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heathen), nor to suppose that they used idolatrous or even superstitious means. The
example of Hezekiah (2 Kings 20; 2 Chronicles 32:24) sufficiently shows, how one
who fully trusted in the LORD would have felt and acted in these circumstances. On
the other hand, Asa displayed in this instance the same want of practical religion as in
his alliance with Syria - a state of mind which Bengel rightly characterizes as
theoretical orthodoxy combined with practical atheism. And as formerly the prophet
had summed up what Asa had no doubt regarded as the height of political wisdom in
the curt, if somewhat harsh, criticism: "Thou hast acted stupidly over this" (2
Chronicles 16:9) - so might it have been said of him in this matter also. He had not
sought Jehovah, but had sought in the physicians - and by the help which he had sought
he must abide. He had not trusted in the supernatural, but applied to the natural and in
the natural course of events his disease ended in death. It was not wrong to employ
means, indeed such were used in the miraculous cure of Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:7), just
as in the miraculous rescue of St. Paul's companions from shipwreck (Acts 27:23, 24,
43, 44). And, if one lesson more than another has been impressed on our minds in the
course of this history, it is that of the use of natural means, in the ordinary and rational
succession of events, for the accomplishment of supernatural and Divinely-announced
purposes. But the error and sin of Asa consisted in seeking an object, however lawful
and even desirable, in, by, and through secondary means, without first seeking
Jehovah. Such conduct carried with it its natural result. For, what a man soweth, that -
the very kind of grain - shall he also reap; just as, none the less, that we work for it (or
perhaps have it supplied to our hands), but on the contrary, all the more because of it,
we first pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," and then receive as directly from His
hand the consecrated fruit of our labor.
There was the same sad consistency about Asa's death as in his life. He seems to have
built him a special mausoleum in the city of David; and there they laid him in almost
Egyptian pomp on a bed of spices, and burnt at his burying, whether for the first time
in royal funerals, or according to a more ancient practice,^272 a large quantity of costly
spices and perfumes.
But in following the narrative of Holy Scripture, we have been really anticipating the
course of this history. For, as previously stated, Asa not only outlived Baasha, but
altogether saw eight kings on the throne of Israel. Baasha seems to have survived his
defeat little more than a year. He was succeeded by his son Elah, in the twenty-sixth
year of King Asa's reign. The rule of Elah lasted only two years, or, more exactly, part
of two years. Baasha had set the example of military revolutions, in which the favorite
of the soldiery ascended the throne by the murder of his predecessor, and the
extirpation of all who might have rival claims to the crown. The precedent was a
dangerous one; and henceforth the throne of Israel was occupied by a series of military
adventurers, whose line did not extend beyond their immediate successors. The son of
Baasha was a cowardly debauchee, who, forgetful even of the decorum of Eastern
(^)