5. The Lord did this because David did what the Lord considered right: David never failed to do anything the Lord commanded him to do his entire life (except in the matter concerning Uriah the Hittite).
6. There was war between Abijam and Rehoboam throughout their lives.
7. Isn’t everything else about Abijam—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? There was war between Abijam and Jer o boam.
8. Abijam lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. His son Asa succeeded him as king.
9. In Jer o boam’s twentieth year as king of Israel, Asa began to rule as king of Judah.
10. He ruled 41 years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was named Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.
11. Asa did what the Lord considered right, as his ancestor David had done.
12. He forced the male temple prostitutes out of the land and got rid of the idols his father had made.
13. He also removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she made a statue of the repulsive goddess Asherah. Asa cut the statue down and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
14. Although the illegal worship sites were not torn down, Asa remained committed to the Lord his entire life.
15. He brought into the Lord’s temple the silver, the gold, and the utensils he and his father had set apart as holy.
16. There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel as long as they lived.
17. King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah to keep anyone from going to or coming from King Asa of Judah.
18. Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace and turned them over to his officials. King Asa sent them to Damascus to Aram’s King Benhadad, son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion.