Introduction: The Prophecy of Azaryahu ben Oded and Asa's Strengthening
Chapter 15 of Divrei HaYamim II is a chapter of spiritual awakening. Following the great victory over Zerach the Cushite, a prophet goes out to meet Asa and shows him the big picture: Divine Providence follows the deeds of the lower beings. Whoever clings to Hashem - Hashem is with him; whoever abandons Him is left to the mercy of circumstance. From this prophecy Asa gains strength, eradicates the abominations, renews the Altar of Hashem, gathers the people, and establishes a covenant and an oath to seek Hashem. Let us examine the verses in order.
וַעֲזַרְיָהוּ בֶּן־עוֹדֵד הָיְתָה עָלָיו רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים׃ - And the spirit of God came upon Azaryahu the son of Oded.
וַיֵּצֵא לִפְנֵי אָסָא וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ שְׁמָעוּנִי אָסָא וְכׇל־יְהוּדָה וּבִנְיָמִן יְהֹוָה עִמָּכֶם בִּהְיוֹתְכֶם עִמּוֹ וְאִם־תִּדְרְשֻׁהוּ יִמָּצֵא לָכֶם וְאִם־תַּעַזְבֻהוּ יַעֲזֹב אֶתְכֶם׃ - And he went out before Asa and said to him: 'Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Hashem is with you while you are with Him; if you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you abandon Him, He will abandon you.'
Azaryahu ben Oded was a prophet upon whom rested the spirit of God, and he came before Asa to deliver a prophecy from Hashem. "Hashem is with you while you are with Him" - when you are with the Holy One, blessed be He, the Holy One, blessed be He, is with you. The Malbim explains: Divine Providence follows the deeds of the lower beings according to their measure. If you are with the Holy One, blessed be He - "Hashem is your shadow upon your right hand." If you are with Him, He is with you to watch over you. "And if you seek Him" - by increasing your seeking with deep contemplation and diligence in His service, then "He will be found by you" even more, and divine abundance will increase. Conversely: "but if you abandon Him, He will abandon you." Everything depends on your deeds, and he will immediately demonstrate this through the upcoming verses.
"Without the True God and Without a Teaching Priest" - A Picture of the Past
וְיָמִים רַבִּים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל לְלֹא אֱלֹהֵי אֱמֶת וּלְלֹא כֹּהֵן מוֹרֶה וּלְלֹא תוֹרָה׃ - For many days Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without Torah.
Notice that we pronounce "u-lelo khohen moreh" with a dagesh in the kaf ("kohen"), even though it seemingly follows a vowel letter (ehevi): the alef of "lelo" precedes the kaf, which would typically cause the dagesh to drop. However, the word "u-lelo" carries a disjunctive cantillation mark - a tevir - and therefore one reads "u-lelo" (pause) "kohen moreh." This also makes sense conceptually, for a conjunctive mark would have bound "kohen moreh" to the preceding word, whereas here there is a separation.
The prophet comes to show them the reality as it had been up to this point. While some wish to interpret these verses as referring to the future - and the Chafetz Chaim indeed implies that this is a prophecy for the future - that is not the plain meaning of the text. The literal meaning of the verses is: come and see what happened during the period when they were not attached to Hashem, and how reality shifted once they cleaved to Him again. "For many days Israel was without the true God" - as the commentary attributed to Rashi explains: until you arrived. Until Asa came, they did not cleave to the true God. "And without a teaching priest" - this does not mean that there were no kohanim, for where would kohanim have suddenly appeared from now? Rather, the kohen was not teaching because no one came to ask him anything about Torah.
There was once a story about a rabbi who was appointed in a certain town, and after about a year he tendered his resignation. They asked him, "Why? Is something wrong?" He said to them, "This is the very first question I have been asked all year! What am I, a potted plant? Did I come here just as a poster, a picture on the wall? A rabbi is appointed so that people will ask questions, so that they will study Torah - and if no one is genuinely interested, I prefer to find a place where someone truly wants to know and learn." This is what is meant here: there were kohanim, but they were not teaching priests, because no one was interested and no one came to ask them.
Radak explains "without the true God" to mean that they were in exile among idolaters, which is considered as though they themselves were practicing idolatry. As Scripture states, "And there you shall serve other gods," which Targum Onkelos interprets to mean that when you serve idolaters, it is as though you serve the idols themselves. When the verse says, "And there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone," is it a prophecy that we would actually worship them? Rather, because you serve idolaters, it is as though you serve their gods. For that idolater worships the idol himself, and when you serve him, you ostensibly aggrandize the name of the idol: behold, his idol prevailed over your God; you are my captive and you serve me while I do not serve you - a sign that my god is stronger. It turns out that one seemingly lends credence to the belief in that idol. This is the meaning of "without the true God": not that there is no true God, but that by serving gentiles who worship idols, you are regarded as though you worship idols. Radak offers another interpretation: "Elohei emet" in the sense of judges of truth, as in "his master shall bring him to the judges (ha-Elohim)" and "the word of both shall come before the judges (ha-Elohim)" - where Elohim refers to rabbinic judges (dayanim). That is to say, since we stand before gentile courts rather than judges of truth, we have no judges ruling according to the Torah of Israel, the Torah of Moshe.
Two Paths of Attainment: The Illumination of the Intellect and the Illumination of the Torah
The Malbim explains that comprehension of God can be attained through two paths. One is through the illumination of the intellect, that is, an intellectual awakening: that you seek Hashem, delve deeply, and learn, and through this comprehend the Divine and cleave to Hashem, blessed be He, by power of intellectual inquiry. One can arrive at the realization of the Creator's existence just as Avraham Avinu did, through contemplation and deep observation. The second path is the illumination of the Torah: that you learn from the Torah how to serve Hashem and what punishment awaits one who defies His word. Avraham Avinu did not yet have the illumination of the Torah; he had only the illumination of the intellect through contemplation, inquiry, and profound thought. We, however, already have the illumination of the Torah, an awakening stemming from what is written in the Torah. And this awakening, says the Malbim, comes either through teachers - having a rabbi who teaches what is written in the Torah and awakens him - or through studying the Sefer Torah oneself.
From here, the Malbim explains in an original way: "without" (lelo) denotes nothingness and nullity. For them, the "true God" was rendered as nothing, "a priest who teaches" was also reduced to nothing, and the Torah likewise became nothing for them - and this is the meaning of elil (idol), as in the phrase "worthless physicians" (rof'ei elil), physicians of "nothing," a remedy devoid of substance. Thus, all of these were reduced to nothingness for them: from the perspective of Torah illumination, there is no rabbi, no teaching priest, no true God, and the Torah itself is as nothing - and from the perspective of intellectual illumination as well, they do not seek Hashem. And consider that this dreadful state endured for "many days."
וַיָּשׇׁב בַּצַּר־לוֹ עַל־יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיְבַקְשֻׁהוּ וַיִּמָּצֵא לָהֶם׃ - "But in his distress he returned to Hashem, the God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He was found by them."
The Jewish people return to Hashem, and the verse stresses "in his distress" - they returned out of hardship and distress, not out of love but under the pressure of affliction, which is a very low level. Even so, "and they sought Him, and He was found by them" - Hashem shone His countenance upon them because they sought Him. He did not say to them: "Only now, when things are bad for you, do you come to seek Me? Now I will not answer you." Rather, He accepted them, even though it was only in their distress.
"There Was No Peace for Him Who Went Out or Came In" - When Providence Departed
וּבָעִתִּים הָהֵם אֵין שָׁלוֹם לַיּוֹצֵא וְלַבָּא כִּי מְהוּמֹת רַבּוֹת עַל כׇּל־יֹשְׁבֵי הָאֲרָצוֹת׃ - "And in those times there was no peace for him who went out or came in, for great turmoils were upon all the inhabitants of the lands."
