In I Kings the story of King Asa of Judah got told in sixteen verses, highlighting just two events: his destruction of pagan shrines, and his war with King Baasha of Israel. Israel was fortifying the border town of Ramah, preventing travel and commerce in that area; then Asa made an alliance with King Ben-Hadad of Assyria, who attacked Israel from the north, forcing Israel to abandon its position against Judah (I Kings 15:9-24).

The Chronicler devoted about three times that much space to King Asa, forty-seven verses (II Chronicles 14:1-16:14). He recounted an earlier battle where King Asa offered an earnest prayer to the Lord (14:11), and then saw his badly-outnumbered soldiers defeat the vast army of the Ethiopians under Zerah, because “the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah” (14:12). He also included an account of a very large worship festival to the Lord in thanksgiving for the victory: “They took an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with horns. All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart, and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around” (15:14-15).

And the Chronicler also included the prophecy of the seer Hanani against Asa, with Hanani scolding Asa for his lack of faith: “you relied on the king of Aram, and not on the Lord your God” (16:7). Asa did not take this criticism well: “Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the stocks, in prison, for he was in a rage with him” (16:10). Then, when he contracted the foot disease that would kill him, “even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but only sought help from physicians” (16:12).

Thus where I Kings had told briefly of the faithfulness of Asa, the Chronicler reports that Asa was faithful, and faithful, and faithful, and then unfaithful at the end. The implication that the Chronicler appears to want us to draw is this: if you say you’re going to be faithful all the way, you need to be faithful all the way to the end.

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Teach us to trust in you, O God: for when we want be faithful we find ourselves falling short not just at the end, but from day to day as well. We are quick, in political and health crises, to trust in human wisdom more than in you. Grant us repentance, Lord, and renewed faithfulness.

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