“Let there be a treaty between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 3. There is, Hebrew is indeterminate: “a league,” and so forth Septuagint “Make a league.… behold I have sent thee gold and silver. Come and drive away from me Baasa, king,” and so forth—That. Prot. “go, break thy league.” Bible.—Asa induces the king of Damascus to act perfidiously. Calmet.—Otherwise it is not unlawful to make use of the arms of infidels, unless where God has forbidden it. Grot. Jur. ii. 15. 9. Masius in Jos. ix. 15.—David had recourse to Achis, and the Machabees to the Romans. Calmet.—Some kings are blamed for making leagues with the princes of Israel, because they had been warned to the contrary; and Asa was severely reprehended, as he had already received such assurances of the divine protection, (Calmet. 14:12 and 15:7) that nothing but pusillanimity could have induced him ( Bible.) to give away the sacred treasures, in order to obtain this aid of the Syrian king, verse 7.