Bible Commentaries
2 Chronicles 16

Verses 1-14

This is a very sad chapter, telling as it does the story of the lapse of a man who, considering the conditions under which he lived, had for six and thirty years been so remarkably true to God. When Baasha, king of Israel, commenced to build Ramah with the express purpose of troubling Judah, Asa, who had so often been led by God, turned to Benhadad for help. It seemed to be a successful policy, for Benhadad spoiled the cities of Israel, and Baasha left his work. Things which appear successful may be in the life of faith most disastrous. As a matter of fact, the Syrians were worse foes of Judah than even Israel; and as Hanani, the seer, told the king, by this act they had escaped out of his hand.

How perpetually men defeat their own ends when either through lack of faith or overconfidence, which are practically the same thing, they attempt to do by policy what God is prepared to do for them in answer to their obedient belief. The story is the sadder in that the king seems to have had no repentance for his wrong. He persecuted the prophet, flinging him into prison. Moreover, in his latter days he became despotic, and even though physical suffering came to him, "he sought not to the Lord," so engrossed was he with the suffering and his attempts to gain relief through the physicians.