1 Kings 15:9

And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:9-24 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That is right indeed which is so in God's eyes. Asa's times were times of reformation. He removed that which was evil; there reformation begins, and a great deal he found to do. When Asa found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence. Reformation must begin at home. Asa honours and respects his mother; he loves her well, but he loves God better. Those that have power are happy when thus they have hearts to use it well. We must not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well; not only cast away the idols of our iniquity, but dedicate ourselves and our all to God's honour and glory. Asa was cordially devoted to the service of God, his sins not arising from presumption. But his league with Benhadad arose from unbelief. Even true believers find it hard, in times of urgent danger, to trust in the Lord with all their heart. Unbelief makes way for carnal policy, and thus for one sin after another. Unbelief has often led Christians to call in the help of the Lord's enemies in their contests with their brethren; and some who once shone brightly, have thus been covered with a dark cloud towards the end of their days.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The writer repeats what he had said in 1 Kings 14:30, in order to remind the reader that Abijam inherited this war from his father. Abijam's war is described in marginal reference That the author of Kings gives none of its details is agreeable to his common practice in mere military matters. Thus he gives no details of Shishak's expedition, and omits Zerah's expedition altogether.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1Ki 15:9-22. Asa's Good Reign.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In or towards the end of the year. See Poole "1 Kings 15:1".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah. How this is to be accounted for See Gill on 1 Kings 15:2.

Geneva Study Bible

And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9–15. Asa king of Judah. His reforms (2 Chronicles 14:1-5; 2 Chronicles 15:16-19)

9. In the twentieth year] The LXX. in accordance with the addition in the previous verse says the ‘twenty-fourth.’

reigned Asa] R.V. began Asa to reign. See on 1 Kings 15:1 of this chapter.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Ass [Gesen. interprets the name to mean "physician"] over Judah. [This reign is related at much greater length in 2 Chronicles 14. - 16. We are there told of the Ethiopian invasion, of the prophecies of Azariah and Hanani, of the league with Syria, etc.] 1 Kings 15:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Reign of Asa (cf., 2 Chronicles 14-16). - As Asa ascended the throne in the twentieth year of the reign of Jeroboam, his father Abijam, who began to reign in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam (1 Kings 15:1), can only have reigned two years and a few months, and not three full years.