During those times when the Jewish people were "without the true God," there was no peace for him who went out or came in. As the commentary attributed to Rashi notes: just as you see in the days of Rechavam, when Shishak king of Egypt marched against Jerusalem because they had betrayed Hashem; and similarly, in the days of Aviyah we saw great turmoils. In other words, during those eras, when they were without the true God and without a teaching priest, they suffered, enduring turmoils and wars. The Malbim explains: Hashem's Divine Providence departed from them, and so they were abandoned to chance - when the Holy One, blessed be He, does not watch over them, the hand of chance holds sway. "For him who went out or came in" - neither for one traveling out of the country nor for one returning home. There was no peace for one returning home, for great turmoils afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands; in every land there was turmoil for its residents, through pestilence, famine, and wild beasts. Nor was there peace for one traveling to another country. And why?
וְכֻתְּתוּ גוֹי־בְּגוֹי וְעִיר בְּעִיר כִּי־אֱלֹהִים הֲמָמָם בְּכׇל־צָרָה׃ - "And nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God confounded them with every trouble."
Ve-khuttetu ("and they were crushed") is an expression of warfare and crushing, as in "and they shall beat (ve-khittetu) their swords into plowshares," from the root of crushing and breaking. "Nation against nation" - war between the nations, each nation fighting another; and the Metzudat David explains that this refers to the wars between Yehudah and Yisrael. Likewise, "and city against city" - one city waging war against another. "For God confounded them with every trouble" - Hashem confounded them, crushed them, and shattered them through all kinds of distress. Accordingly, from the abundance of troubles, from the fact that these troubles were of diverse kinds, and from their spreading throughout all the lands, it is proven that this was not natural, but rather came directly from Hashem. When something occurs in an ostensibly natural manner, it bears no overt statement of a Higher Power, even though everything ultimately comes from Him, blessed be He. But when you see it happening in an unnatural way, it cries out as the hand of Hashem: "God confounded them with every trouble."
"There Is Reward for Your Labor" - Reward for the Action, Not Only for the Result
וְאַתֶּם חִזְקוּ וְאַל־יִרְפּוּ יְדֵיכֶם כִּי יֵשׁ שָׂכָר לִפְעֻלַּתְכֶם׃ - "But as for you, be strong and let not your hands falter, for there is reward for your labor."
And you, who have returned to Hashem, and upon whom Hashem has restored His Providence - as it says, "and they sought Him, and He was found by them" - strengthen yourselves in the service of Hashem. "Do not let your hands falter" - do not allow your hands to grow slack from adding strength and courage, for the work is abundant and the reward is exceedingly great.
The Malbim highlights the distinction between ma'aseh (an accomplished deed) and pe'ulah (the activity or effort), as is his approach in several places: pe'ulah is engagement in the task, while ma'aseh is the finished result. Therefore, it says here "for your work [pe'ulatchem]" rather than "for your deeds [ma'aseichem]," because the task has no fixed end - one can never say of a person, "he has finished the service of Hashem"; there is no such thing. Hence, it is not fitting to call it a ma'aseh, but rather a pe'ulah. And you will receive reward for the very engagement itself, for "it is not upon you to complete the work, yet you are not free to desist from it" - and for the effort itself you receive reward. Even if there is no finished outcome and no completed "deed," meaning you have not brought the task to completion - since it is impossible to reach the completion of the task, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: you act with your hands, and I will grant you full reward for it.
And so the famous teaching of the Chafetz Chaim explains the prayer's words, "We toil and they toil": do they toil and receive no reward? Of course they receive reward; in high-tech there are very handsome salaries! Rav Shteinman once remarked on this: Reward - you call that reward? One person leaves a day's work with a million dollars, and another comes and says, "I was paid too - twenty agorot!" What does he mean by "too"? Twenty agorot is closer to a million dollars than their reward is to the eternal reward, between which there is simply no comparison. But the Chafetz Chaim answered that the emphasis is on "we toil": we toil and receive reward for the toil itself, even without results. If you spent an entire day laboring over a Tosafot and in the end did not succeed in understanding it - you still receive reward for it. But if a tailor spends all day working on a garment and ruins the fabric, he will even have to pay for the ruined cloth; if he says, "Look how hard I toiled over this" - who cares? They toil and receive reward not for the toil, but for the result. This is what is meant by "there is a reward for your labor" - reward for the action itself, even if it yielded no finished product or result. And this is what Rav Yisrael Salanter taught: our role is not to bring about results, but to put in the effort. We must act; how it turns out and what comes of it is up to the Holy One, blessed be He. We are not contractors for success; we must perform the action, and Hashem will do what is good in His eyes.
