16:1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah, and he established Ramah as a military outpost to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the land of King Asa of Judah.
There were many messianic Jews from the other nine tribes who were living in Israel. Israel’s national religion was now satanism. The true messianic believers from the other nine tribes moved to Judah in order to escape the satanic religion of Israel.
King Baasha of Israel did not want the messianic Jews of the other nine tribes of his kingdom to leave Israel. He built a military outpost in Ramah to keep the messianic Jews from crossing the border into Judah. This procedure was very similar to the intimidation laws of many modern communist and socialist nations. They declare atheism as the main religion of the land. They do not allow any of the Christians to leave the nation. They make the practice of Christianity a capital crime.
When Satan cannot control the politics of a nation to enforce communism or socialism, then he attempts to censor the teaching of Christianity in public schools. He encourages schools to teach multiculturalism and humanism. In this kind of educational system, the Lord Jesus Christ is demoted to a mere human religious teacher. All other religions are taught as equal to Christianity. Satan places humanist school boards and superintendents in place in order to accomplish his objective. They in turn produce humanist curriculums, hire humanist leadership, and humanist teachers. This is why home schooling is a better option for children than public schooling. Homeschooling keeps children out of the satanic world education system.
16:2 Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace and sent it to King Ben Hadad of Syria, ruler in Damascus, along with this message:
King Asa was demonstrating a lack of faith. He turned to the King of Syria instead of the Lord. Jehovah had already defeated an army twice as large as that of Israel.
16:3 “I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made. See, I have sent you silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land.”
It was against the Mosaic Law for Israel to make treaties with foreign nations. Kings of Israel were to trust in God and not in treaties with foreign pagan kings who were trusting in satanism as their national religion.
16:4 Ben Hadad accepted King Asa’s offer and ordered his army commanders to attack the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.
The King of Syrian accepted the treaty and began to attack Israelite cities.
16:5 When Baasha heard the news, he stopped fortifying Ramah and abandoned the project.
King Baasha of Israel had to stop his work at Ramah and began to defend his nation. This allowed more messianic believers to transfer from satanic Israel to godly Judah.
16:6 King Asa ordered all the men of Judah to carry away the stones and wood that Baasha had used to build Ramah. He used the materials to build up Geba and Mizpah.
While King Baasha was busy defending Israel, then King Asa of Judah took the materials from the Israelite garrison and used them to build garrisons for Judah.
16:7 At that time Hanani the prophet visited King Asa of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.
The prophet Hanani did not tickle the ears of the king. He bluntly pointed out the sin of the king. In other cultures, humans did not point out the sins of kings unless they wanted to be tortured and executed. Jewish prophets kept the Jewish kings accountable to Jehovah. The prophet-king relationship was the check and balance system of Mosaic Israel.
16:8 Did not the Cushites and Libyans have a huge army with chariots and a very large number of horsemen? But when you relied on the Lord, he handed them over to you!
The armies of the Cushites and Libyans were twice as big as that of Judah, but God handed Judah the victory.
16:9 Certainly the Lord watches the whole earth carefully and is ready to strengthen those who are devoted to him. You have acted foolishly in this matter; from now on you will have war.
It is God who decides who will win a battle and who will rule over a nation. The prophet accused the king of acting foolishly. He was not following divine viewpoint.
16:10 Asa was so angry at the prophet, he put him in jail. Asa also oppressed some of the people at that time.
King Asa was a good king, but he made some mistakes because of his lack of bible doctrine. The prophet Hanani was giving the king direct information from heaven. However, the king did not like this divine message, so he imprisoned the prophet. He also persecuted the people. This is typical standard operating procedure for pagans and for carnal Christians. They do not like the truth of Scripture. They would rather have their ears tickled. They will censor the truth, persecute the one giving out the truth, or simply leave the conversation if the truth of the Scriptures pricks their heart.
16:11 The events of Asa’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
More details of King Asa’s reign were written in a book that has now been lost.
16:12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a foot disease. Though his disease was severe, he did not seek the Lord, but only the doctors.
There is nothing wrong with seeking the help of doctors. However, the Lord should also be contacted. He can help doctors find and treat the disease.
16:13 Asa passed away in the forty-first year of his reign.
King Asa died. As a king of Judah, he lived through the reign of the eight kings of Israel. All of the kings of Israel were evil and did not reign as long as the kings of Judah.
16:14 He was buried in the tomb he had carved out in the City of David. They laid him to rest on a bier covered with spices and assorted mixtures of ointments. They made a huge bonfire to honor him.
A large national funeral was held for King Asa. Although King Asa only partly obeyed the Lord, God still used him. He brought great blessings to Israel. The bonfire was not used for cremation, but it was a part of the funeral ceremony. Spices were most likely burned in the bonfire.