2 Chronicles Chapter 16    

“Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah.” (cp. 1 Kings 15:17).

“and fortified Ramah.” Ramah was on the ancient road of the Patriarchs and was a choke point in the north-south travel. (see commentary on 1 Kings 15:17).

“the house of Yahweh...the king’s house.” The house of Yahweh is the Temple, which had treasuries in which gifts were kept. The king’s house is the palace.

“and have not relied on Yahweh.” In 2 Chronicles 14:11, Asa relied on Yahweh and was successful, but here he did not rely on Yahweh. This rebuke is completely missing in the record in 1 Kings. The Chronicler is choosing what records get preserved in part to affect his audience, the people at the time of the Babylonian Captivity. There would be an emphasis on how to act to have God assist you.

“Then Asa was angry with the seer.” Asa should have repented. We have no way of knowing if his kingdom and health would have been restored in some way, but it would have been the right thing to do.

“stocks in prison.” The Hebrew is literally, “the house of stocks,” the “house” being the prison and the stocks being in the prison. This is very harsh treatment to give a prophet of Yahweh.

“And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.” It is likely that Hanani had supporters, and Asa is putting down what he considers to be a popular uprising at this time.

“very severe.” The Hebrew is an idiom, “unto the heights.”

“tombs.” Asa may have been planning ahead and had dug out more than one tomb to make room for family members.

“cut out.” The tomb was cut out of the rock, not dug out of the ground.

“in the bed.” The Hebrew can also be “on the bier.” There is no way to tell for sure from the text exactly how Asa was buried. Some rock-cut tombs had beds carved into them where the body was laid.

“and they made a very large burning for him.” This is not a cremation, but some kind of memorial fire.