Friday, August 16<\/b><\/p>\n
The Book of Obadiah: Convinced that God speaks at specific points in history, the canonical editors of the Holy Scriptures often ascribe particular time frames to the messages of the prophets. Frequently, they specify these occasions by reference to the reigns of certain kings. Thus, we are informed that Isaiah was called \u201cin the year that King Uzziah died\u201d (Isaiah 6:1), that Zechariah heard God\u2019s voice \u201cin the eighth month of the second year of Darius\u201d (Zechariah 1:1), and that John the Baptist began his ministry \u201cin the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberias Caesar\u201d (Luke 3:1). Such time references may be determined in other ways; thus, we learn that Jeremiah received a prophetic word immediately after the fall of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 40:1) and that Amos began to preach \u201ctwo years before the earthquake\u201d (Amos 1:1). This kind of information is so standard in Holy Scripture that, in those cases where it is missing, we should presume that it simply was not available to the biblical editors.<\/p>\n
One such case is the prophecy of Obadiah. Though a dozen or so men in the Bible bore that name, the absence of a genealogical reference at the beginning of the Book of Obadiah makes it difficult to identify our prophet with any of them. Was he the Obadiah known to Elijah in 1 Kings 18? This identification, favored in some Jewish sources and in standard works of Christian hagiography, is obviously attractive, but it collapses under the book\u2019s internal evidence. The author of the Book of Obadiah was clearly from Judah, not the Northern Kingdom, and the past events to which he refers occurred much later than the ninth century before Christ.<\/p>\n
The one thing we do know for certain about the author of the Book of Obadiah is that he took a decidedly dim view of the Edomites. Nor was Obadiah alone in that respect, for there is reason to believe that more than one Israelite was somewhat tried by Deuteronomy\u2019s injunction not to despise the Edomite (23:7). Those descendants of Esau, after all, had obstructed the Chosen People\u2019s way to the Promised Land in the days of Moses (Numbers 20:21), and according to the prophet Amos in the eighth century, the Edomites, having \u201ccast off all pity\u201d (Amos 1:11), were involved in international slave trade (1:6,9).<\/p>\n
Edom\u2019s most memorable offenses, however, occurred when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 587. At that time, they rejoiced at the city\u2019s downfall (Lamentations 4:21), exploiting its misfortune in a vengeful way (Ezekiel 25:12). Most serious of all was the vile complicity of the Edomites in the demolition of Solomon\u2019s temple, an outrage for which they are explicitly blamed in 1 Esdras 4:45. <\/p>\n
This final offense likewise inspired a line of Psalm 136 (137), a
\nlament composed in captivity \u201cby the rivers of Babylon\u201d (v. 1), where the exiles sat and wept, remembering Zion. Reflecting on the holy city\u2019s recent, ruthless destruction, the psalmist bitterly recalled Edom\u2019s share in the matter: \u201cRemember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom \/ The day of Jerusalem, \/ Who said, \u2018Raze it, raze it, \/ To its very foundation!\u2019\u201d
\n(v. 7).<\/p>\n
Obadiah\u2019s prophecy testifies that his own rancor toward the Edomites was prompted by the identical recollection. He particularly blames them for rejoicing at Jerusalem\u2019s downfall, despoiling the city, blocking the path of escape against those who fled, and handing the refugees over to their captors (vv. 12\u201314). He can scarcely forget that the descendants of Esau were, in fact, blood relatives of the Israelites. Like Amos, who had earlier accused Edom of pursuing \u201chis brother with the sword\u201d (Amos 1:11), Obadiah speaks of \u201cviolence against your brother Jacob\u201d (v. 10). His words stand forever in Holy Scripture as a warning to those who rejoice at or take advantage of the tribulations of others, or who neglect the ancestral ties that should prompt a readier compassion.<\/p>\n
The prophetic doom pronounced by the Bible against the Edomites was vindicated in their displacement by the Nabateans in the fourth century B.C. Forced to migrate to southern Palestine, they were eventually subjugated by John Hyrcanus (134\u2013104 B.C.). From that point on, they were simply assimilated into Judaism. One of them, named Herod, even became a king of the Jews, but he always sensed that someday a real descendant of David might appear on the scene and challenge his claim to the throne. It made him very nervous and unreasonable.<\/p>\n
Saturday, August 17<\/b><\/p>\n
First Kings 9: There are several distinguishable components in the present chapter:<\/p>\n
First, the Lord responds to Solomon\u2019s dedicatory prayer by speaking to him again, as He did at Gibeon (verse 2). This divine response clearly takes place at Jerusalem, perhaps indicating that the new capital has replaced Gibeon as the proper locale for divine messages (cf. Acts 22:17). <\/p>\n
This response contains both a promise of divine fidelity and a warning of divine sanction. Josephus (Antiquities<\/i> 8.4.6) regarded the latter as a forewarning of what was to take place in the temple\u2019s later destruction, when Jerusalem became, in fact, \u201ca heap of ruins\u201d (verse 8; cf. Micah 3:12; Jeremiah 26:18).<\/p>\n
Second, we learn how Solomon finances these building projects in Jerusalem (verses 10-14). In payment for all this largesse poured out on the southern tribe, Judah, he sells twenty northern cities! He is following the earlier example of his pharaoh father-in-law, who paid his daughter\u2019s dowry by stealing from the Philistines (cf. verse 16). In this story, we begin to gain an inkling of why there is, among the northern tribes, a growing discontent that Solomon fails to address. His son, Rehoboam, will eventually pay for this neglect.<\/p>\n
Third, we learn of more building projects, and it is instructive to observe that they essentially consist, in fact, of military installations (verses 15-22). That is to say, they are walled fortresses that stand guard along a large road connecting the western end of the Fertile Crescent to Mesopotamia in the east. Solomon\u2019s extensive commercial connections make use of this road, and he wants to protect that trade from the Bedouin marauders always active in the Middle East. Among these fortresses, a special prominence attaches to Megiddo, which serves as a storage facility. Archeology has uncovered there the stables built by Solomon to house the horses he brought from Arabia, scheduled for delivery to sundry Mediterranean ports—all the way to Spain—by means of Phoenician transport ships.<\/p>\n
For the construction of these fortresses, Solomon uses slave labor from the remnants of the earlier Canaanite peoples who still live in the land (verses 20-21).<\/p>\n
Fourth, we learn that Solomon himself \u201coffered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them before the Lord\u201d (verse 25).<\/p>\n
Finally, we learn of Solomon\u2019s southern fleet, without which his mercantile enterprise would have come to nothing (verses 26-28). Because the Israelites are not a sea-going people, Solomon makes use of the skills and experience of Phoenician sailors. Since this commerce includes ivory and two species of monkeys (cf. 10:22—where the Hebrew word probably means baboons, rather than peacocks), Solomon is certainly dealing with the east coast of Africa. The jewels and sandalwood referenced later (10:11-12) indicate trade with India.<\/p>\n
This summary of Solomon\u2019s southern maritime activity serves to introduce one of the Bible\u2019s most intriguing characters—Jesus spoke of her!—the royal lady who makes her appearance in the next chapter. <\/p>\n
Sunday, August 18<\/b><\/p>\n
First Kings 10: The realm of Sheba—or Saba as the place is called in ancient Assyrian documents—was situated at the extreme southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, the area now known as Yemen. From those same Assyrian texts, as well as from inscriptions found at Sheba\u2019s capital city, M\u00e2reb, we know a thing or two about the history of the place during the first millennium before Christ. <\/p>\n
First, we know that Sheba flourished most of that time as a major mercantile link between the Far East and the southern Mediterranean, and a glance at a map of the area quickly explains why this should be the case. Sitting on both sides of the corner formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, Sheba dominated the narrow Straits of Bab el Mandeb by which these two waters are joined. This meant that Sheba could effectively control the traffic coming down from those twin horns formed at the north of the Red Sea by the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. <\/p>\n
Likewise, through the Gulf of Aden, Sheba was open to shipping on the
\nArabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, and places beyond.
