Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 16:1

In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

Ch. 2Ch 16:1-6 (= 1Ki 15:17-22). Asa asks help of Ben-hadad

1. the six and thirtieth year ] According to 1Ki 16:8 Baasha was succeeded by his son Elah in the six-and-twentieth year of Asa. The number thirty-six is probably therefore wrong. It should be noticed however that the thirty-sixth year of the separate kingdom of Judah corresponds with the sixteenth year of Asa, so that possibly two different reckonings are here confused, and so we should read, In the six-and-thirtieth year, that is, in the sixteenth year of Asa. So in 2Ch 15:19 we should read, in the five-and-thirtieth, that is, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

Ramah ] The modern er-Rm, situated on a commanding hill about two hours north of Jerusalem. Bdeker, p. 212.

that he might let none go out ] R.V. that he might not suffer any to go out (as in 1 Kin.).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

This passage runs parallel with Kings (see the marginal reference).

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

2Ch 16:1-10

Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasuries of the house of the Lord.

The folly of bribery

Trust in man, not in God–

I. Led to sacrilege in religious things. Gifts bestowed or promised with a view to prevent judgment or corrupt morals abominable. Bribery a canker in constitutional governments, a disgrace in all departments of life.

II. Brought down Divine reproof.

III. Defeated its own ends.

1. Asa missed the opportunity of a double victory. Possible by unnecessary and improper alliances to hinder our good and prevent God from granting deliverance.

2. Asa exposed himself to greater danger. Those who bribe and those bribed not to be depended upon. For gold men will sell their votes, their conscience, and themselves. Cato complained that M. Coelius the Tribune might be hired for a piece of bread to speak or to hold his peace. (J. Wolfendale.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER XVI

Baasha, king of Israel, begins to build Ramah, to prevent his

subjects from having any intercourse with the Jews, 1.

Asa hires Ben-hadad, king of Syria, against him; and obliges

him to leave off building Ramah, 2-5.

Asa and his men carry the stones and timbers of Ramah away,

and build therewith Geba and Mizpah, 6.

Asa is reproved by Hanani, the seer, for his union with the

king of Syria: he is offended with the seer, and puts him in

prison, 7-10.

Of his acts, 11.

He is diseased in his feet, and seeks to physicians and not to

God, and dies, 12, 13.

His sumptuous funeral, 14.

NOTES ON CHAP. XVI

Verse 1. The six and thirtieth year] After the division of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah; according to Usher. This opinion is followed in our margin; 1Kg 15:16, where this subject is farther considered.

Concerning Baasha’s building of Ramah, 1Kg 15:17.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Of the reign of Asa; or, of the kingdom of Asa, i.e. of the kingdom of Judah, which was now Asas kingdom; or from the time of the division of the two kingdoms. Rehoboam reigned seventeen years, 2Ch 12:13; Abijah three years, 2Ch 13:2; Asa had now reigned fifteen years, 2Ch 15:10; all which, put together, make up the thirty-five years mentioned 2Ch 15:19. And in the next year Baasha wars against him; and the ground of war was the defection of many of his subjects to Asa, 2Ch 15:9, whom Asa endeavours to engage, together with his own subjects, by an oath and a covenant, to be true and faithful to God, and consequently to himself; which was done in his fifteenth year, 2Ch 15:9,10; and therefore in his sixteenth year, called here the thirty-sixth year of his kingdom, he commenceth an open war against him. If it be objected, That the reign or kingdom of Asa is otherwise understood of the time of Asas personal reign, (as I may call it,) 2Ch 15:10; the answer is obvious, That there are many instances in Scripture (some of which have been formerly given, and others will be given in their proper places) where the same word or phrase is taken differently, and that in the very same chapter and history. And particularly this variety is elsewhere used, both by sacred and profane writers, in the computation of the years of princes, which are sometimes reckoned from the beginning of their reign, and sometimes from other remarkable times and occurrences. Titus Nebuchadnezzars years are sometimes computed from the beginning of his reign, as 2Ki 25:8; Jer 52:12,29,30, and sometimes from his complete conquest of Syria and Egypt, &c., as that passage, Dan 2:1, In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar, is by the general stream of interpreters understood. Thus Ahaziahs years, which doubtless were usually computed from the time of his birth, are computed from another head, 2Ch 22:2, See Poole “2Ch 22:2“. And the like differences are observed in computing the years of some of the Syrian monarchs and Roman emperors; and particularly of Augustus, the years of whose reign are variously accounted by the Roman historians; sometimes from his first consulship, sometimes from the time of the triumvirate, and sometimes from that famous victory at Actium, where he utterly overthrew his competitor, and made himself sole and unquestionable emperor. And therefore it is not strange if it be so here. And that it must necessarily be thus understood, appears from hence, that it cannot be the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa in his own person, because Baasha began to reign in Asas third year, 1Ki 15:28, and reigned only twenty-four years, and consequently died in Asas twenty-sixth or twenty-seventh year, as it is said he did, 1Ki 15:8. That he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah; that he might keep his subjects from revolting to Asa, as he perceived they began to do, 2Ch 15:9, and keep Asas subjects from coming into his dominions to seduce his people from their obedience to him.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1-6. In the six and thirtieth yearof the reign of Asa, Baasha . . . came up against JudahBaashahad died several years before this date (1Ki15:33), and the best biblical critics are agreed in consideringthis date to be calculated from the separation of the kingdoms, andcoincident with the sixteenth year of Asa’s reign. This mode ofreckoning was, in all likelihood, generally followed in the book ofthe kings of Judah and Israel, the public annals of the time (2Ch16:11), the source from which the inspired historian drew hisaccount.

Baasha . . . built Ramahthatis, fortified it. The blessing of God which manifestly rested at thistime on the kingdom of Judah, the signal victory of Asa, the freedomand purity of religious worship, and the fame of the late nationalcovenant, were regarded with great interest throughout Israel, andattracted a constantly increasing number of emigrants to Judah.Baasha, alarmed at this movement, determined to stem the tide; and asthe high road to and from Jerusalem passed by Ramah, he made thatfrontier town, about six miles north of Asa’s capital, a militarystation, where the vigilance of his sentinels would effectuallyprevent all passage across the boundary of the kingdom (see on 1Ki15:16-22; also Jer 41:9).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

In the thirty and sixth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah,…. How this is to be reconciled with the reign of Baasha, which was but twenty four years, and was begun in the third of Asa, and therefore must have been dead nearly ten years before this year of Asa’s reign, [See comments on 1Ki 15:17] where, and in the following verses, are the same things related as here, to the end of the sixth verse; the explanation of which the reader is referred to.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

War with Baasha, and the weakness of Asa’s faith. The end of his reign. – 2Ch 16:1-6. Baasha’s invasion of Judah, and Asa’s prayer for help to the king of Syria. The statement, “In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha the king of Israel came up against Judah,” is inaccurate, or rather cannot possibly be correct; for, according to 1Ki 16:8, 1Ki 16:10, Baasha died in the twenty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, and his successor Elah was murdered by Zimri in the second year of his reign, i.e., in the twenty-seventh year of Asa. The older commentators, for the most part, accepted the conjecture that the thirty-fifth year (in 2Ch 15:19) is to be reckoned from the commencement of the kingdom of Judah; and consequently, since Asa became king in the twentieth year of the kingdom of Judah, that Baasha’s invasion occurred in the sixteenth year of his reign, and that the land had enjoyed peace till his fifteenth year; cf. Ramb. ad h. l.; des Vignoles, Chronol. i. p. 299. This is in substance correct; but the statement, “in the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s kingship,” cannot re reconciled with it. For even if we suppose that the author of the Chronicle derived his information from an authority which reckoned from the rise of the kingdom of Judah, yet it could not have been said on that authority, . This only the author of the Chronicle can have written; but then he cannot also have taken over the statement, “in the thirty-sixth year,” unaltered from his authority into his book. There remains therefore no alternative but to regard the text as erroneous – the letters (30) and (10), which are somewhat similar in the ancient Hebrew characters, having been interchanged by a copyist; and hence the numbers 35 and 36 have arisen out of the original 15 and 16. By this alteration all difficulties are removed, and all the statements of the Chronicle as to Asa’s reign are harmonized. During the first ten years there was peace (2Ch 14:1); thereafter, in the eleventh year, the inroad of the Cushites; and after the victory over them there was the continuation of the Cultus reform, and rest until the fifteenth year, in which the renewal of the covenant took place (2Ch 15:19, cf. with 2Ch 15:10); and in the sixteenth year the war with Baasha arose.

(Note: Movers, S. 255ff., and Then. on 1 Kings 15, launch out into arbitrary hypotheses, founded in both cases upon the erroneous presumption that the author of the Chronicle copied our canonical books of Kings – they being his authority-partly misunderstanding and partly altering them.)

The account of this war in 2Ch 16:1-6 agrees with that in 1Ki 15:17-22 almost literally, and has been commented upon in the remarks on 1 Kings 15. In 2Ch 16:2 the author of the Chronicle has mentioned only the main things. Abel-maim, i.e., Abel in the Water (2Ch 16:4), is only another name for Abel-Beth-Maachah (Kings); see on 2Sa 20:14. In the same verse is surprising, “and all magazines (or stores) of the cities of Naphtali,” instead of , “all Kinneroth, together with all the land of Naphtali” (Kings). Then. and Berth. think has arisen out of and by a misconception of the reading; while Gesen., Dietr. in Lex. sub voce , conjecture that in 1Ki 15:20 should be read instead of . Should the difference actually be the result only of a misconception, then the latter conjecture would have much more in its favour than the first. But it is a more probable solution of the difficulty that the text of the Chronicle is a translation of the unusual and, especially on account of the , scarcely intelligible . is the designation of the very fertile district on the west side of the Sea of Kinnereth, i.e., Gennesaret, after which a city also was called (see on Jos 19:35), and which, on account of its fertility, might be called the granary of the tribal domain of Naphtali. But the smiting of a district can only be a devastation of it, – a plundering and destruction of its produce, both in stores and elsewhere. With this idea the author of the Chronicle, instead of the district Kinnereth, the name of which had perhaps become obsolete in his time, speaks of the , the magazines or stores, of the cities of Naphtali. In 2Ch 16:5, too, we cannot hold the addition , “he caused his work to rest,” as Berth. does, for an interpretation of the original reading, (Kings), it having become illegible: it is rather a free rendering of the thought that Baasha abandoned his attempt upon Judah.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Asa’s League with Benhadad.

B. C. 929.

      1 In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.   2 Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,   3 There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.   4 And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.   5 And it came to pass, when Baasha heard it, that he left off building of Ramah, and let his work cease.   6 Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha was building; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.

      How to reconcile the date of this event with the history of the kings I am quite at a loss. Baasha died in the twenty-sixth year of Asa, 1 Kings xvi. 8. How then could this be done in his thirty-sixth year, when Baasha’s family was quite cut off, and Omri was upon the throne? It is generally said to be meant of the thirty-sixth year of the kingdom of Asa, namely, that of Judah, beginning from the first of Rehoboam, and so it coincides with the sixteenth of Asa’s reign; but then (ch. xv. 19 must be so understood; and how could it be spoken of as a great thing that there was no more war till the fifteenth year of Asa, when that passage immediately before was in his fifteenth year? (ch. xv. 10), and after this miscarriage of his, here recorded, he had wars, v. 9. Josephus places it in his twenty-sixth year, and then we must suppose a mistake in the transcriber here and (ch. xv. 19, the admission of which renders the computation easy. This passage we had before (1 Kings xv. 17, c.) and Asa was in several ways faulty in it. 1. He did not do well to make a league with Benhadad, a heathen king, and to value himself so much upon it as he seems to have done, &lti>v. 3. Had he relied more upon his covenant, and his father’s, with God, he would not have boasted so much of his league, and his father’s, with the royal family of Syria. 2. If he had had a due regard to the honour of Israel in general, he would have found some other expedient to give Baasha a diversion than by calling in a foreign force, and inviting into the country a common enemy, who, in process of time, might be a plague to Judah too. 3. It was doubtless a sin in Benhadad to break his league with Baasha upon no provocation, but merely through the influence of a bribe; and, if so, certainly it was a sin in Asa to move him to it, especially to hire him to do it. The public faith of kings and kingdoms must not be made so cheap a thing. 4. To take silver and gold out of the house of the Lord for this purpose was a great aggravation of the sin, v. 2. Must the temple be plundered to serve his carnal politics? He had better have brought gifts and offerings with prayers and supplications, to the house of the Lord, that he might have engaged God on his side and made him his friend; then he would not have needed to be at this expense to make Benhadad his friend. 5. It was well if Asa had not to answer for all the mischief that the army of Benhadad did unjustly to the cities of Israel, all the blood they shed and all the spoil they made, v. 4. Perhaps Asa intended not that they should carry the matter so far. But those that draw others to sin know not what they do, nor where it will end. The beginning of sin is as the letting forth of water. However the project succeeded. Benhadad gave Baasha a powerful diversion, obliged him to leave off building Ramah and betake himself to the defence of his own country northward, which gave Asa an opportunity, not only to demolish his fortifications, but to seize the materials and convert them to his own use.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

See note on 1Ki 15:16

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES

IN discussing the First Book of Chronicles we called attention to the fact that according to Usshers chronology, the two Books, not reckoning the table of genealogy, covered a space of 468 years of history; the First Book only 41 of these, and this second, 427. As to the authorship of these Books, Ezra is commonly accepted.

The analysis of any book is largely the presentation of a personal view. One man divides this Second Book of Chronicles into two portions: The Reign of Solomon, chapters 1 to 9, and The Kings of Judah, chapters 10 to 36.

Scofield in his reference Bible, says of this Book: It falls into eighteen divisions, by reigns, from Solomon to the captivities; records the division of the kingdom of David under Jeroboam and Rehoboam, and is marked by an ever growing apostasy, broken temporarily by reformations under Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah.

It is our purpose to follow neither of these divisions, however natural they may be, but to discuss the volume under three heads: Solomon and the Temple; Rehoboam and the Division, and the History of Judah.

SOLOMON AND THE TEMPLE

The Book opens with a declaration concerning the new king, And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly (2Ch 1:1).

The history that follows gives occasion to say several things concerning this marvelous man of immortal reputation:

First, Solomons kingship enjoyed an auspicious beginning. The man who ascends the throne under the favor of the Lord necessarily begins a reign of promise. If, as in Solomons case, he sensibly recognizes his responsibility and seeks wisdom from the only sufficient source, he adds greater certainty to his success. When, in addition to this, his objectives are high and God-honoring, the glory of his kingdom advances accordingly. Certainly, Solomons preparation to build the temple was not only a noble objective, but one in line with his kingly fathers purpose and prayers, and the great Heavenly Fathers will for him.

The interesting history here of gathering materials and appointing men for this marvelous construction is made more interesting still by the kings personal supervision and spiritual interest. It takes some courage to conduct war, and we believe it takes almost more courage and even a clearer sense of God, to build sanctuaries, make their appointments according to the Divine pleasure, and call the people to worship within the spacious rooms of the same. Yet, when you have read but five chapters of this Book, you find such a work complete, and are not in the least amazed or even surprised to read, The glory of the Lord had filled the house of God (2Ch 5:14).

It is doubtful whether any company of men have done more for the establishment of spirituality in the earth and for the strengthening of the souls of their fellows, than have those who brought sanctuaries into existence and led congregations of people to a genuine worship of the most high God.

The on-going of this Book reveals Solomons conscious dependence. When the altar was erected he stood by it with outstretched hands (2Ch 6:12). That is the attitude of prayer and possibly of adoration. When his lips parted to speak, he says,

O Lord God of Israel, there is no God tike Thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their hearts:

Thou which hast kept with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him; and spakest with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with Thine hand, as it is this day.

Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in My Law, as Thou hast walked before Me (2Ch 6:14-16).

Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let Thy Word be verified, which Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant David (2Ch 6:17).

Then follows an appeal that Gods eyes should be open upon their house day and night; that His ears should hearken to the prayers made in that place, and if sin were committed, that forgiveness should be granted, and if the people fail before the face of the enemy because of sin that they also should be pardoned; that if heaven be shut up on the same ground, upon repentance the dearth should end.

Then he concludes in a more personal petition to Him:

Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all Thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:

Then hear Thou from Heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive (2Ch 6:29-30).

These are only samples of the long petition that followed the dedicatory sermon. They wind up with a sentence like this: O Lord God, turn not away the face of Thine anointed: remember the mercies of David Thy servant (2Ch 6:42). It is a model prayer; it is the petition of a sincere soul; it is the cry of one who knows that the mercy and love of God are the only grounds of hope.

The further text records Solomons fame and death. That fame was based upon Solomons wisdom, accentuated doubtless by the magnificence of the temple, but made more honorable still in the extent of his organization, the luxury of his court and the wealth of his treasury.

Evidently, among the rulers of the earth, the queen of Sheba held conspicuous place, and when the fame of Solomon reached her, she came to prove him with her questions, and impress him with her own riches and glory. The difficult questions were satisfactorily answered, the temple was adequately shown, the table of the king groaned with its good meats, the apparel of the servants was profoundly impressive, and the queen said to the king,

It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:

Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.

Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, winch stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.

Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God (2Ch 9:5-8).

The compliment to the king is followed with a statement of Solomons annual income, the magnificence of his throne, the rich appointments of the palace, the extensive commercial importance of his kingdom, and the willing tributes of the earths lesser lords.

Then, as if the task of telling all was too great, we have this record,

Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the Prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead (2Ch 9:29-31).

It is a surprising end, and yet strangely true to human history. How many men spend all their days in preparing to live, and when the preparation seems almost complete, proceed to die? The last enemy is no respecter of persons. His bow is drawn against the great as well as the humble, the rich as well as the poor, the wise as well as the ignorant. Death respects neither thrones nor kings; he holds the key to the palace room, and even to the throne room. Kings may command their humbler fellows, and even counsel their equals; but where death calls, they also obey.

REHOBOAM AND THE DIVISION

The emptying of a throne is forever fraught with perils. The eternal and pertinent question is this, Who shall come after the king? The tenth chapter answered that concerning the throne of Israel. The answer was an ill omen! Rehoboams tyrannical spirit split the kingdom. When Jeroboam and all Israel came to him, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee (2Ch 10:4), they delicately referred to the increased taxation to which the luxurious court and the personal orgies of Solomon had given rise. They thought, as people commonly do, that the new rule would prove the peoples friend. Their hope was in vain.

The old men, former counselors of Solomon, advised kindness and compassion; but the young bloods, spoiled by their fellowship with royalty, counseled increased oppression; and under their influence he said,

My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions (2Ch 10:14).

It was enough. The war was on; and that war has never ended until this day, for Israel and Judah are not yet one. A man who divides brethren and sets them to battle, little understands the infinite reach of his mischief. The father of Modernism in America, when he fell asleep at a comparatively early age, little dreamed that he had set influences to work that would divide every denomination on the continent, destroy the fellowship of men who loved one another as twins are commonly supposed to love, wreck schools and churches by the thousand, and start a war that may easily exceed the famous Hundred Year War of history.

Israel and Judahblood brothersbecame the bitterest of enemies. For some reason Second Chronicles pays little attention to Israel, but proceeds to trace Judahs history to the year of Cyrus, king of Persia, or through a period of almost a half millennium. The family feud occasionally projects itself into the record, but for the most part, Israel is forgotten, and the doings of Judah are recorded in detail.

The explanation of this is found in the circumstance that Jeroboam rejected the worship of Jehovah (2Ch 11:14-15). When God is once put away, when Gods priest is disposed of, and His minister is heard no more, then degeneracy compels a declining record.

Unitarianism three quarters of a century ago denied the Lord. Its history has amounted to little; and if it were recorded, it would simply prove, as the Jeroboam movement, a breeding place of apostasy; and yet this record regards not one apostasy only, but two.

The man of many favors may forget God.

When Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him (2Ch 12:1).

What a sad commentary on the uncertainty and unstability of human nature! The explanation of Rehoboams failure has fitted thousands, yea millions of cases. He did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord (2Ch 12:14). Of all disappointments, none exceed thisto begin well and end badly; to give promise and create disappointment; to be the subject of Divine favor, and become the slave of Gods adversary.

THE HISTORY OF JUDAH

Chapters 11 to 36 contain the roster of kings. The fortunes of the country answer accurately and inevitably to the characters of their rulers. On the whole, the history is a down-grade. In that respect, it runs true to form. The doctrine of evolution may find an illustration in national life if it goes from the simple to the complex, but in so far as it contends for improvement, history fails to illustrate it. Degeneracy of nations has more often taken place than has social and moral progress.

The foundations of Judah were laid under David; the kingdoms glory appeared under Solomon. From that moment until this, one word expresses Judahs coursedecline.

Africa was once an advanced nation, now a heathen one; Italy once ruled the world, now she holds an inconspicuous place; Greece once represented the climax of physical and mental accomplishment, now she boasts neither. The reasons for decline are varied, but in Judah they were one the God who had made her great was too often forgotten, too willingly offended. When the nations neglect the source of their strength, weakness naturally ensues. Judahs strength was in the Lord, and when her kings forgot Him, despised His Word, entered into unholy alliances that were followed by the people, her fame declined, and her land fainted.

The mixed social condition manifested her sinfulness. We have a phrase, Like people, like priest. We can paraphrase that, Like princes, like people. The study of these kings results in no compliment to human nature. Some of them were utterly evil; most of them were a mixture of the good and bad; two or three of them were sound. Among the utterly evil ones, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Manasseh, Amon and Jehoiakin held first place. The ones that represent a mixture of good and bad were Jeroboam, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jehoiakim; while the truly good consisted of Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah. In all probability the reign of each of these good kings was profoundly affected and made spiritually fruitful by the ministry of Isaiah, the greatest preacher among Old Testament Prophets. It is perhaps a fact of history that no rulers have ever proven faithful to God without the stimulating and salutary influence of the Gospel ministry.

The judgments and mercies of Second Chronicles alike vindicate Jehovah. In this record wickedness does not go unpunished; and yet it is a marvelous revelation of Divine mercy.

There is never the least sign of penitence on the part of the ruler and the people without an immediate and generous response from Jehovah.

When Jehoshaphat declined in his loyalty and effected a sinful coalition with Ahab, judgment fell; but instantly upon his repentance, mercy was shown. Judgment is always and everywhere Gods strange work, the work in which He takes no pleasure. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze 33:11).

Mercy is His nature, His essential character, for to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Pro 28:13).

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL NOTES.] As a prevents Baasha from invading Judah (2Ch. 16:1-6); Asa reproved by Hanani (2Ch. 16:7-10); Asas sickness and end (2Ch. 16:11-14; cf. parallel in 1Ki. 15:16-24).

2Ch. 16:1-6.Baasha invades Judah. Six and thirtieth. Baasha died before this date (1Ki. 15:33). Critics consider the date calculated from the separation of the kingdoms, and coincident with 16th year of Asas reign. A mode of reckoning generally followed in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel, the public annals of the time (2Ch. 16:11), the source from which the inspired historian drew his account (cf. Jamieson and Keil). Built, i.e., fortified. Go out, to prevent all communication between the countries. The fortification of Ramah by Baasha presupposes his recovery of the cities, which had been taken by Abijah from the northern kingdom, and which, according to ch. 2Ch. 15:8, were still in Asas possession [Keil]. Benhadah, Benhidri in Assyrian monuments; Ader in Sept., to whom smaller provinces round Damascus (Heb. Darmesck) were subject. 2Ch. 16:3. There is, let there be a league, &c. 2Ch. 16:4. Ijon, city of Naphtali (1Ki. 15:20). Dan colonised (Judges 18; Jos. 19:47). Abel-maim, meadow of waters, supposed to be situated on marshy plain near uppermost lake of Jordan. Store or all Cinneroth and all the land of Naphtali in 1Ki. 15:20. Both statements true and supplementary. 2Ch. 16:5. Cease. Baasha might intend to reside in Ramah. Unexpected hostilities from his son and ally prevented further progress, and Baashas death soon after interrupted work of fortifying. 2Ch. 16:6. No actual engagement mentioned. Geba (Jos. 18:24). Mizpah (Gen. 31:45-55).

2Ch. 16:7-10. Asa reproved by prophet Hanani. Hanani, father of Jehu the prophet (2Ch. 19:2) Relied not on God, from whom prosperity and former victory, but on man. Escaped. That is, if he had trusted in God he would not only have defeated the army of Baasha, but that of Benhadad. His conduct in parting with temple treasures and bribing an ally of the King of Israel most foolish and lost him a splendid victory. 2Ch. 16:8. The huge host of the Ethiopians overcome by Gods help. Assyria would have been, had Asa trusted in God 2Ch. 16:9. For, a striking description of divine providence over the man whose heart is perfect with God. 2Ch. 16:10. This address vexed Asa, and spread discontent among his people, whom he oppressed, tried to crush in some form or other. He maltreated the prophet. Prison, house of stocks, a sort of torture for crimeHeb., house of distortion, because limbs were so set and fixed as to be twisted and distorted in it.

2Ch. 16:11-14.Asas sickness and end. Book of Kings, a public record of civil events. Diseased, a kind of gout, but uncertain, began two years before death (2Ch. 16:13), became greatly moved upwards in body and proved violent in nature. Yet, as in war, so in sickness, he put undue confidence in man. Physicians, Egyptians in high repute at foreign courts, who pretended to expel disease by charms and mystic rites. Buried him in a rock tomb; made, digged by himself, in his lifetime, as often done by Oriental kings, with special funeral magnificence; odours to neutralise offensive smells of corpse exposed on the bed to public view, or to embalm with aromatic spices in great profusion. Great burning. According to some, consuming spices customary at funerals of kings; according to others, for cremation of the body, a usage which was at that time, and long after, prevalent among the Hebrews, and the omission of which in the case of royal personages was reckoned a great indignity (ch. 2Ch. 21:19; 1Sa. 31:12; Jer. 34:5; Amo. 6:10) [Jam.].

HOMILETICS

THE FOLLY OF BRIBERY.2Ch. 16:1-10

Asa hired the help of a heathen neighbour, the powerful King of Syria, to defend himself against the attack of Baasha. This considered prudent, a good stroke of policy, but trust in man, not in God, and met with condemnation from Hanani the seer.

I. It led to sacrilege in religious things. Treasures of the temple were diverted from sacred to worldly use. The sanctuary and the palace robbed to bribe an earthly king to help! Religious ordinances desecrated, justice sold, and men bribed often by silver and gold; gifts bestowed or promised with a view to prevent judgment or corrupt morals abominable. Bribery a canker in constitutional governments, a disgrace in all departments of life. He who presents a bribe perpetuates moral evil, sacrifices both truth and right to selfish interests. Absalom bribed the people to become the king. Judas bribed by high priests to effect the death of Christ.

Judges and senates have been bought for gold:
Esteem and love were never to be sold [Pope].

II. It brought down Divine reproof. God not bribed, comes on the scene in the person of the prophet, At that time Hanani the seer came (2Ch. 16:7). Wrong must be condemned, right declared, and severe reproof administered to evil-doers.

1. Asa acted unworthy of Gods representative. Kings, priests, and judges Gods vicegerents, must be free from corruption and bribery. Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift.

2. Asa sought not Gods help. Because thou hast relied on the King of Syria and not relied on the Lord thy God. When God is forsaken he will assert his supremacy and claims in conscience, in providence, in affliction. Wicked men not allowed to indulge in excuses and selfish pleas; nor to plead the power of circumstances, the force of reason, and the probability of success. Never put money before duty, man before God!

II. It defeated its own ends. Herein thou hast done foolishly. Mans foresight not always wise.

1. Asa missed the opportunity of a double victory. Therefore is the host of the King of Syria escaped out of thine hand. A victory over the combined forces of Baasha and Benhadad more splendid than that over the Ethiopians lost by his conduct Possible by unnecessary and improper alliances to hinder our good and prevent God from granting deliverance.

2. Asa exposed himself to greater danger. Therefore from henceforth thou shalt have war (2Ch. 16:9). The cupidity of the one increased the hostility of the other (1Ki. 15:32). Those who bribe and those bribed not to be depended upon. Money will dissolve the most solemn league. For gold men will sell their votes, their conscience, and themselves. Cato complained that M. Clius the Tribune might be hired for a piece of bread to speak or to hold his peace. Never rule conduct by the fear of man instead of trust in God. The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe (may set on high above danger, &c.) (Pro. 29:25).

THE INFLUENCE OF MONEY.2Ch. 16:2-4

There seems much to excuse Asas conduct. In his days it was often thought right to buy oneself out of danger. But the bribery of Benhadad condemned and cannot be justified. Learn the influence of money.

I. There is a lawful use of money. Used for educational and philanthropic purposes, to encourage industry, arts, and sciences, to relieve distress and advance the cause of God, it is better than fleets and armies. Rightly used, money answereth all things.

II. There is an unlawful use of money. Used for selfish ends, to frustrate right and bribe men to wrong. It may buy men in limbs, intellect, and conscience; make peace and create war. It is one of the mightiest rulers, one of the most popular gods in the world! A man furnished with the arguments from the mint will convince his antagonist much sooner than one who draws them from reason and philosophy. Gold is a wonderful clearer of the understanding, it dissipates every doubt and scruple in an instant; accommodates itself to the meanest capacities; silences the loud and clamorous, and brings over the most obstinate and inflexible [Addison].

III. The unlawful use of money becomes a curse. Put against duty, virtue, and God, its power is pernicious. It breaks up alliances, prepares for temptations, corrupts human nature, and influences to injustice. Benhadad hearkened unto King Asa and was a striking contrast to Hanani. True religion only begets love for truth, upholds commercial honesty, social order, and just government. God rewards the man who resists bribes and acts uprightly. He that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil, he shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure.

ASAS VAIN HELP.2Ch. 16:2-4; 2Ch. 16:12

Years of prosperity did not make Asa a better man. In all time of our wealth, &c. He forgot need of help, and in times of danger resorted to worldly policy and trusted not to God.

I. In time of war he relied upon human help. In northern kingdom, Baasha exterminated posterity of Jeroboam, ruled upon the throne, and menaced Jerusalem. Ramah, on the dividing lines of the two kingdoms, built and held in defence. Baasha strengthened himself in his bold designs by league with King of Syria, but was bought off, bribed to help Asa. This political wisdom, but spiritual folly; prospered for a time, but costly in its triumph. It might be prevalent custom, but not the path of duty. Is our code of honour any purer? Do we seek to get out of difficulties by questionable means? Give money for leagues, covenants, and deliverance? Such reliance is vain help, entails mischiefs in social and spiritual matters which outweigh all apparent gains. Better confide in God than in our own schemes. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

II. In time of sickness he relied upon foreign physicians. No harm in physicians, but physicians without scientific training, physicians with only charms and mystic arts, are physicians of no value. (Heathen doctors and witchcraft.)

1. This foolish conduct. Sought not to the Lord, after his former experience of Gods faithfulness and truth, after his stern reproof by the prophet. What avails physicians of greatest skill and kindness without God? Entire confidence in creature, misplaced and dishonours God.

2. This useless conduct. Physicians could not cure; the disease spread, and recovery impossible. Physicians, ministers, and friends but men, not to be despised, only used as servants of God, and not as sum-totals. In all extremities, sickness, and death, call upon the Lord for help. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help (salvation) (Psa. 146:3). Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?

THIS MINISTRY OF TRUTH.2Ch. 16:7-10

I. Exercised by a Divine messenger. Hanani the seer came to Asa, King of Judahspecially qualified and commissioned by God. The Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes and sending, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling-place.

II. Revealing the true source of help. Asa overcame Ethiopians with very many chariots and horsemen. Because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand. Men could not be reproved for doing wrong if they knew no rightfor not trusting God, if God was not revealed to them.

III. Treated with injustice. Asa was wroth with the seer and put him in a prison, &c. Rejection of Divine reproof sadly common and self-ruinous. Message despised and messenger persecuted. He that refuseth instruction (correction) despiseth his own soul.

