Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasuries of the house of the Lord . 2 Chronicles 16:1-10 The folly of bribery J. Wolfendale. Trust in man, not in God — I. LED TO SACRILEGE IN RELIGIOUS THINGS. Gifts bestowed or promised with a view to prevent judgment or corrupt morals abominable. Bribery a canker in constitutional governments, a disgrace in all departments of life. II. BROUGHT DOWN DIVINE REPROOF. III. DEFEATED ITS OWN ENDS. 1. Asa missed the opportunity of a double victory. Possible by unnecessary and improper alliances to hinder our good and prevent God from granting deliverance. 2. Asa exposed himself to greater danger. Those who bribe and those bribed not to be depended upon. For gold men will sell their votes, their conscience, and themselves. Cato complained that M. Coelius the Tribune "might be hired for a piece of bread to speak or to hold his peace." ( J. Wolfendale. ) Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord. 2 Chronicles 16:7 Asa's want of faith W. H. Bennett, M.A. Sin like Asa's has been the supreme apostasy of the Church in all her branches and through all her generations: Christ has been denied, not by lack of devotion, but by want of faith. Champions of the faith, reformers and guardians of the temple, like Asa, have been eager to attach to their holy cause the cruel prejudices of ignorance and folly, the greed and vindictiveness of selfish men. They have feared lest these potent forces should be arrayed amongst the enemies of the Church and her Master. It has even been suggested that national Churches and great national vices were so intimately allied that their supporters were content that they should stand or fall together. On the other hand, the advocates of reform have not been slow to appeal to popular jealousy and to aggravate the bitterness of social feuds. ( W. H. Bennett, M.A. ) For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth. 2 Chronicles 16:9 Divine providence H. MeLvill, B.D. We need not concern ourselves with the occasion on which these words were uttered. Spoken by a prophet to Asa, king of Judah, they have been "recorded for our instruction." The representation sets forth Divine things under human similitudes. Now it can hardly be necessary that we expose the falseness of the opinion that having created this world God left it to itself, and bestows no thought on its concerns. But whilst there are few who hold the opinion, there are many who would limit the providence of God; and it is very easy to put forward descriptions of the magnitude and the power of the Creator, and then to set in contrast the insignificance of man, and to argue from the comparison that it is derogatory to the greatness of God to suppose Him careful of what befalls a house-hold or happens to an individual. But this is poor reasoning; it would not hold good if applied amongst ourselves. If it were possible that a great statesman or potentate, whilst superintending the concerns of an empire, should yet find time for ministering at the bedside of sickness, and be active for the widow and the orphan: well, what would you say — that it was derogatory to him that, without neglecting momentous things, he showed himself capable of attending to things comparatively petty? Nay, you would admire and you would venerate him all the more. Neither is it derogatory — nay, rather, it is essential to the greatness of our God — that whilst He marshals the stars and orders the motions of all the worlds in immensity, He yet feedeth the young ravens that call upon Him, and numbereth the very hairs of our head. But now we will bring this truth before you in greater minuteness, and show what is involved in the saying, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." I. We may first alarm it evident THAT NOTHING CAN HAPPEN IN ANY SPOT OF THE PEOPLED IMMENSITY WHICH IS NOT KNOWN TO HIM WHO IS EMPHATICALLY THE OMNISCIENT — indeed, it were to deny the omniscience of God to suppose any the most trivial incident not included within His knowledge. And it is far more than the inspection of an ever-vigilant observer. It is not merely that nothing can happen without the knowledge of our Maker: it is that nothing can happen but by His appointment or permission, for we must ever remember that God is the first cause, and that on the first all secondary depend. But how beautifully simple does everything appear when we trace one hand in all that occurs! It is God whose energies are extended throughout the earth and sea and air, causing those innumerable and beneficial results which we ascribe to nature; it is God by whom all those contingencies which seem to us fortuitous and casual are ordered, so that events brought round by what men count accident proceed from a Divine and therefore irreversible appointment. It is God by whom the human will is secretly inclined towards righteousness, so that there is not wrought upon earth a single action such as God can approve, to whose performance God hath not instigated. It is God who, acting through the instrumentality of various and apparently conflicting causes, keeps together the discordant elements of society, and prevents the whole framework of civil institutions from being rapidly dissolved and broken up piecemeal. I know that it is not the monarch alone at the head of his provinces and tribes who is observed by the Almighty; I know that it is not only at some great crisis in life that an individual becomes the object of the attention of his Maker; rather do I know that the poorest, the meanest, the most despised, the very outcast of society, shares with the monarch the notice of the Universal Protector. Yea, and that this notice is so incessant and so unwearied, that when he goes to his daily toil, or his daily prayer, when he lies down at night, or rises in the morning, or gathers his little ones to the scanty meal, the poor man is not unnoticed by God; he cannot weep a tear God knows not, he cannot smile a smile God knows not, he cannot breathe a wish God knows not. But whilst the universal providence of God is to the full as incomprehensible as aught else that belongs to Divinity, there is nothing in it but what commends itself to the very warmest feelings of our nature. II. We come now to the second doctrine laid down in our text — THAT ALL THE MOTIONS OF PROVIDENCE HAVE FOR THEIR ULTIMATE END THE GOOD OF THOSE WHOSE HEART IS PERFECT TOWARDS GOD. And you may examine this doctrine under two points of view — as referring either to the Church at large, or separately to the individuals of whom that Church is composed. With Scripture for our guide, we must see that God's design, in all His dealings with this earth, has been the glorifying Himself in the redemption and final exaltation of a vast number of our apostate race. Before Christ appeared amongst men, the whole course of human events was so ordered as to prepare the way for the promised Deliverer. If God sent His own Son to deliver man from the consequences of transgression, and to extirpate evil from the universe, we cannot doubt the objects which engaged so stupendous an interposition must still be those to whose furtherance the Divine dealings tend. There can be no other objects commensurate in importance with those, for no others have required so costly a process; and since these as yet have been only partially attained, we must justly conclude that their thorough accomplishment is the proposed end of all the dealings of providence. The globe was partitioned out with a view to the Church, this land assigned to one nation and that to another, with the set purpose of consulting by the distribution the well-being of Israel. It is as though the Psalmist had said that God directs all the tumults and confusions of the world, guiding the flood with holy and merciful intentions towards His people, that the turbid waters may bring them strength and peace. Why is it that the Church has outlived so many a fierce persecution — that in the place of being vanquished she is only to be invigorated by assault? We ascribe nothing to the native energies of the preachers or professors of Christianity: we ascribe everything to the protecting and fostering care of Him who so loved the world as to give His Son. And it is not only in reference to the Church at large that we are warranted in thus speaking of God's providence. Of each member in this Church we may declare that God watches sedulously over him with the express design of succouring him with all needful assistance. You learn from various portions of Holy Writ that God has a great interest in the righteous, so that the Lord's portion is said to be His people, and Jacob the lot of His inheritance. He now calls His people His jewels, and declares that whosoever toucheth them toucheth the apple of His eye. We know that many things may happen to the righteous which seem against them, and that it is easy to find in their disasters apparent exceptions to the truth affirmed by the text; yet who that knows anything of Christian experience would deny that the trials which are permitted to overtake the godly serve as means through which their spiritual well-being is advanced, and afford occasions for such