“And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art: and they made a very great burning for him.”
My Notes
What Does 2 Chronicles 16:14 Mean?
King Asa's burial is described with unusual detail and tenderness. He was laid in a tomb he had personally prepared—"sepulchres which he had made for himself"—and placed on a bed filled with fragrant spices and ointments prepared by professional perfumers. The people honored him with "a very great burning," likely a ceremonial fire of spices and incense rather than cremation, which was not an Israelite practice.
The detail about the bed of spices is remarkable. This wasn't a standard burial. The apothecaries' art—professional skill in preparing aromatic compounds—was employed to create something beautiful and honoring for the king's final resting place. The community's response to Asa's death reflected genuine respect and grief.
Asa's story is complicated. He began as one of Judah's most faithful kings, tearing down idols and relying on God for military victory. But his later years were marked by compromise—he allied with Syria instead of trusting God, imprisoned the prophet who confronted him, and oppressed some of his own people. Despite this mixed legacy, his people still honored him extravagantly in death. The elaborate burial suggests that even with his flaws, Asa's overall impact was remembered with gratitude.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How do you hold together the reality of someone's failures and their genuine faithfulness? Do you tend to emphasize one over the other?
- 2.If your life were summarized today, what would the 'spices' and 'burning' represent—what would people honor about your legacy?
- 3.Asa started well and ended poorly. What practices or relationships help you finish well rather than just start well?
- 4.How does grace change the way you think about your own mixed legacy—the chapters you're proud of and the ones you're not?
Devotional
Asa gets one of the most beautiful burials in Scripture—a hand-prepared tomb, a bed of spices mixed by skilled perfumers, a great burning of honor. And yet his story is deeply mixed. He started so well—radical obedience, dramatic faith—and ended with bitterness, compromise, and even cruelty toward a prophet who told him the truth.
There's something both comforting and honest about how his people responded. They didn't pretend his failures didn't happen. But they also didn't reduce his entire life to his worst chapters. They honored the whole man—the faithful reformer and the flawed leader—with a burial that said: your life mattered, even though it was complicated.
If you're carrying shame about how some chapter of your life turned out—a season that started well and ended badly, a relationship you handled poorly, a time when you stopped listening to God—Asa's story is a complicated comfort. Your failures are real, and Scripture doesn't erase them. But they don't erase everything else either. A life can be both deeply faithful and deeply flawed. Most lives are.
The spices on Asa's burial bed were prepared with "the apothecaries' art"—with skill and intention. The people who honored him didn't just throw flowers on a grave. They crafted something beautiful. That's what grace does with a mixed legacy: it doesn't deny the mess, but it finds what was beautiful and honors it with care.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
The explanation of the plural - “sepulchres” - will be seen in 1Ki 13:30 note. The burning of spices in honor of a king…
And laid him in the bed - It is very likely that the body of Asa was burnt; that the bed spoken of here was a funeral…
Here is, I. A plain and faithful reproof given to Asa by a prophet of the Lord, for making this league with Baasha. The…
in his own sepulchres In 1 Kin. with his fathers.
which he had made for himself R.V. which he had hewn out for himself.…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture