2 Chronicles 16:2

My Notes

What Does 2 Chronicles 16:2 Mean?

"Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent to Benhadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying." King Asa — the reformer whose 'heart was perfect with the LORD all his days' (1 Kings 15:14) — takes treasure from the TEMPLE to buy a military alliance with SYRIA against Israel. The king who destroyed his grandmother's idol and reformed worship now ROBS God's house to fund a foreign alliance. The perfect heart makes an imperfect decision.

The phrase "out of the treasures of the house of the LORD" (min otzrot beit YHWH — from the treasuries of the house of the LORD) is the VIOLATION: the temple treasury contains dedicated wealth — offerings given to God by worshipers, spoils consecrated to divine use. Asa takes SACRED resources and applies them to POLITICAL purposes. The temple becomes a bank account for military expenses. The worship-wealth funds the war-alliance.

The IRONY is devastating: Asa previously defeated a massive Ethiopian army (chapter 14, one million soldiers) by RELYING ON GOD (14:11 — 'LORD, it is nothing with thee to help'). When the threat was enormous, Asa prayed. Now the threat is smaller (Baasha of Israel, not a million-man army), and Asa BUYS help instead of praying. The greater threat produced faith. The lesser threat produced self-reliance. The trust that held for the bigger crisis collapsed at the smaller one.

Reflection Questions

• 1.What sacred resource have you redirected for strategic purposes?
• 2.What does trusting God for the BIGGER crisis but buying help for the SMALLER one teach about faith that doesn't scale?
• 3.How does the temple treasury funding a foreign alliance describe the corruption of sacred resources?
• 4.What faith-muscle that worked for a past crisis has atrophied in the current, smaller one?

Devotional

The REFORMER robs the temple. Asa — the king who destroyed idols, deposed his grandmother, and defeated a million-man army through prayer — takes silver and gold from GOD'S HOUSE to buy a Syrian alliance. The perfect heart makes a faithless decision. The man who trusted God against the enormous threat buys human help against the smaller one.

The IRONY is sharp: against the Ethiopians (1 million soldiers), Asa prayed 'LORD, it is nothing with thee to help' (14:11). Against Baasha of Israel (a much smaller threat), Asa empties the temple treasury to buy foreign help. The BIGGER crisis produced BIGGER faith. The SMALLER crisis produced SMALLER faith. The trust scaled DOWN when it should have scaled UP. The prayer muscles that worked for the marathon failed at the jog.

The temple treasury being used for political alliance is the CORRUPTION of sacred resources: the offerings given to God by worshipers are redirected to a foreign king. The wealth dedicated to worship becomes the payment for military services. The sacred becomes the strategic. The devoted becomes the deployed. God's treasure buys man's army.

The prophet Hanani will confront Asa (verse 7-9): 'Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.' The alliance WORKED militarily but FAILED spiritually. Asa got what he paid for — Syria attacked Israel. But he lost what he had — God's protection and future victories.

What sacred resource have you redirected for a political or strategic purpose — and what faith-muscle has atrophied since your last great crisis?

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture