2-Chronicles - 16:12



12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he didn't seek Yahweh, but to the physicians.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of 2-Chronicles 16:12.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.
And Asa fell sick in the nine and thirtieth year of his reign, of a most violent pain in his feet, and yet in his illness he did not seek the Lord, but rather trusted in the skill of physicians.
And Asa in the thirty-ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was extremely great; yet in his disease he did not seek Jehovah, but the physicians.
And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceedingly severe: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.
And Asa is diseased, in the thirty and ninth year of his reign, in his feet, till his disease is excessive, and also in his disease he hath not sought Jehovah, but among physicians.
In the thirty-ninth year of his rule, Asa had a very bad disease of the feet; but he did not go to the Lord for help in his disease, but to medical men.
And now Asa became ill, in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, with a very severe pain in his feet. And yet, in his infirmity, he did not seek the Lord. Instead, he trusted more in the skill of physicians.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Yet in his disease he sought not - Rather, "and also in his disease he sought not." Not only in his war with Baasha, but also when attacked by illness, Asa placed undue reliance upon the aid of man.

Diseased in his feet - He had a strong and long fit of the gout; this is most likely.
He sought not to the Lord - "He did not seek discipline from the face of the Lord, but from the physicians." - Targum.
Are we not taught by this to make prayer and supplication to the Lord in our afflictions, with the expectation that he will heal us when he finds us duly humbled, i.e., when the end is answered for which he sends the affliction?

And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease [was] (e) exceeding [great]: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the (f) physicians.
(e) God plagued his rebellion and by this declared that it is nothing to begin well, unless we continue to the end, that is, zealous of God's glory and put our whole trust in him.
(f) He shows that it is useless to seek the physicians unless we first seek God to purge our sins, which are the chief cause of all our diseases, and later use the help of the physicians as a means by which God works.

And Asa in the thirty ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet,.... This was about two years before his death, and his disease is generally thought to be the gout in his feet, and a just retaliation for putting the prophet's feet into the stocks:
until his disease was exceeding great; it increased upon him, and became very severe and intolerable, and the fits were frequent, as well as the pain sharper; though the sense of the Hebrew (m) phrase may be, that his disease got upwards, into a superior part of his body, head, or stomach, which, when the gout does, it is dangerous. A very learned physician (n) is of opinion, that not the gout, but what he calls an "aedematous" swelling of the feet, is meant, which insensibly gets up into the bowels, and is successively attended with greater inconveniences; a tension of the abdomen, difficulty of breathing, very troublesome to the patient, and issues in a dropsy, and death itself:
yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord; his seeking to physicians for help in his disease, perhaps, would not have been observed to his reproach, had he also sought unto the Lord, whom he ought to have sought in the first place; and when he applied to the physicians, he should have implored the blessing of God on their prescriptions; but he so much forgot himself as to forget the Lord: this is the first time we read of physicians among the Jews, and some think these were Heathens, and a sort of enchanters: the Jews entertained a very ill opinion of physicians; the best of them, they say (o), deserve hell, and they advise (p) men not to live in a city where the chief man is a physician; but the author of the book of Ecclesiasticus gives a great encomium of them, and exhorts to honour and esteem them,"1 Honour a physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him: for the Lord hath created him. 2 For of the most High cometh healing, and he shall receive honour of the king. 3 The skill of the physician shall lift up his head: and in the sight of great men he shall be in admiration. 4 The Lord hath created medicines out of the earth; and he that is wise will not abhor them. 5 Was not the water made sweet with wood, that the virtue thereof might be known? 6 And he hath given men skill, that he might be honoured in his marvellous works. 7 With such doth he heal men, and taketh away their pains. 8 Of such doth the apothecary make a confection; and of his works there is no end; and from him is peace over all the earth,'' (Sirach 38)Julian (q) the emperor greatly honoured them, and observes, that it is justly said by the philosophers, that the art of medicine fell from heaven.
(m) "usque ad supra", Montanus; "usque ad summum", Vatablus; "usque ad sursum", Piscator. (n) Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 4. p. 645. (o) T. Bab. Kiddashin, fol. 32. 1. Gloss. in ib. (p) T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 113. 1. (q) Opera, par. 2. p. 154.

Asa . . . was diseased in his feet--probably the gout.
yet his disease was exceeding great--better, "moved upwards" in his body, which proves the violent and dangerous type of the malady.
yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians--most probably Egyptian physicians, who were anciently in high repute at foreign courts, and who pretended to expel diseases by charms, incantations, and mystic arts. Asa's fault consisted in his trusting to such physicians, while he neglected to supplicate the aid and blessing of God. The best and holiest men have been betrayed for a time into sins, but through repentance have risen again; and as Asa is pronounced a good man (2-Chronicles 15:17), it may be presumed that he also was restored to a better state of mind.

Sought not - He did not humble himself before God, but put his confidence in the skill and faithfulness of his physicians. His making use of physicians was his duty, but his trusting in them, and expecting that from them, which was to be had from God only, was his sin and folly. The help of every creature must be used, with an eye to the creator, and in dependence on him, who makes every creature that to us which it is, without whom the most skilful and faithful are physicians of no value.

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