When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim; and he renewed the LORD’s altar that was before the LORD’s porch.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 8. Azarias, the son, is omitted in Hebrew and the Vat. Septuagint which reads Adad, ( Bible.) but it is supplied in the other editions, and in the Syriac, ( Calmet.) as verse 1. Bible.—Taken: we do not read on what occasion. Calmet. 17:2. His father had seized upon Bethel, and so forth Calmet. 13:19. Calmet.—Yet Asa waged war himself with the king of Israel.—Dedicated. Septuagint “renewed,” as the altar had been neglected, or injured by the continual fire; ( Menochius.) or this was the extraordinary ( Bible.) altar, which Solomon had used at the dedication of the temple. The multitude of Asa’s victims required more than one, verse 11. It is not probable that God’s worship had been neglected till the 15th year of this pious king, (verse 9) since even his wicked father was punctual in this respect. Calmet. 13:11. Before, at the higher end of the priests’ court, to the east of the altar of holocausts. Calmet.