So he said to the people of Judah, "Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, with doors and bars. The land is still ours because we have sought the LORD our God. We have sought Him and He has given us rest on every side." So they built and prospered. Sermons
I. THE DESTRUCTIVE PIETY SHOWN BY THE KING. He removed the high places set apart for idolatrous worship, also the altars of false gods; he "cut down the groves" where moral and devotional abominations were likely to be committed; he "took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made" (1 Kings 15:12). And that which was, perhaps, more than all this, as evidencing a sincerity and thoroughness of heart toward God, and justifying the language used by the Chronicler (ver. 2) concerning him, he destroyed the idol of Maachah, and even removed that idolatrous queen from the official dignity she had been enjoying. Asa, therefore, struck a very decisive and damaging blow at the idolatry of his time; he powerfully and effectually discouraged iniquity and immorality in three ways: 1. He showed his own personal and royal hatred of them. 2. He rebuked and punished the perpetrators of them. 3. He took away the means of indulging in them. By these measures he strove well and wrought successfully for the truth of God and for the purity of his people. II. OUR OWN ACTION IN THE SAME DIRECTION, In what ways shall we serve God by a destructive piety? 1. By promoting wise legislative measures. There arc evils which it is needless to name from which large numbers of people need to be protected. To be tempted by them is to be overcome, is to be slain by them; they are active sources of evil and of suffering, of ruin and of death; they ought to be suppressed; and one part of a Christian man's duty is to join his fellow-citizens in cutting down or "removing those high places" of the land. 2. By excluding evil things and evil persons from the home. There are men and there is literature concerning whom and concerning which we can only say that they arc sources of defilement; and if we have not power, like an Oriental monarch, to forbid them the land, we can forbid them the home; we can see that, in respect of those who are in our charge and for whose well-being we are responsible, that these men and these books are well beyond reach. 3. ,By putting down evil language. This we may do, in many quarters, by firmly discountenancing and fearlessly condemning it; the voice of righteous reprobation will soon silence the profane and lascivious tongue. 4. By expelling from our own life that which imperils our moral or spiritual integrity. Every man must know, or should know, what habits (in eating or drinking, in recreation, etc.) are fascinating, absorbing, dangerous to himself; must know in what direction it is perilous to set out, lest he should go too far. There let him determinately bar the way; that threatening habit let him exclude rigorously from his life (see Matthew 5:29, 30). - C.
Therefore said he unto Judah, Let us build these cities... while the land is yet before us (a Sunday-school sermon): — Consider —I. THE OPPORTUNITY FOR LABOUR WITH WHICH WE ARE BLESSED. "The land is yet before us." 1. We have liberty to labour. 2. The facilities are great: multiplication of elementary books, circulation of Bibles, etc. 3. The encouragements are numerous. The prejudices of society are in our favour. God's command, etc. II. THE IMPORTANCE OF LABOURING WHILE WE HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY. 1. What is the work to which we are called? That of teaching the young the Word of God (Deuteronomy 6:6, 7; Psalm 78:5, 7; Proverbs 22:6). 2. The duty of improving existing opportunities. Conclusion: Address children. If you had to pass through a long and dark passage where there were many deep pits, how anxious, at the beginning, would you feel for light. Such is the Word of God given to you at your entrance into life (Psalm 119:105). (J. G. Breay, B.A.) People Abijah, Asa, Benjamin, Cushites, David, Ethiopians, ZerahPlaces Bethel, Gerar, Jerusalem, Mareshah, Valley of ZephathahTopics Bars, Build, Building, Built, Cities, Compass, Doors, Gates, Giveth, Judah, Locks, Ours, Peace, Prosper, Prospered, Rest, Round, Sought, Surround, Towers, Towns, Two-leaved, Wall, Walls, YetOutline 1. Asa following, destroys idolatry6. having peace, he strengthens his kingdom with forts and armies 9. Calling of God, he overthrows Zerah, and spoils the Ethiopians Dictionary of Bible Themes 2 Chronicles 14:7 5323 gate Library Asa's Prayer'And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee.'--2 CHRON. xiv. 11. This King Asa, Rehoboam's grandson, had had a long reign of peace, which the writer of the Book of Chronicles traces to the fact that he had rooted out idolatry from Judah, 'The land had rest, … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Asa's Reformation, and Consequent Peace and victory Asa The Best Things Work for Good to the Godly Chronicles Links 2 Chronicles 14:7 NIV2 Chronicles 14:7 NLT 2 Chronicles 14:7 ESV 2 Chronicles 14:7 NASB 2 Chronicles 14:7 KJV 2 Chronicles 14:7 Bible Apps 2 Chronicles 14:7 Parallel 2 Chronicles 14:7 Biblia Paralela 2 Chronicles 14:7 Chinese Bible 2 Chronicles 14:7 French Bible 2 Chronicles 14:7 German Bible 2 Chronicles 14:7 Commentaries Bible Hub |