communications of grace as prove that God's strength is made perfect in weakness? It is no proof that the eye of the Lord is not on the righteous that troubles may be found in their portion. When again this man is visited with calamity, death may make inroads in his household, and disorder may pervade his affairs; but the eyes of the Lord are incessantly on him, and if he will but seek his comfort in God, God will show Himself strong by giving him a peace which passeth all understanding. And if anything can encourage the righteous man, and give him confidence amid the onsets of trial, it must be the consideration that the providence of the Almighty is thus perpetually vigilant in his behalf. ( H. MeLvill, B.D. ) The eyes of the Lord J. Gill, D. D. I. WHAT WE ARE TO UNDERSTAND BY THE EYES OF THE LORD. This is figurative. It designs His all-seeing providence; and that, as concerned in a special manner with His own people ( Zechariah 3:9 ; Zechariah 4:10 ). The eyes of the Lord, as they are set upon His own people, are like the eyes of doves — expressive of mildness, gentleness, tenderness, and love; but as they are set upon wicked men, His eyes are as flames of fire — expressive of wrath and vengeance ( Amos 9:4-8 ; Psalm 34:15 ). II. IN WHAT SENSE THESE ARE SAID TO RUN TO AND FRO THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH. This is expressive of His watchfulness over His people ( Jeremiah 31:28 ). As those who are watchful look here and there, and are very diligent in their observations, so the Lord watches over His people. 1. To help them. 2. To counter-work the adversary ( Job 1:7 ). III. THE END OF THEIR RUNNING THUS. To show Himself strong on the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him. 1. The descriptive character: "perfect toward Him"; that is, sincere and upright. Where there is "love out of a pure heart and faith unfeigned" ( 1 Timothy 1:5 ) the heart may be said to be perfect. 2. The exertion of Divine power on their behalf. ( J. Gill, D. D. ) The eyes of the Lord S. Charnock, B.D. In Scripture these signify — I. HIS KNOWLEDGE ( Job 34:21 ; Hebrews 4:13 ). II. HIS PROVIDENCE. 1. For good ( 1 Kings 6:3 ; Psalm 32:8 ). 2. For evil ( Isaiah 3:8 ). ( S. Charnock, B.D. ) God's providence -- a description, and its end S. Charnock, B. D. I. THE DESCRIPTION OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE. 1. Its immediateness: "His eyes." Not like princes, who see by their servants' eyes, more than by their own, what is done in their kingdoms; His care is immediate. 2. Its quickness and speed: "run." 3. Its extent: "the whole earth." 4. Its diligence: "to and fro." His care is repeated. 5. Its efficacy. His care doth engage His strength. II. THE END OF PROVIDENCE. ( S. Charnock, B. D. ) The foundations of the doctrine of providence S. Charnock, B. D. I. GOD HATH AN INDISPUTABLE AND PECULIAR RIGHT TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD. This right is founded upon — 1. That of creation. 2. The excellency of His being. Every man hath a natural right to rule another in his own art and skill wherein he excels him. II. GOD ONLY IS QUALIFIED FOR THE UNIVERSAL GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD. God only is fit in regard of — 1. Power. 2. Holiness and righteousness. All disorder is the effect of unrighteousness. 3. Knowledge. 4. Patience. III. THERE CAN BE NO REASON RENDERED WHY GOD SHOULD NOT ACTUALLY GOVERN THE WORLD, SINCE HE ONLY HATH A RIGHT AND A FITNESS. IV. GOD DOTH ACTUALLY PRESERVE AND GOVERN THE WORLD. 1. Nothing is acted in the world without God's knowledge. The vision of the wheels in Ezekiel presents us with an excellent portraiture of providence ( Ezekiel 1:18 ). 2. Nothing is acted in the world without the will of God ( Ephesians 1:11 ; Psalm 135:6 ). 3. Nothing doth subsist without God's care and power. ( S. Charnock, B. D. ) The universality of God's providence S. Charnock, B. D. I. IT IS OVER ALL CREATURES. 1. The highest. (1) Over Jesus Christ, the First-born of every creature ( Acts 2:23 ). (2) Over angels and men. 2. The meanest. As the sun's light, so God's providence, disdains not the meanest worms. II. IT EXTENDS TO ALL THE ACTIONS AND MOTIONS OF THE CREATURE. 1. To natural actions. How do fish serve several coasts at several seasons? why do plants that grow between a barren and a fruitful soil shoot all their roots towards the moist and fruitful ground, but by a secret direction of providential wisdom? 2. To civil actions. Counsels of men are ordered by Him to other ends than what they aim at, and which their wisdom cannot discover. 3. To preternatural actions. God doth command creatures to do those things which are no way suitable to their inclinations ( 1 Kings 17:4 ; Jonah 2:10 ; Daniel 3:1 ). 4. To all supernatural and miraculous actions of the creatures. As when the sun went backward in Hezekiah's time, and when it stood still in the valley of Ajalon. 5. To all fortuitous actions. The whole disposing of the lot which is east into the lap is of the Lord ( Proverbs 16:33 ). 6. To all voluntary actions. ( S. Charnock, B. D. ) The mysteriousness of God's providence S. Charnock, B. D. I. HIS WAYS ARE ABOVE HUMAN METHODS. Dark providences are often the groundwork of some excellent piece He is about to discover to the world. His methods are like a plaited picture, which on the one side represents a man and the other a beauty. II. HIS ENDS ARE OF A HIGHER STRAIN THAN THE AIMS OF MEN. Who would have thought that the forces Cyrus raised against Babylon, to satisfy his own ambition, should be a means to deliver the Israelites and restore the worship of God in the temple? III. GOD HATH SEVERAL ENDS IN THE SAME ACTION. Jacob is oppressed with famine, Pharaoh enriched with plenty, but Joseph's imprisonment is in order to his father's relief and Pharaoh's wealth. IV. GOD HAS MORE REMOTE ENDS THAN SHORT-SIGHTED SOULS ARE ABLE TO ESPY. ( S. Charnock, B. D. ) The providence of God S. Charnock, B. D. I. THE WISDOM OF GOD WOULD NOT BE SO PERSPICUOUS WERE THERE NOT A PROVIDENCE IN THE WORLD. A musician discovers more skill in the touching an instrument, and ordering the strings, to sound what note he pleaseth, than he doth in the first framing and making of it ( Isaiah 28:29 ). All God's providences are but His touch of the strings of this great instrument of the world. II. THE MEANS WHEREBY GOD'S ACTS DISCOVER A PROVIDENCE. He acts — 1. By small means.(1) In His ordinary works. Great plants are formed from small seeds.(2) In His extraordinary works.(a) In the deliverance of a people or person. A dream was the occasion of Joseph's greatness. He used the cacklings of geese to save the Roman Capitol from a surprise by the Gauls.(b) In the salvation of the soul. Our Saviour Himself, though God, was so mean in the eyes of the world that He calls Himself "a worm, and no man" ( Psalm 22:6 ). The world is saved by a crucified Christ. 2. By contrary means. God makes contrary things contribute to His glory, as contrary colours in a picture do to the beauty of the piece. In some engines you shall see wheels have contrary motions, and yet all in order to one and the same end. God cured those by a brazen serpent which were stung by the fiery ones, whereas brass (according to Grotius) is naturally hurtful to those that are bit by serpents. ( S. Charnock, B. D. ) A supreme providence the only explanation of many actions S. Charnock, B. D. and events in the world : — This is evidenced — I. BY THE RESTRAINTS UPON THE PASSIONS OF MEN. How strangely did God qualify the hearts of the Egyptians willingly to submit to the sale of their land, when they might have risen in a tumult, broke open the granaries, and supplied their wants ( Genesis 47:19, 21 ). II. BY THE SUDDEN CHANGES WHICH ARE MADE UPON THE SPIRITS OF MEN FOR THE PRESERVATION OF OTHERS ( Genesis 33:4 ; 1 Samuel 24:17, 18 ; 2 Chronicles 18:31 ; Esther 6:1, 2 ). III. IN CAUSING ENEMIES TO DO THINGS FOR OTHERS WHICH ARE CONTRARY TO ALL RULES OF POLICY. The Jews in the worst of their captivities were often befriended by their conquerors, to rebuild their city and re-edify their temple, and at the charge of their conquerors too ( Ezra 1:1, 2, 7 ; Ezra 4:12, 15, 19 ; Ezra 6:4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 22 ; Nehemiah 2:8 ). IV. IN INFATUATING THE COUNSELS OF MEN ( Isaiah 33:11 ; 2 Samuel 17:14 ). V. IN MAKING THE COUNSELS OF MEN SUBSERVIENT TO THE VERY ENDS THEY DESIGN AGAINST ( Genesis 11:4, 8 ; John 12:32 ). VI. IN MAKING THE FANCIES OF MEN SUBSERVIENT TO THEIR OWN RUIN ( 2 Kings 3:22, 23 ; 2 Kings 7:6 ; Judges 7:19-22 ). ( S. Charnock, B. D. ) The unequal distributions of providence -- a question S. Charnock, B. D. If there be a providence, how come those unequal distributions to happen in the world? I. ANSWER IN GENERAL. 1. Is it not a high presumption for ignorance to judge God's proceedings? 2. God is sovereign of the world. Why should a finite understanding prescribe measures and methods to an infinite Majesty? 3. God is wise and just, and knows how to distribute. If we question His providence, we question His wisdom. We see the present dispensations, but are we able to understand the internal motives? 4. There is a necessity for some seeming inequality, at least, in order to the good government of the world. The afflictions of good men are a foil to set off the beauty of God's providence in the world. 5. Unequal distributions do not argue carelessness. A father may give one child a gayer coat than he gives another, yet he extends his fatherly care and tenderness over all. 6. Upon due consideration the inequality will not appear so great as the complaint of it. A running sore may lie under a purple robe. As some are stripped of wealth and power, so they are stripped of their incumbrances they bring with them. II. ANSWER MORE PARTICULARLY. 1. It is not well with bad men here.(1) They are tortured by their own lusts.(2) They have a great account to make, and know not how to make it ( Luke 16:2 ).(3) They are worse for what they have ( Psalm 69:22 ; Proverbs 1:32 ).(4) In the midst of their prosperity they are reserved for justice ( Exodus 9:16 ; Psalm 37:2 ). 2. Neither is it bad here with goodmen.(1) Adversity cannot be called absolutely an evil.(2) God never leaves good men so bare but He provides for their necessities ( Psalm 37:5 ; Psalm 84:11 ).(3) The little good men have is better than the highest enjoyments of wicked men ( Psalm 37:16 ; Proverbs 16:8 ).(4) No righteous man would in his sober wits be willing to make an exchange of his smartest afflictions for a wicked man's prosperity, with all the circumstances attending it.(5) It is not ill with the righteous in afflictions because they have high advantages by them.(a) Sensible experiments of the tender providence of God over them ( Psalm 37:19, 39 ; 2 Timothy 4:17 ; 2 Corinthians 1:5 ; 1 Peter 4:13, 14 ).(b) Inward improvements, opportunities to manifest more love to God, more dependence on Him, the perfection of the soul ( 1 Timothy 5:5 ; Job 22:10 ).(c) Future glory.(d) Suffering of good men for the truth highly glorifies the providence of God ( 1 Peter 4:16 ).(e) This argument is stronger for a day of reckoning after this life than against providence. ( S. Charnock, B. D. ) The unworthiness and absurdity of denying providence I. THE EVIL OF DENYING PROVIDENCE. 1. It gives a liberty to all sin. What may not be done where there is no government? 2. It destroys all religion. (1) All worship. How is it possible to persuade men to regard Him for God who takes no care of them? (2) Prayer. What favour can we expect of Him who is regardless of dispensing any? (3) Praise. (4) Dependence, trust, and hope. 3. It is a high disparagement of God. 4. It is clearly against natural light. Socrates could say, "Whosoever denied providence was possessed with a devil." II. THE GROUNDS OF THE DENIAL OF PROVIDENCE. This is founded — 1. Upon an overweening conceit of men's own worth. When men saw themselves frustrated of the rewards they expected, and saw others that were instruments of tyranny and lust graced with the favours they thought due to their own virtue, they ran into a conceit that God did not mind the actions of men below. 2. Upon pedantical and sensual notions of God. As though it might detract from His pleasures and delight to look down upon this world, or as though it were a molestation of an infinite power to busy Himself about the cares of sublunary things. 3. On a flattering conceit of the majesty of God. 4. On their wishes upon any gripes of conscience. Those in Zephaniah were first settled upon their lees, and then to drive away all fears of punishment, deny God's government ( Zephaniah 1:12 ). Some men, upon a sense of guilt, wish, for their own security, there were no providential eye to inspect them. III. THE VARIOUS WAYS WHEREIN MEN PRACTICALLY DENY PROVIDENCE, OR ABUSE IT, OR CONTEMN IT. 1. When they will walk on in a contrary way to checks of Providence. 2. In omissions of prayer ( Psalm 14:2 ; 2 Kings 1:3 ; Job 15:4 ). 3. When men will turn every stone to gain the favourable assistance of men in their designs, and never address to God for His direction or blessing ( Job 35:9, 10 ; 2 Chronicles 16:7, 12 ; Proverbs 3:5 ). 4. When upon receiving any good they make more grateful acknowledgment to the instruments than to God, the principal author of it ( Isaiah 10:13, 14 ; Daniel 5:23 ; Hebrews 1:16). 5. When we use indirect courses and dishonest ways to gain wealth or honour. 6. When we distrust God when there is no visible means ( Isaiah 51:12, 13 ; Psalm 52:7 ) 7. Stoutness, under God's afflicting or merciful hand, is a denial or contempt-providence ( Daniel 5:23 ; Hosea 7:9 ; Isaiah 22:12, 13 ). 8. Envy is also a denial of providence. 9. Impatience under cross providence is a denial and contempt of God's government ( Isaiah 8:21, 22 ). 10. In charging our sins and miscarriages by them upon Providence ( Proverbs 19:3 ). 11. Many other ways. (1) When we do things with a respect to the pleasure of men more than of God. (2) In vain boasting and vaunting of ourselves. (3) Oppression ( Psalm 94:6, 7 ). (4) Misinterpretations of Providence ( Numbers 14:3 ). (5) In limiting Providence ( Psalm 78:41 ). ( S. Charnock, B. D. ) Belief in Providence a source of comfort S. Charnock, B. D. I. MAN IS A SPECIAL OBJECT OF PROVIDENCE ( Genesis 1:26 ). II. HOLY MEN A MORE SPECIAL OBJECT OF IT ( Psalm 33:18 ; Psalm 37:23 ; text). III. HENCE WILL FOLLOW THAT THE SPIRITS OF GOOD MEN HAVE SUFFICIENT GROUNDS TO BEAR UP IN THEM INNOCENT SUFFERINGS AND STORMS IN THE WORLD ( Hebrews 6:10 ). IV. HENCE FOLLOWS A CERTAIN SECURITY AGAINST A GOOD MAN'S WANT ( Psalm 34:10 ; 1 Timothy 4:8 ). ( S. Charnock, B. D. ) Our duty in regard to Providence S. Charnock, B. D. I. TO SEEK EVERYTHING WE NEED AT THE HANDS OF GOD. II. TO TRUST PROVIDENCE. 1. In the greatest extremities. 2. In the way of means. 3. In the way of precept. Let not any reliance upon an ordinary providence induce us into any way contrary to the command ( Psalm 37:5 ). 4. Solely, without prescribing any methods to Him. III. TO SUBMIT TO PROVIDENCE: for — 1. Whatsoever God doth, He doth wisely. 2. God discovers His mind to us by providences ( Luke 7:22 ; Acts 5:38, 39 ). IV. TO MURMUR NOT AT PROVIDENCE. V. TO STUDY PROVIDENCE. 1. Universally. (1) The darkest. (2) The terriblest. (3) The smallest. 2. Regularly. (1) By the Word: compare providence and the promise together. (2) By faith. We many times correct our sense by reason; why should we not correct reason by faith? 3. Entirely. (1) View them in their connection. The providences of God bear just proportion to one another, and are beautiful in their entire scheme. As in a piece of arras folded up, and afterwards particularly opened, we see the hand or foot of a man, the branch of a tree; or, if we look on the outside, we see nothing but knots and threads and uncouth shapes that we know not what to make of; but when it is fully opened, and we have the whole web before us, we see what histories and pleasing characters are interwoven in it. (2) View them in their end ( Psalm 73:16, 17 ). 4. Calmly. 5. Seriously. 6. Holily; with a design to that duty Providence calls for ( Isaiah 22:12 ). 7. Ascribe the glory of every providence to God. ( S. Charnock, B. D. ) Providence follows the rule of Scripture S. Charnock, B. D. Whatsoever was written was written for the Church's comfort ( Romans 15:4 ); whatsoever is acted in order to anything written is acted for the Church's good. All the providences of God in the world are conformable to His declarations in His Word. I. ALL GOOD THINGS ARE FOR THE GOOD OF THE CHURCH. 1. The world. (1) The continuance of the world is for their sakes ( Acts 17:30 ). (2) The course of natural things is for the good of the Church or particular members of it ( Hosea 2:18 ; Joshua 10:12, 13 ). (3) The interest of nations is ordered as is most for the Church's good ( 2 Kings 9:6, 7 ). 2. The gifts and common graces of men in the world. 3. Angels. (1) The highest orders among them are not exempted from being officers for the Church ( Matthew 18:10 ; Hebrews 1:14 ; Psalm 91:11 ; Luke 16:22 ). (2) Armies of them are employed upon this occasion ( Genesis 33:1, 2 ). (3) Christ hath the government of them to this end for His Church ( Hebrews 2:7, 8 ; Ephesians 1:21, 22 ). (4) The great actions which have been done in the world, or shall be done for the Church, are performed by them ( Deuteronomy 7:16 ; Deuteronomy 8:16 ; Revelation 10:8, 9 ; Revelation 22:8, 9 ). (5) They engage in this work with delight. II. ALL BAD THINGS ARE FOR THEIR GOOD. 1. Bad persons. (1) The devil. The malice of the devil against Job hath rendered him a standing miracle of patience for ever. God overreaches the devil, and makes him instrumental for good where he designs hurt and mischief. (2) Wicked men. They exist in the midst of the Church either for the exercise of their grace or security of their person or interest ( Proverbs 16:7 ). 2. Bad things.(1) Sin.(a) A man's own sin. Onesimus runs from his master, and finds a spiritual father. God makes the remainder of sin in a good man an occasion to exercise His grace, discover his strength, and show his loyalty to God.(b) Other men's sins. The revengeful threatening of Esau was the occasion of Jacob's flight, which saved him from possible idolatry ( Genesis 27:43, 46 ).