Deeper Commentary
2Ch 16:1 In the thirty sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of
Israel went up against Judah-
But Baasha died in the 26th year of Asa's rulership (1 Kings 16:8,10).
The 35th year in 2 Chron. 15:19 refers to the point of division with Israel,
when Judah became a separate entity. And this may be the same case here.
However, the Hebrew characters used for 30 and 10 are very similar, and this
may be an example of a coping error. If we read 15 and 16 in 2 Chron. 15:19
and 2 Chron. 16:1, then the chronological problem disappears.
And built Ramah, that he might not allow anyone to go out or come
in to Asa king of Judah-
There was such a flow of Israelites to Judah that Baasha tried to stop
it, by building Ramah as an effective border control point on the approach
road to Jerusalem- only about six miles from city. Ramah was in Benjamin,
and clearly Asa had failed to retain it within Judah.
2Ch 16:2 Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the
house of Yahweh and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben Hadad king of
Syria, who lived at Damascus saying-
Benhadad was the grandson of Hezion, a name which uses similar
characters to Rezon who led the first attempted revival of Zobah and
Damascus (1 Kings 11:23) after David's victories against them in 2 Sam.
8:3-8. Asa gathered the gold and silver vessels back into the temple- and then
went and used them to make a political treaty. He apparently
treated them as God's riches, but then in reality he used them as his own
(1 Kings 15:18, 15).
2Ch 16:3 Let there be a covenant between me and you, as there was between
my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold. Go,
break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me-
The intent of the treaty, however, was that Benhadad would attack
Baasha (:4). Perhaps this was not stated specifically because Asa wanted
to give lip service obedience to the command not to fight with his own
brethren in (1 Kings 12:24. So the Lord's money was spent on effectively
getting others to fight their own brethren; and in essence the same can
happen today in church politics. We also see how fickle are relationships
when not governed by Divine principle; Benhadad's treaty with Baasha was
broken when money was received from a third party, and he not only trashed
the treaty but attacked him.
We must balance this lack of faith against the Divine assessment in 2 Chron. 15:17: "The high places were not taken away out of Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days".
2Ch 16:4 Ben Hadad listened to king Asa, and sent the captains of
his armies against the cities of Israel; and they struck Ijon, and Dan,
and Abel Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali-
These cities were in the far north of Israel. It was an invasion of
the border area rather than of all Israel.
2Ch 16:5 It happened, when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building
Ramah, and let his work cease-
Asa's plan appeared to have worked. Baasha stopped the attempted
blockade of Jerusalem. Even though Asa did wrong in how he used the Lord's
money / wealth, that isn't commented upon. It all seemed to work out. But
we are left, naturally, with the question as to whether this was right or
not.
2Ch 16:6 Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the
stones of Ramah, and its timber, with which Baasha had built; and he built
therewith Geba and Mizpah-
We see here the value of stones and timber and the huge amount of
labour needed to move them. This corroborates the way that Solomon's huge
demand for these things led him into debt financially (see on 1 Kings
9:14) and into abusing his people for labour.
2Ch 16:7 At that time Hanani the seer of visions came to Asa king of Judah
and said to him, Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not
relied on Yahweh your God, therefore is the army of the king of Syria
escaped out of your hand-
A lack of spiritual ambition is in fact a sin. When Asa was threatened
by his enemies, he hired the Syrians to drive them away- and he was
condemned for this, being told that he should instead have had the ambition
to ask God to deliver the mighty Syrians into his hand, as well as his
enemies (2 Chron. 16:7). He was reminded that the Angelic eyes of the Lord
are running to and fro in our support (2 Chron. 16:9), as Asa would have
theoretically acknowledged. But his sin of omission, his lack of an
ambitious vision, incited the Father’s anger. We need to meditate carefully
upon this, because it surely has many similarities with modern life, where
money and ‘hiring’ worldly help is so easy…
2Ch 16:8 Weren’t the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge army, with exceeding
many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on Yahweh, He delivered
them into your hand-
This is a similar situation to that in 2 Chron. 13:18, where an
otherwise unspiritual and idolatrous Judah "relied" on Yahweh in
desperation. They relied on Him at that one point, and were rewarded for
it. But not generally. This reflects God's extreme sensitivity to faith in
Him, even if He knows the surrounding context of a man's life is not of
faith in Him.