IV. Justified by its results. Truth may be kept down, but never crushed; prophets imprisoned or put to death, but right prevails. Divine reproofs attested by conscience, vindicated by providence. Revenge is impotent. Gods purpose cannot be frustrated.

GODS PROVIDENCE IN THE WORLD.2Ch. 16:9

God would have helped Asa if he had called upon him; for he is everywhere present in time of needspecially ready to help those who trust Him.

I. Providence benevolent in its design. To show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. He not only sees danger, but delivers from it, keeps and defends his people. If King Philip could sleep safely because his friend Antipater watched over him, how much more kind and efficient the providence of God!

II. Providence personal in its exercise. We learn from observation of others. God inspects and rules of himselfnot by abstract laws and principles merely, not by secondary causes, not by the eyes and agencies of inferior creatures. He shews himself strong in purpose and proceedings.

III. Providence minute in its inspection. To and fro, publicly and privately, in thought and act. His vigilance ever active and never worn out. Nothing escapes his notice nor eludes his grasp. For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.

IV. Providence universal in its extent. Through the whole earth. Dianas temple was burnt down when she was busied at Alexanders birth. I cannot be everywhere present, cried Napoleon when he lost one battle in trying to gain another. The eyes of the Lord are in every placeon sea and land, in society and solitude. We cannot go from his spirit nor flee from his presence. In heaven above and hell beneath (Psalms 139).

What can scape the eye
Of God, all-seeing, or deceive his heart
Omniscient? [Milton].

V. Providence swift in its operation. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro. Implying celerity, swiftness in giving relief. Delay only when needful and good for us. In promise and fulfilment, his word runneth very swiftly. LessonsEncouragement for the believer, a warning to the wicked, a reason for circumspection to all.

THE EYES OF THE LORD.2Ch. 16:9

I. The description of providence. Eyes of the Lord in Scripture signify

1. His knowledge.
2. His providence.
(1) The immediateness of providenceHis own eyes.
(2) Its celerity and speed.
(3) Its extent.
(4) Its diligence.
(5). Its efficacy.

II. The design of providence. To show himself strong, &c.

1. He has strong understanding, and wisdom to contrive.
2. Strong affection to love.
3. Strong words to cheer and fortify.
4. A strong arm to exert almighty power. The persons for whom those who are truly gracious and sincere [J. Ryland, sen., 1750].

ASAS PERTINACITY IN WRONG-DOING

I. When reproved for sin he did not confess it. In consequence he committed one evil after another. David reproved by Nathan was conscience-stricken, melted to penitence and confessed, I have sinned against the Lord. Not so Asa.

II. He added greater guilt by trying to hide his sin. He denied it, got into a rage with the seer, and persecuted him. Reproved, probably in the presence of courtiers; he was haughty, took advantage of his circumstances, and adopted severe measures in apparent refutation of his sin. To hide a sin with a lie is like a crust of leprosy over an ulcer, says Jeremy Taylor. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

III. When he would neither confess nor forsake his sin God sent affliction, which did not at first humble him. Man could not lodge Asa from his hiding-place, but Gods resources are never exhausted. What the final issue was appears uncertain. From Scripture references the last expedient might humble the king and bring him to God. But at beginning of sickness not in right state of mind, and applied to wrong source for help. This is a striking example of pertinacity in sin, which carries with it a solemn warning. Who would have expected this of the once pious Asa! What an urgent enforcement does this example furnish of the exhortation of the apostle: Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, &c. That, indeed, must be a most treacherous and deceitful thing which could lead a rational and religious being so far away from the truth and piety as thus to persist in his iniquity, and attempt to justify himself before Godyea, more than that, virtually to engage in an unequal warfare with Heaven, and to accomplish, by unblessed means, what God had pronounced impracticable [Rev. W. Sparrow].

HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

2Ch. 16:5-6. He built Geba. Fortifications demolished.

1. Men prostrated in their wicked design.
2. The materials by which they carried out that design captured and used for opposite purposes. Ramah taken, the stones and timber used to build other defences. Voltaires printing press, by which he sought to deluge France with infidelity, fell into the hands of the Bible Society, and employed to spread the word of God. The strongholds of the world become the defences of the Church. I. This illustrated by the case of Ramah. II. It has been often observed since

1. The worlds stronghold of science has been rifled by the Church for its defence, and the world defeated with its own weapons.
2. By the grace of God, men who were as RamahSaul of Tarsus for examplehave been made as the outworks of Christianity [Bib. Museum]. It is a fine use to which Bossuet has turned this military incident as illustrating the duty, not of rejecting the materials or the arguments collected by unbelievers or by heretics, but of employing them to build up the truth, Btissons les forteresses de Juda des dbris et des ruines de celles de Samarie [Stanley].

2Ch. 16:9. Whatever is done in the world falls under the notice of God. Not that he needs move from place to place, or run up and down from country to country to see what is done, for by one infinite, indivisible act, he beholdeth all things in all places; but the Scripture thus teaches the infallibility and particularity of his knowledge; even as we are said to know those things infallibly which we have viewed upon the place; for otherwise there is neither high nor low, far nor near, first nor last, to God all things being at once before him for ever (Jer. 23:23). If the Lord is everywhere, let us everywhere see the Lord. Moses saw him that was invisible. Did we but keep this common principle warm upon our spirits, The Lord seeth under the whole heaven, how heavenly would our lives be! And seeing the Lord seeth as under the whole heaven, so into the hearts of all men, how should it deter us, even from heart sins, and the closest hypocrisy! Again, the Lord seeing in all things, disposeth all things. As his hand set up all in order at first, so his eye hath kept all in order ever since, and will do for ever. Take these conclusions concerning the sight of God: First, the Lord beholdeth all things distinctly, not in gross onlythe least as well as the greatest. He looks upon every parcel and opens the whole pack of human affairs. Secondly, he beholds every thing and person perfectly, fully, quite through. His is an intentive and most attentive view. Thirdly, in seeing he governs everything effectually and works it to his own ends. Fourthly, he seeth all things together, not successively, or one thing after another. He that is all eye seeth all at once, all is one. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Hence, take two inferences: the first serving for the instruction and consolation of all who know and fear God; and the second for conviction and terror to the wicked [Caryl].

2Ch. 16:12-14. Asas End.

1. Asas sickness and death. At first affliction unimproved, grew more severe. Death sad, certain, and hopeful.
2. Asas burial, magnificent, honoured, and admonitory. The eminent piety and usefulness of good men, says one, ought to be remembered to their praise, though they have had their blemishes. Let their faults be buried in their graves, while their services are remembered over their graves. He that said, There is not a just man that doeth good and sinneth not, yet said also, The memory of the just is blessed, and let it be so.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 16

2Ch. 16:3-6. Silver. A bribe is a price; reward, gift, or favour bestowed or promised, with a view to pervert the judgment or corrupt the conduct of a judge, witness, or other person [Webster]. Philip of Macedon was a man of most invincible reason this way, says Addison. He refuted by it all the wisdom of Athensconfounded their statesmen, struck their orators dumb, and at length argued them out of their liberties [quoted by Dr. Thomas].

2Ch. 16:9. Strong. Csar was accustomed to write short letters. One of his generals, Quintus Cicero, was in great extremity, being besieged by fierce hordes of Gauls, when he received from him the following message: Csar to Cicero: Keep up your spirits. Expect help. Let us expect help from God, trust to him instead of relying on man in times of extremity and danger.

2Ch. 16:10. Wroth with the seer. The most difficult province in friendship is letting a man see his faults and errors, which should, if possible, be so contrived that he may perceive our advice is given him not so much to please ourselves as for his own advantage. The reproaches therefore of a friend should always be strictly just and not too frequent [Bacon].

2Ch. 16:13-14. Asa slept.

Kings then at last have but the lot of all,
By their own conduct they must stand or fall [Cowper].

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

4. THE REIGN OF ASA (1416)

TEXT

2Ch. 14:1. 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. 2. And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Jehovah his God: 3. for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and brake down the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, 4. and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. 5. Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images: and the kingdom was quiet before him. 6. And he built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because Jehovah had given him rest. 7, For he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars; the land is yet before us, because we have sought Jehovah our God; we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side, So they built and prospered. 8. And Asa had an army that bare bucklers and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valor.

9. And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and he came unto Mareshah. 10. Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11. And Asa cried unto Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, there is none besides thee to help, between the mighty and him that hath no strength: help us, O Jehovah our God; for we rely on thee, and in thy name are we come against this multitude. O Jehovah, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. 12. So Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. 13. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before Jehovah, and before his host; and they carried away very much booty. 14. And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of Jehovah came upon them: and they despoiled all the cities; for there was much spoil in them. 15. They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.

2Ch. 15:1. And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: 2. and he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah is with you, while ye are with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. 3. Now for a long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law: 4. but when in their distress they turned unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. 5. And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in; but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. 6. And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God did vex them with all adversity. 7. But be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack; for your work shall be rewarded.

And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Jehovah, that was before the porch of Jehovah. 9. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and them that sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw Jehovah his God was with him. 10. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11. And they sacrificed unto Jehovah in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. 12. And they entered into the covenant to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; 13. and that whosoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. 14. And they sware unto Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting and with trumpets, and with cornets. 15. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and Jehovah gave them rest round about.
16. And also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah and Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. 17. But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. 18. And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19. And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

2Ch. 16:1. In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 2. Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of Jehovah and of the kings house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, 3. There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. 4. And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. 5. And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building Ramah, and let his work cease. 6. Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.

7. And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on Jehovah thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand. 8. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceeding many? yet, because thou didst rely on Jehovah, he delivered them into thy hand. 9. For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars. 10. Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in the prison-house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.
11. And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 12. 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 Jehovah, but to the physicians. 13. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign. 14. And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers art: and they made a very great burning for him.

PARAPHRASE

2Ch. 14:1. King Abijah was buried in Jerusalem. Then his son Asa became the new king of Judah, and there was peace in the land for the first ten years of his reign, 2. for Asa was careful to obey the Lord his God. 3. He demolished the heathen altars on the hills, and broke down the obelisks, and chopped down the shameful Asherim-idols, 4. and demanded that the entire nation obey the commandments of the Lord God of their ancestors. 5. Also, he removed the sun-images from the hills, and the incense altars from every one of Judahs cities. That is why God gave his kingdom peace. 6. This made it possible for him to build walled cities throughout Judah. 7. Now is the time to do it, while the Lord is blessing us with peace because of our obedience to him, he told his people. Let us build and fortify cities now, with walls, towers, gates, and bars, So they went ahead with these projects very successfully. 8. King Asas Judean army was 300,000 strong, equipped with light shields and spears. His army of Benjaminites numbered 280,000, armed with large shields and bows. Both armies were composed of well-trained, brave men.

9, 10. But now he was attacked by an army of 1,000,000 troops from Ethiopia with 300 chariots, under the leadership of General Zerah. They advanced to the city of Mareshah, in the valley of Zephathah, and king Asa sent his troops to meet them there. 11. O Lord, he cried out to God, no one else can help us! Here we are, powerless against this mighty army. Oh, help us, Lord our God! For we trust in you alone to rescue us, and in your name we attack this vast horde. Dont let mere men defeat you! 12. Then the Lord defeated the Ethiopians, and Asa and the army of Judah triumphed as the Ethiopians fled. 13. They chased them as far as Gerar, and the entire Ethiopian army was wiped out so that not one man remained; for the Lord and his army destroyed them all. Then the army of Judah carried off vast quantities of plunder. 14. While they were at Gerar they attacked all the cities in that area, and terror from the Lord came upon the residents. As a result additional vast quantities of plunder were collected from these cities too. 15. They not only plundered the cities, but destroyed the cattle tents and captured great herds of sheep and camels before finally returning to Jerusalem.

2Ch. 15:1. Then the spirit of God came upon Azariah (son of Oded), 2. and he went out to meet King Asa as he was returning from the battle. Listen to me, Asa! Listen, armies of Judah and Benjamin! he shouted. The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you look for him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3. For a long time now, over in Israel, the people havent worshiped the true God, and have not had a true priest to teach them. They have lived without Gods laws. 4. But whenever they have turned again to the Lord God of Israel in their distress, and searched for him, he has helped them. 5. In their times of rebellion against God there was no peace. Problems troubled the nation on every hand. Crime was on the increase everywhere. 6. There were external wars, and internal fighting of city against city, for God was plaguing them with all sorts of trouble. 7. But you men of Judah, keep up the good work and dont get discouraged, for you will be rewarded.

8. When King Asa heard this message from God, he took courage and destroyed all the idols in the land of Judah and Benjamin, and in the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim, and he rebuilt the altar of the Lord in front of the Temple. 9. Then he summoned all the people of Judah and Benjamin, and the immigrants from Israel (for many had come from the territories of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, in Israel, when they saw that the Lord God was with King Asa). 10. They all came to Jerusalem in June of the fifteenth year of King Asas reign, 11. and sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheepit was part of the plunder they had captured in the battle. 12. Then they entered into a contract to worship only the Lord God of their fathers, 13. and agreed that anyone who refused to do this must diewhether old or young, man or woman. 14. They shouted out their oath of loyalty to God with trumpets blaring and horns sounding. 15. All were happy for this covenant with God, for they had entered into it with all their hearts and wills, and wanted him above everything else, and they found him! and he gave them peace throughout the nation.
16. King Asa even removed his mother Maacah from being the queen mother because she made an Asherah-idol; he cut down the idol and crushed and burned it at Kidron Brook. 17. Over in Israel the idol-temples were not removed. But here in Judah and Benjamin the heart of King Asa was perfect before God throughout his lifetime. 18. He brought back into the Temple the silver and gold bowls which he and his father had dedicated to the Lord. 19. So there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of King Asas reign.

2Ch. 16:1. In the thirty-sixth year of King Asas reign. King Baasha of Israel declared war on him and built the fortress of Ramah in order to control the road to Judah. 2. Asas response was to take the silver and gold from the Temple and from the palace, and to send it to King Ben-hadad of Syria, at Damascus, with this message: 3. Let us renew the mutual security pact that there was between your father and my father. See, here is silver and gold to induce you to break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he will leave me alone. 4. Ben-hadad agreed to King Asas request and mobilized his armies to attack Israel. They destroyed the cities of Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim and all of the supply centers in Naphtali. 5. As soon as King Baasha of Israel heard what was happening, he discontinued building Ramah and gave up his plan to attack Judah. 6. Then King Asa and the people of Judah went out to Ramah and carried away the building stones and timbers and used them to build Geba and Mizpah instead.

7. About that time the prophet Hanani came to King Asa and told him, Because you have put your trust in the king of Syria instead of in the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped from you. 8. Dont you remember what happened to the Ethiopians and Libyans and their vast army, with all of their chariots and cavalrymen? But you relied then on the Lord, and he delivered them all into your hand. 9. For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them. What a fool you have been; From now on you shall have wars. 10. Asa was so angry with the prophet for saying this that he threw him into jail. And Asa oppressed all the people at that time.
11. The rest of the biography of Asa is written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel and Judah. 12. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became seriously diseased in his feet but he didnt go to the Lord with the problem, but to the doctors. 13, 14. So he died in the forty-first year of his reign, and was buried in his own vault that he had hewn out for himself in Jerusalem. He was laid on a bed perfumed with sweet spices and ointments, and his people made a very great burning of incense for him at his funeral.

COMMENTARY

Asa, the son Abijah, succeeded his father on the throne in Judah. The military activity of Abijah in the civil strife with Jeroboam and the northern kingdom brought a brief period (ten years) of comparative peace to Judah. Certain alliances between the southern kingdom and Syria had been established (1Ki. 15:19). It is possible that Asa became king when he was quite young. He reigned for forty one years. 2Ch. 14:1-8 describe the first ten years of Asas reign. He launched a religious reformation. Jehovahs will was the primary consideration. Strange gods had been carried into Judah along with all of the related idolatrous ritual. There was but one genuine altar for religious sacrifices. It was located in the Temple. The foreign altars, by Asas command, were to be destroyed. The high places were sometimes established on a natural elevation. On occasion devotees of a god would expend much labor to prepare a place suitable for the worship of the idol. The term pillar may mean an obelisk, a four sided post tapering as it rises and terminating in a pyramid. A pillar may simply refer to an image designed for worship. The Asherim were fashioned like poles or posts and sometimes were set up as groves of trees. The word is the plural for Asherah which was the female counterpart for Baal. Any reference to the Asherim immediately involved the Baalistic fertility cult. The sun images were made in the form of a pyramid and were often located in very prominent positions in the temples of Baal. They probably combined expressions of worship both of Baal and of the sun. In the days of Ahaz, king of Judah, shrines dedicated to sun worship were built in Jerusalem. These were equipped with priests, priestesses, horses and chariots (2Ki. 21:3-6). Asa indicated his intentions to be a worthy successor of David by clearing out all of the idolatrous establishments. When the land was well saturated with the furniture of paganism and when the people had so widely adopted heathen worship, a complete reformation was impossible, Asa commanded Judah to seek Jehovah. He was urgent about the matter. Jehovah rewarded Asas good faith. The land was quiet; Jehovah had given him rest. The king busied himself with fortifying the villages in Judah. He encouraged his people as he said, the land is yet before us. The tribe of Judah provided an army of three hundred thousand men trained to carry spears and shields. The tribe of Benjamin equipped two hundred eighty thousand archers. The raising of this large army indicated that the peaceful days would soon be past.

Asa was soon called upon to do battle with the Ethiopians.[58] This attack probably came about 900 B.C. Zerah was a Cushite who had a great army of about one million foot soldiers supported by three hundred chariots. He brought this army into the country of Judah to Mareshah which lay about twelve miles northwest of Hebron. This is the same Mareshah of which Micah spoke (Mic. 1:15). Asas military forces were ill-equipped to engage this great host out of Ethiopia. Asa demonstrated his true metal when he cried unto Jehovah his God. The king admitted Judahs helplessness apart from Jehovah. He confidently believed that Judahs God could scatter the enemy and he appealed for Jehovah to prove once more that no enemy of Jehovah could prevail as he contested Jehovahs righteous reign. The historian sets the record in proper perspective when he writes, so Jehovah smote the Ethiopians.

[58] Cook, F. C., The Bible Commentary, I Samuel-Esther, p. 390

Gerar lay some twenty miles south west of Mareshah. With the Ethiopians in full retreat, Asas army took full advantage of the situation. The enemy was broken before Jehovah. Asas army was able to recapture much that the enemy had taken and the people of the southern kingdom returned loaded with the spoils of battle. The villages around Gerar were on the south west border of the Judah country. Asa took advantage of this military exercise as he spoiled these border villages and took with him cattle, sheep, and camels, The victory march back to Jerusalem must have been one of the truly happy occasions of Asas reign.

LESSON EIGHTEEN 15-17

ASA, THE REFORMER; HANANI, MAN OF GOD.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JEHOSHAPHAT

4. THE REIGN OF ASA-Continued (1416)

INTRODUCTION

King Asa worked a religious reformation among his people. Asas alliance with Syria brought the prophets rebuke. Jehoshaphat provided good leadership for Judah.

TEXT

(Scripture text in Lesson Seventeen)

PARAPHRASE

(Scripture text in Lesson Seventeen)

COMMENTARY

Azariah, son of Oded, appears on the scene to bring the word of Jehovah to Asa. There are twenty eight different persons in the Old Testament named Azariah. The name Azariah means Jehovah is keeper. The prophet addressed his words specifically to Judah and Benjamin. The northern kingdom is called Israel in 2Ch. 14:3. Asas only hope was to trust Jehovah. He must go with God. He must seek the Lord. The alternative carried with it some terrible consequences. If Jehovahs people are unfaithful, He will forsake them. Those Hebrews who had been a part of the northern kingdom had suffered anguish that could not be described. God had abandoned them. There was no priest to plead their cause. They did not even have the advantage of hearing the reading of the Law. There were some Israelites who in their extremity had turned to God in deep repentance. Azariah reminded Asa that Jehovah had heard their cry. The majority of the people in the northern kingdom had been carried into captivity and there they lost their identity. Azariah told Asa that these awful sorrows could be avoided if king and people would seek Jehovah. He charged the king to be courageous and promised that Asas good work would be rewarded.

Azariahs ministry moved Asa to destroy all of the idols he could find in his kingdom. 2Ch. 14:8 speaks of the prophecy of Oded. Oded is mentioned here only because he was Azariahs father. The king repaired the altar of burnt offering and set it where it was supposed to be in the court of priests just in front of the Temple. The good work that Asa accomplished was advertised throughout the kingdom. From scattered places in the land of Palestine the people came to Jerusalem. Seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep were offered to Jehovah on the altar. The third month corresponds nearly with our month of May.

Jehovahs word through Azariah produced good results. As the king provided good leadership, the people were encouraged to do Gods will. Once again the covenant (as in Gen. 12:1-3) was renewed. This commitment to the Lord was complete as Moses had demanded in his day (Deu. 6:4-5). Asa was so certain that his reformation was what the Lord desired that he dared to pronounce the death penalty on anyone who would not cooperate. An idolatrous city, a false prophet, or a person who worshipped idols were to be destroyed or put to death according to the Law (Deuteronomy 13). In this matter there was to be no respect of persons. 2Ch. 14:14 and 2Ch. 14:15 describe what happens when Gods Spirit moves His people. Azariah had come clothed in the Spirit. He shared the Spirit with Asa. The king by his strong leadership and his fear of Jehovah shared the Spirit with all of the people. They pledged themselves to the Lord. They praised Him with song and musical instruments. Peace reigned in their hearts and in their land.

If a king deprived a queen mother of her authority in the kingdom, he had to have a very good reason for his action. From Bathshebas time the queen mother had exercised considerable power in Jerusalem. Maacah, queen mother had set up an Asherah (a pole or an obelisk) which she used in her worship of Baal. Asa dared to ruin her place of worship and to remove her from the government of Judah. Making dust out of an image reminds us of the golden calf at Sinai. The Kidron valley had already been desecrated by heathen worship, so it was a proper place to burn this idol. Asa did what he could to work a complete reformation. He was not able to remove all idolatry because so much of it remained in the hearts of the people. He did what he could to re-establish the Temple and make it the true center of worship for Jehovahs people. He could not live long enough nor could he exercise sufficient authority to completely cleanse the people and the land. His heart was perfect all his days. This does not mean that he made no mistakes or that he did not sin. He conscientiously tried to do Gods will.

Baasha was used by Jehovah to bring the dynasty of Jeroboam to an end. Nadab, Jeroboams son, had sinned like his father. One day Nadab was in the village of Gibbethon about twenty miles north west of Jerusalem. Baasha killed Nadab and began to reign as Israels king (1Ki. 15:25-28). Late in the reign of Asa, Baasha fortified the southern boundary of his kingdom at Ramah (about eight miles north of Jerusalem). Baasha did not want his people to have any contact with the southern kingdom. Asa was alarmed at Baashas military action and he made a counter move in buying protection from Benhadad and the Syrians. Such alliances were contrary to Jehovahs purpose; however, Asas move was very effective in causing Baasha to discontinue his fortifying the southern border of Israel. Once more the Temple was robbed of its treasures in order to pay the Syrians. Ben-hadad was in an agreement with Baasha. He did not hesitate to break this pact. The Syrians attacked the northern border of Baashas kingdom at Ijon, Dan, and Abel-maim. These places were located in Naphtali not far from Mount Hermon. When Baasha learned about these border attacks, he withdrew from Ramah. Asa took advantage of the situation and used stones and timbers out of Ramah to fortify Geba and Mizpah on the north border of the southern kingdom. Geba was about ten miles north of Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin. Mizpah was about three miles north west of Geba.

Hanani appeared at this time to rebuke Asa for trusting in Syria rather than in Jehovah. A seer was one who by Jehovahs endowment had more knowledge and understanding than ordinary persons. Samuel was called a seer when Saul was hunting his fathers lost asses (1Sa. 9:9). Hanani implied that the Syrians should have been defeated in battle instead of being paid money as allies. Asa was reminded of the great victory over the Ethiopians (2Ch. 14:9) which Jehovah granted because Asa and Judah trusted God. The prophet declared that nothing happens among men which is hidden from Jehovahs eyes. Wherever He finds one whose heart is perfect, He provides whatever may be needed. The man with the perfect heart relies on the Lord and thinks His thoughts after Him. Asa was charged with foolishness and was informed that he would be involved in war for the remainder of his reign. Like other prophets who had spoken unpopular messages, Hanani was mistreated by Asa. He was thrown into a house of stocks, a place of torture. Asa was so upset by the words of the seer that he turned his wrath upon some of the citizens of his kingdom. In these matters Asa showed himself to be unworthy of the high office which he filled.

Historians were a part of Asas cabinet and they kept careful records of his reign. So Asas life was recorded in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. The kings last years were most difficult. He was involved in war and all of the attendant political problems. He also suffered from diseased feet. He could have been afflicted with gout.[59] In these extreme circumstances he failed to call on God. He forgot his manner of life when he was a great reformer. Asa turned only to physicians for healing and forgot to turn to Jehovah in prayer. He began his reign very well. He concluded his life in misery and shame. After a reign of forty one years he died. He was granted all of the honors of a kingly burial and his remains were placed in a grave which he had prepared for himself. The great burning had to do with spices and incense burned at the time of the kings death.

[59] Clarke, Adam, A Commentary and Critical Notes, Vol. II, p. 663

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

XVI.
THE WAR WITH BAASHA(2Ch. 16:1-6).
Comp. 1Ki. 15:17-22.

(1) In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up.According to 1Ki. 15:33; 1Ki. 16:8, Baasha began to reign in the third year of Asa, reigned twenty-four years, and died in the twenty-sixth year of Asa. These statements are obviously irreconcilable with that of our verse. We must suppose either that the chronicler has accepted a different calculation from that of the Kingsa calculation which he may have found in one of his documents; or that the text here is unsound, and thirty-six has been substituted by an error of transcription for sixteen, or twenty-six; and that in 2Ch. 15:19 by a similar mistake thirty-five has taken the place of fifteen or twenty-five. Upon the whole, the latter alternative appears preferable; and if we assume twenty-five and twenty-six to be the correct numerals, we get the following chronology for the reign :First, ten years of peace (2Ch. 14:1), during which Asa strengthened his defences (2Ch. 14:6-8); then the invasion of Zerah, at what precise date is not clear, but at some time between the eleventh and the fifteenth year (2Ch. 14:9; 2Ch. 15:10); then the reformation of religion and renewal of the covenant in Asas fifteenth year (2Ch. 15:10); and lastly, another ten years of peace, until the outbreak of the war with Baasha, in the twenty-fifth or twenty-sixth year.

The idea of the ancient commentators, that the phrase five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa might mean five and thirtieth year of the kingdom of Judah, is absurd. The phrase bishnath . . . lemalkth always denotes the year of a kings reign, not of the duration of his kingdom. (See 2Ch. 16:12 infra.)

And built Ramah.Er-Rm, about five miles north of Jerusalem. Baasha had probably retaken the cities annexed by Abijah. (See on 2Ch. 15:8.)

Built = fortified it. (See 1Ki. 15:17 for the rest of the verse.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

2Ch 16:9 “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro” Scripture References –

Zec 3:9, “For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes : behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.”

Zec 4:10, “For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth .”

Rev 4:5, “And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God .”

Rev 5:6-7, “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth . And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.”

2Ch 16:14  And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.

2Ch 16:14 “they made a very great burning for him” – Comments – Scholars have given several interpretations of the phrase “they made a very great burning for him.” It either refers to the burning of spices, or to the cremation of King Asa’s body.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Asa’s League with Damascus

v. 1. In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, or, more exactly, so many years after the division of the kingdom, in Asa’s sixteenth year, Baasha, king of Israel, the successor of Nadab, who followed Jeroboam, came up against Judah and built Ramah, on his southern boundary, about six miles north of Jerusalem, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah, since the prosperity of Judah and the purity of its religious worship were attracting people from the northern kingdom in increasing numbers. Cf 1Ki 15:16-22.

v. 2. Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, a part of the immense sums gathered by David and Solomon, and sent to Benhadad, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,

v. 3. There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father, for the Syrian kingdoms had apparently ceased to be tributary to the Jews after the division of the kingdom; behold, I have sent thee silver and gold, namely, with the present embassy, which he had taken from the treasuries of Jerusalem; go, break thy league with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

v. 4. And Benhadad hearkened unto King Asa, induced to do so by the greatness of the present sent to him, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, to divert Baasha from his purpose by an attack on his country; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, two cities on the extreme northern border of Israel, and Abelmaim, or, Abel-beth-maachah, situated on a marshy plain near the sources of Jordan, and all the store cities of Naphtali, probably such cities in which the surplus of grain was stored.

v. 5. And it came to pass, when Baasha heard it, that he left off building of Ramah, and therewith his hostile undertaking against Judah, and let his work cease. It was never resumed, for his death occurred shortly afterwards.

v. 6. Then Asa the king took all Judah, he assembled all able-bodied men; and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timber thereof wherewith Baasha was building; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah, he fortified cities on his own border. It was a weakness of Asa to place his trust in the king of Syria. But to this day the danger is great for believers to turn from the Lord in the hour of distress and trouble and to rely upon weak, mortal men.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

The contents of this chapter fall easily into three parts: Asa’s conflict with Baasha (2Ch 16:1-6; parallel, 1Ki 15:16-22); Hanani’s rebuke of Asa, and Asa’s ill reception of it (2Ch 16:7-10); the disease, death, and burial of Asa (2Ch 16:11-14; parallel, 1Ki 15:23, 1Ki 15:24).

2Ch 16:1

For the six and thirtieth year, read six and twentieth. Ramah belonged to Benjamin (Jos 18:21, Jos 18:25, Jos 18:28), and lay between Bethel and Jerusalem, about five or six Roman miles from each; but Keil and Bertheau, by some error, call it thirty miles from Jerusalem, having very likely in their eye Ramah of Samuel, in Ephraim. The word signifies “lofty,” and the present history speaks the importance of its position, and would infer also that Israel had regained Bethel, which, with other adjacent places, Abijah had wrested from Jeroboam (2Ch 13:19). The reference of Isa 10:28, Isa 10:29, 82 is exceedingly interesting, and bespeaks the fact that Ramah commanded another intersecting route from Ephraim. When it is said here that Baasha built () Ramah, the meaning is that he was beginning to strengthen it greatly, and fortify it. The object of Baasha, which no doubt needed no stating in the facts of the day, is now stated by history.

2Ch 16:2

The writer of Chronicles omits the pedigree of this Benhadad King of Syria, given in the parallel “the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion.” Benhidri is the name of Benhadad in the Assyrian monuments. The Septuagint gives Ader, which tallies with it, For Damascus, we have here Dar-mesek, instead of the more usual Dammesek of the parallel and Gen 15:2; the resh representing (as in Syriac) the dagesh forte in mem. The parallel (1Ki 15:18) says that Asa took all the silver and the gold left in the treasures, etc.; but the reading “left” should very possibly be “found,” the Hebrew characters easily permitting it.

2Ch 16:3

The alliance of the King of Syria was sought now by one kingdom, now by the other. On what occasion Abijah made league with the king, the history does not say, either here or in the parallel, nor when he or his son resigned it. For there is, read “Let there be a league between me and thee, as between my father and thy father;” the short cut which Area thought to take now to his object was not the safe nor right one.

2Ch 16:4

Benhadad was apparently not very long in making up either his mind or his method. The bribe that tempted him, drawn from “the treasures” described, well replenished (2Ch 15:18; and parallel, 1Ki 15:15), was probably large. His method was to create a diversion in favour of his new ally, by “smiting” certain picked and highly important cities of Israel, mostly in northern Galilee, by name “Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtalli.” Ijon. In Naphtali, mentioned only now, in the parallel, and when a second time taken (2Ki 15:29) by Tiglath-Pileser. Dan. The colonizing of this city is given in Jdg 18:1, Jdg 18:2, Jdg 18:29-31; it was originally called Laish, and became the northern landmark of the whole country, as in the expression, “from Dan even to Beersheba” (Jdg 17:1-13 :29; Jdg 20:1). Abel-maim. This place was situate at the foot of the Lebanon; in the parallel (1Ki 15:20) it is called Abel-beth-maachah. It is again mentioned as attacked by Tiglath-Pileser, who wrested it from Pekah (2Ki 15:29). In 2Sa 20:18, 2Sa 20:14, 2Sa 20:15 it is called Abel by itself, but in the last two of these verses Beth-maachah is mentioned in close connection with it. After this name the parallel gives also “all Cinneroth”. The name is the original of the New Testament Gennesaret. It was a city (Jos 19:35) that gave its name to the sea and western region of the lake, sometimes called so (Num 34:11; Jos 11:2; Jos 12:3). If there were a little more external evidence of it, we should incline to the opinion of Movers, that the “all Cinneroth” of the parallel is the (”all the store-cities”) of our present verse. But at present we may take it that the two records supplement one another. All the store-cities of Naphtali (see 2Ch 32:28; 2Ch 8:6 and its parallel, 1Ki 9:19).

2Ch 16:5

And let his work cease. The parallel has not this, but follows the exact previous sentence with this, “and dwelt in Tirzah.” It is the happy suggestion of one commentator (Professor James G. Murphy, ‘Handbook: Chronicles’) that this sentence may betray that it had been Baasha’s intention to reside in Ramah.

2Ch 16:6

The affair seems thus to have come to an unbloody termination. The parallel (1Ki 15:22)is so much the more graphic that it contains the two additions that Asa “made a proclamation throughout all Judah,” and one that “exempted none” from joining in the duty of moving all the stones and all the timber from Ramah, and diverting’ them to the use of building Geba and Mizpah. This greatly contributed to command the road from the north to Jerusalem. Geba. This was Geba of Benjamin, as clearly stated in the parallel. It was a position north of Ramah, whether opposite Michmash and the modern Jeba is not certain, as some think this answers to Gibeah of Saul (1Sa 14:2, 1Sa 14:5). Mizpah (see Jer 41:2, Jer 41:3, Jer 41:9, Jer 41:10). This Mizpah is not that of the Shefelah (Jos 15:38), but was situate about two hours, or a short six miles, north-west of Jerusalem, on the Samaria route, and is probably the modern Neby Samwil (see also 2Ki 25:22-26; Je 40:5-41:18).

2Ch 16:7, 2Ch 16:8

The very impressive episode of four verses begun by the seventh verse is not found in the parallel. The fact furnishes clear indication that our compiler was not indebted to the writer of Kings for material. And the moral aspects of the matter here preserved by the compiler of Chronicles show the paramount reasons why he would not miss bringing it to the front for the returned people’s better religious education. Presumably Hanani the seer is the father of that other faithful seer and prophet Jehu, who appeared to Baasha (1Ki 16:1, 1Ki 16:7) and to Jehoshaphat (2Ch 19:1, 2Ch 19:2). Therefore is the host of the King of Syria escaped out of thy hand It is plain that, reading the lines only, this expression (remarkable considering its following close upon successful help given by Benhadad, and help unaccompanied, so far as we are told, by any infidelity or untoward circumstance), suggests option of explanation, and would engender the supposition that something very threatening was on the horizon, at any rate. But reading between the lines, and giving due weight to the significance of the illustration adduced of the combined Ethiopians and Lubim (2Ch 14:9-15), we may warrantably judge that Hanani’s inspired language went a cut deeper, and meant that if the alliance had been not broken between Benhadad and Baasha, both would surely have been taken in one net (Psa 124:7), as they would have entered into the conflict in alliance. A decisive victory over the King of Syria would have been any way a grand day in the history of Judah; But such a victory over the Kings of Syria and of the northern schismatic kingdom would have been more than a doubly grand day; it would have been a tenfold demonstration of God’s judgment, that “though hand join in hand, yet shall not the wicked go unpunished” (see particularly same Hebrew verb used of a bird escaped in Psa 124:7).

2Ch 16:9

Thou shalt have wars. Although this language at first seems to be intended for very specific application to Asa, yet as we do not read of individual wars occurring after this in his own time, it is quite within a just interpretation of it if we read it as referring to the inevitable experience of the kingdom. Its head and king had just thrown away the opportunity of blocking out one ever-threatening enemy. What more natural consequence than that wars should rush in the rather as a flood, in the after-times?

2Ch 16:10

A prison-house; literally, Hebrew, the house of the ; i.e. “of the twisting or distortion;” i.e. “the stocks.” The word occurs three other times only, all of them in Jeremiah viz. Jer 20:2, Jer 20:3; Jer 29:26. (For a forcible parallel, see 1Ki 22:27.) And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time. This may throw some explanatory, though no exculpatory, light on Asa’s wrath and violence towards Hanani; for it probably marks that either some goodly portion of the wiser of the people had anticipated of their own common sense the matter of the message of Hanani the seer, or that they had not failed to follow it with some keenly sympathetic remarks For our Authorized Version, “oppressed,” read a stronger verb, as “crushed.”

2Ch 16:11

This verse, with the following three, is represented by the very summarized but sufficiently significant parallel of 1Ki 15:23, 1Ki 15:24. Note that the reference work cited in this verse as the book of the kings of Judah and Israel, is in the paralled cited as “the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.” Of course, the latter citation was much the earlier in point of time.

2Ch 16:12

His disease was exceeding great Perhaps a somewhat more literal rendering will more correctly express the emphasis of the original, e.g. his disease was great even to excess. For yet, read emphatically, and also; the historian purposing to say that as, in his fear of Baasha, he had not sought the Lord, but Benhadad, so, in his excessive illness also, he had not sought the Lord, but the physicians!

2Ch 16:13

Amid the frequent uncertainties of the chronology, we are glad to get some dates fixed by the agreement of testimonies. E.g. this place and the parallel state clearly that Asa’s reign was one that lasted to its forty-first year. The parallel, however (1Ki 15:23), makes this date one and the same thing with his “old age,“ while no manipulation of dates can make him (the grandson of Rehoboam and son of Abijah) more than about fifty. And it is somewhat remarkable that, when introduced to us as succeeding to the throne, nothing is said of his tender youth (as, for instance, is said in the case of Josiah, 2Ki 22:1; 2Ki 24:1-3). Nevertheless, the apparent prominence of Maachah awhile would tally with the circumstance of Asa’s youth at his accession. Another correspondence in Josiah’s career is noticeable; for it is distinctly said that when he was only twelve years of age (2Ch 34:3) “he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places,” etc. At a similarly youthful age Asa, therefore, may be credited with doing the like, while later on he took more stringent measures, as for instance with Maachah, the queen-mother.

2Ch 16:14

In his own sepulchres; Hebrew, ; fem. plur. of . The plural designates, of course, the range of burial compartments that formed the tomb of one person or family. So Job 17:1, where the masc. plur. is used, . In the city of David (see note on 2Ch 12:16). In the bed; Hebrew, . The use or associations of this word (found about fifty times) are almost entirely, if not entirely, those of the bed of nightly rest, even when not at the time speaking of nightly rest; and this is the first and only occasion that it is employed to link the grave in kindly analogy with the couch of bodily repose during lifetime. The fact might have suggested Bishop Ken’s lines in the evening hymn

“Teach me to live, that I may dread

The grave as little as my bed.“

In the present instance, however, the writer, whoever he was (query, was he the compiler of our Chronicles, or his original?), is doubt-leas led to the analogy by considerations mere earthly than those enshrined in Ken’s hymn, viz. by the somewhat “vain show” of attractiveness and fragrance (probably designed partly for preservative purposes) with which the place was filled, and which were among even patriarchal indications of faith in a future state. Sweet odours; Hebrew, . Of the twenty-nine times that this word occurs in Exodus, Kings, and Chronicles, Esther, Canticles, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, it is rendered in the Authorized Vermon “spices” twenty-four times, “sweet cinnamon” once, “sweet calamus” once, and “sweet odours” or “sweet smell” three times. The chief and determining references are those in Exo 25:6; Exo 30:23; Exo 35:8, Exo 35:28. And divers kinds; Hebrew, ; plur. of ; from the root, ; unused, but probably one with an Amble root, meaning “to shape;” hence our noun, meaning a kind or species, used here and Psa 144:13, and in the Chaldee of Dan 3:5, Dan 3:7, Dan 3:10, Dan 3:15. Prepared; Hebrew, ; solitary occurrence of pual conjugation of the root , “to spice,” i.e; to spice, season, or prepare oil for ointment purposes. This root occurs in kal future once (Exo 30:33); in kal part. poel five times (Exo 30:25, 85; Exo 37:29; 1Ch 9:1-44 :80; Ecc 10:1); and in hiph. infin. once (Eze 24:10). By the apothecaries’ art; Hebrew, . Translate the clause, and divers kinds compounded by the compounding of art, which means to say spices skilfully treated and wrought into ointments by professional hands. A very great burning; literally, and they burned for him a burning great even to an exceeding extent. The burning is not the burning of 1Sa 31:12, 1Sa 31:13, but the burning of spices, indicated by the language of our 2Ch 21:19 and Jer 34:5.

HOMILETICS

2Ch 16:1-14

The disappointing relapse of what had seemed tried worth, knowledge, and proved goodness.

Mournful to the last degree is the impression made on us by what we are given to learn last of the career of King Asa. It is a reversalnot the reversal from bad to good, but of what seemed good and seemed sure, to bad. The humiliating lesson and fresh illustration of human caprice and weakness must be in like spirit and with proportionate humility noted and learned by ourselves. It is, indeed, a chapter of biography which brings again to our lips the reproving and stirring question of the apostle, “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?’ and which reminds us also of language of far lower inspiration (Keble’s ‘Christian Year:’ Eighth Sunday after Trinity)

“The grey-haired saint may fail at last,
The surest guide a wanderer prove;

Death only binds us fast
To the bright shore of love.”

Among all uncertainties, mournful is the certainty of human uncertainty, and necessary the prolongation of human probation to the extreme limit of life. Let us listen with fresh veneration to the just expression of the virtual beatitude of final perseverance, as pronounced by the lips of Jesus Christ himself, “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.” Side by side with the broad lesson of human fickleness and liability in the very end to fall, there seem to be peculiarities attending the present history which may yield something to careful notice and analysis, which are replete indeed with instruction, and with the finer of the suggestions of caution and warning. Thus, for instance

I. THAT ASA WAS WICKED AND TEMPTED TO DEFECTION WAS PROBABLY LARGELY DUE TO THE CLOSENESS OF THE PRESSURE OF APPREHENSION IN A DOUBLE SENSE. Family quarrels are, to a proverb, the bitterest. The foe, the competing king, the dissentient people, were abiding neighboursnay, of one and the same house, though that a house divided against itself. All this, no doubt, should have had exactly the contrary effect, but did not. As in great stress of illness, and under great pressure of mortal apprehension brought close home, men will often resort to the trial of remedies, and flee to medical aid they had been the first to disdain and the loudest to condemn under milder and less domestic circumstances, so, strange though it were, the subtle influence worked upon Asa, which was powerless to delude him when it was Zerah of Ethiopia, and not Baasha of Israel, who was the confronting enemy.

II. CONVERSELY, ASA WAS PROBABLY DELUDED INTO SUPPOSING THAT THE NEARER DANGER FROM THE NEARER FOE AND NEIGHBOUR FOE, WAS A DANGER HE COULD BETTER COPE WITH BY HIS OWN UNAIDED RESOURCES, HIS OWN SUPPOSED WISDOMS AND HIS OWN SUFFICIENT DIPLOMACY. It is too true that the more distant enemy we are prone to fear more than the enemy, who is really tenfold dangerous because he u Be near us, and very probably has this great and subtle consequent advantage, that he knows us and our weak points better than we know them or know ourselves. There is oven such a thing as the Church having greater zeal for the heathen far off than for those worse heathen (and more to be pitied for themselves) who are dread corrosion and canker to the whole body politic at home. It means that men have greater fear of the enemy at a distance than of the serpent in their own bosom! Even Christian men am unconsciously the victims of such beguilement. Distance lends enchantment sometimes; distance lends large-looming apprehension sometimes. But in the matter of our enemy sin, it is ever one thing that constitutes our chiefest dangerits nearness; the great risk of our overlooking it, because of familiarity with its countenance; of our trifling with it, because we underrate its power to hurt; and of our flattering ourselves that we must be a match for so near a neighbour.

III. ASA IN AN EVIL MOMENT FALLS BACK UPON A MISCHIEVOUS MEMORY OF A FATHER‘S ERROR INSTEAD OF A HOLY MEMORY OF A FATHER‘S EXCELLENCE. He recalls his father’s league with the King of Syria to copy it, and adopt it, and furbish up afresh its dishonourable conditions. He relies on that king, and forgets to “rely on the Lord his God,” who had but so lately shown him such wonderful deliverance. He relies on that King of Syria, and gets his work done apparently; but it was done also but very partially, very slightly, very temporarily, and at this immense penalty that “the host of that King of Syria would escape out of his hand;” the meaning of which sentence was only too plain, taught by too many an analogy. The help God gives he does give. The help we buy of sin, of guilty compromise, of doubtful friendship, we buy dear often to begin with; but before we have done with our bargain, we find it dear indeed, wastefully dear, exhaustingly dear, ruinously dear!

IV. ASA BOUGHT HIS HELP AT GRIEVOUS AND SACRILEGIOUS EXPENDITURE. The things he should have kept for God, his people, and his temple and its worship, he takes from them.

V. ASA LOST ALL COMMAND OVER HIMSELF. He is wroth with the faithful seer; he was “in a rage” with him for “this very thing,” that he was faithful; he imprisons him, because he cannot imprison the truth; “and oppresses some of the people at the same time.” All went wrong with him, for all was wrong in him. Disease, exceeding great, overtakes him; but he had lost moral force, for even then “he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.” A long life and a very long reign close under the cloud. These had been good in him; and though he dies an unhonoured death, he goes to a not unhonoured burial and sepulchre; but they were what “he had made for himself,” and the fragrance and perfume of which were “of the apothecaries’ art”!

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON

2Ch 16:1-6

Preferable things.

This cannot be counted among the estimable acts of Asa; we could wish that he had adopted other means for repelling the attack of Baashameans more worthy of himself as a servant of Jehovah. The abstraction of the gold and silver from the treasury of the house of the Lord may speak to us of the preferableness of

I. ACQUISITION THAT WE CANNOT LOSE. The custodians of the temple no doubt rejoiced when Asa “brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels” (2Ch 15:18). But it was not many years before they endured the mortification of seeing these valuable things carried out again to enrich the foreignerpossibly to be taken to one of his temples. No great acquisition was this. The temple at Jerusalem was more truly blessed by the genuine prayers and praises and sacrifices offered within,; its precincts, albeit there was nothing left of them that the eye of man could see or his hand could finger. And what are our best, our real possessions? Not the gold and silver, the vessels and the jewels of which the thief may rob us, or some revolution in the market may deprive us; they are the knowledge, the wisdom, the purer tastes and appreciations, the higher and more ennobling affectionsthe treasures of the spirit, which “no thief can break through and steal,” which are not dependent upon the chances of commerce, or the conflicts of armies, or the passage of time.

II. SERVICE THAT CANNOT BE RECALLED. Of little use, indeed, to the temple at Jerusalem was the treasure which Asa first carried in and then “brought out.” Of comparatively little service to our friends and neighbours is the temporary service we render themthe money which we require again soon, the favour which is to be “returned,” the “friendship” which the first small misunderstanding will disturb and perhaps dissolve. But there are services which, once rendered, cannot be recalled, cannot be “brought out” of the treasury, under any change of mood or circumstanceknowledge, and the power which it imparts for all the after-duty and struggle of life; counsel, which guided the feet through some labyrinth of difficulty and led them into “a large room;” comfort, which sustained the spirit in darkest and most dangerous hours, delivering from despair, restoring to equanimity and hope; influence, gently and graciously constraining the soul to enter “the kingdom which cannot be moved,” within whose blessed boundaries are found present peace and immortal joy. Live to do good which cannot be undone; to impart that which no mortal hand can take back again; to confer that gift which is secure for ever.

III. A FEARLESS FAITH RATHER THAN A DUBIOUS EXPEDIENCY. It is true that Asa achieved a certain triumph; his plan succeededfor the time. He bought Benhadad’s help with this consecrated treasure, and obliged Baasha to retire, leaving some spoil behind him (2Ch 16:4-6). But might he not have succeeded in another way and by worthier means. If he had committed his cause, his country’s security, to the strength and faithfulness of his God, would he not have prevailed at least as well as he did by taking consecrated wealth out of the temple of Jehovah? Would not he who delivered the vast hordes of the Ethiopians into his hands (2Ch 14:12) have saved him from the designs of Baasha? (see 2Ch 16:7, 2Ch 16:8). And would he not have prospered in that way, without having this act of violation on his conscience, without having this blot upon his record? A fearless faith in God is better than recourse to a doubtful expediency. The latter very often fails to accomplish the purpose in hand; and it always does some injury to the character, lowering the standard of behaviour, and leaving some blemish on the life. Take the higher road in the journey of lifethe way of perfect uprightness, of simple, childlike trust in God. That is the path which leads to true success; even if there should be present apparent defeat, it is sure to conduct to a glorious victory in the end.C.

2Ch 16:9

Divine observation and interposition.

Hanani the seer was evidently a man who was not only bold and brave enough to confront the king with a rebuke, but he was one who had a keen sense of the near presence and power of the Lord “before whom he stood.” We may very well believe that it was the latter which explained the former. Let us heed his doctrine while we admire his fidelity.

I. GOD‘S ACTIVE OBSERVANCE OF INDIVIDUAL MEN. These vigorous words (of the text) indicate the prophet’s belief that God was observing men everywhere, was actively observing them “run to and fro,” and was drawing distinctions between the life of one man and another. God’s particular and individual observation has been, not unnaturally, objected to on the ground of our human littleness. How can we expect, how can we believe, that the Eternal One would concern himself with the doings or negligences of creatures so remote, so unimportant, so infinitesimally minute as we are? Surely, it is said, such consideration is beneath him. But there are two thoughts which meet this objection and correct this conclusion.

1. The infinitude of God. For that includes the infinitely small as well as the infinitely great; it is a distinct denial of this attribute of God, for it is a limitation of his infinity, to maintain that there is one direction to which his power and action do not extend. The infinitude of God positively requires us to believe that he is observant of the hearts and lives of individual men.

2. The fatherhood of God. Granted that our human spirits are nearly allied to him, share his own likeness, stand in conscious relation to him; are capable of loving, serving, following him; can live on earth the life he lives in heaven, are this and do this in such sense and degree that we can be rightly called and considered his sons and daughters,and there is no more objection to be taken. Shall not the Divine Father of his human family take particular notice of each one of his children? What fatherhood is that which considers his own child to be unworthy of his notice?

II. THE DISTINCTIONS HE DRAWS BETWEEN THEM.

1. He divides all men into two classesthe evil and the good (see Pro 15:3); between those “who fear him and those who fear him not;” between those “who are righteous” and those who “do evil” (see Psa 34:15, Psa 34:16).

2. He divides the good into two classesthe imperfectly and the perfectly devoted. There are those who seek not the Lord “with their whole heart,” and those who do thus seek him; those whose “heart is not perfect,” and those whose “heart is perfect” toward him. This distinction is not absolute. The less devoted of the servants of God have their better hours and their nobler impulses; while the more devoted have their lapses and their blemishes. Asa “did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord” (2Ch 14:2); he and his people “sought the Lord with all their heart and with all their soul” (2Ch 15:12); yet here we find him erring, lacking confidence in God, and “going down” to Syria for help. But taking this into account, it remains true that God distinguishes clearly between those of his servants who are but faint-hearted and feeble in his service, and those who give themselves to him “with their whole desire.” Let there be so thorough and so complete a dedication of ourselves, of our powers and of our resources and of our time, to the Person and the cause of our Divine Saviour, that we shall be counted by him among those “whose heart is perfect toward him.” We may attain to this, although we may have much still to learn and to acquire as his disciples (see Php 3:12-15).

III. HIS INTERPOSITION ON OUR BEHALF. God would certainly have interposed on behalf of Asa, would have “shown himself strong” in his behalf. He would, said Hanani, have given him a far greater success than that which he attained by his gifts and negotiations with Benhadad (2Ch 16:7). God always succours his faithful ones.

1. He may deliver them from their distress; as he had delivered Ass already, and did afterwards deliver Hezekiah. He may give us the victory over our enemies from withoutover bodily ill, over opposing circumstances; he may cause us to triumph as “men count” triumph.

2. Or he may grant us deliverance in our distress; he may grant us such spiritual elevation that we shall “glory in our infirmity,” shall “rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer,” shall bear the noble testimony of perfect contentment with the inferior position (Joh 3:29); and thus (literally) “show himself strong in those whose heart is devoted to him’ (Keil’s translation).C.

2Ch 16:10-14

Lessons from last years.

We could well wish the account of the last days of Asa to have been different from what it is. Sombre clouds, casting a chill shadow, gathered in the evening sky. Not that there was actual defection, but there was an amount of infirmity that detracts from the honour which his earlier years had laid up for him. We cannot help feeling

I. THAT AGE IS NOT ALWAYS AS VENERABLE AS IT SHOULD BE; not even a “good old age;” not even Christian old age. Having enjoyed so much of privilege, and having passed through so much discipline, it ought to exemplify the lessons it has had opportunity to learnit ought to be calm, pure, steadfast, reverent, godly, pervaded with a Christian spirit. But it is not always thus. Men may be always learning, but never wise; men may pass through a very forest of privileges and of opportunities, and never pluck any fruit from its trees. And if we do not gather the good which is to be gained as we go on our way through life, we shall sink into an old age in which we have attained nothing and lost much. We must see to it that we do grow as we live; that we are laying up a store of wisdom and of worth that will make old age honourable and beloved. It is sometimes bare and unbeautiful enough; but it may “still bring forth fruit,” and be fair to see as it stands in the garden of the Lord.

II. THAT ONE FALSE STEP IS VERY LIKELY TO LEAD TO ANOTHER. Asa, having made the serious mistake of resorting to the Syrian king instead of trusting in the Lord, now violently resents the rebuke of the prophet of Jehovah; and he even proceeds to an act of positive persecution; and, having gone thus far, he goes yet further by some acts of severity, probably directed against those who sympathized with the imprisoned prophet. Thus wrong leads to wrong, sin to sin. It is the constant course of things. Equivocation leads to falsehood; impurity of thought to indelicacy of speech and licentiousness of action; sternness of spirit to cruelty of conduct; irregularity in worship to ungodliness, etc. And not only does faultiness commonly lead to sin in the same direction, but, as in this case, it often leads to wrong-doing in another direction. When the heart is led astray from God, and his will is disregarded in one thing, it is only too likely that that holy will will be defied in another thing. We may well shun the first wrong step, for we have no conception of the consequences it may entail. A wrong act, and still more a wrong courser leaves the heart exposed to the designs of the enemy; it is often found to be the first of a series.

III. THAT RECTITUDE IS PARTLY, EVEN LARGELY, A MATTER OF PROPORTION. (2Ch 16:12.) Asa rightly enough consulted his physicians and leaned on their professional skill; he was wrong in placing too implicit and too great a reliance upon them; he did not remember, as he should have done, that all human means avail nothing without the blessing of God. He had not enough of the spirit of the psalmist in him (Psa 33:17-21). To trust in God and to neglect the various sources of health and strength he offers usthis is a foolish fanaticism which will bear its penalty in suffering and weakness. To resort to human science and to trust it, forgetful of the truth that we can do nothing at all independently of the Divine powerthis is impiety. True godliness is found in a wise admixture, a true proportion, of diligence and devotion, of self-reliance and self-surrender, of accepting the help of man and looking for the blessing of God.

IV. THAT WE SHOULD JUDGE OUR CONTEMPORARIES, NOT BY THE LAST THING THEY DID, BUT BY ALL THAT THEY WERE. His subjects, when he died, did not remember against him the infirmities of his last days; they considered what had been his character and his course all through his long reign, and “they made a very great burning for him” (2Ch 16:14). Here they were right. Whether they be of the living or the departed, we should not judge our fellow men by one or two exceptional acts, which may be unlike them and unworthy of them; but by the spirit of their life, by the principles by which they were guided throughout, by the character they built up.C.

HOMILIES BY T. WHITELAW

2Ch 16:1-6

A king’s (Asa’s) mistake.

I. WHEN IT HAPPENED. “In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa” (2Ch 16:1).

1. An obvious error. Baasha ascended the throne of Israel in Asa’s third year (1Ki 15:33), and died in his twenty-sixth (1Ki 16:8). Yet it follows not that this blunder was in the original text. Most likely it crept in through transcription. The existence of such mistakes is not fatal to the claim of Scripture to be regarded as inspired.

2. A probable solution. Different explanations have been given.

(1) The thirty-six years of 2Ch 16:1 should be reckoned from the separation of the kingdoms (Usher, Jamieson); but against this stands the fact that the thirty-six years are stated to have belonged to the reign of Asa, while the assertion that no war occurred in Judah for thirty-five years after its commencement as a separate kingdom is incorrect (2Ch 13:2).

(2) In 2Ch 15:19, instead of “thirty-five” should be read “five,” and in 2Ch 16:1, instead of “thirty-six” should be inserted “six” (Vaihinger in Herzog, Thenius, Bahr). Thus the war with Zerah would be later than the attack of Baasha, though reported before it; and the connection of the verses would be, “There was no war unto the fifth year of the reign of Asa; but in the sixth year Baasha came up.” This shatters itself upon the two facts that Asa’s reign began with ten years of quiet (2Ch 14:1), and that Zerah’s invasion must have been before Baasha’s attack (2Ch 16:8). To be sure, as numbers are being altered generally, the “ten” of 2Ch 14:1 might be changed into “five;” but Hanani, in 2Ch 16:8, could hardly speak of the Ethiopian invasion as an historical fact if it had not then taken place.

(3) The six and thirtieth year should be the five and twentieth (Adam Clarke). In favour of this may be urged that it is a fair guess.

(4) The text should be “in the sixteenth year of the reign of Asa” (Bertheau, Keil, Ewald, Kleinert in Riehm). The chronology of Asa’s reign would thus run:

(a) Ten years of quiet (2Ch 14:1), in the third of which Baasha usurps the supreme authority in Israel (1Ki 15:33);

(b) the invasion of Zerah (2Ch 14:9) between the tenth and fifteenth years, probably in the fourteenth;

(c) the national covenant in the fifteenth year (2Ch 15:10);

(d) in the sixteenth the threatening advance of Baasha (2Ch 16:1).

The statement that Judah was exempt from war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa (2Ch 15:19) may be harmonized with that in 1Ki 15:16, 1Ki 15:32, that “there was war between Asa and Baasha King of Israel all their days,” by assuming that there was latent hostility between the two kingdoms from the first, but no outbreak of war until Asa’s thirty-fifth year (Keil)the attack here recorded not having culminated in any collision between the two powers on the field of battle, the work of causing Baasha to withdraw having been entrusted to Benhadad.

II. HOW IT WAS OCCASIONED. By Baasha’s advance against Judah (1Ki 15:1).

1. The history of Baasha. The son of Ahijah, of the house of Issacharnot of Ahijah the prophet, who was an Ephraimite of Shiloh (1Ki 11:29)Baasha appears to have been originally a person of obscure station, though he afterwards rose to be a captain in the army of Nadab, Jeroboam’s son, as Zimri subsequently was in that of Elah, Baasha’s son (1Ki 16:9). During the siege of Gibbethon he conspired against his master, smote him and usurped his throne. Not content with this, he put the whole house of Jeroboam to the swordan act of cruelty which rebounded on himself and his house (1Ki 16:12). In the twelfth year of his reign he formed the plan here narrated for inflicting a blow upon Judah and Asa.

2. The character of Baasha. More than likely a soldier of distinguished bravery (1Ki 16:5), he was little other than a monster of cruelty (1Ki 15:29)two qualities not often allied. The true hero is seldom cruel; the cruel man is seldom brave. A faithful follower of Jeroboam in the matter of religion, he was an ardent idolater and a persistent corrupter of the people (1Ki 16:2).

3. The project of Baasha. To fortify Ramah, the modern Er-Ram, in Benjamin (Jos 18:25; Jdg 19:3), about five miles north of Jerusalem. This town, which properly belonged to Judahnot to Israel (Bahr, Bertheau)but which Abijah had taken from Jeroboam (1Ki 13:19), Baasha had not previously conquered (Ewald), but at that time seized. His object probably was

(1) to cut off all traffic between the kingdomsin fact, blockade Jerusalemthat the southern kingdom might be forced to capitulate (Ewald, Bahr);

(2) to prevent alliance between Judah and any power north of Israel (Bertheau); and

(3) to obtain a footing within the territory of Judah as a basis for future operations (Josephus).

III. IN WHAT IT CONSISTED. In three things.

1. Not repairing to Jehovah for assistance against Baasha, as he had formerly done against Zerah (2Ch 14:11). Perhaps he deemed Baasha a more manageable opponent than the Ethiopian leader had beenan adversary that might be coped with successfully by his own craft, without calling in the battalions of Jehovah. Or, his preceding prosperity may have been his ruin, and this may have been the turning-point on that downward path of spiritual degeneracy which he pursued until he died. On any supposition it was an act of unbelief, and as such a sin; and, considering the success of his former application to Jehovah, an act of folly, and therefore a blunder as well as a sin. This he afterwards learnt from Hanani (1Ki 15:9).

2. Seeking a league with Benhadad of Syria. (1Ki 15:2.) This Benhadad, or son of Ader (LXX.)in the Assyrian inscriptions Bin-hidri, the son of Hadar, the supreme divinity of Damascuswas the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, the King of Syria (1Ki 15:18). Damascus, his capitalin Hebrew Dammesek, in Assyrian Dimaski and Dimmaska, in Arabic Dimesch-eseh-Schdm, or shortly, esch-Schamhad been a town in the days of Abraham (Gen 14:15; Gen 15:2), and is still one of the few towns of antiquity that have never lost their primitive splendour and renown. It has been styled “the pearl of the Orient, the beautiful as Eden, the fragrant Paradise, the plumage of the Paradise peacock, the coloured collar of the ring-dove, the necklace of beauty, the door of Caaba, the eye of the East, the Eden of the Moslem,” with other such hyperbolical expressions. Its king was at this time in league with Baasha, who hoped with his assistance to subdue the southern kingdom. He was thus an enemy to Judah, as his predecessor Rezon had been to the united empire (1Ki 11:25); and Asa might have reasoned, that not much help of a genuine kind could be obtained from him, least of all by such a stratagem as that adopted.

3. Resorting to bribery in order to gain his end. Those who use dishonourable methods to procure any advantage generally overestimate the advantage they are willing in this way to buy; and, as a consequence, discover in the long run they have been miserably duped. Even had Asa not been at fault in the value he put upon Benhadad’s alliance, the means he took to gain it were bad. The argument addressed to Baasha should never have been employed by Asa. The league of Abijah with Tabrimon should never have existed to lend countenance to the proposed league between Asa and Benhadad. But bad actions once done are easily repeated by the doers of them, and imitated by the children of those doers; while children find less difficulty in copying the evil than in following the good examples of their parents. Then Asa, while justified in attempting to dissolve the league between Benhadad and Baasha, should not have resorted to bribery. “A gift destroyeth the heart” (Ecc 7:7) of him that gives as of him that receives it. Far less for such an unhallowed purpose should he have robbed the temple, even if it had been permissible to displenish the palace. But not even “the treasures of the palace” should have been employed in dishonourable schemes (the secret-service money of modern governments falls under this condemnation); and much less “the treasures of the Lord’s house.” Upon the gold and silver of both Church and state should be inscribed, “Holiness unto the Lord,”

IV. TO WHAT IT CONDUCTED. Seeming success. Wicked schemes often appear to prosper for a season (Psa 37:1; Psa 92:7). Three things resulted from Asa’s statecraft.

