The Incomplete Purge: Asa's Mixed Reformation Text: 2 Chronicles 15:16-19
Introduction: The Intolerance of True Religion
We live in an age that has made an idol out of tolerance. The only thing our culture will not tolerate is intolerance. But this is a cheap, plastic sentiment that cannot bear the weight of reality. True religion, by its very nature, is intolerant. It is exclusive. God is not one option among many on a spiritual buffet line. He is the only God there is, and He will not share His glory with another. When a nation, or a family, or an individual heart decides to follow the Lord, that decision necessarily means a declaration of war on all rival gods. Reformation is not about addition; it is about subtraction. It is about purging, cutting down, crushing, and burning.
King Asa of Judah is a man who understood this principle, at least in part. He inherited a kingdom that was cluttered with the gaudy lawn ornaments of paganism, altars to false gods and Asherah poles, which were essentially sacralized stripper poles dedicated to a fertility goddess. The spiritual air was thick with compromise. And for a time, Asa was a breath of fresh air. He was a reformer. He led the people in a great covenant renewal, and he understood that covenants have consequences. Oaths to the true God require the removal of false gods.
But reformation is a messy business. It is never clean, never simple, and, as we see in our text today, often incomplete. Asa's reformation is both an inspiration and a warning. It shows us the glorious results of courageous obedience, and it shows us the lingering dangers of a partial purge. He was a good king, one of the best. But he was not a perfect king. His story is recorded for our instruction, to teach us that the war against idolatry must be total, both in the public square and in the private country of our own hearts. We are called to a complete demolition project, and anything less leaves rubble for the enemy to rebuild upon.
The Text
He also removed Maacah, the mother of King Asa, from being queen mother, because she had made a horrid image as an Asherah; and Asa cut down her horrid image, crushed it and burned it at the brook Kidron. But the high places were not removed from Israel; nevertheless Asa’s heart was wholly devoted all his days. And he brought into the house of God the holy things of his father and his own holy things: silver and gold and utensils. And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.
(2 Chronicles 15:16-19 LSB)
No Room for Mother (v. 16)
We begin with the most startling act of Asa's reformation:
"He also removed Maacah, the mother of King Asa, from being queen mother, because she had made a horrid image as an Asherah; and Asa cut down her horrid image, crushed it and burned it at the brook Kidron." (2 Chronicles 15:16)
Here we see the cutting edge of true piety. Reformation is easy when you are tearing down the idols of people you do not like. It gets real when the idol is in your own living room, set up by your own grandmother. Maacah was not just any woman; she was the queen mother, a position of immense influence and power in the court. And she was an idolater. She had made a "horrid image," an abominable thing, for Asherah worship. This kind of worship was not just a different religious preference; it was state-sponsored perversion, a Canaanite fertility cult that was lewd, degrading, and a direct assault on the holiness of God and the covenant life of Israel.
Asa understood that fidelity to God trumps all other loyalties. Jesus would later put it this way: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). This is not a command to be emotionally cruel. It is a statement of ultimate allegiance. When the commands of God and the desires of your closest relatives are in conflict, there is no question who you must obey. Asa's love for God was greater than his fear of a family squabble. He did not just ask his grandma to please put her idol in the closet when company came over. He deposed her. He stripped her of her public office and influence. He publicly shamed her idolatry.
And notice the thoroughness of his action against the idol itself. He "cut down her horrid image, crushed it and burned it at the brook Kidron." This was not a polite disposal. This was a violent, contemptuous destruction. He chopped it down, pulverized it, and burned the remains in the Kidron Valley, which was essentially the city sewer and garbage dump. This is what we are to do with our idols. We are not to reason with them, hide them, or manage them. We are to hate them, desecrate them, and obliterate them. This is the duty of the civil magistrate. He is to be a terror to evil works, and public idolatry is a preeminent evil work. Asa acted as God's deacon, punishing the wicked, even when the wicked was his own grandmother.
The Stubbornness of High Places (v. 17)
But in the very next breath, we find a glaring inconsistency.
"But the high places were not removed from Israel; nevertheless Asa’s heart was wholly devoted all his days." (2 Chronicles 15:17)
This is one of those verses that should make us sit up straight. After the magnificent courage of verse 16, we get this "but." The "high places" were local, unauthorized shrines. Originally, some may have been used for the worship of Yahweh before the Temple centralized worship in Jerusalem. But by this point, they were hopelessly compromised, syncretistic messes where the worship of the true God was blended with pagan practices. They were the religious equivalent of a spiritual affair. The people wanted to worship God, but they wanted to do it their own way, in their own places, with a little pagan flair on the side.
