Asa son of Abijah was zealous in maintaining the traditional worship of God, and in rooting out idolatry, with its accompanying immoralities.

He formed an alliance with Ben-Hadad I, king of Aram-Damascus, and using a monetary bribe, convinced him to break his peace treaty with Baasha and invade the Northern Kingdom (2 Chronicles 16:2–6).

[3][4][5][6][7] Some scholars believe the biblical accounts of Asa's family to be contradictory;[8] however, a study of Hebrew linguistics removes any seeming contradictions.

[12] Other scholars, however, think that had Asa’s mother not been Maacah, her name would have been given, as his father Abijam had many other wives (J. M. Myers, The Anchor Bible, II Chronicles, Garden City, NY, Doubleday, 1965).

This worship was in-line with local beliefs and practices, which were observed by the native peoples, and may or may not have been part of the official state religion.

Finally, when the religious transition was completed in Asa's fifteenth year, a great feast was held in Jerusalem at Solomon's Temple (2 Chronicles 15:10–11).

Taking advantage of 35 years of peace, Asa revamped and reinforced the fortress cities originally built by his grandfather Rehoboam.

As a consequence, Ben-Hadad I attacked Ijon, Dan, and many important cities of the tribe of Naphtali, and Baasha was forced to withdraw from Ramah.

[15] Hanani the Seer, a prophet, admonished Asa for relying on the King of Syria (or specifically in some interpretations; Damascus) as opposed to Divine help in defeating Baasha (2 Chronicles 16:7–10).

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a severe disease in his feet, for which he sought the help of physicians, not the Lord (2 Chronicles 16:12).

Asa died two years later and was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem, in the grave that he had dug for himself, and a pyre was lit in his honor (2 Chronicles 16:13–14).

They answered it as follows: Asa and Joshaphat, when clearing away the idols, purposely left the brazen serpent behind, in order that Hezekiah might also be able to do a praiseworthy deed in breaking it.

[20][21] According to the Rabbis, Asa was one of the five men who were distinguished by certain physical perfections possessed by Adam, but due having abused them, were afflicted in those very body parts.

The reason given for Asa's condition was that, when enlisting the whole of Judah in war he "exempted none" (I Kings 15:22), but forced Torah scholars—and even newly married husbands, whom the Law (Deut.

[25] Among the treasures which Asa took from Zerah the Ethiopian, and which Zerah had taken from Shishak (II Chronicles 12:9, compare 16:2), there was also the marvelous throne of Solomon upon which all the kings of Judah subsequently sat;[26] while the other great treasures were given by Asa to the king of Syria to obtain his alliance; then they were taken again by the Ammonites, to be recaptured by Jehoshaphat; then they fell into the hands of Sennacherib, from whom Hezekiah recovered them, and at the capture of Jerusalem they came into the hands of the Babylonians; then into those of the Persians, and afterward of the Macedonians, and finally of the Romans, who kept them at Rome.