REIGN OF ASA (2 Chronicles 14-16.)

(a) EFFORTS TO ROOT OUT ILLEGITIMATE WORSHIPS, AND TO STRENGTHEN THE SYSTEM OF NATIONAL DEFENCES (2 Chronicles 14:2; comp. 1 Kings 15:9).

(2) That which was good and right. — Literally, The good and the right, an expression defined in 2 Chronicles 14:3. It is used of Hezekiah, 2 Chronicles 31:20. See 1 Kings 15:11, “And Asa did the right in the eyes of the Lord, like David his father.”

For (and) ... the altars of the strange gods. — Literally, altars of the alien. Vulg., “altaria peregrini cultus.” Comp. the expression, gods of the alien (Gen. xxxv, 2, 4). (Comp. 1 Kings 15:12 b, and he took away all the idols that his fathers had made; a summary statement, which is here expanded into details.) But both here and in 2 Chronicles 12:1, the chronicler has omitted to mention the qedçshîm (Authorised Version, “Sodomites”) (1 Kings 15:12 a)

And the high places. — i.e., those dedicated to foreign religions. It is clear from 2 Chronicles 15:17, as well as 1 Kings 15:14, that high places dedicated to the worship of Jehovah were not done away with by Asa.

Brake down the images.Brake in pieces (or shattered) the pillars. They were dedicated to Baal, and symbolised the solar rays, being, no doubt, a species of obelisk. (See Genesis 28:18; Exodus 34:13; Judges 3:7.)

The “high places, images, and groves” of this verse are all mentioned in 1 Kings 14:23.

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