CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
1 Kings 15:17. Baasha, king of Israel—Third sovereign of the kingdom of Israel, son of Ahijab, probably of lowly origin (chap. 1 Kings 16:2). Built Ramah—In the tribal territory of Benjamin, about six miles (Roman) from and on the highway to Jerusalem, thereby cutting off king Asa’s communication with the north.
1 Kings 15:18. All the silver, &c., left in the treasures—Shishak had “left” but little (chap. 1 Kings 14:26); indeed, he “took away all.” So that the הַנּוֹתָרִים, the remainder, means what Asa had placed therein; τὸ εὑρεθὲν, as the Sept. gives it, what he found.
1 Kings 15:20. With all Naphtali—Or, unto the land of Naphtali.
1 Kings 15:22. Made a proclamation throughout—or, called together. None excepted—The Septuagint has misapprehended the adverbial sense of אֵין נָקִי, “none excepted,” and given it as a proper name—εὶς Ἑνακίμ.
HOMILETICS OF 1 Kings 15:16-24
SYMPTOMS OF RELIGIOUS REACTION
I. Seen in a growing distrust of the protecting power of God. The building of a fortress by his rival Baasha, which would have the effect of interrupting a free and open intercourse with his capital, filled Asa with fear; and instead of putting his trust in that God whom he had so zealously served, he relied on his own crooked and short-sighted policy. He bribed the king of Syria to break the league existing between his own kingdom and the two rival Jewish kingdoms, so that Baasha was compelled to abandon the building of Ramah, and Asa used the stones for the fortifying of his own cities (1 Kings 15:17-22). “O, what great and many infirmities may consist with uprightness! what alloys of imperfection will there be found in the most refined soul! Asa doth not only employ the Syrian, but relies on him, relies not on God: a confidence less sinful cost his grandfather David dear.” Religion is losing its influence over the soul when man is trusted more than God. A dishonest and wicked project may succeed, but the success is always embittered sooner or later. It is a dangerous thing to be too clever.
II. Seen in the misappropriation of consecrated treasure (1 Kings 15:18). It is sad to notice that he who so recently dedicated these spoils to the Lord should make such use of them as is here described. Only on extraordinary occasions was the king justified in employing the temple treasures; but it was downright sacrilege for Asa to use them in bribing a foreign and heathen king, for whose help there was no urgent necessity. “What is bestowed in faith must be regarded as sacred, and under no pretext must it be diverted to worldly purposes. Nothing but a rude power, knowing neither fear nor awe of God, could commit such a robbery, and no blessing can ever rest upon it. He who gives with one hand, and takes back with the other, has his just recompense therein.” The money power of the world is largely in the hands of the Christian church, and there is an immense responsibility resting upon the wealthy members of that church as to the righteous use of their riches. They are but stewards, and that only for a brief space, when they will be called to render an account of their stewardship to God. Indifference to financial responsibilities is a sure token of religious decay.
III. Seen in the disrespect and cruelty shown towards God’s faithful messengers (2 Chronicles 16:7-10). An important incident in the life of Asa, omitted by the writer of Kings, is supplied by the author of Chronicles. Hanani, the seer, was sent to rebuke and threaten the king for his sin in forsaking the Lord and in relying upon the Syrian for aid. To be thus chided and exposed when his diplomatic policy had seemed to prosper so well, was more than one so little used to contradiction could bear, and in his rage he thrust the too faithful prophet into prison, adding to his original fault the grievous sin of persecuting an inspired messenger of Jehovah. “Here we have the melancholy spectacle of a prophet of God imprisoned, not by an idolatrous or notoriously wicked king, but by one who has hitherto borne a noble character, and whose heart was substantially right with God. Not so did David receive Nathan’s more stern rebuke. This descendant of his does that for only attempting to do which Jeroboam had his arm palsied.” There is little power of religion left when the servants of God are treated with contempt and hardship.
IV. Seen in the way in which God is ignored even in affliction (1 Kings 15:23, comp. with 2 Chronicles 16:12). From the whole narrative of Chronicles we gather that the character of Asa deteriorated as he grew old, and that while he maintained the worship of Jehovah consistently from first to last, he failed to maintain the personal faith and piety which had been so conspicuous in his early youth. In his great and fatal affliction “he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.” Not that he was blamed for adopting the best means within his reach for his recovery, but he was blamed for relying more upon the skill of the physicians instead of upon the Lord’s blessing upon the means they employed. It is in affliction that man realises his helplessness and need, and when, more than at any other time, he is called upon to depend upon the gracious interference and help of God. It is a lamentable proof of how sadly and deeply the religious spirit has declined when God is forgotten at a period of great extremity, and in the near prospect of death!
LESSONS:—
1. A time of high religious tension is usually followed by a time of reaction.
2. Religious reaction is fraught with great danger, and calls for patient and skilful treatment on the part of the church. 3. In a time of religious reaction there is always much to disappoint and grieve the hearts of God’s people.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Kings 15:16. The enemies who rise up against us and bring us into straits must often serve, in the hand of God, to try and prove whether our faith is rooted in the deepest soil of the heart, and our zeal in religious things no fleshy one, but a high and holy one.
1 Kings 15:17. The devices of the wicked. I. Are maliciously planned to place hindrances in the way of the good. II. Are prodigal of labour and expense in accomplishing the desired end. III. Will be ignominiously defeated.
1 Kings 15:18-21. The eloquence of gold.
1. Is often more potent than words.
2. Is an irresistible argument to the avaricious.
3. Has made many a one a traitor to the most solemn engagements.
4. Will set an army in motion for any purpose.
5. Rarely fails in winning a victory.
1 Kings 15:18. To confront his rival of Israel, Baasha, this religious king of Judah fetches in Benhadad, the king of Syria, into God’s inheritance, upon too dear a rate, the breach of his league, the expilation of the temple. All the wealth wherewith Asa had endowed the house of the Lord was little enough to hire an Edomite to betray his fidelity and to invade Israel. Leagues may be made with infidels: not at such a price, upon such terms. There can be no warrant for a wilful subornation of perfidiousness. In these cases of outward things, the mercy of God dispenseth with our true necessities, not with the affected. O Asa! where was thy piety while thou robbest God, to corrupt an infidel, for the slaughter of Israelites? O princes! where is your piety while ye hire Turks to the slaughter of Christians, to the spoil of God’s church?—Bp. Hall.
1 Kings 15:19. This is the curse resting upon the strife of brethren: each forms a league with the common enemy rather than resolve upon peace with each other. The least reliable friend and companion in need is he who can be bought with gold, and is always at the disposal of the highest bidder. He who persuades another to break faith must be prepared to find that he will not maintain the word given to him. In every strait, seek first the support and aid of thy God, without whom no man can help thee.
1 Kings 15:20. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him (Proverbs 26:27). Baasha wished to become possessed of an additional city, and thus lost a series of his own cities; with the same stones with which he purposed to strengthen Ramah, Asa built two strong cities.—Lange.
1 Kings 15:22. Factious opposition.
1. Is ever short-sighted and short-lived.
2. Is liable to a sudden collapse.
3. May have the materials it gathered used against itself.
1 Kings 15:23. As the life, so the deathbed of Asa wanted not infirmities, long and prosperous had his reign been: now, after forty years’ health and happiness, he that imprisoned the prophet is imprisoned in his bed. There is more pain in these fetters which God put upon Asa, than those which Asa put upon Hanani. And now, behold, he that in his war seeks to Benhadad, not to God, in his sickness seeks not to God, but to physicians. We cannot easily put upon God a greater wrong than the alienation of our trust. Earthly means are for use, not for confidence; we may, we must, employ them; we may not rely on them. Well may God challenge our trust as his peculiarly, which, if we cast upon any creature, we deify it. Whence have herbs and drugs and physicians their being and efficacy, but from that Divine hand? No marvel, then, if Asa’s gout struck to his heart, and his feet carried him to his grave, since his heart was miscarried, for the cure of his feet, to an injurious misconfidence in the means, with neglect of his Maker.—Bp. Hall.
—The teachings of affliction.
1. Affliction is often sent in mercy.
2. Suggests topics for serious reflection.
3. Is the more admonitory when associated with age.
4. Often leads the wanderer back to God.
5. Can only increase the distress of the obstinately impenitent.
1 Kings 15:24. Sickness in old age, previous to death, is a Divine chastisement and trial, to wean men from the world and ripen them for eternity. How many men would die unconverted if God did not visit them before death with sickness!