According to the Rabbis, Asa was one of the five men who were distinguished by certain physical perfections possessed by Adam, but were, on account of their having abused them, afflicted in these very parts of their body. Samson was distinguished by his strength, and behold, "his strength went from him" (Judges xvi. 19); Saul by towering with his neck above the rest, and behold, "he took a sword and fell upon it" (I Sam. xxxi. 4); Absalom by his long hair, and behold, "his head caught of the oak" (II Sam. xviii. 9); Zedekiah by his eyes, and behold, "they put out the eyes of Zedekiah" (II Kings xxv. 7); Asa by his feet (compare as to Adam B. B. 58a; Tan., AḦare Mot, ed. Buber, 3) and behold, "in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet" (I Kings xv. 23); that is, he was afflicted with gout. And the reason for this affliction of Asa was that, when enlisting the whole of Judah in war he "exempted none" (I Kings xv. 22), but forced also the students of the Law—nay, even newly married husbands, whom the Law (Deut. xx. 7) exempts—to march along (Soṭah 10a). Rabbenu ha-Ḳadosh, v. 14, ed. Gruenhut, p. 72, has Asahel the light-footed (II Sam. ii. 18-23) instead of Asa. Compare Pirḳe R. Eliezer liii., where, instead of five, six are mentioned, Josiah being added as the sixth, as boasting of and afflicted in his nostrils (II Chron. xxxv. 22, 23; Ta'an. 22b) whereas Tan., Wa'etḦanan, ed. Buber, 1, has seven instead of five.