Asa's faith was rewarded when he faced a massive Ethiopian army; but some years later, God repeated the situation. A huge Israelite army faced him; and instead of trusting in Yahweh, he gave the temple treasures to Syria so that they would come and fight the battle for him. And God wasn't slow to point out how circumstances had repeated, but this time Asa had failed the test: " Were not the Ethiopians and Lubims a huge host...? Yet because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand... herein you have done foolishly: therefore from henceforth you shall have wars" (2 Chron. 16:8.9). The "wars" God brought upon Asa weren't merely punishments; they were yet further opportunities for Asa to face the same situations, and overcome them with faith. And God likewise works in our lives.
2Ch 16:9 For the eyes of Yahweh run back and forth throughout the whole
earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect
toward Him-
The Biblical record seems to very frequently seek to deconstruct
popular ideas about sin and evil. One of the most widespread notions was
the "evil eye", whereby it was believed that some people had an "evil eye"
which could bring distress into the eyes of those upon whom they looked in
jealousy or anger. This concept is alive and well in many areas to this
day. The idea entered Judaism very strongly after the Babylonian
captivity; the Babylonian Talmud is full of references to it. The sage Rav
attributed many illnesses to the evil eye, and the Talmud even claimed
that 99 out of 100 people died prematurely from this (Bava Metzia 107b).
The Biblical deconstruction of this is through stressing that God's
eye is all powerful in the destiny of His people (Dt. 11:12; Ps. 33:18);
and that "an evil eye" refers to an internal attitude of mean
spiritedness within people- e.g. an "evil eye" is understood as
an ungenerous spirit in Dt. 15:9; Mt. 6:23; 20:15; or pure selfishness in
Dt. 28:54,56; Prov. 23:6; 28:22. We must remember that the people of
Biblical times understood an "evil eye" as an external ability to
look at someone and bring curses upon them. But the Bible redefines an
"evil eye" as a purely internal attitude; and cosmic evil, even
if it were to exist, need hold no fear for us- seeing the eyes of the only
true God are running around the earth for us and not against us
(2 Chron. 16:9).
Herein you have done foolishly; for from henceforth you shall
have wars-
"Done foolishly" alludes to the failures of Saul (1 Sam. 13:13) and
David (2 Sam. 24:10), both also connected with trust in human rather than
Divine strength.
2Ch 16:10 Then Asa was angry with the seer of visions, and put him in the
prison; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. Asa oppressed
some of the people at the same time-
If true guilt is not faced up to, there will be anger, the anger that
comes from refusing to acknowledge subconscious guilt. Balaam’s angry
striking of his donkey is an obvious Biblical example, and we are
surrounded by so many others. Another classic example would be Asa’s
“rage” with Hanani the prophet when he rebuked Asa for trusting in the
Syrian army rather than in Yahweh. And Asa’s anger was then taken out upon
the people- for “Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time” (2
Chron. 16:10).
2Ch 16:11 Behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, behold, they are
written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel-
This may not necessarily be the book of Kings as we know it.
2Ch 16:12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his
feet. His disease was exceeding great; yet in his disease he didn’t turn
to Yahweh, but to the physicians-
One meaning of "Asa" is "physician", and he ended his days trusting
physicians rather than Yahweh. Perhaps he trained as a physician and ended
up therefore having more faith in science than in Yahweh. 1 Kings 15:11
says that "he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, as
did David his father". 2 Chron. 14:2 is likewise positive: "Asa did that
which was good and right in the eyes of Yahweh his God".
Asa is recorded as serving God just as well as David, when actually
this wasn't the case; but God counted him as righteous.
The incomplete faith of men like Baruch was counted as full faith by later
inspiration (Jud. 4:8,9 cp. Heb. 11:32). Asa was not perfect, nor was
David; but God's overall judgment was that he "did right", despite doing
wrong at specific points in his life. Yet we learn here that Asa died at a
low point for him spiritually. But the judgment overall was that he "did
right" and that "nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with Yahweh all
his days" (1 Kings 15:14). We must learn therefore not to judge a person
too harshly if they die at a weak spiritual point, e.g. through suicide.
2Ch 16:13 Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the forty-first year of
his reign-
The description of death as sleeping with fathers is clear evidence that
death is seen as a sleep, unconsciousness, and not as the start of an
immortal soul going to heaven or 'hell'. Good and bad, David and Solomon,
are gathered together in death. The division between them will only
therefore come at the resurrection of the dead, and the granting of
immortality at the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus.
2Ch 16:14 They buried him in his own tombs, which he had dug out for
himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled
with sweet odours and various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s
art; and they made a very great burning for him-
"The bed" may refer to that on which he laid at the end of his life (:12).
It seems he was buried in his own bed, which recalls the style of burial
for the Pharaohs and other Gentile kings. This would be another indication
that Asa died spiritually weak, and yet as discussed on :12, he was still
reckoned as righteous according to his core heart positions.
Previous Chapter