\nThus, with respect to sea travel Sheba was the tangent point of two great mercantile spheres. <\/p>\n
Some of the business, in fact, stood nearby. Immediately to the north of Sheba was Ophir, probably to be identified with Havila, a region celebrated for its gold (e.g., see Genesis 2:11; Job 22:24; 28:16). Over to the west lay Ethiopia, or Cush, a kingdom sufficiently imposing to control Egypt for some periods, and, from the south, there extended the horn of Somalia. As Asia\u2019s vital southern link with Africa, then, Sheba was in a position to gain, hold, and control great wealth. <\/p>\n
Second, we also know the names of five of the queens of Sheba. As all of these lived in the eighth and seventh centuries, however, none of them can be identified with that Queen of Sheba who came to visit Solomon in the mid-tenth century before Christ. A pity, in truth, for some of us would dearly like to know the lady\u2019s name. <\/p>\n
Doubtless her appearance in Solomon\u2019s court was related to the latter\u2019s recent entrance into the powerful circles of international commerce. Through his extensive dealings with the Phoenicians, whose ships docked in harbors on all three continents bordering the Mediterranean basin, Solomon\u2019s port at Elath on the Gulf of Aqaba became an important link in a new mercantile chain that now stretched from Ceylon in the southeast to Gibraltar in the northwest. The queen\u2019s arrival at his court, then, was clear evidence that Solomon had become a \u201cplayer\u201d on the big scene. <\/p>\n
The event surely signified more, however. After all, Solomon was still far from being the queen\u2019s equal in the world of international commerce. Indeed, his recently gained status in this respect depended entirely on his hegemony over the land of Edom, which contained the port of Elath, for this was Solomon\u2019s sole connection with the Gulf of Aqaba. If royal visitations, therefore, depended on \u201crank\u201d among the international powers, we would expect Solomon to be visiting the Queen of Sheba rather than vice versa. <\/p>\n
Holy Scripture is clear that this was not the case. We are told that the Queen of Sheba, who could have handled her commercial relationship with Solomon through the usual business channels, was prompted solely by a desire to see for herself whether this new king was as wise and discerning as his reputation proclaimed. Nor was the lady disappointed at what she saw: \u201cI did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard\u201d (1 Kings 10:7). <\/p>\n
In the Gospels of Matthew (12:42) and Luke (11:31) this royal Gentile, \u201cthe Queen of the South,\u201d becomes a type of the true seeker and believer. In both places she is contrasted with the Lord\u2019s enemies, the unbelievers who refuse to recognize that \u201ca greater than Solomon is here.\u201d Accordingly, Sheba\u2019s magnificent lady is made a figure of Mother Church, standing rapturously in the presence of the wiser Solomon. We make our own her praise and proclamation before the throne of Christ: \u201cHappy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel!\u201d (1 Kings 10:8\u20139). <\/p>\n
Monday, August 19<\/b><\/p>\n
First Kings 11: Up to this point in the narrative, there have been no signs that Solomon was less than a perfect king. Indeed, without the present chapter, nothing prepares the reader for the tragedies that befell the realm after Solomon\u2019s death. <\/p>\n
The demise of Solomon is told here in a sensible and comprehensible sequence: the spiritual compromise attendant on Solomon\u2019s choice (and number!) of wives (verses 1-8), the resurgence of regional rivalries in the kingdom (verses 9-13), the rebellion of Hadad the Edomite (verses 14-22), the emergence of trouble in Syria and Hobab (verses 23-25), and the insurrection of Jeroboam the Ephraemite (verses 26-40). The chapter closes with Solomon\u2019s death in 922 (verses 41-43).<\/p>\n
First, the description of Solomon\u2019s huge harem is of a piece with the other signs of his prosperity, which was the subject of the previous chapter. The problem with these pagan wives, according to the author of Kings, was Solomon\u2019s disposition to give way to their religious preference; when these ladies moved to Jerusalem, they brought their own pagan \u201cchaplains\u201d with them, and pagan shrines made their appearance in the capital. That is to say, Solomon\u2019s indulgence of his wives led him into idolatry.<\/p>\n
We find a different concern in Sirach (47:21) and Josephus (Antiquities<\/i> 8.7.5), who ascribe Solomon\u2019s physical lust to his spiritual arrogance. <\/p>\n
