Page 274 - ירושלים: גיליון רפואי

A Tale of Four Sick Kings
in Jerusalem

Yair Zakovitch

The Bible tells us that four kings in the Davidic line fell sick; three of them – Asa, Jehoram, and
Uzziah – died of their ailments, but the fourth – Hezekiah – was miraculously cured. Traditions
of this kind often appear in more than one version, and it is fascinating to compare the different
versions in the books of Kings, Isaiah, and Chronicles, and especially the concept of the link
between disease and retribution.

Before the Book of Kings tells us about King Asa’s death it refers briefly to his illness, yet notes
that “he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord” (1 Kings 15:11; 2 Chronicles 14:1). The
Book of Chronicles, however, criticizes Asa for entering into a treaty with Ben-Hadad, king of
Aram, to fight his enemy Baasa, king of Israel, and states that his disease was in retribution for
this sin. “And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease
was exceeding great; yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians” (2
Chronicles 16:12). In this version, why did Asa commit a sin towards the end of his life, further
compounding it during his illness by consulting physicians? Asa’s name was given by the author
of Chronicles in Aramaic, the language commonly spoken in the Second Temple period, and
in fact “assia” is the Aramaic word for “doctor.”The fact that Asa placed his faith in a physician is
therefore seen as a sinful act, showing his lack of belief and faith in the Lord.

Asa’s grandson, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, who is described as being evil in the Book of
Kings, ruled for a mere eight years and died at the age of forty. His brief reign is interpreted
in Chronicles as a punishment imposed on him by the Lord, in a letter sent to Jehoram from
Elijah the prophet: “Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father: Because thou hast not
walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah; but
hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem to go astray, like as the house of Ahab made [Israel] to go astray; and also hast
slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, who were better than thyself; behold, the Lord will
smite with a great plague thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy substance;
and thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by

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