2 CHRO�ICLES 16 COMME�TARYEDITED BY GLE�� PEASE

Asa’s Last Years

1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.

BAR�ES, "This passage runs parallel with Kings (see the marginal reference).

CLARKE, "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; see the note on 1Ki_15:16, where this subject is farther considered.

Concerning Baasha’s building of Ramah, see the note on 1Ki_15:17.

GILL 1-6, "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 Gill 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.

HE�RY 1-6, "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, 1Ki_16:8. 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 2Ch_15:19 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? (2Ch_15:10), and after this miscarriage of his, here recorded, he had wars, 2Ch_16:9. Josephus places it in his twenty-sixth year, and then we must suppose a mistake in the transcriber here and 2Ch_15:19, the admission of which renders the computation easy.

This passage we had before (1Ki_15:17, etc.) 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, 2Ch_16:3. 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, 2Ch_16:2. 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, 2Ch_16:4. 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.

JAMISO�, "2Ch_16:1-14. Asa, by a league with the Syrians, diverts Baasha from building Ramah.

In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha ... came up against Judah— Baasha had died several years before this date (1Ki_15:33), and the best biblical critics are agreed in considering this date to be calculated from the separation of the kingdoms, and coincident with the sixteenth year of Asa’s reign. This mode of reckoning was, in all likelihood, 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.

Baasha ... built Ramah— that is, fortified it. The blessing of God which manifestly rested at this time on the kingdom of Judah, the signal victory of Asa, the freedom and purity of religious worship, and the fame of the late national covenant, were regarded with great interest throughout Israel, and attracted a constantly increasing number of emigrants to Judah. Baasha, alarmed at this movement, determined to stem the tide; and as the high road to and from Jerusalem passed by Ramah, he made that frontier town, about six miles north of Asa’s capital, a military station, where the vigilance of his sentinels would effectually prevent all passage across the boundary of the kingdom (see on 1Ki_15:16-22; also Jer_41:9).

K&D, "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, סא� This only the author of the Chronicle can have .למלכותwritten; 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) ל and (10) י, 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 נפ�לי ערי �ל־מס�נות is surprising, “and all magazines (or ואת

stores) of the cities of Naphtali,” instead of נפ�לי �ל־ארץ על �ל־��רות ,all Kinneroth“ ,את

together with all the land of Naphtali” (Kings). Then. and Berth. think ערי has מסכנות

arisen out of ארץ and כנרות by a misconception of the reading; while Gesen., Dietr. in Lex.

sub voce conjecture that in 1Ki_15:20 ,��רות .��רות should be read instead of מס�נותShould 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 �ל־ארץ נ is the ��רות .�ל־��רות scarcely intelligible ,עלdesignation of the very fertile district on the west side of the Sea of Kinnereth, i.e.,

Gennesaret, after which a city also was called ��רת (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 מס�נות, the magazines or stores, of the cities of Naphtali. In 2Ch_16:5,

too, we cannot hold the addition את־מלאכ�ו .he caused his work to rest,” as Berth“ ,ו�ש�ת

does, for an interpretation of the original reading, �תרצה it having become ,(Kings) ו�שבillegible: it is rather a free rendering of the thought that Baasha abandoned his attempt upon Judah.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 16:1. In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa —This date disagrees so much with what is said 1 Kings 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 Asa’s subjects from coming into his dominions to seduce his people from their obedience to him.

ELLICOTT, "THE WAR WITH BAASHA—(2 Chronicles 16:1-6). Comp. 1 Kings 15:17-22.

(1) In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up.—According to 1 Kings 15:33; 1 Kings 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 Kings—a 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 2 Chronicles 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 (2 Chronicles 14:1), during which Asa strengthened his defences (2 Chronicles 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 (2 Chronicles 14:9; 2 Chronicles 15:10); then the reformation of religion and renewal of the covenant in Asa’s fifteenth year (2 Chronicles 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 . . . lemalkûth” always denotes the year of a king’s reign, not of the duration of his kingdom. (See 2 Chronicles 16:12 infra.)

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

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

COFFMA�, "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" (2 Chronicles 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 �orthern 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" (2 Chronicles 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. �orthern 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.

GUZIK, "A. A treaty with Syria.

1. (2 Chronicles 16:1-3) Asa makes a treaty with Syria to strengthen himself against Israel.

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

Judah. Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. Here, I have sent you silver and gold; come, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”

a. Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah: This continues the struggle for dominance between the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Baasha gained the upper hand in the days of Asa because he effectively blocked a main route into Judah at the city of Ramah. He hoped this military and economic pressure on Judah would force Asa into significant concessions.

i. “Baasha’s aim in fortifying Ramah was probably to prevent access to Jerusalem for religious or trade reasons. Ramah is usually identified with er-Ram, on the main road just five miles north of Jerusalem.” (Selman)

b. Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria: Asa used this treasure to buy the favor of Ben-Hadad of Syria, so that he would withdraw support from Israel. Apparently, Baasha of Israel could not stand against Judah by himself and he needed the support of Syria.

i. “I will say nothing about what belonged to his own house. He might do as he liked with that so long as he did not spend it upon sin, but he took of the treasure that belonged to the house of the Lord, and gave it to Benhadad to bribe him to break his league with Bassha, and be in league with himself. Thus God was robbed that the unbelieving king might find help in an arm of flesh.” (Spurgeon)

c. Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father: Asa was trying to keep the way open for pilgrims from the northern kingdom to come to Jerusalem, and this was a noble goal. His method was completely wrong. He gave treasure from the house of the LORD to a pagan king, and he made a treaty with that king.

i. Asa seems to have forgotten that his covenant was with God, not with a pagan king. Under the covenant they made with God, the LORD was responsible to protect Judah. �ow they put their treasure and their trust into a pagan king.

ii. Asa would find that Ben-Hadad and Syria were worse enemies than Israel.

iii. “The power of Ethiopia was broken before him, and Judah’s armies returned laden with the spoil. You would not have thought that a man who could perform that grand action would become, a little after, full of unbelief; but the greatest faith of yesterday will not give us confidence for to-day, unless the fresh springs which are in God shall overflow again.” (Spurgeon)

iv. “But this was a smaller trouble altogether, and somehow, I fancy, it was because it was a smaller trouble Asa thought that he could manage it very well himself by the help of an arm of flesh. In the case of the invasion by countless hordes of Ethiopians, Asa must have felt that it was of no use calling in Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, or asking any of the nations to help him, for with all their help he would not have been equal to the tremendous struggle. Therefore he was driven to God. But this being a smaller trial, he does not seem to have been so thoroughly divorced from confidence in man.” (Spurgeon)

v. “Here good Asa began to decline; which was the worse in him, because in his old age, after so great a victory, and so strict a covenant to cleave close to the Lord.” (Trapp)

POOLE, "Asa maketh a league with the Syrians against the king of Israel, 2 Chronicles 16:1-6; for which the prophet reproving him, he putteth him into prison, 2 Chronicles 16:7-10. He is sick, and seeketh to the physicians, and not to God: his death and burial, 2 Chronicles 16:11-14.

Of the reign of Asa; or, of the kingdom of Asa, i.e. of the kingdom of Judah, which was now Asa’s kingdom; or from the time of the division of the two kingdoms. Rehoboam reigned seventeen years, 2 Chronicles 12:13; Abijah three years, 2 Chronicles 13:2; Asa had now reigned fifteen years, 2 Chronicles 15:10; all which, put together, make up the thirty-five years mentioned 2 Chronicles 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, 2 Chronicles 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, 2 Chronicles 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 Asa’s personal reign, (as I may call it,) 2 Chronicles 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 �ebuchadnezzar’s years are sometimes computed from the beginning of his reign, as 2 Kings 25:8 Jeremiah 52:12,29,30, and sometimes from his complete conquest of Syria and Egypt, &c., as that passage, Daniel 2:1, In the second year of �ebuchadnezzar, is by the general stream of interpreters understood. Thus Ahaziah’s years, which doubtless were usually computed from the time of his birth, are computed from another head, 2 Chronicles 22:2, See Poole "2 Chronicles 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 Asa’s third year, 1 Kings 15:28, and reigned only twenty-four years, and consequently died in Asa’s twenty-sixth or twenty-seventh year, as it is said he did, 1 Kings 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, 2 Chronicles 15:9, and keep Asa’s subjects from coming into his dominions to seduce his people from their obedience to him.

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

2 Chronicles 16:1

For the six and thirtieth year, read six and twentieth. Ramah belonged to Benjamin (Joshua 18:21, Joshua 18:25, Joshua 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 (2 Chronicles 13:19). The reference of Isaiah 10:28, Isaiah 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 ( ויבן ) 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.

BI 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.)

2 Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus.

ELLICOTT, "(2) Then Asa brought out silver and gold.—This verse is abridged as compared with 1 Kings 15:18, but the substance of it is the same. The differences are characteristic. In the first clause Kings reads: “And Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord.” The chronicler has purposely weakened this statement. He has also omitted the pedigree of Benhahad (“ben Ta- brimmôn ben Hezyôn”), and written the Aramaizing form Darmeseq for Dammèseg. (Syriac, Darmĕsûq.)

PULPIT, "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 Genesis 15:2; the resh representing (as in Syriac) the dagesh forte in mem. The parallel (1 Kings 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.

3 “Let there be a treaty between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your

father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. �ow break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.”

CLARKE, "There is a league - Let there be a treaty, offensive and defensive, between me and thee: see on 1Ki_15:22 (note).

ELLICOTT, "(3) There is a league.—Bĕrîth, “covenant.” The verse is the same as 1 Kings 15:19, omitting the word “a present” before “silver and gold,” and making two or three other minute verbal changes.

As.—And.

Depart.—Go up. See the �otes on Kings.

PULPIT, "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.

PARKER 3-4, "Asa Rebuked By Hanani

2 Chronicles 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" ( 2 Chronicles 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? �ot a syllable. Benhadad would seem to have been almost waiting for a message from Asa, so compliant is Hebrews , 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 of Solomon , 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. �ever 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.

4 Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim[a] and all the store cities of �aphtali.

BAR�ES, "Abel-maim - or, “Abel-beth-maachah” 1Ki_15:20. It was one of the towns most exposed to attack when an invader entered Israel from the north, and was taken from Pekah by Tiglath-pileser 2Ki_15:29.

Store cities - See 1Ki_9:19 note.

GILL, "Ben-hadad ... sent the captains of his armies ... and they smote ... Abelmaim— “The meadow of waters,” supposed to have been situated on the marshy plain near the uppermost lake of the Jordan. The other two towns were also in the northern district of Palestine. These unexpected hostilities of his Syrian ally interrupted Baasha’s fortifications at Ramah, and his death, happening soon after, prevented his resuming them.

ELLICOTT, "(4) Abel-maim.—Kings, “Abel - beth - maachah” (comp. 2 Samuel 20:14-15, and 2 Kings 15:29). This city is nowhere else called Abel-maim, which is, per haps, an early mistake. The Syriac reads Abel-beth- maachah.

And all the store-cities (miskĕnôth, 2 Chronicles 8:4).—Literally, And all the stores (magazines) of the cities of �aphtali. Kings: “And all Cinneroth, with all the land of �aphtali.” Cinneroth is mentioned (Joshua 19:35) as a town of �aphtali, and the

Sea of Galilee was called the Sea of Cinneroth (Joshua 12:3). Probably the fertile district west of the lake was also called Cinneroth, and this was the country which Benhadad’s army laid waste. The present reading of Chronicles may be either a mere textual corruption, or a paraphrase of that of Kings. Some critics assume its originality, which is less likely. We prefer to regard it as a paraphrase or explanation.

GUZIK, "2. (2 Chronicles 16:4-6) The success of Asa’s plan.

So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, and all the storage cities of �aphtali. �ow it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah and ceased his work. Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones and timber of Ramah, which Baasha had used for building; and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.

a. So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel: The pagan king Ben-Hadad did have some power, and because of the treasure and under the treaty with Asa, he used that power on behalf of Asa.

i. “Store cities is ‘Kineroth’ in 1 Kings 15:20, which became Genneseret in the post-exilic period (Josephus, Jewish Wars, 2.573).” (Selman)

b. �ow it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah and ceased his work: Because of the intervention of the King of Syria, Baasha king of Israel stopped his work of building the fortress city of Ramah to keep the faithful of Israel from visiting Jerusalem and Judah. We could say that Asa’s trust in a pagan king worked.

i. “�ow, many people in the world judge actions by their immediate results. If a Christian does a wrong thing, and it prospers, then at once they conclude he was justified in doing it; but, ah! Brethren, this is a poor, blind way of judging the actions of men and the providence of God. Do you not know that there are devil’s providences as well as God’s providences?” (Spurgeon)

ii. “Things which appear successful may be in the life of faith most disastrous.” (Morgan)

PULPIT, "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 (2 Chronicles 15:18; and parallel, 1 Kings 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 �aphtalli." Ijon. In �aphtali, mentioned only now, in the parallel, and when a second time taken (2 Kings 15:29) by Tiglath-Pileser. Dan. The colonizing of this city is given in 18:1,

18:2, 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" ( 17:1-13 :29; 20:1). Abel-maim. This place was situate at the foot of the Lebanon; in the parallel (1 Kings 15:20) it is called Abel-beth-maachah. It is again mentioned as attacked by Tiglath-Pileser, who wrested it from Pekah (2 Kings 15:29). In 2 Samuel 20:18, 2 Samuel 20:14, 2 Samuel 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 �ew Testament Gennesaret. It was a city (Joshua 19:35) that gave its name to the sea and western region of the lake, sometimes called so (�umbers 34:11; Joshua 11:2; Joshua 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 כל־מסכנות (''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 �aphtali (see 2 Chronicles 32:28; 2 Chronicles 8:6 and its parallel, 1 Kings 9:19).

5 When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work.

ELLICOTT, "(5) And it came to pass.—See 1 Kings 15:21.

And let his work cease.—Vay-yashbêth ’ethmelakhtô. Kings: “vay-yêsheb bëthirzah, “and dwelt in Tirzah.” The partial similarity of the Heb. is obvious. Kings appears to be correct, and the tautologous reading of the chronicler is to be ascribed to a fault in the writer’s MS.

PULPIT, "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.

6 Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah,

and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using. With them he built up Geba and Mizpah.

CLARKE, "Took all Judah - See on 1Ki_15:22 (note).

K&D, "In regard to the building of Mizpah, it is casually remarked in Jer_41:9 that Asa had there built a cistern.

ELLICOTT, "(6) Then.—And.

Asa the king took all Judah.—1 Kings 15:22 : “And the king Asa called together all Judah; none was exempted.” The chronicler has modified an obscure sentence. The rest of the verse coincides with Kings, save that the latter reads “Geba of Benjamin.”

Mizpah.—Jeremiah 41:9-10, mentions a great cistern which Asa made in Mizpah “for fear of Baasha king of Israel.”

PULPIT, "The affair seems thus to have come to an unbloody termination. The parallel (1 Kings 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 (1 Samuel 14:2, 1 Samuel 14:5). Mizpah (see Jeremiah 41:2, Jeremiah 41:3, Jeremiah 41:9, Jeremiah 41:10). This Mizpah is not that of the Shefelah (Joshua 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 �eby Samwil (see also 2 Kings 25:22-26; Je 40:5-41:18).

7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.

BAR�ES, "The rebuke of Hanani and his imprisonment by Asa, omitted by the writer of Kings, are among the most important of the additions to Asa’s history for which we are indebted to the author of Chronicles.

2Ch_16:7

Escaped out of thine hand - Hanani means, “Hadst thou been faithful, and opposed in arms the joint host of Israel and Syria, instead of bribing the Syrian king to desert to thy side, the entire host would have been delivered into thy hand, as was Zerah’s. But now it is escaped from thee. Thou hast lost a glorious opportunity.”

CLARKE, "Escaped out of thine hand - It is difficult to know what is here intended. Perhaps the Divine providence had intended to give Asa a grand victory over the Syrians, who had always been the inveterate enemies of the Jews; but by this unnecessary and very improper alliance between Asa and Ben-hadad, this purpose of the Divine providence was prevented, and thus the Syrians escaped out of his hands.

GILL, "And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah,.... Being sent by the Lord to reprove him:

and said unto him, because thou hast relied on the king of Syria; on the covenant he made with him, on the promises the Syrian king made to him upon receiving his money, and so trusted to an arm of flesh, and even an Heathen king:

and not relied on the Lord thy God; his promises, power, and providence, which he had reason to believe would have been engaged on his behalf, had he placed his confidence in him as he ought to have done: the Targum is,"and not relied on the Word of the Lord thy God:"

therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand; which otherwise would have fallen into it, had he left him to continue in league with the king of Israel, and not solicited him to break it; for then he would have come with him against Asa, and the Lord would have delivered him to him.

HE�RY, "Here is, I. A plain and faithful reproof given to Asa by a prophet of the Lord, for making this league with Baasha. The reprover was Hanani the seer, the father

of Jehu, another prophet, whom we read of 1Ki_16:1; 2Ch_19:2. We observed several things amiss in Asa's treaty with Benhadad. But that which the prophet here charges upon him as the greatest fault he was guilty of in that matter is his relying on the king of Syria and not on the Lord his God, 2Ch_16:7. He thought that, though God was on his side, this would not stand him in stead unless he had Benhadad on his side, that God either could not or would not help him, but he must take this indirect course to help himself. Note, God is much displeased when he is distrusted and when an arm of flesh is relied on more than his power and goodness. By putting our confidence in God we give honour to him, and therefore he thinks himself affronted if we give that honour to another. He plainly tells the king that herein he had done foolishly, 2Ch_16:9. It is a foolish thing to lean on a broken reed, when we have the rock of ages to rely upon. To convince him of his folly he shows him,

JAMISO� 7-10, "Hanani the seer came to Asa ... and said— His object was to show the king his error in forming his recent league with Ben-hadad. The prophet represented the appropriation of the temple treasures to purchase the services of the Syrian mercenaries, as indicating a distrust in God most blameable with the king’s experience. He added, that in consequence of this want of faith, Asa had lost the opportunity of gaining a victory over the united forces of Baasha and Ben-hadad, more splendid than that obtained over the Ethiopians. Such a victory, by destroying their armies, would have deprived them of all power to molest him in the future; whereas by his foolish and worldly policy, so unworthy of God’s vicegerent, to misapply the temple treasures and corrupt the fidelity of an ally of the king of Israel, he had tempted the cupidity of the one, and increased the hostility of the other, and rendered himself liable to renewed troubles (1Ki_15:32). This rebuke was pungent and, from its truth and justness, ought to have penetrated and afflicted the heart of such a man as Asa. But his pride was offended at the freedom taken by the honest reprover of royalty, and in a burst of passionate resentment, he ordered Hanani to be thrown into prison.

K&D 7-8, "The rebuke of the prophet Hanani, and Asa's crime. - 2Ch_16:7. The prophet Hanani is met with only here. Jehu, the son of Hanani, who announced to Baasha the ruin of his house (1Ki_16:1), and who reappears under Jehoshaphat (2Ch_19:2), was without doubt his son. Hanani said to King Asa, “Because thou hast relied on the king of Aram, and not upon Jahve thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Aram escaped out of thy hand.” Berth. has correctly given the meaning thus: “that Asa, if he had relied upon God, would have conquered not only the host of Baasha, but also the host of the king of Damascus, if he had, as was to be feared, in accordance with his league with Baasha (2Ch_16:3), in common with Israel, made an attack upon the kingdom of Judah.” To confirm this statement, the prophet points to the victory over the great army of the Cushites, which Asa had won by his trust in God the Lord. With the

Cushites Hanani names also רשים", Libyans (cf. 2Ch_12:3), and besides רכב, the war-

chariots, also רשים"#osla#,sto, horsemen, in order to portray the enemy rhetorically, while in the historical narrative only the immense number of warriors and the multitude of the chariots is spoken of.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 16:7. At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, &c. —

Here follows, in addition to what is recorded concerning Asa in the first book of Kings, a remarkable history, which relates his great weakness in his declining years, and God’s displeasure on account of it. Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not on the Lord thy God — It is a great weakness in our nature, which cannot be too much guarded against, to be ever prone to forego our confidence in God for human means; or to put a greater and more assured trust in them, than in the power, love, and faithfulness of God. Therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand — And so reserved to be a scourge to thy kingdom and posterity: whereas, if the Syrians had continued their league with Baasha, and joined him against thee, thou shouldest have overthrown both them and Baasha, as thou didst the Ethiopians, and thereby have prevented all the mischiefs which the king of Syria will do to thy family.

ELLICOTT, "HA�A�I THE SEER REBUKES ASA, A�D IS IMPRISO�ED (2 Chronicles 16:7-10).

(7) Hanani the seer.—Ha-rô’eh. (See on 1 Samuel 9:9.) The use of this term seems to point to an ancient source of this narrative which is peculiar to the chronicler. �othing beyond what is here told is known of Hanani. He was perhaps the father of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani, who prophesied against Baasha (1 Kings 16:1 sqq.) and rebuked Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 19:2).

Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria.—Hanani’s words are in perfect accord with the teachings of the greater prophets, a fact which favours their authenticity. (Comp. Isaiah 30:2; Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 30:15 sqq., Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 31:3; Jeremiah 17:5; Hosea 5:13; Hosea 7:11; Hosea 8:9; Hosea 12:1.)

Therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.—Asa had doubtless been afraid that Benhadad would co-operate with Baasha his ally in hostilities against Judah, and therefore bribed the Syrian king at the expense of the Temple treasury (2 Chronicles 16:3). This politic act secured its object, but from the prophetic point of view such success was no better than loss and failure; for it had deprived Asa of an assured triumph over the combined forces of Israel and Syria. �ot only the defeat of Baasha’s schemes, but victory over his formidable ally, would have been conceded to faith (comp. 2 Kings 13:14-19). The Syriac renders, “Therefore shall the army of Adûm (Aram) fly from thee.” Then follows the curious addition: “And they shall go, and become strong, they and the Hindoos [Hendewoye], and the kings that are with them, and they shall become armies and chariots and horsemen, a great multitude; and when thou shalt ask of the Lord God, He will deliver them into thy hands.” It continues: “Because the eyes of the Lord see in all the earth. And show yourselves strong, and let your heart be devoted to his fear, and understand ye all his wonders, because the Lord your God maketh war for you. And Asa was wroth against the Seer, and put him in the prison, because he told what he saw not, and stirred the heart of the people.” So also the Arabic.

COFFMA�, "One thing that the Chronicler most certainly had in mind here was to show the colossal failure of the whole institution of the monarchy. Even a good king like Asa could not remain uncorrupted while wielding the scepter of unchallenged power. The constant pressure of the flattering sycophants that surround every ruler, and the constantly nourished and promoted conceit of any natural man have the power eventually to break down the strongest heart.

Also, it may have been his way of establishing the principle that all men are sinners. The Sinless One did not appear until the Christ was cradled in the manger at Bethlehem.

PARKER, ""And at that time Hanani the seer came" ( 2 Chronicles 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? �o. 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 Psalm , 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. �o 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. �o 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

GUZIK, "B. God’s rebuke to King Asa and the king’s response.

1. (2 Chronicles 16:7-9) The word from Hanani the Seer.

And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army 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 on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”

a. Hanani the seer: We don’t know much about this prophet, other than his bold word to King Asa here, and that his son was also a prophet who spoke to Baasha the king of Israel (1 Kings 16:1; 1Ki_16:7) and to Jehoshaphat king of Judah (2 Chronicles 19:2).

b. Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand: This was a complete surprise to Asa. He believed that the main enemy was Israel, because of King Baasha’s aggressive building of the Ramah fortress. He succeeded in gaining Syria’s help against Baasha and Israel, but he failed to see what God saw: that the bigger enemy was Syria, and God wanted to give him victory over the greater enemy.

i. Compromise blinds us to who our true enemies are and it leads us into alliances with those whom God would rather give us victory over.

c. Because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand: God wanted Asa to remember the great victories of the past. Asa failed to remember that the same God who gave him victory over a greater enemy (the Ethiopians) was able to also give him victory over the lesser enemy, Syria.

d. 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: The Prophet Hanani’s message was clear. God looks for ways to defend and show his strength on behalf of those who are committed to Him. Asa’s fear that God could not be trusted with the defense of Israel was foolish and wrong; God wanted to show His strength of behalf of His trusting people.

i. “The Hebrew word for ‘fun to a fro’ signifieth, not to take a light view, but to search narrowly into the nature and the course of things.” (Trapp)

ii. “What an exquisite thought is suggested by the allusion to the eyes of the Lord running to and fro throughout the whole earth! At a glance He takes in our position; not a sorrow, trial, or temptation visits us without exciting his notice and loving sympathy. In all the whole wide earth there is not one spot so lonely, one heart so darkened, as to escape those eyes.” (Meyer)

iii. The issue was not the strength of God or His willingness to use that strength on behalf of His people. The issue was the loyalty of the heart of Asa and the people of the Kingdom of Judah.

e. Therefore from now on you shall have wars: Because of Asa’s foolish trust in a pagan king and his rejection of God as their defender, he will bring more wars upon himself and the Kingdom of Judah.

i. “At one stroke Asa thereby sacrificed the results of his own piety (cf. on 2 Chronicles 15:18) and of God’s blessing (2 Chronicles 14:13-14); he induced a pagan ruler to an act of perfidy (2 Chronicles 16:3); precipitated a pattern of Syrian intervention into the affairs of Israel that would have disastrous results throughout the succeeding century (cf. 2 Kings 10:32-33; 2Ki_12:17-18); and in the most serious deviation of all, he departed from the Lord by placing his primary trust in ‘the arm of flesh’ (Jeremiah 17:5).” (Payne)

POOLE, "And so reserved to be a scourge to thy kingdom and posterity hereafter; whereas if he had joined with Baasha against thee, thou shouldst have overthrown them both, and prevented all that mischief which that monarch will do one day to thy family.

PULPIT, "2 Chronicles 16:7, 2 Chronicles 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 (1 Kings 16:1, 1 Kings 16:7) and to Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 19:1, 2 Chronicles 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 (2 Chronicles 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 (Psalms 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 Psalms 124:7).

BI, "Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord.

Asa’s want of faith

Sin like Asa’s 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 faith, 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. 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. (W. H. Bennett, M.A.)

8 Were not the Cushites[b] and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen[c]? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand.

GILL, "Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen?.... They were no less than 1,000,000 men, and three hundred chariots, 2Ch_14:9, the Lubim were the Libyans, a people near Egypt, that dwelt in Africa; according to an Arabic writer (l), they were the Nubians:

yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand; and with equal ease could and would have delivered the Syrian army unto him, had he as then trusted in the Lord.

HE�RY, "1. That he acted against his experience, 2Ch_16:8. He, of all men, had no reason to distrust God, who had found him such a present powerful helper, by whom he had been made to triumph over a threatening enemy, as his father before him, because he relied upon the Lord his God, 2Ch_13:18; 2Ch_14:11. “What!” said the prophet, “Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, enough to swallow up a kingdom? And yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thy hand; and was

not he sufficient to help thee against Baasha?” Note, The many experiences we have had of the goodness of God to us aggravate our distrust of him. Has he not helped us in six troubles? And have we any reason to suspect him in the seventh? But see how deceitful our hearts are! We trust in God when we have nothing else to trust to, when need drives us to him; but, when we have other things to stay on, we are apt to stay too much on them and to lean on our own understanding as long as that has any thing to offer; but a believing confidence will be in God only, when a smiling world courts it most.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 16:8. And the Lubims — Either the Libyans in Africa, or another people possibly descended from them, but now seated in some part of Arabia. See on 2 Chronicles 12:3.

ELLICOTT, "(8) Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims (Kûshîm and Lûbîm) a huge host?—An instance confirming what was said in 2 Chronicles 16:7. Cushites and Lybians were banded together in Zerah’s great army, just as Syrians and Israelites might have united in assailing Judah, yet the victory had fallen to Asa (2 Chronicles 14:9-15).

Cushites and Libyans were among the constituents of Shishak’s army (2 Chronicles 12:3). Clearly, therefore, Zerah was master of Egypt.

(The Heb. of this and next verse is unmistakably the chronicler’s own. Literally it runs: “Did not the Cushites and the Libyans come to an army, to abundance, (as) to chariots and to horsemen, to abounding greatly?”)

�either the Libyan contingent nor the horsemen are mentioned in 2 Chronicles 14. Apparently the writer is making extracts from fuller sources.

PARKER, ""Asa was wroth with the seer" ( 2 Chronicles 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.

9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”

BAR�ES, "2Ch_16:9

From henceforth thou shalt have wars - As peace had been the reward of Asa’s earlier faith 2Ch_14:5; 2Ch_15:5, so his want of faith was now to be punished by a period of war and disturbance.

CLARKE, "Therefore - thou shalt have wars - And so he had with Israel during the rest of his reign, 1Ki_15:32.

GILL, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth,.... The eyes of his omniscience are everywhere, and the eyes of his mercy and

goodness, of his care and providence, are here and there, and in every place throughout the whole world at once, see Zec_4:10,

to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him; or, as in the margin, "strongly to hold" with such, to be on their side, take their part, strengthen them, support and supply them, and to protect and defend them who are sincere and upright in heart; whose graces are sincere and unfeigned, though not complete, nor they free from sin, and who, with the heart, sincerely believe in God, in which Asa at this time failed, though otherwise his heart is said to be perfect, 1Ki_15:4, it was so in the general bent of it, and especially with respect to the worship of God, though there was something lacking in his faith at this time, as there often is in the best of men:

herein thou hast done foolishly; to trust in man, and not in the Lord, to part with his money, and lose the opportunity of having the whole Syrian army fall into his hands:

therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars; which, though we read not of, was doubtless his case; some interpret it of his posterity.

HE�RY, "2. That he acted against his knowledge of God and his providence, 2Ch_16:9. Asa could not be ignorant that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the earth, strongly to hold with those (so it may be read) whose heart is perfect towards him; that is, (1.) That God governs the world in infinite wisdom, and the creatures, and all their actions, are continually under his eye. The eye of Providence is quick-sighted - it runs; it is intent - it runs to and fro; it reaches far - through the whole earth, no corner of which is from under it, not the most dark or distant; and his eye directs his hand, and the arm of his power; for he shows himself strong. Does Satan walk to and fro in the earth? Providence runs to and fro, is never out of the way, never to seek, never at a loss. (2.) That God governs the world for the good of his people, does all in pursuance of the counsels of his love concerning their salvation, all for Jacob his servant's sake, and Israel his elect, Isa_45:4. Christ is head over all things to his church, Eph_1:22. (3.) That those whose hearts are upright with him may be sure of his protection and have all the reason in the world to depend upon it. He is able to protect them in the way of their duty (for wisdom and might are his), and he actually intends their protection. A practical disbelief of this is at the bottom of all our departures from God and double-dealing with him. Asa could not trust God and therefore made court to Benhadad.

3. That he acted against his interest. (1.) He had lost an opportunity of checking the growing greatness of the king of Syria, (2Ch_16:7): His host has escaped out of thy hand, which otherwise would have joined with Baasha's and fallen with it. (2.) He had incurred God's displeasure and henceforth must expect no peace, but the constant alarms of war, 2Ch_16:9. Those that cannot find in their hearts to trust God forfeit his protection and throw themselves out of it.

K&D, "“For Jahve, His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong with those whose heart is devoted to Him;” i.e., for Jahve, who looks forth over all the earth, uses every opportunity wonderfully to succour those who are

piously devoted to Him. עם אליו .to help mightily, as in 1Ch_11:10 ,התחזק שלם is a עם־לבבם

relative sentence without the relative אשר with עם; cf. 1Ch_15:12. “Thou hast done

foolishly, therefore,” scil. because thou hast set thy trust upon men instead of upon Jahve, “for from henceforth there shall be wars to thee” (thou shalt have war). In these words the prophet does not announce to Asa definite wars, but only expresses the

general idea that Asa by his godless policy would bring only wars (מלחמות in indefinite universality), not peace, to the kingdom. History confirms the truth of this announcement, although we have no record of any other wars which broke out under Asa.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 16:9. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth — He governs the world in infinite wisdom, the creatures, and all their actions, are continually under his eye, and he exercises a most watchful providence over all those who sincerely commit themselves to his care, and depend upon him in well-doing, and will not fail to protect them. To show himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect, &c. — Upright and sincere; who truly desire and endeavour to know and do his will in all things. Such may he sure of his protection and aid, and have all the reason in the world to depend thereon. A firm and lively faith in this brings us near to God, and unites us to him: but a practical disbelief of it produces the contrary effect, and is at the bottom of all our departures from God, and double dealing with him. Asa could not trust God, and therefore made court to Ben-hadad, in which, as the prophet here tells him, he did foolishly, both acting against his own interest, and incurring God’s displeasure, who pronounced that from henceforth he should have wars, as a chastisement of his folly. It is, indeed, a foolish thing to lean on a broken reed, when we have the Rock of ages to rely on. Here we learn in what sense we are to understand this sacred writer, when he says, (2 Chronicles 15:17,) that the heart of Asa was perfect all his days: he was perfect and sincere in the things there spoken of, in the establishment of the outward worship of God; but not in the inward worship of him, trusting in, fearing, and loving him with all his heart. Or, he was upright and sincere in the general course of his life, though in some particulars, whereof this was one, his heart did not perfectly cleave to God as it should have done.

ELLICOTT, "(9) For the eyes of the Lord.—Literally, For Jehovah, his eyes run, &c. Run to and fro (comp. Job 1:7; Job 2:2). In Zechariah 4:10 we find this very phrase: “The eyes of Jehovah, they run to and fro in all the earth.” (Comp. also Jeremiah 5:1.) The Lord is ceaselessly watchful for occasions of helping the faithful. “He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleep-eth.”

In the behalf of.—With, i.e., on the side of. The phrase “to shew oneself strong with,” i.e., strongly to support, occurred in 1 Chronicles 11:10. (For the Heb. construction, which omits the relative, see 1 Chronicles 15:12). Out of the twenty-seven occurrences of the form hithchazzaq, “to show oneself strong,” fifteen are found in the Chronicle.

Whose heart is perfect.—See �otes on 1 Chronicles 12:38; 1 Chronicles 27:9; 1 Chronicles 29:19; 1 Kings 15:14; 2 Chronicles 15:17.

Herein thou hast done foolishly.—Literally, Thou hast shown thyself foolish (2 Samuel 24:10; 1 Chronicles 21:8) in regard to this, seil., conduct in seeking the help of Syria against Israel.

Therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.—Instead of peace (2 Chronicles 14:6; 2 Chronicles 15:15). Liter-ally, For (the proof of thy folly) from henceforth, &c. The sense appears to be that the peace secured by Asa’s worldly policy would not be permanent; a prediction verified over and over again in the after-history of the kingdom of Judah (see 2 Chronicles 28:20-21). The record is silent as to any future wars in which Asa himself was involved, simply because the writer, having already fulfilled his didactic purpose so far as concerns this reign, presently draws its history to a close.

PULPIT, "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?

SIMEO�, "GOD’S REGARD FOR HIS PEOPLE

2 Chronicles 16:9. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

I� estimating the characters of men, God looks not so much at their actions as at their motives and principles. It is by them that the quality of our actions must be determined: for though no motives, however good, can sanctify a bad action, no action however good can be acceptable to God, if its motive and principle be not pure. There were, it is true, several things which were blameworthy in the conduct of Asa, which was here reproved. He ought not to have made a league at all, we apprehend, with a heathen prince; but certainly not to have induced him to violate the league which he had already made with Israel. But that which rendered his conduct so displeasing to God, was, the distrust from which it sprang. He had not long before been delivered by God from far greater danger; and yet now, instead of applying to God for help again, he placed his dependence on an arm of flesh. In the reproof administered to him on this occasion, the general providence of God, and his tender care of all who trust in him, is strongly asserted: and it is a subject well worthy of the most attentive consideration.

Let us consider,

I. When the heart may be said to be “perfect towards God”—

As for absolute perfection in this world, it exists only in the deluded imaginations of some visionary enthusiasts. �evertheless there is a perfection to which we should aspire, and which we may all attain, which consists in integrity, where “the heart is right with God.” This may be said to be the case

1. When our trust in God is entire—

[The heart of an unconverted man has no disposition to trust in God; nor indeed has he any just ground for trust in him, since God is his enemy. But after a man has been awakened to a sense of his sins, and has sought for mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ, and has even some comfortable evidence that he has obtained mercy, yet he finds it exceeding difficult to repose his confidence in God, to the extent that the Scripture warrants him to do so. He cannot believe that God is so attentive to his concerns, so ready to administer to his wants, and so all-sufficient for his necessities, as he is represented to be in the Holy Scriptures. In proportion as he grows in the knowledge of God, his trust in God is enlarged: and when he comes to realize the idea, that there is nothing, whether great or small, that is not ordered by God, nor any situation which he cannot, or will not, overrule for our good, if only we put our trust in him; and when, in consequence of this conviction, his whole care for body and for soul, for time and for eternity, is cast on God, and he rests on God’s promises “without staggering at any of them through unbelief;” then he honours God as he ought, and his heart may be said to be perfect towards God. The difference between a person who has not attained this perfection, and one who has, may be seen in Elisha and his servant: the one, though well instructed, and habituated to serve God, is troubled when he comes into circumstances of great and unexpected trial; whilst the other is composed, seeing the horses of fire and the chariots of fire forming an impregnable bulwark all around him, and God himself engaged for his support [�ote: 2 Kings 6:15-17.] — — —]

2. When our desire to serve him is supreme—

[Many are the considerations which arise in the mind to influence us in the discharge of our duty. Inclination, interest, passion, the fear of man, the hope of applause, will often bias our judgment, and lead us astray. The truth is, that in all wrong conduct the heart is more to blame than we are ready to imagine: it is the film in the eye that disguises and distorts the objects: “if the eye were single, the whole body would be full of light.” And here again the difference between Christians of different stature is very apparent: those of lower attainments being open to impression from a vast diversity of objects, whilst those of higher attainments keep their eyes steadily fixed on one object. It is surprising how clear the path of duty becomes, when a man discards every question but this, “What will most please my God?” But this question must be asked, not only in reference to things positively good and evil, but in reference to things in which we seem at liberty to adopt either alternative. Where this principle fully occupies the mind, and operates with promptness and decision, swallowing up every inferior consideration [�ote: Acts 4:19-20; Acts 21:13.], there the heart is perfect towards God, and the

man “stands perfect and complete in all the will of God.”]

Let us mark,

II. What tender regard God shews for persons of that character—

“He despises not the day of small things;” but those who thus honour him, shall be most abundantly honoured by him:

1. He will shew himself strong in their behalf—

[There is nothing that he will not do for them, either in a way of providence, or of grace. Are they in difficulties or trials of any kind? We say not, that he will work miracles for them as for Israel in the wilderness, or for his servants the prophets; but we do say, that what he did visibly for them, he will do invisibly for all who trust in him: and we conceive it of great importance to observe, that the miracles of former ages were not intended only for the comfort of those in whose behalf they were wrought, or for the confirming of the messages delivered by them, but also for demonstrating to the very senses of men what a minute attention he would pay to the concerns of all his people, and what effectual succour he would impart unto them in every time of need. As the imputation of righteousness to Abraham by faith was not recorded for his sake alone, but for that of believers in all ages [�ote: Romans 4:22-24.], so the miracles wrought, whether for him or others, were not wrought for their sakes alone, but for ours also, who shall experience similar interpositions, only in a less visible way: for them he accomplished ends without means; for us he will accomplish them by means: nor have we any more reason to be anxious about events than the most favoured of his servants had in the days of old [�ote: Philippians 4:6.].

Assuredly too will he afford us under spiritual trials the assistance of his grace. The promises, “My grace is sufficient for thee;” and, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee;” are as valid at this day as they were in the days of Paul and Joshua: nor can there be any temptation whatever which we shall not be enabled to surmount, if only we trust in him [�ote: 1 Corinthians 10:13.].]

2. He will search out all occasions for such displays of his power—

[We have not to awaken him by our cries, or to prevail upon him by our pleadings, as though he were of himself either inattentive to us, or adverse to undertake our cause. It is not for this end that our prayers and tears are required; but for the impressing of our own minds, that all our help must come from him. His eye is upon us from the first moment that we begin to think of him; yea, his eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to find out the objects, as it were, who feel their need of him. Whether they be in a cottage or a dungeon, he will fly to their aid, and delight to make known towards them “the exceeding greatness of his power [�ote: Ephesians 1:18-19.],” and “the exceeding riches of his grace [�ote: Ephesians 2:7.].” Whilst Satan, their great adversary, “goes to and fro through the earth” “seeking

whom he may devour,” our God will surely not be less vigilant in our defence. His whole heart and his whole soul are engaged for us [�ote: Jeremiah 32:40-41.], nor will he lose one whom he has given to his beloved Son [�ote: John 10:27-29. Luke 12:32.].]

As an improvement of this subject, we will suggest a few words,

1. Of warning—

[Let those who neglect God consider that his eyes are over them no less than over the righteous; but it is in order to bring upon them all the evil that he has denounced against them [�ote: Amos 9:4. Proverbs 5:21.] — — — And let those who profess to know him, but in works deny him, remember, that it will be of little profit to “have a name to live, if they are either dead, or dying” in his sight [�ote: Revelation 3:2.] — — — Above all, let those who, like Asa, are in the main “perfect before God,” beware how they resent the reproofs that may be given them for any failures in their duty [�ote: ver. 10.]: for, though they should be saved at last, they little know what dereliction or punishment [�ote: Both of these are seen in ver. 12.] they may suffer for their fault before they die — — —]

2. Of encouragement—

[Let not any say, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her sucking child? She may; but God never will” forsake the meanest of his people [�ote: Isaiah 49:14-15.]. Think not of the greatness of your difficulties, but of the love, and power, and faithfulness of your God — — — Then in the midst of your warfare, you may already begin the shouts of victory [�ote: Romans 8:33-39.] — — — Only believe, and you shall assuredly “see the glory of God [�ote: John 11:40.].”]

POOLE, "Whose heart is perfect, i.e. upright and sincere, as thine is not.

Object. The heart of Asa is said to be perfect all his days, 2 Chronicles 15:17.

Answ. He was perfect and sincere in the things there spoken of, in the establishment of the outward worship of God; but not in the inward worship of God, trusting, and fearing, and loving him with all his heart, of which he here speaks. Or thus, He was perfect or sincere in the general course of his life, though in some particulars, whereof this is one, his heart did not perfectly cleave to God, as it should have done.

Thou shalt have wars with Baasha, 2 Chronicles 16:4.

10 Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.

BAR�ES, "2Ch_16:10

In a prison house - Or, “in the stocks.” Compare 1Ki_22:26-27.

CLARKE, "Asa was wroth with the seer - Instead of humbling himself, and deprecating the displeasure of the Lord, he persecuted his messenger: and having thus laid his impious hands upon the prophet, he appears to have got his heart hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; and then he began to oppress the people, either by unjust imprisonments, or excessive taxations.

GILL, "Then Asa was wroth with the seer,.... For this faithful reproof of him, which was another instance of his sin and folly:

and put him in a prison house; in a very strait place, in which he could not turn himself, what we call "little ease"; some say it was the stocks, others a pillory he put him into:

for he was in a rage with him because of this thing; his passion rose very high, and to which he gave way, and was his infirmity:

and Asa oppressed some of the people the same time; by fines and imprisonments, such as perhaps expressed their disapprobation of his league with the king of Syria, and of his ill usage of the prophet.

HE�RY, "II. Asa's displeasure at this reproof. Though it came from God by one that was known to be his messenger, though the reproof was just and the reasoning fair, and all intended for his good, yet he was wroth with the seer for telling him of his folly; nay, he was in a rage with him, 2Ch_16:10. Is this Asa? Is this he whose heart was perfect with the Lord all his days? Well, let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. A wise man, and yet in a rage! An Israelite, and yet in a rage with a prophet! A good man, and yet impatient of reproof, and that cannot bear to be told of his faults! Lord, what is man, when God leaves him to himself? Those that idolize their own conduct cannot bear

contradiction; and those that indulge a peevish passionate temper may be transported by it into impieties as well as into indecencies, and will, some time or other, fly in the face of God himself. See what gall and wormwood this root of bitterness bore. 1. In his rage he committed the prophet to the jail, put him in a prison-house, as a malefactor, in the stocks (so some read it,) or into little-ease. God's prophets meet with many that cannot bear reproof, but take it much amiss, yet they must do their duty. 2. Having proceeded thus far, he oppressed some of the people, probably such as owned the prophet in his sufferings, or were known to be his particular friends. He that abused his power for the persecuting of God's prophet was left to himself further to abuse it for the crushing of his own subjects, whereby he weakened himself and lost his interest. Most persecutors have been tyrants.

JAMISO�, "Asa oppressed some of the people the same time— The form or degree of this oppression is not recorded. The cause of his oppressing them was probably due to the same offense as that of Hanani - a strong expression of their dissatisfaction with his conduct in leaguing with Ben-hadad, or it may have been his maltreatment of the Lord’s servant.

K&D, "This sharp speech so angered the king, that he caused the seer to be set in the

stock-house. ה/השפכת twisting, is an instrument of ,מה"כת .properly, house of stocks ,�יתtorture, a stock, by which the body was forced into an unnatural twisted position, the victim perhaps being bent double, with the hands and feet fastened together: cf. Jer_

20:2; Jer_29:26; and Act_16:24, 0βαλεν#ε6ς#τ9ν#φυλακην#κα?#τοAς#πόδας#Eσφαλίσατο#αHτIν#

ε6ς#τJ#ξύλον. “For in wrath against him (scil. he did it) because of this thing, and Asa crushed some of the people at this time.” Clearly Hanani's speech, and still more Asa's harsh treatment of the seer, caused great discontent among the people, at least in the

upper classes, so that the king felt himself compelled to use force against them. רצץ, to

break or crush, is frequently used along with עשק (Deu_28:33; 1Sa_12:3, etc.), and signifies to suppress with violence. Asa had indeed well deserved the censure, Thou hast dealt foolishly. His folly consisted in this, that in order to get help against Baasha's attack, he had had recourse to a means which must become dangerous to him and to his kingdom; for it was not difficult to foresee that the Syrian king Benhadad would turn the superiority to Israel which he had gained against Judah itself. But in order to estimate rightly Asa's conduct, we must consider that it was perhaps an easier thing, in human estimation, to conquer the innumerable multitudes of the Ethiopian hordes than the united forces of the kings of Israel and Syria; and that, notwithstanding the victory over the Ethiopians, yet Asa's army may have been very considerably weakened by that war. But these circumstances are not sufficient to justify Asa. Since he had so manifestly had the help of the Lord in the war against the Cushites, it was at bottom mainly weakness of faith, or want of full trust in the omnipotence of the Lord, which caused him to seek the help of the enemy of God's people, the king of Syria, instead of that of the Almighty God, and to make flesh his arm; and for this he was justly censured by the prophet.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 16:10. Asa was wroth with the seer — Though the reproof came from God by one that was known to be his messenger; though it was just, and

the reasoning fair, and all intended for his good, yet he was wroth with the prophet; nay, he was in a rage with him, for telling him of his folly. Is this Asa? Is this he whose heart is said to have been perfect with the Lord? How needful that advice, Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall! A wise man! and yet in a rage! An Israelite! and yet in a rage with a prophet!

A good man! and yet impatient of reproof, and cannot bear to be told of his faults! Lord, what is man when left to himself! They that idolize their own conduct, cannot bear contradiction; and they that indulge a peevish, passionate temper, may be transported by it into impieties as well as indecencies, and will some time or other, probably, fly in the face of God himself. See what gall and wormwood this root of bitterness bore! Asa put him in the prison-house — Him whom he knew to be a prophet of the Lord, and God’s messenger to him! Or, in the house of the stocks, (as some read it,) in which the feet, or, as some of the Hebrews say, the necks of the prisoners were locked up. God’s prophets meet with many that cannot bear reproof; still, however, they must proceed on doing their duty. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time — Probably such as owned the prophet in his sufferings, or were known to be his particular friends. He that abused his power for the persecuting of God’s prophet, was left to himself further to abuse it for the crushing of his own subjects, whereby he weakened himself, and lost his interest. Most persecutors have been tyrants.

ELLICOTT, "(10) Then.—And. In a prison house: in the stocks. Literally, House of the stocks (Jeremiah 20:2; Jer_29:26). The word mahpèkheth literally means “turning,” “distortion,” and so an instrument of torture, by which the body was bent double, hands and feet being passed through holes in a wooden frame. (See Acts 16:24.) The Syriac and LXX. have simply “prison;” Vulgate, “nervus,” i.e., stocks. (Comp. the similar behaviour of Ahab to the prophet Michaiah, 1 Kings 22:26-27.)

Because of this thing=“Herein” of 2 Chronicles 16:9.

And Asa oppressed.—Riççaç (Job 20:19; comp. 1 Samuel 12:3).

The same time.—At that time.

Some of the people.—Those who sympathised with Hanani. Asa suppressed their murmurs with violence.

COKE, ". For he was in a rage with him, &c.— Though this thing displeased his people, and at that time Asa slew some of the people. Houbigant.

REFLECTIO�S.—1st, The event here recorded we had 1 Kings 15. The six-and-thirtieth year of Asa is reckoned from the division of the kingdoms, which is no more than the sixteenth of his reign. The expedient that Asa adopted to divert Baasha was unjustifiable and sinful: it shewed distrust of God, led Ben-hadad into a

perfidious breach of his league, and all the mischiefs which ensued lay at Asa's door; whilst himself, with half the expence probably, and without robbing God's temple, might, in dependance on his assistance, have much more nobly succeeded against Baasha. �ote; Wrong expedients may succeed to extricate us from present trouble; but we shall afterwards be made to smart for using them.

2nd, Asa now, probably, pleased himself in the success of his policy; but God embittered his joys.

1. By Hanani the prophet he sends him a severe rebuke for his distrust of the divine assistance, and dependance upon an arm of flesh, which was like changing a rock for a reed: and the experience of his past deliverance was an aggravation of his sin, especially when the promises of the same providential care engaged him to rely upon that strong arm which would ever be stretched out for the protection of those who leaned upon it. And herein also his folly was as great as his sin: he lost the glory that he might have gotten by victory over the confederate hosts of Syria and Israel, and entailed upon himself the wars which he thus sought to avoid. �ote; (1.) Distrust of God's power and love is exceedingly displeasing to him. (2.) The more we have experienced his mercy in time past, the more sinful is it to distrust him in present trials. (3.) All our departures from God arise from the infidelity of our hearts. Tush, God shall not see, and, the Lord hath forsaken the earth, are at the bottom of every evil. (4.) The very means that we use unlawfully to avert approaching danger, often serve to bring it more heavily upon us. (5.) All the wisdom of the sinner will at last appear the most egregious folly.

2. Far from submitting with penitent shame to the just rebuke, the angry king vents his rage on the prophet, calls him into prison, as if his faithfulness was criminal; and because, probably, the people espoused the prophet's cause, and encouraged him in his sufferings, he wreaked his vengeance upon them in oppressive fines, or corporal punishments. �ote; (1.) Passion, and impatience of reproof, even in a man otherwise good, are exceedingly sinful, and will end in bitter groans. (2.) They who know their own hearts had need be jealous of themselves. (3.) Faithful reprovers must expect to meet severe rebuffs. (4.) The prison-house is often the preferment of God's zealous ministers. (5.) We are called upon to support God's persecuted prophets, though by so doing we may be involved in their sufferings.

3. Asa grew diseased in the last years of his life: either the gout, or some oedematous swelling, seized his feet, and he languished for a while in great misery; a just rebuke for his injury to the prophet. In his disease he placed more dependance on his physicians than on God, and was more solicitous for their assistance than to obtain God's blessing upon it. So apt are we still to be looking to man more than to God for help!

4. Medicine, without God's blessing, is no elixir of life. Death mocked at his confidence, and brought him to the grave. In respect of the good things that he had done for Israel, the people gave him a most sumptuous funeral, and the clods of the valley were made sweet unto him. The good report afterwards made of him gives us

ground to believe that he lamented his sin, and was forgiven. �ote; Though the best of men have their blemishes, their memory is deservedly had in honour. Let their infirmities sleep in the grave, and their virtues rouse us to an imitation of them.

GUZIK, "2. (2 Chronicles 16:10) Asa rejects the message from Hanani.

Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.

a. Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison: Instead of taking this word from God to heart and humbling himself, King Asa attacked the messenger. Instead of being humbled he was enraged.

i. Asa shows us the tragedy of a man who rules well and seeks the LORD for many years, yet fails in a significant challenge of his faith and then refuses to hear God’s correction.

ii. “The precise form of Hanani’s punishment is unknown, though he was probably detained in some kind of jail (lit., ‘house of stocks’; cf. �IV, prison; the word for ‘prison’ in 2 Chronicles 18:26 is different.” (Selman)

b. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time: He struck out against not only Hanani, but also against others who were committed to God and could see the error of the king’s ways. As a man in compromise and unbelief, the presence of those truly loyal to God was convicting and oppressive to Asa.

POOLE, "In a prison-house, or, in the house of the stocks; in which the feet, or, as some of the Hebrews say, the necks of the prisoners were locked up. See Jeremiah 20:2 29:26.

PULPIT, "A prison-house; literally, Hebrew, the house of the מהפכת ; i.e. "of the twisting or distortion;" i.e. "the stocks." The word occurs three other times only, all of them in Jeremiah viz. Jeremiah 20:2, Jeremiah 20:3; Jeremiah 29:26. (For a forcible parallel, see 1 Kings 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."

BI, "Then Asa was wroth with the seer.

A reluctant conscience

It is said that straw which had been used for the bedding of the lions at Wombwell’s

menagerie was sold, and placed in a stable as bedding for some horses. No, sooner did the horses enter than they began to show signs of alarm, snorting, snuffing the air, and trembling as though conscious of a threatening presence. Horses in this country have had no experience of the hostility or strength of carnivora; but there is a persistency in hereditary powers which certain objects can stimulate into activity. The conscience of man exhibits a similar persistency of sense, if not by self-reproach or remorse, at least by a reluctance to enter on the consideration of sin. It is not too much to infer that all is not right, when pain, alarm, aversion are felt when inquiry is suggested. (Bp. Boyd Carpenter.)

11 The events of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

GILL, "And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last,.... See Gill on 1Ki_15:23

K&D, "The end of Asa's reign; cf. 1Ki_15:23-24. - On 2Ch_16:11, cf. the Introduction.

ELLICOTT, "CO�CLUSIO� OF THE REIG� (2 Chronicles 16:11-14). Comp. 1 Kings 15:23-24.

(11) The acts of Asa.—Or, history.

The book of the kings of Judah and Israel.—See Introduction, and 1 Kings 15:23. The mention in that verse of his “might” or “prowess,” and of “the cities that he built,” confirms the account in 2 Chronicles 14 concerning his defensive measures and the invasion of Zerah.

GUZIK, "3. (2 Chronicles 16:11-14) The sad end of the otherwise promising reign of King Asa of Judah.

�ote that the acts of Asa, first and last, are indeed written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but

the physicians. So Asa rested with his fathers; he died in the forty-first year of his reign. They buried him in his own tomb, which he had made for himself in the City of David; and they laid him in the bed which was filled with spices and various ingredients prepared in a mixture of ointments. They made a very great burning for him.

a. Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe: This happened after he refused to hear God’s word of correction through Hanani the seer. Some think that Asa’s foot ailment was gout, “but gout was uncommon in Palestine and ancient Egypt and it is more likely, in very of Asa’s age, the severity of the disease and death within two years, to have been a peripheral obstructive vascular disease with ensuing gangrene.” (Wiseman)

i. “He had a strong and long fit of the gout; this is most likely.” (Clarke)

ii. “As he had laid the good prophet by the heels in his bed; to him therefore he should have sought for release; since natural means in this case could do him little good.” (Trapp)

b. Yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians: The closing chapters of the life of King Asa are discouraging. Here was a man involved in a notable period of trust in God, great victory, and the renewal of God’s covenant with His people. All in all, Asa was a good man who did not finish well. The last years of his life were marked by unbelief, hardness against God, oppression against his people, and disease. Age and time do not necessarily make us better; they only do if we continue to follow God in faith.

i. He refused to rely on God in the face of the threat against him from Israel and Syria; he refused to rely on God in His loving correction from Hanani the seer. It is no wonder that he also refused to rely on God regarding his diseased feet at the end of his life. This was a powerful warning to both the first readers of the Chronicler and to us.

ii. Overall, the Bible is positive about the role of physicians and medical care (Colossians 4:14, Acts 28:9, James 5:14-15, and 1 Timothy 5:23). However, it is never right to seek the physicians instead of the LORD. One may rather trust the LORD and when appropriate, see His hand move through a physician.

iii. “It is not wrong to send for physicians, it is quite right; but it is very wrong to send for physicians in place of crying to God, thus putting the human agency before the divine; besides, it is very probable that these physicians were only heathenish conjurors, necromancers, and pretenders to magical arts, and could not be consulted without implicating the patient in their evil practices.” (Spurgeon)

iv. Morgan on Asa: “It is the record of a faulty life, but one in which the deepest thing, that of desire, was right; and so it is the record of a life, the influence of which was a blessing rather than a curse. It is a revealing story.”

c. They made a very great burning for him: “Such fires were customary for royal funerals (cf. Jeremiah 34:5), and were not for cremating the body but as a sign of honour (cf. 2 Chronicles 21:19).” (Selman)

i. “He that could drive out that huge army of the Ethiopians, could not drive away death.” (Trapp)

PULPIT, "This verse, with the following three, is represented by the very summarized but sufficiently significant parallel of 1 Kings 15:23, 1 Kings 15:24. �ote 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.

BI 11-12, "And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the books of the kings.

Asa; or failure at the last

Asa’s case is a Scriptural declaration, that one who has begun well, who has even done much for God, may fall miserably, may fail at last. What were the causes of his fall?

I. He was tried by great success. Nothing is more liable than success to produce self-confidence, and neglect of Him who bestoweth on the wise their wisdom and on the strong their strength. Unless s man watches himself very narrowly, pride will insinuate itself even into the midst of his thanksgivings; complacent thoughts of his own foresight underlie his recognition of God’s providence; confessions of his own good desert qualify his confessions of sin.

II. He was placed in the perilous position of having to guide and instruct others. This is a great snare to any one. The mother who teaches her child to pray; the father who watches over his son’s moral progress; the master who is a strict censor of the behaviour of his servants; the Scripture-reader, the district visitor, the nurse of the sick, the almoner of the poor; yea, even the minister of God who has professionally to bring before his people the means of grace and hope of glory; these persons are all in danger of neglecting themselves—of placing themselves, as it were, ab extra, to the duties which they have to inculcate. They are tempted to forget themselves, to abate their self-discipline, and when the novelty of their employment has passed away, to fall back on other things; it may be, to end with languor, disgust, or carelessness, if not with utter faithlessness and sin. (D. Hessey.)

12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not

seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians.

BAR�ES, "Yet in his disease he sought not ... - Rather, “and also in his disease he sought not.” Not only in his war with Baasha, but also when attacked by illness, Asa placed undue reliance upon the aid of man.

CLARKE, "Diseased in his feet - He had a strong and long fit of the gout; this is most likely.

He sought not to the Lord - “He did not seek discipline from the face of the Lord, but from the physicians.” - Targum.

Are we not taught by this to make prayer and supplication to the Lord in our afflictions, with the expectation that he will heal us when he finds us duly humbled, i.e., when the end is answered for which he sends the affliction?

GILL, "And Asa in the thirty ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet,.... This was about two years before his death, and his disease is generally thought to be the gout in his feet, and a just retaliation for putting the prophet's feet into the stocks:

until his disease was exceeding great; it increased upon him, and became very severe and intolerable, and the fits were frequent, as well as the pain sharper; though the sense of the Hebrew (m) phrase may be, that his disease got upwards, into a superior part of his body, head, or stomach, which, when the gout does, it is dangerous. A very learned physician (n) is of opinion, that not the gout, but what he calls an "aedematous" swelling of the feet, is meant, which insensibly gets up into the bowels, and is successively attended with greater inconveniences; a tension of the abdomen, difficulty of breathing, very troublesome to the patient, and issues in a dropsy, and death itself:

yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord; his seeking to physicians for help in his disease, perhaps, would not have been observed to his reproach, had he also sought unto the Lord, whom he ought to have sought in the first place; and when he applied to the physicians, he should have implored the blessing of God on their prescriptions; but he so much forgot himself as to forget the Lord: this is the first time we read of physicians among the Jews, and some think these were Heathens, and a sort of enchanters: the Jews entertained a very ill opinion of physicians; the best of them, they say (o), deserve hell, and they advise (p) men not to live in a city where the chief man is a physician; but the author of the book of Ecclesiasticus gives a great encomium of them, and exhorts to honour and esteem them,"1 Honour a physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him: for the Lord hath created him. 2 For of the most High cometh healing, and he shall receive honour of the king. 3 The skill of the

physician shall lift up his head: and in the sight of great men he shall be in admiration. 4 The Lord hath created medicines out of the earth; and he that is wise will not abhor them. 5 Was not the water made sweet with wood, that the virtue thereof might be known? 6 And he hath given men skill, that he might be honoured in his marvellous works. 7 With such doth he heal men, and taketh away their pains. 8 Of such doth the apothecary make a confection; and of his works there is no end; and from him is peace over all the earth,'' (Sirach 38)Julian (q) the emperor greatly honoured them, and observes, that it is justly said by the philosophers, that the art of medicine fell from heaven.

HE�RY, "III. His sickness. Two years before he died he was diseased in his feet(2Ch_16:12), afflicted with the gout in a high degree. He had put the prophet in the stocks, and now God put him in the stocks; so his punishment answered his sin. His disease was exceedingly great; it came to the height (so some); it flew up to his head (so others), and then it was mortal. This was his affliction; but his sin was that in his disease, instead of seeking to the Lord for relief, he sought to the physicians. His making use of physicians was his duty; but trusting to them, and expecting that from them which was to be had from God only, were his sin and folly. The help of creatures must always be used with an eye to the Creator, and in dependence upon him, who makes every creature that to us which it is, and without whom the most skilful and faithful are physicians of no value. Some think that these physicians were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, and were a sort of conjurers, to whom he applied as if there were not a God in Israel.

JAMISO�, "Asa ... was diseased in his feet— probably the gout.

yet his disease was exceeding great— better, “moved upwards” in his body, which proves the violent and dangerous type of the malady.

yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians— most probably Egyptian physicians, who were anciently in high repute at foreign courts, and who pretended to expel diseases by charms, incantations, and mystic arts. Asa’s fault consisted in his trusting to such physicians, while he neglected to supplicate the aid and blessing of God. The best and holiest men have been betrayed for a time into sins, but through repentance have risen again; and as Asa is pronounced a good man (2Ch_15:17), it may be presumed that he also was restored to a better state of mind.

K&D, "2Ch_16:12-13

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet, and that in a high

degree. The words חיו are a circumstantial clause: to a high degree was his עד־למעלהsickness. “And also in his sickness (as in the war against Baasha) he sought not Jahve,

but turned to the physicians.” רשN is primarily construed with the accus., as usually in

connection with יהוה or אלהים, to seek God, to come before Him with prayer and

supplication; then with #�, as usually of an oracle, or seeking help of idols (cf. 1Sa_28:7; 2Ki_1:2.; 1Ch_10:14), and so here of superstitious trust in the physicians. Consequently it is not the mere inquiring of the physicians which is here censured, but only the godless manner in which Asa trusted in the physicians.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 16:12. Asa was diseased in his feet — Afflicted with the gout in a high degree. “He put the prophet in the stocks,” says Henry, “and now God put him in the stocks; so his punishment answered his sin.” Until his disease was exceeding great — ad lemaalah chaljo, until his disease came to ,עד למעלה חליוthe height, or, until it ascended, namely, to his stomach, or head: and then it became mortal. Yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians — He did not humble himself before God, but put his confidence in the skill and faithfulness of his physicians. His making use of physicians was his duty, but his trusting in them, and expecting that from them which was to be had from God only, was his sin and folly. The help of every creature must be used with an eye to the Creator, and in dependance on him, who makes every creature that to us which it is, without whom the most skilful and faithful are physicians of no value.

ELLICOTT, "(12) Diseased in his feet.—1 Kings 15:23, “only in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.” The nature of the disease is not specified here or in Kings.

Until his disease was exceeding great.—Unto excess was his disease: ‘ad lĕmà’lah, a clause added by the chronicler (see on 1 Chronicles 22:5).

Yet.—And also in his disease, as well as in his war with Baasha.

He sought not to the Lord.—Omit to.

But to the physicians.—The preposition is expressed here (comp. 1 Chronicles 10:13-14; 2 Kings 1:2). Asa, like Ahaziah, neglected to consult Jehovah through his priests, and preferred to trust in the “Healers” of his day, whose art of healing probably consisted in the use of magical appliances, such as amulets, charms, and exorcisms, as we may infer from the analogous practices of Babylon and Assyria. It is not to be supposed that Israel was more enlightened in such matters than the nations to which it owed so large a share of its civilisation, or, indeed, than Christian England of the seventeenth century.

PARKER, ""He [Asa] sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians" ( 2 Chronicles 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.

PULPIT, "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!

BI 12-13, "And Asa, in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet

Mind-cure

That sickness is twin born with sin is the oldest tradition in the world.Our maladies arise from something finer than the germs any microscope can detect; and if all disease has its origin in the ill-disposed spirit, in a different well-disposed spirit it may have its cure. There can be no doubt that a mind morbid or in health affects the body. Some persons, by their presence and air, make us sick or well. Temperance is a virtue before it is a bodily trait. All vice digs a mine of ruin which no physician can countermine. What doctor can prescribe for an inordinate affection, from his pocket-book or medicine-chest? A little mind-cure were better than a complete apothecary’s shop; and in one’s own mind, often more than in another’s, the remedy lies. Safety and peril reside in the same region of the affections, even as the very sea that tosses brings us to port. Like cures like; the hair of the dog his own bite; and herbs, as George Herbert says, the flesh they find their acquaintance in. There is no malady which guilty intrigues, extravagant passions, and corroding cares may not produce or increase; and none which good affections will not alleviate or remove. Many a heap of flowers have I seen on coffins that would not have been made by plane and hammer so soon had a tithe of the green leaves, lilies, and roses been strewn along the way. Christ’s miracles were wrought on a promise of faith, for the blind eye, for the withered hand, and for the remorseful conscience in him whom He assured, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee,” an insane compunction being in this case the evil root. Peter commanded the cripple to stand on his feet, perceiving that he had faith to be healed. The good Samaritan poured out something more than oil and wine into the robbed traveller’s wounds. There are in us gashes and ghastly wounds, perhaps unknown to the inflictors, which no sword or dagger ever made. A word or a look was enough to stab us; shall no words or looks suffice to make us whole? No medicaments, only mental cure, can either probe them or bind them up. Right ordering of our active powers is a medicine, as well as that merry heart of which the Preacher speaks. The steadfast will is a life-preserver, and buoys up against spiritual drowning. Heal the mind tired and sore with brooding on absent or unresponsive objects: with labour that eases it, while it wearies the muscles and makes the sweat, according to the old decree, run down the face. As the girders and cross-ties of the bridge distribute the pressure on it of heavy loads, so various duty lightens by dividing every burden of grief or pain. Such considerations may show how far a sane body is not only inhabited, but made, by a sane mind. Let us notice more particularly the connection between sickness and sin.

I. They have the same origin.

II. They have the same propagation and spread.

III. Why, then, should not the cure of sickness run parallel with its continuance and cause? Disorder is inherited. Ezekiel protests against the proverb that the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. Nevertheless, it is true. For example of this communication or transmission, take the illustration of fear. What a leaven it is! Terror is not only a wretchedness, but a disgrace, an exposure to harm. You will be likely to have what you dread. What you rehearse you will enact. This is the shorthand history of disease, misery, and crime. Bonaparte, in his better days, thought the bullet was not run and moulded he should be hit by, though cannonballs ploughed the earth into powder at his side; felt no alarm for himself from the plague in Egypt, and fortified his soldiers against it, with that brave deportment of his own. To what but panic

is due the large destruction of life in buildings falling or on fire, in battles like that of Bull Run, and in wrecks at sea? We must be of good heart to be secure. How many have been sick of a thought or of a certain company or of a single companion! How many have got well with thoughts alone that could cure! By one who served in our civil war I was told of sick soldiers who, in their despair, voluntarily turned their faces to the wall and died, because they wanted, and had made up their mind, to die. If as they lay moaning on their beds had come some token of affection, the step of some Florence Nightingale, or any good message, they would have opened their eyes, stretched their limbs, and lived! A grain, a hair, the twentieth part of a scruple, in delicate conditions and a tremulous suspense determines the scale; and the balance hangs for us all to put the atom into, so intimate is the relation between body and mind. We decide each other’s fate every day. Balzac tells us of a mother who suddenly expires after one more of her unnatural daughter’s hard words; and he adds that the slaughter by savages of those too old to continue on the march is philanthropy in the comparison. This is happening every day. A gentle remembrance from one—a note, a flower, a book, a hand-grasp—to assure us our days of usefulness are not over, enables us to live and labour still. The supernatural acts through the natural. Let us make the connection and be all of us well. Be its fault or defect what it may, I greet, therefore, the new departure which lays the stress on the mind. (C.A. Bartol, D.D.)

The sin of Asa

1. Though it is not my purpose to dwell upon the general features in this history, I cannot help remarking how strongly one is inclined in hearing it to exclaim, “Lord, what is man! In his best estate, moral as well as physical, he is altogether vanity.” Here is a person that appears to have been piously educated, that in his youth was piously and deeply impressed; that when clothed in royal purple still remembered his responsibility to a higher power, and felt and acknowledged his dependence on it; that in his mature years departed not from the way in which he had been trained up; and that knew by a single personal experience that it is a way of pleasantness and a path of peace; in his old age guilty of the greatest inconsistencies, to say the very least. May we not reasonably suppose that, during his long prosperity, his heart had become in a measure hardened by the deceitfulness of sin; that indolence had corrupted, and pride, taking occasion from the happy condition of his people, of which he had been the instrument, had puffed him up; and that prayer, in consequence, had been restrained before God? Be sober, be vigilant, be prayerful, be humble, is the moral of this melancholy tale.

2. This monarch’s history may also teach us that, what we deem our strongest point of character may in fact prove our weakest. Asa’s distrust in Divine, and over-trust in human power, was the last sin, most probably, which he thought would ever beset him. “Though all men forsake Thee,” said St. Peter, “yet will not I.” His courage he was sure would abide, however that of the other disciples might falter. That he felt was not his weak point; and probably it was not naturally. When we are conscious of weakness, and in consequence lean constantly on an Almighty arm, then our strength never faileth. How can it? In the confidence of this it was that the apostle Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ strengthening me.” On the other hand, let a man feel strong in himself, and of consequence lean on himself, in the things of religion, we are told we can do nothing. The lesson, then, to be learned from the history of Asa, in this view of it, plainly is, to glory in nothing as of ourselves, to distrust ourselves even in our strongest point, and to count all our sufficiency as of

God through Christ.

3. A third particular in this narrative, well worth noticing, is the pertinacity which Asa exhibited in his sin, and how in consequence one transgression led on to another. David committed some most fearful sins, and a prophet was sent to reprove and warn him. His confession was, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Not so Asa. His crime, though indeed not so horrible, was equally certain; yet when the prophet reproves him, the historian tells us “he was in a rage with him because of this thing”; and added to the sin, and to a denial of it, persecution of God’s servant for delivering God’s message. The sin of Asa, though certain and heinous, as I have said, was not so palpable and overt as that of David. It lay more exclusively between God and his own soul. It was an offence which shortsighted men, who cannot read the heart, could not with propriety charge him with. The sins which are known with certainty only to Omniscience are the last which corrupt human nature is willing to acknowledge. It hides itself from its own guilt and from its obligation to confess and forsake its sin, under the cover of its fellow-creatures’ ignorance. From this hiding place, to which Asa had manifestly fled, man could not dislodge him. God’s resources, however, were not exhausted.

When His prophet failed to do it, He sent another messenger to the king in the shape of a most painful disease which finally proved mortal.

1. Health, it is generally acknowledged, is the very greatest of all personal and temporal blessings. By its influence on the inner man it gives new glory to objects already bright, and pours light on that which would otherwise be dark. It converts to luxuries the plainest food, and adds a sweetness to a cup of cold water which nectar in the hand of an invalid partakes not of. Health is valuable not only as an exemption from pain and anxiety, but as a positive good. It causes positive happiness to spring up—to well up from the depths of the soul, the operation of which the man may be unable to explain, but to the mysterious sweetness of which he is ready to testify with a rejoicing, and, would that we could say always, a grateful heart. I do not mean to say, however, that the blessing when in possession is always adequately realised and appreciate. Like other things, the loss of it, at least for a time, is in many cases necessary to open our eyes to its value. The fact that the natural issue of sickness is death is, of itself, enough to give health an inestimable value; and that fact is felt by him who has felt the gnawings of disease; and who that has reached even middle life has not experienced them?

2. But though it is thus inevitable, disease may be mitigated and its fatal consequences postponed. This is effected by one of the greatest mercies which Providence has vouchsafed to man: I mean the healing art. It is not common, perhaps, to regard it in this light, but most certainly it ought to be so regarded. This art is one of great dignity and beneficence. It is found in every country, and among the most savage and most cultivated nations of the earth; and though it seems to have advanced more slowly than many other—perhaps most other—arts and sciences, yet so early was its commencement, and so universal has been its cultivation, it has now attained great perfection. In most departments, where once human aid was unattempted or unavailing to the patient, it is astonishing what can be done for his relief, and for his restoration to society and the full enjoyment of it. This blessed art, moreover, is but an imitation of a merciful provision of nature; even as when pursued and practised on its proper principles, it consists in a co-operating with, and taking advantage of, the powers of nature. With the recuperative and healing properties of nature a true practitioner of the healing art is a co-worker. It is

his high calling, in a scientific manner to aid and minister to and increase this beneficent provision. He is not occupied in helping to gratify an idle vanity, nor in pandering to luxury and over-indulgence. His business is, in the way described, to relieve distress, to dry the tear of sorrow, to rekindle the lamp of hope. It has been acutely observed that there is a likeness in the practice of this art, not only to the healing power of nature referred to, and to the course of that Providence by which both nature and art have been ordained, and to the all-merciful conduct of God manifest in the flesh while He sojourned on the earth, but also in the methods which Providence uses ordinarily for the attainment of these benevolent ends. “Both are designed to restore what is lost, and to repair what is disordered; both have the production of ease and happiness for their ultimate object; both frequently make use of pains and privations as the means of procuring it, but neither of them employs an atom more of these than is necessary for that purpose.”

3. Now from all this it follows that though nothing is expressly said in commendation of this art in the Holy Scriptures, nor any command given to resort to it for relief under our bodily ailments, yet the art and the use of it are manifestly according to the mind and will of God. The mere fact that God has put healing virtue into the productions of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and given man the power to discover its existence, is sufficient warrant, in the silence of Scripture, for the thankful use of it wherever it may be necessary. It has been thought by some that the sin here condemned was resorting not to regular physicians, but to those who attempted cures by charms and other superstitious devices. Such conduct, though not generally thought so by those who indulge in it, is essentially atheistic. He was seeking good from a source not sanctioned by Heaven. He was in pursuit of health in a quarter which God did not bless. In a word, he was not seeking it of Him from whom cometh every good and perfect gift. This was atheism. It is not necessary, however, to suppose that Asa ran into this sin. He was guilty enough, and furnished sufficient ground for the censure in the text, without going to this extreme. Let us suppose, what the Scripture narrative makes probable, that through the influence of prosperity and its attendant snares and temptations, the heart of Asa had waxed cold; that his religious feelings had declined; that whereas before, God was in his thoughts as his dependence, his protection, his comfort, his consolation, his joyful portion, now he lives in forgetfulness of Him, or, if thoughts of God ever enter his mind, they come but seldom and are speedily dismissed. While living habitually in this way, sickness smites him, violent and severe, and very naturally alarming. He sends for the physicians—for many of them. His dependence is on the powers of nature to the exclusion of the Divine Author of these powers. He looks anxiously to human skill, but feels no want, or offers no prayer for the Divine blessing on it. Asa seems to have sought a cure, as he would have done had he never heard of that almighty Being in whose hand are the issues of life and death. We see here that the Lord is a jealous God, and will not give His glory to another, and that His glory and His right as God is to be recognised by His intelligent creatures everywhere, in all the exigencies, duties, and privileges of life. In instituting the present system of means and ends, He did not intend that it should be forgotten that He planned the whole; and that the whole, destitute of any self-sustaining power, is sustained only by Him. He not only created all things, but also upholds all things by the word of His power. This is a fact, and a fact manifestly connected with His glory. He expects, therefore, that all intelligent creatures feel it and acknowledge it. There are two errors—opposite extremes, which He would have them carefully avoid. The first is a reliance upon Him to the exclusion or neglect of the means which He has commanded to be

used. At first view it might seem as if such conduct were putting special honour upon Jehovah; but in truth it is open rebellion against His will. He hath not commanded this at our hands. It is a strange offering—an unclean sacrifice. In His works and in His Word, God has enjoined the diligent use of means; it is impious to turn away from the commandment, even under the pretence of honouring Him. The other extreme, and equally presumptuous, is a reliance on the means to the neglect of the Divine agency and blessing. If the first was an arrogant theism, this is a gross and stupid atheism. Paradoxical as it may sound, our duty and the dictate of pure reason is, that we use means as diligently as if God’s aid were altogether unnecessary, and rely on God as sincerely as if means were unavailing. This is Scripture; this is the highest reason; nay, this human nature herself teaches when in extremity and unperverted by a theory. Who, when in conscious danger of his life, does not with a convulsive eagerness grasp at any and every means of safety, and at the same time lift a voice of agonising supplication for the Divine assistance? Our duty, then, plainly inculcated by the text, is to use means and to trust in the Lord, and to do this not of necessity, because death is imminent, but from a principle of obedience to His will, respect for His honour, and love to His name; and to do it also not only in extreme cases, but at all times. It belongs to such a spirit, as a matter of privilege as well as duty, to seek to the Lord also, and rely upon His help. In conclusion, I would observe that the text teaches a lesson in all analogous cases. For instance, if such is the temper of mind in which we should look for medicines to heal the body, the same should we have in the use of food for the maintenance of life. A blessing asked, when we take our meals, is only in conformity with these principles. So our Lord when on the earth regarded it, for He sanctioned it by His practice. And again it plainly says to those whose calling in life is trade, that whilst they industriously employ all honourable means for the maintenance and advancement of themselves and their families, they should bear in mind that there is an overruling Providence which sees through the complications of events as man cannot, and can give them such issue as may be pleasing in His sight. In short, the text teaches us that we should all, at all times and under all circumstances, realise the presence of God and lean upon His power and goodness, vouchsafed us through Jesus Christ our Lord. (W. Sparrow, D. D.)

The disease of sin and its true Physician

I. Sin is a disease under which all men are labouring.

II. To get rid of the disease of sin men resort to forbidden and unauthorised means.

III. They ought to depend on Christ as the only effectual and infallible physician of souls. (W. Sparrow, D. D.)

To the medical profession

Here is King Asa with the gout. In defiance of God he sends for certain conjurors or quacks. With the result “And Asa slept with his fathers.” That is, the doctors killed him. In this sharp and graphic way the Bible sets forth the truth that you have no right to shut God out from the realm of pharmacy and therapeutics. If Asa had said, “Oh, Lord, I am sick; bless the instrumentality employed for my recovery! Now, servant, go and get the best doctor you can find,” he would have recovered. The world wants Divinely directed

physicians. Men of the medical profession, we often meet in the home of distress. We meet to-day by the altars of God. As in the nursery children sometimes re-enact all the scenes of the sick-room, so to-day you play that you are the patient and that I am the physician, and take my prescription just once.

I. In the first place, I think all the medical profession should become Christians because of the debt of gratitude they owe to God for the honour He has put upon their calling. Cicero said: “There is nothing in which men so approach the gods as when they try to give health to other men.”

II. The medical profession ought to be Christians, because there are so many trials and annoyances in that profession that need positive Christian solace.

III. The medical profession ought to be Christians, because there are professional exigencies when they need God. Asa’s destruction by unblessed physicians was a warning. There are awful crises in every medical practice when a doctor ought to know how to pray. I do not mean to say that piety will make up for medical skill A bungling doctor, confounded with what was not a very bad case went into the next room to pray. A skilled physician was called in. He asked for the first practitioner. “Oh!” they said, “he’s in the next room praying.” “Well.” said the skilled doctor, “tell him to come out here and help, he can pray and work at the same time.” It was all in that sentence. Do the best we can and ask God to help us.

IV. The medical profession ought to be Christians, because there opens before them a grand field for Christian usefulness. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

Sickness

The great truth taught us in this verse is—that afflictions, in their measure, nature, and duration, result neither from chance nor necessity, nor second causes, but primarily from the wise, sovereign, and righteous appointment of the Eternal.

I. Asa’s disease. The former part of this verse mentions what this disease was—“And Asa in the thirty, and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great.” Commentators suppose that this disease in his feet was the gout, and that it was a just punishment for putting the prophet’s feet in the stocks. How varied the disease to which human nature is liable.

1. The person afflicted—Asa the king. This circumstance teaches us that when the Almighty wills afflictions, none can escape them—no, not even kings. When kings commit evil they must expect to be punished as well as others. King Jehoram sinned against the Lord, and the Lord visited him with a disease in his bowels. King Uzziah transgressed the Lord’s commandments, and the Lord smote him with leprosy: “And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house, being a leper.” Asa was diseased in his feet. Honours, riches, power shield us not from disease. When God gives the commission, afflictions enter the palace as well as the meanest hut.

2. The violence of Asa’s disorder. “His disease was exceeding great.” Sometimes we think our trials very heavy; but when compared with those of others we find them light. Hence, if your case is very painful, it is not singular.

3. The period of its continuance. Asa was diseased in his feet two years. When the Lord afflicts us for a month, a week, yea, sometimes, when we are in pain only one

day, we think it a long time. But how short the period of our pains when compared with others! It might have lasted for many years.

II. Asa’s duty. When it is said that Asa sought not unto the Lord, it implies that he ought to have done so.

1. The purposes for which you should seek unto the Lord in your afflictions. The advice which Eliphaz gave to Job in his affliction was most excellent, and is suitable to us on all occasions: “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. I would seek unto God, and unto God would commit my cause.” The afflicted should seek unto God, in disease, that they may know its design. “Shew me,” prays Job, “wherefore Thou contendest with me.” The Lord’s way, both in mercy and in judgment, is in the sea, and His footsteps, oftentimes, are not seen. Since, therefore, none can give us the information we need but God Himself, and since also it is so important for us to know the design of Our trials, let us not do as Asa did, but as Eliphaz recommends—seek unto God. When diseases visit us we should seek unto God, that He would give us grace to sustain them. None but He who lays these burdens on our shoulders can sustain us under them. That these visitations may be duly improved is another end we should propose in seeking unto the Lord. God should be sought unto in affliction, that He may remove them. The Lord should be sought unto in sickness, that His righteousness in afflicting may be devoutly acknowledged.

2. The manner in which God should be approached unto in these circumstances. First, in faith—the Christian must exercise faith in his heavenly Father’s providence, promises, and revealed character. Secondly, in humility—the Christian has merited all he endures, and has nothing of his own to plead. Thirdly, with resignation.

3. Some reasons why the Lord should be sought unto may be specified.

(1) The manifest propriety of the thing itself. Unto whom should the servant go in his distress but unto the master?

(2) The absolute dependence of the creature on God shows the importance and reasonableness. On God’s will depends our health and sickness, adversity and prosperity, joys and sorrows.

(3) These means are Divinely appointed, consequently we cannot neglect them without considerable danger to our souls. “For this thing will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, that I may do it for them.”

(4) The example of all good men—David, Job, Paul, and others, when in distress, sought unto the Lord in prayer: this was their uniform practice; and, indeed, prayer is the best plaster for all our wounds.

III. Asa’s sin. Asa’s sin is a common sin—the way of the multitude, Asa’s sin was a great sin—he put the creature before the Creator. Asa’s sin, unrepented of, is a ruinous sin. “ Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord?” Asa’s conduct arises from many causes.

1. Ignorance. Sin has so darkened the mind that many have no right views of their relation to God.

2. Inattention. Some know these things, yet give them little or no serious attention. God is neither in all their ways nor in all their thoughts.

3. Independence. Sin has made man so proud that, if it were possible, he would do without God altogether.

4. Presumption. Many expect health, ease, and success without God’s assistance.

5. Unbelief. Multitudes have no vital faith in God, His Word, nor in the necessity, efficacy, and advantages of prayer.

Learn from this subject—

1. Means may be used, but we must be careful not to abuse them.

2. The best of men do not always keep in the same gracious frame of mind. Compare 2Ch_14:2 with the text, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

3. The same sins that were prevalent in Asa’s day are prevalent now. (H. Hollis.)

Asa and the physicians

I. It is interesting to notice who this sick person was. It was Asa, one of the kings of Judah. A king has no poverty to contend against; but—alike with his meanest subjects—he has sickness. Sickness is impartial, even as death. No luxury can materially soften it, no precaution can keep it away, no wealth can stay its course. What was Asa’s course? He sought to the physicians. Surely he was, so far, right. It is thought that these physicians were charmers, bringers in of foreign superstitions, singers of useless incantations, and that herein lay Asa’s wrong. The question does not relate to the kind of physician he went to, but only to the fact of his going. He did no wrong in seeking human help. We are never to give up at the first approach of sickness and wait for a special wonder of cure. It is not that he was wrong in seeking to the physicians, but very wrong in some other particulars.

1. He did not seek to the Lord, without whom human physicians may vainly exercise their skill and talents. Neither will prayer dispense with medicine nor medicine with prayer.

2. Asa was a king. The inconsistency which, in an unknown subject, would provoke but little comment, grows serious in the life of royalty. We expect nobleness, manliness, and exemplary conduct from kings. Asa set a bad example to his subjects and was false to his royal order. Asa was also false to God, for he was head of the Church and yet dishonoured prayer.

3. Asa suffered his disease to make him unjust and irritable. He cast Hanani into prison for telling him God’s holy will.

4. Asa belied a previous life of piety. One of his prayers in time of health, when marching against his numerous enemies, had been more inspiring than the most stirring war-cry or the most martial summons to certain victory. “Lord! it is nothing to Thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power. Help us, O Lord, our God! for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against the multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee!” But now Asa was sick he forgot the trust he had formerly placed in the God of Israel. Sickness, more terrible than an army with banners, spoiled this king of his faith.

II. The general lesson taught by sickness.

1. Health is the gift of God. Many who are ready to acknowledge recovery to be so, and who gratefully thank God for it, forget that good health is a far greater blessing

than recovery.

2. Health is a talent. What has been done with it?

3. Prepare for sickness by continuing mindful of its approach.

4. As regards our conduct to those who are sick. Asa was wrong, impatient, faithless; but the duty of his attendants and subjects was to hear with him. Sickness is trying. What seems like impatience to lookers-on would seem different were the places reversed.

5. The great lesson of all—a lesson of avoidance from Asa’s fault—is to commit ourselves to the care of God; to seek, if able, to earthly physicians; but to seek with brighter hopes and fuller certainty to the Great Healer Himself (S..B. James, M.A.)

Retribution

From the theological standpoint of the chronicler’s school, these invidious records of the sins of good kings were necessary in order to account for their misfortunes. That sin was always punished by complete, immediate, and manifest retribution in this life, and that conversely all misfortune was the punishment of sin, was probably the most popular religious teaching in Israel from early days till the time of Christ. This doctrine of retribution was current among the Greeks. 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. 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. (W. H. Bennett, M.A.)

The most serious punishments of sin

These are not pain, ruin, disgrace. Their are the formation and confirmation of evil character. Herbert Spencer says “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 man’s 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 a spider’s 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. (W. H. Bennett, M. A.)