Second, the Lord rejects Solomon, in much the same terms as He used in rejecting Saul. Faithful to the covenant with David, the Lord qualifies this rejection in two ways: The kingdom will not be split until after Solomon\u2019s death, and a remnant of two tribes will be left to the sons of David.<\/p>\n
Third, Hadad of Edom, rather like a terrorist raised in a refugee camp, chafes to return from exile in Egypt in order to free the Edomites from political dominance. Like Solomon himself, he is married into the Egyptian royal family. After the death of Solomon, the Edomites will seize their independence from the Kingdom of Judah.<\/p>\n
Fourth, a new ruler arises in Syria, named Rezon. During Solomon\u2019s time he is hardly more than local marauder, but his dynasty will, in due course, become a serious political problem for the Chosen People.<\/p>\n
Fifth, toward the end of Solomon\u2019s reign, Shishak the founder of the twenty-second dynasty in Egypt, provides sanctuary for an Ephraemite rebel named Jeroboam. He will return to Israel, after Solomon\u2019s death, to seize the rule over Israel\u2019s northern tribes. <\/p>\n
Sixth, Solomon\u2019s death is a good occasion for reflecting on the \u201cmixed bag\u201d that was his life and reign. To many Israelites at the time—especially in the north—he must have seemed like another pharaoh, of the sort Moses had to deal with. There is no doubt—in the minds of the biblical authors—that Solomon was to blame for the political and social upheavals that followed his passing.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, August 20<\/b><\/p>\n
First Kings 12: Rehoboam was almost the perfect example of what the Bible means by the word “fool.” Because he was the son of Solomon, Israel’s wisest king, furthermore, this foolishness was a matter of irony as well as tragedy.<\/p>\n
After Solomon’s death in 922, this heir to Israel’s throne traveled to Schechem, to receive the nation’s endorsement as its new ruler. The move was especially necessary with respect to Israel’s northern tribes, a people touchy about their traditional rights and needing to be handled gently. Even David, we recall, had to be made king twice, first over Judah about the year 1000 (2 Samuel 2:4,10) and then over the north some years later (5:4-5).<\/p>\n
Those northern tribes, for their part, seemed willing to be ruled by Rehoboam, but they craved assurance that the new king would respect their ancient traditions and customs. Truth be told, they had not been entirely happy with Rehoboam’s father, Solomon, and they sought from his son a simple pledge that their grievances would be taken seriously in the future (1 Kings 12:1-4). A great deal depended on Rehoboam’s answer.<\/p>\n
The new king apparently took the matter seriously, because he sought counsel on what to say. He began by consulting the seniors of the royal court, the very men who had for forty years provided guidance for his father. These were the elder statesmen of the realm, those qualified to give the most prudent political counsel. <\/p>\n
Significantly, these older men urged Rehoboam in the direction of caution and moderation with respect to the northern tribes: “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever” (12:7).<\/p>\n
Rehoboam, nonetheless, eschewing the instruction of his elders, followed the impulses of his younger companions, who encouraged him to stand tough and not let himself be pushed around. Indeed, they urged Rehoboam to be insulting and provocative to the petitioners (12:8-11). Pursuing this foolish counsel, then, he immediately lost the larger part of his kingdom (12:12-16). <\/p>\n
As I suggested above, there is great irony here, for it may be said that one of the major practical purposes of the Book of Proverbs, traditionally ascribed to Solomon, was to prevent and preclude exactly the mistake made by Solomon’s son. According to Proverbs, the fool is the man who ignores the counsel of the old and follows the impulses of untried youth.<\/p>\n
Many a life has been ruined—and in this case a kingdom lost—because someone preferred the pooled stupidity of his contemporaries to the accumulated wisdom of his elders. Those whose counsel Rehoboam spurned, after all, were not just any old men—they were the very ancients who had provided guidance to Israel’s most sagacious monarch.<\/p>\n
Rehoboam’s reign of seventeen years knew its ups and downs—the downs dominant. Five years after the story narrated above, Pharaoh Shishak, founder of Egypt’s twenty-second dynasty, invaded the Holy Land and took pretty much whatever attracted his eye: “In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made” (14:26). <\/p>\n
The Sacred Text goes on to remark, “King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze” (14:27). By setting bronze shields in the Temple to replace the golden shields of Solomon, Rehoboam enacted a truly wretched symbolism. Some of the ancients (Daniel, Hesiod, Ovid) spoke of an historical decline from a golden age to a silver age, and thence to a bronze age. No one disputes, of course, that Solomon’s was a golden age (10:14-29). However, the reign of Rehoboam, his heir, was a declension, not just to silver, but all the way to bronze. The plunge, when it came, came at once, in a single generation.<\/p>\n
Rehoboam remained, Josephus tells us, “a proud and foolish man” (Antiquities<\/i> 8.10.4). He never recovered from the singular folly of his first political decision. After Shishak’s invasion, this thin, pathetic shadow of his father and grandfather reigned under a humiliating Egyptian suzerainty for a dozen more years. Like every fool, he had a heart problem. The final word about Rehoboam asserts, “he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord” (2 Chronicles 12:14).<\/p>\n
Wednesday, August 21<\/b><\/p>\n
First Kings 13: The appearance of this unnamed prophet and the subsequent testing of his message introduce the expanded ministry of the prophets during the period of the kings. We think of this period as that of the kings, whereas it is just as valid to think of it as a period of enhanced prophecy. In the cases of Elijah and Elisha, at least, the prophets easily outshine the kings. This comment points to a curious problem of biblical historiography: how to divide it into distinct periods.<\/p>\n
A common way of dividing Old Testament history is to enter it around the era of the monarchy. For example, Matthew traced the genealogy of Jesus according to three distinct periods: pre-monarchical (1:2\u20136), monarchical (1:7\u201311), and post-monarchical (1:12\u201316). Thus, wrote Matthew, there were \u201call the generations from Abraham to David . . . from David to the captivity in Babylon . . . and from the captivity in Babylon to the Christ\u201d (1:17). <\/p>\n
Needless to say, the division of history by recourse to political periods is a common pattern of historiography. Historians of Rome, for instance, have always parceled the material by reference to the Republic and the Empire, and the emperors themselves serve as signposts to identify the various periods of the Empire. <\/p>\n
When we come to biblical history, nonetheless, this kind of division presents a methodological difficulty, for the simple reason that Israel\u2019s political history is less significant than other theological concerns. The Bible is more about God\u2019s activity than man\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Saint Augustine also believed Israel\u2019s monarchical period was really more about the prophets than the kings. That whole era (hoc itaque tempus<\/i>), he wrote, from Samuel down through the Babylonian Captivity, was \u201cthe age of the prophets\u201d—totum tempus est prophetarum<\/i>. Other men, to be sure, \u201cboth before and after\u201d that period, are called prophets, but the years between Samuel and the Babylonian Captivity \u201care especially and chiefly called the days of the prophets\u201d—dies prophetarum praecipue maximeque hi dicti sunt<\/i> (The City of God<\/i> 17.1). <\/p>\n
In our translated Bibles, we tend still to divide the material by way of reference to Israel\u2019s political systems: We move from the era of the judges to the establishment of the monarchy in Samuel, and then to the history of the monarchy. In the Hebrew Bible, on the other hand, all the books from Joshua through Malachi—covering nearly a thousand years\u2014are under one category: \u201cThe Prophets,\u201d or Nevi\u2019im<\/i>. <\/p>\n
We detect that earlier perspective also in passing references within the New Testament. Thus, the Epistle to the Hebrews mentioned \u201cSamuel and the prophets\u201d to designate the biblical history after David (11:32). St. Peter, too, spoke of \u201call the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow\u201d (Acts 3:24). <\/p>\n
In the chapters that follow the present one, we will find a greater interest in certain prophetic ministries than in the generally lackluster men who sat on the thrones of the two kingdoms.<\/p>\n
Thursday, August 22<\/b><\/p>\n
First Kings 14: The similarities between Samuel and Ahijah are truly striking. Both of them prophets from Shiloh, both were likewise appointed to designate new kings for Israel: Saul in the case of Samuel, Jeroboam in the case of Ahijah. Both of those kings, each of whom reigned roughly twenty years, proved to be failures. Finally, toward the end of their reigns, the same two prophets, both of them now quite old, were once again commissioned to announce the downfalls of the aforesaid kings and the impending changes of dynasty. Thus, Samuel prophesied the rise of David (1 Samuel 13:14), and Ahijah foretold the coming of Baasha (1 Kings 14:14). <\/p>\n
