Commentary - 2 Chronicles 16:1-6

Bird's-eye view

This passage marks a tragic turning point in the reign of King Asa. Having previously experienced a stunning, God-given victory through simple reliance on Yahweh (2 Chronicles 14), Asa now faces a new threat from Baasha, king of the northern kingdom. Instead of turning to the Lord as he had before, Asa resorts to carnal, political pragmatism. He raids the treasuries of both the temple and his own palace to hire a pagan king, Ben-hadad of Aram, to attack Israel. The plan works in a worldly sense: Baasha is distracted, and Asa secures his border. However, this apparent success is in reality a profound spiritual failure. Asa abandons reliance on God for the supposed security of a political alliance, using holy treasures to bribe a pagan to break a covenant. It is a classic case of choosing the arm of the flesh over the arm of God, and it sets the stage for the prophetic rebuke and the spiritual decline that would mar the end of his life.

The core lesson is a stark warning against the temptation of pragmatism. When the pressure is on, the believer is tempted to ask "what works?" instead of "what is righteous?" Asa's scheme "worked," but it was an act of profound faithlessness. He treated the holy things of God as a mere slush fund for his political maneuvering and trusted in the treachery of a pagan more than the faithfulness of Yahweh. This narrative forces us to examine our own hearts: when faced with trouble, do we first run to prayer and trust, or to our bank accounts and clever schemes?

Outline

Context In 2 Chronicles

The context of this passage is what makes it so poignant and tragic. In 2 Chronicles 14, Asa faced a far greater threat: an army of a million Ethiopians. His response then was exemplary. He cried out to the Lord, saying, "O Yahweh, there is no one like You to help between the powerful and the one who has no strength; so help us, O Yahweh our God, for we trust in You" (2 Chron 14:11). God answered that prayer of faith with a miraculous victory. Following this, the prophet Azariah encouraged the king to continue in his faithfulness, promising that God would be with him as long as he was with God (2 Chron 15:2). Asa responded with sweeping religious reforms, renewing the covenant with Yahweh. Chapter 16, therefore, opens with the reader expecting to see this same faithful king. Instead, we see a man who seems to have forgotten the very lesson God so powerfully taught him. The contrast between the faith of chapter 14 and the fear-driven pragmatism of chapter 16 is the central point of the narrative.

Key Issues

The High Cost of a Good Idea

There is a kind of trouble that drives a man to his knees, and there is another kind of trouble that drives him to his wits. The first is a blessing, and the second is a snare. For King Asa, the million-man army of the Ethiopians was a blessing. The problem was so far beyond his ability to solve that he had no choice but to look to God, and God gave him a glorious deliverance. But the problem of Baasha's little building project at Ramah was a snare. It was a manageable problem. It was a political problem, a logistical problem, a problem that a clever king with sufficient resources could solve. And so Asa, forgetting the God of the impossible, turned to his own good idea.

Asa's plan was, from a geopolitical perspective, brilliant. It was a classic "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" maneuver. It worked perfectly. But God does not judge on a curve, and He is not impressed with what "works." He is concerned with what is righteous. Asa's good idea required him to dip into the Lord's treasury as though it were his own, and to entice a pagan to be a covenant-breaker. He solved his short-term border dispute by creating a long-term spiritual disaster. This is the essence of pragmatism: it is the idolatry of the clever solution. It is a functional atheism that acts as though God is not a present help in time of need, but is rather a distant landlord to whom we pay rent by our formal piety, while we handle the day-to-day business of the world ourselves.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built up Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.

The timeline here presents a well-known difficulty, as Baasha died several years before Asa's thirty-sixth year. The most likely solution is that this refers not to the thirty-sixth year of Asa's personal reign, but to the thirty-sixth year since the kingdom of Solomon was divided. Regardless of the chronological details, the strategic situation is clear. Baasha, king of the northern ten tribes, began to fortify Ramah, a town just a few miles north of Jerusalem. This was a strategic choke point. By controlling Ramah, Baasha could effectively impose an economic blockade on Jerusalem, controlling all traffic and trade. This was not an all-out invasion, but a calculated political and military squeeze. It was a test of Asa's nerve, and a test of his faith.

2 Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and the king’s house, and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying,

Here is the heart of the failure. Asa's response is immediate, but it is not directed toward God. He does not pray. He does not seek a prophet. He goes straight to his balance sheet. Notice the source of the funds: the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and the king's house. The silver and gold in the temple were holy; they were dedicated to the Lord for the purposes of worship and the maintenance of His house. Asa treats this sacred treasure as a state resource, a rainy-day fund for his political emergencies. This is a profound act of sacrilege. He is taking what belongs to God to solve a problem he should have brought to God. He trusts in the power of money more than the power of his Maker.

3 “Let there be a covenant between you and me, as between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold; go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.”

The proposal itself is shot through with faithlessness. Asa seeks a covenant, a solemn bond, with a pagan king. He appeals to a previous political relationship between their fathers, placing this human tradition on par with his covenant with Yahweh. And what is the substance of his request? He explicitly bribes Ben-hadad to break your covenant with Baasha. The king of Judah, who was to be a bastion of law and faithfulness in the world, is actively soliciting treachery. He is promoting lawlessness among the heathen to secure his own position. He is trying to use the devil's tools to build God's kingdom, which is always a fool's errand. He wants Baasha to withdraw, but he does not consider the cost of achieving that goal through unrighteous means.

4 So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his military forces against the cities of Israel, and they struck down Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.

The pragmatist will point to this verse and say, "See? It worked." And so it did. Ben-hadad was a man of the world, and he understood the logic of a bribe. For a pile of Judah's gold and silver, he was more than happy to betray his ally. He launched an attack on Israel's northern frontier, hitting important towns and supply centers. This put immediate and severe pressure on Baasha's kingdom from the opposite direction. The strategy was a complete success from a worldly, military point of view.

5 Now it happened that when Baasha heard of it, he ceased building up Ramah and stopped his work.

The intended consequence comes to pass. Baasha cannot fight a war on two fronts. The threat from Aram in the north was far more serious than his building project in the south. He was forced to abandon the fortification of Ramah and pull his forces back to defend his own territory. Asa's immediate problem was solved. The blockade was lifted. The pressure was off. By all external metrics, Asa's policy was a resounding success.

6 Then King Asa brought 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.

Asa adds insult to injury. He not only removes the threat, but he seizes the enemy's own building materials, left behind in their hasty retreat. He enlists all Judah in a national effort to dismantle the abandoned fortress. He then recycles the stones and timber for his own purposes, strengthening two of his own border towns, Geba and Mizpah. He has turned his enemy's weapon back on him. He has taken the very materials of the blockade and used them to build his own defenses. In the eyes of the world, this would look like a masterful piece of statecraft. But in the eyes of God, it was a monument to unbelief, built with profane funds and the fruit of treachery.

Application

The story of Asa's compromise is written for our instruction. The temptation to resort to faithless pragmatism when we are under pressure is immense. When the bills are due, when the doctor gives a bad report, when our children are in trouble, when our business is failing, the first question that comes to our mind is often, "What can I do?" We immediately survey our resources, our connections, our cleverness. We look to our own "silver and gold."

Asa's sin was not in having resources, but in trusting them. His sin was in turning to a human alliance before he turned to his divine ally. He forgot the testimony of his own life, that God was more than able to deliver him. We do the same thing every time we resort to a lie to get out of a tight spot, or cut an ethical corner to close a deal, or rely on manipulation to manage our relationships. We are taking gold from the temple to pay off Ben-hadad.

The gospel shows us a better way. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He was under the ultimate pressure, facing the cross, did not resort to a clever plan. He did not call for legions of angels. He prayed, "Not my will, but Yours, be done." He trusted His Father completely, even when it led to suffering and death. His trust was not misplaced. God raised Him from the dead, and He is now the King of all kings. Our salvation was not accomplished through a clever scheme, but through obedient faith. Therefore, when we are tempted to be like Asa, we must repent and look to Christ. He is the one who never faltered in His trust, and it is only by clinging to Him that we can find the grace to choose the path of faith over the path of fear, the way of righteousness over the way of pragmatism.