had committed before him, and his heart was not given to the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father. 1 Kings 15:4. But for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, raising up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem, 1 Kings 15:5. because David did what was right in the sight of the Lord and did not depart from everything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except for what he did with Uriah the Hittite. The general character of Abijah's reign is marked by betrayal of the pure service of Jehovah; This was already the 3rd king who betrayed the first condition of the theocratic king, the example of which David forever gave, and only for the sake of David was the lamp in Jerusalem preserved for him, that is, the offspring on the throne (v. 4 cf. 1 Kings 11:36). David's sins against Bathsheba's husband (2 Samuel 11:4–27) did not undermine the foundations of the theocracy. 1 Kings 15:6. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of their lives. If in (1 Kings 14:30) the war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam was spoken of only in the sense of the hostility of both kings, then here it is about the actual war between Jeroboam and Rehoboam’s son Abijah (which is discussed in detail in (2 Chronicles 13:2–20)). The name of Rehoboam here (v. 6), it is assumed (for example, Prof. Gulyaev), stands instead of the name of Abijah (the name of the latter, indeed, appears in the Hebrew text 30, 70, 89, 100, 149, 158–246, etc. in Kennicott). Under the latter assumption, the second half of Art. 7 represents only a slightly modified, shortened repetition of Art. 6. There is no art. in the Vatican LXX. 6. 1 Kings 15:7. The rest of Abijah's deeds, all that he did, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 1 Kings 15:8. And Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his stead. According to (2 Chronicles 13:2) Abijah reigned for 3 years; from the demolition of Art. 1 and 9 of this chapter it is clear that it was 3 incomplete years. According to (2 Chronicles 13:21) Abijah had 14 wives, 22 sons and 16 daughters. 1 Kings 15:9. In the twentieth year of the reign of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa reigned over Judah. 1 Kings 15:10. and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem; His mother's name was Ana, the daughter of Absalom. According to the Hebrew text of Art. 10, Asa's mother's name was the same as Abijah's (v. 2), Maacah, and also the daughter of Absalom. Such a succession of two queens with the same name and patronymic is doubtful, and it is assumed that in Art. 10 the name of the mother of Abijah was repeated, but the name of the mother of Asa was different, not preserved in Hebrew. t. According to LXX - ´Ανὰ (but many texts, in Golmes, for example, 52, 92, 120, 121, 123, 134, 153, have Maach), which probably represents a later correction. According to the rabbis, the mother here is the grandmother, but if the king’s mother, who occupied a very honorable position, is often mentioned (1 Kings 2:19; 2 Kings 10:13), then the king’s grandmother is not mentioned anywhere. 1 Kings 15:11. Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father. 1 Kings 15:12. He drove out the fornicators from the land and rejected all the idols that his fathers had made, 1 Kings 15:13. and even deprived his mother Anu of the title of queen because she made an image of Ashtoreth; And Asa cut down her image and burned it by the brook Kidron. 1 Kings 15:14. The heights were not destroyed. But Asa's heart was devoted to the Lord all his days. 1 Kings 15:15. And he brought into the house of the Lord the things dedicated by his father, and the things dedicated to them: silver and gold and vessels. The character of Asa's reign, from a theocratic point of view, was almost flawless. Taking advantage of the ten-year peace in the country upon his accession to the throne (2 Chronicles 14:1), Asa devoted himself to reforms of the cult in the sense of bringing it closer to purity and centralizing it: he expelled the fornicating hierodules who appeared in Judea under Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:24); everywhere he destroyed idols and all other objects of idolatry (cf. 2 Chronicles 14:2–4); This is what he did with the idol of Astarte (Heb.: mifletset laashera, Vulg.: in sacris Priapt - the idol of the phallic cult, the most disgusting for the Jews) of his mother: he chopped it up and burned it at the Kidron stream, and deprived his mother of the title of queen (Heb. gebira - the usual title of a queen, mother of a king), cf. (2 Kings 10:13), glorious: “let the hedgehog not own it.” Kidron is a valley and a winter stream in the northeast and east of Jerusalem (2 Kings 15:23, etc.). Onom. 610, now Wadi en-Nar. “The Kidron stream dried up in the summer, and therefore its bed could be chosen as a place for burning the idol, so that after the first flood water, in the fall, not a trace of the hated image remained” (Prof. Gulyaev). 47) and from ancient times received sacred meaning (1 Kings 3:2) were not abolished by Asa (verse 14; 2 Chronicles 15:17), Asa destroyed the heights of other gods (2 Chronicles 14:2), although all the heights of Solomon were abandoned and existed until Josiah (2 Kings 23:13). In general, according to his religious convictions, Asa was faithful to Jehovah all his life, although his individual actions revealed a lack of living, undivided faith in Jehovah and perfect piety (Sir. 49: 5-6) does not name Asa with the best kings: David, Hezekiah and Josiah). The zeal for Jehovah that he discovered in the first, peaceful years of his reign (during which Asa greatly strengthened many of the cities of the kingdom and organized a strong military force), (2 Chronicles 14:4–8) was rewarded with a majestic victory over the million-strong army of a certain Zarai the Ethiopian (Hebrew Zerah (gak) Kushi) who invaded his borders, by which they usually mean the Egyptian pharaoh Ozorkon, successor of Shishak (Egypt. Sheshenk) or Susakim 15, (2 Chronicles 14:9-14), and Asa captured rich booty, of which Asa brought a lot into the treasury of the church, as well as from the treasures of his father (1 Kings 15:15; 2 Chronicles 15:18), and from what he himself had obtained (2 Chronicles 14:14, 15:18). However, despite the instructions of the prophet Azariah and the resulting new rise in Asa's religious zeal (2 Chronicles 15:1-15), Asa subsequently stained himself with an unworthy act of cowardice and lack of faith. This was during the war with Baasha of Israel. 1 Kings 15:16. And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 1 Kings 15:17. And Baasha king of Israel went out against Judah and began to build Ramah, so that no one would go out or go to Asa king of Judah. 1 Kings 15:18. And Asa took all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house, and gave it into the hands of his servants, and King Asa sent them to Benhadad the son of Taurimon the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, and said: 1 Kings 15:19. let there be a union between me and you, as there was between my father and your father; Behold, I am sending you a gift of silver and gold; break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, so that he may depart from me. 1 Kings 15:20. And Benhadad listened to king Asa, and sent his captains against the cities of Israel, and smote Ain and Dan and Abel-beth-maachah and all Kinneroth, throughout all the land of Naphtali. 1 Kings 15:21. Hearing about this, Baasha stopped building Ramah and returned to Tirzah. 1 Kings 15:22. King Asa called all the Jews, excluding no one, and they took out of Rama the stones and wood that Baasha had used for the building. And King Asa built them into Gibeah Benjamin and Mizpah. Chronological date of the war described here; There is the following difficulty. According to Art. 16, the war was between Asa and Baasha the 3rd king of Israel all their days. According to Art. 33, Baasha reigned in the 3rd year of Asa and reigned for only 24 years, that is, until the 26th (27) year of Asa’s reign (which lasted, according to v. 10, 41 years). But according to (2 Chronicles 14:1), in the first 10 years of Asa’s reign, his land was at peace (that is, there was no war); and according to (2 Chronicles 15:19,16:1), the war between Asa and Baasha began only in the 36th year of the former’s reign. Since the latter decisively contradicts the indication of the 3rd book of Kings that Baasha had already died in the 26th year of the reign of Asa, then in explanation of this it is impossible to indicate anything better than the guess of the old interpreters and Keil that the date (2 Chronicles 16:1) 36 years denotes the time that has elapsed from the division of the kingdoms under Rehoboam, but regarding the figure of 10 years of rest (2 Chronicles 14:1) we can say that this rest, firstly, it could be shorter (including 3 years of the reign of Asa before the entry of Baasha and a certain number of years after this event) and, secondly, it was most likely as relative as the war “all the days.” The reason for the clash was the strengthening of Rama by Vaasa to stop Asa’s relations with the north. Rama is the name of many cities and localities of ancient Palestine, but here, obviously, we mean a city in the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18:25; Judges 4:5, 19:13), mentioned in a well-known place in the book. the prophet Jeremiah (Jer.31:15; cf. (Hos.5:8), etc.), 2 hours' journey or, according to Eusebius - Jerome, 6 Roman miles, north of Jerusalem (Onomast. 769), now Er-Rama (Robinson, Palest. II, s. 566 ff.). Baasha's fears, which prompted him to strengthen Ramah so that there would be no cases of migration from the borders of his kingdom to Judah, had a factual basis: after the brilliant victory of Asa over Zarai, many of the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon passed into the possession of Asa (2 Chronicles 15:9). If Baasha strengthened Rama 16, Asa was threatened with a blockade of Jerusalem in the future. Fearing this, Asa cowardly and criminally sought help against the one-tribal kingdom of Israel in alliance with the king of Syria (Aram) “Benhadad”, Heb. Ben-Gadad ("son of the sun"), Vulg.: Benadad; otherwise LXX: υἱὸς Αδερ, glorified: “son of Ader” (the reading of LXX is apparently supported by the spelling of this name Bir-idri in the Damascus inscription of 654–846 BC: similarly code. 246 Kenn. and code. 174, 627 Rossi have: Godard). Three kings of Damascus Syria with this name are found in the Bible (1 Kings 15:18,20); Wed (2 Chronicles 16:2; 3 Kings 20:1–34; 2 Kings 6:24,8:7), and this, of course, does not yet give the right to consider this name the title of the king of Syria (contrary to Keil). Asa's proposal to Ben-hadad to dissolve the alliance with the Israeli king and conclude with him, supported by gifts from the “remaining (i.e., after the plunder of Shusakim), (1 Kings 14:26) in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the royal house of “silver and gold”, testifies to the deep confusion of Asa and the lack of faith in the help of that very Jehovah, Who recently miraculously granted him to strike Zarai (2 Chronicles 14:9–12). An alliance with Gentiles against fellow tribesmen was ungodly, and its crime was not weakened by the fact that it was caused by the previously completed alliance of the Israeli king with the Syrian: obviously, after the division of the Jewish kingdom, the Syrian kingdom became extremely stronger (the beginning of the strengthening was laid by Razon: (1 Kings 11: 23-25)), and each of the Jewish kingdoms sought his alliance for support against the neighboring Hebrew. kingdom (Abiah, apparently, was already in alliance with the father of Ben-hadad, v. 19). When the prophet Ananias denounced Asa for the fact that, having abandoned God and His help, he sought support from the Syrians, Asa not only did not recognize his sin, but, in irritation with him, imprisoned him, as well as oppressed “some of the people,” who, perhaps, thought the same with the prophet (2 Chronicles 16: 7-10. Compare blessed Theodoret, question 47). External success, albeit through criminal means, was achieved by Asa this time: the troops of Benhadad invaded from the north into the borders of the kingdom of Israel and thereby stopped the further aggressive aspirations of Baasha: threatened by the Syrian king, he left the fortification of Rama and retired to Tirzah (v. 21). The cities devastated by Syrian troops (v. 20), then finally taken from the kingdom of Israel by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pelassar (2 Kings 15:29), were almost all located in the tribe of Naphtali: “Ain” (Heb.: Iyon, LXX: Αιν, slav.: “Aina”, Vulg.: Ahion, Onomast. 41), according to Robinson (Palast. III, s. 611), was located on the northern border of Palestine, in the water-rich area of Merg-ajjun near the sources of the Jordan, the current village of Tell-Dibbin. About Dana, see note. to (1 Kings 12:29). “Abel-Beth-Maachah” (cf. 2 Kings 20:14–18) - in the extreme north of Israel, near Dan, probably the current Abil-el-Kamh, probably in ancient times along the stream that flowed into the upper Jordan, hence in (2 Chronicles 16:4) it is called: abel-mayim (Abel of the water); LXX: ´Αβὲλ οἴκου Μααχὰ, Vulg.: Abel-domum-Maacha, slav.: “Abel, to the house of Maachin.” “Kinkeroth” (Hebrew kinnerot, singular: Kinneret, in the Talmud: ginosar, in I. Fla. War of Judas III, 10, 7), words: Γεννησάρ, in the Gospel Γεννησαρέτ (Luke 5:1): region and city ( Joshua 19:35,11:2) of this name lay in the most fertile area west of the Lake of Galilee (later Lake of Gennesaret, Tiberias). – The destruction of these Israeli border cities, which forced Baasha to stop building a fortress in Rama, gave Asa the opportunity to use the building material collected by Baasha to strengthen Rama - to build fortresses in two Jewish border cities: Geva or Gibeah of Benjamin (cf. (Josh. 18:24; 1 Sam. 14:5; Isa. 10:29); Onomast. 312), now Dscheba (Badeker, Palast, s. 116), and Mizpeh or Mizpeh - also in the tribe of Benjamin (Josh. 18:26; 1 Sam. 7:5); Wed (2 Kings 25:23); Onomast 689, now Hebi Sanwil (Robinson, Palastina, II, 361 ff.); both cities were one hour or less from Ramah, two hours' journey from Jerusalem. 