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I. A GREAT BLESSING.

1. Its character. No war (ver. 6). Few, reflecting on the untold calamities of war, the expenditure of blood and treasure, the sorrow and desolation sent into many homes, the interruption of the arts of peace, the bad passions kindled by it in the breasts even of the victors, will doubt that peace is one of the foremost blessings a nation can enjoy. This was the condition of Judah during the first ten years of Asa's reign. Compare Shakespeare's description of "peace after a civil war" ('King Henry IV.,' Part I. act 1. sc. 1).

2. Its source. Jehovah (ver. 7). "Every good and every perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17) - true of national peace (Joshua 21:44; 1 Chronicles 22:18) no less than of other things (Psalm 29:11; Isaiah 45:7; Jeremiah 14:13; Haggai 2:9). As no king or people can stir up war until God permits, so can none extinguish its flames without his help. But "when he giveth quietness, who can make trouble?" (Job 34:29). Hence national peace should be prayed for (Jeremiah 29:7; 1 Timothy 2:1, 2).

3. Its medium. Righteousness. The peace of Asa's opening years was due, not to Abijah's successful campaigns (2 Chronicles 13:15), though successful campaigns are of God's giving (Psalm 144:1, 2, 10); or to his own skilful diplomacy, since skilful diplomacy is not always from above (2 Samuel 16:20, etc.); or to his fenced cities, which would have been poor fortifications had they not been defended by Jehovah's battalions (Psalm 127:1); but to his and his people's following after that righteousness which is a nation's best defence (Proverbs 14:34) and a sovereign's surest security (Proverbs 16:12). Asa and his people sought the Lord their God, and he gave them "rest on every side." The annals of Israel show that peace ever went hand-in-hand with piety, and war with disobedience (Psalm 81:11-16; Isaiah 68:18, 19). Always when the people chose new gods there was war in the gates (Judges 5:8). When they forsook God, he forsook them, with the result that "there was no peace to him that went out or to him that came in" (2 Chronicles 15:5). So, in modern times, the military spirit exists in Christian men and nations in proportion as they depart from the religion of Jesus. If at any time "Christianity, socially regarded, does almost nothing to control the state of expectant war and the jealousies of nations," that is not because Christianity is a "failure," and "criminally complacent to these (and other)evils," or "because the religion of heaven and supernatural visions" is "powerless to control this earth and its natural realities" (Harrison's ' New Year's Address to English Positivists,' 1889), but because its professed disciples do not honestly obey its precepts (John 13:34; Romans 13:8; Galatians 5:13; Ephesians 5:2) and carry out its principles (Matthew 7:12; Romans 13:10; James 2:8). The reign of Christianity in any nation would put an end to civil feuds and wars of aggression. With the extinction of these, wars of defence would cease.

II. A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY.

1. For the furtherance of true religion. Besides setting an example of personal religion - the most effective way in which kings can promote national religion - Asa laboured with promptitude, decision, and assiduity in the work of abolishing the prevalent idolatry.

(1) He demolished the "strange altars," i.e. altars to foreign divinities which had been erected by his predecessors, Solomon and Rehoboam, and left standing by his father Abijah.

(2) He removed the "high places" dedicated to idolatrous worship, though he allowed those which had been consecrated to Jehovah to remain (ch. 15:17; 1 Kings 15:14).

(3) He brake down the "pillars," obelisks or monumental columns dedicated to Baal. (2 Kings 3:2; 2 Kings 10:26), resembling that erected by Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 35:14), and perhaps also those set up by Moses at Sinai (Exodus 24:4) in honour of Jehovah.

(4) The Asherim, wooden idols or tree trunks, consecrated to Astarte (see Keil on 1 Kings 14:23), he hewed down.

(5) From all the cities of Judah he removed the high places and the sun-images, i.e. pillars or statues consecrated to Baal as the sun-god, and erected near or upon the altars of Baal (2 Chronicles 34:4). So Christian kings and statesmen should labour at the destruction of all false forms of religion within their domains; not, however, by forcible suppression, which, though permitted and even demanded of Ass, is not allowed to sovereigns or, indeed, to any under the gospel, but by fostering in all legitimate ways what they believe to be the absolute and only true religion.

2. For promulgating useful laws. When nations are distracted by internecine feuds within themselves or between each other, it is hopeless to expect the work of good legislation to proceed. Hence the value of a "long peace" to any country, permitting, as it does, the cultivation of the peaceful arts, the development of trade and commerce, the spread of learning and culture, the growth of domestic institutions, and the promotion of measures for the welfare of the state. Asa, in the ten years of rest, "commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the Law and the commandment" (ver. 4); and though under the New Testament dispensation it is not required of kings to command their subjects to worship and obey God - that being an obligation already laid on men by the gospel - and far less to punish them should they disobey, it is, nevertheless, allowed kings to follow in Asa's footsteps so far as to utilize the years of rest their countries may enjoy in legislating for the comfort and happiness of their subjects.

3. For securing the safety of the realm. Asa did so by

(1) erecting military fortresses, "fenced cities" in the land of Judah, surrounding them with walls and towers, and securing them with gates and bolts; and

(2) by collecting around him a well-equipped army - from Judah 300,000 targeteers and spearmen, with heavy shields and lances (1 Chronicles 12:24); and from Benjamin 280,000, bearing light shields and furnished with bows (1 Chronicles 8:40). So should Christian states employ times of peace in constructing such bulwarks as their lands require, whether in the shape of garrison cities, regiments of soldiers, or fleets of war-vessels, since self-preservation is an instinct of nature as much for nations as for individuals, and is not forbidden to either by the gospel, while to be prepared for war is sometimes an effective means of securing peace (Luke 11:21).

LESSON. The duty of individuals and nations to shun war and follow peace. - W.

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KJV: So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years.

WEB: So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet ten years.