This chapter concludes the history of the reign of Asa, but does not
furnish so pleasing an account of his latter end as we had of his
beginning.
I. Here is a foolish treaty with Benhadad king of Syria,
2 Chronicles 16:1-6.
II. The reproof which God sent him for it by a prophet,
2 Chronicles 16:7-9.
III. Asa's displeasure against the prophet for his faithfulness,
2 Chronicles 16:10.
IV. The sickness, death, and burial of Asa,
2 Chronicles 16:11-14.
Asa's League with Benhadad.
B. C. 929.
1 In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king
of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent
that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
2 Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of
the house of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent to
Ben-hadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,
3 There is a league between me and thee, as there was
between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver
and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that
he may depart from me.
4 And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains
of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon,
and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.
5 And it came to pass, when Baasha heard it, that he left off
building of Ramah, and let his work cease.
6 Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the
stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha was
building; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.
How to reconcile the date of this event with the history of the kings I
am quite at a loss. Baasha died in the twenty-sixth year of Asa,
1 Kings 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
(2 Chronicles 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?
(2 Chronicles 15:10),
and after this miscarriage of his, here recorded, he had wars,
2 Chronicles 16:9.
Josephus places it in his twenty-sixth year, and then we must suppose a
mistake in the transcriber here and
(2 Chronicles 15:19,
the admission of which renders the computation easy. This passage we
had before
(1 Kings 15:17-24,
&c.) and Asa was in several ways faulty in it.
1. He did not do well to make a league with Benhadad, a heathen king,
and to value himself so much upon it as he seems to have done,
2 Chronicles 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,
2 Chronicles 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,
2 Chronicles 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.
Asa's Death and Burial.
B. C. 914.
7 And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah,
and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria,
and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the
king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.
8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very
many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the
LORD, he delivered them into thine hand.
9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole
earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart
is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly:
therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
10 Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison
house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing.
And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.
11 And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are
written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was
diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great:
yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the
physicians.
13 And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and
fortieth year of his reign.
14 And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made
for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which
was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices
prepared by the apothecaries' art: and they made a very great
burning for him.
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
1 Kings 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,
2 Chronicles 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,
2 Chronicles 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,
1. That he acted against his experience,
2 Chronicles 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,
(2 Chronicles 13:18,14:11.
"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.
2. That he acted against his knowledge of God and his providence,
2 Chronicles 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,
Isaiah 45:4.
Christ is head over all things to his church,
Ephesians 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,
(2 Chronicles 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,
2 Chronicles 16:9.
Those that cannot find in their hearts to trust God forfeit his
protection and throw themselves out of it.
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,
2 Chronicles 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.
III. His sickness. Two years before he died he was diseased in his
feet
(2 Chronicles 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.
IV. His death and burial. His funeral had something of extraordinary
solemnity in it,
2 Chronicles 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.
Matthew Henry "Verse by Verse Commentary for '2 Chronicles' Matthew Henry Bible Commentary".
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