Although the story of Samuel, because of its greater length and the richer detail in its telling, is doubtless the better known of the two, the account of Ahijah is no less dramatic and every bit as memorable. <\/p>\n
Ahijah first appears on the biblical scene late in the reign of Solomon. By way of preparing for his appearance, Holy Scripture tells of the evils attendant on Solomon\u2019s rule (11:1\u20139) and the external political enemies who rise to challenge his kingdom (11:14\u201325). It is at this point that the Bible introduces young Jeroboam, whom Solomon has appointed an overseer for the northern tribes. As Jeroboam leaves Jerusalem to undertake his new responsibilities, he is met by the Prophet Ahijah, who abruptly proceeds to tear his clothing into twelve parts. Having thereby gained his total attention, Ahijah explains to the young man that these twelve torn fragments represent Israel\u2019s twelve tribes, and he goes on to prophesy that Jeroboam will govern ten of those tribes, leaving only two tribes for the dynasty of David (11:26\u201339). All of this prophecy is fulfilled in the events that immediately follow the death of Solomon (11:30\u201412:16). <\/p>\n
We do not again hear of Ahijah for a long time, nor does the Bible give us reason to suppose that Jeroboam further consulted the prophet for advice in the governance of the realm. Unlike David, whose reign benefited from the prophetic counsel of Nathan, Jeroboam puts all thought of God behind him (14:9). On one occasion when he is accosted by an anonymous prophet from Judah, Jeroboam asks for the man\u2019s prayers but pays no heed to his prophetic warning (13:1\u20139). Furthermore, if Jeroboam had conferred with the Prophet Ahijah, whom God sent to him in the first place, he likely would not have erected those two golden calves at Bethel and Dan, thereby doubling the ancient infidelity of Aaron. (Compare 12:28 with Exodus 32:4, 8). <\/p>\n
No, Jeroboam does not place himself under the judgment and discipline of the prophetic word. He is one of those men who want God on their side, without taking care to be on God\u2019s side. Craving the divine aid without the divine ordinance, Jeroboam will not consult Ahijah again for many years. <\/p>\n
When he does so, it is because his son is sick, and he sends his wife to the prophet in hopes of obtaining a favorable word. Jeroboam sends her, moreover, in disguise, evidently too embarrassed to let Ahijah know who it is that seeks that word. The prophet himself, by this time, has grown very old, and his sight is failing. <\/p>\n
Foolish Jeroboam, thinking to deceive the prophetic vision! Ahijah had been able to read the signs of the times during the reign of Solomon, but Jeroboam now fancies he can deceive the old seer with such a clumsy ruse. Inwardly guided by the Almighty, Ahijah reads the situation perfectly, and the Lord himself dictates \u201cthus and thus\u201d what he is to say. <\/p>\n
The awful asperity of Ahijah\u2019s word to Jeroboam is enhanced by the ironies of the scene. At the doorway, deeply anxious for her sick child, arrives this woman clothed in a hopeless disguise. At her footfall, before one syllable escapes her lips, she is already detected by an old blind man, greeting her with a harshness hardly surpassed on any page of Holy Scripture (14:6\u201316), informing her, not only that the child will die, but that he will be the last in the family even to find his way to a grave. All the others will be devoured by dogs and birds. Mercy now is found no more, nor tenderness, but terrifying, unspeakable finality. God\u2019s last word to Jeroboam, the man who \u201cmade Israel to sin,\u201d is a kind of paradigm of damnation itself: \u201cDepart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire.\u201d Ahijah speaks for the God who reads hearts and is not mocked. <\/p>\n
Friday, August 23<\/b><\/p>\n
First Kings 15: Asa (913\u2013873 BC) was Judah\u2019s initial \u201creform\u201d king, in this respect a forerunner to Hezekiah and Josiah. He was the first of those very few kings of whom it was said that he \u201cdid what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did his father David\u201d (1 Kings 15:11). <\/p>\n