(2) Commotions in the world ( Psalm 29:10, 11 ; Isaiah 44:28 ). (3) Destroying judgments ( Romans 11:11, 12 ). (4) Divisions in the Church. (5) Persecutions. ( S. Charnock, B. D. ) Providence glorifies God's grace in Christ I. ALL THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD IS FOR THE GLORIFYING HIS GRACE IN CHRIST ( Ephesians 1:10, 22, 23 ). II. GOD HATH GIVEN THE POWER OF PROVIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION OF THINGS TO CHRIST, FOR THE GOOD OF THE CHURCH. III. GOD IN THE CHURCH DISCOVERS THE GLORY OF ALL HIS ATTRIBUTES. What wisdom, power, sufficiency, grace, and kindness He hath is principally for them. IV. THERE IS A PECULIAR RELATION OF GOD IN CHRIST TO THE CHURCH, UPON WHICH ACCOUNT THIS DOCTRINE MUST NEEDS BE TRUE. God is a father to provide for them ( Isaiah 64:8 ); a mother to suckle them ( Isaiah 49:15 ); Christ is a husband to love and protect them ( Ephesians 5:29 ); a brother to counsel them ( John 20:17 ). V. THE WHOLE INTEREST OF GOD IN THE WORLD, LIES IN HIS CHURCH AND PEOPLE. VI. IT CANNOT BE BUT ALL THE PROVIDENCES OF GOD SHALL WORK TO THE GOOD OF HIS CHURCH, IF WE CONSIDER THE AFFECTIONS OF GOD. 1. His love. 2. His delight ( Zephaniah 3:17 ). VII. THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN HIS CHURCH WILL MAKE ALL PROVIDENCES TEND TO THE GOOD OF IT. VIII. THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH HAVE A MIGHTY FORCE WITH GOD TO THIS END; because — 1. God delights in the prayers of His people. 2. Prayer is nothing else but a pleading of God's promises. 3. They are the united supplications and pleadings both in heaven and earth. (1) Christ intercedes for the Church. (2) Angels in all probability do the same. (3) Glorified saints are not surely behind.Use I. For information. 1. God will always have a Church in the world. 2. God will, in the greatest exigencies, find out means for the protection of His Church. 3. The Church shall, in the end, prove victorious against all its adversaries, or Providence must miss its aim. 4. The interest of nations is to bear a respect to the Church, and countenance the worship of God in it. 5. We may see hence the ground of most of the judgments in the world. 6. What esteem, then, should there be of the godly in the world! 7. It is, then, a very foolish thing for any to contend against the welfare of God's people.Use II. For comfort. 1. In duties and special services. 2. In meanness and lowness. 3. In the greatest judgments upon others. 4. In His people's greatest extremities ( Isaiah 43:2 ; Psalm 91:4 ; John 6:17, 18 ). 5. In fear of wants. 6. In the low estate of the Church at any time.Use III. If the providence of God is chiefly designed for the good of the Church — 1. Fear not the enemies of the Church. 2. Censure not God in His dark providences. 3. Inquire into providence and interpret all public providences by this rule. 4. Consider the former providences God hath wrought for the Church in past ages. 5. Act faith in God's providences. 6. Wait upon God in His providence. 7. Pray for the Church. 8. When you receive any mercy for the Church in answer to prayer give God the glory of it. 9. Imitate God in His affection to the Church. 10. Look after sincerity before God. ( S. Charnock, B. D. ) The look of God J. Caryl. I. God looks upon all things DISTINCTLY. He looks upon every parcel and opens the whole pack of human affairs. II. He beholds every thing and person PERFECTLY, fully, quite through. III. IN SEEING HE GOVERNS EVERYTHING EFFECTUALLY, and works it to His own ends. IV. HE SEETH ALL THINGS TOGETHER. ( J. Caryl. ) God's loving providence over His people J. M. Ludlow, D.D. There is something sadly natural in the conduct of Asa as described in the context. It is so hard for us to feel that our interests are secure unless we are manipulating them ourselves. A soldier in the battle seizes yonder knoll, driving off with his superior valour the enemies who were holding it. It is nobly done, and it will be well if the plan of his general includes the capture of that knoll. But if not, when the tide of battle rolls off in another direction, the valiant soldier will be left unsupported in the midst of the returning enemies. How many men have been utterly undone by the accomplishment of their own plans, through their own vast industry and heroic enterprise, simply because they had not made their plans subordinate to the purposes of God, the supreme commandant of every life. Keep your eye upon the pillar of fire and cloud which moves over the desert! I. HOW EAGERLY, THEN, GOD CONSULTS THE WELFARE OF HIS PEOPLE. II. HOW MINUTELY CAREFUL OF US IS GOD. III. HOW COMPLETE IS GOD'S SUPERVISION OF OUR WELFARE. ( J. M. Ludlow, D.D. ) Divine Providence J. Crowther. The term "Providence," as now commonly applied to God, does not occur in Holy Scripture. It occurs only in two passages in the Apocrypha , viz., Wisd. 14:3 and 17:3. It is, nevertheless, a term convenient and proper for the statement of a Scriptural doctrine. By those of the ancient philosophers who admitted the existence of a God, or of a plurality of gods, terms of correspondent grammatical import were employed, to express that Divine superintendence by which all things in the material creation were fitted and directed to their proper ends, and by which the universe was kept from falling back

Benson Commentary 2 Chronicles 16:1 In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 2 Chronicles 16:1 . In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa — This date disagrees so much with what is said 1 Kings 15:33 , that there seems to be no other way of reconciling the two passages, but allowing that a trivial mistake has been made by the transcribers here, and that instead of the thirty-sixth, we ought to read here the twenty-sixth. This reading is approved by Houbigant, and is evidently adopted by Josephus, lib. 8, cap. 6. Baasha began his reign in the third year of Asa, and reigned no more than twenty-four years. He was, therefore, dead nine years, at least, before the thirty-sixth year of Asa. Baasha came up against Judah, and built Ramah — That is, made a wall about it, and fortified it. The late defection of so many of his subjects to the house of David was the occasion of his fortifying this place, designing hereby both to prevent others of them from revolting, and to hinder Asa’s subjects from coming into his dominions to seduce his people from their obedience to him. 2 Chronicles 16:2 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, 2 Chronicles 16:3 There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. 2 Chronicles 16:4 And Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelmaim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. 2 Chronicles 16:5 And it came to pass, when Baasha heard it , that he left off building of Ramah, and let his work cease. 2 Chronicles 16:6 Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha was building; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah. 2 Chronicles 16:7 And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, 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. 2 Chronicles 16:7 . At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, &c. — Here follows, in addition to what is recorded concerning Asa in the first book of Kings, a remarkable history, which relates his great weakness in his declining years, and God’s displeasure on account of it. Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not on the Lord thy God — It is a great weakness in our nature, which cannot be too much guarded against, to be ever prone to forego our confidence in God for human means; or to put a greater and more assured trust in them, than in the power, love, and faithfulness of God. Therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand — And so reserved to be a scourge to thy kingdom and posterity: whereas, if the Syrians had continued their league with Baasha, and joined him against thee, thou shouldest have overthrown both them and Baasha, as thou didst the Ethiopians, and thereby have prevented all the mischiefs which the king of Syria will do to thy family. 2 Chronicles 16:8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand. 2 Chronicles 16:8 . And the Lubims — Either the Libyans in Africa, or another people possibly descended from them, but now seated in some part of Arabia. See on 2 Chronicles 12:3 . 2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. 2 Chronicles 16:9 . The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth — He governs the world in infinite wisdom, the creatures, and all their actions, are continually under his eye, and he exercises a most watchful providence over all those who sincerely commit themselves to his care, and depend upon him in well-doing, and will not fail to protect them. To show himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect, &c. — Upright and sincere; who truly desire and endeavour to know and do his will in all things. Such may he sure of his protection and aid, and have all the reason in the world to depend thereon. A firm and lively faith in this brings us near to God, and unites us to him: but a practical disbelief of it produces the contrary effect, and is at the bottom of all our departures from God, and double dealing with him. Asa could not trust God, and therefore made court to Ben-hadad, in which, as the prophet here tells him, he did foolishly, both acting against his own interest, and incurring God’s displeasure, who pronounced that from henceforth he should have wars, as a chastisement of his folly. It is, indeed, a foolish thing to lean on a broken reed, when we have the Rock of ages to rely on. Here we learn in what sense we are to understand this sacred writer, when he says, ( 2 Chronicles 15:17 ,) that the heart of Asa was perfect all his days: he was perfect and sincere in the things there spoken of, in the establishment of the outward worship of God; but not in the inward worship of him, trusting in, fearing, and loving him with all his heart. Or, he was upright and sincere in the general course of his life, though in some particulars, whereof this was one, his heart did not perfectly cleave to God as it should have done. 2 Chronicles 16:10 Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing . And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time. 2 Chronicles 16:10 . Asa was wroth with the seer — Though the reproof came from God by one that was known to be his messenger; though it was just, and the reasoning fair, and all intended for his good, yet he was wroth with the prophet; nay, he was in a rage with him, for telling him of his folly. Is this Asa? Is this he whose heart is said to have been perfect with the Lord? How needful that advice, Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall! A wise man! and yet in a rage! An Israelite! and yet in a rage with a prophet! A good man! and yet impatient of reproof, and cannot bear to be told of his faults! Lord, what is man when left to himself! They that idolize their own conduct, cannot bear contradiction; and they that indulge a peevish, passionate temper, may be transported by it into impieties as well as indecencies, and will some time or other, probably, fly in the face of God himself. See what gall and wormwood this root of bitterness bore! Asa put him in the prison-house — Him whom he knew to be a prophet of the Lord, and God’s messenger to him! Or, in the house of the stocks, (as some read it,) in which the feet, or, as some of the Hebrews say, the necks of the prisoners were locked up. God’s prophets meet with many that cannot bear reproof; still, however, they must proceed on doing their duty. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time — Probably such as owned the prophet in his sufferings, or were known to be his particular friends. He that abused his power for the persecuting of God’s prophet, was left to himself further to abuse it for the crushing of his own subjects, whereby he weakened himself, and lost his interest. Most persecutors have been tyrants. 2 Chronicles 16:11 And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 2 Chronicles 16:12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great : yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians. 2 Chronicles 16:12 . Asa was diseased in his feet — Afflicted with the gout in a high degree. “He put the prophet in the stocks,” says Henry, “and now God put him in the stocks; so his punishment answered his sin.” Until his disease was exceeding great — ?? ????? ???? , ad lemaalah chaljo, until his disease came to the height, or, until it ascended, namely, to his stomach, or head: and then it became mortal. Yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians — He did not humble himself before God, but put his confidence in the skill and faithfulness of his physicians. His making use of physicians was his duty, but his trusting in them, and expecting that from them which was to be had from God only, was his sin and folly. The help of every creature must be used with an eye to the Creator, and in dependance on him, who makes every creature that to us which it is, without whom the most skilful and faithful are physicians of no value. 2 Chronicles 16:13 And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign. 2 Chronicles 16:14 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. 2 Chronicles 16:14 . They buried him in his sepulchre which he had made for himself — As one mindful of his grave. And laid him in the bed with sweet odours, and divers kinds of spices — After the manner of those nations, Genesis 50:2 ; 2 Chronicles 21:19 . And made a very great burning — Of precious spices; thereby testifying their respect to him, notwithstanding his miscarriages. The eminent piety and usefulness of good men ought to be remembered to their praise, though they have had their blemishes. Let their faults be buried in their graves, while their services are remembered over their graves. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary 2 Chronicles 16:1 In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ASA: DIVINE RETRIBUTION 2 Chronicles 14:1-15 ; 2 Chronicles 15:1-19 ; 2 Chronicles 16:1-14 ABIJAH, dying, as far as we can gather from Chronicles, in the odor of sanctity, was succeeded by his son Asa. The chronicler’s history of Asa is much fuller than that which is given in the book of Kings. The older narrative is used as a framework into which material from later sources is freely inserted. The beginning of the new reign was singularly promising. Abijah had been a very David, he had fought the battles of Jehovah, and had assured the security and independence of Judah. Asa, like Solomon, entered into the peaceful enjoyment of his predecessor’s exertions in the field. "In his days the land was quiet ten years," as in the days when the judges had delivered Israel, and he was able to exhort his people to prudent effort by reminding them that Jehovah had given them rest on every side. This interval of quiet was used for both religious reform and military precautions. The high places and heathen idols and symbols which had somehow survived Abijah’s zeal for the Mosaic ritual were swept away, and Judah was commanded to seek Jehovah and observe the Law; and he built fortresses with towers, and gates, and bars, and raised a great army "that bare bucklers and spears,"-no mere hasty levy of half-armed peasants with scythes and axes. The mighty array surpassed even Abijah’s great muster of four hundred thousand from Judah and Benjamin: there were five hundred and eighty thousand men, three hundred thousand out of Judah that bare bucklers and spears and two hundred and eighty thousand out of Benjamin that bare shields and drew bows. The great muster of Benjamites under Asa is in striking contrast to the meager tale of six hundred warriors that formed the whole strength of Benjamin after its disastrous defeat in the days of the judges; and the splendid equipment of this mighty host shows the rapid progress of the nation from the desperate days of Shamgar and Jael or even of Saul’s early reign, when "there was neither shield nor spear seen among forty thousand in Israel." These references of buildings, especially fortresses, to military stores and the vast numbers of Jewish and Israelite armies, form a distinct class amongst the additions made by the chronicler to the material taken from the book of Kings. They are found in the narratives of the reigns of David, Rehoboam, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, Manasseh, in fact in the reigns of nearly all the good kings; Manasseh’s building was done after he had turned from his evil ways. { 1 Chronicles 12:1-40 , etc.; 2 Chronicles 11:5 ff; 2 Chronicles 17:12 ff; 2 Chronicles 26:9 ff; 2 Chronicles 27:4 ff; 2 Chronicles 28:23-24 ; 2 Chronicles 33:14 } Hezekiah and Josiah were too much occupied with sacred festivals on the one hand and hostile invaders on the other to have much leisure for building, and it would not have been in keeping with Solomon’s character as the prince of peace to have laid stress on his arsenals and armies Otherwise the chronicler, living at a time when the warlike resources of Judah were of the slightest, was naturally interested in these reminiscences of departed glory; and the Jewish provincials would take a pride in relating these pieces of antiquarian information about their native towns, much as the servants of old manor-houses delight to point out the wing which was added by some famous cavalier or by some Jacobite Squire. Asa’s warlike preparations were possibly intended, like those of the Triple Alliance, to enable him to maintain peace; but if so, their sequel did not illustrate the maxim, " Si vis pacem, para bellum ." The rumour of his vast armaments reached a powerful monarch: "Zerah the Ethiopian." ( 2 Chronicles 14:9-15 ) The vagueness of this description is doubtless due to the remoteness of the chronicler from the times he is describing. Zerah has sometimes been identified with Shishak’s successor, Osorkon I, the second king of the twenty-second Egyptian dynasty. Zerah felt that Asa’s great army was a standing menace to the surrounding princes, and undertook the task of destroying this new military power: "He came out against them." Numerous as Asa’s forces were, they still left him dependent upon Jehovah, for the enemy were even more numerous and better equipped. Zerah led to