Some Exegetical Help, Please?

[bookslover]

In my Bible reading this morning, I noticed that 2 Chronicles 14.3 states that King Asa destroyed the high places, but, just one chapter over, 2 Chronicles 15.17 states that he did NOT destroy the high places.

How to explain this?

 

[johnny]

Yes it is interesting, thank you for this.

There are even more difficuties later in the order of events in 2 Chron 16:1

The popular theory for 15:7 is that this speaks of two events
separated by up to thirty years in the early and late reigns of Asa.
And of the persistence of the indigenous cults who may have simply rebuilt the altars.

Source: New American Commentary

 

[bookslover]

Yes it is interesting, thank you for this.

There are even more difficuties later in the order of events in 2 Chron 16:1

The popular theory for 15:7 is that this speaks of two events
separated by up to thirty years in the early and late reigns of Asa.
And of the persistence of the indigenous cults who may have simply rebuilt the altars.

Source: New American Commentary

Interesting.

 

[Peairtach]

There were two kinds of high places, those dedicated to false gods and those dedicated to the Lord. Ideally all altars and shrines should have given way to the temple altar, but Asa at least got rid of those dedicated to false gods.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk 2

 

[Wayne]

Further on what Richard has offered, this from John W. Haley's Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, page 323:

Bahr, Thenius Bertheau, and others say that the high places dedicated to idols were destroyed; while those dedicated to Jehovah were allowed to remain, since his true servants, having been long accustomed to them [1 Kings 15:13], might have been grieved by their removal. Keil thinks that the second text merely implies that the king did not succeed in carrying out thoroughly his reforms. Rawlinson suggests that the above texts refer to different times; Asa, in the early part of his reig, putting down idolatry with a strong hand, but in his later years, when his character had deteriorated [see 2 Chron. 16:7-12], allowing idol-worship to creep in again.