The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 200

(1 Kings ni. 12). In the twelfth year of his reign he formed the plan here narrated for inflicting a blow npon Judah and Asa.. 2. The character of Baa,sha. More than likely a soldier of distinguished bravery (1 Kings xvi. 6), he was little other the.n o. monst~r of cruelty (1 Kings xv. 29)-two qualities not often allied. 'l'he truo hero is seldom cruel; the cruel man is seldom brave. A faithful follower of Jeroboam in the matt.er of reli;6on, he was an ardent idolater and a persistent corrupter of the people (1 Kings X\'i, 2). 3. The project of Baa,sha. To fortify Ramah, the modern Er-Rain, in Benjamin (Josh. xviii. 25; Judg. xix. 3),about five miles north of Jerusalem. 'l'his town, which properly belonged to Judah-not to Israel (Bahr, Bertheau)-but which Abijah had taken from Jeroboam (eh. xiii. 19), Baasha had not previously conquered (Ewald), but at that time seized. His object probably was (1) to cut off all traffio between the kingdoms-in fact, blockade Jerusalem-that the southern kingdom might be forced to capitulate (Ewald, Bahr); (2) to prevent allie.nce between Judah and any power north of Israel (Bertheau); and (3) to obtain a footing within the territory of Judah as a basis for future operations (Josephus). III. IN WHAT IT CONSISTED. In three things. 1. Not repairing to Jehoval, for assistance against Baasha, as he had formerly done against Zerah (eh. xiv.11.). Perhaps he deemed Baasha a more manageable opponent than the Ethiopian leader had been- an adversary that might be coped with successfully by his own craft, without calling in the battalions of Jehovah. Or, his preceding prosperity may have been his ruin, and this may have been the turning-point on that downward path of spiritual degeneracy which he pursued until he died. On any supposition it was an act of unbelief, and as such a sin; and, considering the success of his former application to Jehovah, an act of folly, and therefore a blunder as well as a sin. This he afterwards learnt from Hanani (ver. 9). 2. Seeking a league with Benhadad of Syria. (Ver. 2.) This Benhadad, or son of Ader (LXX. )-in the Assyrian inscriptions Bin-hidri, the son of Hadar, the supreme divinity of Damascus (Schrader, 'Die Keilinschriften,' p. 200)-was the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, the King of Syria (1 Kings xv. 18). Damascus, his capital-in Hebrew Dammiselc, in Assyrian Dimaski and Dimmaska, in Arabic Dimesch-esch-Scham, or shortly, esch-&ham-had been a town in the days of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 15; xv. 2), and is still one of the few towns of antiquity that have never lost their primitive splendour and renown. It has been styled "the pearl of the Orient, the beautiful as Eden, the fragrant Paradise, the plumage of the Paradise peacock, the coloured collar t>f the ring-dove, the neck.lace of beauty, the door of Cao.ha, the eye of the East, the , Eden of the Moslem," with other such hyperbolical expressions (Riehm's 'Handworter- buch,' art." Damascus;" cf. Stanley's' Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 414, etc.; 'Picturesque Palestine,' iii. 143, etc.). Its king was at this time in league with Ba.asha, who hoped with his assistance to subdue the sou them kingdom. He was thus an enemy to J uda.b, as his predecessor Rezon had been to the united empire (1 Kings xi. 25); and Asa might have reasoned, that not much help of a genuine kind could be obtained from him, least of all by such a stratagem as that adopted. 3. Resorting to bri"bery in order to gain his end. Those who use dishonourable methods to procure any advantage generally over- estimate the advantage they are willing in this way to buy; and, as a consequence, discover in the long run they have been miserably duped. Even had Asa not been at fault in the value he put upon Benhadad's alliance, the means he took to gain it were bad. The argument addressed to Baasha should never have been employed by Asa. The league of Abijah with Tabrimon should never have existed to lend countenance to the proposed league between Asa and Benhadad. But bad actions once done are easily repeated by the doers of them, and imitated by the children of those doers; while children find less difficulty in copying the evil than in following the good examples of their parents. Then Asa, while justified in attempting to dissolve the league between Benhadad and Baasha, should not have resorted to bribery. "A gift destroyeth the heart" (Eccles. vii. 7) of him that gives as of him that receives it. Far less for such an unhallowed purpose should he have robbed the temple, even if it had been permissible to displenish the palace. But not even "the treasures of the pa.lace" should have been employed in dishonourable schemes (the secret-service money of modern governments falls under this condemnation); and much less "the treasures of the Lord's house." Upon the gold and silver of both Church and state should be inscribed, "Holiness unto the Lord." ort. x\TJ. 1-14.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 201