And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.
Here is, I. A plain and faithful reproof given to Asa by a prophet of the Lord, for making this league with Baasha. The reprover was Hanani the seer, the father of Jehu, another prophet, whom we read of Kg1 16:1; Ch2 19:2. We observed several things amiss in Asa's treaty with Benhadad.
Commenting on 2 Chronicles 16:7-14
Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen?.... They were no less than 1,000,000 men, and three hundred chariots, Ch2 14:9, the Lubim were the Libyans, a people near Egypt, that dwelt in Africa; according to an Arabic writer (l), they were the Nubians: yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine...
Hanani the seer came to Asa . . . and said--His object was to show the king his error in forming his recent league with Ben-hadad. The prophet represented the appropriation of the temple treasures to purchase the services of the Syrian mercenaries, as indicating a distrust in God most blameable with the king's experience.