2 Chronicles 15:19

And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.—Literally, and war arose not until, etc. This statement appears to refer back to 2Chronicles 15:15 : “And the Lord gave them rest round about;” and so to assign the limit of that period of peace, which ensued after the defeat of Zeran.

In 1Kings 15:16 we find a different statement: “And war continued between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days,” a statement which is repeated in 1Kings 15:32 of the same chapter.

The chronicler has evidently modified the older text, in order to assign a precise date to the outbreak of active hostilities between the two monarchs. (Both 1Kings 15:16 and the present 2Chronicles 15:19 begin with the same two Hebrew words, meaning “and war was,” but the chronicler inserts a not).

The verse of Kings need not imply more than that no amicable relations were ever established between the two sovereigns. They had inherited a state of war, although neither was in a condition to make an open attack upon the other for some years.

The five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.—This limit does not agree with the data of Kings (seo on 2Chronicles 16:1). Thenius suggests that the letter l, denoting 30, got into the text originally, through some transcriber, who inadvertently wrote the l with which the next Hebrew word begins twice over. Later on, some other copyist naturally corrected 2Chronicles 16:1, to agree with this. Assuming thus that the right readings here were originally the fifth and sixth years of the reign of Asa, Thenius concludes that in 2Chronicles 16:1 the letter v (i.e., 6) has been shortened into y (10); and that Baasha’s attempt preceded the invasion of Zerah. The false dates probably existed already in the source which the chronicler followed.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 15:19. There was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of Asa — No open, general war, though there were constant bickerings between Judah and Israel upon the frontiers, 1 Kings 15:16. National piety procures national blessings.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:1-19 The people make a solemn covenant with God. - The work of complete reformation appeared so difficult, that Asa had not courage to attempt it, till assured of Divine assistance and acceptance. He and his people offered sacrifices to God; thanksgiving for the favours they had received, and supplication for further favours. Prayers and praises are now our spiritual sacrifices. The people, of their own will, covenanted to seek the Lord, each for himself, with earnestness. What is religion but seeking God, inquiring after him, applying to him upon all occasions? We make nothing of our religion, if we do not make heart-work of it; God will have all the heart, or none. Our devotedness to God our Saviour, should be avowed and shown in the most solemn and public manner. What is done in hypocrisy is a mere drudgery.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa - This cannot be reconciled with the chronqlogy of Kings 1 Kings 16:8 : and the suggestion in the marg. implies the adoption of a mode of marking time unknown either to himself or any other Scriptural writer. It is supposed that the figures here and in 2 Chronicles 16:1 are corrupt, and that in both verses "twentieth" should replace "thirtieth." The attack of Baasha would then have been made in the last year of Asa's reign; and ten years of peace would have followed Asa's victory over Zerah.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. the things that his father had dedicated—probably part of the booty obtained by his signal victory over Jeroboam, but which, though dedicated, had hitherto been unrepresented.

and that he himself had dedicated—of the booty taken from the Ethiopians. Both of these were now deposited in the temple as votive offerings to Him whose right hand and holy arm had given them the victory.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

For though there were continual skirmishes between Asa and Baasha and their people all their days, 1 Kings 15:16, yet it did not break forth into an open war till Asa’s thirty-fifth year, i.e. till that was ended. But how this thirty-fifth year is to be computed, See Poole "2 Chronicles 16:1".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And there was no more war unto the thirty fifth year of the reign of Asa. That is, from the Ethiopian war to that time; after that there was no war with any foreign enemy; there were animosities and discords, bickerings and hostilities of some sort continually between Asa and Baasha king of Israel, as long as he lived, see 1 Kings 15:16.

Geneva Study Bible

And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. there was no more war] This statement can be reconciled with 1 Kings 15:16; 1 Kings 15:32 only by interpreting it broadly to mean that nothing serious occurred until the war with Baasha had been going on for several years.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - There was no more war. The Hebrew text should be adhered to, which simply says, there was not war unto, etc The five and thirtieth year. There can be little doubt that the text originally said "twentieth," not "thirtieth" (see also 2 Chronicles 16-1). The parallel, after the identical words Of the previous verse already noted, goes on emphatically to speak of the fact that "there was war between Asa and Baasha all their days;" and the same statement is repeated in the thirty-second verse of the sa1 Kings 15:16, 32). The following verse (33) says that Baasha's twenty-four-year reign began in Asa's third year. Putting the various and apparently somewhat varying statements together, they must be held to say, first, that a state of war was, indeed, chronic between Asa and Baasha (which way of putting need not disturb the correctness of 2 Chronicles 14:5, 6, and of the fifteenth verse of our chapter), but that in the six and twentieth year of Asa, which would be the last or last but one of Baasha's life, latent war gave place to active hostilities, and Baasha (2 Chronicles 16:1) came up to Judah to invade it, and to build Ramah - a course of conduct which was the beginning of the end for him (comp. 1 Kings 16:8; our ver. 10; and 2 Chronicles 16:1, 9).



2 Chronicles 15:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

2 Chronicles 15:19 is different from 1 Kings 15:16. In the latter passage it is said: war was between Asa and Baasha the king of Israel כּל־ימיהם, i.e., so long as both reigned contemporaneously; while in the Chronicle it is said: war was not until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign. This discrepancy is partly got rid of by taking מלחמה in the book of Kings to denote the latent hostility or inimical attitude of the two kingdoms towards each other, and in the Chronicle to denote a war openly declared. The date, until the thirty-fifth year, causes a greater difficulty; but this has been explained in 2 Chronicles 16:1 by the supposition that in the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign war broke out between Asa and Baasha, when the meaning of our 16th verse would be: It did not come to war with Baasha until the thirty-sixth year of Asa's rule. For further remarks on this, see on 2 Chronicles 16:1.