2 Chronicleschapter 16
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Key verse
For 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: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
It stands in Hanani's rebuke, and a seer put in the prison house, verses 7 to 10.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The same king, thirty-five years later, fails. When Baasha fortifies Ramah, Asa takes silver and gold out of the treasuries of the house of Jehovah and hires Ben-hadad of Syria to break his league with Israel. The strategy works, and Hanani the seer condemns it: because thou hast relied on Syria and not on Jehovah, the Ethiopian host escaped thy hand: 'for the eyes of Jehovah 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; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars.' Asa jails the seer, and in his foot disease 'he sought not to Jehovah, but to the physicians.'
Context
History · Ezra · 2 Chronicles overview
The world behind this chapter
2 Chronicles 16The history
Baasha fortifying Ramah is an economic weapon rather than an invasion. Ramah sits on the main ridge road running north and south just above Jerusalem. Fortify it and the highway closes, which stops the traffic, stops the trade, and stops anyone from the north coming down to worship. It was a blockade built in stone.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
Asa's answer is to empty the treasuries of the temple and the palace and buy Ben-hadad of Damascus out of his existing treaty with Israel. Paying a great power to open a second front against an enemy was standard regional politics, and it worked. The Arameans raided the northern towns of Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim and the store cities of Naphtali, and Baasha abandoned Ramah. Asa then carried away Ramah's own stone and timber and used them to build Geba and Mizpah.
Hanani the seer confronts him for it, and Asa puts a prophet in the stocks, a wooden frame that held a man bent and immobile in public view. He oppressed some of the people in the same season.
The burial is described in full. Laid in his own tomb, on a bier filled with spices and blended perfumes, with a great fire made in his honour. That burning was a funeral honour for a king, using large quantities of aromatic material.
The date given for Baasha's move, the thirty-sixth year, creates a real chronological knot, since Baasha was dead by the thirty-sixth year of Asa's own reign. The solution most commonly used reckons these years from the division of the kingdom rather than from Asa's accession, which places the events in the mid 890s and resolves the conflict. Others treat one of the two figures as damaged in copying.
What it meant to them
The seer's line became one of the most quoted sentences in the Old Testament. The eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him.
The chapter's warning fitted their situation exactly. A community with no army is always being offered protection by someone. Asa bought it, won the immediate round, and spent the rest of his life at war.
Sources cited
- Edwin R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Chronicles
Where the chapter sits
2 Chronicles 16 falls in Kings of Judah: Rehoboam to Ahaz (chapters 10–28). The divided kingdom narrated from Judah's side only; reform kings (Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Uzziah, Jotham) and evil kings; prophetic interventions unique to Chronicles (Azariah, Hanani, Zechariah son of Jehoiada).
Before it: Solomon's reign, chapters 1–9. After it: Hezekiah to the exile, chapters 29–36.
The whole shape of 2 Chronicles→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Silver and gold sent to Ben-hadad instead of to God
1. (v. 1)
2 Chronicles 16:1
“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.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
2 Chronicles 16:1
“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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the six and thirtieth year: Chronicles opens this parallel passage with a date that has troubled readers, since Baasha reigned only twenty four years from the division of the kingdom and by a strict count of Asa's own reign was already dead before his thirty sixth year. The bench generally reckons the number from the split of the two kingdoms rather than from Asa's own coronation, which removes the apparent conflict with the Baasha of 1 Kings 15 and 16. Baasha fortifies Ramah, a few miles north of Jerusalem, to seal the road and cut off movement and defection into Judah.
2. (vv. 2-4)
2 Chronicles 16:3
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Chronicles 16:4
“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.”
silver and gold out of the treasures: Asa answers Baasha's blockade by emptying the treasures of the house of the Lord and his own house to buy a Syrian alliance, the same silver and gold that Kings records without comment. Chronicles alone sets the bribe against the field of Zerah's Ethiopian host in chapter fourteen, where Asa asked nothing of Ben-hadad and won by faith alone, so the reader already carries the contrast Hanani will name. Ben-hadad breaks his own treaty with Baasha for the price offered and strikes Naphtali's northern towns, buying Asa a respite his own later history will not let him keep.
