How can we harmonize 2 Chronicles 14:1-4 and 15:8?

Question

2 Chronicles 14:1-4 (KJV)

So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years. And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God: For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.

2 Chronicles 15:8 (KJV)

And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.

In the beginning of his reign we are told Asa did good and right in the eyes of the Lord: he removed altars of foreign gods and high places, but later in chapter 15 we are told that Asa removed the abominations in obedience to a prophetic admonition, as if he had not removed them at the beginning of his reign.

Wow can we reconcile the two texts? Or there is a chronological issue here?

Answer 1

Two things:

1. The chronology of Asa's reign is still not settled historically. There remains some debate about the chronology of his kingship, and the chronology of his reign. It is likely these verses reflect this confusion.

2. Even if that were not the case, the struggle the House of Judah (meaning the tribes of Judah, Levi, and Benjamin) had remaining faithful to YHWH worship was an ongoing struggle. Is there any evidence to think it was either/or rather than both/and?

Answer 2

As it turns out, in 2 Chronicles 14:3 Asa took away the altars of the foreigner's (מִזְבְּח֥וֹת הַנֵּכָ֖ר) and their high places (וְהַבָּמ֑וֹת) and broke down their pillars (הַמַּצֵּב֔וֹת) and cut down their groves (הָאֲשֵׁרִֽים), but later on in 2 Chronicles 15:8 Asa was moved by the prophet to also remove the abominable idols (הַשִּׁקּוּצִים֙) that had found their way into the lands and cities of Judah and Benjamin.

Conclusion

There is no contradiction here.

The things spoken of in 2 Chronicles 14:3 are distinct Hebrew words and as such are not referring to the same thing mentioned in 2 Chronicles 15:8, which are personal idols of "wood and stone, silver and gold (Deuteronomy 29:17).

Such treasures as belonged to Solomon's wives, and for which he built high places (1 Kings 11:1-8). Abominations that found their way not only into the hills, but also into the fields of the children of Judah (Jeremiah 13:17), and ultimately all the way to the heart of the nation, into "the house, which is called by my name" (Jeremiah 32:34).