"And the Prophecy of Oded the Prophet" - Asa Takes Courage
וְכִשְׁמֹעַ אָסָא הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וְהַנְּבוּאָה עֹדֵד הַנָּבִיא הִתְחַזַּק וַיַּעֲבֵר הַשִּׁקּוּצִים מִכׇּל־אֶרֶץ יְהוּדָה וּבִנְיָמִן וּמִן־הֶעָרִים אֲשֶׁר לָכַד מֵהַר אֶפְרָיִם וַיְחַדֵּשׁ אֶת־מִזְבַּח יְהֹוָה אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵי אוּלָם יְהֹוָה׃ - And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Hashem that was before the porch of Hashem.
When Asa heard these wonderful words that the prophet came to tell him for encouragement - "and the prophecy Oded the prophet," a puzzling phrasing. The Radak explains, according to his usual approach, that a word is omitted here, similar to "the Ark the Covenant" meaning "the Ark, the Ark of the Covenant"; so too here: "and the prophecy, the prophecy of Oded the prophet," where the text abbreviates and writes one word instead of two, as found elsewhere. Another possibility is: "and the prophecy given to Oded the prophet." Yet here there is a difficulty: at the beginning of the chapter it says, "And Azariah the son of Oded, the spirit of God came upon him, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him" - so if it was Azariah son of Oded, how did he suddenly become "Oded the prophet"? The Radak explains that it means "the son of Oded the prophet," just as we find in other places where a person is called by his father's name even though it refers to the son, such as "Chanamel my uncle" which means the son of my uncle. Another possibility: it may be that Oded himself had prophesied to him in the past - and we indeed find an Oded in the days of Achaz - and when Asa heard these words from Oded and then heard them again from his son Azariah son of Oded, the matter was greatly strengthened in his eyes, having heard the identical message from both father and son. Through this he took courage and removed the abominations from all the land of Judah - all matters of idolatry - and from the cities he had captured from the hill-country of Ephraim, and he renewed the altar of Hashem that stood before the porch of Hashem.
The Malbim explains that upon hearing these words, Asa understood what was being told to him: you have begun the work, but there is still much to do, you still have much left to complete. He then took courage and completed what he had not done until now. And in explaining "and the prophecy Oded the prophet," he offers an original insight with a dual meaning: the simple meaning is the prophecy of the son of Oded the prophet, as the Radak explained; and the second explanation takes oded in the sense of encouragement and invigoration, meaning the prophecy encouraged (odedah) the prophet, as in "and we have arisen and been encouraged [venit'odad]." Asa saw how much the prophet himself was emboldened and strengthened by the spirit of prophecy, and from this he realized that this was a complete, authentic prophecy: when you see a prophet delivering a prophecy with all his might, with total courage and fervor, it shows that the prophecy is truly the word of Hashem and that these are matters that will be fulfilled immediately. Therefore he took courage - after all, the prophet had said, "Be strong, and let not your hands be weak," and seeing how the prophecy emboldened the prophet himself, he understood that there was immense encouragement here for them to follow this path.
A further nuance: "and he put away the abominations" - until now he had not eradicated them but only removed them, and from the cities he had captured he had not eradicated them at all; but now he eliminates them from the entire land of Judah, as well as from the cities he had captured, where he had not eradicated them until then.
