Introduction
Chapter 15 of Melachim A leads us back and forth between the two kingdoms: from Yehuda to Yisrael and from Yisrael to Yehuda. After finishing the affairs of the kingdom of Yehuda in the days of Asa, the text turns to describe what is happening in the kingdom of Yisrael. At the center of the section before us stands the war between Asa king of Yehuda and Baasha king of Yisrael, Asa's fateful decision to hire the king of Aram, and on the other side the rise of Baasha to power upon the ruins of the house of Yaravam. We will go through the pesukim in order, and finally we will complete the picture from Divrei HaYamim B, where much more is revealed to us about the character of Asa: his greatness and his downfall.
Asa Sends a Bribe to the King of Aram
וַיִּקַּח אָסָא אֶת כָּל הַכֶּסֶף וְהַזָּהָב הַנּוֹתָרִים בְּאוֹצְרוֹת בֵּית ה' וְאֶת אוֹצְרוֹת בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ, וַיִּתְּנֵם בְּיַד עֲבָדָיו, וַיִּשְׁלָחֵם הַמֶּלֶךְ אָסָא אֶל בֶּן הֲדַד בֶּן טַבְרִמֹּן בֶּן חֶזְיוֹן מֶלֶךְ אֲרָם הַיֹּשֵׁב בְּדַמֶּשֶׂק לֵאמֹר. - And Asa took all the silver and the gold that remained in the treasuries of the House of Hashem and the treasuries of the king's house, and gave them into the hand of his servants, and King Asa sent them to Ben Hadad son of Tavrimon son of Chezyon king of Aram, who dwelt in Damascus, saying.
Baasha had an additional force besides his own army: a large multinational military force that he had hired for himself, the kingdom of Aram of Ben Hadad son of Tavrimon son of Chezyon. Asa understands that he does not have the strength to stand against the two of them together, against Baasha and against the king of Aram. Therefore he adopts a stratagem: he tries to bribe the king of Aram not to help Baasha, and to that end he reminds him of all sorts of forgotten matters in order to persuade him.
בְּרִית בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶךָ, בֵּין אָבִי וּבֵין אָבִיךָ, הִנֵּה שָׁלַחְתִּי לְךָ שֹׁחַד כֶּסֶף וְזָהָב, לֵךְ הָפֵרָה אֶת בְּרִיתְךָ אֶת בַּעְשָׁא מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיַעֲלֶה מֵעָלָי. - There is a covenant between me and you, between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you a bribe of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Yisrael, that he may withdraw from me.
Asa has two arguments. The first: our covenant is not like the covenant Baasha has made with you now, a temporary and passing covenant. Between us there is an old and long-standing covenant, one that already began between your father and my father, whereas Baasha had no such thing with your father, for Baasha was a common king and not a king son of a king. Such an ancient covenant obligates far more than a momentary profit that Baasha will give you. And the second argument: if you say that there is money at stake in this matter, well, I too can supply money: "Behold, I have sent you a bribe of silver and gold."
The Malbim notes precisely: Asa did not ask the king of Aram to go out and fight against Baasha, but only to refrain from assisting him. Baasha pays you for war, and I pay you for abstention. But in practice, as we will immediately see, it did not stop at abstention.
Ben Hadad Does the Job Properly
וַיִּשְׁמַע בֶּן הֲדַד אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ אָסָא, וַיִּשְׁלַח אֶת שָׂרֵי הַחֲיָלִים אֲשֶׁר לוֹ עַל עָרֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וַיַּךְ אֶת עִיּוֹן וְאֶת דָּן וְאֵת אָבֵל בֵּית מַעֲכָה, וְאֵת כָּל כִּנְרוֹת עַל כָּל אֶרֶץ נַפְתָּלִי. - And Ben Hadad listened to King Asa, and sent the officers of his armies against the cities of Yisrael, and he struck Iyon and Dan and Avel Beit Maacha, and all of Kinerot, over all the land of Naftali.
The king of Aram was, as it were, quite the stringent one. They paid him money, so he goes and does the job properly. The Malbim examines the wording "and he sent the officers of his armies that he had": this implies that the soldiers were already present here, and he only needed to send the officers. This means that Ben Hadad already stood with great armies ready to come and assist Baasha against Asa, and Asa succeeded at the last moment in turning the tide. And Ben Hadad was not content with abstention, but sent the officers of the armies to organize the army that was already in the land and to fight against Baasha. And so he struck Iyon and Dan and Avel Beit Maacha and all of Kinerot (Kineret) over all the land of Naftali.