1 Kings 15:23. All the other deeds of Asa and all his exploits, and all that he did, and the cities that he built, are described in the chronicles of the kings of Judah, except that in his old age he was sick with his legs. 1 Kings 15:24. And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead. In the usual conclusion about the reign of Asa, the remark draws attention: “the affairs of Asa... are described in the chronicle of the kings of Judah, except that (Heb.: cancer) in his old age he was sick with his legs.” Apparently, this means that the news of Asa’s illness was taken by the writer not from a common source - “The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah”, but from some other source (Prof. Gulyaev thinks so, p. 255). But it is possible that there is a contrast here like the following: the entire reign of Asa was happy, only the last years (two years after (2 Chronicles 16:12)) were overshadowed by leg disease (according to some - gout or rheumatism. Schenkel, Bibel-lexion, Bd. III, ss. 589-590. T. Popov. Biblical data on various diseases. Kyiv, 1904, p. 84); or the contrast regarding Asa’s piety throughout his life and lack of faith during illness: according to (2 Chronicles 16:12): “but in his illness he sought not the Lord, but doctors” (cf. Blessed Theodoret, question 48). 1 Kings 15:25. And Nebat the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Israel for two years. 1 Kings 15:26. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he walked in the way of his father and in his sins, by which he caused Israel to sin. Navat - Hebrew: Nadav, see note. to (1 Kings 14:20). The second king of Israel apparently reigned for less than 2 years, since he reigned in the 2nd year of Asa (v. 25), and was killed by Baasha in the 3rd year of the same reign (vv. 28–33), as in general, in determining the years of the reign, incomplete years are usually taken as full (Jeroboam, v. 9; Abijah, vv. 1–2, 9). The general nature of the reign of the 2nd king of Israel was identical with the direction of his father Jeroboam. 1 Kings 15:27. And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him, and Baasha slew him at Gibethon of the Philistines, when Nebat and all Israel were besieging Gibethon; 1 Kings 15:28. and Baasha slew him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. 1 Kings 15:29. When he began to reign, he slew the entire house of Jeroboam, and did not leave a soul from Jeroboam until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the Shilohite, 1 Kings 15:30. for the sins of Jeroboam, which he himself committed and with which he brought Israel into sin, for the insult with which he angered the Lord God of Israel. 1 Kings 15:31. The rest of Nebat's deeds, everything that he did, is written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 1 Kings 15:32. And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 1 Kings 15:33. In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah reigned over all Israel in Tirzah and reigned twenty-four years. 1 Kings 15:34. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sins, by which he made Israel sin. The murderer and successor of Nadab, Baasha was no longer from the tribe of Ephraim, but from the tribe of Issachar. Bahas carried out the conspiracy and murder of Nadav during the first siege of the Philistine city of Gibethon (Heb.: Gibbeton,) cf. (1 Kings 16:15), lying in the region of the tribe of Dan (Joshua 21:23). Baasha destroyed the entire family of Jeroboam, so that the prophecy of Ahijah about this came true (vv. 29, 30) cf. (1 Kings 14:10–16), but he himself acted completely in the spirit of Jeroboam and his first successor (v. 34), which is why he brought upon himself and his house the terrible judgment of God (1 Kings 16:3,7). Wed. Blessed Theodoret, vopr. 48. According to Met. Philaret, Zarai the Ethiopian was the king of Midian. But heb. Cush, Kushim, which has a necessary connection with the name of the son of Ham - Cush (Gen. 10:6; 1 Chron. 1:8), means in the Bible, as well as in science, only Cushite or Samite tribes, usually: Ethiopians, Egyptians and tribes close to them (Ps. 67:32; Is. 20: 3–5, 37: 9, 11: 11; Jer. 46: 9 and etc.), and Ethiopia is sometimes taken instead of Egypt (2 Kings 19:9). The Midianites are Semites, descendants of Abraham from Cheturra (Gen. 25:4); Onomast. 660 The salvation of Rama, as a border stage between the northern (Israeli) and the southern (Jewish), is discussed in great detail and with all geographical accuracy by Prof. F. Ya. Pokrovsky, cit. Op. With. 25, 31–46 You might be interested in: