Study note

2 Chronicles 16:1

  • In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign: The book of Kings states that King Baasha, who reigned from 909 to 886 BC, died in the twenty-sixth year of Asa’s reign (1 Kings 16:8). One solution is that the Chronicles text might have errors and should instead read the fifteenth and sixteenth years, which would be about 895 BC, instead of the thirty-fifth (2 Chronicles 15:19) and thirty-sixth years of Asa. Another possibility is that the Chronicler counted these years from the division of the kingdom.

  • Ramah was located five miles north of Jerusalem near Geba and Mizpah (see 2 Chronicles 16:6). King Baasha expanded Israel deep into the territory of Benjamin, separating important territory from Judah shortly after Abijah’s victories (2 Chronicles 13:19).