When Asa came to the throne as David\u2019s fourth successor, the realm was not doing very well. During the reign of Asa\u2019s grandfather, Rehoboam, Judah\u2019s financial state had been greatly weakened by incessant war with the Northern Kingdom (15:6) and by an invasion from Egypt (14:25\u201326). Hardly better was the nation\u2019s spiritual state, for idolatry and gross immorality were rife (14:22\u201323). Rehoboam was followed on the throne by Asa\u2019s father, Abijah, but the latter, too, \u201cwalked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him\u201d (15:3). <\/p>\n
These problems seem not to have daunted the young Asa, who cleaned up Judah\u2019s idolatry and immorality with such dispatch and efficiency that 1 Kings can account for the work in a single verse (15:12). <\/p>\n
Although the longer description of Asa\u2019s reign in 1 Chronicles 14\u201416 describes in greater detail some of the more serious problems he encountered, there is reason to believe that Asa\u2019s greatest single headache came from his . . . grandmother!<\/p>\n
Had Asa\u2019s accession to the throne followed traditional policy on the point, this grandmother, known to history as Maachah the Younger, would have retired to spend her remaining days rocking and knitting in some quiet corner of the palace, occasionally stopping to dandle a grandchild or take some cookies from the oven. Her role as queen mother, or gebirah<\/i>, would have been assumed by Asa\u2019s own mother. <\/p>\n
As it happened, however, the old lady did not step down, and evidently, on the day that Asa took the throne, no one in the realm was sufficiently powerful to make her step down, not even the new king. <\/p>\n
Maachah doubtless enjoyed occupying what was a very powerful position in ancient courts. Since royal sons were hardly disposed to decline reasonable requests from their mothers (cf. 1 Kings 2:17), it was no small advantage for other members of the court to cultivate the favor of the gebirah<\/i>. Her special place in the realm is further indicated by the fact that the Books of Kings normally list the names of the mothers of the kings of Judah. <\/p>\n
The case of Maachah demonstrates that an especially shrewd gebirah<\/i>, were she also unscrupulous, might manage to maintain her position at court even after the death of her son. A woman so powerful, after all, was able to put quite a number of people in her debt over the years—influential and well-placed individuals on whom she might rely later on to keep her in power. The Bible\u2019s truly singular example of this was Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, who actually usurped the realm itself during the years 842\u2013837 BC (2 Kings 11). <\/p>\n
Maachah herself never went so far, but she did manage to hold on to her privileged position at court after the accession of Asa (1 Kings 15:10). She had been around for quite a while and was well acquainted with the ways of power. Named for her grandmother, Maacah the Elder, a Geshurite princess married to David (2 Samuel 3:3), this younger Maachah was a daughter of Absalom. She was still a child during the three years that she spent with her father in his exile in Geshur (2 Samuel 13:38). Doubtless it was there that she first learned the ways of idolatry. <\/p>\n
For Maachah was most certainly an idolatress. Raised in the easygoing atmosphere of her Uncle Solomon\u2019s court after the death of her own father, she further learned the lessons of idolatry along with the habits of political power. Given in marriage to her cousin Rehoboam, who would eventually succeed Solomon on the throne, Maachah knew that someday, when her son Abijah became king, she would become the gebirah<\/i>. She longed for the day. <\/p>\n
That day, when it came, did not last very long, for Abijah reigned only three years. No matter, for the determined Maachah somehow found the means to stay in power for a while longer. Except for her idolatry, Asa might have left her in place for good. But the king, as his position grew stronger, was in a reforming mood, and Maachah stood in the way of his reforms. \u201cYou know, Granny,\u201d he finally said to her one day, \u201cit\u2019s about time for you to take up knitting\u201d (1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chronicles 15:16).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Friday, August 16 The Book of Obadiah: Convinced that God speaks at specific points in history, the canonical editors of the Holy Scriptures often ascribe particular time frames to the messages of the prophets. Frequently, they specify these occasions by reference to the reigns of certain kings. Thus, we are informed that Isaiah was called … Continue reading August 16 – August 23, 2024<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2523,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2522\/revisions\/2523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}