Chapter XVI
1–6 (= 1 Kings xv. 17–22).
Asa asks help of Ben-hadad.
¹In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
1. the six and thirtieth year] According to 1 Kings xvi. 8 Baasha was succeeded by his son Elah in the six-and-twentieth year of Asa. The number thirty-six may therefore be wrong. It should be noticed however that the thirty-sixth year of the separate kingdom of Judah corresponds with the sixteenth year of Asa, so that possibly two different reckonings are here confused and we should read, In the six and thirtieth year, that is, in the sixteenth year of Asa. So in xv. 19 we should read, in the five and thirtieth, that is, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. This scheme of Asa’s reign, however, agrees badly with the dominant ideas of the Chronicler, for the religious reform and covenant in the fifteenth year (verse 10) ought not to have been immediately followed by war in the sixteenth year, but rather by a period of peace and prosperity. Hence thirty-six may after all be the original text, and we must suppose that the Chronicler either ignored or overlooked 1 Kings xvi. 8; or perhaps that he quoted from a midrashic source, having a different system of chronology from that in Kings.
Ramah] The modern er-Rām, situated on a commanding hill about two hours north of Jerusalem. Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 216.
²Then 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 Damascus¹, saying, ³There is² 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.
¹ Hebrew Darmesek.
² Or, Let there be.
2. silver and gold] In 1 Kings, “all the silver and the gold that were left.”
Ben-hadad] At least three kings of Syria bore this name, the two others being severally (1) a contemporary of Ahab (1 Kings xx. 1 ff.), (2) a contemporary of Jehoash the grandson of Jehu, 2 Kings xiii. 25.
that dwelt at Damascus] The epithet distinguishes the king of Damascus from other kings of Syria, e.g. from the king of Hamath.
Damascus] Hebrew “Darmesek”; see note on 1 Chronicles xviii. 5.
⁴And 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 cities¹ of Naphtali.
¹ Hebrew storehouses of the cities.
4. and they smote] The places smitten were all in the extreme north of Israel.
Ijon] The city cannot be identified, but the name is preserved in Merj ‘Iyūn, a table-land north of the Jordan valley. Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 291.
Abel-maim] In 1 Kings, “Abel-beth-maacah”; compare 2 Samuel xx. 14, 15. No doubt the two names designate one place.
all the store cities] In 1 Kings, “all Chinneroth” (i.e. the district west of the Sea of Galilee). As this was a very fruitful district, the “store cities” of the Chronicler may be only another name for it.
⁵And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building of Ramah, and let his work cease.
5. and let his work cease] In 1 Kings and dwelt in Tirzah (Hebrew), and returned to Tirzah (LXX.). Baasha (like Jeroboam; 1 Kings xiv. 17) fixed his seat of government at Tirzah in the centre of the Northern Kingdom in order to be able to watch Syria as well as Judah. The Chronicler takes no interest in the home of Baasha.
⁶Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.
6. took all Judah] In 1 Kings summoned all Judah (so translate); none was exempted.
Geba and Mizpah] The names signify, “the hill and the watch-tower.” Geba is mentioned in 2 Kings xxiii. 8, evidently as being on the northern boundary of Judah. Yet, be it noted, it was only 7 miles north of Jerusalem, whilst Mizpah was about 5 miles north-west of the capital. For Mizpah see Jeremiah xli. 1–9. See also note on xiv. 6–8.
7–10 (not in 1 Kings).
The Intervention of Hanani.
The Chronicler stands alone both in recording the condemnation of Asa in this passage and in himself condemning him in verse 12. In 1 Kings no blame is passed on Asa.
⁷And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.
7. Hanani the seer] Hanani as a seer is known to us from this passage only; but in xix. 2 and xx. 34 (also 1 Kings xvi. 1) Jehu the prophet is called son of Hanani.
the seer] an ancient title, elsewhere applied only to Samuel. Compare 1 Samuel ix. 9 “he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.” In consequence of this phrase it has been supposed that the story of Hanani is a genuinely old tradition. This is possible, but the evidence of this one phrase is not sufficient to be convincing. The term may be a deliberate archaism of the Chronicler.
therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped] The prophet declares that if Asa had not detached Syria by his presents, he might have smitten Israel and Syria combined.
⁸Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceeding many? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand.
8. and the Lubim] The Lubim are not mentioned in xiv. 9–13, but as they were auxiliaries of the Egyptians (xii. 3) it is quite possible that they represent the help given by Egypt to the Arabian Cushites as they passed the Egyptian border on their way to invade Judah. Compare note on xiv. 9 (three hundred chariots).
⁹For 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. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
9. run to and fro] i.e. no event escapes the Divine vigilance, compare Zechariah iv. 10.
¹⁰Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in the prison house¹; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.
¹ Hebrew house of the stocks.
10. in the prison house] Render, in the stocks (literally in the house of the stocks). Compare xviii. 26; Jeremiah xx. 2.
oppressed] literally brake in pieces, an expression which when applied to things would mean made spoil of, when applied to persons treated outrageously, tortured, ἐλυμήνατο LXX.
11–14 (= 1 Kings xv. 23, 24).
The Epilogue of Asa’s Reign.
¹¹And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹²And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.
11. the book of the kings of Judah and Israel] In 1 Kings the appeal is to “the book of chronicles of the kings of Judah.” See Introduction § 5.
he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians] Physicians (Hebrew rōph’īm) are condemned by implication here, perhaps as using incantations and adjurations. Contrast Ecclesiasticus (Ben Sira) xxxviii. 9–15, especially verse 15 (Hebrew text), He that sinneth against his Maker will behave himself proudly against a physician. Curtis notes the connection of the art of healing with the prophets; compare 1 Kings xvii. 17 ff. (Elijah); 2 Kings iv. 19 ff. (Elisha); 2 Kings xx. 7 (Isaiah).
¹³And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.
13. in the one and fortieth year] Compare 1 Kings xv. 10.
¹⁴And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.
14. in his own sepulchres] In 1 Kings with his fathers.
which he had hewn out for himself] This clause is absent from 1 Kings.
divers kinds of spices] Mark xvi. 1; John xii. 3, 7, xix. 39, 40.
a very great burning] Compare xxi. 19. What is here meant is not cremation of the body, but only a burning of spices; Jeremiah xxxiv. 5.