2 Chronicles 16:14

_AND THEY BURIED HIM IN HIS OWN SEPULCHRES, WHICH HE HAD MADE FOR HIMSELF IN THE CITY OF DAVID, AND LAID HIM IN THE BED WHICH WAS FILLED WITH SWEET ODOURS AND DIVERS KINDS OF SPICES PREPARED BY THE APOTHECARIES' ART: AND THEY MADE A VERY GREAT BURNING FOR HIM._ They buried him in his own sepulchres. The tombs in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem were excavated in the side of a rock. One cave contained several tombs or sepulchres. AND LAID HIM IN THE BED ... FILLED WITH SWEET ODOURS AND DIVERS KINDS OF SPICES. It is evident that a sumptuous public funeral was given him, as a tribute of respect and gratitude for his pious character and patriotic government. But whether "the bed" means a state couch, on which he lay exposed to public view, the odoriferous perfumes being designed to neutralize the offensive smell of the corpse, or whether it refers to an embalmment, in which aromatic spices w...

Verse 2 Chronicles 16:14. _AND LAID HIM IN THE BED_] It is very likely that the body of Asa was _burnt_; that the _bed_ spoken of here was a _funeral_ _pyre_, on which much _spices_ and _odoriferous woods_ had been placed; and then they set fire to the whole and consumed the body with the aromatics. Some think the body was not burned, but the _aromatics_ only, in honour of the king. How the ancients treated the bodies of the illustrious dead we learn from _Virgil_, in the funeral rites paid to _Misenus_. Nec minus interea _Misenum_ in littore Teucri Flebant, et cineri ingrato suprema ferebant. Principio pinguem taedis et robore secto Inge

The explanation of the plural - “sepulchres” - will be seen in 1 Kings 13:30 note. The burning of spices in honor of a king at his funeral was customary (compare the marginal references)....

EXPOSITION The contents of this chapter fall easily into three parts: Asa's conflict with Baasha (2 Chronicles 16:1; parallel, 1 Kings 15:16-11); Hanani's rebuke of Asa, and Asa's ill reception of it (2 Chronicles 16:7); the disease, death, and burial of Asa (2 Chronicles 16:11; parallel, 1 Kings 15:23, 1 Kings 15:24)....

AND THEY BURIED HIM IN HIS OWN SEPULCHRES WHICH HE HAD MADE FOR HIMSELF IN THE CITY OF DAVID,.... Where was the burying place of the kings of Judah; here Asa had ordered a vault to be made for himself and his family, and therefore called sepulchres, because of the several cells therein to put separate bodies in: AND LAID HIM IN THE BED; not only laid him out, as we express it, but laid him on a bed of state, where he lay in great pomp; or the funeral bed, which, with other nations r, used to be strowed with sweet smelling flowers and herbs, as follows: WHICH WAS FILLED WITH SWEET ODOURS, AND DIVERS KINDS OF SPICES PREPARED BY THE APOTHECARIES ART; or rather confectioner or druggist; for it is a question whether there were then any such we call apothecaries; this bed was strowed with spices, myrrh, aloes, cassia, cinnamon, c. and which perhaps might be made up into a liquid, which was s...

CHAPTER 16 ASA'S RELAPSE AND DEATH _ 1. War between Asa and Baasha (2 Chronicles 16:1)_ 2. Hanani's rebuke (2 Chronicles 16:7) 3. Hanani imprisoned (2 Chronicles 16:10) 4. Asa's illness and death (2 Chronicles 16:12) Much has been made by critics of the supposed wrong date, the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa. Compare 1 Kings 15:33 with the first verse of this chapter to see the apparent discrepancy. If the invasion of Judah by Baasha occurred shortly after

Taken from 1 Kings 15:16 with unimportant variations. 2 CHRONICLES 16:7. With the words of 2 Chronicles 16:9, from henceforth thou shalt have wars, contrast 1 Kings 15:16, and there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days. 2 CHRONICLES 16:11. With the words a very great burning (2 Chronicles 16:14) _cf._...

SEPULCHRES. a great sepulchre. Plural of majesty. MADE FOR HIMSELF. Not infrequently done. Compare Matthew 27:60; John 19:38. SWEET ODOURS AND DIVERS KINDS. Figure of speech _Hendiadys_ (App-6), emphasizing the many kinds of odours. Omit "of spices". VERY GREAT BURNING: i.e. of the odours previously mentioned, but not of incense, or of the sin offering. Compare 2 Chronicles 21:19. Heb, _saraph._ App-43....

_in his own sepulchres_ In 1 Kin. _with his fathers_. _which he had made for himself_ R.V. WHICH HE HAD HEWN OUT FOR HIMSELF. This clause is absent from 1 Kin. _divers kinds_of spices] Mark 16:1; John 12:3; John 12:7; John 19:39-40. _a very great burning_ Cp. 2 Chronicles 21:19. What is here meant is not cremation of the body, but only a burning of spices; Jeremiah 34:5....

4. THE REIGN OF ASA (14-16) TEXT 2 Chronicles 14:1. So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years. 2. And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Jehovah his God: 3. for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and brake down the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, 4. and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. 5. Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images: and the kingdom was quiet before him. 6. And he built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because Jehovah had given him rest. 7, For he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars; the