וַיְהִי כִּשְׁמֹעַ בַּעְשָׁא וַיֶּחְדַּל מִבְּנוֹת אֶת הָרָמָה, וַיֵּשֶׁב בְּתִרְצָה. - And it came to pass, when Baasha heard, that he ceased from building the Ramah, and dwelt in Tirtza.
When Baasha saw that war was being drawn into the very heart of his land, and that the king of Aram had become his enemy, he stops building the Ramah, that tower he had built facing the entrance to Jerusalem, and returns to dwell in Tirtzah. Now the Targum renders "in Tirtzah" as "betira'ita," and this is astonishing: as is well known, the Targum does not translate names. A name is a name, what is there to translate? They explain that the Targum understands "Tirtzah" here as being from the root ratzutz, meaning broken. Therefore the Targum says: where did Baasha dwell? "Betira'ita," in great brokenness, shattered and crushed by what the king of Aram had done to him.
"None was exempt" - the stones of the Ramah become fortifications
וְהַמֶּלֶךְ אָסָא הִשְׁמִיעַ אֶת כָּל יְהוּדָה אֵין נָקִי, וַיִּשְׂאוּ אֶת אַבְנֵי הָרָמָה וְאֶת עֵצֶיהָ אֲשֶׁר בָּנָה בַּעְשָׁא, וַיִּבֶן בָּם הַמֶּלֶךְ אָסָא אֶת גֶּבַע בִּנְיָמִן וְאֶת הַמִּצְפָּה. - And King Asa proclaimed to all Judah, none was exempt, and they carried away the stones of the Ramah and its timber, which Baasha had used for building, and King Asa built with them Geva of Benjamin and the Mitzpah.
The inheritance Baasha left to Asa was a large quantity of building material. He had built a mighty tower facing the entrance to Jerusalem, and then was forced to flee and left everything behind. Asa takes the stones and the timber and builds with them Geva of Benjamin and the Mitzpah, and the Malbim explains that these were fortified places, meant to prevent Baasha from coming against him the next time. What Baasha had used to build a tower to make war against us will serve us as fortifications to prevent him from returning.
And what is "none was exempt"? The Torah states that there are those who do not go out to war: one who has built a house and not dedicated it, one who has betrothed a woman and not married her, and the like. Chazal say: "none was exempt" - even a groom from his chamber and a bride from her wedding canopy, even one of whom it is said "he shall be free for his house one year." And what has a bride under her canopy to do with this, when there is no obligation of conscription upon her at all? Rather, Chazal explain that the women would supply the provisions, seeing to bringing the bread and preparing the food for the needs of the soldiers.
The rest of the acts of Asa and his illness
וְיֶתֶר כָּל דִּבְרֵי אָסָא וְכָל גְּבוּרָתוֹ וְכָל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וְהֶעָרִים אֲשֶׁר בָּנָה, הֲלֹא הֵמָּה כְתוּבִים עַל סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים לְמַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה, רַק לְעֵת זִקְנָתוֹ חָלָה אֶת רַגְלָיו. - And the rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might and all that he did and the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? Only in the time of his old age he became diseased in his feet.
The "book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah" is not the book of Divrei HaYamim that we have, but another book in which the wars and all the particular matters were recorded. Nonetheless, even in the book of Divrei HaYamim that we have there is more extensive detail concerning the wars of Asa than what is mentioned here, and we will see this further on.
"He became diseased in his feet" - Chazal call this illness "podagra," and it is clearly connected to the feet. "Foot" in English is "foot," and indeed there is no difference between a dalet and a tav or tet, just as it was noted that Baghdad is called in the language of the Gemara "Bagdat" ("Rav so-and-so Bagdata'ah," that is, from the city of Bagdat, which is Baghdad). So "footgra" and "podagra" are one and the same, the disease of the feet, of which Chazal say that it begins in the feet and rises up to the head.
And why did Asa become ill, seeing that he was a righteous king? Chazal say: Asa became ill only because he imposed forced labor upon Torah scholars. He declared "none was exempt" - he went and carried out a general conscription, and conscripted even the yeshiva students. The Torah has rules about who goes out to war and who sits and occupies himself with Torah, and it was forbidden for him to take the Torah scholars and bring them to war. Since he relied on himself and conscripted those he should not have conscripted, in the end he was punished. A clearer rebuke of this we will see shortly in Divrei HaYamim.