Our disinclination to rely upon God only

Some years ago my wife and I were walking through the streets of Boston, having recently left our place of residence and living in a flat. My wife was without a servant; the summer was unusually hot even for our country, and the task of preparing the meals for the family was a grievance. Like a good husband, I had great sympathy with my wife, and

so I rose in the morning and fit the fire. One day I saw a device advertised for cooking by oil, and after a little while I strained a large point, bought the stove, and brought it home in triumph. I said to my wife, “You will not have to be roasted any more over that old kitchen range”; but she was sceptical, as good wives are wont to be, and when I went in to see how the cooking was going on, I found a roaring fire in the old range as well, in case the new one would not work. I think we all want something to fall back upon, and like to have a roaring fire in the old range—to trust in our own efforts instead of relying on God. (G. F. Pentecost.)

God left out of the calculation

I knew a man who professed to love the Lord, and who really did so. He got into great difficulties, and racked his brain all night without avail for a way out of them. In the morning he went to the squire and the rector, and racked their brains about his troubles, but to no good effect. He then came to me, and asked me to pray with him about them, and my reply was, “No, I will not; you have racked your own, the rector’s, and the squire’s brain, and now you wish to make Jesus only the fourth instead of first. I won’t take any part in doing that.” He fell on his knees with such a beseeching look for forgiveness, and prayed, “Oh, how could I forget Thee, Lord? Yet even now I come and ask guidance.” It is needless to say that the Lord graciously heard and answered, and gave him a triumphant issue out of all his troubles. (Christian Herald.).

13 Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his ancestors.

GILL, "And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the forty first year of his reign. See 1Ki_15:10.

ELLICOTT, "(13) And died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.—�ot in 1 Kings 15:24, which continues, with the usual formula, “and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.” (See 1 Kings 15:10, “And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem.”)

PULPIT, "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 (1 Kings 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, 2 Kings 22:1; 2 Kings 24:1-3). �evertheless, 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 (2 Chronicles 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.

14 They buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier covered with spices and various blended perfumes, and they made a huge fire in his honor.

BAR�ES, "The explanation of the plural - “sepulchres” - will be seen in 1Ki_13:30note.

The burning of spices in honor of a king at his funeral was customary (compare the marginal references).

CLARKE, "And laid him in the bed - It is very likely that the body of Asa was burnt; that the bed spoken of here was a funeral pyre, on which much spices and odoriferous woods had been placed; and then they set fire to the whole and consumed the body with the aromatics. Some think the body was not burned, but the aromatics only, in honor of the king.

How the ancients treated the bodies of the illustrious dead we learn from Virgil, in the funeral rites paid to Misenus.

Nec minus interea Misenum in littore TeucriFlebant, et cineri ingrato suprema ferebant.Principio pinguem taedis et robore sectoIngentem struxere pyram: cui frondibus atris

Intexunt latera, et ferales ante cupressasConstituunt, decorantque super fulgentibus armis, etc.Aen. vi. 214.

“Meanwhile the Trojan troops, with weeping eyes,To dead Misenus pay their obsequies.First from the ground a lofty pile they rearOf pitch trees, oaks, and pines, and unctuous fir.The fabric’s front with cypress twigs they strew,And stick the sides with boughs of baleful yew.The topmost part his glittering arms adorn:Warm waters, then, in brazen caldrons borneAre poured to wash his body joint by joint,And fragrant oils the stiffen’d limbs anoint.With groans and cries Misenus they deplore:Then on a bier, with purple cover’d o’er,The breathless body thus bewail’d they lay,And fire the pile (their faces turn’d away).Such reverend rites their fathers used to pay.Pure oil and incense on the fire they throw,And fat of victims which their friends bestow.These gifts the greedy flames to dust devour,Then on the living coals red wine they pour.And last the relics by themselves dispose,Which in a brazen urn the priests enclose.Old Corineus compass’d thrice the crew,And dipp’d an olive branch in holy dew;Which thrice he sprinkled round, and thrice aloudInvoked the dead, and then dismiss’d the crowd.”Dryden.

All these rites are of Asiatic extraction. Virgil borrows almost every circumstance from Homer; (see Iliad, xxiii., ver. 164, etc.); and we well know that Homer ever describes Asiatic manners. Sometimes, especially in war, several captives were sacrificed to the manes of the departed hero. So, in the place above, the mean-souled, ferocious demon, Achilles, is represented sacrificing twelve Trojan captives to the ghost of his friend Patroclus. Urns containing the ashes and half-calcined bones of the dead occur frequently in barrows or tumuli in this country; most of them, no doubt, the work of the Romans. But all ancient nations, in funeral matters, have nearly the same rites.

GILL, "And they buried him in his own sepulchres which he had made for himself in the city of David,.... Where was the burying place of the kings of Judah; here Asa had ordered a vault to be made for himself and his family, and therefore called sepulchres, because of the several cells therein to put separate bodies in:

and laid him in the bed; not only laid him out, as we express it, but laid him on a bed of state, where he lay in great pomp; or the funeral bed, which, with other nations (r), used to be strowed with sweet smelling flowers and herbs, as follows:

which was filled with sweet odours, and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries art; or rather confectioner or druggist; for it is a question whether there were then any such we call apothecaries; this bed was strowed with spices, myrrh, aloes, cassia, cinnamon, &c. and which perhaps might be made up into a liquid, which was sprinkled over the bed and shroud in which he lay:

and they made a very great burning for him; not that they made a great fire, and burned his body; for burning was not used with the Jews; but they burnt spices and other things in great quantity, in honour of him: See Gill on Jer_34:5, and this custom continued to the times of Herod, at whose funeral there were five hundred of his domestics and freed men bearing spices (s).

HE�RY, "IV. His death and burial. His funeral had something of extraordinary solemnity in it, 2Ch_16:14. They made a very magnificent burying for him. I am loth to think (as some do) that he himself ordered this funeral pomp, and that it was an instance of his vanity, that he would be buried like the Gentiles, and not after the way of the Jews. It is said indeed, He digged the sepulchre for himself, as one mindful of his grave; but I am willing to believe that this funeral pomp was rather an expression of the great respect his people retained for him, notwithstanding the failings and infirmities of his latter days. It was agreed to do him honour at his death. Note, The eminent piety and usefulness of good men 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.

JAMISO�, "they buried him in his own sepulchres— The tombs in the neighborhood of Jerusalem were excavated in the side of a rock. One cave contained several tombs or sepulchres.

laid him in the bed ... filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices—It is evident that a sumptuous public funeral was given him as a tribute of respect and gratitude for his pious character and patriotic government. But whether “the bed” means a state couch on which he lay exposed to public view, the odoriferous perfumes being designed to neutralize the offensive smell of the corpse, or whether it refers to an embalmment, in which aromatic spices were always used in great profusion, it is impossible to say.

they made a very great burning for him— according to some, for consuming the spices. According to others, it was a magnificent pile for the cremation of the corpse - 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 (2Ch_21:19; 1Sa_31:12; Jer_34:5; Amo_6:10).

K&D, "2Ch_16:14

The Chronicle gives a more exact account of Asa's burial than 1Ki_15:24. He was buried in the city of David; not in the general tomb of the kings, however, but in a tomb which he had caused to be prepared for himself in that place. And they laid him upon the

bed, which had been filled with spices (�שמים, see Exo_30:23), and those of various

kinds, mixed for an anointing mixture, prepared. זנים from זן, kind, species; וזנים, et varia

quidem. חQמר in Piel only here, properly spiced, from רקח, to spice, usually to compound

an unguent of various spices. מרקחת, the compounding of ointment; so also 1Ch_9:30,

where it is usually translated by unguent. מעשה, work, manufacture, is a shortened

terminus technicus for #רוקח _manufacture of the ointment-compounder (cf. Exo ,מעשה

30:25, Exo_30:35), and the conjecture that #רוקח has been dropped out of the text by mistake is unnecessary. “And they kindled for him a great, very great burning,” cf. 2Ch_21:19 and Jer_34:5, whence we gather that the kindling of a burning, i.e., the burning of odorous spices, was customary at the burials of kings. Here it is only remarked that at Asa's funeral an extraordinary quantity of spices was burnt. A burning of the corpse, or of the bed or clothes of the dead, is not to be thought of here: the Israelites were in the habit of burying their dead, not of burning them. That occurred only in extraordinary circumstances-as, for example, in the case of the bodies of Saul and his sons; see on 1Sa_31:12. The kindling and burning of spices at the solemn funerals of persons of princely rank, on the other hand, occurred also among other nations, e.g., among the Romans; cf. Plinii hist. nat. xii. 18, and M. Geier, de luctu Hebr. c. 6.

BE�SO�, "2 Chronicles 16:14. They buried him in his sepulchre which he had made for himself — As one mindful of his grave. And laid him in the bed with sweet odours, and divers kinds of spices — After the manner of those nations, Genesis 50:2; 2 Chronicles 21:19. And made a very great burning — Of precious spices; thereby testifying their respect to him, notwithstanding his miscarriages. The eminent piety and usefulness of good men 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.

ELLICOTT, "(14) And they buried him.—The particulars of this verse are also added by the chronicler.

In his own sepulchres.—�ot therefore in the ordinary tombs of the Kings. The plural sepulchres indicates a family tomb containing many cells.

Which he had made.—Digged, or hewn out of the rock. (Comp. Job 3:14; Isaiah 22:16.) Like the Pharaohs, Asa, who was a great and powerful sovereign, prepared his own last resting-place.

Which was filled.—Literally, which one had filled.

Sweet odours.—Bĕsamîm, “spices” (2 Chronicles 9:1; 2 Chronicles 9:9). Kinds. Heb., zènim, an Aramaic word common in the Targums, but in Old Testament Hebrew only found here and in Psalms 144:13.

Prepared by the apothecaries’ art.—Literally, Compounded in a compound of work

(art). The participle mĕruqqah only occurs here. The word rendered compound means an ointment or compost of various spices (1 Chronicles 9:30). The full phrase “compound of the work of the compounder” occurs Exodus 30:25; Exodus 30:35.

And they made.—Literally, And they burned.

Very.—‘Ad limeôd. Only here, a later equivalent of ‘ad mcud (Genesis 27:33). The burning of aromatic woods and spices was usual at the obsequies of kings (see 2 Chronicles 21:19; Jeremiah 34:5, and �ote on 1 Chronicles 10:12). Asa’s distinction as a wealthy and powerful monarch, and the high esteem with which his subjects regarded him, are indicated by the extraordinary amount of spices burnt in his honour. There is no ground for supposing that the chronicler blames “the exaggerated splendour and lavish excess with which this custom was observed at the burial of Asa, as if it were the burial of an Egyptian Pharaoh” (Zöckler). His account of the splendour of Solomon proves that he delighted to dwell on the glory of the ancient kings of his people.

COFFMA�, ""And they made a very great burning for him" (2 Chronicles 16:14). "This is a reference to the burning of spices,"[1] an ancient custom designed to fill the atmosphere with sweet odors accompanying a funeral procession. The Romans used large quantities of incense for this purpose. (We have discussed this custom rather extensively under the title, The Triumph Metaphor, in Vol. 7 (Corinthians) of our �.T. Commentaries, pp. 324,325.)

POOLE, "Laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours, as the manner of those nations was. See Genesis 50:2 2 Chronicles 21:19.

They made a very great burning, to wit, of precious spices; thereby testifying their thankfulness for many benefits which they enjoyed under his government, and their respect to him notwithstanding his miscarriages.

PULPIT, "In his own sepulchres; Hebrew, קברתין ; fem. plur. of קבר. 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, קברים לי. In the city of David (see note on 2 Chronicles 12:16). In the bed; Hebrew, משכב . 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, כשמים . 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 Exodus 25:6; Exodus 30:23; Exodus 35:8, Exodus 35:28. And divers kinds; Hebrew, וזנים ; plur. of זן; from the root, זנן ; unused, but probably one with an Amble root, meaning "to shape;" hence our noun, meaning a kind or species, used here and Psalms 144:13, and in the Chaldee of Daniel 3:5, Daniel 3:7, Daniel 3:10, Daniel 3:15. Prepared; Hebrew, מרקחיס ; solitary occurrence of pual conjugation of the root רקח, "to spice," i.e; to spice, season, or prepare oil for ointment purposes. This root occurs in kal future once (Exodus 30:33); in kal part. poel five times (Exodus 30:25, 85; Exodus 37:29; 1 Chronicles 9:1-44 :80; Ecclesiastes 10:1); and in hiph. infin. once (Ezekiel 24:10). By the apothecaries' art; Hebrew, במרקחת מעשה. 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 1 Samuel 31:12, 1 Samuel 31:13, but the burning of spices, indicated by the language of our 2 Chronicles 21:19 and Jeremiah 34:5.

Footnotes:

2 Chronicles 16:4 Also known as Abel Beth Maakah2 Chronicles 16:8 That is, people from the upper Nile region2 Chronicles 16:8 Or charioteers