2 Chronicles 16:1-14--Asa's Last Years

2 Chronicles 16
English Standard Version

Asa's Last Years
16 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 2 Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king's house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, 3 “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” 4 And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. 5 And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. 6 Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.

7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to 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. 8 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. 9 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.” 10 Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.

​11 The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians. 13 And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer's art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.

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We're now going to skip to the last years of King Asa's reign, and we notice that there is a new king in the northern kingdom of Israel--King Baasha.  Baasha builds up the border town of Ramah so that no one could go out or come in from Judah (I think he's more concerned that his people would leave and defect to Judah because things aren't going so well in Israel and God is blessing Judah).  Asa suspects that war is on the horizon and takes silver and gold from the LORD's treasury to bribe Ben-hadad, king of Syria, to break his treaty with Baasha and to not attack Judah.

The LORD had intended to give Baasha and Ben-hadad into the hands of Asa, but now that Asa had robbed the LORD's treasuries to bribe Ben-hadad and make a peace treaty with him, Syria would continue to be a thorn in the side of Judah, and Asa would now continue to be at war until he died instead of having peace on every side like he had had in the past.  Asa was mad at the prophet of the LORD that brought this news to him and put the seer (the prophet) in stocks to punish him, as if the seer was responsible for the message the LORD gave him.  It was really the king who should be punished for the sinful and foolish choice that he made to put his trust in riches instead of in the LORD when the LORD had already proven Himself that He could take care of enemy armies of any size.

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa got a disease in his feet, but he would not seek the LORD for healing or advice for treatment.  Instead, he sought advice from physicians far and wide who were probably happy to take his money but provided no relief.  He had to deal with this disease until the forty-first year of his reign when he died and was buried with the other kings in Jerusalem, making a bier (coffin) for him that was filled with all kinds of perfumes and spices (I would assume this is because the disease that he had made him stink more than normal).  All the other deeds of Asa can be found in the book of Kings that we've already studied.  He's an example of someone who started well but did not stay the course.  He's still in the list of "good" kings, but it's a warning to us that it's about running our race in such a way where we bring honor to the LORD in all that we do, and when we do mess up, we need to repent and get our relationship with the LORD right as soon as possible.  We shouldn't break our fellowship with Him and stay angry with Him.