וַיִּשְׁכַּב אָסָא עִם אֲבֹתָיו וַיִּקָּבֵר עִם אֲבֹתָיו בְּעִיר דָּוִד אָבִיו, וַיִּמְלֹךְ יְהוֹשָׁפָט בְּנוֹ תַּחְתָּיו. - And Asa lay with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Yehoshafat his son reigned in his place.
Nadav son of Yeravam: from such a father, what became of the son
וְנָדָב בֶּן יָרָבְעָם מָלַךְ עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּשְׁנַת שְׁתַּיִם לְאָסָא מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה, וַיִּמְלֹךְ עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל שְׁנָתָיִם. וַיַּעַשׂ הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי ה' וַיֵּלֶךְ בְּדֶרֶךְ אָבִיו וּבְחַטָּאתוֹ אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱטִיא אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל. - And Nadav son of Yaravam reigned over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Yehuda, and he reigned over Israel two years. And he did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem, and he walked in the way of his father and in his sin with which he caused Israel to sin.
Here we move from Yehuda to Israel. With a father like Yaravam, what could possibly come out of the son? And indeed he walks in his father's ways and causes Israel to sin with those very same calves through which Yaravam had made them sin.
A Coup in a Time of War
וַיִּקְשֹׁר עָלָיו בַּעְשָׁא בֶן אֲחִיָּה לְבֵית יִשָּׂשכָר, וַיַּכֵּהוּ בַעְשָׁא בְּגִבְּתוֹן אֲשֶׁר לַפְּלִשְׁתִּים, וְנָדָב וְכָל יִשְׂרָאֵל צָרִים עַל גִּבְּתוֹן. - And Baasha son of Achiya, of the house of Yissachar, conspired against him, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbeton, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadav and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbeton.
We already saw Baasha earlier in his war with Asa, but here Scripture goes back and describes from the beginning what happened in the kingdom of Israel: before Baasha there was Nadav, and only after two years did Baasha seize the throne, and now it tells how he did it. "He conspired against him" - a conspiracy, in which several men bind themselves together to bring down the king. And all this while Nadav and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbeton and fighting the Philistines. Precisely then Baasha found his opportunity to carry out a coup from within the house.
See how base his deed was. Even in the Knesset, which to put it mildly is not exactly a school of ethics, there are still rules: you may do anything, but when the prime minister is abroad you do not topple the government. I do not know whether it always works that way, but such a rule does exist among them. Baasha, however, hatches a conspiracy while his own king is fighting Israel's war against the Philistines. He said: he is fighting there, the king is not here, the army is not here, the field is clear, I will seize the throne right now.
וַיְמִתֵהוּ בַעְשָׁא בִּשְׁנַת שָׁלֹשׁ לְאָסָא מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה, וַיִּמְלֹךְ תַּחְתָּיו. - And Baasha put him to death in the third year of Asa king of Yehuda, and he reigned in his place.
The Fulfillment of the Prophecy of Achiya HaShiloni
וַיְהִי כְמָלְכוֹ הִכָּה אֶת כָּל בֵּית יָרָבְעָם, לֹא הִשְׁאִיר כָּל נְשָׁמָה לְיָרָבְעָם עַד הִשְׁמִדוֹ, כִּדְבַר ה' אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר בְּיַד עַבְדּוֹ אֲחִיָּה הַשִּׁילֹנִי. - And it was, when he became king, he struck down the entire house of Yaravam, he left no soul to Yaravam until he had destroyed him, according to the word of Hashem which He spoke through His servant Achiya HaShiloni.
He was not content with killing Nadav. And on one point Baasha was a "tzaddik" in double quotation marks: he fulfilled the prophecy of Hashem. For when the wife of Yaravam went to Achiya HaShiloni to ask about her son, the prophet told her that he alone would come to a grave, and all the rest Hashem would put to death by a strange death, leaving him no remnant or survivor. And who carried this out? Baasha. He struck down the entire house of Yaravam and left no soul, according to the word of Hashem through His servant Achiya HaShiloni.
עַל חַטֹּאות יָרָבְעָם אֲשֶׁר חָטָא וַאֲשֶׁר הֶחֱטִיא אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל, בְּכַעְסוֹ אֲשֶׁר הִכְעִיס אֶת ה' אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. - Because of the sins of Yaravam which he sinned and with which he caused Israel to sin, in his provocation with which he provoked Hashem the God of Israel.
