Changes

Azariah also reminded Asa of how lawless--and vulnerable--the Southern Kingdom had been in the days of Asa's predecessors, and urged him to renew the commitment he had made to God.<ref name=GeoCities/><ref name=Blank/><ref name=VanBelkum/><ref name=Kachelman/><ref name=Hughes/>

Azariah also reminded Asa of how lawless--and vulnerable--the Southern Kingdom had been in the days of Asa's predecessors, and urged him to renew the commitment he had made to God.<ref name=GeoCities/><ref name=Blank/><ref name=VanBelkum/><ref name=Kachelman/><ref name=Hughes/>

Asa took this advice.<ref name=GeoCities/> He renewed his anti-paganism campaign.  He even removed his gramdmother [[Maachah]] from her royal position,<ref name=Blank/><ref name=Kachelman/> because she herself had made an idol, which he destroyed with all the other idols. (This woman named Maachah cannot be his mother, because she is already identified as the wife of Rehoboam and mother of Abijam.) He also received a large number of immigrants from [[Ephraim (tribe)|Ephraim]] and [[Manasseh (tribe)|Manasseh]], who had moved into his country when they saw how prosperous the Lord had made it.

Asa took this advice.<ref name=GeoCities/> He renewed his anti-paganism campaign.  He even removed his grandmother [[Maachah]] from her royal position,<ref name=Blank/><ref name=Kachelman/> because she herself had made an idol, which he destroyed with all the other idols. (This woman named Maachah cannot be his mother, because she is already identified as the wife of Rehoboam and mother of Abijam.) He also received a large number of immigrants from [[Ephraim (tribe)|Ephraim]] and [[Manasseh (tribe)|Manasseh]], who had moved into his country when they saw how prosperous the Lord had made it.

Asa then proclaimed a great feast and offering to the Lord, in which all his people entered into a solemn covenant to worship God properly and keep His commandments. As a likely result of this, the Southern Kingdom enjoyed another twenty years of peace from that day forward.<ref name=GeoCities/>

Asa then proclaimed a great feast and offering to the Lord, in which all his people entered into a solemn covenant to worship God properly and keep His commandments. As a likely result of this, the Southern Kingdom enjoyed another twenty years of peace from that day forward.<ref name=GeoCities/>