‏ 1 Kings 15

* Wicked reign of Abijam, king of Judah. (1-8) Good reign of

Asa, king of Judah. (9-24) The evil reigns of Nadab and Baasha

in Israel. (25-34)

1-8 Abijam's heart was not perfect with the Lord his God; he

wanted sincerity; he began well, but he fell off, and walked in

all the sins of his father, following his bad example, though he

had seen the bad consequences of it. David's family was

continued as a lamp in Jerusalem, to maintain the true worship

of God there, when the light of Divine truth was extinguished in

all other places. The Lord has still taken care of his cause,

while those who ought to have been serviceable thereto have

lived and perished in their sins. The Son of David will still

continue a light to his church, to establish it in truth and

righteousness to the end of time. There are two kinds of

fulfilling the law, one legal, the other by the gospel. Legal

is, when men do all things required in the law, and that by

themselves. None ever thus fulfilled the law but Christ, and

Adam before his fall. The gospel manner of fulfilling the law

is, to believe in Christ who fulfilled the law for us, and to

endeavour in the whole man to obey God in all his precepts. And

this is accepted of God, as to all those that are in Christ.

Thus David and others are said to fulfil the law. 9-24 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That is

right indeed which is so in God's eyes. Asa's times were times

of reformation. He removed that which was evil; there

reformation begins, and a great deal he found to do. When Asa

found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence.

Reformation must begin at home. Asa honours and respects his

mother; he loves her well, but he loves God better. Those that

have power are happy when thus they have hearts to use it well.

We must not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well; not

only cast away the idols of our iniquity, but dedicate ourselves

and our all to God's honour and glory. Asa was cordially devoted

to the service of God, his sins not arising from presumption.

But his league with Benhadad arose from unbelief. Even true

believers find it hard, in times of urgent danger, to trust in

the Lord with all their heart. Unbelief makes way for carnal

policy, and thus for one sin after another. Unbelief has often

led Christians to call in the help of the Lord's enemies in

their contests with their brethren; and some who once shone

brightly, have thus been covered with a dark cloud towards the

end of their days. 25-34 During the single reign of Asa in Judah, the government

of Israel was in six or seven different hands. Observe the ruin

of the family of Jeroboam; no word of God shall fall to the

ground. Divine threatenings are not designed merely to terrify.

Ungodly men execute the just judgments of God upon each other.

But in the midst of dreadful sins and this apparent confusion,

the Lord carries on his own plan: when it is fully completed,

the glorious justice, wisdom, truth, and mercy therein

displayed, shall be admired and adored through all the ages of

eternity.