Asa tore down the altars to foreign gods, but he left the high places. Why? Perhaps it was a matter of political calculation. Deposing the queen mother was one thing, but going to war with the cherished, traditional worship sites in every village was another. It was a failure of nerve, a pastoral blind spot. He cut down the trunk of the idolatrous tree but left many of the roots in the ground. And this is a profound warning for us. It is possible to fight valiantly against the gross, obvious sins while tolerating the more subtle, "respectable" compromises in our midst.
And yet, the text says his heart was "wholly devoted" or "perfect" all his days. How can this be? This shows us that the Bible's definition of a perfect heart is not sinless perfection. It means a heart that is fundamentally oriented toward God, a heart that is undivided in its ultimate loyalty. David was a man after God's own heart, and he was an adulterer and a murderer. Asa's heart was true, but his reformation was incomplete. His direction was right, even if he stumbled and stopped short. This should be a comfort and a prod to us. A comfort, because God knows our frame and judges the orientation of our hearts. A prod, because our blind spots and compromises have consequences, as the later history of Judah would demonstrate.
Devotion and Dividends (v. 18-19)
The chapter concludes by noting Asa's positive actions and the immediate blessing that followed.
"And he brought into the house of God the holy things of his father and his own holy things: silver and gold and utensils. And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign." (2 Chronicles 15:18-19)
Reformation is not just about tearing down; it is also about building up. It is not enough to get rid of the bad; you must replace it with the good. Asa purged the temple of his grandmother's filth, and then he replenished it with treasure. He brought in the things dedicated by his father, Abijah, and the things he himself had dedicated, likely from the spoils of his victory over the Ethiopians. He was not just an iconoclast; he was a worshiper. He understood that the house of God should be beautiful, honored, and well-supplied. True worship is not austere in the sense of being cheap. It is simple in its focus on God's Word, but it is lavish in its devotion.
And what is the result of this costly, albeit incomplete, obedience? Peace. The land had rest from war for a long time. This is a foundational principle of covenant theology. When God's people obey Him, even imperfectly, He blesses them. When they disobey, He brings covenant lawsuits, often in the form of foreign armies. "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). Asa's reforms, his public stand for true worship, purchased decades of peace and prosperity for his people. This is not the prosperity gospel. This is the Bible. Obedience brings blessing. Disobedience brings cursing. This is true for individuals, for families, and it is true for nations.
Conclusion: Finish the Job
So what do we take from this snapshot of an ancient king? We must see that our modern world is just as cluttered with idols as Asa's Judah was. They may not be carved Asherah poles, but they are just as horrid and just as demanding of our allegiance. The idols of sexual autonomy, of materialism, of personal peace and affluence, the idol of the state as savior. These idols have their high places everywhere, from Hollywood to the Supreme Court to the universities.
Like Asa, we are called to a courageous and intolerant reformation. We must be willing to take an axe to the idols in the public square, and we must be willing to depose the idols that have taken up residence in our own homes, even when they are promoted by those we love. The claims of Christ are total. There can be no compromise with the worship of Asherah, whether her name is Aphrodite or Playboy or radical feminism.
But we must also learn from Asa's failure. We cannot be content to attack the obvious evils while tolerating the "high places" of our own syncretism. We cannot rail against abortion while quietly worshiping at the altar of our own greed. We cannot condemn sexual sin out there while tolerating bitterness and envy in our own hearts. A perfect heart, in the biblical sense, is one that desires to finish the job. It is a heart that, when its blind spots are pointed out, repents and gets the crowbar.
Ultimately, Asa points us to a greater King, a perfect reformer. Jesus Christ came and did not just cleanse the Temple; He is the Temple. He did not just tear down idols; He defeated the demonic powers behind them at the cross. His heart was truly perfect, and His obedience was complete. And because of His finished work, we are given the grace to fight our own battles. We are called to extend His kingdom, to tear down strongholds, and to bring every thought captive to His obedience. Asa's reformation brought peace for a generation. The reformation of the gospel brings peace with God forever. Let us, therefore, take courage, finish the job, and enter into that rest.