1. Benhadad accepted the bribe. (1Ki 15:4.) The golden and silvern keys of mammon can unlock the doors of most hearts. Great grace is needed to resist the power of money. “Wealth maketh many friends,” and “every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts” (Pro 19:4, Pro 19:6). Sometimes others besides wicked persons are guilty of “taking gifts out of their bosom” (Pro 17:23). Asa’s present was too much for Benhadad’s virtue. The King of Syria deserted his ally, the King of Israeli for the King of Judah, as he would by-and-by desert the King of Judah for the next highest bidder. Nor did he merely not assist Baasha, maintaining as it were an attitude of armed neutrality between the hostile powers, but he treacherously “sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali” (see Exposition). Bad as Baasha was, and infamous as was his project, the character and conduct of Benhadad were equally reprehensible and offensive. But it is no part of wicked men’s creed that they should change not when they swear to their own hurt (Psa 14:4), or that they should keep faith with one another longer than appears for their advantage so to do. Modern kings and statesmen are sometimes charged with acting on similar lines in the making and the breaking of treaties. If the charge is true, it is not to their credit, and must ultimately turn to their people’s hurt.

2. Baasha desisted from his fortifications. He left off building Ramah, and allowed his work to cease (1Ki 15:5). Had Baasha been engaged upon a good work, upon God’s work, the falling away of Benhadad would have mattered nothing; but being a wicked man himself, and occupied with a wicked enterprise, when the prop which supported him fell, he also was precipitated to the ground. When creature-arms fail the saints, the saints lean the heavier on the Almighty Arm; when wicked men are deprived of that in which they trust, they have nothing else to trust to.

3. Asa despoiled Bamah, and turned its stones and timber to his own use. He built therewith Geba and Mizpah (1Ki 15:6); i.e. he fortified them. Both were in Benjamin, the former two miles and a half north of Ramah, on the road to Michmash; the latter, thirteen miles and a half from Ramah, on the north road from Jerusalem. Thus what Baasha had collected for the injury, Asa employed in the defence, of Judah. So believers may legitimately use the arguments and learning of heretics and unbelievers to establish the truth which these seek to overthrow (Bossuet). Again. whereas Baasha intended to despoil Judah, he was himself despoiled by both Benhadad (1Ki 15:4) and Asa (1Ki 15:6). Mischief-makers often find their mischief return upon their own heads, and violent dealers see their violence descend upon their own patens (Psa 7:15, Psa 7:16; Pro 26:27; Mat 7:2).

Lessons.

1. The lust of acquiring the true parent of war (Jas 4:1, Jas 4:2).

2. The wickedness of bribery (Pro 17:23)

3. The certainty of retribution (Num 32:23; Gal 6:7).

4. The baseness of treachery (Pro 25:19; Pro 27:6; Oba 1:7).W.

2Ch 16:7-10

The king and the prophet.

I. THE PROPHET‘S MESSAGE TO THE KING. (2Ch 16:7-9.)

1. The prophet‘s name. Hanani, “Favourable” (Gesenius); otherwise unknown, though conjectured to be the father of “Jehu the son of Hanani,” who announced to Baasha the ruin of his house (1Ki 16:1), and afterwards appeared at the court of Jehoshaphat (2Ch 19:2), having probably been obliged to flee from the northern kingdom on account of his ill-omened communication.

(1) This was the second time God had sent a prophet to Asa. God usually gives to men “line upon line, and precept upon precept” (Isa 28:10).

(2) This was a second prophet God had sent to Asa. God has no lack of messengers to run upon his errands. When a word wants speaking to the Church or to the state, he can always find the man to speak it (Psa 68:11).

(3) The message God sent by Hanani was different from that sent by Azariah. That was a word of counsel; this, of rebuke. God always suits his communications to the needs of his hearers. “Every Scripture inspired by God is profitable,” etc. (2Ti 3:16).

(4) Those who serve God faithfully as his messengers are sure to find ample remuneration. Because of this mission well executed, Hanani has obtained a posthumous renown, which will carry his name throughout the world and to the end of time.

2. The prophet‘s sermon.

(1) A great opportunity lost, with the reason of it. The Syrians might have been crushed, whereas they had escaped, because, instead of relying on Jehovah, he, Asa, had relied upon Benhadad (verse 7). Compare Elisha’s language to Joash of Israel (2Ki 13:19). Nothing commoner than for men to be blind to their own best interests; to be neglectful of the opportunities Providence sets before them for advancing these; and to call in the aid of enemies rather than of friendsof their worst enemy, the devil, rather than of their best friend, Jehovahwhen they find themselves placed in some critical situation.

(2) A great victory recalled, with the secret of it. The mighty host of the Ethiopians and the Libyans had been defeated; their horsemen and chariots routed by Judah’s spearmen and bowmen, and that, as Asa knew, not by their own prowess or by his generalship, but because, in answer to prayer, Jehovah had entered the field upon his side (verse 8). It is strange how easily and quickly men forget Divine interpositions on their behalf, and how readily, almost how naturally, they put these to their own credit rather than to God’s. “Time hath, my lord, a wallet on his back” (Shakespeare, ‘Troilus and Cressida,’ act 3. sc. 3). No example better to be followed by a Christian than that of David (Psa 103:2). A good memory would often save a Christian from foolish blunders.

(3) A great doctrine stated, with the lesson of it. Asa should have known that the eyes of the Lord were ever running to and fro throughout the earth, to show himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts were perfect before him, and that all he had to do was to see that his heart was perfect before God, and to show the same by trusting in him (verse 9). See homily on “The eyes of the Lord.”

(4) A great sin committed, with the disastrous result of it. In turning his back upon Jehovah and repairing to Benhadad, he, Asa, had acted foolishly (verse 9). He had not only blundered, perpetrated an error in judgment, but done what was inherently wicked; and, as a consequence both of his blunder and of his sin, he “would have wars”which he had in the continued hostility of the northern kingdom. Observe the double aspect of sin, as an act of folly and a deed of wickedness, and the double aspect of retribution, as at once the natural outcome or result of human folly and the positive infliction of a judicial sentence.

II. THE KING‘S ANSWER TO THE PROPHET. (Verse 10.)

1. He was angry with the prophet. Good men as well as bad may fall into danger, but in both it is sin. If Asa’s “heart was perfect all his days,” it is clear his life was not. He was “wroth with the seer.” Anger is a work of the flesh (Gal 5:20), the passion of a foolish heart (Ecc 7:9), and the foam of an unbridled tongue (Pro 25:28; Hos 7:16). Outrageous in any (Pro 27:4), it is unbecoming in all, but especially in kings, and not allowable in Christians (Col 3:8). Asa was angry with Hanani because Hanani told him of his fault. Even good men require large grace before they can say, “Let the righteous smite me,” etc. (Psa 141:5). Yet the rebukes of the righteous should be received submissively (Le 19:17) and with grateful affection (Pro 9:8). He who so welcomes them shall be honoured (Pro 13:18); get understanding (Pro 15:32); exhibit prudence (Pro 15:5); and abide among the wise (Pro 15:31).

2. He put the prophet in a prison-house; literally, “in a house of stocks,” the “stock“ being “an instrument of torture, by which the body was forced into an unnatural, twisted position, the victim, perhaps, being bent double, with the hands and feet fastened together” (Keil). Into some such place of confinement Jeremiah was thrust Jer 20:2; cf. Jer 29:26), and Paul and Silas (Act 16:24). “The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion” (Pro 19:12). If, in Hanani’s case, it did not turn out “messengers of death” (Pro 16:14), it was because Asa was at bottom a good man, whose hand as well as heart were in the keeping of the Lord (Psa 76:10).

3. He oppressed those who took the prophet‘s side. These were, doubtless, the pious section of the people who had not approved of the Syrian alliance. It is seldom that a wicked policy can be entered on by kings or parliaments (at least in a Christian land) without some voice or voices being raised against it. Unhappily, these have often to share obloquy and oppression, as Hanani’s supporters did. Yet nothing is more calamitous for a country than to see the best people in it persecuted by its rulers for protesting against their crooked ways. When a policy cannot be defended or carried through without imprisoning those who are opposed to it, that policy is wrong!

LESSONS.

1. The certainty that God sees everything that is done beneath the sun.
2. The goodness of God in reproving wrong-doers.
3. The folly of leaning upon an arm of flesh instead of upon God.
4. The source of all ca]amity among men, viz. sin.
5. The sign of an evil conscienceanger against an accuser.
6. The uselessness of force as a remedy for evils of any kind.
7. The courage required of them who would champion the cause of truth and right.W.

2Ch 16:9

The eyes of the Lord

I. A MOMENTOUS DECLARATION. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” The words teach the doctrines of:

1. The Divine omniscience; since “the eyes of the Lord” not only see to the ends of the earth, and “run to and fro throughout the earth,” but are in every place at the same time.

2. The Divine vigilance; since God not merely knows all that transpires on the earth and beneath the heavens, but, as it were, lies in wait to discover opportunities for interposing on his people’s behalf. Contrast with this exalted doctrine the teaching of the ‘Odyssey’: “The gods, in the likeness of strangers from far countries, put on all manner of shapes, and wander through the cities, beholding the violence and the righteousness of men.”

II. A CHEERING CONSOLATION. “To show himself strong on behalf of them whose hearts are perfect towards him.” The object of the Divine interposition is not so much to punish and destroy the wicked, although that is indirectly implied, as it is to rescue and succour his people.

1. In times of danger; like that of Israel at the Red Sea (Exo 14:15-30), or that of Asa on the field of Zephathah (2Ch 14:12), or that of Judah when the army of Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem (2Ki 19:35), or that of David when pursued by Saul (Psa 18:17), or that of Elisha, in Dothan (2Ki 6:17), or that of Daniel in Babylon (Dan 6:22).

2. In seasons of affliction; such as befell the Israelites in Egypt (Exo 2:23-25), and the Jews in Babylon (Ezr 1:1); such as overtook Jacob in Hebron (Gen 37:34; Gen 45:28), Job in Uz (Job 1:1-22; Job 2:1-13; Job 3:1-26; Job 42:1-17.), David in Jerusalem (Psa 6:8), and the Hebrew children in Babylon (Dan 3:25).

3. In moments of trial; which oftentimes come upon his people as they came upon Abraham (Gen 22:11), Joseph (Gen 38:12), David (1Sa 26:9), and Job (Job 2:9), and in which God’s people could hardly hope to stand without Divine assistance.

III. A SEARCHING APPLICATION. Have we those perfect hearts to whom this Divine succour is promised?

1. This means notAre we sinless? Noah was “perfect” Gen 6:9), and yet “he drank of the wine, and was drunken” (Gen 9:21); Job was “perfect“ (Job 1:1), and yet God charged him with offences which caused Job to say, “Behold, I am vile” (Job 40:4); David’s heart was “perfect“ (1Ki 11:4), yet David was guilty of grievous sins (2Sa 11:4); Asa’s heart also was “perfect‘ (2Ch 15:17), and yet Asa went astray in the war with Baasha (verse 2). In the New Testament the Corinthians are designated “perfect“ (1Co 2:6), and yet some of them were so far from sinlessness that they committed very gross offences against morality (1Co 5:1; 1Co 6:1).

2. This meansAre we sincere in our profession of religion? Where sincerity is wanting, religion is impossible. Nothing more reprehensible in itself, or more offensive to both God and man, than hypocrisypretending to be a servant of God when one is really a slave of Satan; to be a lover of righteousness when one is secretly a doer of unrighteousness. Scripture in both its parts pronounces woe against hypocrites (Job 8:13; Job 15:34; Mat 23:13; Luk 11:44).W.

2Ch 16:11-14

The career of Asa.

I. HIS LIFE.

1. The length of his reign. Forty-one years. His father, whose “heart was not perfect” towards God (1Ki 15:3), reigned only three years (2Ch 13:3). The Old Testament promised long life as a reward to piety (Psa 34:12-14). But, even without a special promise, a religious life is calculated to prolong days. “Fear God, and keep his commandments,” is the first rule of health.

2. The incidents of his reign.

(1) The reformation of religion (2Ch 14:3).

(2) The building of fortresses (2Ch 14:6).

(3) The preparation of an army (2Ch 14:8).

(4) The defeat of Zerah the Ethiopian (2Ch 14:9).

(5) The formation of a grand national covenant (2Ch 15:8).

(6) The making of a league with Benhadad (2Ch 16:1).

(7) The oppression of his people (2Ch 16:10).

3. The character of his reign.

(1) Peaceful. It began with ten years of quiet (2Ch 14:1); and, with the two exceptions above specified, it had no more hostile invasions to repel.

(2) Prosperous. Since the days of Solomon the kingdom had not attained to such a pinnacle of excellenceof material strength and religious consolidationas it did under the son of Abijah.

II. HIS DEATH.

1. The date of it. In the forty-first year of his reign; most likely he was over sixty at the time of his decease.

2. The cause of it. Twofold.

(1) Disease, Two years before his end he became diseased exceedingly in his feet; probably with gout (Clarke, Jamiesen). Whatever its nature, it was fatal. Disease a sure precursor of death, of which every ailment should be a monitor.

(2) Unbelief. Had he consulted Jehovah about his malady (the Chronicler suggests), he might have been cured; but, as in repelling Baasha’s attack he relied more on Benhadad than on Jehovah, so in his illness he repaired to the physicians instead of to Jehovah. To infer from this that Asa sinned in consulting a doctor, and that Christians should abstain from calling in medical advisers when out of health, is unreasonable. Asa’s error lay, not in consulting the physicians, but in reposing trust in them to the exclusion of the Lord; and, as Paul took Luke the physician with him on his missionary journeys (Col 4:14; 2Ti 4:11), it may be argued that he at least did not regard it as inconsistent with religious principle to either give or accept medical advice. Still, what the doctors could not do for Asa, Jehovah could have done had he been consulted (Exo 15:26; Psa 103:3); so that unbelief was a real cause of Asa’s death. Perhaps it is the cause of many deaths still. Without hinting that many practitioners are no better than those of whom the Gospels tell (Mar 5:26; Luk 8:43), it is still true that physicians cannot cure without the Divine blessing; and, doubtless, in cases that is withheld, because it is not asked either by the physician or his patient.

III. HIS BURIAL.

1. The place of his sepulture. The city of David, where his fathers slept (1Ki 15:24), yet not in the general tomb of the kings, but in “his own sepulchres;” in a tomb he had specially caused to be excavated for himself (verse 14). Joseph of Arimathaea hewed out a tomb for himself (Luk 23:53). The first thing a Pharaoh of Egypt did on ascending the throne was to construct for himself and descendants a royal mausoleum.

2. The manner of his entombment.

(1) His corpse was embalmed. The bed on which it was laid was filled with sweet odours and spices of divers kinds, prepared by the apothecaries’ art. Strictly speaking, this was only an imitation of the Egyptian practice (Keil, ‘Archaologie,’ 115; Riehm, art. “Begrianis”). Compare the embalmments of Jacob (Gen 50:2) and of Jesus (Joh 19:39, Joh 19:40).

(2) A very great burning was made for him. This burning was not of the body (A. Clarke), which, among the Hebrews, was commonly interredthe burning of the bodies of Saul and his sons (1Sa 31:12) being exceptionalbut of the prepared spices. Other nations practised similar rites at the funerals of kings. Jehoram (2Ch 21:19) and Jehoiakim (Jer 22:18), on account of their wickedness, were denied such honours; Zedekiah was promised them (Jer 34:5), perhaps, on account of his misfortunes.

IV. HIS CHARACTER.

1. A good man. His heart was perfect (2Ch 15:7; 1Ki 15:14), if his life was not (2Ch 16:10). The general tenor of his conduct was upright, though he erred somewhat towards the close of his career. “It was thought a high eulogy on Jehoshaphat his son that he walked in all the way of his father” (Rawlinson); while the honours paid Asa on dying showed that his countrymen esteemed him to have been an honourable prince. His “faults and follies” may suggest that no man is perfect, and that “in many things we all offend.”

2. An ardent reformer. He removed the altars and the high places of the strange gods or foreign divinities (2Ch 14:3), though he left standing those belonging to Jehovah (2Ch 15:17; 1Ki 15:14). He “commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers” (2Ch 14:4), and bound mere by a solemn league and covenant so to do (2Ch 15:14), though he himself, in old age, declined a little from his early faith (2Ch 16:2, 2Ch 16:12).

3. A valiant soldier. That with his piety he combined courage, his encounter with Zerah the Ethiopian evinced. If he was genuinely good, he was also conspicuously great.W.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

2Ch 16:1. In the six-and-thirtieth year of the reign In the twenty-sixth year; Houbigant: for Baasha died in the twenty-sixth year of Asa.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

b. Abijah.Ch. 13

2Ch 13:1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. 2He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mothers name was Michaiah,1 daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

3And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. And Abijah began the war with an army of valiant warriors, four hundred thousand chosen men: and Jeroboam prepared war against him with eight hundred thousand chosen 4men, valiant in might. And Abijah arose on Mount Zemaraim, which is in 5Mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel. Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David 6for ever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? And Jeroboam son of Nebat, servant of Solomon son of David, arose and rebelled against his 7master. And vain men, of no account, gathered unto him, and withstood Rehoboam son of Solomon; and Rehoboam was young and weak of heart, and held not out against them. 8And now ye are saying that ye will hold out against the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and with you are golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods. 9Have ye not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests like the nations of the lands? whosoever cometh to fill his hand with a young steer and seven rams is a 10priest to them that are no gods. And we, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests that minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their business. 11And they burn unto the Lord burnt-offerings every morning and every evening, and incense of spices, and laying of bread on the pure table, and the candlestick of gold and its lamps to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the Lord our God; but ye 12have forsaken Him. And behold, with us, at our head, are God and His priests, and the clanging trumpets to sound against you: sons of Israel, fight not against the Lord God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

13And Jeroboam led round an ambush to come behind them; and they were 14before Judah, and the ambush was behind them. And Judah turned, and behold they had the battle before and behind; and they cried unto the Lord, 15and the priests sounded with the trumpets. And the men of Judah shouted; and when the men of Judah shouted, God smote Jeroboam and all Israel 16before Abijah and Judah. And the sons of Israel fled before Judah; and God gave them into their hand. 17And Abijah and his people smote them with a great slaughter; and there fell slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen 18men. And the sons of Israel were humbled at that time; and the sons of Judah prevailed, because they trusted in the Lord God of their fathers. 19And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him: Bethel and her daughters, and Jeshanah2 and her daughters, and Ephron3 and her 20daughters. And Jeroboam had no more strength in the days of Abijah; and 21the Lord smote him, and he died. And Abijah strengthened himself, and took to him fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons and sixteen daughters. 22And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his words, 23are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo. And 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.

c. Asa. The Prophets Azariah Son of Oded and Hanani.Ch. 1416

. Asas Theocratic Zeal and Care for the Defence of the Kingdom: 2Ch 14:1-7

2Ch 14:1.And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord 2his God. And he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high 3places, and brake the pillars, and cut down the Asherim. And commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the 4commandment. And he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-statues: and the kingdom was quiet before him.

5And he built fenced cities in Judah; for the land had rest, and there was 6no war with him in those days; for the Lord gave him rest. And he said to Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls and towers, gates and bars, and the land is yet before us; because we have sought the Lord our God, and He hath given us rest around: and they built and prospered. 7And Asa had an army, bearing shield and spear, out of Judah three hundred thousand, and out of Benjamin, bearing shield and drawing bow, two hundred and eighty thousand: all these were men of valour.

. Asas Victory over Zerah the Ethiopian: 2Ch 14:8-14

8And Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with a host of a thousand 9thousand, and three hundred chariots; and he came to Mareshah. And Asa went out against him, and they joined battle in the valley of Zephathah at 10Mareshah. And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, no one is nigh Thee to help with the mighty or with no might; help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude: 11O Lord, Thou art our God; no man may hold out against Thee. And the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians 12fled. And Asa, and the people that were with him, pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians fell, so that there was no recovery; for they were broken before the Lord, and before His host; and they carried off very great 13spoil. And they smote all the cities round Gerar; for the terror of the Lord 14was upon them. And they smote also the tents of cattle, and took sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.

. The Prophetic Warning of Azariah Son of Oded: 2Ch 15:1-7

2Ch 15:1-2.And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. And he went forth before Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; the Lord is with you, while ye are with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you; and if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you. 3And many days will be to Israel without the true God, and without a teaching 4priest, and without a law. And he shall return in his trouble unto the Lord God of Israel, and seek Him, and He shall be found of him. 5And in those times is no peace for him that goeth out or cometh in, but great vexations 6on all the inhabitants of the lands. And nation shall be smitten4 by 7nation, and city by city; for God hath vexed them with all trouble. But be ye brave, and let not your hands be slack; for there is a reward for your labour.

. Asas Reform of Worship, and Renewal of Covenant with the Lord: 2Ch 15:8-19

8And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded5 the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations 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. 9And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them, out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon; for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10And they gathered at Jerusalem, in the third month of the fifteenth year of 11the reign of Asa. And they sacrificed to the Lord in that day, of the spoil they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. 12And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their 13heart, and with all their soul. And whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, small or great, man or woman. 14And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with clangour, and with trumpets and cornets. 15And all Judah was glad at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire, and He was found of 16them: and the Lord gave them rest round about. And also Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol for Asherah: and Asa cut down her idol, and crushed it, and burnt it in the brook Kidron. 17But the high places were not taken away out of Israel; but the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. 18And he brought the things which his father and himself had consecrated into the house of God, silver and gold, and vessels. 19And there was no more war unto the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

. The War with Baasha of Israel: 2Ch 16:1-6

2Ch 16:1.In the thirty-sixth year6 of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to let no one come out or go in to 2Asa king of Judah. And Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the kings house, and sent to Benhadad king 3of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus,7 saying: A league is between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. 4And Benhadad hearkened unto King Asa, and sent the captains of his army against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelmaim, 5and all the stores of the cities of Naphtali. And when Baasha heard 6it, he left off building of Ramah, and let his work cease. And Asa the king took all Judah, and carried away the stones of Ramah, and its timber, with which Baasha had built, and built therewith Geba and Mizpah.

. Hananis Prophetic Warning: Asas Transgression and End: 2Ch 16:7-14

7And at that time came Hanani the seer to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped from thy hand. 8Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubites a huge host, in chariots and horsemen very many? and when thou didst rely on the Lord, He gave them into thy hand. 9For the eyes of the Lord run throughout all the earth, to prove Himself strong for those whose heart relies wholly on Him: thou 10hast done foolishly in this; for henceforth thou shalt have wars. And Asa was displeased with the seer, and put him in the prison; for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.

11And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, behold, they are written in 12the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Asa, in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, was diseased in his feet, until his disease was very great: and in his disease also he sought not the Lord, but to the physicians. 13And Asa slept with his fathers; and he died in the forty-first year of his reign. 14And they buried him in his own tomb, which he had dug for himself in the city of David; and they laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours of divers kinds, compounded by art; and they made a very great burning for him.

EXEGETICAL

The histories of both reigns, that of Abijah and that of Asa, are presented here in a very extended form, when compared with the parallel accounts in 1Ki 15:1-24; and in particular, there are several discourses of a prophetic nature in the history of Abijah, one addressed by this king himself on Mount Zemaraim to Jeroboam and the army of Israel (ch 13:412), and in that of Asa, the warnings of the seers Azariah son of Oded and Hanani (2Ch 15:2-7; 2Ch 16:7-10), by the insertion of which the Chronist has considerably enlarged his account. But with respect to the history of war and worship, his representation is a far richer gain from the ancient sources than that preserved in 1 Kings 15.

I. Abijah: 2 Chronicles 13; comp. 1Ki 15:1-8.In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam. This date of the beginning of Abijahs reign is also given in 1 Kings, and also the three years duration of his reign (he is, moreover, always called ; see on 2Ch 11:22).And his mothers name was Michaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. As Abijahs mother is called Maachah, not merely 2Ch 11:20 ff., but also 1Ki 15:2, the present name must be regarded as a mistake for the original . Her father, Uriel of Gibeah, is to be regarded as the husband of Tamer the daughter of Absalom, and herself, therefore, as the grand-daughter of the latter; see on 2Ch 11:20. From the Maachah, further mentioned 2Ch 15:16 (and 1Ki 15:13), the mother of Asa, whom he removed from the dignity of a gebirah (mistress, Sultana Walide, queen-mother) for her idolatry, she is scarcely to be considered different; rather is her designation there as mother to be supposed = grandmother, and her continued regency under her grandson Asa is to be explained simply from the brief duration of Abijahs reign, and the probable minority of Asa at his death (comp. Athaliahs attempt to reign instead of her grandson Joash, 2 Chronicles 22). Against the assumption by Thenius and Bertheau of the diversity of the two Maachahs (of whom the mother of Abijah was the daughter of Absalom, but the mother of Asa in reality the one who is here falsely called a daughter of Uriel of Gibeah), see Keil, p. 261, Rem.

2Ch 13:3 ff. Abijahs War with Jeroboam.And Abijah began the war with 400,000 chosen men. Neither this number nor the double number of the warriors of Jeroboam should be taken strictly, as is abundantly clear from the substantial agreement of both numbers with the results of Joabs enumeration under David (800,000 men-at-arms of Israel and 500,000 of Judah; comp. 1 Chronicles 21). Less probable is the assumption of an error in transcription, resting on a change of the numeral letters, as the cause of these almost incredibly high numbers (Kennicott, Dissert. Gen. 27; J. Pye-Smith, The Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, 6th edit. vol. 1. p. 29); for to explain the fact in this way, we must assume several such mistakes or corruptions in similar circumstances, which would be very strange. Comp. also on 2 Chronicles 17, and Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.

2Ch 13:4. And Abijah arose on Mount Zemaraim, obviously a steep cliff or summit lying between the contending armies, from which the king addressed the foe in like manner as Jotham once addressed the Shechemites from Mount Gerizim, Jdg 9:7. That every single warrior of the host of Israel, numbering several hundred thousands, could have heard his words is not said, and need not be assumed. The situation of Mount Zemarami is no longer to be ascertained. It was probably in the neighbourhood of Bethel, near which is a town, Jos 18:22, named (Zemaraim), the ruins of which may have been found in el Sumra, between Jerusalem and Jericho, near the valley of the Jordan. At all events, the locality should be sought east of Bethel (Robinson, Phys. Geogr. of the Holy Land, p. 38), and this el Sumra may lie too far in a south-easterly direction.

2Ch 13:5. Do you not know, literally, Is it not to you, concerns it not you, to know? comp., for example, 1Ch 13:4.That the Lord gave to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt, by an irrevocable covenant; comp. Lev 2:13; Num 18:19. belongs to the whole sentence, as accusative of restriction (therefore: in the manner of a covenant of salt).

2Ch 13:7. And vain men, of no account, gathered unto him, properly, sons of worthlessness, children of Belial, a phrase occurring not elsewhere in Chronicles, but again in 1Ki 21:10; 1Ki 21:13. On , loose, fickle men, comp. Jdg 9:4; Jdg 11:3.And withstood Rehoboam, showed themselves strong against him ( ); comp. the ( ) resistance afterwards shown on the part of Rehoboam to this opposition.Rehoboam was young and weak of heart, faint-hearted, unstable. The term , young, used of Rehoboam when already king, appears not specially to favour the former statement (2Ch 12:13) that he was then forty-one years old, and to require the change of this age into twenty-one years. Moreover, Abijah relates in this his speech the events in the revolt of the ten tribes from Rehoboam in a very inexact way (Rehoboam did not show himself weak of heart on that occasion, but rather hard and daring of heart, etc.); for he clearly wishes to justify his father as far as possible, and roll all the blame of the revolt of the ten tribes on Jeroboam and his worthless followers (Keil).

2Ch 13:8. The kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David, the theocratic kingdom founded by David, and hereditary in his house (comp. 1Ch 29:23 and the like).

2Ch 13:9. Have ye not made you priests like the nations of the lands, not divinely called, but only humanly chosen, priests, like those of heathendom; comp. 1Ki 12:31.Whosoever cometh to fill his hand, that is, institute and consecrate himself priest of the new worship; comp. Exo 28:41; Exo 29:9; Exo 32:29; see 1Ki 13:33. The following words: with a young steer (literally, with a steer the son of the herd, and seven rams, belong not so much to fill as to cometh ( , as Psa 40:8). As according to Exodus 29 the offerings to be made on the consecration of a priest consisted of a young steer as a sin-offering, a ram as a burnt-offering, and a ram of consecration, and this presented on seven days in succession (thus in all seven steers and fourteen rams), the offering appears here to be imperfectly stated, not on account of an inaccurate report, but because Abijah might know that in fact there had been a considerable deviation from the strict requirements of the law, in order the more speedily to obtain a new priesthood. Indeed, it was a priesthood of non-gods or ungods (comp. Deu 32:21) which was so founded.

2Ch 13:10. And the Levites in their business (in the business, ), performing their office in the legal way; comp. 1Ch 23:28 ff.

2Ch 13:11. Burn unto the Lord burntofferings, fumigate, turn into smoke, , which is then zeugmatically connected with the laying of the shew-bread and the lighting of the lamps, which are also parts of the priestly office. On these various priestly functions, that are then combined as a keeping of the charge of the Lord (Lev 8:35), comp. Exo 29:38 ff; Exo 25:30 ff; Exo 27:20 ff.; Lev 24:7 ff.

2Ch 13:12. The clanging trumpets to sound are made prominent, because God had expressly designated them in the law as the pledges on account of which He would remember and help His people in war, Num 10:9.

2Ch 13:13 ff. Judahs Victory over the Superior Force of Israel.To come behind them; comp. Jos 8:2; Jdg 20:29 ff.

2Ch 13:15. And the men of Judah shouted. Keil rightly says: In and the loud cry of the warriors and the clanging of the priests with the trumpets are combined, and is to be referred neither alone to the war-cry of the combatants assailing the enemy, nor, with Berth. (and Kamph.), to the blowing of the clanging trumpets; comp. also Jdg 7:19 ff. (Gideon in the conflict with the Midianites).

2Ch 13:17. Smote them with a great slaughter; for the phrase, see Num 11:33; Jos 10:30. For the number 500,000, which appears inconceivably great as the number of those who fell in the one field at Zemaraim, comp. Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.

2Ch 13:18. The sons of Israel were humbled (comp. in 2Ch 12:6 f.), or weakened by their enormous loss (comp. Jdg 3:30; Jdg 8:28; 1Sa 7:13).

2Ch 13:19. Bethel and her daughters, her daughter towns; comp. Neh 11:25. Besides this border city of south Israel, well known from Gen 12:8; Gen 28:19; Gen 35:15, Jos 7:12, etc. (the present Beitin), are named the otherwise unknown Jeshanah (or Jesyna; comp. Crit. Note), and an Ephron, as cities taken by Abijah from the conquered. The last has scarcely anything but the name common with Mount Ephron on the south border of Benjamin (Jos 15:9), but should probably be identified with Ophrah near Bethel (Jdg 6:11), or the town Ephraim situated there, mentioned Josh. 11:54 (comp. Josephus, B. J. iv. 9. 9), especially if we are to read , with the Masorah; see Crit. Note.

2Ch 13:20. And Jeroboam had no more strength; , as 2Ch 20:37; 1Ch 29:14.And the Lord smote him, and he died, not snatched him away by a sudden death (of which nothing is known from 1 Kings), but smote him, visited him with misfortune (comp. in 2Ch 13:15 and 2Ch 21:18) till his death, referring probably to that which is related in 1Ki 14:1-18.

2Ch 13:21 ff. Family History of Abijah; his End.And Abijah strengthened himself (, as 2Ch 12:13), and took to him fourteen wives. Comp. the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections in the previous section, No. 3. Abijah must have had most of these fourteen wives before he ascended the throne, or at least before his war with Jeroboam. That he took them after the war follows only apparently from the position in the narrative, which has no chronologic import.

2Ch 13:22. Are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo. Comp. on this source of our author, Introd. 5, II. p. 17.

2 Chronicles 13:23. And Asa . . . in his days the land was quiet ten years, in consequence of the great victory of his father over Jeroboam, and the weakening of the northern kingdom thereby occasioned; comp. 2Ch 14:4-5; 2Ch 15:19.

II. Asa: 1. His Theocratic Zeal and Care for the Defence of the Kingdom: 2Ch 14:1-7; comp. 1Ki 15:9-12; 1Ki 15:14-15.And Asa did that which was good and right; comp. 2Ch 31:20.

2Ch 14:2. Took away the altars of the strange gods, consecrated to strange gods, of the idolatrous foreign countries; comp. Gen 35:2; Gen 35:4. That only these, and not also high places, or illegal places of sacrifice consecrated to Jehovah, were removed by him, is clear from 2Ch 15:17.And brake the pillars, the memorial stones erected to Baal (); comp. Exo 34:13; Jdg 3:7; 2Ki 3:2. Likewise the Asherim, wooden posts and holy frees consecrated to Astarte; comp. 1Ki 14:23, and Bhr on the passage.On 2Ch 14:3, comp. 2Ch 15:12.

2Ch 14:4. And he took away . . . the high places and the sun-statues; , the statues before the altars of Baal, consecrated to him as the sun-god; comp. 2Ch 34:4; Lev 26:30; Movers, Die Phnizier, i. 343 ff.And the kingdom was quiet before him, that is, under him, under his eye (); comp. Num 8:22; Psa 72:5; Pro 4:3.

2Ch 14:5. Built fenced cities in Judah . . . in those days, during this quiet of ten years. Comp. Rehoboams fortifications, 2Ch 11:5 ff.

2Ch 14:6. Let us build these cities. What cities? It is not said; but certainly Geba and Mizpah, which were built after the war with Baasha (2Ch 16:6). Asa assigns as the motive for these buildings: the land is yet before us, free, open to us, unoccupied by the foe; comp. Gen 13:9.And they built and prospered. Vulg. very free, yet in substance correct; nullumque in exstruendo impedimentum fuit.

2Ch 14:7. Bearing shield and spear. The great or long shield () is here meant, in opposition to the short or round shield () then mentioned; the same difference as in 2Ch 9:15-16. That the Jews had exclusively only long shields and spears, and the Benjamites only short shields and bows, as armour, need not be assumed; the representation is only relative, summary, and not to be pressed, as also the numbers (300,000 of the Jews and 280,000 of the Benjamites) are obviously only round. They are, moreover, so far as the whole population fit to bear arms is concerned, by no means incredible. With respect to the comparatively high number of 280,000 Benjamites, we are to consider not only their lighter armour (which might be borne by younger and weaker men), but also that Benjamin was an eminently warlike tribe, a ravening wolf according to Jacobs prophetic word, Gen 49:27, that must have taken the field with all possible force. Comp. also on 1Ch 7:6-11, and the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.

2. Asas Victory over Zerah the Ethiopian: 2Ch 14:8-14, a section wanting in Kings.And Zerah the Ethiopian came out against him. This Zerah (Sept. ; Vulg. Zara) counts with most recent expositors, on account of the similarity of name, as the same with the Egyptian King Osorchon I., successor of Shishak-Sesonchis, and so the second king of the twenty-second or Bubastite Dynasty (comp. Unger, Manetho, p. 233; Thenius on 1Ki 15:23); whereas Hitzig rather identifies him with the Sabakos of Herodotus (Gesch. des V. Isr. p. 165 f.; comp. Herod, II. 137 ff., 152), but Brugsch takes him for an Ethiopian, not Egyptian, ruler, who, under the reign of Takeloth I. (about 944 b.c.), invaded the southwest of Asia and Egypt as a conqueror. The last assumption certainly agrees best, as well with the Biblical chronology as with the designation of Zerah as a Kushite.With a host of 1,000,000. On this number, as scarcely to be pressed, but rather depending on a rough and ideal estimate, see the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.And he came to Mareshah, mentioned in 2Ch 11:9, between Hebron and Ashdod.

2Ch 14:9. And Asa went out against him, literally, before him; comp. 15:2; 1Ch 19:14; 1Ch 14:8.In the valley of Zephathah, scarcely = Tell es Safieh (Robinson, Pal. ii. 625), but a place nearer Mareshah, perhaps that described by Robinson, II. 613.

2Ch 14:10. Lord, no one is nigh Thee to help, no one is able like Thee (literally, with Thee; comp. 2Ch 20:6; Psa 73:25) to help.With the mighty, or with no might, between the mighty and the impotent ( with following, as Gen 1:13, etc.); the help of God is conceived as imparted either to the mighty or the weak, and therefore as between both. Some conceive the passage otherwise; Vulg., Ramb., S. Schmidt, etc.: Domine, non est apud te ulla distantia utrum in paucis auxilieris an in pluribus; Berth., Keil, etc.: No other than Thou can help in an unequal combat, that is, help the weaker part; Kamph. (writing conjecturally for ): It is impossible that anything could prevail ( , as 2Ch 13:20, etc.), whether the mighty or the weak. Substantially correct, though inexact, Luther: It is no difference with Thee to help among many, or where there is no power.In Thy name we go against this multitude, trusting to Thy help.No man may hold out against Thee. For the omission of with , comp. 2Ch 20:37 (1Ch 29:14; 2 Chron. 13:25). On the sentence, comp. (partly at least) Psa 9:20 a.

2Ch 14:12. And Asa . . . pursued them unto Gerar, the old Philistine city, now Khirbet el Gerar, three and a half hours south-east of Gaza.And the Ethiopians fell, so that there was no recovery, not so that there was none left living (Berth., Kamph., etc), but so that they could not rally, ut eis vivificatio, i. e. copias restaurandi ratio non esset (J. H. Mich., Keil, etc.). stands for of the older style, in the sense of so that not (comp. Ew. 315, c). , preservation of life, revival, as Gen 45:5; Ezr 9:8-9.For they were broken (, as Eze 30:8) before the Lord, and before His host; Asas army is here so called as the instrument of the divine justice against the haughty foe. To think of a host of angels that had contended invisibly on the side of the Jews (Starke and other older writers, with allusion to Gen 32:2 f.) is without any warrant, as the term , especially in the singular, stands for a single earthly army.

2Ch 14:13. And they smote all the cities around Gerar, probably because, like the Philistines generally, they had made common cause with the Cushites, and joined them against the Jews.For the terror of the Lord, a terror occasioned by the Lord, and therefore the more powerful; comp. 17:10, 20:29; 1Sa 11:7.

2Ch 14:14. And they smote also the tents of cattle, the herds of the nomad tribes in the neighbourhood of Gerar (in the northern regions of the wilderness of Shur and Paran, the old country of the Amalekites).

3. Prophetic Warning of Azariah Son of Oded to Asa returning Home: 2Ch 15:1-7 (likewise peculiar to Chronicles).Upon Azariah son of Oded. The names of both father and son occur only here: the identification of Oded with Iddo (2Ch 9:29; 2Ch 12:15) is an idle fancy of some ancients.

2Ch 15:2. Before Asa, to meet him; comp. on 2Ch 14:9.The Lord is with you, while you are with Him. Comp. Jam 4:8; and with respect to the following sentence, 1Ch 28:9; 2Ch 12:5; 2Ch 24:20; Jer 29:13.

2Ch 15:3. And many days will be to Israel without the true God. The Sept. and Vulg., Luther, Clericus, and most moderns rightly refer these words to the future, and thus conceive them to be a prediction of that which was to happen with respect to the relation of Gods people to the Lord,a prediction of like import with Hos 3:4-5. For this view speaks, on the one hand, the generality of the term Israel, which appears to be used here in the same ideal sense as in 2Ch 11:3; 2Ch 12:1, and, on the other hand, the absence of any more precise date in , by which that which is said is characterized as a general truth holding for all times; but the reference to any definite earlier time, with which, besides, the closing monition in 2Ch 15:7 would ill agree, is absolutely excluded. Neither the time of the judges, with its illegal conditions and its closing reformation by Samuel, is described by the prophet (against Vitr. and Ramb.), nor the last decennium of the southern kingdom before the reforms of Asa (as the Syr., Arab., Raschi, Berth., think), nor, finally, the circumstances of the northern kingdom since Jeroboam (Targ., Tremell., Grotius, etc.). The last opinion is certainly the most arbitrary of all; for what occasion had the prophet to greet the king of the southern kingdom, returning as a conqueror after deliverance from a great danger, with a reflection on the errors and calamities of the northern kingdom? But if we refer the words as a prophecy to the future, no unsuitable limitation must be introduced (as, for example, to the Babylonish exile, of which Kimchi, Mariana, S. Schmidt, have thought). It is the whole future of the people of God, of which the prophet asserts the law: If ye turn away from God, He will turn away from you. Comp. besides, Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 1. On the true God, properly, God of truth, , comp. Jer 10:10 and Isa 65:16 ( ). , properly, to not a god of truth; , not essentially different from , 1Ch 22:4, 2Ch 20:35, is distinguished from only as is distinguished from : the latter expresses the being in a state, the former the falling into it (Keil).Without a teaching priest, without priests to perform the function of teaching (Lev 10:10; Deu 33:10); the special reference to the high priest (Vitr. and others) has no ground in the context. To the defect in teaching priests corresponds the defect in a law; for where there is no , there is no !

2Ch 15:5 f. The prophetic address returns after a passing brief promise of salvation (2Ch 15:4 b) to the description of the lamentable effects of the future apostasy from God.N peace for him that goeth out or cometh in, thus no free, peaceful intercourse; on going out and in, comp. 2Ch 16:1; Zec 8:10; Jos 6:1; on the following great vexations (), Deu 28:20; Amo 3:9. All the inhabitants of the lands are all the inhabitants of the provinces of Israel (or Judah); see 2Ch 34:33. The view of the speaker here scarcely extends over the whole inhabited globe (Kamph.), although in the following verse he transcends the boundaries of Judah, and depicts its attraction into the confusion and conflict of the neighbouring nations.And nation shall be smitten by nation. Kamphausens rendering: they are pushed nation on nation, is too farfetched, and by no means required by the meaning of . The Jews had a striking fulfilment of this gloomy foreboding of a bellum omnium contra omnes in the times of Nebuchadnezzar; a second in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, with respect to which Christ also makes use of similar prophetic expressions, Luk 21:10; Luk 21:26, and the parallels.For God hath vexed them with all trouble; comp. Jdg 4:15; Zec 14:13.

2Ch 15:7. But be ye brave, and let not pour hands be slack; comp. Zep 3:16; Neh 6:9; and the hands becoming slack as a figure of sinking courage, 2Sa 4:1; Isa 35:3; Heb 12:11. On the closing promise of reward, comp. Jer 31:16; 1Co 3:8; 1Co 15:58.

4. Asas Reform of Worship and Renewal of Covenant with the Lord: 2Ch 15:8-19.And when Asa heard . . . this prophecy of Oded the prophet. The Hebrew text has not , but . This circumstance points to a corruption of the passage, as well as the absence of before , which was to be expected according to 2Ch 15:1. As the readings of the Sept. and Vulg. (see Crit. Note) may be only later attempts at emendation, and as the assumption of a double name of Azariah, according to which he was at times called by the name of his father (Starke and other ancients), is certainly as questionable as the transposition of the corresponding names in 2Ch 15:1 into Oded son of Azariah (Mov.), it appears most advisable to remove the words ) from the text as an old gloss (Berth.), or (with Keil) to assume the omission of several words after (say ).He took courage (), according to Azariahs exhortation: be ye brave, .Put away the abominations, properly, make to pass over (, as 1Ki 15:12) the abominations, the idols; comp. 2Ki 23:13; 2Ki 23:24; Eze 30:7-8; Dan 9:27.Which he had taken from Mount Ephraim, , as 2Ch 13:19; 2Ch 17:2. According to the former of these passages, it appears that these were the cities that Abijah, Asas father, had taken. In fact this assumption is necessary, because no war of Asa with the northern kingdom had taken place at this time. A co-operation of Asa as lieutenant or joint-commander with his father in that war seems a questionable assumption, on account of his then very great youth (perhaps his minority; comp. on 2Ch 13:1).And renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord, the altar of burnt-offering, that might have been in need of repair sixty years after its erection by Solomon (2Ch 8:12). Yet , renovare (comp. 2Ch 24:4), might possibly also be taken in the sense of consecrate again, after the previous defilement by idolatry (Vulg.: dedicavit; Berth., Kamph., etc.).

2Ch 15:9 ff. The Great Festival on the Renewal of the Theocratic Covenant.And the strangers with them, out of Ephraim. That by these strangers are meant not merely the theocratically – disposed immigrants into Judah under Rehoboam (11:16), but also a newer addition to them that had come under Asa himself, is expressly asserted in the following words (comp. 30:11, 18). The mention of Simeon with Ephraim and Manasseh, and therefore as a district belonging to the northern kingdom, is scarcely to be explained by a migration of many Simeonites to North Palestine (Berth., Kamph.), but rather by th fact that the tribe of Simeon, though in a geographical situation it belonged to the kingdom of Judah, yet in the point of idolatry had made common cause with the northern kingdom by the erection of that impure worship of Jehovah at Beersheba, of which Amo 4:4; Amo 5:5; Amo 8:14 speaks along with Bethel and Gilgal (correctly Keil, Net., etc.).

2Ch 15:10. In the third month of the fifteenth, year of the reign of Asa, in the spring of the year 940 b.c.; comp. Hitzig, Gesch. p. 197.

2Ch 15:11. And they sacrificed . . . of the spoil they had brought, in the war with the Ethiopians and their allies; for this war, though it broke out in the eleventh year of Asa (2 Chronicles 13:23; 14:8), might have extended even to the present date, and therefore lasted for four years; the statement in 2Ch 14:8-14 admits of this very well.

2Ch 15:12. They entered into a covenant, a new covenant of peace with God; comp. , Jer 34:10; Neh 10:30.

2Ch 15:13. And whosoever . . . should be put to death, according to the strict letter of the law, Deu 17:2-6; comp. 2Ch 13:10; 2Ch 13:17. Observe the present trace of a far higher age of the book of Deuteronomy than the time of Josiah, where modern criticism places its origin. Comp. Schrder, Deuteron. Einl. pp. 25, 32; Kleinert, Das Deuteron. und der Deutoronomiker, 1872, especially p. 136 ff.

2Ch 15:14. And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice. On the musical instruments accompanying this act of the solemn renewal of the covenant, comp. 23:13; Neh 12:27 ff.

2Ch 15:16-18. Comp. Bhr on the almost literally coinciding parallel 1Ki 15:13-15.And also Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed. In 1 Kings stands simply , his mother, because there Maachah had been mentioned just before (2Ch 15:10). For the rest, comp. on 2Ch 13:1.And Asa cut down her idol, and crushed it, and burnt it. The crushing (comp. Exo 32:20; 2Ki 23:15) is mentioned only by the Chronist; in 1 Kings is wanting.

2Ch 15:17. Out of Israel is wanting in 1 Kings. It naturally means the southern kingdom as the legitimate and normal people of Israel; comp. 2Ch 15:3.But the heart of Asa was perfect, entirely devoted to the Lord. The expressly added 1 Kings is here omitted, because the , as predicate to , is plain enough of itself (comp. 2Ch 16:9; 2Ch 19:9); that is, Asas exclusive interest in the worship of Jehovah at Jerusalem, not in that (still tolerated) worship on the high places, is distinctly enough expressed.

2Ch 15:19, introducing the following account of the war.And there was no more war unto the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa. The contradiction to 1Ki 15:16 : And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days, is in so far only apparent, as there denotes only a state of hostility, here a formal war actually carried on in open field. It is not so easy to explain the difficulty involved in the date: unto the thirty-fifth year of Asas reign; see on 16:1.

5. Asas War with Baasha: 2Ch 16:1-6; comp. 1Ki 15:17-23.In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa. As, according to 1Ki 16:8; 1Ki 16:10, Baasha died in the twenty-sixth year of Asas reign, and his successor Elah was killed before two years more had elapsed, and therefore in the twenty-seventh or twenty-eighth year of this king, the misplacing of the war between Asa and Baasha in the thirty-sixth year of the latter involves an error, and a very old one, already noted by the Sept., and provided with an attempt at emendation (see Crit. Note). A mistake of the pen, that, as 2Ch 10:19 shows, existed perhaps in the sources of the Chronist, is probably the ground of this error; and 36 appears to have been miswritten for 16 (and in accordance with this, in 2Ch 15:19, 35 for 15). From the similarity of the numeral (30) to (1o) in the old Hebrew character, this change was very possible; and the circumstance that Asas reform of worship, 2Ch 15:10, took place in the third month of his fifteenth year, agrees on the whole very well with this determination of time; there results an interval of a year or a year and a half between the reform and the new war. The solution preferred by most of the old expositors, that the thirty-sixth year of the kingdom of Asa, that is, the thirty-sixth year from the founding of the kingdom of Judah by Rehoboam, which coincides with the sixteenth year of the reign of Asa, is meant (des Vignoles, Ramb., Starke, Mich., and Hengstenberg, Gesch. des Reiches Gottes, iii. 169), is not consistent with the word , which in this connection always signifies reign, sovereignty. The attempts made by Movers (Chron. p. 255 ff.) and Thenius (on 1 Kings 15) to explain this surprising mistake are too artificial, and arbitrary (see, on the contrary side, Berth. p. 325). On the following particulars, coinciding almost word for word with 1Ki 15:17 ff, comp. Bhrs exposition.

2Ch 16:2. And sent to Benhadad. Instead of the form , presented here and generally in the Old Testament, the Assyrian monuments constantly exhibit this name in the form Binhidri (Schrader, Die Keilinschriften, p. 101 f.), thus agreeing with, the of the Sept. ( = ).

2Ch 16:4. And they smote Abel-maim = Abel-beth-maachah of the parallel text in 1 Kings, as is clear from 2Sa 20:14.And all the stores of the cities of Naphtali. For this 1 Kings has: And all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. That the one of the two readings has arisen from the other by misunderstanding or miswriting seems certain; perhaps the in 1 Kings is corrupted from (Gesen.-Dietrich im Lex.), though our might possibly also be an explanation of the , 1 Kings 15, whereby the Chronist might have characterized the high fertility of the district of Cinneroth (or Cinnereth, Jos 19:35) by the symbolic expression: stores (corn-magazines) of the cities of Naphtali (so Keil).

2Ch 16:5. And let his work cease. Instead of this, 1Ki 15:21 : and dwelt in Tirzah. In our , scarcely anything else is t be seen but an attempt at interpretation, where the words had become illegible (Berth., Kamph.); for after the words: he left off building of Ramah, a second repetition of the thought, that Baasha gave up his undertaking against Judah, was obviously superfluous (against Keil).

2Ch 16:6. And built therewith Geba and Mizpah, the former (Geba of Benjamin in 1 Kings) half an hour north-east, the latter an hour south-west, of Jerusalem. The historical character of this notice is confirmed by Jer 41:9, where a pit made by Asa in Mizpah is mentioned.

6. Hananis Prophetic Warning: Asas Transgression and End: 2Ch 16:7-14.And at that time came Hanani. This prophet () is otherwise unknown, though he appears to be identical with the father of the prophet Jehu ben Hanani, who about this time announced to Baasha the downfall of his house (1Ki 16:1); comp. 19:2. That this Hanani was the author of the prophetic sentence () quoted by Hos 7:12, whereby Israel is warned against a league with foreign powers, or more definitely, that the present oracle of Hanani, without naming its author, is quoted in this passage of Hosea, is the quite untenable conjecture of some moderns, for example, Frst (Gesch. der bibl. Lit. ii. 206, 293).Therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped from thy hand, the occasion has escaped thee of smiting both at once, Baasha of Israel and his presumptive ally the Syrian king. Comp. the rebuke by Elisha of Joash of Israel, for smiting only three times with the arrows instead of five or six times (2Ki 13:15 ff.).

2Ch 16:8. Confirmatory reference to the victory of Asa over Zerah (14:8 ff.). For the Lubites, comp. on 13:3f.

2Ch 16:9. For the eyes of the Lord, etc., literally, for Jehovah, His eyes. On to prove himself strong for any one, that is, help him mightily, comp. 1Ch 11:10. On running about, , comp. Jer 5:1; Zec 4:10. Before the relative is omitted; comp. 1Ch 15:12.For henceforth thou shall have wars, entanglements in unhappy worldly transactions, in the dangerous mazes of the policy of the great powers; a prediction of misfortune that was abundantly fulfilled, if not in Asa himself, yet in his successors until the exile.

2Ch 16:10. Put him in the prison, properly, house of the stocks; turning round, is the well-known instrument of torture for locking round the culprit, in which Jeremiah also and Paul were forced to languish (Jer 20:2; Jer 29:26; Act 16:24). Comp. the equivalent , Job 13:27; Job 33:11.And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time, from anger at the deserved censure of the prophet (on the suitableness and importance of this address, see the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections). , properly, shatter, in Pi.: oppress, misuse, as Job 20:19.

2Ch 16:11-14. Asas End. On 2Ch 16:11, comp. Introd. 5, II.

2Ch 16:12. And Asa . . . was diseased in his feet, probably with gout; the following also: his disease was very great (literally, till it reached a great height, ), Points to severe suffering of this kind.And in his disease also he sought not the Lord, but to the physicians., first with the accusative of the object , as is usual elsewhere, then with , by which preposition is elsewhere designated, inquiring or seeking help from God or from idols (1Ch 10:14; 1Sa 28:7; 2Ki 1:2 ff.); thus here expressing a superstitious trust in the physicians, and accordingly not opposed to the right of making use of medical aid, especially in cases of sickness; so far from this, that inversely the not seeking of the Lord may be regarded as a not seeking of his priests who were in Israel, analogous to the Egyptian priests, the legitimate physicians (as is done by K. Ad. Menzel in his posthumous work, Religion und Stadtsidee, 1872, p. 29).

2Ch 16:14. Asas solemn burial is related by the Chronist with surprising detail, probably on account of the heathenish pomp and luxury which it displayed, reminding us of the manner of the Egyptian Pharaohs.And they buried him in his own tomb, literally, in his own sepulchres; comp. 2Ki 22:20; Job 21:32. This preparation of a burial-place or mausoleum, different from the common tombs of the kings, reminds us of the customs of the Egyptian kings, or at all events (comp. our Remark on Job 3:14) indicates a haughty inclination to self-apotheosis incompatible with a genuine theocratic disposition; comp. Isa 22:16 ff.Laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours of divers kinds. On , kinds, comp. Ps. 165:13, Dan 3:5; the term may well serve to describe more precisely the foregoing , spices (Son 4:10 ff.).Compounded by art, properly, compounded by compounding of work, by the work of the artificer; comp. Exo 30:25; Exo 30:35, and 1Ch 9:30. is in this connection ; the assumption that the latter word is omitted is unnecessary.And they made a very great burning for him, namely, of the sweet-smelling substances of the kind mentioned. Such burnings of incense were always made at the burial of the kings of Judah, as appears from Jer 34:5. But what the Chronist notices as culpable is the exaggerated splendour and lavish excess with which the custom was observed in the burial of Asa, as if it were the burial of a Pharaoh of Egypt (comp. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, etc., ii. 385 f.; Uhlemann, Egypt. Alterthumsk. ii. 325). Against the assumption of some, as Michaelis (De combustione et humatione mortuorum apud Hebros, in his Syntagma dissertatt. i. 225 sqq.), that the body of the king was burned among the spices, see Geier, De luctu Hebror. c. vi, who rightly maintains that such cases as the burning of Saul and his sons were exceptions to the general custom of Hebrew antiquity.

Evangelical and Ethical Reflections and Apologetic Remarks on 2 Chronicles 13-16

1. To much that is original, and in a theological sense important, in the comparatively full account given by our author of the reigns of Abijah and Asa, belong especially the three speeches which it contains, of which the old parallel text presents neither a brief rsum nor even a passing trace. All three are in a high degree characteristic, and point to a primitive tradition, true in all essentials to word and deed as their source. The address of Abijah to the Ephraimites from Mount Zemaraim is strictly an oratio pro domo, a defence of a royal representative of the house of David maintaining the good cause of his theocratic inheritance. With no little skill, and with much diplomatic art as well as downright popular rhetoric, all is put forward that can be said for the legitimate kingdom and worship, and against the usurpation of Jeroboam. There is reference, on the one hand, to the unchangeableness of the covenant with Jehovah (13:5), to the divine origin of the Davidic dynasty (as a kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David, 2Ch 16:8), to the beauty and established order of the service of God in the central sanctuary at Jerusalem, and to the hereditary legal chartered dignity of the theocratic priesthood (2Ch 16:10-12); and, on the other hand, to the unworthy aims of the revolution party led by Jeroboam (the men of Belial who took advantage of the tender youth, inexperience, and weakness of Rehoboam, 2Ch 16:7), to the folly of the worship of the golden calves, the illegal and heathenish character of its priesthood, the hopelessness of a contest with Jehovah, the God of their fathers (2Ch 16:8-9; 2Ch 16:12), in the tone now of fine irony, now of bitter scorn, and now of threatening earnest. The whole, inclusive of the partisan, one-sided, and somewhat distorted reference to the procedure in the separation of the kingdom (2Ch 16:7), appears a masterpiece of political eloquence, the present form of which (taken, no doubt, from the Midrasch of the prophet Iddo quoted in 2 Chronicles 16:22) may be ideally conceived; but the chief context and process of thought can scarcely be a pure invention. No less original and characteristic are the two prophetic speeches inserted in the history of Asas reign. The speech of Azariah son of Oded (2Ch 15:2-7) unfolds at the moment a gloomy picture of the future godlessness of the people forsaking their God more and more, and of the troubles and judgments arising from their unfaithfulness, where the tone of jubilant gladness for the great victory secured, and the announcement of optimistic expectations, would have seemed most natural. Instead of a panegyristic flatterer courting princely favour, a deeply-earnest prophet of woe greets the king returning in triumph, who has certainly words of acknowledgment for that which has been performed by the conquerors, but clothes his praise in the form of an exhibition of necessary connection between devotion to God and the gracious reward of such devotion, and dwells with visible predilection on the times of apostasy, with its tragic consequences, that were coming notwithstanding all the admonitions of the prophets. The speech appears badly enough to suit the festive moment that forms its occasion; but it testifies to the unusually deep glance into the inmost heart of the people which the speaker filled with the terrible earnest of the coming destiny has long taken. And as such testimony, it fails not also of its effect, but rather proves, as the consequent energy of the king in purifying the form of worship shows, a true comfort and strengthening for good (, confortatio; comp. , Sept. , 2Ch 16:8), an impulse at least effectual for a time to return to the path of theocratic truth and righteousness, a model (Hos 3:4-5 f., 9:3, 4, where there seems to be an allusion to it) and primitive form held in esteem by later prophets of genuine prediction, the fundamental thought of which, as it recurs (mutatis mutandis) in the woe-foreboding addresses of an Isaiah to Hezekiah (Isaiah 39; 2 Kings 20), and a Huldah to Josiah (2Ch 34:22 ff.), stands forth not essentially different in the pictures of the future presented in the New Testament (Mat 24:5 ff.; 2Th 2:3 ff.; 1Jn 2:18 ff.; Luk 18:8, etc.). In severs rebuke of a temporary departure of the king from the path of theological strictness and conscientiousness marked out for him by the prophetic word of Azariah, proceeds the second of the two prophetic speakers, Hanani (2Ch 16:7-9). With a sharp lecture he treats the king, looking for nothing but praise for his victory over Baasha. That he made not Jehovah but the Syrian heathens his stay, he pronounces not only imprudent but directly foolish (2Ch 16:9). His sagacity, not unexercised in political matters, lets him know immediately, under the influence of the illuminating Spirit of God, that the calling in the help of the Syrian power must draw to it the dependence, not merely of the conquered Israelites, but also of the Jews. Wherefore he not only blames the misled princes weakness of faith and fear of man, and emphatically lays before him, that the eyes of the Lord are only strong for those who serve Him with entire devotion, but hurls upon, him a hard , stulte egisti (unduly softened by the Sept. into a weak ). He suffers for this boldness the same punishment which Jeremiah brought upon himself, when he, a no less zealous preacher of the truth that man should not make flesh his arm than Hanani, had spoken hard words against the obstinacy and folly of his contemporaries (Jer 20:2; comp. Jer 17:5; Jer 19:15).Here again is nothing that is not in the highest degree original and powerful, breathing the stern prophetic spirit of Samuel and Nathan. Both speeches may show in their present form the elaborating hand of the Chronist, but in matter they appear with incontestable evidence as documents taken from the prophetic historical sources of the writer, of a time bordering upon and cognate with the spirit of Elijah and Elisha.

2. In a religious and moral respect, the two kings described in our section appear again somewhat better than Rehoboam, who trod in the paths of the degenerate Solomon. In particular, Asa receives due praise for his theocratic zeal, as he busied himself as a reformer of the worship of God, that had been in several ways disfigured by superstition. The Deuteronomic law, which threatens every partaker in such idolatry with death, he not only binds upon the people by an oath (Deu 15:13-14 f.), but puts in practice the judicial rigour of this statute even against his own mother (grandmother), as he removes her from her dignity as queen-mother on account of her worship of Astarte, and so makes judgment begin at the royal house itself (Deu 16:16). Inasmuch as he certainly does not set aside (Deu 16:17) the worship on the high places, he does not rise to the height of theocratic rigour and purity which was attained in the subsequent reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah. The later time and the end of his reign also were tarnished by bursts of passion and acts of violence towards pious men of God, as the prophet Hanani; and a severe and painful disease is not able to bring him back to the early well-known simplicity of his devotion to Jehovah (2Ch 16:12; comp. 15:17). He seeks not the Lord, but betakes himself to the physicians; the impure juggling method, mingled no doubt with superstition and idolatry, pursued by the medicine men or goet of his time, gave him more confidence than the helping hand of the God of truth, with whose witnesses he had also quarrelled. So it fared otherwise with him than with the pious Hezekiah, who without medical aid, by the miraculous help of God obtained through the prophet, was delivered from a dangerous sickness, and had fifteen years added to his life (2 Kings 20; 2Ch 32:24). The word of the wise Sirach was verified in him: He that sinneth before his Maker shall fall into the hand of the physician (Sir 38:15). Like the woman having the issue of blood, he must become , Mar 5:26. In setting forth the impotence of these human helpers exclusively sought by him (comp. Sir 10:11 : 8), there is no absolute condemnation of medical art or science, but merely a gentle hint of the state of his heart, enslaved to worldly and idolatrous lusts, God-estranged and unbelieving, on account of which might justly be addressed to him the question of the prophet Jeremiah: Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? Jer 8:22; or also that question of Elijah: Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? 2Ki 1:3. Comp. also, with respect to Asas religious and moral character, the weighty remark of Bengel (Beitrge zum Schriftverstndniss, p. 17f.): Asa was righteous (15:17), and yet he behaved so badly at the last (16:10, 12). How can this be? Answer.He has not turned to idols all his life long; he has constantly held the Lord to be the right, true, and only God. But it was, as it were, an atheismus practicus, that he withdrew his confidence from Him. He thought, Shall I have been pious so long, and yet now receive a reprimand? If he had only received it like David: I have sinned, etc., all would have been right, etc.

