And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD [is] with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
Ver. 2. And he went out to meet Asa.] To admonish him and his army of their duty after so great a victory, it requiring as much skill to use it well as to get it.
The Lord is with you.] In mercy, while you be with him in duty. God's ordinances are the heavenly exchange, saith one, betwixt God and his people: they present duty, he confers mercy. God's Spirit is a delicate thing, saith another: ita nos tractat, sicut tractatur. God's visitation, saith a third, is like checker work, black and white, "Those that honour me, I will honour; but those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."
If ye seek him, he will be found of you.] So that you seek him "with all your heart, and with all your soul." Jer 29:13 2Ch 15:12
But if ye forsake him.] As our King John confessed that he did, when he resigned up his kingdom to the Pope, and that he never prospered after it. God, as a father, doth alter the set of his looks toward his own children, when they grow wanton upon his love, and let down the diligence of their just observance and duty.