Why did this come upon Yaravam? The prophet counts three levels. First, "which he sinned" - his own sins. Second, "and with which he caused to sin" - what he led others to sin. And third, if all this had still been done out of desire, there would have been some measure of merit in it, but "in his provocation with which he provoked Hashem the God of Israel" - he did it to provoke. And that is the most terrible of all.
Why Asa and Baasha Did Not Ally
וְיֶתֶר דִּבְרֵי נָדָב וְכָל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה, הֲלֹא הֵם כְּתוּבִים עַל סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים לְמַלְכֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. וּמִלְחָמָה הָיְתָה בֵּין אָסָא וּבֵין בַּעְשָׁא מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּל יְמֵיהֶם. - And the rest of the acts of Nadav, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
Anyone who does not recall should go back to verse 16, where exactly the same thing is stated: "And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days." Why the repetition? Here the verse comes to explain the reason for the war. After all, Baasha struck down the house of Yerovam, and Yerovam was the one who rebelled against Shlomo and raised his hand against the king. According to the well known principle, "Your enemy is my friend": when two people hate each other, your enemy is my ally, since we are both against you. There are situations in which two parties join together not out of a natural affection between them, but because of a shared foe. If so, it would have been fitting for Asa, who is of Shlomo's dynasty, to draw Baasha close and ally with him: Yerovam raised his hand against my grandfather, and Baasha came and struck him down. Baasha avenged the wrong done to my forefather! And yet there is no closeness between them but rather war all their days. Why?
בִּשְׁנַת שָׁלֹשׁ לְאָסָא מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה מָלַךְ בַּעְשָׁא בֶן אֲחִיָּה עַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּתִרְצָה עֶשְׂרִים וְאַרְבַּע שָׁנָה. וַיַּעַשׂ הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי ה' וַיֵּלֶךְ בְּדֶרֶךְ יָרָבְעָם וּבְחַטָּאתוֹ אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱטִיא אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל. - In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel in Tirtzah, twenty four years. And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the way of Yerovam and in his sin by which he caused Israel to sin.
He reigned twenty four years and lived long, and here the reason for Asa's hatred is given: "And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the way of Yerovam." Asa was a righteous king, and "evil shall not dwell with You," and the lot of the wicked will not fall together with the lot of the righteous. The righteous cannot tolerate the wicked. Since Baasha conducted himself this way, there was constant war between them, for although naturally Asa should have allied with him, he could not tolerate his evil conduct, and therefore he made war with him.
The Supplement from Divrei HaYamim II: The Greatness of Asa
To gain the complete picture of Asa's era, let us briefly study Divrei HaYamim II chapters 14 to 16. There it says: "And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, and he removed the foreign altars and the high places, and broke the pillars and cut down the asherim, and told Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to observe the Torah and the commandment, and he removed from all the cities of Judah the high places and the chamanim, and the kingdom was quiet before him." The "chamanim" were people who worshiped the sun. True, there are "sunflower folk" today as well, those who crack sunflower seeds all day, but back then these were actual idolaters.
"And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land was quiet and he had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him rest" - he had quiet, and he was able to build the cities of Judah. "And he said to Judah: Let us build these cities and surround them with wall and towers, doors and bars; the land is still ours because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him and He has given us rest all around. So they built and prospered."
The War with Zerach the Kushite: "There is none besides You to help between the mighty and the powerless"
"And Asa had an army bearing shields and spears from Judah, three hundred thousand, and from Benjamin those bearing shields and drawing bows, two hundred and eighty thousand; all these were mighty men of valor. And Zerach the Kushite came out against them with an army of a thousand thousand" - that is, a million men - "and three hundred chariots," for the chariots were to them what are called today tanks, "and he came to Mareshah. And Asa went out before him, and they set the battle in the Valley of Tzefatah at Mareshah."
Then Asa prays: "And Asa called to the Lord his God and said: Lord, there is none besides You to help between the mighty and the powerless; help us, O Lord our God, for on You we rely, and in Your name we have come against this multitude; O Lord, You are our God, let no man prevail against You." His intent: With You there is no difference between one who is mighty in strength and one who has no strength. The Holy One does not say "I will help you because you already have a bit of strength"; rather He can help even one who has no strength at all, and to the powerless He grants abundant might. Therefore on You we rely, and in Your name we have come against this multitude.
"And the Lord struck the Kushites before Asa and before Judah, and the Kushites fled. And Asa and the people with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and there fell of the Kushites so many that none of them remained alive, for they were shattered before the Lord and before His camp, and they carried off a very great spoil." "So that none of them remained alive" implies that they had no food to feed their army, and this was another of the causes of their downfall. "And they struck all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord was upon them, and they plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them; and they also struck the tents of livestock and took away sheep in abundance and camels, and returned to Jerusalem." An immense spoil fell into his hands.