battle an army of a million men, supported by three hundred war chariots. With this enormous host he came to Mareshah, at the foot of the Judaean highlands, in a direction southwest of Jerusalem. In spite of the inferiority of his army, Ass came out to meet him; "and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah." Like Abijah, Asa felt that, with his Divine ally, he need not be afraid of the odds against him even when they could be counted by hundreds of thousands. Trusting in Jehovah, he had taken the field against the enemy; and now at the decisive moment he made a confident appeal for help: "Jehovah, there is none beside Thee to help between the mighty and him that hath no strength." Five hundred and eighty thousand men seemed nothing compared to the host arrayed against them, and outnumbering them in the proportion of nearly two to one. "Help us, Jehovah our God; for we rely on Thee, and in Thy name are we come against this multitude. Jehovah, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee." Jehovah justified the trust reposed in Him. He smote the Ethiopians, and they fled towards the southwest in the direction of Egypt; and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar, with fearful slaughter, so that of Zerah’s million followers not one remained alive. Of course this statement is hyperbolical. The carnage was enormous, and no living enemies remained in sight. Apparently Gerar and the neighboring cities had aided Zerah in his advance and attempted to shelter the fugitives from Mareshah. Paralyzed with fear of Jehovah, whose avenging wrath had been so terribly manifested, these cities fell an easy prey to the victorious Jews. They smote and spoiled all the cities about Gerar, and reaped a rich harvest "for there was much spoil in them." It seems that the nomad tribes of the southern wilderness had also in some way identified themselves with the invaders; Asa attacked them in their turn. "They smote also the tents of cattle"; and as the wealth of these tribes lay in their flocks and herds, "they carried away sheep in abundance and camels, and returned to Jerusalem." This victory is closely parallel to that of Abijah over Jeroboam. In both the numbers of the armies are reckoned by hundreds of thousands; and the hostile host outnumbers the army of Judah in the one case by exactly two to one, in the other by nearly that proportion: in both the king of Judah trusts with calm assurance to the assistance of Jehovah, and Jehovah smites the enemy; the Jews then massacre the defeated army and spoil or capture the neighboring cities. These victories over superior numbers may easily be paralleled or surpassed by numerous striking examples from secular history. The odds were greater at Agincourt, where at least sixty thousand French were defeated by not more than twenty thousand Englishmen; at Marathon the Greeks routed a Persian army ten times as numerous as their own; in India English generals have defeated innumerable hordes of native warriors, as when Wellesley- "Against the myriads of Assaye Clashed with his fiery few and won." For the most part victorious generals have been ready to acknowledge the succoring arm of the God of battles. Shakespeare’s Henry V after Agincourt speaks altogether in the spirit of Asa’s prayer:- "O God, Thy arm was here; And not to us, but to Thy arm alone, Ascribe we all Take it, God, For it is only Thine." When the small craft that made up Elizabeth’s fleet defeated the huge Spanish galleons and galleasses, and the storms of the northern seas finished the work of destruction, the grateful piety of Protestant England felt that its foes had been destroyed by the breath of the Lord; " Afflavit Deus et dissipantur ." The principle that underlies such feelings is quite independent of the exact proportions of opposing armies. The victories of inferior numbers in a righteous cause are the most striking, but not the most significant, illustrations of the superiority of moral to material force. In the wider movements of international politics we may find even more characteristic instances. It is true of nations as well as of individuals that- "The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up: The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich; He bringeth low, He also lifteth up: He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes And inherit the throne of glory." Italy in the eighteenth century seemed as hopelessly divided as Israel under the judges, and Greece as completely enslaved to the "unspeakable Turk" as the Jews to Nebuchadnezzar; and yet, destitute as they were of any material resources, these nations had at their disposal great moral forces: the memory of ancient greatness and the sentiment of nationality; and today Italy can count hundreds of thousands like the chroniclers Jewish kings, and Greece builds her fortresses by land and her ironclads to command the sea. The Lord has fought for Israel. But the principle has a wider application. A little examination of the more obscure and complicated movements of social life will show moral forces everywhere overcoming and controlling the apparently irresistible material forces opposed to them. The English and American pioneers of the movements for the abolition of slavery had to face what seemed an impenetrable phalanx of powerful interests and influences; but probably any impartial student of history would have foreseen the ultimate triumph of a handful of earnest men over all the wealth and political power of the slave-owners. The moral forces at the disposal of the abolitionists were obviously irresistible. But the soldier in the midst of smoke and tumult may still be anxious and despondent at the very moment when the spectator sees clearly that the battle is won: and the most earnest Christian workers sometimes falter when they realize the vast and terrible forces that fight against them. At such times we are both rebuked and encouraged by the simple faith of the chronicler in the overruling power of God. It may be objected that if victory were to be secured by Divine intervention, there was no need to muster five hundred and eighty thousand men or indeed any army at all. If in any and every case God disposes, what need is there for the devotion to His service of our best strength, and energy, and culture, or of any human effort at all? A wholesome spiritual instinct leads the chronicler to emphasize the great preparations of Abijah and Asa. We have no right to look for Divine co-operation till we have done our best; we are not to sit with folded hands and expect a complete salvation to be wrought for us, and then to continue as idle spectators of God’s redemption of mankind we are to tax our resources to the utmost to gather our hundreds of thousands of soldiers; we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. This principle may be put in another way. Even to the hundreds of thousands the Divine help is still necessary. The leaders of great hosts are as dependent upon Divine help as Jonathan and his armor-bearer fighting single-handed against a Philistine garrison, or David arming himself with a sling and stone against Goliath of Gath. The most competent Christian worker in the prime of his spiritual strength needs grace as much as the untried youth making his first venture in the Lord’s service. At this point we meet with another of the chronicler’s obvious self-contradictions. At the beginning of the narrative of Asa’s reign we are told that the king did away with the high places and the symbols of idolatrous worship, and that, because Judah had thus sought Jehovah, He gave them rest. The deliverance from Zerah is another mark of Divine favor: And yet in the fifteenth chapter Asa, in obedience to prophetic admonition, takes away the abominations from his dominions, as if there had been no previous reformation, but we are told that the high places were not taken out of Israel. The context would naturally suggest that Israel here means Asa’s kingdom, as the true Israel of God; but as the verse is borrowed from the book of Kings, and "out of Israel" is an editorial addition made by the chronicler, it is probably intended to harmonize the borrowed verse with the chronicler’s previous statement that Asa did away with the high places. If so, we must understand that Israel means the Northern Kingdom, from which the high places had not been removed, though Judah had been purged from these abominations. But here, as often elsewhere, Chronicles taken alone affords no explanation of its inconsistencies. Again, in Asa’s first reformation he commanded Judah to seek Jehovah and to do the Law and the commandments; and accordingly Judah sought tile Lord. Moreover, Abijah, about seventeen years before Asa’s second reformation, made it his special boast that Judah had not forsaken Jehovah, but had priests ministering unto Jehovah, "the sons of Aaron and the Levites in their work." During Rehoboam’s reign of seventeen years Jehovah was duly honored for the first three years, and again after Shishak’s invasion in the fifth year of Rehoboam. So that for the previous thirty or forty years the due worship of Jehovah had only been interrupted by