The Futility of Forcing Religious Reform Without the Heart

Asa's reformation illustrates a truth that transcends his era: religious change imposed by royal decree cannot transform hearts devoted to false gods. Maclaren observes that while the young king commanded Judah to 'seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law,' he could not actually make them obey. The enumeration of what Asa removed—'strange altars' dedicated to other gods, 'high places' for illegal sacrifice, stone 'pillars,' wooden 'Asherim,' and 'sun-images' consecrated to Baal—vividly suggests the incongruous rabble of deities that had displaced the one Jehovah.…