HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  14.10 Zephathah, otherwise unknown.

  14.11–12 The Lord answers Asa’s prayer just as Solomon had requested in his own prayer (6.34–35).

  14.13 Gerar, Tell Abu Hureira (cf. Gen 20.1–2; 26.1), a city about thirty miles southwest of Mareshah. The divine army completely destroys the million-person Ethiopian army. All Judah has to do is collect the booty.

  14.14 The fear instilled by the Lord makes Israel’s victory over neighboring cities easy (cf. Ex 23.28; Deut 7.20, 23; Josh 24.12).

  14.15 Livestock is taken even from the civilian herdsmen.

  2 CHRONICLES 15

  1The spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. 2He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you, while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you. 3For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law; 4but when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 5In those times it was not safe for anyone to go or come, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6They were broken in pieces, nation against nation and city against city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. 7But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”

  8When Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded,a he took courage, and put away the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the LORD.b 9He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing as aliens with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. 10They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11They sacrificed to the LORD on that day, from the booty that they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. 12They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their soul. 13Whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. 14They took an oath to the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with horns. 15All Judah rejoiced over the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest all around.

  16King Asa even removed his mother Maacah from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the Wadi Kidron. 17But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was true all his days. 18He brought into the house of God the votive gifts of his father and his own votive gifts—silver, gold, and utensils. 19And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

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  a Compare Syr Vg: Heb the prophecy, the prophet Obed

  b Heb the vestibule of the LORD

  15.1–19 Cf. 1 Kings 15.13–15.

  15.1 The spirit of God connotes prophetic inspiration and authority (cf. 20.14). Azariah son of Oded, otherwise unknown.

  15.2–7 Azariah’s sermon.

  15.2 The maxims in this verse seem to be based on the victory over Zerah (cf. 14.4, 7). The Lord has been with Asa because of his early reforms (14.3–5) and because of his faith (14.11).

  15.3 This verse seems to describe the period of the judges, when there was no priest to give authoritative direction (law).

  15.4 Cf. Judg 2.18, where the Lord is moved to pity because of Israel’s groaning.

  15.7 Azariah urges Asa to complete his work of reform. Readers of Chronicles are to expect the same kind of deliverance that their ancestors experienced in the past (v. 4). The Chronicler cites Jer 31.16 (“There is a reward for your work”) and Zeph 3.16 (“Do not let your hands grow weak”) in order to make his message compelling for his own generation.

  15.8 Since the reform includes portions of Ephraim from the Northern Kingdom, Asa apparently engages in combat against the North before his thirty-sixth year (16.1). Altar of the LORD, used for burnt offerings.

  15.9 Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon. The association of the Southern tribe Simeon with the Northern tribes Ephraim and Manasseh is unexplained. Perhaps circumstances have forced elements of Simeon to move north (cf. 1 Chr 4.28–33; 2 Chr 34.6). Asa and other Southern kings (Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah) attempt to include the North within their control and to bring about recognition of the ritual life centered at the Jerusalem temple. The Chronicler cites these examples in support of his own desire to incorporate all Israel into the cult of the Jerusalem temple.

  15.10 Third month, at or near the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. Fifteenth year. The covenant celebration may take place in the same year as the victory over Zerah.

  15.11 Booty, from the battle against Zerah (14.13–15).

  15.12 The covenant partners are the king and the people.

  15.13 Worship of other gods is a capital crime according to Deut 13.6–10; 17.2–7.

  15.15 Rest. Cf. 14.1.

  15.16–18 Dependent on 1 Kings 15.13–15.

  15.16 The authority of the position of queen mother is also seen in the careers of Bathsheba (1 Kings 1.15–21), Jezebel from the Northern Kingdom (1 Kings 17.21; 31–34), and Athaliah (1 Kings 11.1–3). Asherah, a Canaanite goddess, the wife of El, or the consort of Baal. Jezebel was also an advocate for Asherah (1 Kings 18.19). Wadi Kidron, a valley between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives. Hezekiah (2 Chr 29.16; 30.14) and Josiah (2 Kings 23.4–6) also destroy cult objects there.