3. In an apologetic respect, we have to observe, in conjunction with the remarks made under No. 1, that weighty credentials of an internal kind support the two great wars as the Chronist relates them here, in completion of the very imperfect account in the books of Kings of these episodes in the history of the reigns of Abijah and Asa. That Abijahs conflict with Jeroboam, after the total dissolution of the army of the latter, led to the annexation of the three towns Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron to the southern kingdom (2Ch 13:19), is a notice so definite and concrete, that no scepticism of de Wette and Gramberg, with its assertion of the feigned character of the narrative in question, can be accepted, as, on the other hand, the attempt of Ewald, while admitting a kernel of historical fact, to stamp at least the speech of Abijah on Mount Zemaraim as a free composition of the Chronist, is wrecked on the highly original contents of this speech (see No. 1, and comp. Keil, Commentar, p. 264 f., Remarks). The passage 1Ki 15:15 also, where the things dedicated by Abijah are mentioned, which his son Asa afterwards brought into the house of the Lord along with his own dedicated gifts, affords an indirect proof that both rulers had gained great victories and taken much spoil from their foes (comp. 2Ch 14:12-13 f.), by which must be meant the victory of the former over Jeroboam, and that of the latter over Zerah (comp. Thenius on this passage, and Berth. on Chron. p. 324). The credibility of the account of this last great battle derives support also from what is related at its close of the conquest and spoliation of the cities around Gerar, and the cattle tents of the nomad tribes dwelling south of Palestine, a detail, again, that gives the lie altogether to the suspicion of pure notion.Only the very high numbers in the account of the slaughter should be regarded as falling beyond the range of the historically exact. They are perhaps not to be understood according to the nominal value of the numbers given, but only an expression conceived in figures of the contemporaries of these wars, which imports that the two kings (first Abijah and Jeroboam, then Asa and Zerah) had summoned to the field the whole military strength of their kingdoms (Keil, p. 265). In the war of Abijah with Jeroboam, this is favoured by the approximative accordance of the numbers 800,000 and 400,000 with results of the census by David, as well as the round ideal sum of 500,000 as the number of those who fell on the side of Israel, a number that perhaps only indicates that Jeroboam had lost more than half his force. In the war with the Ethiopian king, the corresponding assumption is favoured by the round number 1,000,000, as well as by the circumstance that exact accounts, resting on actual numbering, and not on a mere estimate, of the strength of the enemy, were not at the command of the observers and reporters on the Jewish side (comp. above on the passages in question). The necessity of a merely ideal and approximate conception of these numbers is evident, if we compare the statements, resting on actual numbering, of the strength of the men-at-arms in the several tribes in the genealogical summaries (1 Chronicles 5-7). The smallest of the numbers there named (for example, 44,760, 87,000, 22,034, 20,200, 17,200, 26,000) are round. It is the same with the numbers referring to the warriors from the several tribes at the elevation of David to the throne in 1 Chronicles 12; comp. the remarks on this in p. 120 f.

Footnotes:

[1]On the probable error of the pen here ( for ), see Exeg. Expl.

[2]For the Sept. has (but Josephus, Antiq. viii. 11.3: ).

[3]For the Kethib , supported by the Sept. and Vulg., the Keri is .

[4]For some mss. read ; but the pual is required by the context.

[5]Sept. cod. Vat.: () ; on the contrary, c. Al., ed Ald., etc.: Vulg.: Oded prophet. Perhaps the words should be cancelled as an old gloss. See the Exeg. Expl.

[6]So all the mss. and versions but the Sept., which has , by a mistake of for , or on the ground of some peculiar chronological reckoning.

[7]Properly, Darmascus; see 1Ch 18:5-6, and the Crit. Note thereon. For the , given by the Sept. for , comp. the Exeg. Expl.

[8] I, we believe, in the notorious corruption of the text (see Fritzcshes Libb. apocr. V. T. p. 409), with Hirzig (Der proph. Daniel, p. 142), should be read here instead of .

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

This chapter closeth the history of Asa. After a long reign, and long prosperity, in consequence of new troubles arising, Asa sends to the king of Syria for aid. Being reproved for it by the prophet, Asa manifests great displeasure. He is diseased; seeks not to God, but to the physicians, for help. He dies, and is buried with great pomp.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Here is a melancholy account of Asa after such an illustrious relation as we have had of him before. Is it possible that the man who had been so highly favored of the Lord; had entered into covenant with God; and enjoyed the sweets of it for so many years, should be alarmed at the approach of a power like that of Syria? We have the account of this transaction, 1Ki 15 . There is, however, some difference, in the chronology of the account, between what is here related and in the book of the Kings; to which I refer the Reader. His alliance with Benhadad, an heathen, is singular in a man of Asa’s piety. Alas! what a proneness there is in our corrupt nature, to keep fair with the carnal and ungodly world. But Reader! depend upon it, every backsliding of this kind shall bring its own scourge.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

2Ch 16

1. In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah [or properly, “the Ramah” (“elevation”); it is mentioned in Jos 18:25 , as a city of Benjamin, situated about five miles north of Jerusalem], to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

2. Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent to Benhadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,

3. There is a league [rather, Let there be a league] between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

4. And Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store cities [see ante, chap. 2Ch 8:6 , p. 222] of Naphtali.

5. And it came to pass, when Baasha heard it, that he left off building of Ramah, and let his work cease.

6. Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha was building; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.

7. And at that time Hanani the seer [the only mention of him, unless he was the father of Jehu the seer, who prophesied against Baasha (1Ki 16:1-4 , 1Ki 16:7 ), and Jehoshaphat ( 2Ch 19:2 )] came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.

8. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand.

9. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars [as peace had been the reward of Asa’s earlier faith (chaps. 2Ch 14:5 ; 2Ch 15:5 ), so his want of faith was now to be punished by a period of war and disturbance].

10. Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house [or, “in the stocks,” literally, House of the stocks (Jer 20:2 ; Jer 29:26 ). Compare Ahab’s treatment of Micaiah ( 1Ki 22:26-27 )]; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed [Job 20:19 ; comp. 1Sa 12:3 ] some of the people the same time.

11. And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

12. And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet [Asa’s malady began two years before his decease (see 2Ch 16:13 ). It is generally supposed to have been gout; but this is really uncertain], until his disease was exceeding great; yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians [it is not the fact that he consulted physicians, but the manner in which he relied on physicians that is here condemned undue reliance upon the aid obtainable from man].

13. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.

14. And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in the city of David. [Asa had had his own private tomb excavated for himself (and his family) in the city of David, possibly because it was necessary to increase the number of the royal tombs], and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art: and they made a very great burning for him [(chap. 2Ch 21:19 ; Jer 34:5 ). This was customary at the funerals of kings; the peculiarity in this case was the large quantity, and perhaps the rare quality of the spice burnt].

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

Asa Rebuked By Hanani

2Ch 16:3

WE often say that circumstances develop men; probably the gold and the silver developed the disposition of Asa, for if he had not had these treasures he could not have sent such a message to Benhadad.* It never occurs to some minds that money has any relation to their purposes or their duties. In the days of Asa it was often thought sufficient to be able to buy oneself out of a difficulty. What is it that Asa sets in opposition the one to the other? Silver on the one hand, and a league on the other! Money, and oath! A bribe, and conscience! Gain, and honour! These are the things which Asa opposed to one another without a blush and without a tremor, for in his message to the king of Syria there is no sign of reluctance or hesitation. Probably Asa would not have been indisposed to give Baasha himself money. Asa had a policy or a purpose which he wished to work out, and it was of no consequence to him what stood in his way; if any difficulty could be removed by fair means or foul, he was prepared to destroy that difficulty. Have we come to a better state of mind? Is ours a purer code of honour? Do we ever call upon money to help us out of difficulties created by leagues, covenants, and the obligations of conscience? The use of money is very subtle. It is not limited by the obvious acts of buying and selling, exchange or barter; it often operates at great distances, and in ways hardly to be described in terms: appetites are created, temptations are set to work, possibilities ply the wakeful imagination, and a diseased moral nature says that although the means be not good, yet the end will sanctify them. Here is at once a necessity and room for caution. Money can only touch the very lowest levels of life; it ought never to be allowed to touch the nobler considerations attached to human duty and service. “The love of money is the root of all evil,” not the money itself, but the love of it, which excludes and modifies nobler affections; when money becomes the supreme consideration the whole range and quality of nature, intellectual and moral and spiritual, must go down into deep abasement.

“And Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa” ( 2Ch 16:4 ).

Did he hearken unto the king, or did he hearken unto the chink of the gold? Would he have been as obliging to Asa if the proposition had been unaccompanied by money? Did Benhadad blind himself to the real motive which ruled him? All these questions are necessary on account of the degeneracy of human nature, specially on account of that peculiar selfishness which so adapts itself to our constitution as almost to appear a generous impulse. Benhadad listened with the ears of covetous-ness. Benhadad inclined his ambition into a listening attitude. Probably Benhadad would have rebelled against Asa if Baasha could have offered a larger bribe. Is there a word here about honour, about obligation, about treaty duties? Not a syllable. Benhadad would seem to have been almost waiting for a message from Asa, so compliant is he, so ready to fall into the hands of the king, and to oblige a brother sovereign. How money blinds us to duty and to responsibility! How easily we follow the base lure, and wake to find that we have played the fool! On the other hand, we cannot conceal the difficulty of listening to the voice of duty, principle, religious obligation, and the purest personal and social honour: this indeed is the line of discipline, every point of which requires watching with jealous eagerness. So far as we are concerned, it is impossible to fulfil all the moral obligations of life, if we had nothing to draw upon but our own little strength. At this point we are enriched with the promises of Christ, that the Holy Spirit shall abide with us, and comfort us, strengthen and direct our whole life, and lead us as we are able to bear into all the fulness and glory of truth. If any man lack wisdom, lack firmness, lack sense of honour, lack the ready instinct which instantaneously tells him what to do, let him ask of God, and he shall have whatever he needs given to him liberally, without upbraiding or grudging. Thus we are called upon to connect our lives with the life eternal, and to bring to bear upon our judgment the wisdom of the Divine and Infinite. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct thy paths; take no step in life, however short and simple, without consultation with the Father that is in heaven. Never get into the habit of thinking that any act is insignificant, any policy is superficial, any decision is of small consequence; attach large importance to every thought and breath of life, and thus keep within the sanctuary which chastens, enriches, and ennobles all moral manhood and spiritual activity. We must listen either to Asa the tempter, or to the Spirit that bids us be true, honest, and upright: the two appellants are continually addressing our attention; the one is plausible, apparently generous, both hands are filled with bribes; the other is stern, direct, royal: inspired by a spirit of discipline and continually insisting that the reward of virtue is in the doing of it: to one or other of these appellants we must return an affirmative reply. Blessed is the man who can resist the devil, and happy he ten thousand times who can accept the will of truth and honour and duty, and walk in its way, though it be steep and difficult.

“And at that time Hanani the seer came” ( 2Ch 16:7 ).

This is always the awkward element in life, this religious personage, this religious appeal, this personal chiding, this mighty assault upon the conscience. Could not the whole process have been accomplished without the intervention of Hanani? No. God will never allow his ministers to be dispensed with. Sometimes they come in personal form, sometimes they appear to us under the guise of events, difficulties, trials, appeals to our inmost nature; but in what form soever they come, we may rely upon meeting them sooner or later; they will chide us, interrogate us, submit us to piercing cross-examination, and will not be put aside by excuses, by selfish pleas, by inadequate reasoning: they will insist upon going into the vitality of every question, and drawing from us an answer not from our imagination or our conceit, our ambition or our selfishness, but directly from the conscience itself. In this way the Bible becomes a great minister of Providence. The bad man dare not open the Bible anywhere, for he finds it full of fire and brimstone, full of judgment and wrath, abounding in indignation, because of his wrong doing. Let him open the Bible even in the Psalms, and he will find the very songs of the Church turn into thunder and lightning: let him appeal to the prophets, and they will clothe themselves with the garment of judgment and vengeance; let him next make an attempt upon Jesus Christ and the apostles, and he will find that they will burn with fury against all wrong thinking and wrong doing. It should be so with the Christian pulpit. No bad man should be able to listen to a sermon without quailing, and without acknowledging that he is the man who is specifically addressed by the minister of God. Every society should be so constituted as to exercise a prophetic function, and so as to drive out of its midst the man who has evil policies, corrupt intentions, and selfish purposes to realise. No bad man should feel himself to be at rest in any household, any society, any Church, any commonwealth. The very stones of the field cry out against him, the flowers shrink away from his approach as from a blighting wind, the birds are silent in the hedges and the trees that he may pass by rebuked; in short the bad man should feel himself called upon by all nature and all society to consider his ways and renounce his evil thought and act

“Asa was wroth with the seer” ( 2Ch 16:10 ).

What folly was this! As if seers spoke out of their own imagination, or told something which they had seen in a dream of their own invention. The seers could only tell what they had seen, what they had heard, what they had received from heaven by way of message to kings and peoples. We see human nature develop in this action of Asa. We find fault with the preacher who tells us how far wrong we are, and how distant we are from the centre of light and truth; we find fault with the book that will not support our evil policies; we turn away from our children whose sweet look is a reproach. We think if we chastise the prophets we have destroyed the prophecy. That is the fatal error which all men commit. The minister may be put in prison, but the ministry advances in all its moral sternness, and all its spiritual dignity, as well as in all its tender benevolence. Though Hanani were killed, yet the word of the Lord would roll on steadily to its fullest realisation. Thus we must look upon the prophecies of Scripture, and thus we must look upon the denunciations pronounced upon evil by Jesus Christ and his apostles. The cross did not end the ministry of Christ; in a very noble sense it only began it, it made its largest possibilities draw near to fulfilment; it gave to its scope an enlargement possessed by no other religious thought: when we are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, it is not righteousness that suffers, except in some temporary degree; the word of the Lord abideth for ever: no punishment inflicted upon its ministers, churches, or organisations can for one moment touch the truth itself, on it goes like a swelling flood, or like a brightening day, or like a procession of warriors advancing, not only to battle but to victory. The littleness of the king was seen in this attempt to smite the prophet. When Asa approached Benhadad he went with money in his hand, but when he approached Hanani he went with a rod and with the key of a prison: in the one case he had to deal with a yielding nature, susceptible to the lowest temptations; in the other he knew that money was of no use, and that a bribe offered to Hanani would but call down upon his own head louder thunders. We see the difference between Benhadad and Hanani in this particular, namely, that Asa treated one of them in a manner that appeared to be handsome but was in reality base, and he treated the prophet in a manner that was really base, but that on its upper side, and in its most enduring aspects, involved a tribute and a compliment to the man’s incorruptible honesty.

“He [Asa] sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians” ( 2Ch 16:12 ).

The Lord will not have such rivalry. If it is a question of not the Lord, but the physicians, the physicians shall forget their own names, and prescribe the wrong medicines, and conduct the patients down to death; if it is the physicians with the Lord, then they shall have skill in mineral and plant and singular compound, and in all their searching they shall have the learning which assists in the healing of mankind. Everything depends upon the arrangement of our blessing. We may so use even providential arrangements as to transform them into instruments of danger and punishment. There is not one word said against the physicians here; it is only because the king put the physician instead of the Lord that the Lord smote him so that recovery was impossible. We are not forbidden to make what we can of this world: it is when we set this world in a false relation, when we exaggerate or destroy its proportions, that we are made to suffer loss, and that we are brought to painful humiliation. We are not taught to despise the good things of this life, but if we say, They are enough, we need not go further, this should satisfy us to-day and tomorrow, then they shall turn to gravel-stones in our mouth, then shall they become poison within us, and the things that might have been blessings and comforts will by an impious dissociation from fontal springs become to us bitterness intolerable, and disappointment sharp and deadly as an empoisoned sting. What use are we making of men, of things, of providential events, of the blessings of this life? Do we receive the things that are sent to us as symbols, or as sum-totals? Blessed is he who lives in the symbolic reception of all blessings; and blessed still more is he who reads everything symbolically: thus should we be delivered from finality, from narrowness, from bigotry; we shall see the tree in the root, and we shall see the full corn in the ear the moment the blade pierces the generous soil. So with our physicians, teachers, friends; if we make them the be-all and the end-all, we shall be disappointed; if we accept our ministers as our priests, and say, We will go no further, they know all that is necessary to be known, we will pin our faith to them, what they say we will repeat, it will be enough, then shall God rend us, and destroy us in his hot anger: but if we say, Ministers are servants of Christ sent to help us in our need; they may be elder brethren, or in some respects stronger brethren, or by reason of their devotion of time to these matters they may know a little more than we know; we will accept them as God’s servants; then shall all intercourse with teaching life be a means of illumination and a means of grace; we shall have both Lord, and the physician; both Christ, and the minister, and shall look upon human instrumentality as but an under aspect of the divine government. Here physicians, teachers, leaders, have a lesson to learn; they should know themselves to be but men. If Asa was so foolish as to turn away from the Lord and to go to the physicians, the physicians ought to have known better than to have received him; and if ministers are approached as if they were popes and priests, and as if they carried the key of the kingdom of heaven, they should stand up, and in glowing resentment repel an idolatry that is at once irrational and blasphemous. A man of education, of large mind, of rich resources of memory, ought to be able to tell men when they are going too far in their human confidence. To sit and receive tribute that ought to be given to God has never been approved in any age of the development of the Judaic or Christian dispensation: on the contrary, it has been denounced, and the Herods who have sat and listened to fulsome tributes have been given over to, rottenness and pestilence and death.

Notes

Hanani: a prophet under the reign of Asa, king of Judah, by whom he was seized and imprisoned for announcing that he had lost, from want of due trust in God, an advantage which he might have gained over the king of Syria ( 2Ch 16:7 ). The precise occasion of this declaration is not known. This Hanani is supposed to be the same who was father of another prophet, named Jehu ( 1Ki 16:7 ); but circumstances of time and place seem adverse to this conclusion.

Baasha: the son of Ahijah, and third king of Israel. He instigated a conspiracy against Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, and having slain him, took possession of his throne. His reign was that of a restless, warlike, and ungodly prince. Constantly at war with the king of Judah, he at one time advanced almost to Jerusalem, and reduced its king to such extremities, that he had to call to his aid Benhadad, king of Syria, who, by attacking the territory of Baasha, compelled him to retire from Judah. The town of Ramah, which he had begun to build in order to blockade the king of Judah, was demolished by the latter after his retreat, and the materials used to build the towns of Mizpeh and Geba. He lived at Tirzah, where also he was buried (1Ki 15:16 ; 1Ki 16:6 ; 2Ch 16:1-6 ).

Benhadad: the king of Syria, who was subsidised by Asa, king of Judah, to invade Israel, and thereby compel Baasha (who had invaded Judah) to return to defend his own kingdom ( 1Ki 15:18 ). This Benhadad has, with some reason, been supposed to be Hadad the Edomite who rebelled against Solomon (1Ki 11:14 , et seq. ).

Prayer

God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell upon the face of the whole earth. Thou art the maker of us all, thou mighty God. Behold, we are the workmanship of thy hand, we are the fashioned ones of thy skill and wisdom. Thou didst make man in thine own image and likeness, in the image and likeness of God didst thou make man; if we have not recognised that image it is because we have lost it ourselves: when thou, O Christ, Son of man, dost dwell in us, then we shall see in every other man a brother, a friend, and yearn over those that are far away with tender solicitude, akin to the pity of the cross. This is the miracle of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Son of man, Son of Mary, the Wonderful One, whose name cannot be sounded as to its wisdom. We bless thee if we know aught of true love of mankind; wherein our selfishness has been modified, wherein it has been almost destroyed, we see the supreme miracle of grace. Mighty One, continue the out-working of this wonder, until we shall recognise unity in diversity, until distance is morally destroyed, and until the nations fall into each other’s embrace by the impulse and inspiration of brotherhood. Break down all middle walls of partition; take away everything that makes man hostile to man; bring in the sabbath of universal peace, and thus perform the crowning miracle of the cross. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

IV

THE REIGN OF ASA AND THE PARALLEL FORTUNES OF ISRAEL

1Ki 15:9-22 ; 2Ch 14:1-16:14

In the introductory chapter I mentioned certain helpful books. Three of them I rename as very helpful on this lesson: Hengenstenberg’s “Kingdom of God in the Old Testament,” Vol. II; Geikie’s “Hours with the Bible,” Vol. IV; Edersheim’s “History of Israel,” Vol. V. On this section we need not look at Josephus. He has something to say about it, but it is worth very little. My advice is to master thoroughly 2 Chronicles 14-16; the Chronicles record is far better than the record in Kings.

The time period of Asa’s reign is 955 B.C. to 914, forty-one years, and the contemporaneous kings of Israel, and the dynasties are as follows: Jeroboam and his son Nadab, first dynasty; Baasha and his son Elah, second dynasty; Zimri, third dynasty — he reigned just a week; Omri and his son Ahab, fourth dynasty. For a while there was a contestant against Omri, Tibni by name, but this contest lasted only three years.

The general character of Asa is: “And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father” (meaning his forefather). So we have a long and good reign, and it is a wonder that, while about half the kings of Judah were bad kings, the reign of the good men extended 200 years of the 253; so, that at least four to one, in time, Judah was governed by good men.

A great blessing marked the beginning of his reign. The record tells us that there were ten years of peace, resulting mainly from the great victory of his father, Abijah, gained over Jeroboam the son of Nebat. It is a great blessing when we have a peaceful opportunity to set in order a church or a nation, or to prepare for a great enterprise wisely.

This peace interval was graciously employed as follows: First, he put down idolatry in all its forms throughout his kingdom. Second, he fortified many cities, and the record tells us that he made Jehovah his chief defense. Well does that psalm say, “He laboreth in vain to build a house except the Lord build the house; and they watch in vain to keep a city except the Lord keep the city.” Third, he raised and disciplined an army consisting of 300,000 spearmen of the tribe of Judah, that is, they had long lances and heavy targets; a target is simply a big shield. Also he had 280,000 slingers and archers. These had a little shield, and carried bows and slings. They were of the tribe of Benjamin. That certainly shows that by this time the bulk of the tribe of Benjamin was standing with Judah. The Benjaminites were left-handed and were great archers and slingers. At one place back of us in the history we learned that they could sling stones a great distance with great accuracy. David was an adept with the sling himself. That is a big contingent from Benjamin, 280,000.

The second great event of his reign was the great victory over Zerah, the Ethiopian, who invaded Judah with a million men and three hundred chariots of war. The battle was fought at Maresha, a place between Hebron, a southern Jewish town, and Ashdod, an old Philistine town in the south.

Some say that this great number, a million men, is not credible, but we must remember that in those days, when war was made, the whole available male population went into the army like Indian tribes and later we learn that Xerxes led three million men against the Greeks though by measurement, not count, only 1,800,000 of them were soldiers. And we learn still later in the interbiblical period, that the last Darius, king of Persia, at the battle of Arbela, had 1,400,000 men. The record says, “Zerah the Ethiopian.” The word in the Hebrew is “Cushite.” We get “Ethiopian” in our text from the Septuagint Version. The Greeks called the Cushites “Ethops,” which meant “browned black in the sun.” But where were the Cushites? In the northern part of Arabia, from which place they crossed the narrow intervening sea to Africa, and established themselves in what is now called upper Egypt the Nile runs north toward the Mediterranean Sea; then upper Egypt would be southern Egypt. 1Ki 16:8 tells us that there were Lybians in the army, as well as Ethiopians, and we know that Lybia in Africa is on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, west of the mouth of the Nile. Quite a number of my commentaries say that Zerah was the same as Ozorchon, the son of Shishak. But that is not quite clear to my mind. I do know from one of my histories that about 944 B.C., the Cushites, when they crossed over the intervening seas, invaded Egypt, and then passed back into Asia. We will have to leave it that way.

Asa’s appeal to Jehovah when he saw this great host, and how God responded to him are found in 2Ch 14:11 : “And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, there is none to help beside thee . . . O Lord our God; for we rely on thee, and in thy name are we come out against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let no man prevail against thee.” I gave that to a professor of homiletics once and asked him to analyze it as he would a sermon, and he said that I put the question to him only to give me an opportunity to tell him how to do it. Well, now, let’s analyze that: “There is none beside God who can help the weak against the mighty”, that is a fine start for a prayer, the announcement of a great doctrine. “We rely upon thee”, that is faith. “And in thy name we come out against this multitude”, that identifies the people’s case with God himself. “Therefore, Lord, let no man prevail against thee.” It was a fine prayer, and the response was that the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

There were mighty results of this victory. The record says that there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves, for they were destroyed before the Lord, and before his hosts; or as the margin puts it, “so that none remained alive.” That must have been a terrific slaughter. The second result was that they carried away very much booty. Of course, the arms would be gathered up, the jewels and the camp equipage, and the munitions of war. Notice that these Egyptians fled toward Egypt, by the lower road toward Gerar; and so they smote all the cities about Gerar; and the fear of the Lord came upon them) and they spoiled all the cities, and they carried away sheep in abundance and camels.

2Ch 14:15 says, “They smote also the tents of the cattle.” Now, what does that mean? It means that following such an army were herds of cattle for feeding the army, and the “tents” would be the shelters of the herdsmen. To smite the tents of the cattle is to smite the herdsmen that drove the cattle. Stonewall Jackson, in one of his hungry days, when his men were half-starved, having heard that Banks was coming with immense supply trains and herds of cattle, said, “This army can whip any army that has a herd of cattle along.”

The warning of the prophet Azariah, who went to meet Asa returning from that great battle, we find in 2Ch 15:1-7 . The time we need to be most watchful is in the moment of a great victory. When the times are hard, when we are pressed to the wall, we are apt to be humble and look to God; but when it looks like everything is going our way, the danger is that we will be puffed up. Now the prophet of God met that army coming, with all those spoils and said, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you be with him; if ye seek him he will be found of you; if ye forsake him he will forsake you.” What a warning, that! “God is with you while you are with God; but if you turn away from God, he will turn away from you.” Notice 2Ch 15:3 of that warning: “Now for long seasons Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law. But when in their distress, they turned unto the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. And in those days there was no peace to him that went out: nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the land. And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, city against city; for God did vex them with all adversity.” .Here I raise this question: Is that a prophecy of future events, or is it a historical retrospect quoted to enforce the text, “If you are with God, he is with you, if you forsake him, he will forsake you”? It may surprise the reader that some commentaries construe it as prophecy: “For a long time Israel will be without the true God.” Henstenberg, one of my favorites, takes that position, but he is mistaken, I think: the tense forbids it. The prophet is enforcing his exhortation by the past history of the people, well known to those whom he addressed. Then I raise another question: If a retrospect, what events of the past verify it? My answer is that if we look to the period of the judges alone we may find every particular verified. Deborah says that before she came to the front the highways were not travelled; they were not safe; that the people were scattered; and in the time of Samson it is said that the Israelite was not only not allowed to have arms, but he must go to a Philistine to get permission to sharpen his ax or goad, on his grindstone, and that tribe was against tribe. There is abundant historical verification, looking at it as a retrospect. We are in a bad fix when we have to go to the enemies of religion to get a grindstone to sharpen our ax. One of Israel’s later prophets foretells a similar condition. It is in the prophecy of Hosea. (See Hos 4:1-5 ).

There is a remarkable date in 2Ch 15:19 ; 2Ch 16:1 , when compared with 1Ki 16:8 : “And there was no more war unto the fifth and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.” Now we know that another war comes before that date, so what about this date? I give you my method of reconciling the difficulty: the word “reign” in this passage should be translated “kingdom” (which is a good translation), “And there was no more war unto the fifth and thirtieth year of the kingdom of Asa.” That means from Rehoboam’s time, and that exactly corresponds with the facts, as may be demonstrated, because the very next war we are going to tell about occurred before the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign, and the man who conducted the war was dead before we get to the thirty-fifth year of Asa, and the cause of the war is an event of this section.

Azariah’s prophecy is attributed to Oded, in 1Ch 15:8 , thus: “And when Asa heard these words of the prophecy of Oded the prophet.” Above he is called Azariah, the son of Oded. My solution of this difficulty is that the father, himself a prophet, may have sent a son to deliver the prophecy.

Now let us look at the elements of the second great reformation under Asa: “And he put away the Sodomites out of the land; he took courage and put away all the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim [his father had captured them in the war with Jeroboam]; and he renewed the altar of the Lord which was before the porch of the Lord. And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated and he himself had dedicated, silver and gold and vessels. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and them that sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. So they gathered themselves together in Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.” And there was a great convocation including multitudes from Israel, and the record says that the object of that great convocation was to renew the covenant with God, and solemnly take oath that they would not only seek Jehovah alone, but would put to death him that suggested the worship of a false god. His grandmother, the queen regent, Maacah, the granddaughter of Absalom, had been the occasion of this idolatry, and had herself set up idols. He not only destroyed the idols of his grandmother, but he removed her from her position as queen regent in the realm. He burnt the idol that she worshiped, and poured out the ashes into the brook Kidron. This is a great reformation, and the result is expressed thus: “And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting and with trumpets, and all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with their whole desire, and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.” It is a solemn thing when one assembles a-great convocation, and submits to the people the true worship of God, and induces them to enter into a covenant before God to follow him, and to turn aside from idols. Whenever anyone does that in any community, whenever he brings about such a result as that, already he has become one of earth’s great reformers.

Now let us take up the occasion and reason of the war of Baasha, king of Israel, against Asa and the step taken in view of this reason, thus: “And Baasha, King of Israel, went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.” We have just learned the fact which disturbed Baasha: “For they fell to Asa out of Israel in abundance, when they saw the Lord his God was with him.” Now, the king of Israel, when he saw that immense secession of his people going over to Judah, determined to make war to stop it. The step that he took was to build Ramah within five miles of Jerusalem, and to fortify it, so that it would command the entrance into Jerusalem.

Asa freed himself from this attack of Baasha, by taking the treasuries, even the sacred treasures out of Jerusalem, the Temple, and sending them as tribute to Benhadad, the king of Syria, whose country lay north of the ten tribes, and making an alliance with him, “to step on the tail of this army invading him.” Note that 1Ki 15:19 and 2Ch 16:3 , both commence this way: “There is a league between me and thee, between my father and thy father”, or, “there is a league between me and thee as there was between my father and thy father.” How shall we explain that? Notice that the words, “there is” are in italics: that shows that the translators supplied those words. Let us supply better words: “Let there be a league between thee and me as there was between my father and thy father.” There was no league extant between Asa and Benhadad; on the contrary Benhadad had leagued with Baasha; and he says, “Now let there be a league between me and thee, and break your league with Baasha.” The result of the bribe was that Benhadad marched an army against Israel, the ten tribes, took many of their cities, and Baasha had to leave Ramah and his fortifications and go back to fight for his own country. Asa disposed of Baasha’s fortifications at Ramah, by having these fortifications taken down, and the material used in building two fortifications, or cities, that were to protect Jerusalem and hold these roads. There is an ancient and also a far future tragic event associated with Ramah. The ancient event was the death of Jacob’s wife, Rachel, at that place, and the great mourning that followed it. The far distant future event was the slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem by Herod, where the New Testament says, “The voice of Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted because they were not.”

The sin of Asa’s alliance with Benhadad and how Jehovah announced his displeasure, are found in 2Ch 16:7-9 : “And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceeding many? Yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand? For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars.” Washington, President of the “United States, in his farewell address said, “Beware of entangling alliances.” Well, Asa made such an entangling alliance, which proved very harmful to him; it would have been far better if he had relied upon Jehovah and whipped both of them.

Asa’s added transgression was to put the prophet in prison who rebuked him. Now, when one gets mad at the truth being told to him and confesses that it is the truth; and when he tries to put away the truth by imprisoning the people who tell the truth, he should remember this: “The word of God cannot be bound.” One may imprison the speaker, but the word of God that he told cannot be bound. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time. Of course, when one goes wrong in one thing, he will likely add another wrong. (I omit all the references to Israel just now because I have reserved for a later discussion the House of Omri).

