The alliance of the King of Syria was sought now by one kingdom, now by the other. On what occasion Abijah made league with the king, the history does not say, either here or in the parallel, nor when he or his son resigned it. For there is, read " Let there be a league between me and thee, as between my father and thy father;" the short cut which Area thought to take now to his object was not the safe nor right one. read more
Benhadad was apparently not very long in making up either his mind or his method. The bribe that tempted him, drawn from "the treasures" described, well replenished ( 2 Chronicles 15:18 ; and parallel, 1 Kings 15:15 ), was probably large. His method was to create a diversion in favour of his new ally, by "smiting" certain picked and highly important cities of Israel, mostly in northern Galilee, by name "Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtalli." Ijon . In Naphtali,... read more
And let his work cease . The parallel has not this, but follows the exact previous sentence with this, "and dwelt in Tirzah." It is the happy suggestion of one commentator (Professor James G. Murphy, ' Handbook: Chronicles') that this sentence may betray that it had been Baasha's intention to reside in Ramah . read more
The affair seems thus to have come to an unbloody termination. The parallel ( 1 Kings 15:22 )is so much the more graphic that it contains the two additions that Asa "made a proclamation throughout all Judah," and one that "exempted none" from joining in the duty of moving all the stones and all the timber from Ramah, and diverting' them to the use of building Geba and Mizpah. This greatly contributed to command the road from the north to Jerusalem. Geba . This was Geba of Benjamin, as... read more
This passage runs parallel with Kings (see the marginal reference). read more
Compare the 1 Kings 15:19 note. read more
Abel-maim - or, “Abel-beth-maachah” 1 Kings 15:20. It was one of the towns most exposed to attack when an invader entered Israel from the north, and was taken from Pekah by Tiglath-pileser 2 Kings 15:29.Store cities - See 1 Kings 9:19 note. read more
2 Chronicles 16:1. In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa This date disagrees so much with what is said 1 Kings 15:33, that there seems to be no other way of reconciling the two passages, but allowing that a trivial mistake has been made by the transcribers here, and that instead of the thirty-sixth, we ought to read here the twenty-sixth. This reading is approved by Houbigant, and is evidently adopted by Josephus, lib. 8, cap. 6. Baasha began his reign in the third year of... read more
Reformation under Asa (14:1-16:14)God’s blessings on Asa showed his pleasure with those who removed Canaanite customs and restored the Levitical order of worship. God rewarded Asa by giving him a remarkable victory over a large and powerful army that invaded from the south. This sign of God’s pleasure encouraged Asa to continue his reforms with greater boldness (14:1-15:19; see notes on 1 Kings 15:9-15).When, however, Asa trusted in outside help instead of trusting in God, he displeased God and... read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Chronicles 16:2
The writer of Chronicles omits the pedigree of this Benhadad King of Syria , given in the parallel "the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion." Benhidri is the name of Benhadad in the Assyrian monuments. The Septuagint gives Ader, which tallies with it, For Damascus , we have here Dar-mesek, instead of the more usual Dammesek of the parallel and Genesis 15:2 ; the resh representing (as in Syriac) the dagesh forte in mem. The parallel ( 1 Kings 15:18 ) says that Asa took all the... read more