Tyndale Open Study Notes

Verse 1

16:1-10 Instead of trusting the Lord, Asa relied on foreign powers when Baasha attacked. The Chronicler’s theological purpose was to show that disobedience has consequences.

16:1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign: According to the book of Kings, King Baasha (909–886 BC) died in the twenty-sixth year of Asa’s reign (1 Kgs 16:8). One solution is that the Chronicles text might contain transmission errors and should instead read the fifteenth and sixteenth years (about 895 BC) instead of the thirty-fifth (2 Chr 15:19) and thirty-sixth years of Asa. Another possibility is that the Chronicler counted these years from the division of the kingdom. • Ramah was located five miles north of Jerusalem near Geba and Mizpah (see 16:6). King Baasha expanded Israel deep into the territory of Benjamin, separating important territory from Judah very shortly after the victories of Abijah (13:19).

Verse 2

16:2 To obtain relief from Baasha’s aggression, Asa bribed the Arameans with silver and gold from . . . the Temple, appealing to an earlier treaty that his father Abijah had made with them.

Verse 4

16:4 King Ben-hadad of Aram (16:2) broke his treaty with Baasha and attacked northern Israel, capturing all the land of Naphtali; this area included all of Galilee and nearly all of the country north of the Jezreel Valley and east of the Sea of Galilee. • Ijon was a large village in the southern Beqa‘ Valley, on the southern border of modern-day Lebanon. This town is usually listed with Dan (Laish), Abel-beth-maacah, and Hazor in northern Israel. Abel-beth-maacah was near a major waterfall of the Jordan River tributaries, at the juncture of the Hula Valley and the Beqa‘ Valley in Lebanon.

Verse 6

16:6 Asa drafted laborers to use the materials from Ramah to fortify the northern border of his kingdom. Mizpah is usually identified with Tell en-Nasba, about four miles north of Ramah and two miles from Bethel. Geba was probably located three miles beyond the watershed east of Gibeah, protecting a wadi leading down to Jericho and the sanctuary at Gilgal.

Verse 7

16:7-9 Hanani the seer announced to Asa that he would suffer war from then on as a consequence of his disobedience. This judgment was a clear antithesis to Asa’s earlier victory over Zerah, when the odds were against him but he trusted in the Lord (14:9-13). Just as Asa’s previous reliance on the Lord had brought the land peace (14:5), his reliance on military power now destined him to continual warfare.

Verse 10

16:10 Asa’s infidelity to the Lord in relying on power resulted in other sins, including oppression of the prophet and the people.

Verse 12

16:12 Sickness was often seen as punishment for sin (see 21:18-19; 26:20).

Verse 14

16:14 Asa had an honorable burial despite his sins. He had made extravagant preparations for his burial during his lifetime, including a tomb he had carved out for himself. Asa might have been imitating the pharaohs of Egypt in making these preparations. • The custom of a huge funeral fire is unknown outside of Chronicles and Jeremiah (cp. Jer 34:5).