God’s Word for You

2 Chronicles 16:7-10 Hanani the seer

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, December 6, 2024

7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped your hand. 8 Were not the Cushites and the Libyans a huge army with many chariots and horsemen? When you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. 9 For the eyes of the LORD run back and forth over the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have acted foolishly in this. So from now on you will be at war.” 10 Asa got angry at the seer and put him in the stocks in prison because he was so angry with him about this. And Asa severely oppressed some of the people at the same time.

Hanani the seer is also known as the father of another prophet named Jehu. This Jehu preached during the days of Asa’s son Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 19:1, 20:34), so it should not surprise us to find his father preaching in the days of Jehoshaphat’s father Asa.

The message of the prophet is clear and straightforward: (1) It was foolish to rely on a foreign king when the Lord had recently delivered Asa from a much larger, even a vast, army (v. 7). (2) When one relies on the Lord, he responds (v. 8). (3) From now on, Asa would be at war (v. 9). Therefore, the Lord still promised Asa his help, if we would only trust in the Lord—although as a reminder of his error, war would not cease during his lifetime.

Tucked into the middle of all this (in the center, in fact), is the promise that “The eyes of the LORD run back and forth over the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” Students of Hebrew might suspect that this is the interesting verb stem known as the hithpael, which often presents a “back-and-forth” idea of a verb, such as when Satan says that he has been “going back and forth” in the world (Job 1:7). However, this is not a hithpael, but a polel participle (a form of the piel stem). This shows an act of God that could be described as (1) distributive (covering the whole earth without missing anything, just as when a craftsman “overlays” an object with paneling, Jeremiah 14:3), or (2) as a quick action, since the Lord is not slow to notice anything in the world nor is he slow in keeping his promises (2 Peter 3:9), or (3) the poel here also shows aim, since the Lord desires to help those who love him (Romans 8:28; Psalm 103:17).

In verse 10 we hear that Asa “severely oppressed” some of the people in his fit of rage. This is the verb ratsats in the intensive piel stem, here showing both (1) multiple occurrences and (2) multiple objects (recipients) of his rage, but also (3) a generally violent action, and in this case, (4) an unexpected act as well. The unexpected act in the piel is also seen when Esau embraced his brother (Genesis 33:4) when Jacob was obviously anticipating something else.

Asa’s reaction was severe and something that he undoubtedly regretted later on. Who has not lashed out at one time or another when he should have kept his calm? But “a hot-tempered man commits many sins” (Proverbs 29:22), and we are usually wise to hold our tongues when we feel ourselves becoming upset. This is the earliest case in Scripture that I know of where a prophet is persecuted on account of his message, but there are plenty of examples that will follow. The “stocks in prison” that he suffered is literally “the house of stocks,” a prison where devices were used to distort the prisoners’ bodies into crooked or painful postures. In this way, Hanani the seer foreshadows Jesus for us, by being punished because he proclaimed the word of God. But while Hanani suffered innocently on his own behalf, Jesus our Lord suffered innocently on behalf of all mankind, even those very men who tortured him (Luke 23:34; Isaiah 53:5).

We do not know what the king did to his people to oppress them. What was there to do? Did he conscript more soldiers from families to patrol his frontiers, now that he was told he would constantly be at war? If a soldier was newly engaged or newly married, this was a violation of the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 20:7, 24:5). Did he impose a heavy tax on the people to pay for horses or equipment? Did he encamp soldiers in villages that would have to house and feed them with little or no resources? Did he put other prophets or priests of the Lord in prisons? Whatever he did, it was uncalled-for; the purpose of government is to protect its people and to improve their lives, not to wring from their lives profit or revenge. But the Psalm warns: “The proud… crush your people, O Lord; they oppress your inheritance. Does he who implanted the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see? Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches man lack knowledge? The Lord knows the thoughts of man” (Psalm 94:5, 9-11).

Those who are leaders are in a position to help, but if they do not, they will be held accountable. This is not only true of preachers and teachers (James 3:1) but of officials of all kinds, including the government (Luke 20:47). For if Jesus condemned those who were “the descendants of those who murdered the prophets” (Matthew 23:31), then what will be the punishment for those who physically laid hands on them to persecute them? Some prophets they killed, “others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town” (Matthew 23:34).

As for Asa, he had time to cool off, to repent, to apologize for what he had done and to make things right with Hanani and the other people he attacked. Jesus warns in one of his letters, “Remember what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent” (Revelation 3:3). The time to repent of any sin is now; right now. For we do not know at what time the Lord will return.

We will leave Chronicles for a few weeks while we turn to Isaiah in anticipation of Christmas.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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