occasional lapses into disobedience. But now the prophet Oded holds before this faithful people the warning example of the "long seasons" when Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. And yet previously Chronicles supplies an unbroken list of high-priests from Aaron downwards. In response to Oded’s appeal, the king and people set about the work of reformation as if they had tolerated some such neglect of God, the priests, and the Law as the prophet had described. Another minor discrepancy is found in the statement that "the heart of Asa was perfect all his days"; this is reproduced verbatim from the book of Kings. Immediately afterwards the chronicler relates the evil doings of Asa in the closing years of his reign. Such contradictions render it impossible to give a complete and continuous exposition of Chronicles that shall be at the same time consistent. Nevertheless they are not without their value for the Christian student. They afford evidence of the good faith of the chronicler. His contradictions are clearly due to his use of independent and discrepant sources, and not to any tampering with the statements of his authorities. They are also an indication that the chronicler attaches much more importance to spiritual edification than to historical accuracy. When he seeks to set before his contemporaries the higher nature and better life of the great national heroes, and thus to provide them with an ideal of kingship, he is scrupulously and painfully careful to remove everything that would weaken the force of the lesson which he is trying to teach; but he is comparatively indifferent to accuracy of historical detail. When his authorities contradict each other as to the number or the date of Asa’s reformations, or even the character of his later years, he does not hesitate to place the two narratives side by side and practically to draw lessons from both. The work of the chronicler and its presence with the Pentateuch and the Synoptic Gospels in the sacred canon imply an emphatic declaration of the judgment of the Spirit and the Church that detailed historical accuracy is not a necessary consequence of inspiration. In expounding this second narrative of a reformation by Asa, we shall make no attempt at complete harmony with the rest of Chronicles; any inconsistency between the exposition here and elsewhere will simply arise from a faithful adherence to our text. The occasion then of Asa’s second reformation was as follows: Asa was returning in triumph from his great defeat of Zerah, bringing with him substantial fruits of victory in the shape of abundant spoil. Wealth and power had proved a snare to David and Rehoboam, and had involved them in grievous sin. Asa might also have succumbed to the temptations of prosperity; but, by a special Divine grace not vouchsafed to his predecessors, he was guarded against danger by a prophetic warning. At the very moment when Asa might have expected to be greeted by the acclamations of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when the king would be elated with the sense of Divine favor, military success, and popular applause, the prophet’s admonition checked the undue exaltation which might have hurried Asa into presumptuous sin. Asa and his people were not to presume upon their privilege; its continuance was altogether dependent upon their continued obedience: if they fell into sin the rewards of their former loyalty would vanish like fairy gold. "Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah is with you while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you." This lesson was enforced from the earlier history of Israel. The following verses are virtually a summary of the history of the judges:- "Now for long seasons Israel was without the true God, and without teaching priest, and without law." Judges tells how again and again Israel fell away from Jehovah. "But when in their distress they turned unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, and sought Him, he was found of them." Oded’s address is very similar to another and somewhat fuller summary of the history of the judges, contained in Samuel’s farewell to the people, in which he reminded them how when they forgot Jehovah, their God, He sold them into the hand of their enemies, and when they cried unto Jehovah, He sent Zerubbabel, and Barak, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies on every side, and they dwelt in safety. Oded proceeds to other characteristics of the period of the judges: "There was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in; but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation and city against city, for God did vex them with all adversity." Deborah’s song records great vexations: the highways were unoccupied, and the travelers walked through by-ways; the rulers ceased in Israel; Gideon "threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites." The breaking of nation against nation and city against city will refer to the destruction of Succoth and Penuel by Gideon, the sieges of Shechem and Thebez by Ahimelech, the massacre of the Ephraimites by Jephthah, and the civil war between Benjamin and the rest of Israel and the consequent destruction of Jabesh-gilead. { Jdg 5:6-7 ; Jdg 6:2 ; Jdg 8:15-17 ; Jdg 9:1-7 ; Jdg 12:6 } "But," said Oded, "be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack, for your work shall be rewarded." Oded implies that abuses were prevalent in Judah which might spread and corrupt the whole people, so as to draw down upon them the wrath of God and plunge them into all the miseries of the times of the judges. These abuses were wide-spread, supported by powerful interests and numerous adherents. The queen-mother, one of the most important personages in an Eastern state, was herself devoted to heathen observances. Their suppression needed courage, energy, and pertinacity; but if they were resolutely grappled with, Jehovah would reward the efforts of His servants with success, and Judah would enjoy prosperity. Accordingly Asa took courage and put away the abominations out of Judah and Benjamin and the cities he held in Ephraim. The abominations were the idols and all the cruel and obscene accompaniments of heathen worship. {Cf. 1 Kings 15:12 } In the prophet’s exhortation to be strong, and not be slack, and in the corresponding statement that Asa took courage, we have a hint for all reformers. Neither Oded nor Asa underrated the serious nature of the task before them. They counted the cost, and with open eyes and full knowledge confronted the evil they meant to eradicate. The full significance of the chronicler’s language is only seen when we remember what preceded the prophet’s appeal to Asa. The captain of half a million soldiers, the conqueror of a million Ethiopians with three hundred chariots, has to take courage before he can bring himself to put away the abominations out of his own dominions. Military machinery is more readily created than national righteousness; it is easier to slaughter one’s neighbors than to let light into the dark places that are full of the habitations of cruelty; and vigorous foreign policy is a poor substitute for good administration. The principle has its application to the individual. The beam in our own eye seems more difficult to extract than the mote in our brother’s, and a man often needs more moral courage to reform himself than to denounce other people’s sins or urge them to accept salvation. Most ministers could confirm from their own experience Portia’s saying, "I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching." Asa’s reformation was constructive as well as destructive; the toleration of "abominations" had diminished the zeal of the people for Jehovah, and even the altar of Jehovah before the porch of the Temple had suffered from neglect: it was now renewed, and Asa assembled the people for a great festival. Under Rehoboam many pious Israelites had left the Northern Kingdom to dwell where they could freely worship at the Temple; under Asa there was a new migration, "for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him." And so it came about that in the great assembly which Asa gathered together at Jerusalem not only Judah and Benjamin, but also Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, were represented. The chronicler has already told us that after the return from the Captivity some of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh dwelt at Jerusalem with the children of Judah and Benjamin, { 1 Chronicles 9:3 } and he is always careful to note any settlement of members of the ten tribes in Judah or any acquisition of northern territory by the kings of Judah. Such facts illustrated his doctrine that Judah was the true spiritual Israel, the real or twelve-tribed whole, of the chosen people. Asa’s festival was held in the third month of his fifteenth year, the month Sivan, corresponding roughly to our June. The Feast of Weeks, at which first-fruits were offered, felt in this month; and his festival was probably a special celebration of this feast. The sacrifice of seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep out of the spoil taken from the Ethiopians