The Incomplete Reformer: Text: 1 Kings 15:9-24
Introduction: The Messiness of a Godly Reign
We live in an age that detests nuance. We want our heroes to be flawless and our villains to be pure evil. We want our political solutions to be simple, our spiritual lives to be a straight, upward line, and our history to be scrubbed clean of all complexity. But the Bible will not have it. The Bible gives us men, not marble statues. It gives us history as it actually happens, which is to say, history as God providentially directs it through the agency of cracked vessels.
The story of King Asa of Judah is a case in point. If you were to write the headline for his reign, it would be overwhelmingly positive: "Asa did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, like David his father." He was a reformer. He was a good king. He reigned for forty one years, a long and stable tenure. And yet, the inspired account is shot through with buts, with howevers, and with tragic failures. His reformation was zealous, but incomplete. His faith was genuine, but at a key moment, it gave way to fear-driven pragmatism. He started strong, but he did not finish well.
This is not a story to make us cynical. It is a story to make us wise. It is a story that shows us the nature of sanctification, both for an individual and for a nation. Reformation is not a single event, but a long, hard slog. It involves glorious victories and baffling compromises. It requires us to confront not only the rank paganism out on the street, but the respectable idolatry in our own living rooms, and even the unbelief that lurks in our own hearts after decades of faithful service. Asa's life is a warning against the temptation to trust in worldly solutions, and a profound comfort that God's assessment of a man's heart can be gracious even when his record is mixed. And ultimately, Asa's incomplete reign shows us our desperate need for a perfect King, a flawless Reformer, whose heart and actions were ever and always in perfect alignment with the will of His Father.
The Text
Now in the twentieth year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Asa began to reign as king of Judah. And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. And Asa did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, like David his father. He also put away the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols which his fathers had made. He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother, because she had made a horrid image for Asherah; and Asa cut down her horrid image and burned it at the brook Kidron. But the high places were not removed; nevertheless the heart of Asa was wholly devoted to Yahweh all his days. And he brought into the house of Yahweh the holy things of his father and his own holy things: silver and gold and utensils.
Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built up Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. Then Asa took all the silver and the gold which were left in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and the treasuries of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, “Let there be a covenant between you and me, as between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold; go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.” So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his military force against the cities of Israel, and struck down Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah and all Chinneroth, besides all the land of Naphtali. Now it happened that when Baasha heard of it, he ceased building up Ramah and remained in Tirzah. Then King Asa caused an announcement to be heard throughout all Judah, none was exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building. And King Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.
Now the rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might and all that he did and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. 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 place.
(1 Kings 15:9-24 LSB)
Zealous Reformation (vv. 9-15)
The account of Asa’s reign begins with the highest possible commendation.
"And Asa did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, like David his father." (1 Kings 15:11)
The gold standard for a king in Judah is not sinless perfection, but the heart of David. This means a heart that, despite grievous sins, was fundamentally oriented toward Yahweh, a heart that repented when confronted, and a heart that loved God’s law and God’s worship. This is the headline, and what follows is the evidence. Asa’s righteousness was not a private, personal piety; it was a public, national housecleaning.
First, he deals with the sexual perversion that is always intertwined with idolatry. "He also put away the male cult prostitutes from the land" (v. 12). When a nation turns from the Creator to worship the creation, it invariably descends into the worship of creaturely appetites, with sexual license at the forefront. Reformation, therefore, must be courageous enough to confront and expel the sexual corruption of the age. This is not about being prudish; it is about recognizing that sexual sin is a rival liturgy, a worship of false gods.
Second, he confronts the idolatry of his forefathers, removing "all the idols which his fathers had made." This is a direct repudiation of the syncretism of Solomon and Rehoboam. But the hardest test was not cleaning up the sins of long-dead ancestors. It was confronting the sin in his own family.
"He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother, because she had made a horrid image for Asherah; and Asa cut down her horrid image and burned it at the brook Kidron." (1 Kings 15:13)
This is the sharp edge of reformation. The Queen Mother was a position of immense power and influence. And Maacah, his grandmother, was using that position to promote the worship of Asherah, a vile fertility goddess. Asa does not equivocate. He does not try to find a compromise. He deposes his own grandmother and publicly destroys her idol, burning it in the Kidron Valley, the city’s garbage dump. This is a living application of the words of Christ: "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26). Loyalty to God trumps all other loyalties.
But then we get the first discordant note. "But the high places were not removed" (v. 14). What were these? These were local shrines, often on hilltops, where sacrifices were offered. While some were overtly pagan, many were used for a kind of Yahweh-worship that was unauthorized and syncretistic. Asa tore down the official, state-sponsored Asherah pole, but he left the popular, decentralized, "but we’ve always done it this way" worship intact. He cut down the trunk of idolatry but left many of the roots in the ground. This is the constant temptation of the reformer: to deal with the scandalous sins while tolerating the respectable ones.