3. (vv. 5-6)
2 Chronicles 16:6
“Took all Judah - See on 1Ki 15:22 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
he left off building of Ramah: The threat lifts at once: Baasha abandons Ramah, and Asa strips its stones and timber to build Geba and Mizpah, turning the enemy's own fortress into his own border defenses. The account runs nearly word for word with 1 Kings 15:21-22, and Chronicles adds nothing to the narrative itself here, saving its own comment for the seer who meets Asa next.
B. Hanani's rebuke, and a seer put in the prison house
1. (vv. 7-9)
2 Chronicles 16:7
“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.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Chronicles 16:7
“Escaped - And so reserved to be a scourge to thy kingdom and posterity: 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 to thy family.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Chronicles 16:8
“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. (l) Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. dyn. 3. p. 57.”
2 Chronicles 16:9
“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. Christ is head over all things to his church, Eph. i.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria: Hanani's confrontation has no parallel in Kings; it is Chronicles' own addition to Asa's history, and the charge is exact, relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God. The seer recalls the far larger host of Ethiopians and Lubim that Asa met by faith alone in chapter fourteen, so the rebuke measures the king against his own earlier obedience rather than against some standard he never knew. Verse nine gives the seeking refrain its fullest statement in the book, 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, and turns Asa's peace into wars for the rest of his days.
2. (v. 10)
2 Chronicles 16:10
“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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
2 Chronicles 16:10
“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!”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Chronicles 16:10
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
put him in a prison house: Asa's rage puts Hanani in the stocks, the first recorded imprisonment of a prophet in Scripture, and in the same season he oppresses some of the people, most likely for the same complaint against the Syrian treaty. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that no cause is given for the second act, only that it falls in the same reign as the first. Chronicles names both without softening either, holding the reformer of chapters fourteen and fifteen and the persecutor of chapter sixteen in one verse.
C. Diseased in his feet, Asa seeks physicians and dies
1. (v. 11)
2 Chronicles 16:11
“And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last,.... See Gill on 1Ki 15:23.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 16:11
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the book of the kings of Judah and Israel: The notice that Asa's acts stand written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel is the Chronicler's own footnote, naming a source outside this text that he never quotes directly. Several such citations run through Chronicles, evidence that the writer worked from official annals rather than inventing the record he compresses into a few verses.
2. (v. 12)
2 Chronicles 16:12
“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?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
2 Chronicles 16:12
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Chronicles 16:12
“Sought not - 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.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians: Asa's disease files the same charge Hanani brought a season before, sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians, and the fault the bench names is the omission, not the medicine. Wesley draws the line plainly: using physicians was Asa's duty, trusting in them for what only God supplies was his sin. Spurgeon, preaching this chapter by name, reads the king who once cried it is nothing with thee to help as ending his reign asking help of anyone but the Lord he once called on without hesitation.
3. (vv. 13-14)
2 Chronicles 16:13
“And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the forty first year of his reign. See 1Ki 15:10.”
2 Chronicles 16:14
“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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 16:14
“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· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
slept with his fathers, and died: Asa sleeps with his fathers in the one and fortieth year of his reign, and Judah gives him a king's burial, a bed filled with spices and a very great burning made for him. Matthew Henry reads the honor as the balance the Chronicler leaves standing: let the faults be buried in the grave while the service is remembered over it, so that the reformer of chapters fourteen and fifteen outweighs the failures of chapter sixteen in the memory the text leaves. Adam Clarke takes the burning as spices and aromatic woods consumed with the body, an honor pointedly withheld from later kings such as Jehoram at 21:19.
This page carries no textual note on 2 Chronicles 16. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1152, A Lesson from the Life of King Asa; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. H. Bennett, The Books of Chronicles (Expositor's Bible).