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Baasha's object in this war, and what his preparations for it had been. It seems, that
Asa's father, Ahijah, had formed an alliance with the rising power of Syria under
Tabrimon ("good is Rimmon"),^265 with the view of holding Israel in check by placing
it between two enemies - Syria in the north and Judah in the south.
This "league" was, as we infer, discontinued by Asa during the earlier part of his reign,
when his confidence was more entirely placed in Jehovah his God. In these
circumstances Baasha eagerly sought and entered upon an alliance with Syria. His
primary object was to arrest the migration of Israelites into the kingdom of Judah, and
the growing influence of Asa upon his own subjects, consequent, as we know, upon his
great religious reformation (1 Kings 15:17). His secondary object was so to overawe
Jerusalem, as virtually to paralyze the power of Judah. The invasion was at first
successful, and Baasha penetrated as far as Ramah, about midway between Bethel and
Jerusalem, thus obtaining command of the two roads which led from the north and the
east to the Jewish capital. This, of course, implied not only the re-conquest of the
towns which Abijah had taken from Israel (2 Chronicles 13:19; comp. also 15:8), but
the complete isolation and domination of Jerusalem. Ramah was to be immediately
converted into a strong fortress.
In these straits Asa seems to have forgotten the manner in which his former brilliant
victory over Zerah had been obtained. Instead of relying wholly on Jehovah his God,
he appears to have imagined that his former policy in regard to Syria had been a
mistake. Like many who, on losing the first freshness of their faith, seek to combine
trust in the LORD with what they regard as most likely means of worldly success, Asa
entered into a new alliance^266 with Ben-Hadad, purchasing it with the silver and gold
treasured up in the Temple and in the royal palace.
He may have argued, that this did not imply a renunciation of his former allegiance to
Jehovah; that he had no personal intercourse with Syria, which, indeed, was far
separated from his dominions; that his was only a countermove to Baasha's schemes;
and that a similar league had, during the reign of his father, proved eminently
successful. But the result of an alliance so incongruous, and purchased in so dubious a
manner, proved the beginning of spiritual declension and of little honor or real benefit
to his country. Ben-Hadad was only too ready to entertain Asa's proposals. It could
never have been his real policy to strengthen the neighbor-state of Israel, and to
weaken that of Judah. On receiving the rich bribe, which made Judah virtually tributary
to him, he broke his league with Baasha, and immediately invaded Israel, overrunning
the northern territory, penetrating as far as the district of Chinneroth (Joshua 11:2;
12:3; 19:35), - which gave its name to the Lake of Gennesaret, -and occupying the land
of Naphtali. This threatening danger in the north of his dominions obliged Baasha
hastily to quit Ramah. Asa now summoned all Judah. The materials accumulated for
the fortress of Ramah were removed, and used for building two new forts, Geba ("the
(^)