Gathering the People and Entering the Covenant
וַיִּקְבֹּץ אֶת־כׇּל־יְהוּדָה וּבִנְיָמִן וְהַגָּרִים עִמָּהֶם מֵאֶפְרַיִם וּמְנַשֶּׁה וּמִשִּׁמְעוֹן כִּי־נָפְלוּ עָלָיו מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל לָרֹב בִּרְאֹתָם כִּי־יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהָיו עִמּוֹ׃ - And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon; for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Hashem his God was with him.
Asa gathers all of Judah and Benjamin and those sojourning with them. As we recall, the kingdom of the Ten Tribes was a wicked regime, yet surely many among them had no desire to follow the king's path and preferred to walk in the way of Hashem. When they saw that there was a God in Judah, that a righteous king reigned there, and that he received prophecies encouraging and urging them to follow Hashem's path - this attracted people from the Ten Tribes. Therefore, scripture states that he gathered not only from Judah and Benjamin, but also those sojourning with them from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, all from the Ten Tribes, "for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance" - many came to him from the northern kingdom of Shomron because they saw that Hashem his God was with him. "They fell to him" (naflu alav) means they inclined toward him, as in "and she alighted [vatipol] from the camel," which means she inclined herself down from the camel; that is, they inclined themselves to place themselves under Asa's reign.
וַיִּקָּבְצוּ יְרוּשָׁלַיִם בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁלִשִׁי לִשְׁנַת חֲמֵשׁ־עֶשְׂרֵה לְמַלְכוּת אָסָא׃ - So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
וַיִּזְבְּחוּ לַיהֹוָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא מִן־הַשָּׁלָל הֵבִיאוּ בָּקָר שְׁבַע מֵאוֹת וְצֹאן שִׁבְעַת אֲלָפִים׃ - And they sacrificed to Hashem on that day, from the spoil that they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
They gathered in Jerusalem in the third month and sacrificed to Hashem from the spoil they had brought: seven hundred cattle and seven thousand sheep, from the spoils they had captured, just as we saw earlier in chapter 14, where they brought tents of livestock and sheep in abundance. Do not think that the seven hundred cattle were all of their spoil; rather, from the spoil, they brought an amount of seven hundred cattle and seven thousand sheep.
וַיָּבֹאוּ בַבְּרִית לִדְרוֹשׁ אֶת־יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵיהֶם בְּכׇל־לְבָבָם וּבְכׇל־נַפְשָׁם׃ - "And they entered into the covenant to seek Hashem, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul."
What was this covenant? The Malbim explains that when cutting a covenant, it was customary to take a calf, cut it in two, and pass between the pieces, just as we saw with Avraham Avinu. The symbolism of this is that the two parties forging a covenant are like two halves of a whole - one to this side and one to that side, and they pass through the middle, as if they are one single body. This is the meaning of forging a covenant between two parties. And here, "they entered into the covenant" - a covenant to seek Hashem, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul.
וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יִדְרֹשׁ לַיהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל יוּמָת לְמִן־קָטֹן וְעַד־גָּדוֹל לְמֵאִישׁ וְעַד־אִשָּׁה׃ - "And whoever would not seek Hashem, the God of Israel, would be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman."
וַיִּשָּׁבְעוּ לַיהֹוָה בְּקוֹל גָּדוֹל וּבִתְרוּעָה וּבַחֲצֹצְרוֹת וּבְשׁוֹפָרוֹת׃ - "And they swore to Hashem with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with shofars."
The Malbim explains that the concept of cutting the covenant by dividing the calf was intended to convey: whoever turns aside and deviates from the covenant - so shall be done to him, he shall be put to death like this cut animal. This is what is stated subsequently: "And whoever would not seek Hashem, the God of Israel, would be put to death, whether small or great" - the covenant was established to enforce punishment upon anyone who transgressed it. The oath was added on top of that, so that each person would revere the oath and not transgress even in secret. For if one's fear were only of the covenant and the judicial punishment, he would avoid transgressing where people could see him, as his life would be at stake, but in secret he might not care - therefore, they added an oath. An oath is something a person binds upon himself, and for this reason it was taken with a loud voice, with shouting, and with trumpets and shofars, just as an oath was traditionally administered with great solemnity and sound, bringing a Sefer Torah, lighting candles, and the like, in order to instill dread.