The prophecy of Azariah ben Oded: "But you, be strong and let not your hands be weak"
In chapter 15: "And Azariah the son of Oded, the spirit of God was upon him, and he went out before Asa and said to him: Hear me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin, Hashem is with you when you are with Him, and if you seek Him He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him He will forsake you." The prophet tells them: If you walk in the way of Hashem, He will assist you, and you have seen this with your own eyes in the victory over the Cushites, and if you forsake Him He will forsake you.
"And for a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without Torah, and in their distress they returned to Hashem the God of Israel and sought Him, and He was found by them" - even though for a long period they were without the true God but served the false idols, and without a teaching priest and without Torah, nevertheless in their distress they returned to Hashem and sought Him and He was found by them. "And in those times there was no peace to him who went out or came in, for great tumults were upon all the inhabitants of the lands, and nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God confounded them with every distress" - the nations fought one another, for Hashem crushed them one against the other. "But you, be strong and let not your hands be weak, for there is reward for your work" - continue drawing near to Hashem and do not let your hands weaken, for there is reward for your work and Hashem will be at your aid.
"And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and removed the abominations from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had captured from Mount Ephraim, and he renewed the altar of Hashem that was before the porch of Hashem." "Oded the prophet" is Azariah ben Oded, for at times Scripture calls him by the name of his father. Asa takes courage, removes all the abominations, and renews the altar of Hashem.
"And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those who sojourned with them from Ephraim and Manasseh and from Simeon, for they fell to him from Israel in great numbers when they saw that Hashem his God was with him" - not only his own people, but also the people of Samaria, the people of the Kingdom of Israel from Ephraim and Manasseh and from Simeon, come and join him when they saw that Hashem was with him. "And they gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa, and they sacrificed to Hashem on that day from the spoil they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek Hashem the God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul, and whoever would not seek Hashem the God of Israel would be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman." What a righteous king, who brought about a complete transformation in the entire people. "And they swore to Hashem with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with shofars, and all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for with all their heart they had sworn and with all their will they sought Him, and He was found by them, and Hashem gave them rest all around."
"And also Maacah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen mother, because she had made an abominable image for an Ashera, and Asa cut down her abominable image and pulverized it" - meaning he ground it up - "and burned it in the Kidron valley." Maacah, as we recall from our chapter, was a great wicked woman. "But the high places were not removed from Israel, yet the heart of Asa was whole all his days." The high places were always places where people offered sacrifices to Hashem, and therefore people felt that in this they were doing the will of Hashem, and it was very difficult to convince the people that this was not desirable before Him after the Temple was built and the high places were forbidden. For this reason most of the kings did not succeed in removing the high places. "And he brought the holy things of his father and his own holy things into the House of God, silver and gold and vessels. And there was no war until the thirty fifth year of the reign of Asa."
The rebuke of Chanani the seer
In chapter 16: "In the thirty sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and he built the Ramah so as not to allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah." This is precisely the incident we read in our chapter, and it turns out that it was in the thirty sixth year. Until then: drawing near to Hashem, repentance, the eradication of all idol worship. And from here something begins to change. "And Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the House of Hashem and the house of the king, and he sent to Ben-Hadad king of Aram who dwelt in Damascus, saying: There is a covenant between me and you, and between my father and your father, behold I have sent you silver and gold, go break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel that he may withdraw from me... And it came to pass when Baasha heard, he ceased building the Ramah and stopped his work. And Asa the king took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of the Ramah and its timber which Baasha had built, and with them he built Geva and the Mitzpah."
"And at that time Chanani 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 Hashem your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand." The prophet says to him: The king of Aram should have been delivered into your hand just as the Cushites were delivered into your hand. Why were you frightened? What of it if you saw Baasha entering into an alliance with the king of Aram? You should have said to them: Come against me as you please, Hashem my God is with me! For thirty five years the Holy One accompanied you and helped you, and you have promises that as long as you walk in the way of Hashem He will be with you. And now the king of Aram has escaped from your hand, and you also lost money: you saw how much silver and gold he took from the Cushites, how much spoil he had? Thus you would have received spoil from Aram as well.
