1 Kings 15:16-34,1 Kings 8:14

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Kings 15:9-24

We have here a short account of the reign of Asa; we shall find a more copious history of it 2 Chron. 14:1-16:14 Here is, I. The length of it: He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem, 1 Kgs. 15:10. In the account we have of the kings of Judah we find the number of the good kings and the bad ones nearly equal; but then we may observe, to our comfort, that the reign of the good kings was generally long, but that of the bad kings short, the consideration of which will make the state of God's... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Kings 15:25-34

We are now to take a view of the miserable state of Israel, while the kingdom of Judah was happy under Asa's good government. It was threatened that they should be as a reed shaken in the water (1 Kgs. 14:15), and so they were, when, during the single reign of Asa, the government of their kingdom was in six or seven different hands, as we find in this and the following chapter. Jeroboam was upon the throne in the beginning of his reign and Ahab at the end of it, and between them were Nadab,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 15:16

And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days: That is as long as they lived together; for Baasha died many years before Asa, and this must be reckoned from the time the war began between them. Baasha did not begin his reign until the third year of Asa, 1 Kings 15:25 and in the first ten years of Asa's reign the land was quiet and free from war, 2 Chronicles 14:1 of which there must be seven in the reign of Baasha, who is here made mention of out of course, for... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 15:17

And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah ,.... Which, in 2 Chronicles 16:1 is said to be in the thirty sixth year of Asa's reign, or rather of his kingdom; for it can never mean the year of his reign, for Baasha was dead many years before that, since his reign began in the third of Asa, and he reigned but twenty four years, and therefore must die in the twenty seventh of Asa; but it is to be understood of the kingdom of Judah, when it was divided from Israel; from that time to this... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 15:18

Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house ,.... What was left untaken away by Shishak king of Egypt, 1 Kings 14:26 , or what he had put there dedicated by his father and himself, 1 Kings 15:15 and be they either, they were not to be taken, especially the treasures of the house of the Lord, and put to profane use, and particularly to such bad purposes as these were: and delivered them into... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 15:19

There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father ,.... For though Hezion, if he is the same with Rezon, was an adversary to Israel in the days of Solomon, 1 Kings 11:25 , yet it seems his son was not, but was a confederate with the kings of Israel and Judah: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold ; taken out of the treasury of the temple and his own treasury: come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 15:20

So Benhadad hearkened unto King Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel ,.... He broke off his alliance with the king of Israel; and as he had a standing army, with proper officers, he sent them directly to take the cities of Israel: and he smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali ; places which lay on the northern part of Israel, the nearest to Syria. Ijon some place in the tribe of Naphtali,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 15:21

And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof ,.... What was doing in the northern part of his kingdom: that he left off building of Ramah ; which was the thing designed to be answered by this diversion: and dwelt in Tirzah ; in the tribe of Manasseh, nearer at hand, to observe and stop the motions of the Syrian king. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 15:22

Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah ,.... Summoned men of all sorts, ranks, and degrees: (none was exempted;) the Jews F26 Jarchi & Kimchi in loc. say, not so much as a newly married man, whom the law excused from war the first year, nor the disciples of the wise men: and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded ; or fortified the place; these; the men of Judah, whom Asa summoned, carried off: and King... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 15:23

The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah ?.... Some of which are to be met with in the canonical book of that name, 2 Chronicles 14:1 , and others in the annals of the kings, out of which the Scripture account was taken: nevertheless, in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet ; seized with the gout, as the Jews say F1 T. Bab.... read more

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