Emily: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 300 and 41.
When AB Baja died, he was buried in the city of David.
Then his son Asa, became the next king.
There was peace in the land for 10 years.
Asa did what was pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord his God.
He removed the foreign altars and the pagan shrines.
He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the ashera poles.
He commanded the people of Judah to seek the Lord the God of their ancestors.
And to obey his law and his commands.
Asa also removed the pagan shrines as well as the incense alt alters
from every one of Judah's towns.
So Asana's kingdom enjoyed a period of peace during those peaceful years.
He was able to build up the fortified towns throughout Judah.
No one tried to make war against him at this time.
For the Lord was giving him rest from his enemies.
Asa told the people of Judah let us build towns and fortify them with
walls, towers, gates, and bars.
The land is still ours because we sought the Lord our God and he
has given us peace on every side.
So they went ahead with these projects and brought them to completion.
King Asa had an army of 300,000 warriors from the tribe of Judah,
armed with large shields and spears.
He also had an army of 280,000 warriors from the tribe of Benjamin.
Armed with small shields and bows, both armies were composed
of well-trained fighting men.
Once an Ethiopian named Zero attacked Judah with an arm of 1
million men and 300 chariots, they advanced to the town of Maisha.
So Asa deployed his armies for battle in the valley north of Maia.
Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God, oh Lord, no one.
But you can help the powerless against the mighty.
Help us, oh Lord our God, for we trust in you alone.
It is in your name that we have come against this vast hode.
Oh Lord, you are our God.
Do not let mere men prevail against you.
So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians in the presence of Asa and the army
of Judah, and the enemy fled Asa and his army pursued them as far as
Gira, and so many Ethiopians fell that they were unable to rally.
They were destroyed by the Lord and his army.
And the army of Judah carried off a vast amount of plunder while they were at Gira.
They attacked all the towns in that area, and terror from the
Lord came upon the people there.
As a result, a vast amount of plunder was taken from these towns too.
They also attacked the camps of herdsmen and captured many sheep, goats, and camels
before finally returning to Jerusalem.
Then the spirit of God came upon Azariah, son of ODed.
And he went out to meet King Asa as he was returning from the battle.
Listen to me Asa, he shouted.
Listen, all you people of Judah and Benjamin, the Lord will stay with
you as long as you stay with him.
Whenever you seek him, you will find him.
But if you abandon him, he will abandon you.
For a long time, Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them.
And without the law to instruct them.
But whenever they were in trouble and turned to the Lord, the God
of Israel and sought him out, they found him during those dark times.
It was not safe to travel problems troubled the people of
every land nation fought against nation and city against city.
For God was troubling them with every kind of problem.
But as for you, Be strong and courageous for your work will be rewarded.
When Asa heard this message from Azariah the prophet, he took courage and removed
all the detestable idols from the land of Judah and Benjamin and in the towns he
had captured in the hill country of Raim.
And he repaired the altar of the Lord, which stood in front of the
entry room of the Lord's temple.
Then Asa called together all the people of Judah and Benjamin, along
with the people of Raim, Manasa, and Simeon, who had settled among them for
many from Israel, had moved to Judah during As a's Reign when they saw
that the Lord, his God was with him.
The people gathered at Jerusalem in late spring, during the 15th year of a's Reign.
On that day, they sacrificed to the Lord 700 cattle and 7,000 sheep and goats from
the plunder they had taken in the battle.
Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their
ancestors with all their heart and soul.
They agreed that anyone who refused to seek the Lord, the God
of Israel would be put to death, whether young or old man or woman.
They shouted out their oath of loyalty to the Lord with trumpets, blaring and
rams horns sounding All in Judah were happy about this covenant for they had
entered into it with all their heart.
They earnestly sought after God and they found him, and the Lord gave them
rest from their enemies on every side.
King Asa even deposed his grandmother Meka from her position as Queen mother because
she had made an obscene a share a pole.
He cut down her obscene pole, broke it up, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
Although the pagan shrines were not removed from Israel, AAA's heart remained
completely faithful throughout his life.
He brought into the temple of God, the silver and gold, and the various items
that he and his father had dedicated so there was no more war until the 35th
year of A's Reign in the 36th year of a's Reign King Bacha of Israel invaded
Judah and fortified Rama in order to prevent anyone from entering or
leaving King ACEs territory in Judah.
Asa responded by removing the silver and gold from the treasuries of the
temple of the Lord and the royal palace.
He sent it to King Ben Hayad of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus.
Along with this message, let there be a treaty between you and me, like the
one between your father and my father.
C I am sending you silver and gold.
Break your treaty with King Beha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.
Ben Hayad agreed to King ASO's request and sent the commanders of his
army to attack the towns of Israel.
They conquered the towns of I, John Dan Abel, Beth Meka, and
all the store cities in nafta.
Lie.
As soon as Beha of Israel heard what was happening, he abandoned
his project of fortifying Rama and stopped all work on it.
Then King Asa called out all the men of Judah to carry away the
building stones and timbers that Beha had been using to fortify.
Rama Asa used these materials to fortify the towns of Giba and mpa.
At that time, Hane Nai, the seer, came to King Asa and told him.
Because you have put your trust in the King of Aram instead
of in the Lord your God.
You missed your chance to destroy the army of the King of Aram.
Don't you remember what happened to the Ethiopians and Libyans and their
vast army with all of their chariots and chariot tears at that time?
You relied on the Lord and he handed them over to you.
The eyes of the Lord.
Search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts
are fully committed to him.
What a fool.
You have been from now on you will be at war.
Asa became so angry with HeNe NAI for saying this, that he threw him
into prison and put him in stocks.
At that time, ASA also began to oppress some of his people.
The rest of the events of a's Reign.
From beginning to end are recorded in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
In the 39th year of his reign, ASA developed a serious foot disease.
Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the Lord's
help, but turned only to his physicians.
So he died in the 41st year of his reign.
He was buried in the tomb.
He had carved out for himself in the city of David.
He was laid on a bed perfumed with sweet spices and fragrant
ointments, and the people built a huge funeral fire in his honor.