and their allies might be considered a kind of first-fruits. The people pledged themselves most solemnly to permanent obedience to Jehovah; this festival and its offerings were to be first-fruits or earnest of future loyalty. "They entered into a covenant to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; they sware unto Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets." The observance of this covenant was not to be left to the uncertainties of individual loyalty; the community were to be on their guard against offenders, Achans who might trouble Israel. According to the stern law of the Pentateuch, { Exodus 22:20 , Deuteronomy 13:5 , Deuteronomy 13:9 , Deuteronomy 13:15 } "whosoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman." The seeking of Jehovah so far as it could be enforced by penalties, must have consisted in external observances; and the usual proof that a man did not seek Jehovah would be found in his seeking other gods and taking part in heathen rites. Such apostasy was not merely an ecclesiastical offense; it involved immorality and a falling away from patriotism. The pious Jew could no more tolerate heathenism than we could tolerate in England religions that sanctioned polygamy or suttee. Having thus entered into covenant with Jehovah, "all Judah rejoiced at their oath because they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire." At the beginning, no doubt, they, like their king, "took courage"; they addressed themselves with reluctance and apprehension to an unwelcome and hazardous enterprise. They now rejoiced over the Divine grace that had inspired their efforts and been manifested in their courage and devotion, over the happy issue of their enterprise, and over the universal enthusiasm for Jehovah; and He set the seal of his approval upon their gladness, He was found of them, and Jehovah gave them rest round about, so that there was no more war for twenty years: unto the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign. It is an unsavory task to put away abominations: many foul nests of unclean birds are disturbed in the process; men would not choose to have this particular cross laid upon them, but only those who take up their cross and follow Christ can hope to enter into the joy of the Lord. The narrative of this second reformation is completed by the addition of details borrowed from the book of Kings. The chronicler next recounts how in the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha began to fortify Ramah as an outpost against Judah but was forced to abandon his undertaking by the intervention of the Syrian king. Benhadad, whom Asa hired with his own treasures and those of the Temple; whereupon Asa carried off Baasha’s stones and timber and built Geba and Mizpah as Jewish outposts against Israel. With the exception of the date and a few minor changes, the narrative so far is taken verbatim from the book of Kings. The chronicler, like the author of the priestly document of the Pentateuch, was anxious to provide his readers with an exact and complete system of chronology; he was the Ussher or Clinton of his generation. His date of the war against Baasha is probably based upon an interpretation of the source used for chapter 15; the first reformation secured a rest of ten years, the second and more thorough reformation a rest exactly twice as long as the first. In the interest of these chronological references, the chronicler has sacrificed a statement twice repeated in the book of Kings: that there was war between Asa and Baasha all their days. As Baasha came to the throne in Asa’s third year, the statement of the book of Kings would have seemed to contradict the chronicler’s assertion that there was no war from the fifteenth to the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign. { 1 Kings 15:16 ; 1 Kings 15:32-33 } After his victory over Zerah, Asa received a Divine message which somewhat checked the exuberance of his triumph; a similar message awaited him after his successful expedition to Ramah. By Oded Jehovah had warned Asa, but now He commissioned Hanani the seer to pronounce a sentence of condemnation. The ground of the sentence was that Asa had not relied on Jehovah, but on the king of Syria. Here the chronicler echoes one of the keynotes of the great prophets. Isaih had protested against the alliance which Ahaz concluded with Assyria in order to obtain assistance again the united onset of Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, and had predicted that Jehovah would bring upon Ahaz, his people, and his dynasty days that had not come since the disruption, even the King of Assyria. { Isaiah 7:17 } When this prediction was fulfilled, and the thundercloud of Assyrian invasion darkened all the land of Judah, the Jews, in their lack of faith, looked to Egypt for deliverance; and again Isaiah denounced the foreign alliance: "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Jehovah; the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion." { Isaiah 31:1 ; Isaiah 30:3 } So Jeremiah in his turn protested against a revival of the Egyptian alliance: "Thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria." { Jeremiah 2:36 } In their successive calamities the Jews could derive no comfort from a study of previous history; the pretext upon which each of their oppressors had intervened in the affairs of Palestine had been an invitation from Judah. In their trouble they had sought a remedy worse than the disease; the consequences of this political quackery had always demanded still more desperate and fatal medicines. Freedom from the border raids of the Ephraimites was secured at the price of the ruthless devastations of Hazael; deliverance from Rezin only led to the wholesale massacres and spoliation of Sennacherib. Foreign alliance was an opiate that had to be taken in continually increasing doses, till at last it caused the death of the patient. Nevertheless these are not the lessons which the seer seeks to impress upon Asa. Hanani takes a loftier tone. He does not tell him that his unholy alliance with Benhadad was the first of a chain of circumstances that would end in the ruin of Judah. Few generations are greatly disturbed by the prospect of the ruin of their country in the distant future: "After us the Deluge." Even the pious king Hezekiah, when told of the coming captivity of Judah, found much comfort in the thought that there should be peace and truth in his days. After the manner of the prophets, Hanani’s message is concerned with his own times. To his large faith the alliance with Syria presented itself chiefly as the loss of a great opportunity. Asa had deprived himself of the privilege of fighting with Syria, whereby Jehovah would have found fresh occasion to manifest His infinite power and His gracious favor towards Judah. Had there been no alliance with Judah, the restless and warlike king of Syria might have joined Baasha to attack Asa; another million of the heathen and other hundreds of their chariots would have been destroyed by the resistless might of the Lord of Hosts. And yet, in spite of the great object-lesson he had received in the defeat of Zerah, Asa had not thought of Jehovah as his Ally. He had forgotten the all-observing, all-controlling providence of Jehovah, and had thought it necessary to supplement the Divine protection by hiring a heathen king with the treasures of the Temple; and yet "the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him." With this thought, that the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the earth, Zechariah { Zechariah 4:10 } comforted the Jews in the dark days between the Return and the rebuilding of the Temple. Possibly during Asa’s twenty years of tranquility his faith had become enfeebled for want of any severe discipline. It is only with a certain reserve that we can venture to pray that the Lord will "take from our lives the strain and stress." The discipline of helplessness and dependence preserves the consciousness of God’s loving providence. The resources of Divine grace are not altogether intended for our personal comfort; we are to tax them to the utmost, in the assurance that God will honor all our drafts upon His treasury. The great opportunities of twenty years of peace and prosperity were not given to Asa to lay up funds with which to bribe a heathen king, and then, with this reinforcement of his accumulated resources, to accomplish the mighty enterprise of stealing Baasha’s stones and timber and building the walls of a couple of frontier fortresses. With such a history and such opportunities behind him, Asa should have felt himself competent, with Jehovah’s help, to deal with both Baasha and Benhadad, and should have had courage to confront them both. Sin like Asa’s has been the supreme apostasy of the Church in all her branches and through all her generations: Christ has been denied, not by lack of devotion, but by want of faith. Champions of the truth, reformers and guardians of the Temple, like Asa, have been eager to attach to their holy cause the cruel prejudices of ignorance and folly, the greed and vindictiveness of selfish men. They have feared lest these potent forces sh