Answering 439 Bible Contradictions 

Answer: Though King Asa’s morality waned in his later years, whole-hearted devotion to the Lord marked the overall trajectory of his life.

Problem: Twice Scripture says Asa’s heart was “perfect” toward the Lord all his days (1Kng. 15:14; 2Chr. 15:17, KJV), even though he sinned in serious ways.  

Explanation: Asa was the third king of Judah, the son of King Abijah and the grandson of King Rehoboam—Solomon’s only son. Under the rule of Rehoboam (who reigned seventeen years) and Abijah (who reigned three years), Judah—Israel’s southern kingdom—had fallen into moral and spiritual decay.

Unlike Abijah, who walked “in all the sins of his father” (1Kng. 15:3), King Asa spurned his father’s wickedness. He was the first, great, reforming king of Judah. He built cities, fought battles, and brought years of peace to the land. But his greatest success was spiritual. He worshipped the true God (2Chr. 14:3), removed idolatry (v. 3), prayed to God for help (v. 11), and even removed his grandmother in her position as queen mother because she worshipped the Asherah poles (15:16). With the exception of Hezekiah and Josiah, no king of Judah received higher praise than King Asa.

But King Asa was not perfect. No one is sinless (1Jn. 1:8-10). His devotion to the Lord seems to have waned toward the end of his 41-year reign, a reminder that finishing strong in the Christian life is difficult and requires supreme devotion to the Lord.  

In the beginning of his reign, Asa removed the high places (2Chr. 14:2), which were mountainous locations of pagan idolatry. But thirty years later he neglected to do so (15:17). He also relied on military treaties for security instead of trusting in God (16:7-10). When a prophet rebuked him for this sin, King Asa became angry and threw the man in prison (16:10). At the end of King Asa’s life he developed a foot disease, but “did not seek the Lord for help” (16:12).

Scripture says that “the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days” (2Chr. 15:17; 1Kng. 15:14) because this was the overall assessment of his reign. He did not split the kingdom like King Rehoboam, did not lose a half-million men in battle like King Abijah, did not slaughter his brothers like King Jehoram, and did not erect altars to Baal like King Manasseh.

There were nineteen kings in Israel and none of them were good. There were twenty kings/queens in Judah and only four of them were good, the first being King Asa. The King James Version calls the heart of Asa “perfect”, which in the Hebrew means his heart was complete all his days. He was a good king and compared to most of the kings before and after him, his heart was wholly devoted to the Lord.