And yet, look at God’s gracious assessment. "Nevertheless the heart of Asa was wholly devoted to Yahweh all his days." The Hebrew word for "wholly devoted" is shalem, meaning whole, complete, or at peace. Despite his blind spots, the fundamental orientation of his heart was right. God sees the trajectory. This is not an excuse for compromise, but it is a profound comfort for all of us who are still in process, whose reformations are also incomplete.
The section concludes on a high note. Asa not only removes the bad, he restores the good. He brings the dedicated treasures back into the house of Yahweh (v. 15). True reformation is always both negative and positive; it involves tearing down and building up.
Pragmatic Unbelief (vv. 16-22)
The second half of the story shows us Asa’s great failure. A military crisis arises. Baasha, the king of the northern kingdom of Israel, fortifies Ramah, a city just a few miles north of Jerusalem, effectively putting a stranglehold on Asa’s capital.
"Then Asa took all the silver and the gold which were left in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and the treasuries of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad... king of Aram... saying, 'go, break your covenant with Baasha...'" (1 Kings 15:18-19)
Notice the tragic irony. The very treasures he had just consecrated to God in verse 15, he now plunders to bribe a pagan king. This is a catastrophic failure of nerve. Where is the king who trusted God enough to depose his own grandmother? In a moment of panic, he resorts to faithless political calculation. He trusts in the arm of the flesh. He robs God’s house to pay off an Aramean mercenary. He who had been so zealous for the first commandment now functions as a practical atheist, acting as though God is irrelevant to matters of national security.
And the most dangerous part of this story is that, from a worldly perspective, the plan worked. Ben-hadad took the money, attacked Israel from the north, and Baasha was forced to abandon his project at Ramah. Asa then takes the abandoned materials and fortifies his own cities. By every secular metric, this was a resounding success. A geopolitical masterstroke. Asa turned a crisis into an opportunity.
But worldly success is a poor measure of faithfulness. The parallel account in 2 Chronicles 16 tells us what God thought of it. The prophet Hanani comes to Asa and rebukes him sharply: "Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on Yahweh your God... you have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will have wars" (2 Chron. 16:7, 9). Asa’s pragmatic solution, his brilliant political maneuver, was in God’s eyes an act of foolishness and unbelief. And instead of repenting, Asa grows angry, throws the prophet in prison, and oppresses some of the people. The zealous reformer becomes a thin-skinned tyrant.
A Troubled End (vv. 23-24)
The summary of Asa’s reign ends on a somber note.
"But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet." (1 Kings 15:23)
The Chronicler adds the damning detail: "his disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek Yahweh, but the physicians" (2 Chron. 16:12). This is not an indictment of medicine. It is an indictment of his heart. The man who began his reign by trusting God in the face of idolatry ends his reign by trusting in men, whether pagan kings or court physicians, instead of God. His feet, which should have been shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, were diseased, a physical manifestation of his spiritual walk, which had stumbled badly.
And yet, grace has the final word. "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 place" (v. 24). Despite his great sin, despite his hard-heartedness at the end, he is not cast off. He is a king in the line of David, and the covenant promise continues through him. His story is a warning, but it is not a story without hope.
The Perfect Reformer
Asa’s story is our story. Who among us can say our reformation is complete? We are zealous in one area and strangely blind in another. We trust God for our salvation but turn to faithless pragmatism when the mortgage is due or a political crisis looms. We consecrate our resources to God on Sunday and then plunder them for our own security on Monday. We tear down the horrid image of some public sin, but we leave the high places of personal pride and self-reliance untouched.
Asa’s mixed record should not lead us to despair, but rather to look away from ourselves to the only King whose record is perfect. We need a better King than Asa. We need a King who did not just cleanse the land of idols, but who cleansed the very temple of God. We need a King who, when confronted with the ultimate crisis, did not bribe a pagan ruler with temple gold, but who trusted His Father and paid the price Himself with His own blood.
Jesus Christ is the perfect reformer. His heart was always and completely shalem with the Father. He did not leave any high places standing. When He was under the greatest possible pressure, He did not rely on the arm of the flesh but prayed, "Not my will, but Yours, be done." Asa’s feet were diseased in his old age because of his unbelief. Christ’s feet were pierced on the cross because of our unbelief, that we might be healed.
The story of Asa is the story of a good man who failed. It is the story of all of us. But it points us to the story of a perfect Man, a God-man, who succeeded on our behalf. Our hope is not in the quality of our own reforms, but in the finished work of our flawless King.