Coercion in Matters of Torah - When Yes and When No
Is there really coercion to repent? Certainly. Do not be alarmed by the word "coercion." In Halachah, there is religious coercion, with countless examples: one who does not give charity - we coerce him to give charity; one who refuses to fulfill the mitzvah of sukkah - they lash him until he complies. There was no Supreme Court back then. And when there is no coercion, look at what happens, may Hashem have mercy, what situations arise, bringing, Heaven forbid, disasters upon the community as a whole. Therefore, we are not alarmed at coercing someone who drills a hole in our ship to sink it; we force him to stop drilling, so that we all may survive. Someone who does not want to be part of this - let him leave, let him go abroad, let him disconnect from the Jewish people and leave us alone; but as long as he is part of us, drilling a hole below deck in our shared ship - absolutely not! He is coerced to refrain from doing so.
However, all of this applies only when coercion is effective. In the days of King Chizkiyahu, it helped. But when coercion is not effective - notice that even in Chazal's time, the Sanhedrin ceased executing capital punishment: the moment there was spiritual decline, that was it, the Sanhedrin no longer judged capital cases. That is to say, the entire matter applies only in a reality where it produces benefit; in a reality where it is ineffective, even in ancient times they stopped using means of coercion. For otherwise, what would you do, execute half the nation? On the contrary, not only would it fail to bring people closer, it would not be understood and would only cause greater alienation. That is why Rav Chaim of Volozhin already said two hundred years ago that in this generation there must only be blessings - and that was in his generation, two centuries ago; what can we say about our own generation? In the generation of the prophets, look at the harsh prophecies and fierce words: "Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves" - who could imagine someone standing up today and saying such a thing to the public? And yet, it describes our reality today perfectly.
"They Swore with All Their Heart and Sought Him with All Their Will"
וַיִּשְׂמְחוּ כׇל־יְהוּדָה עַל־הַשְּׁבוּעָה כִּי בְכׇל־לְבָבָם נִשְׁבָּעוּ וּבְכׇל־רְצוֹנָם בִּקְשֻׁהוּ וַיִּמָּצֵא לָהֶם וַיָּנַח יְהֹוָה לָהֶם מִסָּבִיב׃ - "And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with all their will; and He was found by them, and Hashem gave them rest round about."
Lest you think this matter was done through coercion, the Malbim notes: "And they rejoiced," showing that it was not by force, but with joy. This is not a situation where the majority of the people did not want the service of Hashem; on the contrary, the people desired the service of Hashem and rejoiced in this oath. First, "they had sworn with all their heart" - not like the oath of a person swearing under duress, whose mouth and heart are not aligned, who says one thing with his lips while thinking otherwise in his heart. Here, "with all their heart" means both hearts, the yetzer hatov and the yetzer hara. Second, "and sought Him with all their will." To understand this, the Malbim explains the distinction between ratzon (will) and cheifetz (desire): cheifetz is aimed at some personal benefit, driven by the hope of reward or fear of punishment - a person desires something because he thinks it will bring him pleasure or save him from harm. Ratzon, however, is when one desires the good for its own sake, not for personal benefit or gain. That is why it says here, "and sought Him with all their will" - not out of fear and not out of hope for reward, but out of an appreciation for the intrinsic good itself.
