2 Chronicles 16

2 Chronicles 16 (NIV)✞: Asa’s Last Years

Passage

Over the last few passages the focus has been on Asa, king of Judah and, from the perspective of godliness, things have been overwhelmingly positive for him: he’s been removing idols and bringing people back to worship of the LORD. The only negative thing the author(s) have had to say about him so far are that the “high places” were not removed—and even then, it’s a matter of them not being fully removed, since he did remove them at one point—but I don’t remember any instances, in all of the Old Testament history of God’s people, where the high places were fully removed – so, all in all, Asa has been a great king!

Until now.

After all the good things Asa did throughout his reign, he now faces Baasha, king of Israel, who attacks Judah and starts fortifying the city of Ramah (which, I believe, is a city of Judah that Baasha has captured), preventing anyone from entering or leaving Judah – which, of course, would cripple the nation. How could people survive without being able to send and receive goods outside of their borders?

Unfortunately, instead of relying on God, as he’s always done in the past, Asa relies on the king of Aram. He takes a bunch of gold and silver from his treasuries (both the treasuries of the palace and the treasuries of the Temple) and sends them to Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, to form a treaty with him – or rather, he wants Ben-Hadad to break his treaty with Baasha/Israel, and form a new one with Asa/Judah.

When he hears about it, Baasha withdraws from Ramah.

A prophet comes to confront Asa about this:

⁷ At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. ⁸ Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. ⁹ For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”

2 Chronicles 16:7–9 (NIV)✞

Given all that we’ve read about Asa so far, we’d expect that he’d humble himself in front of God but he does the exact opposite:

Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.

2 Chronicles 16:10 (NIV)✞

The chapter ends with a note that later in life Asa contracts a severe illness in his feet, but still doesn’t seek help from the LORD, only “from the physicians” (verse 12✞).

Thoughts

This chapter is definitely a warning to Christians who feel they’re doing pretty good in their walk with God. Even if you are doing well, in this particular moment, will that always be the case? Or will you be like Asa, who did so well for so much of his life, and yet, at the end, seemingly fell away from God? Fell away so hard that, when confronted by a prophet about his sin, instead of repenting, doubled down on his sin and started oppressing the people?!?

I don’t think it’s helpful for the Christian to be in a constant state of worry or fear—in fact, Jesus specifically warns us against worrying—but, at the same time, Paul also tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:5✞ that we should examine our faith. It is worth taking time, occasionally, to think about what it is you believe and whether you’re trusting in Jesus’ work or your own. Not because I believe the true Christian can ever lose their faith, but because even true, repentant Christians can sometimes fall into the temptation of trusting in our own selves instead of trusting in Jesus.

And, like Asa, we can sometimes resist people who try to correct us. (Don’t they know how righteous I am?!?) We can focus on how badly they’re getting their point across—and that might actually be true! perhaps the person is being self-righteous; perhaps the person is taking joy in pointing out another’s sin—but the point isn’t how well they’re delivering the message, it’s how well I’m receiving it. If I ever need to correct someone, then I’ll worry about how the message is delivered; if I’m being corrected, I need to focus on whether the message has truth behind it, regardless of how it’s delivered.

In other words, I don’t see the story of Asa as teaching us about losing our faith. I do see it as a reminder to examine our current walk, however, to see if we’re trusting too much in ourselves.

Also, as a side note, I don’t believe verse 12✞ is, in any way, meant to be a warning against trusting in physicians/doctors. I go to doctors to look after my health on a regular basis! Asa’s problem was not trusting in physicians, it was trusting only in physicians; if you trust in God, and let the physicians do their work, you’re fine. If you have no room in your heart for God, and trust only in physicians, you’ve got some spiritual problems.