King Asa’s Bribe

Synopsis     1Kings 15:19-27     5/21/2019 

King Baasha was the ruler of the northern kingdom. And Asa was ruler over Judah and Jerusalem. And they were always fighting. The nature of the conflict had to do with borders. But it also had to do with the flow of money.  

For despite the new religion of the northern kingdom, many Israelites remained faithful. They lived and worshipped in accordance with the Law of Moses. And so, they made the annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem. And this is where they tithed.  

So, a lot was a stake. The kings were fighting for religious freedom. But they were also fighting for the flow of money and loyalty. 

Baasha decided that he needed to get control. So, he pushed his military toward Asa’s forces. And Asa’s forces could not resist Baasha’s thrust. So, King Asa gathered money from his personal wealth and the temple treasury. And he sent this bribe to Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, who ruled in Damascus. 

In return, Ben-hadad attacked cities in the north of Israel. And, as a result, Baasha redirected his army to the north to counter this threat. After Baasha departed, Asa’s forces came and disassembled Baasha’s fortress at Ramah. And then they used the materials to fortify their own positions.

After ruling for forty-one years, King Asa died. He was succeeded by his son Jehoshaphat.  

King Asa’s Bribe 

It was a brilliant tactical move. King Asa bribed the leader of a proximate nation to attack King Baasha in the north in order to distract Baasha from his battle in the south.  

But it put Asa in the uncomfortable position of asking a foreign power to attack his fellow Israelites. So, the tactic was brilliant. But it was also a new low in the perpetual unraveling of the Israelites as a kingdom. The perpetual war was no longer simply a matter of brother fighting against brother. Now, one brother was asking unrelated people to fight against his own flesh and blood. 

This family was deeply broken. And the evidence of the breach had become international common knowledge. 

Keeping It In the Family 

Jesus once said, “They will know you are my disciples by your love for one another”. As a community of disciples, it is the evidence of our love for one another that attracts people to Jesus. At least in my case, it was this that attracted me.  

So, disputes between Christians are rightly the lament of generations. But disputes that cannot be resolved amicably within the community are evidence of a deeper lack. 

It is said, “Blessed are the peacemakers”. God didn’t reserve this message for the leaders of nations. Jesus said this to you and me. It begins in my family and in my parish. 

And it’s not that we want to hide our collective failures from view in order to appear more together than we really are. Instead, God gave the command so that we might resolve disputes peaceably and in a way that protects each man’s dignity through respect and genuine love. 

“How can any one of you with a case against another dare to bring it to the unjust for judgment instead of to the holy ones?” 1Cor 6:1