Maachah and the Mifletzet
וְגַם־מַעֲכָה אֵם אָסָא הַמֶּלֶךְ הֱסִירָהּ מִגְּבִירָה אֲשֶׁר־עָשְׂתָה לָאֲשֵׁרָה מִפְלָצֶת וַיִּכְרֹת אָסָא אֶת־מִפְלַצְתָּהּ וַיָּדֶק וַיִּשְׂרֹף בְּנַחַל קִדְרוֹן׃ - And also Maachah, the mother of King Asa, he removed from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image for Asherah; and Asa cut down her obscene image, pulverized it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
Radak explains: she was not Asa's mother, but rather Maachah the daughter of Avshalom was his father's mother. In the Book of Melachim as well, where it says of Asa, "and his mother's name was Maachah the daughter of Avshalom," the intention is his father's mother. It is the idiom of scripture to refer to a paternal grandfather as a "father," just as it says, "to Reuel their father," when in truth Reuel was not their father but their grandfather; and likewise, a father's mother is called "mother" - a grandmother is called a mother. Why then does scripture mention her in relation to Asa as though she were his mother? Radak explains: because she was an idolater, as it is written, "because she had made an obscene image for Asherah," yet despite all this Asa did what was upright in the eyes of Hashem and did not follow after her - scripture comes to highlight the contrast, showing that he did not follow his mother. Another possibility is that both statements are true: he had a grandmother named Maachah the daughter of Avshalom and also a mother named Maachah the daughter of Avshalom, and there is no contradiction here, for it is entirely possible that there were two women by this name, one his grandmother and one his mother.
And what was this mifletzet that she made? Chazal note, as does the commentary attributed to Rashi, that mifletzet is related to the phrase mafla leitzanuta - greatly multiplying mockery and licentiousness. For she made an idol, fashioned a male organ for it, and engaged in depravity with it, which greatly increased ridicule and obscenity. Metzudas David explains why it is called a mifletzet: we see that idolatry is called atzabbim, not only because it makes its worshippers into nervous wrecks, but because it grieves them - atzabbim from the root etzev (sorrow), for it leaves a person sorrowful: he prays and cries out to it, and nothing helps. This is also alluded to in the verse, "Their idols [atzabeihem] are silver and gold" - what grieves a person is silver and gold, and chasing after them brings him to distress. Just as idolatry is called atzabbim because it causes sorrow, so too it is called mifletzet, because a mifletzet is something terrifying, and not just in children's tales. "Horror [palatzut] has terrified me," "its pillars tremble [yitpalatzun]" - we see that this root denotes something that brings panic and fear, and thus it is called a mifletzet because it instills trembling. "And burned it in the Kidron Valley" - he burned it and cast the ashes into the Kidron Valley, for the ashes of an idol are forbidden from any benefit, and therefore he had to discard them there. The Malbim adds to the explanation of why she was called his "mother" - because she raised him as a mother would, which accounts for why she was called his mother; or, as in Radak's suggestion, that there were two women, Maachah the daughter of Avshalom his mother and Maachah the daughter of Avshalom his grandmother. Furthermore, the Malbim notes the specific detail added here, "pulverized it and burned it," whereas in Melachim it only says that he burned it; here it is clarified that he first crushed it to powder and only then burned it.
The High Places and Asa's Whole Heart
וְהַבָּמוֹת לֹא־סָרוּ מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל רַק לְבַב־אָסָא הָיָה שָׁלֵם כׇּל־יָמָיו׃ - But the high places were not removed from Israel; yet the heart of Asa was whole all his days.
This refers to private high places (bamos yachid), upon which people were accustomed to offer sacrifices to Heaven. It was extremely difficult to abolish the high places, and we see that even during the reigns of righteous kings, under most of them the high places were not removed. Why? Because when a person needed to bring vowed and voluntary offerings and travel up to Yerushalayim, the journey could take a week or two, and going up with all those offerings to sacrifice them was very cumbersome; meanwhile, he had an altar right outside his home and could sacrifice there. Now, had this been fundamentally forbidden from the start, no one would have done it. But since there was an era when high places were permitted - prior to the construction of the Beis HaMikdash - it was exceedingly hard to uproot this habit from the people, as there had once been a time when it was desirable. A person would say, "What are you talking about? I used to sacrifice on a high place together with such-and-such righteous person; he came right here to sacrifice!" Go explain to him that Hashem permitted it at first and later forbade it - people found this hard to accept. Therefore, we see that over extended periods the high places were not removed, even though it was a grave sin, and one who sacrifices on a high place incurs the penalty of kares. Nonetheless, says the Malbim, while the heart of the people was not properly whole and the high places did not depart, Asa's own heart was whole - "yet the heart of Asa was whole all his days," in contrast to the heart of the people who continued sacrificing on high places. He did not sacrifice on a high place; on the contrary, he brought his father's consecrated items and his own consecrated items to the House of Hashem to strengthen it, which was the exact opposite of those who sacrificed on high places and kept their consecrated offerings in the shrines of the high places instead of bringing them to the House of Hashem.
וַיָּבֵא אֶת־קׇדְשֵׁי אָבִיו וְקׇדָשָׁיו בֵּית הָאֱלֹהִים כֶּסֶף וְזָהָב וְכֵלִים׃ - And he brought into the House of God the consecrated items of his father and his own consecrated items: silver, and gold, and vessels.
As we noted: he brought his own consecrated offerings and those of his father to the House of God, and did not sacrifice them on the high places.
The Reckoning of the Years: "And There Was No War Until the Thirty-Fifth Year"
וּמִלְחָמָה לֹא הָיָתָה עַד שְׁנַת־שְׁלֹשִׁים וְחָמֵשׁ לְמַלְכוּת אָסָא׃ - And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
This verse serves as an introduction to the first verse of the next chapter, chapter 16 - and as we have noted more than once, the chapter division before us is of Christian origin and is not an ancient division of the Sages of Israel. There it says that in the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, Baasha the king of Israel marched against Yehudah, and only then did war break out. Yet all the commentators raise a major difficulty: by the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, Baasha was already dead, for according to the chronology and the timeline of the kings in the Book of Melachim, Baasha had already died by that time. They explain that the count here is not reckoned from when Asa began to reign, but rather from the time the Davidic kingdom split - when the kingdom was divided between the tribes of Yehudah and Binyamin and the ten tribes. The calculation is as follows: seventeen years of Yerovam, three of his son Aviyah, and another sixteen of Asa - which equals thirty-six. Thus, the count begins from the start of Yerovam's reign, and the calculation is thereby resolved.
Based on this, the Malbim also explains what was stated earlier: "They gathered at Jerusalem... in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa." This was at the time of his war with Zerach the Cushite, as it says, "they brought of the spoil." That is, the Cushite war, which is dated to the fifteenth year of Asa's reign, was the thirty-fifth year if counted from the division of the kingdom; and in the thirty-sixth year came the war with Baasha. Alternatively, if one calculates according to Asa's personal reign, the Cushite war took place in the fifteenth year of his reign, and the war against Baasha in the sixteenth year of his reign. And if you ask: How could it say, "and there was no war" until that time, when the war with Zerach the Cushite had just occurred? The answer is: A minor conflict is not taken into account. When Scripture says there was no war, it means there were no major wars, although minor conflicts did take place.
In summary:
Chapter 15 teaches the fundamental principle of Divine Providence: "Hashem is with you when you are with Him" - Providence follows the deeds of mortals and corresponds to their measure. The prophet presents Asa with a picture of the past: many days without a true God, without a teaching priest, and without Torah, during which Providence departed and the people were left to happenstance - turmoil, wars, and nation crushed by nation, until the sheer frequency and extremity of the afflictions proved that "God troubled them." On the other hand, even repentance born "in his distress" was accepted: "and they sought Him, and He was found by them." Hence the call: "But as for you, be strong... for there is a reward for your labor" - a reward for the exertion and effort itself, even without immediate results, for our duty is not to guarantee the outcome, but to act and strive. Asa hears this, takes courage, purges the abominations, restores the altar, and gathers the nation - and they enter into a covenant and an oath with joy, with all their heart and all their will, desiring the good for its own sake. And although the high places were not removed from the people, Asa's heart remained whole all his days, and he brought his consecrated offerings to the House of Hashem. Therefore, "Hashem gave them rest all around," and there was no major war until the year with which the next chapter opens.