King James Version
2 Chronicles 16
14 verses with commentary
Asa's Treaty with Aram
In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God. The Chronicler's theological perspective emphasizes immediate divine ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
**XVI.
THE WAR WITH BAASHA**—(2Chronicles 16:1-6).
Comp. 1Kings 15:17-22.
(1) **In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up.**—According to 1Kings 15:33; 1Kings 16:8, Baasha began to reign in the third year of Asa, reigned twenty-four years, and died in the twenty-sixth year of Asa. These statements are obviously irreconcilable with that of our verse. We must su...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 16
Chapter Outline
The solemnity with which the ark was fixed.(1-6)
David's psalm of praise.(7-36)
Setting in order the worship of God.(37-43)
**Verses 1-6**
Though God's word and ordinances may be clouded and eclipsed for a time, they shall shine out of obscurity. This was but a tent, a humble dwelling, yet this was the tabernacle which David, in his psalms, often sp...
Read full commentary →Then 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 Benhadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, Damascus: Heb. Darmesek
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Then 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 Damascus, saying,</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God. The Chronicler's theological perspective emphasizes immediate divine retribution—...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Then Asa brought out silver and gold.**—This verse is abridged as compared with 1Kings 15:18, but the substance of it is the same. The differences are characteristic. In the first clause Kings reads: “And Asa took *all the silver and the gold that were* *left* in the treasures of the house of the Lord.” The chronicler has purposely weakened this statement. He has also omitted the pedigree of...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 16
Chapter Outline
The solemnity with which the ark was fixed.(1-6)
David's psalm of praise.(7-36)
Setting in order the worship of God.(37-43)
**Verses 1-6**
Though God's word and ordinances may be clouded and eclipsed for a time, they shall shine out of obscurity. This was but a tent, a humble dwelling, yet this was the tabernacle which David, in his psalms, often sp...
Read full commentary →There is 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.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>There is 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.</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God. The Chronicler's theological perspective emphasizes i...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **There is a league.**—*Bĕrîth,* “covenant.” The verse is the same as 1Kings 15:19, omitting the word “a present” before “silver and gold,” and making two or three other minute verbal changes.
**As.**—*And.*
**Depart.**—*Go up.* See the Notes on Kings.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**23. But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under--**The census which David ordered did not extend to all the Israelites; for to contemplate such an enumeration would have been to attempt an impossibility (Ge 28:14), and besides would have been a daring offense to God. The limitation to a certain age was what had probably quieted David's conscience as to the lawfulness of...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 16
Chapter Outline
The solemnity with which the ark was fixed.(1-6)
David's psalm of praise.(7-36)
Setting in order the worship of God.(37-43)
**Verses 1-6**
Though God's word and ordinances may be clouded and eclipsed for a time, they shall shine out of obscurity. This was but a tent, a humble dwelling, yet this was the tabernacle which David, in his psalms, often sp...
Read full commentary →And Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelmaim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. his: Heb. which were his
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And 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 cities of Naphtali.</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God. The Chronicler's theological perspective emphasizes immediate divine r...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Abel-maim.**—Kings, “Abel - beth - maachah” (comp. 2Samuel 20:14-15, and 2Kings 15:29). This city is nowhere else called Abel-maim, which is, per haps, an early mistake. The Syriac reads *Abel-beth-* *maachah.*
**And all the store-cities** (*miskĕnôth,* 2Chronicles 8:4).—Literally, *And all the stores* (magazines) *of the cities of Naphtali.* Kings: “And all *Cinneroth, with all the* *land* ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**24. neither was the number put in the account of the chronicles of King David--**either because the undertaking was not completed, Levi and Benjamin not having been numbered (1Ch 21:6), or the full details in the hands of the enumerating officers were not reported to David, and, consequently, not registered in the public archives.
**the chronicles--**were the daily records or annals of the kin...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 16
Chapter Outline
The solemnity with which the ark was fixed.(1-6)
David's psalm of praise.(7-36)
Setting in order the worship of God.(37-43)
**Verses 1-6**
Though God's word and ordinances may be clouded and eclipsed for a time, they shall shine out of obscurity. This was but a tent, a humble dwelling, yet this was the tabernacle which David, in his psalms, often sp...
Read full commentary →And it came to pass, when Baasha heard it, that he left off building of Ramah, and let his work cease.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And it came to pass, when Baasha heard it, that he left off building of Ramah, and let his work cease.</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God. The Chronicler's theological perspective emphasizes immediate divine retribution—kings who seek God prosper, while those who forsake Him face judgment. Thi...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **And it came to pass.**—See 1Kings 15:21.
**And let his work cease.**—*Vay-yashbêth ’ethmelakhtô.* Kings: *“vay-yêsheb bëthirzah,* “and dwelt in Tirzah.” The partial similarity of the Heb. is obvious. Kings appears to be correct, and the tautologous reading of the chronicler is to be ascribed to a fault in the writer’s MS.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**25. over the king's treasures--**Those treasures consisted of gold, silver, precious stones, cedar-wood, &c.; those which he had in Jerusalem as distinguished from others without the city.
**the storehouses in the fields--**Grain covered over with layers of straw is frequently preserved in the fields under little earthen mounds, like our potato pits.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 16
Chapter Outline
The solemnity with which the ark was fixed.(1-6)
David's psalm of praise.(7-36)
Setting in order the worship of God.(37-43)
**Verses 1-6**
Though God's word and ordinances may be clouded and eclipsed for a time, they shall shine out of obscurity. This was but a tent, a humble dwelling, yet this was the tabernacle which David, in his psalms, often sp...
Read full commentary →Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha was building; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha was building; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God. The Chronicler's theological perspective emphasizes immediate divine retribution—kings...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Then.**—*And.*
**Asa the king took all Judah.**—1Kings 15:22 : “And the king Asa called together all Judah; none was exempted.” The chronicler has modified an obscure sentence. The rest of the verse coincides with Kings, save that the latter reads “Geba of Benjamin.”
**Mizpah.**—Jeremiah 41:9-10, mentions a great cistern which Asa made in Mizpah “for fear of Baasha king of Israel.”
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 16
Chapter Outline
The solemnity with which the ark was fixed.(1-6)
David's psalm of praise.(7-36)
Setting in order the worship of God.(37-43)
**Verses 1-6**
Though God's word and ordinances may be clouded and eclipsed for a time, they shall shine out of obscurity. This was but a tent, a humble dwelling, yet this was the tabernacle which David, in his psalms, often sp...
Read full commentary →And 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 not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And 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 not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God. The Chronicler's theologic...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
**HANANI THE SEER REBUKES ASA, AND IS IMPRISONED**
(2Chronicles 16:7-10).
(7) **Hanani the seer.**—Ha*-rô’eh.* (See on 1Samuel 9:9.) The use of this term seems to point to an ancient source of this narrative which is peculiar to the chronicler. Nothing beyond what is here told is known of Hanani. He was perhaps the father of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani, who prophesied against Baasha (1Kings...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**27. the vineyards--**These seem to have been in the vine growing districts of Judah, and were committed to two men of that quarter.
**wine-cellars--**The wine is deposited in jars sunk in the court of the house.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-36**
Let God be glorified in our praises. Let others be edified and taught, that strangers to him may be led to adore him. Let us ourselves triumph and trust in God. Those that give glory to God's name are allowed to glory in it. Let the everlasting covenant be the great matter of our joy his people of old, be remembered by us with thankfulness to him. Show forth from day to day his...
Read full commentary →Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand. a huge: Heb. in abundance
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand.</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God. The Chronicler's theological perspective emphasizes immediate divine retribution—kings who ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims** (*Kûshîm and Lûbîm*) **a huge host?**—An instance confirming what was said in 2Chronicles 16:7. Cushites and Lybians were banded together in Zerah’s great army, just as Syrians and Israelites might have united in assailing Judah, yet the victory had fallen to Asa (2Chronicles 14:9-15).
Cushites and Libyans were among the constituents of Shishak’s army...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**28. olive trees and the sycamore trees ... in the low plains--**that is, the Shephela, the rich, low-lying ground between the Mediterranean and the mountains of Judah.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-36**
Let God be glorified in our praises. Let others be edified and taught, that strangers to him may be led to adore him. Let us ourselves triumph and trust in God. Those that give glory to God's name are allowed to glory in it. Let the everlasting covenant be the great matter of our joy his people of old, be remembered by us with thankfulness to him. Show forth from day to day his...
Read full commentary →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. to shew: or, strongly to hold with them, etc
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
The prophet Hanani's declaration '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' reveals God's active, searching sovereignty. The phrase 'eyes run to and fro' anthropomorphically depicts God's comprehensive knowledge and providential care. He seeks those with 'perfect hearts' (lev shalem - undivide...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **For the eyes of the Lord.**—Literally, *For Jehovah, his eyes run, &c.* Run to and fro (comp. Job 1:7; Job 2:2). In Zechariah 4:10 we find this very phrase: “The eyes of Jehovah, they run to and fro in all the earth.” (Comp. also Jeremiah 5:1.) The Lord is ceaselessly watchful for occasions of helping the faithful. “He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleep-eth.”
**In the behalf of...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**29. herds that fed in Sharon--**a fertile plain between Cæsarea and Joppa.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-36**
Let God be glorified in our praises. Let others be edified and taught, that strangers to him may be led to adore him. Let us ourselves triumph and trust in God. Those that give glory to God's name are allowed to glory in it. Let the everlasting covenant be the great matter of our joy his people of old, be remembered by us with thankfulness to him. Show forth from day to day his...
Read full commentary →Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time. oppressed: Heb. crushed
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God. The Chronicler's theological perspective emphasizes immediate divine retribution—kings w...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Then.**—*And.* In a prison house: *in the stocks.* Literally, *House of the stocks* (Jeremiah 20:2, Jer_29:26). The word *mahpèkheth* literally means “turning,” “distortion,” and so an instrument of *torture,* by which the body was bent double, hands and feet being passed through holes in a wooden frame. (See Acts 16:24.) The Syriac and LXX. have simply “prison;” Vulgate, “nervus,” *i.e.,* ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**30. camels--**These were probably in the countries east of the Jordan, and hence an Ishmaelite and Nazarite were appointed to take charge of them.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-36**
Let God be glorified in our praises. Let others be edified and taught, that strangers to him may be led to adore him. Let us ourselves triumph and trust in God. Those that give glory to God's name are allowed to glory in it. Let the everlasting covenant be the great matter of our joy his people of old, be remembered by us with thankfulness to him. Show forth from day to day his...
Read full commentary →The Death of Asa
And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God. The Chronicler's theological perspective emphasizes immediate divine retribution—kings who seek God prosper, while those who forsake Him face jud...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
**CONCLUSION OF THE REIGN** (2Chronicles 16:11-14).
Comp. 1Kings 15:23-24.
(11) **The acts of Asa.**—Or, *history.*
**The book of the kings of Judah and Israel.**—See Introduction, and 1Kings 15:23. The mention in that verse of his “might” or “prowess,” and of “the cities that he built,” confirms the account in 2 Chronicles 14 concerning his defensive measures and the invasion of Zerah.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**31. rulers of the substance that was king David's--**How and when the king acquired these demesnes and this variety of property--whether it was partly by conquests, or partly by confiscation, or by his own active cultivation of waste lands--is not said. It was probably in all these ways. The management of the king's private possessions was divided into twelve parts, like his public affairs and t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-36**
Let God be glorified in our praises. Let others be edified and taught, that strangers to him may be led to adore him. Let us ourselves triumph and trust in God. Those that give glory to God's name are allowed to glory in it. Let the everlasting covenant be the great matter of our joy his people of old, be remembered by us with thankfulness to him. Show forth from day to day his...
Read full commentary →And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God. The Chronicler's theological perspective emphasizes immediate divine retri...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Diseased in his feet.**—1Kings 15:23, “only *in the time of his old age* he was diseased in his feet.” The nature of the disease is not specified here or in Kings.
**Until his disease was exceeding great.**—*Unto excess was his disease: ‘ad lĕmà’lah,* a clause added by the chronicler (see on 1Chronicles 22:5).
**Yet.**—*And also in his disease,* as well as in his war with Baasha.
**He sough...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-36**
Let God be glorified in our praises. Let others be edified and taught, that strangers to him may be led to adore him. Let us ourselves triumph and trust in God. Those that give glory to God's name are allowed to glory in it. Let the everlasting covenant be the great matter of our joy his people of old, be remembered by us with thankfulness to him. Show forth from day to day his...
Read full commentary →And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God. The Chronicler's theological perspective emphasizes immediate divine retribution—kings who seek God prosper, while those who forsake Him face judgment. This pattern provides ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **And died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.**—Not in 1Kings 15:24, which continues, with the usual formula, “and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.” (See 1Kings 15:10, “And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem.”)
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-36**
Let God be glorified in our praises. Let others be edified and taught, that strangers to him may be led to adore him. Let us ourselves triumph and trust in God. Those that give glory to God's name are allowed to glory in it. Let the everlasting covenant be the great matter of our joy his people of old, be remembered by us with thankfulness to him. Show forth from day to day his...
Read full commentary →And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made 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. had made: Heb. had digged
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made 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.</strong><br><br>This verse is part of the narrative of Judah's kings, specifically addressing Human alliances replacing trust in God...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **And they buried him.**—The particulars of this verse are also added by the chronicler.
**In his own sepulchres.**—Not therefore in the ordinary tombs of the Kings. The plural *sepulchres* indicates a family tomb containing many cells.
**Which he had made.**—*Digged,* or hewn out of the rock. (Comp. Job 3:14; Isaiah 22:16.) Like the Pharaohs, Asa, who was a great and powerful sovereign, prep...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-36**
Let God be glorified in our praises. Let others be edified and taught, that strangers to him may be led to adore him. Let us ourselves triumph and trust in God. Those that give glory to God's name are allowed to glory in it. Let the everlasting covenant be the great matter of our joy his people of old, be remembered by us with thankfulness to him. Show forth from day to day his...
Read full commentary →