“And he [Asa] reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom.” 1 Kings 15:2 (NKJV)
Have you ever wondered why the Bible recorded the name of a grandmother here? Not the mother or father is mentioned, but the grandmother. Whatever Maachah did while Asa was growing up changed the course of his life.
He was one of the great-grandsons of King Solomon. He had seen the results of kings who did not honor and bring glory to God. He’d seen all the wickedness even within his own family. Yet the Bible records that “Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did his father David.” 1 Kings 15:11 (NKJV) Now, do not get confused. King David was not his biological father, but he was a descendant of King David. That is one of the difficulties sometimes of reading some versions of the Bible.
Maachah was guilty of making an obscene image of Asherah, a Canaanite goddess associated with fertility, motherhood, and sacred groves. One of the first acts recorded in the Bible of Asa was to destroy the image and to remove Maachah from being queen mother.
God intervened in Asa’s life and somehow used all the bad influences in his life to help him to determine to be different. The Bible records that Asa’s heart was loyal to God all the days of his life.
Even when we have bad examples in our families and communities, we can choose God and He will deliver us and help us to be different and to serve Him. Today, regardless of the examples we have seen or been, we can choose to let God re-create His image in our hearts and lives.
Listen to David and Noelle as they sing “Create in me a Clean Heart“
Published on MyBibleRoom.com 2/15/25, 5:00 pm