Asa's Foolish Treaty and the Seer's Rebuke

In the thirty-sixth year of his reign, King Asa of Judah faced a crisis that tested his faith. Baasha, king of Israel, fortified Ramah, a city just north of Jerusalem, effectively blockading Asa's kingdom and cutting off all movement in and out of Judah. The threat was real and immediate.

Asa responded not by seeking the Lord, but by stripping the treasuries of the temple and the royal palace. He sent silver and gold to Ben-hadad, king of Syria in Damascus, with a direct request: renew the league between their fathers, break the alliance with Baasha, and force Israel to withdraw.

Ben-hadad accepted the bribe. He dispatched his army captains against the cities of Israel—Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. When Baasha heard of the Syrian attack, he abandoned the fortification of Ramah and halted his work.

Asa then mustered all Judah to dismantle Ramah. They carried away its stones and timber, using them to fortify Geba and Mizpah. The immediate crisis was resolved, but the means by which it was resolved would soon be confronted.

At that time, Hanani the seer came to Asa with a direct word from the Lord. He declared that because Asa had relied on the king of Syria instead of relying on the Lord his God, the Syrian army had escaped from his hand. Hanani reminded Asa of the Ethiopians and the Lubim—a vast host with chariots and horsemen—whom the Lord had delivered into his hand when he relied on the Lord.

The seer then spoke a sweeping truth: the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him. But in this matter, Asa had acted foolishly. From that time forward, he would have wars.

Asa's response to the rebuke was not repentance but rage. He was furious with Hanani and threw him into prison. At the same time, he oppressed some of the people. The king who had once torn down high places and trusted the Lord now imprisoned the prophet who spoke the truth.

The chronicler notes that the rest of Asa's acts, first and last, are recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. But the narrative does not soften the end. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa was struck with a severe disease in his feet. The disease was exceedingly great. Yet even in his sickness, he did not seek the Lord but turned only to physicians.

Asa died in the forty-first year of his reign and was buried in the tomb he had hewn for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bed filled with sweet odors and spices prepared by the perfumers' art, and they made a very great burning in his honor. The burial was grand, but the final record of his life carries a weight that no spices could mask.