Context & Key Themes
2 Chronicles 16 is the tragedy chapter of Asa’s reign — the fall of a good king in his final years. Baasha king of Israel fortifies Ramah to cut off traffic to Judah. Asa does not pray as he did against the Ethiopians. Instead he strips silver and gold from the temple and the palace treasuries and sends it to Ben-hadad king of Syria to break his alliance with Israel. Ben-hadad attacks northern Israel and Baasha withdraws from Ramah. Asa then dismantles Ramah and fortifies Geba and Mizpah. At this point the seer Hanani comes to rebuke him: because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and Libyans a huge army? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. The Lord’s eye runs throughout the whole earth to give strength to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly. Asa responds by putting Hanani in prison. His foot becomes diseased and he does not seek the Lord. He dies.
Key Verse
“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”
— 2 Chronicles 16:9
Summary
In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha king of Israel comes against Judah and builds Ramah to prevent any going out or coming in to Asa. Asa takes silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the king’s palace and sends them to Ben-hadad king of Syria with a treaty request. Ben-hadad agrees, attacks Israel, and Baasha stops building Ramah. Asa takes all Judah and carries away the stones and timber of Ramah to build Geba and Mizpah with them. Hanani the seer comes to Asa: because you relied on the king of Syria and not on the Lord your God, the army of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars. Asa is angry with the seer and puts him in prison. He inflicts cruelties upon some of the people at the same time. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa is diseased in his feet, and his disease becomes severe. Yet even in his disease he does not seek the Lord, but seeks help from physicians. Asa sleeps with his fathers in the forty-first year of his reign. They bury him in his own tomb. They make a very great fire in his honor.
Reflection
The contrast between chapter 14 and chapter 16 is the Chronicler’s sharpest illustration of the principle Azariah stated in chapter 15. Against the Ethiopians, Asa prayed. Against Baasha’s threat, he paid Syria. The God who was ready to be found by him was not consulted. The treasury that belonged to the Lord was stripped for a foreign alliance. And when the prophet comes to name what happened, Asa does not humble himself as Rehoboam did before Shishak. He puts the prophet in prison. The trajectory from chapter 14 to chapter 16 is a case study in how a man who seeks God can stop seeking him, and what that stopping costs.
The word Hanani delivers about the eyes of the Lord running throughout the whole earth is not rebuke alone. It is also description of an opportunity Asa missed. God was looking for someone to support. He was ready to give strong support to a blameless heart. He had proven this with the Ethiopians. Asa was the man who had already received that support once, who knew from experience that it was real — and chose Syria instead. That is the weight of what Hanani is saying: you knew, and you chose differently anyway. The disease that closes the chapter and the refusal to seek the Lord even in its severity are the final notes of a king who learned the lesson of chapter 14, lived it in chapter 15, and forgot it in chapter 16.