Without the true God (Elohei emet). For [the Israelites] will be in exile among idol-worshipers [and thus be] like idol-worshipers, as in [the phrase] “and you will serve other gods there” (Deut 28:36) following Onkelos’s rendering: when one serves people who serve [other gods], it is as if one serves [those gods themselves]. Alternatively, this means: without shofetei emet (=truthful judges), as in: “his master shall take him before the elohim” (Exod 21:6), which means the judges. For in exile, the nations are Israel’s judges.

And the prophecy, the prophet Oded (‘Oded ha-navi). The noun in the construct state is elided. [The phrase] means: and the prophecy, the prophecy of the prophet Oded (nevu’at ‘Oded ha-navi). The same is true for “The Ark, [the Ark of] the Covenant” (Jos 3:14) and others like it. Alternatively it means: and the prophecy of the prophet Oded (le-‘Oded ha-navi). Now the prophecy was of Azariah son of Oded—so how could the text say “and the prophecy ‘Oded ha-navi?” It means the son of ‘Oded ha-navi, as in: “in the presence of my uncle Hanamel” (Jer 32:12), which means the son of my uncle—notwithstanding the alternative explanation I have provided (Jer 32:12; Shorashim entry דוד). Alternatively, [Azariah’s] father might have relayed a prophecy like this to [Asa] on another occasion—or, for that matter, on this occasion, because he was still alive, for we even encounter him in the days of Ahaz (2 Chr 28:9). So when [Asa] heard this speech from the son, and he heard the prophecy yet again from his father, the effect of it all was that he motivated himself to remove the abominations.

Also Maacah mother of Asa. She was his father’s mother, for Maacah daughter of Absalom was the mother of his father Abijah (2 Chr 11:20). Indeed, when the text says in the book of Kings “his mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Absalom” (cf. 1 Kgs 15:2), it means his father’s mother. It is a standard feature of the language to refer to a paternal grandfather as a father—as in “to their father Reuel” (Exod 2:18)—and to a paternal grandmother as a mother. In Asa’s case, the text mentions his father’s mother because she was an idol-worshiper—as it says “because she had made an item for the idolatrous worship of an asherah tree”—and he nonetheless did what was pleasing to the Lord and did not follow in her footsteps. It is also possible to explain that this was a different woman, Asa’s mother, who was also named “Maacah daughter of Abishalom,” just like his father’s mother.

There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa. This refers to a war against Israel. The war against the Cushites (2 Chr 14:8–14), however, was in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.