XVI. THE WAR WITH BAASHA — (2 Chronicles 16:1). Comp. 1 Kings 15:17. (1) IN THE SIX AND THIRTIETH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF ASA BAASHA KING OF ISRAEL CAME UP. — According to 1 Kings 15:33; 1 Kings 16:8, Baasha began to reign in the third year of Asa, reigned twenty-four years, and died in the twenty-six... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN ASA BROUGHT OUT SILVER AND GOLD. — This verse is abridged as compared with 1 Kings 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 Lor... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS A LEAGUE. — _Bĕrîth,_ “covenant.” The verse is the same as 1 Kings 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.... [ Continue Reading ]
ABEL-MAIM. — Kings, “Abel - beth - maachah” (comp. 2 Samuel 20:14, and 2 Kings 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,_ 2 Chronicles 8:4). — Literally, _And all the stores_... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS. — See 1 Kings 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 fa... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN. — _And._ ASA THE KING TOOK ALL JUDAH. — 1 Kings 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, mentio... [ Continue Reading ]
HANANI THE SEER REBUKES ASA, AND IS IMPRISONED (2 Chronicles 16:7). (7) HANANI THE SEER. — Ha_-rô’eh._ (See on 1 Samuel 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... [ Continue Reading ]
WERE NOT THE ETHIOPIANS AND THE LUBIMS (_Kûshîm and Lûbîm_) A HUGE HOST? — An instance confirming what was said in 2 Chronicles 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 As... [ Continue Reading ]
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 helpi... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN. — _And._ In a prison house: _in the stocks._ Literally, _House of the stocks_ (Jeremiah 20:2; Jeremiah 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 woo... [ Continue Reading ]
CONCLUSION OF THE REIGN (2 Chronicles 16:11). Comp. 1 Kings 15:23. (11) THE ACTS OF ASA. — Or, _history._ THE BOOK OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL. — See Introduction, and 1 Kings 15:23. The mention in that verse of his “might” or “prowess,” and of “the cities that he built,” confirms the accoun... [ Continue Reading ]
DISEASED IN HIS FEET. — 1 Kings 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 1 Chron... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DIED IN THE ONE AND FORTIETH YEAR OF HIS REIGN. — Not in 1 Kings 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 1 Kings 15:10, “And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem.”... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Jo... [ Continue Reading ]