  15.17 High places…out of Israel. Out of Israel is added by the Chronicler. Israel is here a designation for the Northern Kingdom.

  15.19 No more war until the thirty-fifth year is in tension with 1 Kings 15.16, which describes continuous warfare between Asa and Baasha. More is not in the Hebrew text. The Chronicler apparently does not consider the conflicts of 14.9–15; 15.8 to be full warfare. Some scholars believe that the thirty-fifth year should be calculated as dating from the division of the United Monarchy. If so, the thirty-fifth year of v. 19 and the fifteenth year of v. 10 would be the same.

  2 CHRONICLES 16

  Alliance with Aram Condemned

  1In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, King Baasha of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, to prevent anyone from going out or coming into the territory ofa King Asa of Judah. 2Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king’s house, and sent them to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who resided in Damascus, saying, 3“Let there be an alliance between me and you, like that between my father and your father; I am sending to you silver and gold; go, break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he may withdraw from me.” 4Ben-hadad listened to King Asa, and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. 5When Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah, and let his work cease. 6Then 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 up Geba and Mizpah.

  7At that time the seer Hanani came to King Asa of Judah, and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped you. 8Were not the Ethiopiansb and the Libyans a huge army with exceedingly many chariots and cavalry? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. 9For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the entire earth, to strengthen those whose heart is true to him. You have done foolishly in this; for from now on you will have wars.” 10Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the stocks, in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties on some of the people at the same tim
e.

  Asa’s Disease and Death

  11The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 12In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe; yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians. 13Then Asa slept with his ancestors, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. 14They buried him in the tomb that he had hewn out for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art; and they made a very great fire in his honor.

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  a Heb lacks the territory of

  b Or Nubians; Heb Cushites

  16.1–10 Cf. 1 Kings 15.17–22.

  16.1 According to 1 Kings 16.6, 8 Baasha dies in Asa’s twenty-sixth year. The date in this verse (the thirty-sixth year of Asa) may be calculated historically from the division of the monarchy, making it only the sixteenth year of Asa’s reign. The Chronicler dates Baasha’s attack to the thirty-sixth year of Asa, making the vast majority of his reign positive. Baasha, the third king of the Northern Kingdom. Ramah, a town five miles north of Jerusalem. Baasha is trying to prevent people from deserting to the South (cf. v. 9).

  16.2 Ben-hadad, lit. “son of Hadad” in Hebrew, the name of two or more Aramean kings. Aram, the ancient name for Syria.

  16.3 Asa bribes Ben-hadad to open a second, northern front against Baasha.

  16.4 The three cities lay in the northernmost part of Naphtali.

  16.6 When Baasha retreats from Ramah, Asa uses the materials left behind to fortify two neighboring cities.

  16.7–10 This prophetic account is added by the Chronicler to express his own theological view of the faithless alliance with Ben-hadad.

  16.7 Hanani later rebukes Jehoshaphat (19.2). Asa would have defeated Aram if he had remained faithful, and he is indicted for lack of faith as evidenced in his foreign alliance (cf. 14.11).

  16.8 Asa’s reliance on the Lord in the past led to the defeat of Zerah, the Ethiopians, and the Libyans (14.9–15).

  16.9 A quotation from Zech 4.10. God will protect those who are loyal.

  16.10 Stocks. Asa’s treatment of Hanani resembles Pashhur’s treatment of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 20.2–3). In prison, not in the Hebrew text. Asa’s anger over the prophetic oracle leads to violence against other people as well.

  16.11–14 Cf. 1 Kings 15.23–24.

  16.11 The Chronicler adds and Israel to his source reference, perhaps to indicate that Judah is part of the larger people of Israel.

  16.12 A year after his treaty with Ben-hadad, Asa becomes sick with a foot disease, demonstrating the immediate effect of negative retribution (cf. 12.2; 24.23). Even then he does not demonstrate faith but seeks the help of (has faith in) doctors.

  16.14 Chronicles adds additional details to the death and burial account of Asa (spices, a very great fire in his honor) that underscore the positive evaluation of his life. Through his first thirty-five years he won great victories and led the nation in reform; in his last six years he showed lack of faith and practiced cruelty.

  2 CHRONICLES 17

  Jehoshaphat’s Reign

  1His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him, and strengthened himself against Israel. 2He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had taken. 3The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father;a he did not seek the Baals, 4but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the ways of Israel. 5Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand. All Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor. 6His heart was courageous in the ways of the LORD; and furthermore he removed the high places and the sacred polesb from Judah.

  7In the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah. 8With them were the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah; and with these Levites, the priests Elishama and Jehoram. 9They taught in Judah, having the book of the law of the LORD with them; they went around through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.

  10The fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands around Judah, and they did not make war against Jehoshaphat. 11Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver for tribute; and the Arabs also brought him seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male goats. 12Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater. He built fortresses and storage cities in Judah. 13He carried out great works in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty warriors, in Jerusalem. 14This was the muster of them by ancestral houses: Of Judah, the commanders of the thousands: Adnah the commander, with three hundred thousand mighty warriors, 15and next to him Jehohanan the commander, with two hundred eighty thousand, 16and next to him Amasiah son of Zichri, a volunteer for the service of the LORD, with two hundred thousand mighty warriors. 17Of Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty warrior, with two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield, 18and next to him Jehozabad with one hundred eighty thousand armed for war. 19These were in the service of the king, besides those whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.

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  a Another reading is his father David

  b Heb Asherim

  17.1–19 The Chronicler’s assessment of Jehoshaphat is positive in chs. 17 and 20, but the chapters in between criticize him for two foreign alliances. Only the first half verse in ch. 17 is dependent on 1 Kings (15.24b); the rest is from the Chronicler.

  17.2 The king’s military strength indicates divine favor.

  17.3–4 Earlier ways of his father, the ways of Asa, who is described as faithful for his first thirty-five years. (The Hebrew text mistakenly identifies this ancestor with David.) Jehoshaphat did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father. Fidelity to God and his commandments is contrasted generically with the conduct of the Northern Kingdom (the ways of Israel).

  17.5 Because of his faith and pious works, tribute and honor are paid to Jehoshaphat by the whole kingdom of Judah.

  17.6 High places. Cf. 20.33. Sacred poles, dedicated to the goddess Asherah. Jehoshaphat is a reforming king as evidenced by his removal of the offensive items.

  17.7 Third year. The Chronicler may have believed that Jehoshaphat was a coregent with Asa during his final two years of illness. Within a year after assuming sole power he sends out a sixteen-person teaching commission.

  17.8 Tob-adonijah, possibly a mistaken duplication of the two previous names. The list of Levites probably antedates the Chronicler. Note the prominence of the laity and the listing of Levites before priests. It is not clear whether the mission of this group is related to the judicial reform in 19.4–11.

  17.9 For the Chronicler, the book of the law is the Pentateuch. In Jehoshaphat’s time, when the Pentateuch had not yet been completed, this book may have been some kind of royal law code.

  17.10–11 Fear induced by God prevents surrounding nations from attacking Judah and causes Philistines and Arabs to pay lavish tribute.

  17.13–19 While Jehoshaphat has troops throughout Judah (vv. 2, 19), he also has an extraordinarily large army in Jerusalem: 1,160,000. The size of this army serves to indicate Jehoshaphat’s high standing before God. None of the five leaders is known from other sources. A volunteer for the service of the LORD (v. 16), an epithet of Amasiah that gives an air of verisimilitude to the whole list.

  2 CHRONICLES 18

  Micaiah Predicts Failure

  1Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor; and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab. 2After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead. 3King Ahab of Israel s
aid to King Jehoshaphat of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am with you, my people are your people. We will be with you in the war.”

  4But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the LORD.” 5Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred of them, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” They said, “Go up; for God will give it into the hand of the king.” 6But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no other prophet of the LORD here of whom we may inquire?” 7The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one other by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies anything favorable about me, but only disaster.” Jehoshaphat said, “Let the king not say such a thing.” 8Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah son of Imlah.” 9Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes; and they were sitting at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 10Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron, and he said, “Thus says the LORD: With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.” 11All the prophets were prophesying the same and saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king.”

  12The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king; let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” 13But Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, whatever my God says, that I will speak.”