A disease overtook Asa in his old age: “And in the ninth and thirtieth year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet; and his disease was exceeding great.” I suppose he had the gout. Anyhow, the gout comes to people who live luxuriously and especially those who drink much port wine are sure to have it. 2Ch 16:12-13 seems to veil a sarcasm against the physicians: “Asa was diseased in his feet . . . yet in his disease he sought not Jehovah, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers.” The New Testament has a similar passage, concerning the afflicted woman who “had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse” (Mar 5:26 ). I sometimes quote these passages when joking with my friends, the doctors. Dr. Broadus well says that nothing better could have been expected from the medical practice of that day. An intelligent modern physician would laugh to scorn the remedies prescribed by physicians of New Testament times, much less Asa’s more distant days. The old-time symbol of a physician was a duck that looked like it was just about to say, “quack.” The practice was a mixture of magic, witchcraft, and superstition, like the old granny’s remedies in Edward Eggleston’s Hoosier Schoolmaster.

In 2Ch 16:14 we have the last reference to Asa: “And they buried him in his own sepulchre, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.” Was he cremated? Some commentaries quote this to show how early the cremation of bodies commenced. But that is not the thought at all. He is following the Egyptian method of having the body embalmed. They put him in a bed of sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art. The burning was the burning of incense at the mouth of the tomb. It was not the cremation of the body. The object was to preserve the body so it would not decay.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the theme of this section and what helps especially commended?

2. What was the time period of Asa’s reign, who the contemporaneous kings of Israel, and how many and what dynasties?

3. What was the general character of Asa and how do the kings of Judah compare with those of Israel?

4. What great blessing marked the beginning of his reign and how was it obtained?

5. How was it utilized?

6. What was the second great event of his reign and where did it take place?

7. Is the great number of men given here credible and what is the proof?

8. What is the origin, meaning and application of the name “Ethiopian”?

9. Where were the Cushites?

10. What is the proof that this was also an Egyptian army?

11. Who, then, according to some, was this man, Zerah?

12. Give and analyze Asa’s appeal to Jehovah when he saw the great host and God’s response to him.

13. What were the mighty results of this victory?

14. What is the meaning of “tents of the cattle”?

15. Analyze the warning of the prophet, Azariah, who went to meet Asa returning from the great battle.

16. Is that a prophecy of future events or is it a historical retrospect, quoted to enforce the text?

17. If a retrospect, what events of the past verify it? Explain and illustrate.

18. Cite a passage from one of Israel’s later prophets who foretells a similar condition.

19. Explain the remarkable date in 2Ch 15:19 ; 2Ch 16:1 , comparing with 1Ki 16:8 .

20. Winy is Azariah’s prophecy attributed to Oded in 1Ch 15:8 ?

21. Give an account of the second great reformation of Asa.

22. What was the occasion and reason for the war of Baasha, king of Israel, against Asa, and what step taken in view of this reason?

23. How did Asa free himself from this attack of Baasha? Explain fully his words to Benhadad.

24. How did Asa dispose of Baasha’s fortifications at Ramah?

25. What ancient and what far distant future events associated with Ramah?

26. What was sin of Asa’s alliance with Benhadad and how did Jehovah announce his displeasure?

27. What was Asa’s added transgression?

28. What disease overtook Asa in his old age?

29. What is the author’s sarcasm relative to Asa’s sickness and death?

30. What was the last reference to Asa and what the meaning of “a great burning for him”?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

2Ch 16:1 In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

Ver. 1. In the six and thirtieth year. ] See 2Ch 15:19 .

Of the reign of Asa. ] Or, In the reign of Asa.

Baasha king of Israel. ] Of whom, see 1Ki 15:27 .

Came up against Judah. ] See on 1Ki 15:17 , &c.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

2 Chronicles Chapter 16

But Asa’s day of failure comes (2Ch 16 ). When Baasha, king of Israel, came up against Judah, and built Ramah in order to hinder the Israelites from going up to the temple, Asa makes a league with Syria. He has recourse to Ben-hadad and says, “There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father; behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may depart from me.” Ben-hadad accordingly stopped the building of Ramah by the king of Israel. “And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on Jehovah thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand.”

How remarkable is the government of God. Whatever wrong step we do to accomplish an end, not only does it not accomplish it, but it brings its own chastening with it. The very thing we least desire comes upon us. God would not only have hindered Israel, but Syria. Instead of this, the host of the king of Syria escaped out of his hands. The consequence was that, convicted of his folly as well as of his sin, Asa was wroth with the seer and put him in a prison house; and as one evil leads on to another, Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time. But God oppressed him, or, at any rate, chastised him, for he was diseased in his feet; and the same unbelief that sent him to Ben-hadad sent him now to men when he ought to have looked to Jehovah. We must remember that the grand point in Israel was that they had God to care for them. It was not like the case of men now who look to God to bless the means that are at hand; but in Israel there was a special testimony of God’s being looked to in every trouble; and in this, Asa, although he had been a faithful man, failed seriously, and very solemnly too, at the close. I do not say that he was not a man of God, but I do say that there was great and grievous failure.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

In the, &c. This chapter is complementary to 1Ki 15:17-24. six and thirtieth. The thirty-sixth year of the kingdom: i.e. from the disruption of the kingdom of Judah. This agrees with all the other dates and lengths of reigns. See App-50and note on p. 57.

reign. See note on 2Ch 15:19.

came up against. There had been quiet between the two kingdoms as such (2Ch 14:1; 2Ch 15:19), though there had been border fighting (1Ki 15:16, 1Ki 15:32).

let none go out. This shows that there was a tide of population streaming into Judah from Israel. See note on 1 Kings 2Ch 12:17.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 16

In the thirty-sixth year of his reign, Baasha who was now the king of Israel started to fortify the city of Ramah, north of Jerusalem, in order that he might cut off all of the trade that is coming into Judah or all of the trade that would go out ( 2Ch 16:1 ).

He was going to cut off their supplies. And so he’s going to build this fortified city so that he could begin to cut off the supplies from Judah.

And Asa ( 2Ch 16:2 )

He had had now a very prosperous reign. For twenty-five years they had had rest after the great victory and commitment to God. But now he had become rich. He had become strong and he took money out of the treasury of the house of the Lord.

took gold and silver out of the treasures of the house of the LORD, and he sent it off to the king of Syria ( 2Ch 16:2 ),

And he said to Benhadad, “Your father and my father had a mutual defense pact. And I’m sending you this money in order that you might honor this mutual defense pact, and I want you to attack Israel from the north because they’re building this fortified city. They’re preparing an invasion and all. And so I want you to attack them from the north.” And so Benhadad began to attack Israel from the north.

Well, because Baasha had deployed the troops down toward the south in the building of this fortified city and all, Benhadad began to move through the north part. They conquered the city of Dan in the upper part of the Galilee, the Hula Valley there. They began to move down. They took the area around the Sea of Galilee, the cities of Naphtali and all, and so Baasha, when the Syrians began to invade and take the northern part, left off the building of the fortified city, moved his army up to defend their northern borders from this attack of Syria. And when they did, of course, Asa moved out and they took all of the materials that they had brought to build the fortified city and they built several little cities for their own defense with the materials that they had captured from that which Baasha had brought down.

So his plan was successful. He had used his own military alliances and his own wealth and all to buy himself out of his problems. And it was successful. It was a very successful move. They were able to deploy the troops and they were able to take the materials, and it was a successful move. However, the prophet of God came to him, Hanani.

And he said, Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on Jehovah your God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of your hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. But herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from now on you’re going to have wars ( 2Ch 16:7-9 ).

Now he had just had, he was just, no doubt, gloating in his wisdom, in his diplomacy, in his success, and a prophet comes and rebukes him. And the rebuke is this: “You have relied upon Syria, the arm of man. You’re not resting in the Lord anymore. You’re not going out in the name of the Lord anymore. You’re not calling unto the Lord for the help that you need any longer. You see, you don’t feel that need for the help of God. ‘God, I can manage this one myself.’ And because you’ve relied on the king of Syria, and not on the Lord your God, don’t you remember… that now the king of Syria is delivered out of your hand, but don’t you remember that in the past when you were invaded by this huge army of Ethiopians and Lubims with their chariots and all, how that at that time you cried unto the Lord, the Lord delivered them into your hand.”

“For,” and this is the truth of God, burn it in your heart tonight, “the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the entire earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are completely towards Him.” What is God saying? Just this. God wants to use your life. God wants to bless your life. God wants to pour out upon you His glorious resources. God is just looking for people that He can use, that He can funnel His resources through, because God is wanting to reach this world around us. God needs men to reach this world. God is looking for men whose hearts are completely towards Him that He might show Himself strong on behalf of that person; that God might funnel His resources through their lives.

Oh God, cause our hearts to be turned completely towards Thee. Take our hearts away from the issues of the world. From our own desires and purposes. From our own goals and ambitions. Oh God, let my heart be completely towards Thee. Don’t let my heart be turned aside by my own desires and my own wishes. God, let my heart be completely towards You. For the eyes of the Lord are looking through the whole world to find such men that God might show Himself strong on behalf of those people.

In other words, as we were talking earlier, God is looking for the man whose life is in line with the purposes and the will of God. And when He finds that man, and when that man asks God for those things of the kingdom that he sees are necessary, then God is already determined to give to him those things that he is asking. Because he’s not asking to consume it on his own flesh, on his own desires. James said, “You ask, and receive not, that you might consume it on your own lust” ( Jas 4:3 ).

And so many of our petitions that we bring before God are really our own will, our own desires that we are offering to God and wanting Him to help us fulfill our desires. But God’s looking for men whose desire is totally towards the Lord and the things of God, because God needs men in this world today. The world is in a desperate condition. God needs men. God is looking for men and the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the entire earth in order that He might show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are completely towards Him.

Oh God, I want to be that man. Oh God, I want my desires to be fully in line with Your will, with what You want. God, I want to be usable. And this is my continual prayer: God, keep me usable. I know it is so easy to get sidetracked, to get caught up in something other than God’s purpose or plan and end up on the shelf. I don’t want to end up on the shelf. I want to remain usable by God. That’s the only reason for being in this rotten place.

Living in this corrupted society, there’s only one purpose, and that’s to be used of God for His purposes. And when I start living for my own purposes, then I pray God takes me instantly, because I’m wasting my life on that which really doesn’t matter. There’s only one real purpose now and that’s to be what God wants me to be. To be that servant of God, doing His will in order that God might work. Show His power and His strength through my life. God’s looking for such men. I want to be that kind of man. I’m not completely. I desire to be. And God knows the desire of my heart. From the time when I committed my life fully to Jesus Christ, to be that man that God could use.

Now Asa was angry with the prophet ( 2Ch 16:10 ),

The truth oftentimes creates anger, resentment.

he put him in a prison; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing ( 2Ch 16:10 ).

Here is the king who at the beginning offered this prayer of God, who created this great spiritual reform among the people. “We’re going to serve the Lord.” He’s going to be… and now he’s in a rage because the prophet has brought to him the truth of God. Throws the prophet into prison.

And Asa in the thirty-ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, it was an exceeding great disease: yet in his disease he sought not the LORD, but the aid of physicians ( 2Ch 16:12 ).

And he died. Now the intimation in the text is, had he sought the Lord, the Lord would have healed his diseased feet. But you see, he began a pattern of relying upon man and upon the arm of flesh. We sing that song, “The arm of flesh will fail you. You dare not trust your own.” It’s vain to put your trust in man. “Better to put your trust in the Lord than your confidence in princes” ( Psa 118:9 ). And he started out putting his trust in God. It’s a sad, tragic story. A man who started out putting his trust in God, knew the power of God, the great victories of God, great spiritual revival, but whose life he ended up trusting in the arm of flesh, in the arm of man. And he died trusting in man. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

2Ch 16:1-6

2Ch 16:1-6

THE CONCLUSION OF THE REIGN OF ASA;

HIS REBUKE BY THE PROPHET;

BAASHA; THE KING OF ISRAEL; BEGINS TO FORTIFY RAMAH

“In the sixth and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any one to come unto or go in to Asa king of Judah. Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of Jehovah and of the king’s house, and sent to Benhadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father, behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. Then Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Napthtali. And it came to pass when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building Ramah, and let the work cease. Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.”

David was “a man after God’s own heart”; yet he was guilty of many sins; and likewise Asa, although his heart was “perfect toward Jehovah,” yet, like all mortals, he was guilty of sin; and the Chronicler in this chapter cites two events in which king Asa did wrong in the sight of God. The first of these was his seeking aid of Benhadad the king of Syria instead of seeking it of the Lord.

“Baasha … built Ramah” (2Ch 16:1). That is, he began to do so, because the invasion of Benhadad compelled him to abandon the project. It is not hard to see what was in the mind of Baasha. The popularity of Asa’s reign, and the general knowledge that God was blessing him had led many in Baasha’s northern kingdom to go to Jerusalem for the legitimate worship of God. All of the northern kings vigorously opposed this, because they considered it a threat to the continuity of Northern Israel; and Baasha, by fortifying Ramah, had in mind to prohibit such excursions to Jerusalem, which, of course, occurred three times annually on the occasions of the three set feasts: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles.

“Asa brought out silver and gold” (2Ch 16:2). It apparently never entered the mind of Asa that, “If silver and gold could buy the help of Syria, a little more silver and gold could cancel it and deliver their help to someone else.”

One may only wonder at Asa’s actions here. God had delivered him from a far greater threat in that war with Zerah. Northern Israel was nothing compared with the tremendous strength of Egypt; and perhaps that was the reason that Asa might have felt that he did not need God in this instance, feeling that he was able to take care of this threat without God’s help. Such a feeling on the part of any mortal is never justified. All men need God’s help continually, in small matters as well as large ones; and it is always sinful for men to trust in themselves instead of seeking God’s help.

E.M. Zerr:

2Ch 16:1. Baasha was king of Israel which was the kingdom of the 10 tribes. With a few exceptions there was a state of war between the two kingdoms all the years of their existence. Baasha built Ramah which means he fortified it with the intent of blockading Jerusalem, since the two cities were not far apart.

2Ch 16:2-3. We will always remember that the Jewish nation was secular as well as religious. It had dealings with other nations as a temporal power, and such relations were not necessarily wrong. However, in the dealings with other temporal powers, the kings of the nation of God should never have left the Lord out of their calculations. Damascus was the capital of Syria, a country just north of Palestine, and hence a near neighbor of the 10 tribes. An alliance had previously been formed between the two kingdoms. Now that Judah is about to be attacked by the king of Israel, Asa thinks to divert his attention by turning his ally away from him. With this In view, Asa appropriated some of the treasurers in the house of the Lord. Since the object was in the interests of that house, as Asa saw it, we can see a favorable motive in his act. We should not consider the offer of the silver and gold as a bribe in the ordinary sense of that word. It costs money to carry on war, and if the king of Syria is to do so on behalf of Asa, he should be supported in the expense.

2Ch 16:4. Ben-hadad king of Syria accepted the proposition of Asa and sent his soldiers against Israel. Store cities were the ones containing the magazines of supplies for military and other uses.

2Ch 16:5. The plan of Asa had the desired effect of drawing away the attention of Baasha. He stopped the work of fortifying Ramah and left the materials behind him.

2Ch 16:6. Took all Judah means that Asa called the people of Judah into his service for the special work. The materials that had been brought to Ramah to oppose Asa were used to help him instead. They were used to fortify two cities of Judah that were important to the welfare of the nation.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

This is a very sad chapter, telling as it does the story of the lapse of a man who, considering the conditions under which he lived, had for six and thirty years been so remarkably true to God. When Baasha, king of Israel, commenced to build Ramah with the express purpose of troubling Judah, Asa, who had so often been led by God, turned to Benhadad for help. It seemed to be a successful policy, for Benhadad spoiled the cities of Israel, and Baasha left his work. Things which appear successful may be in the life of faith most disastrous. As a matter of fact, the Syrians were worse foes of Judah than even Israel; and as Hanani, the seer, told the king, by this act they had escaped out of his hand.

How perpetually men defeat their own ends when either through lack of faith or overconfidence, which are practically the same thing, they attempt to do by policy what God is prepared to do for them in answer to their obedient belief. The story is the sadder in that the king seems to have had no repentance for his wrong. He persecuted the prophet, flinging him into prison. Moreover, in his latter days he became despotic, and even though physical suffering came to him, “he sought not to the Lord,” so engrossed was he with the suffering and his attempts to gain relief through the physicians.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

2Ch 16:9

I. Notice, first, God’s continued inspection of all that passes on this earth. We may affirm it as evident that nothing can happen on any spot of the peopled immensity which is not known to Him who is emphatically the Omniscient. Indeed, it were to deny the omniscience of God to suppose any, the most trivial, incident not included within His knowledge. And it is far more than the inspection of an ever-vigilant observer which God throws over the concerns of creation. It is not merely that nothing can happen without the knowledge of our Maker; it is that nothing can happen without His knowledge or permission, for we must ever remember that God is the First Cause, and that on the first all secondary causes depend.

II. All the motions of Providence have for their ultimate end the good of those whose heart is perfect towards God. (1) If God sent His own Son to deliver man from the consequences of transgression and to extirpate evil from the universe, we cannot doubt that the objects which engaged so stupendous an interposition must still be those to whose furtherance the Divine dealings tend. The great object which Providence proposes is the stability and exaltation of Christ’s Church, seeing it is for the very purpose of showing Himself strong on behalf of the righteous that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” (2) It is not only in reference to the Church at large that we are warranted in thus speaking of God’s providence. Of each member in this Church we may declare that God watches sedulously over him, with the express design of succouring him with all needful assistance. We have promises that nothing shall harm us, but that all things shall work together for our good, if we walk obediently in love and are followers of Christ.

H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 3120.

Reference: 2Ch 16:9.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1152.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 16 Asas Relapse and Death

1. War between Asa and Baasha (2Ch 16:1-6)

2. Hananis rebuke (2Ch 16:7-9)

3. Hanani imprisoned (2Ch 16:10-11)

4. Asas illness and death (2Ch 16:12-14)

Much has been made by critics of the supposed wrong date, the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa. Compare 1Ki 15:33 with the first verse of this chapter to see the apparent discrepancy. If the invasion of Judah by Baasha occurred shortly after the events recorded in the previous chapter, it was in the thirty-sixth year after the revolt of the ten tribes. This presents a possible solution. Others think it is the error of a scribe.

As the dates in 2Ch 15:19; 2Ch 16:1 are incompatible with that of Baashas death (1Ki 16:8), and consequently, of course, with that of Baashas war against Asa, commentators have tried to obviate the difficulty, either by supposing that the numeral 35 refers, not to the date of Asas accession, but to that of the separation of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, or else by emendating the numeral in the book of the Chronicles. The latter is, evidently, the only satisfactory solution. There is manifestly here a copyists mistake, and the numeral which we would substitute for 35 is not 15 but 25–and this for reasons too long to explain (Bible History).

Asa relapsed and failed when Baasha, King of Israel, came against Judah and built Ramah. (See annotations, 1 Kings 15 and 16.) In unbelief Asa made an alliance with the King of Syria. He feared Baasha very much. In Jer 41:9, we read of a pit which he made for fear of Baasha; probably to hide there. The fear of man bringeth a snare. How this reveals the weakness of man! After all the evidences of the LORDs mercy and power Asa could forsake thus the LORD and enter into an unholy alliance with a heathen king. He gained the object he sought and Baasha was forced to abandon his plan. But God had been a witness of it all. He sent through Hanani (graciously given by the Lord the meaning of his name) and rebuked the king for what he had done. The LORD reminds him of the far greater host which threatened him (14:9-15) and the deliverance He had wrought. Beautiful are the final words of Hanani. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. The Lord looks for faith, for confidence. Our hearts are perfect toward Him when we trust Him and are obedient to His Word. Then all His power is with us and for us.

Wars to the end was the punishment announced upon Asa. And Asa showed his true state of Soul, when, instead of saying, I have sinned, he began to rage; when instead of beseeching Hanani to pray for him, he put him in prison. He was away from the LORD and his behavior made it known. Stricken by disease, no doubt to humble him and bring him back to the Lord, he sought not the LORD, but the physicians. These were in all probability magicians; who used enchantments. There was no return unto the LORD; no repentance.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

to Asa

i.e. none of his subjects. 2Ch 16:5; 2Ch 16:6; 2Ch 15:9.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

am 3074, bc 930

In the six: See note on 1Ki 15:32. “From the rending of the ten tribes from Judah, over which Asa was now king.” 1Ki 15:16-22

to the intent: 2Ch 11:13-17, 2Ch 15:5, 2Ch 15:9, 1Ki 12:27

Reciprocal: 1Ki 15:17 – Baasha 1Ki 16:5 – the rest 2Ch 15:19 – five and thirtieth 2Ch 16:5 – that he left off Jer 41:9 – for fear Mic 1:14 – give Heb 11:34 – turned

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

2Ch 16:1. In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa This date disagrees so much with what is said 1Ki 15:33, that there seems to be no other way of reconciling the two passages, but allowing that a trivial mistake has been made by the transcribers here, and that instead of the thirty-sixth, we ought to read here the twenty-sixth. This reading is approved by Houbigant, and is evidently adopted by Josephus, lib. 8, cap. 6. Baasha began his reign in the third year of Asa, and reigned no more than twenty-four years. He was, therefore, dead nine years, at least, before the thirty-sixth year of Asa. Baasha came up against Judah, and built Ramah That is, made a wall about it, and fortified it. The late defection of so many of his subjects to the house of David was the occasion of his fortifying this place, designing hereby both to prevent others of them from revolting, and to hinder Asas subjects from coming into his dominions to seduce his people from their obedience to him.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

2Ch 16:1. In the six and thirtieth year. Baasha began to reign the third year of Asa, and he reigned twenty four years. 1Ki 15:33. And when obliged by Benhadad to abandon the fortifications of Ramah, he was, according to Josephus, in the last year of his reign. Hence it should read, In the twenty sixth year, or as in the margin, from the rending of the ten tribes from Judah over which Asa was now king.

2Ch 16:10. Asa was wroth with the seer: proof sufficient that the king was in error. God had twice delivered him from two huge armies, and now he feared to trust the arm of salvation: so he impoverished his country, dishonoured the Lord, and strengthened the Syrians. Carnal men rarely knock at mercys door till human resources fail.

2Ch 16:13-14. Asa slept with his fathersand they made a very great burning for him. In some convenient and adjacent place, they raised a huge pile of aromatic wood and sweet odours, whose flames would perfume and illuminate the surrounding country. This was in imitation of the heathen, who really burned the bodies of the dead. Homer thus describes the burning of Patroclus. A hundred feet spread the pile on each side. High on the top they laid the dead, grieving in their soul for the soul of their friend. Many beeves lay in death at the pyre; stript of their hides they lay. Achilles wraps in the fat the dead. From head to foot involved he lay; the carcases of the bullocks ranged on each side. Jars of honey and oil he placed low bending over the bier. Four high-necked steeds he threw in the pile. Of nine dogs that belonged to the chief, two he slew to attend their lord. Twelve youths he transfixed with steel, a bloody offering to the slain; twelve youths from parents renowned: so dreadful was the wrath of his soul.

Beneath the pile the hero laid the invincible force of devouring fire. He groaned from his inmost soul, and called by name his hapless friend. Hail, oh Patroclus beloved! Even in the halls of Pluto, hail! All that I had promised, I now perform for my hapless friend. Twelve young Trojans of descent renowned; these all, with thee shall burn. But Hector, the son of Priam, the flames shall not consume. Fire shall not devour thy foe; the destined prey of hungry dogs.Macphersons Iliad, 23. The above passage illustrates the contempt of the princes of Judah for the body of Jehoram, 2Ch 21:19; and for what befel Jezebel before the palace of Jezreel.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

2Ch 16:1-6. Taken from 1Ki 15:16-22 with unimportant variations.

2Ch 16:7-10. With the words of 2Ch 16:9, from henceforth thou shalt have wars, contrast 1Ki 15:16, and there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days.

2Ch 16:11-14. With the words a very great burning (2Ch 16:14) cf. 2Ch 21:19, Jer 34:5; the reference is to sacrifice for the dead.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

ASA GOES TO THE WORLD FOR HELP

(vv.1-6)

Baasha, king of Israel, had become alarmed at the thought of some from Israel defecting to Judah, Therefore he came and built Ramah as a buffer between the two companies (v.1). What a picture of the fact that those who have departed from the Lord’s centre will do all they can to keep their followers from returning to the Lord’s place for them! This was not a direct attack upon Judah, but Asa considered it an offence. Why did he not then appeal to God as he did in the case of the attack of the Ethiopians? But instead he sadly sought the help of those who were enemies of the Lord, the Syrians. It seems most strange that a king whose godliness and faith had been so commendable should sink so low as to take silver and gold from the house of the Lord by which to enlist the help of Syria against his brother Israelites (v.2).

Ben Hadad, king of Syria, moved only by his love for silver and gold, agreed to break a treaty he had with Israel and take sides with Judah (v-v.3-4). He attacked some of the cities of Israel including the storage cities of Naphtali. This had the effect that Asa had desired, and Asa would no doubt feet himself justified, as many do who consider that the end justifies the means (vv.5-6). Asa was able thus to attack Ramah and reduce it to nothing. He gained his object through friendship with the world! If instead of this he had sought the grace and guidance of the Lord in an effort to be relieved from the threatened opposition of the ten tribes, certainly God would have intervened in the best way possible. But we too, after we have found great blessing through depending on the Lord, may find ourselves in great danger of then depending on our own ability to gain our ends.

GOD’S MESSAGE TO ASA

(vv.7-10)

Though Asa had gained his ends in hiring Syria to help him, God did not congratulate Asa! Rather, He sent Hanani the prophet to him to strongly reprove him for having relied on the king of Syria instead of on the Lord ” Therefore, he tells him, “the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand” (v.7). He reminded Asa that the army of the Ethiopians and Lubims had been huge (far greater than that of Israel), with many chariots and horsemen: yet because Asa had then relied on the Lord, God gave him a decisive victory. ” For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him” (v.9). Thus, Hanani sought to persuade Asa that God was deeply desirous of doing the very best for those who had their full confidence in Him. The prophet faithfully told the king he had done foolishly and because of this he would be troubled by wars from that time onwards. How badly does our lack of faith affect our normal life!

However, instead of seriously taking to heart the message as from God, Asa became angry with Hanani and put him in prison (v.10). Being a believer, why did he not recognise that Hanani did nor speak his own thoughts, but had been God’s mouthpiece? Thus Asa in his later years spoiled a testimony that had been bright and commendable. In fact, when faith becomes weak, we shall show this in our treatment of others also, and Asa was guilty of oppressing some of the people.

ASA’S ILLNESS AND DEATH

(vv.11-14)

The Lord gave Asa three years, following his bad treatment of the prophet, to consider and change his ways, before he allowed Asa to become diseased in his feet (v.12). It is sad that he did not turn back to the Lord in that time. But also, when his feet were so diseased, why did he not then at least seek the Lord’s mercy? Rather, he sought to physicians. There is nothing wrong in going to a physician, but Asa sought not only a physician, but “physicians.” More that that, if in going to a physician we pray for the Lord’s intervention, this is good, but Asa did not seek the Lord at all, but only physicians. The Lord gave him two years following the attack of his ailment before He took him away in death, but that additional two years did not turn him back to the Lord. His diseased feet symbolised a bad walk, but Asa evidently did not discern this. Thus he died in the 41st year of his reign. There was much in his reign that the people had cause to appreciate, and they laid him in a bed filled with spices and ointments, and made a very great burning for him. The people would not be as concerned about Asa’s relationship with God as about his outward success in reigning.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

16:1 In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa {a} Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built {b} Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

(a) Who reigned after Nadab the son of Jeroboam.

(b) He fortified it with walls and ditches: it was a city in Benjamin near Gibeon.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

3. Asa’s failure ch. 16

Three parts also mark this record of the later period of Asa’s reign: his war with Baasha (2Ch 16:1-6), Hanani’s sermon (2Ch 16:7-10), and the conclusion of his reign (2Ch 16:11-14).

Asa’s heart was right in that he consistently loved God. Nevertheless, like David, his obedience lapsed. He trusted in a foreign alliance and later in physicians more than in Yahweh. This resulted in defeat and death.

"Asa, then, has done a complete volte-face from his earlier faithfulness. It is as if we meet two altogether different Asas. He appeared first in the strength of God-reliance, now in the weakness of self-reliance." [Note: McConville, p. 174.]

Rather than confessing his guilt, Asa became angry and oppressed his own kingdom. It may have looked for a while as if Asa was the Son of David who would perfectly trust and obey God. Unfortunately he did not remain faithful.

"Just as the Chronicler inserted Azariah’s sermon in 2Ch 15:2-7 to interpret to his readers the positive period of Asa’s reign, so here he draws out the lessons to be learned from his falling away." [Note: Williamson, 1 and 2 . . ., p. 274.]

"There are some occasions in the Bible when a person’s handling of some small matter is taken as an indication of his capacity to handle a large one (e.g. Mat 25:21; Mat 25:23; Jer 12:5). Asa, however, having passed the sternest of tests first (by withstanding Zerah), fails a comparatively trivial one." [Note: McConville, p. 175.]

2Ch 16:9 is especially noteworthy (cf. Zec 4:10). No problem can arise for God’s people of which He is not aware and out of which He cannot deliver them if they commit themselves to Him fully (cf. Rom 8:28). 2Ch 16:10 records the first persecution of a prophet, but many others followed (cf. 1Ki 22:27; Mar 6:17-18).

Asa was one of Judah’s best kings, but he failed as did all the rest.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

ASA: DIVINE RETRIBUTION

2Ch 14:1-15; 2Ch 15:1-19; 2Ch 16:1-14

ABIJAH, dying, as far as we can gather from Chronicles, in the odor of sanctity, was succeeded by his son Asa. The chroniclers history of Asa is much fuller than that which is given in the book of Kings. The older narrative is used as a framework into which material from later sources is freely inserted. The beginning of the new reign was singularly promising. Abijah had been a very David, he had fought the battles of Jehovah, and had assured the security and independence of Judah. Asa, like Solomon, entered into the peaceful enjoyment of his predecessors exertions in the field. “In his days the land was quiet ten years,” as in the days when the judges had delivered Israel, and he was able to exhort his people to prudent effort by reminding them that Jehovah had given them rest on every side. This interval of quiet was used for both religious reform and military precautions. The high places and heathen idols and symbols which had somehow survived Abijahs zeal for the Mosaic ritual were swept away, and Judah was commanded to seek Jehovah and observe the Law; and he built fortresses with towers, and gates, and bars, and raised a great army “that bare bucklers and spears,”-no mere hasty levy of half-armed peasants with scythes and axes. The mighty array surpassed even Abijahs great muster of four hundred thousand from Judah and Benjamin: there were five hundred and eighty thousand men, three hundred thousand out of Judah that bare bucklers and spears and two hundred and eighty thousand out of Benjamin that bare shields and drew bows. The great muster of Benjamites under Asa is in striking contrast to the meager tale of six hundred warriors that formed the whole strength of Benjamin after its disastrous defeat in the days of the judges; and the splendid equipment of this mighty host shows the rapid progress of the nation from the desperate days of Shamgar and Jael or even of Sauls early reign, when “there was neither shield nor spear seen among forty thousand in Israel.” These references of buildings, especially fortresses, to military stores and the vast numbers of Jewish and Israelite armies, form a distinct class amongst the additions made by the chronicler to the material taken from the book of Kings. They are found in the narratives of the reigns of David, Rehoboam, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, Manasseh, in fact in the reigns of nearly all the good kings; Manassehs building was done after he had turned from his evil ways. {1Ch 12:1-40, etc.; 2Ch 11:5 ff; 2Ch 17:12 ff; 2Ch 26:9 ff; 2Ch 27:4 ff; 2Ch 28:23-24 ; 2Ch 33:14} Hezekiah and Josiah were too much occupied with sacred festivals on the one hand and hostile invaders on the other to have much leisure for building, and it would not have been in keeping with Solomons character as the prince of peace to have laid stress on his arsenals and armies Otherwise the chronicler, living at a time when the warlike resources of Judah were of the slightest, was naturally interested in these reminiscences of departed glory; and the Jewish provincials would take a pride in relating these pieces of antiquarian information about their native towns, much as the servants of old manor-houses delight to point out the wing which was added by some famous cavalier or by some Jacobite Squire.

