II
C H R O N I C L E S
CHAP. XVI.
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
, ver. 1-6. II. The reproof which God sent him for it by a prophet, ver. 7-9.
III. Asa's displeasure against the prophet for his faithfulness, ver. 10. IV.
The sickness, death, and burial of Asa, ver. 11-14.
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Asa's
League with Benhadad.
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B.
C. 929.
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1 In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of
Asa Baasha king of
Israel
came up against
Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might
let none go out or come in to Asa king of
Judah. 2 Then Asa brought out silver and
gold out of the treasures of the house of the LORD
and of the king's house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria, that dwelt at
Damascus, saying, 3 There is a league between me and thee,
as there was between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee
silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may
depart from me. 4 And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent
the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim,
and all the store cities of Naphtali. 5 And it came to pass, when
Baasha heard it, that he left off building of Ramah, and let his work
cease. 6 Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away
the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha was building;
and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.
How to reconcile the date of this event with the history of the kings I am
quite at a loss. Baasha died in the twenty-sixth year of Asa, 1 Kings xvi. 8.
How then could this be done in his thirty-sixth year, when Baasha's family was
quite cut off, and Omri was upon the throne? It is generally said to be meant
of the thirty-sixth year of the kingdom of Asa, namely, that of Judah,
beginning from the first of Rehoboam, and so it coincides with the sixteenth
of Asa's reign; but then (ch. xv. 19 must be so understood; and how
could it be spoken of as a great thing that there was no more war till the
fifteenth year of Asa, when that passage immediately before was in his
fifteenth year? (ch. xv. 10), and after this miscarriage of his, here
recorded, he had wars, v. 9. Josephus places it in his twenty-sixth
year, and then we must suppose a mistake in the transcriber here and (ch.
xv. 19, the admission of which renders the computation easy. This passage we
had before (1 Kings xv. 17, &c.) and Asa was in several ways faulty in it.
1. He did not do well to make a league with Benhadad, a heathen king, and to
value himself so much upon it as he seems to have done, v. 3. Had he
relied more upon his covenant, and his father's, with God, he would not have
boasted so much of his league, and his father's, with the royal family of
Syria. 2. If he had had a due regard to the honour of Israel in general, he
would have found some other expedient to give Baasha a diversion than by
calling in a foreign force, and inviting into the country a common enemy, who,
in process of time, might be a plague to Judah too. 3. It was doubtless a sin
in Benhadad to break his league with Baasha upon no provocation, but merely
through the influence of a bribe; and, if so, certainly it was a sin in Asa to
move him to it, especially to hire him to do it. The public faith of kings and
kingdoms must not be made so cheap a thing. 4. To take silver and gold out of
the house of the Lord for this purpose was a great aggravation of the sin, v.
2. Must the temple be plundered to serve his carnal politics? He had better
have brought gifts and offerings with prayers and supplications, to the house
of the Lord, that he might have engaged God on his side and made him his
friend; then he would not have needed to be at this expense to make Benhadad
his friend. 5. It was well if Asa had not to answer for all the mischief that
the army of Benhadad did unjustly to the cities of Israel, all the blood they
shed and all the spoil they made, v. 4. Perhaps Asa intended not that
they should carry the matter so far. But those that draw others to sin know
not what they do, nor where it will end. The beginning of sin is as the
letting forth of water. However the project succeeded. Benhadad gave Baasha a
powerful diversion, obliged him to leave off building Ramah and betake himself
to the defence of his own country northward, which gave Asa an opportunity,
not only to demolish his fortifications, but to seize the materials and
convert them to his own use.
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Asa's Death and Burial.
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B.
C. 914.
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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 xvi. 1; 2 Chron.
xix. 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, v. 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, v. 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, v. 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, (ch. xiii.
18; xiv. 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, v. 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. xlv. 4. Christ is head over all things to his
church, Eph. i. 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, (v. 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, v. 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, v. 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
(v. 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, v. 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.
Contents
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