"Were not the Cushites and the Lubim a great army with very many chariots and horsemen, and when you relied on Hashem He gave them into your hand?" - there you trusted in Hashem and succeeded, so why did you not act this way now too? "For the eyes of Hashem range throughout the whole earth to strengthen those whose heart is whole toward Him, you have acted foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars." From now on Hashem will leave you to the way of nature, and you will be forced to fight wars like any king who must fight his enemies. Before, when you relied on Hashem, His eyes range throughout the whole earth and He assists you. Why did you go and do this folly, "you have acted foolishly"?
"And Asa was angry at the seer and put him in the prison house, for he was enraged with him over this, and Asa oppressed some of the people at that time. And behold, the acts of Asa, the first and the last" - both his righteous conduct, and how he later acted improperly - "are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel."
"He did not seek Hashem but the physicians"
"And Asa became diseased in the thirty ninth year of his reign in his feet, until the disease reached upward, and even in his illness he did not seek Hashem but rather the physicians." The illness held onto him for about four years (since he reigned forty one years), and "until upward" means that it began in the feet and rose upward, all the way to the head.
We must ask: what is the meaning of "he did not seek Hashem but rather the physicians"? After all, the Torah states "and he shall surely heal," and from here Chazal derived that permission was granted to the physician to heal. If so, what is the complaint against him? The Ramban says: what business do physicians have in the house of those who fear Hashem. A God fearing man, a great tzaddik, is forbidden to rely on the physicians; rather he must rely only on Hashem. But a person who is not on such a level of righteousness, if he relies on Hashem and does not go to physicians, his chances are great of eventually ending up in the hands of the Chevra Kadisha. Why? Because you are not on that level. Do not think that you are on lofty levels and do not need medicines or a doctor. On your level you are obligated to go to physicians, obligated to make an effort. But when a person stands on a lofty level like Asa king of Yehuda, from him it is demanded to rely on Hashem. And he did not rely; rather "he did not seek Hashem but the physicians."
His Burial: "We Burn for the Kings"
"And Asa lay with his fathers and died in the forty first year of his reign. And they buried him in his graves that he had dug for himself in the city of David, and they laid him in a resting place that was filled with spices and various kinds compounded by the perfumer's art, and they made for him a very great burning." "Compounded" means cooked, and a compound is a cooking: they would cook various kinds of spices and place them beside the deceased. The reason for this is that the deceased would give off an unpleasant odor, since there was no refrigeration in those days, and therefore they would place various kinds of spices to remove the bad odor. And it is quite possible, though I have not seen this stated explicitly, that since the disease afflicted his feet and the decay began spreading in them, already during his lifetime there were dead parts of him that had become foul, gangrene which is dead flesh, and therefore it was necessary to place abundant spices around him already during his lifetime, so that there would not be that bad odor.
"And they made for him a very great burning" - this is what Chazal said, "we burn for the kings." And let a person not err to think, as some have erred, that the meaning is that they burn the kings. Heaven forbid, it is not the custom of Israel to burn bodies, may Hashem protect us. Rather "we burn for the kings" means the vessels of the kings, his personal utensils: the clothing designated for him, the cup from which he drank, the plate on which he ate. These they would burn, so that no other person would come and use them, for that would be a disgrace to the king. And this itself shows the greatness of the king, that no one comes after him and uses what was designated for him.
In Summary:
In our chapter we saw Asa king of Yehuda pressed between Baasha and the king of Aram, choosing a political stratagem: a bribe from the treasures of the house of Hashem in order to break the covenant, and according to the Malbim he asked only for abstention, and Ben Hadad did more than that and struck the cities of Israel. Baasha withdrew to "Tirtza" - crushed and broken, as in the Targum - and the stones of Rama became in Asa's hands the fortifications of Geva and Mitzpa. On the other side we saw Nadav son of Yeravam walking in the ways of his father, and Baasha conspiring against him while Israel besieged Gibbeton, and destroying the entire house of Yeravam in fulfillment of the prophecy of Achiya the Shiloni, and nonetheless, because he was wicked, Asa the tzaddik could not tolerate his leadership. And from Divrei HaYamim we learned the depth of the story: thirty five years of devotion to Hashem, a miraculous victory over a million men from the army of Zerach the Cushite, a movement of teshuva among the entire people, and against this the "you have acted foolishly in this" of Chanani the seer regarding that moment when he leaned on the king of Aram and not on Hashem, the imprisonment of the prophet, the "forced labor" imposed on Torah scholars, and the illness of the feet in which he did not seek Hashem but the physicians. There is a great lesson here: one who merited that the eyes of Hashem roam toward him is demanded to remain leaning on Him even in the hour of testing, and each one according to his level.