Asas warlike preparations were possibly intended, like those of the Triple Alliance, to enable him to maintain peace; but if so, their sequel did not illustrate the maxim, “Si vis pacem, para bellum.” The rumour of his vast armaments reached a powerful monarch: “Zerah the Ethiopian.” (2Ch 14:9-15) The vagueness of this description is doubtless due to the remoteness of the chronicler from the times he is describing. Zerah has sometimes been identified with Shishaks successor, Osorkon I, the second king of the twenty-second Egyptian dynasty. Zerah felt that Asas great army was a standing menace to the surrounding princes, and undertook the task of destroying this new military power: “He came out against them.” Numerous as Asas forces were, they still left him dependent upon Jehovah, for the enemy were even more numerous and better equipped. Zerah led to battle an army of a million men, supported by three hundred war chariots. With this enormous host he came to Mareshah, at the foot of the Judaean highlands, in a direction southwest of Jerusalem. In spite of the inferiority of his army, Ass came out to meet him; “and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.” Like Abijah, Asa felt that, with his Divine ally, he need not be afraid of the odds against him even when they could be counted by hundreds of thousands. Trusting in Jehovah, he had taken the field against the enemy; and now at the decisive moment he made a confident appeal for help: “Jehovah, there is none beside Thee to help between the mighty and him that hath no strength.” Five hundred and eighty thousand men seemed nothing compared to the host arrayed against them, and outnumbering them in the proportion of nearly two to one. “Help us, Jehovah our God; for we rely on Thee, and in Thy name are we come against this multitude. Jehovah, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee.”

Jehovah justified the trust reposed in Him. He smote the Ethiopians, and they fled towards the southwest in the direction of Egypt; and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar, with fearful slaughter, so that of Zerahs million followers not one remained alive. Of course this statement is hyperbolical. The carnage was enormous, and no living enemies remained in sight. Apparently Gerar and the neighboring cities had aided Zerah in his advance and attempted to shelter the fugitives from Mareshah. Paralyzed with fear of Jehovah, whose avenging wrath had been so terribly manifested, these cities fell an easy prey to the victorious Jews. They smote and spoiled all the cities about Gerar, and reaped a rich harvest “for there was much spoil in them.” It seems that the nomad tribes of the southern wilderness had also in some way identified themselves with the invaders; Asa attacked them in their turn. “They smote also the tents of cattle”; and as the wealth of these tribes lay in their flocks and herds, “they carried away sheep in abundance and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.”

This victory is closely parallel to that of Abijah over Jeroboam. In both the numbers of the armies are reckoned by hundreds of thousands; and the hostile host outnumbers the army of Judah in the one case by exactly two to one, in the other by nearly that proportion: in both the king of Judah trusts with calm assurance to the assistance of Jehovah, and Jehovah smites the enemy; the Jews then massacre the defeated army and spoil or capture the neighboring cities.

These victories over superior numbers may easily be paralleled or surpassed by numerous striking examples from secular history. The odds were greater at Agincourt, where at least sixty thousand French were defeated by not more than twenty thousand Englishmen; at Marathon the Greeks routed a Persian army ten times as numerous as their own; in India English generals have defeated innumerable hordes of native warriors, as when Wellesley-

“Against the myriads of Assaye Clashed with his fiery few and won.”

For the most part victorious generals have been ready to acknowledge the succoring arm of the God of battles. Shakespeares Henry V after Agincourt speaks altogether in the spirit of Asas prayer:-

“O God, Thy arm was here; And not to us, but to Thy arm alone, Ascribe we all Take it, God, For it is only Thine.”

When the small craft that made up Elizabeths fleet defeated the huge Spanish galleons and galleasses, and the storms of the northern seas finished the work of destruction, the grateful piety of Protestant England felt that its foes had been destroyed by the breath of the Lord; “Afflavit Deus et dissipantur.”

The principle that underlies such feelings is quite independent of the exact proportions of opposing armies. The victories of inferior numbers in a righteous cause are the most striking, but not the most significant, illustrations of the superiority of moral to material force. In the wider movements of international politics we may find even more characteristic instances. It is true of nations as well as of individuals that-

“The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up: The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich; He bringeth low, He also lifteth up: He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes And inherit the throne of glory.”

Italy in the eighteenth century seemed as hopelessly divided as Israel under the judges, and Greece as completely enslaved to the “unspeakable Turk” as the Jews to Nebuchadnezzar; and yet, destitute as they were of any material resources, these nations had at their disposal great moral forces: the memory of ancient greatness and the sentiment of nationality; and today Italy can count hundreds of thousands like the chroniclers Jewish kings, and Greece builds her fortresses by land and her ironclads to command the sea. The Lord has fought for Israel.

But the principle has a wider application. A little examination of the more obscure and complicated movements of social life will show moral forces everywhere overcoming and controlling the apparently irresistible material forces opposed to them. The English and American pioneers of the movements for the abolition of slavery had to face what seemed an impenetrable phalanx of powerful interests and influences; but probably any impartial student of history would have foreseen the ultimate triumph of a handful of earnest men over all the wealth and political power of the slave-owners. The moral forces at the disposal of the abolitionists were obviously irresistible. But the soldier in the midst of smoke and tumult may still be anxious and despondent at the very moment when the spectator sees clearly that the battle is won: and the most earnest Christian workers sometimes falter when they realize the vast and terrible forces that fight against them. At such times we are both rebuked and encouraged by the simple faith of the chronicler in the overruling power of God.

It may be objected that if victory were to be secured by Divine intervention, there was no need to muster five hundred and eighty thousand men or indeed any army at all. If in any and every case God disposes, what need is there for the devotion to His service of our best strength, and energy, and culture, or of any human effort at all? A wholesome spiritual instinct leads the chronicler to emphasize the great preparations of Abijah and Asa. We have no right to look for Divine co-operation till we have done our best; we are not to sit with folded hands and expect a complete salvation to be wrought for us, and then to continue as idle spectators of Gods redemption of mankind we are to tax our resources to the utmost to gather our hundreds of thousands of soldiers; we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

This principle may be put in another way. Even to the hundreds of thousands the Divine help is still necessary. The leaders of great hosts are as dependent upon Divine help as Jonathan and his armor-bearer fighting single-handed against a Philistine garrison, or David arming himself with a sling and stone against Goliath of Gath. The most competent Christian worker in the prime of his spiritual strength needs grace as much as the untried youth making his first venture in the Lords service.

At this point we meet with another of the chroniclers obvious self-contradictions. At the beginning of the narrative of Asas reign we are told that the king did away with the high places and the symbols of idolatrous worship, and that, because Judah had thus sought Jehovah, He gave them rest. The deliverance from Zerah is another mark of Divine favor: And yet in the fifteenth chapter Asa, in obedience to prophetic admonition, takes away the abominations from his dominions, as if there had been no previous reformation, but we are told that the high places were not taken out of Israel. The context would naturally suggest that Israel here means Asas kingdom, as the true Israel of God; but as the verse is borrowed from the book of Kings, and “out of Israel” is an editorial addition made by the chronicler, it is probably intended to harmonize the borrowed verse with the chroniclers previous statement that Asa did away with the high places. If so, we must understand that Israel means the Northern Kingdom, from which the high places had not been removed, though Judah had been purged from these abominations. But here, as often elsewhere, Chronicles taken alone affords no explanation of its inconsistencies.

Again, in Asas first reformation he commanded Judah to seek Jehovah and to do the Law and the commandments; and accordingly Judah sought tile Lord. Moreover, Abijah, about seventeen years before Asas second reformation, made it his special boast that Judah had not forsaken Jehovah, but had priests ministering unto Jehovah, “the sons of Aaron and the Levites in their work.” During Rehoboams reign of seventeen years Jehovah was duly honored for the first three years, and again after Shishaks invasion in the fifth year of Rehoboam. So that for the previous thirty or forty years the due worship of Jehovah had only been interrupted by occasional lapses into disobedience. But now the prophet Oded holds before this faithful people the warning example of the “long seasons” when Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. And yet previously Chronicles supplies an unbroken list of high-priests from Aaron downwards. In response to Odeds appeal, the king and people set about the work of reformation as if they had tolerated some such neglect of God, the priests, and the Law as the prophet had described.

Another minor discrepancy is found in the statement that “the heart of Asa was perfect all his days”; this is reproduced verbatim from the book of Kings. Immediately afterwards the chronicler relates the evil doings of Asa in the closing years of his reign.

Such contradictions render it impossible to give a complete and continuous exposition of Chronicles that shall be at the same time consistent. Nevertheless they are not without their value for the Christian student. They afford evidence of the good faith of the chronicler. His contradictions are clearly due to his use of independent and discrepant sources, and not to any tampering with the statements of his authorities. They are also an indication that the chronicler attaches much more importance to spiritual edification than to historical accuracy. When he seeks to set before his contemporaries the higher nature and better life of the great national heroes, and thus to provide them with an ideal of kingship, he is scrupulously and painfully careful to remove everything that would weaken the force of the lesson which he is trying to teach; but he is comparatively indifferent to accuracy of historical detail. When his authorities contradict each other as to the number or the date of Asas reformations, or even the character of his later years, he does not hesitate to place the two narratives side by side and practically to draw lessons from both. The work of the chronicler and its presence with the Pentateuch and the Synoptic Gospels in the sacred canon imply an emphatic declaration of the judgment of the Spirit and the Church that detailed historical accuracy is not a necessary consequence of inspiration. In expounding this second narrative of a reformation by Asa, we shall make no attempt at complete harmony with the rest of Chronicles; any inconsistency between the exposition here and elsewhere will simply arise from a faithful adherence to our text.

The occasion then of Asas second reformation was as follows: Asa was returning in triumph from his great defeat of Zerah, bringing with him substantial fruits of victory in the shape of abundant spoil. Wealth and power had proved a snare to David and Rehoboam, and had involved them in grievous sin. Asa might also have succumbed to the temptations of prosperity; but, by a special Divine grace not vouchsafed to his predecessors, he was guarded against danger by a prophetic warning. At the very moment when Asa might have expected to be greeted by the acclamations of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when the king would be elated with the sense of Divine favor, military success, and popular applause, the prophets admonition checked the undue exaltation which might have hurried Asa into presumptuous sin. Asa and his people were not to presume upon their privilege; its continuance was altogether dependent upon their continued obedience: if they fell into sin the rewards of their former loyalty would vanish like fairy gold. “Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah 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.” This lesson was enforced from the earlier history of Israel. The following verses are virtually a summary of the history of the judges:-

“Now for long seasons Israel was without the true God, and without teaching priest, and without law.”

Judges tells how again and again Israel fell away from Jehovah. “But when in their distress they turned unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, and sought Him, he was found of them.”

Odeds address is very similar to another and somewhat fuller summary of the history of the judges, contained in Samuels farewell to the people, in which he reminded them how when they forgot Jehovah, their God, He sold them into the hand of their enemies, and when they cried unto Jehovah, He sent Zerubbabel, and Barak, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies on every side, and they dwelt in safety. Oded proceeds to other characteristics of the period of the judges:

“There was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in; but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation and city against city, for God did vex them with all adversity.”

Deborahs song records great vexations: the highways were unoccupied, and the travelers walked through by-ways; the rulers ceased in Israel; Gideon “threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.” The breaking of nation against nation and city against city will refer to the destruction of Succoth and Penuel by Gideon, the sieges of Shechem and Thebez by Ahimelech, the massacre of the Ephraimites by Jephthah, and the civil war between Benjamin and the rest of Israel and the consequent destruction of Jabesh-gilead. {Jdg 5:6-7; Jdg 6:2; Jdg 8:15-17; Jdg 9:1-7; Jdg 12:6}

“But,” said Oded, “be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack, for your work shall be rewarded.” Oded implies that abuses were prevalent in Judah which might spread and corrupt the whole people, so as to draw down upon them the wrath of God and plunge them into all the miseries of the times of the judges. These abuses were wide-spread, supported by powerful interests and numerous adherents. The queen-mother, one of the most important personages in an Eastern state, was herself devoted to heathen observances. Their suppression needed courage, energy, and pertinacity; but if they were resolutely grappled with, Jehovah would reward the efforts of His servants with success, and Judah would enjoy prosperity. Accordingly Asa took courage and put away the abominations out of Judah and Benjamin and the cities he held in Ephraim. The abominations were the idols and all the cruel and obscene accompaniments of heathen worship. {Cf. 1Ki 15:12} In the prophets exhortation to be strong, and not be slack, and in the corresponding statement that Asa took courage, we have a hint for all reformers. Neither Oded nor Asa underrated the serious nature of the task before them. They counted the cost, and with open eyes and full knowledge confronted the evil they meant to eradicate. The full significance of the chroniclers language is only seen when we remember what preceded the prophets appeal to Asa. The captain of half a million soldiers, the conqueror of a million Ethiopians with three hundred chariots, has to take courage before he can bring himself to put away the abominations out of his own dominions. Military machinery is more readily created than national righteousness; it is easier to slaughter ones neighbors than to let light into the dark places that are full of the habitations of cruelty; and vigorous foreign policy is a poor substitute for good administration. The principle has its application to the individual. The beam in our own eye seems more difficult to extract than the mote in our brothers, and a man often needs more moral courage to reform himself than to denounce other peoples sins or urge them to accept salvation. Most ministers could confirm from their own experience Portias saying, “I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.”

Asas reformation was constructive as well as destructive; the toleration of “abominations” had diminished the zeal of the people for Jehovah, and even the altar of Jehovah before the porch of the Temple had suffered from neglect: it was now renewed, and Asa assembled the people for a great festival. Under Rehoboam many pious Israelites had left the Northern Kingdom to dwell where they could freely worship at the Temple; under Asa there was a new migration, “for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him.” And so it came about that in the great assembly which Asa gathered together at Jerusalem not only Judah and Benjamin, but also Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, were represented. The chronicler has already told us that after the return from the Captivity some of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh dwelt at Jerusalem with the children of Judah and Benjamin, {1Ch 9:3} and he is always careful to note any settlement of members of the ten tribes in Judah or any acquisition of northern territory by the kings of Judah. Such facts illustrated his doctrine that Judah was the true spiritual Israel, the real or twelve-tribed whole, of the chosen people.

Asas festival was held in the third month of his fifteenth year, the month Sivan, corresponding roughly to our June. The Feast of Weeks, at which first-fruits were offered, felt in this month; and his festival was probably a special celebration of this feast. The sacrifice of seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep out of the spoil taken from the Ethiopians and their allies might be considered a kind of first-fruits. The people pledged themselves most solemnly to permanent obedience to Jehovah; this festival and its offerings were to be first-fruits or earnest of future loyalty. “They entered into a covenant to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; they sware unto Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.” The observance of this covenant was not to be left to the uncertainties of individual loyalty; the community were to be on their guard against offenders, Achans who might trouble Israel. According to the stern law of the Pentateuch, {Exo 22:20, Deu 13:5, Deu 13:9, Deu 13:15} “whosoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.” The seeking of Jehovah so far as it could be enforced by penalties, must have consisted in external observances; and the usual proof that a man did not seek Jehovah would be found in his seeking other gods and taking part in heathen rites. Such apostasy was not merely an ecclesiastical offense; it involved immorality and a falling away from patriotism. The pious Jew could no more tolerate heathenism than we could tolerate in England religions that sanctioned polygamy or suttee.

Having thus entered into covenant with Jehovah, “all Judah rejoiced at their oath because they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire.” At the beginning, no doubt, they, like their king, “took courage”; they addressed themselves with reluctance and apprehension to an unwelcome and hazardous enterprise. They now rejoiced over the Divine grace that had inspired their efforts and been manifested in their courage and devotion, over the happy issue of their enterprise, and over the universal enthusiasm for Jehovah; and He set the seal of his approval upon their gladness, He was found of them, and Jehovah gave them rest round about, so that there was no more war for twenty years: unto the thirty-fifth year of Asas reign. It is an unsavory task to put away abominations: many foul nests of unclean birds are disturbed in the process; men would not choose to have this particular cross laid upon them, but only those who take up their cross and follow Christ can hope to enter into the joy of the Lord.

The narrative of this second reformation is completed by the addition of details borrowed from the book of Kings. The chronicler next recounts how in the thirty-sixth year of Asas reign Baasha began to fortify Ramah as an outpost against Judah but was forced to abandon his undertaking by the intervention of the Syrian king. Benhadad, whom Asa hired with his own treasures and those of the Temple; whereupon Asa carried off Baashas stones and timber and built Geba and Mizpah as Jewish outposts against Israel. With the exception of the date and a few minor changes, the narrative so far is taken verbatim from the book of Kings. The chronicler, like the author of the priestly document of the Pentateuch, was anxious to provide his readers with an exact and complete system of chronology; he was the Ussher or Clinton of his generation. His date of the war against Baasha is probably based upon an interpretation of the source used for chapter 15; the first reformation secured a rest of ten years, the second and more thorough reformation a rest exactly twice as long as the first. In the interest of these chronological references, the chronicler has sacrificed a statement twice repeated in the book of Kings: that there was war between Asa and Baasha all their days. As Baasha came to the throne in Asas third year, the statement of the book of Kings would have seemed to contradict the chroniclers assertion that there was no war from the fifteenth to the thirty-fifth year of Asas reign. {1Ki 15:16; 1Ki 15:32-33}

After his victory over Zerah, Asa received a Divine message which somewhat checked the exuberance of his triumph; a similar message awaited him after his successful expedition to Ramah. By Oded Jehovah had warned Asa, but now He commissioned Hanani the seer to pronounce a sentence of condemnation. The ground of the sentence was that Asa had not relied on Jehovah, but on the king of Syria.

Here the chronicler echoes one of the keynotes of the great prophets. Isaih had protested against the alliance which Ahaz concluded with Assyria in order to obtain assistance again the united onset of Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, and had predicted that Jehovah would bring upon Ahaz, his people, and his dynasty days that had not come since the disruption, even the King of Assyria. {Isa 7:17} When this prediction was fulfilled, and the thundercloud of Assyrian invasion darkened all the land of Judah, the Jews, in their lack of faith, looked to Egypt for deliverance; and again Isaiah denounced the foreign alliance: “Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Jehovah; the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.” {Isa 31:1; Isa 30:3} So Jeremiah in his turn protested against a revival of the Egyptian alliance: “Thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.” {Jer 2:36}

In their successive calamities the Jews could derive no comfort from a study of previous history; the pretext upon which each of their oppressors had intervened in the affairs of Palestine had been an invitation from Judah.

In their trouble they had sought a remedy worse than the disease; the consequences of this political quackery had always demanded still more desperate and fatal medicines. Freedom from the border raids of the Ephraimites was secured at the price of the ruthless devastations of Hazael; deliverance from Rezin only led to the wholesale massacres and spoliation of Sennacherib. Foreign alliance was an opiate that had to be taken in continually increasing doses, till at last it caused the death of the patient.

Nevertheless these are not the lessons which the seer seeks to impress upon Asa. Hanani takes a loftier tone. He does not tell him that his unholy alliance with Benhadad was the first of a chain of circumstances that would end in the ruin of Judah. Few generations are greatly disturbed by the prospect of the ruin of their country in the distant future: “After us the Deluge.” Even the pious king Hezekiah, when told of the coming captivity of Judah, found much comfort in the thought that there should be peace and truth in his days. After the manner of the prophets, Hananis message is concerned with his own times. To his large faith the alliance with Syria presented itself chiefly as the loss of a great opportunity. Asa had deprived himself of the privilege of fighting with Syria, whereby Jehovah would have found fresh occasion to manifest His infinite power and His gracious favor towards Judah. Had there been no alliance with Judah, the restless and warlike king of Syria might have joined Baasha to attack Asa; another million of the heathen and other hundreds of their chariots would have been destroyed by the resistless might of the Lord of Hosts. And yet, in spite of the great object-lesson he had received in the defeat of Zerah, Asa had not thought of Jehovah as his Ally. He had forgotten the all-observing, all-controlling providence of Jehovah, and had thought it necessary to supplement the Divine protection by hiring a heathen king with the treasures of the Temple; and yet “the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” With this thought, that the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the earth, Zechariah {Zec 4:10} comforted the Jews in the dark days between the Return and the rebuilding of the Temple. Possibly during Asas twenty years of tranquility his faith had become enfeebled for want of any severe discipline. It is only with a certain reserve that we can venture to pray that the Lord will “take from our lives the strain and stress.” The discipline of helplessness and dependence preserves the consciousness of Gods loving providence. The resources of Divine grace are not altogether intended for our personal comfort; we are to tax them to the utmost, in the assurance that God will honor all our drafts upon His treasury. The great opportunities of twenty years of peace and prosperity were not given to Asa to lay up funds with which to bribe a heathen king, and then, with this reinforcement of his accumulated resources, to accomplish the mighty enterprise of stealing Baashas stones and timber and building the walls of a couple of frontier fortresses. With such a history and such opportunities behind him, Asa should have felt himself competent, with Jehovahs help, to deal with both Baasha and Benhadad, and should have had courage to confront them both.

Sin like Asas has been the supreme apostasy of the Church in all her branches and through all her generations: Christ has been denied, not by lack of devotion, but by want of faith. Champions of the truth, reformers and guardians of the Temple, like Asa, have been eager to attach to their holy cause the cruel prejudices of ignorance and folly, the greed and vindictiveness of selfish men. They have feared lest these potent forces should be arrayed amongst the enemies of the Church and her Master. Sects and parties have eagerly contested the privilege of counseling a profligate prince how he should satisfy his thirst for blood and exercise his wanton and brutal insolence; the Church has countenanced almost every iniquity and striven to quench by persecution every new revelation of the Spirit, in order to conciliate vested interests and established authorities. It has even been suggested that national Churches and great national vices were so intimately allied that their supporters were content that they should stand or fall together. On the other hand, the advocates of reform have not been slow to appeal to popular jealousy and to aggravate the bitterness of social feuds. To Hanani the seer had come the vision of a larger and purer faith, that would rejoice to see the cause of Satan supported by all the evil passions and selfish interests that are his natural allies. He was assured that the greater the host of Satan, the more signal and complete would be Jehovahs triumph. If we had his faith, we should not be anxious to bribe Satan to cast out Satan, but should come to understand that the full muster of hell assailing us in front is less dangerous than a few companies of diabolic mercenaries in our own array. In the former case the overthrow of the powers of darkness is more certain and more complete.

The evil consequences of Asas policy were not confined to the loss of a great opportunity, nor were his treasures the only price he was to pay for fortifying Geba and Mizpah with Baashas building materials. Hanani declared to him that from henceforth he should have wars. This purchased alliance was only the beginning, and not the end, of troubles. Instead of the complete and decisive victory which had disposed of the Ethiopians once for all, Asa and his people were harassed and exhausted by continual warfare. The Christian life would have more decisive victories, and would be less of a perpetual and wearing struggle, if we had faith to refrain from the use of doubtful means for high ends.

Odeds message of warning had been accepted and obeyed, but Asa was now no longer docile to Divine discipline. David and Hezekiah submitted themselves to the censure of Gad and Isaiah; but Asa was wroth with Hanani and put him in prison, because the prophet had ventured to rebuke him. His sin against God corrupted even his civil administration; and the ally of a heathen king, the persecutor of Gods prophet, also oppressed the people. Three years after the repulse of Baasha a new punishment fell upon Asa: his feet became grievously diseased. Still he did not humble himself, but was guilty of further sin he sought not Jehovah, but the physicians. It is probable that to seek Jehovah concerning disease was not merely a matter of worship. Reuss has suggested that the legitimate practice of medicine belonged to the schools of the prophets; but it seems quite as likely that in Judah, as in Egypt, any existing knowledge of the art of healing was to be found among the priests. Conversely, physicians who were neither priests nor prophets of Jehovah were almost certain to be ministers of idolatrous worship and magicians. They failed apparently to relieve their patient: Asa lingered in pain and weakness for two years, and then died. Probably the sufferings of his latter days had protected his people from further oppression, and had at once appealed to their sympathy and removed any cause for resentment. When be died, they only remembered his virtues and achievements; and buried him with royal magnificence, with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices; and made a very great burning for him, probably of aromatic woods.

In discussing the chroniclers picture of the good kings, we have noticed that, while Chronicles and the book of Kings agree in mentioning the misfortunes which as a rule darkened their closing years, Chronicles in each case records some lapse into sin as preceding these misfortunes. From the theological standpoint of the chroniclers school, these invidious records of the sins of good kings were necessary in order to account for their misfortunes. The devout student of the book of Kings read with surprise that of the pious kings who had been devoted to Jehovah and His temple, whose acceptance by Him had been shown by the victories vouchsafed to them, one had died of a painful disease in his feet, another in a lazar-house, two had been assassinated, and one slain in battle. Why had faith and devotion been so ill rewarded? Was it not vain to serve God? What profit was there in keeping His ordinances? The chronicler felt himself fortunate in discovering amongst his later authorities additional information which explained these mysteries and justified the ways of God to man. Even the good kings had not been without reproach, and their misfortunes had been the righteous judgment on their sins.

The principle which guided the chronicler in this selection of material was that sin was always punished by complete, immediate, and manifest retribution in this life, and that conversely all misfortune was the punishment of sin. There is a simplicity and apparent justice about this theory that has always made it the leading doctrine of a certain stage of moral development. It was probably the popular religious teaching in Israel from early days till the time when our Lord found it necessary to protest against the idea that the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices were sinners above all Galileans because they had suffered these things, or that the eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them were offenders above all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This doctrine of retribution was current among the Greeks. When terrible calamities fell upon men their neighbors supposed these to be the punishment of specially heinous crimes. When the Spartan king Cleomenes committed suicide, the public mind in Greece at once inquired of what particular sin he had thus paid the penalty. The horrible circumstances of his death were attributed to the wrath of some offended deity, and the cause of the offence was sought for in one of his many acts of sacrilege, possibly he was thus punished because he had bribed the priestess of the Delphic oracle. The Athenians, however, believed that his sacrilege had consisted in cutting down trees in their sacred grove at Eleusis; but the Argives preferred to hold that he came to an untimely end because he had set fire to a grove sacred to their eponymous hero Argos. Similarly, when in the course of the Peloponnesian war the Aeginetans were expelled from their island, this calamity was regarded as a punishment inflicted upon them because fifty years before they had dragged away and put to death a suppliant who had caught hold of the handle of the door of the temple of Demeter Theomophorus. On the other hand, the wonderful way in which on four or five occasions the ravages of pestilence delivered Dionysius of Syracuse from his Carthaginian enemies was attributed by his admiring friends to the favor of the gods.

Like many other simple and logical doctrines, this Jewish theory of retribution came into collision with obvious facts, and seemed to set the law of God at variance with the enlightened conscience. “Beneath the simplest forms of truth the subtlest error lurks.” The prosperity of the wicked and the sufferings of the righteous were a standing religious difficulty to the devout Israelite. The popular doctrine held its ground tenaciously, supported not only by ancient prescription, but also by the most influential classes in society. All who were young, robust, wealthy, powerful, or successful were interested in maintaining a doctrine that made health, riches, rank, and success the outward and visible signs of righteousness. Accordingly the simplicity of the original doctrine was hedged about with an ingenious and elaborate apologetic. The prosperity of the wicked was held to be only for a season; before he died the judgment of God would overtake him. It was a mistake to speak of the sufferings of the righteous: these very sufferings showed that his righteousness was only apparent, and that in secret he had been guilty of grievous sin.

Of all the cruelty inflicted in the name of orthodoxy there is little that can surpass the refined torture due to this Jewish apologetic. Its cynical teaching met the sufferer in the anguish of bereavement, in the pain and depression of disease, when he was crushed by sudden and ruinous losses or publicly disgraced by the unjust sentence of a venal law-court. Instead of receiving sympathy and help, he found himself looked upon as a moral outcast and pariah on account of his misfortunes; when he most needed Divine grace, he was bidden to regard himself as a special object of the wrath of Jehovah. If his orthodoxy survived his calamities, he would review his past life with morbid retrospection, and persuade himself that he had indeed been guilty above all other sinners.

The book of Job is an inspired protest against the current theory of retribution, and the full discussion of the question belongs to the exposition of that book. But the narrative of Chronicles, like much Church history in all ages, is largely controlled by the controversial interests of the school from which it emanated. In the hands of the chronicler the story of the kings of Judah is told in such a way that it becomes a polemic against the book of. Job. The tragic and disgraceful death of good kings presented a crucial difficulty to the chroniclers theology. A good mans other misfortunes might be compensated for by prosperity in his latter days; but in a theory of retribution which required a complete satisfaction of justice in this life there could be no compensation for a dishonorable death. Hence the chroniclers anxiety to record any lapses of good kings in their latter days.

The criticism, and correction of this doctrine belong, as we have said, to the exposition of the book of Job. Here we are rather concerned to discover the permanent truth of which the theory is at once an imperfect and exaggerated expression. To begin with, there are sins which bring upon the transgressor a swift, obvious, and dramatic punishment. Human law deals thus with some sins; the laws of health visit others with a similar severity; at times the Divine judgment strikes down men and nations before an awestricken world. Amongst such judgments we might reckon the punishments of royal sins so frequent in the pages of Chronicles. Gods judgments are not usually so immediate and manifest, but these striking instances illustrate and enforce the certain consequences of sin. We are dealing now with cases in which God was set at naught; and, apart from Divine grace, the votaries of sin are bound to become its slaves and victims. Ruskin has said, “Medicine often fails of its effect, but poison never; and while, in summing the observation of past life not un-watchfully spent, I can truly say that I bare a thousand times seen Patience disappointed of her hope and Wisdom of her aim, I have never yet seen folly fruitless of mischief, nor vice conclude but in calamity.” Now that we have been brought into a fuller light and delivered from the practical dangers of the ancient Israelite doctrine, we can afford to forget the less satisfactory aspects of the chroniclers teaching, and we must feel grateful to him for enforcing the salutary and necessary lesson that sin brings inevitable punishment, and that therefore, whatever present appearances may suggest, “the world was certainly not framed for the lasting convenience of hypocrites, libertines, and oppressors.”

Indeed, the consequences of sin are regular and exact; and the judgments upon the kings of Judah in Chronicles accurately symbolize the operations of Divine discipline. But Rain, and ruin, and disgrace are only secondary elements in Gods judgments; and most often they are not judgments at all. They have their uses as chastisements; but if we dwell upon them with too emphatic an insistence, men suppose that pain is a worse evil than sin, and that sin is only to be avoided because it causes suffering to the sinner. The really serious consequence of evil acts is the formation and confirmation of evil character. Herbert Spencer says in his “First Principles” “that motion once set up along any line becomes itself a cause of subsequent motion along that line.” This is absolutely true in moral and spiritual dynamics: every wrong thought, feeling, word, or act, every failure to think, feel, speak, or act rightly, at once alters a mans character for the worse. Henceforth he will find it easier to sin and more difficult to do right; he has twisted another strand into the cord of habit: and though each may be as fine as the threads of a spiders web, in time there will be cords strong enough to have bound Samson before Delilah shaved off his seven locks. This is the true punishment of sin: to lose the fine instincts, the generous impulses, and the nobler ambitions of manhood, and become every day more of a beast and a devil.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary