1 Kings 15:18-19 Meaning: When a King with a Perfect Heart Turned to Bribery
18Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that was left in the treasures of Yahweh’s house, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered it into the hand of his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who lived at Damascus, saying,
19“Let there be a treaty between me and you, like that between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.”
18Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants: and king Asa sent them to Ben–hadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,
19There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.
18Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants; and king Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,
19There is a league between me and thee, between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.
18And Asa taketh all the silver and the gold that are left in the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the house of the king, and giveth them into the hand of his servants, and king Asa sendeth them unto Ben-Hadad, son of Tabrimmon, son of Hezion king of Aram, who is dwelling in Damascus, saying,
19`A covenant is between me and thee, between my father and thy father; lo, I have sent to thee a reward of silver and gold; go, break thy covenant with Baasha king of Israel, and he goeth up from off me.'
18And Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king's house, and gave them into the hand of his servants; and king Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying,
19There is a league between me and thee, [as] between my father and thy father; behold, I send thee a present of silver and gold: go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.
Meaning in one sentence
Why did King Asa, whose heart was perfect toward God, strip the temple treasury to hire a pagan ally? A look at fear, faith, and the cost of self-reliance.
Context
Asa was a good king. Earlier in the chapter we read that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, removed idols, and even deposed his own grandmother for making an idol. The text says his heart was completely devoted to God all his life. But then trouble came. Baasha, the king of the northern rival kingdom of Israel, built a fortress at Ramah just a few miles from Jerusalem, effectively blockading Asa. Instead of crying out to the Lord as he had done before, Asa panicked. He took the silver and gold that remained in the temple treasury, what he himself had dedicated to God, and sent it to Ben-Hadad, the pagan king of Syria. The plan was simple: pay him to switch sides and attack Israel, forcing Baasha to retreat. The strategy worked, but it revealed a heart that trusted in money and diplomacy more than in the God who had given him victory before.
Key Words
Three Hebrew words stand out in these verses. First, the word translated present in verse 19 is shochad (שֹׁחַד). Almost everywhere else in the Old Testament it means bribe. The same word is used in Exodus 23:8, where God commands: “You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight.” Asa called it a gift. The word itself says otherwise. Second, berit (בְּרִית) appears three times, “treaty” or covenant. This is the same word used for God’s covenant with His people. Asa treated a treaty with a pagan king as something that could be bought and sold. Third, Asa tells Ben-Hadad to haphar (הָפֵר), break your covenant with Baasha. The verb means to shatter or violate. Asa is asking a pagan king to commit an act of treachery, and using God’s own silver to pay for it. The words reveal the gap between Asa’s outward devotion and the fear that drove his decisions.
How Christians Read This Verse
Commentators across traditions see this as a low point in Asa’s reign. Matthew Henry notes that Asa “trusted not in the Lord” despite his earlier faithfulness, and that he acted against the plain rebuke of the prophet Hanani. The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown commentary calls it a sign of Asa’s religious decline. Adam Clarke writes that Asa “robbed the house of the Lord” to accomplish a goal he could have achieved through prayer. Patristic and medieval interpreters often point to this passage as a warning against mixing faith with worldly pragmatism. All traditions agree: even a devoted heart can stumble when fear takes hold. The lesson is not that Asa was a hypocrite, but that regular trust in God is harder than it looks.
A common misunderstanding
Some readers think Asa’s action was simply smart politics, that he used the temple treasures because he had no other option. In fact, Asa had already seen God give him a stunning victory over a vast Ethiopian army when he prayed simply, “Lord, it is nothing with you to help” (2 Chronicles 14:11). He had the same God available now. The mistake was not that he ran out of options; it was that he forgot the one option he already had.
Living This Out
Think of the last time you felt trapped. Maybe a relationships strained, your finances feel tight, or a decision at work seems impossible. Your first instinct might be to reach for whatever you have, your savings, your connections, your ability to manipulate a situation. Asa reached for silver and gold that belonged to God. That is the pull of fear: it makes us treat sacred things as bargaining chips. This week, before you try to solve your problem with your own resources, stop and ask: am I trusting the money in my hands more than the God who put it there? The question is not whether you can find a way out. The question is whether you will let God be your way out.
Main takeaway: Even a heart fully devoted to God can be tempted to trust silver and schemes over the God who has always been faithful in the past.
For Families
For ages 5, 8
King Asa was scared when another king blocked his city. Instead of asking God for help, he took the special gold from God’s house and gave it to a bad king to make him help. God wanted Asa to trust Him, not to buy help with gold.
For ages 9, 12
Asa had done a lot of good things for God. But when a real crisis came, he panicked. He took the silver and gold that had been given to God’s temple and sent it as a bribe to a foreign king. He forgot that God had already helped him win a huge battle when he just prayed. Asa’s story shows that even people who love God can make bad choices when they are afraid. The question for us is: when we feel trapped, do we reach for our own plans first, or do we talk to God first?
Questions People Ask
Why did Asa take treasures from the temple to pay Ben-Hadad?
Asa was being blockaded by Baasha king of Israel at Ramah, just north of Jerusalem. He feared being cut off from his kingdom. Rather than praying for deliverance as he had in the past, he decided to hire Ben-Hadad of Syria to break his treaty with Baasha and attack Israel from the north. The temple treasures were the most valuable assets he had, so he used them as a bribe.
Was Asa wrong to make an alliance with Ben-Hadad?
Most Christian commentators say yes. The prophet Hanani rebuked Asa for this exact action (2 Chronicles 16:7-9), telling him that because he relied on the king of Syria and not on the Lord, he had acted foolishly. Asa had already experienced God’s help in a much larger battle, so his lack of trust was a clear step backward in his faith.
What does the word 'league' mean in 1 Kings 15:19?
The word 'league' in older translations is synonymous with 'treaty' or 'covenant.' In Hebrew it is berit, the same word used for God’s covenant with Israel. Asa is asking Ben-Hadad to confirm a mutual defense pact, and then to break his existing pact with Baasha. The irony is that Asa treats a sacred covenant word as something that can be violated for the right price.
How does this passage show the tension between faith and pragmatism?
Asa faced a real military threat. A pragmatic response was to find an ally with a stronger army. But Asa had a track record of divine deliverance. The tension is that pragmatism can feel wise, yet it can bypass trust in God. The passage does not condemn using wisdom, but it shows that Asa’s first move was to the treasury, not to the Lord. That ordering reveals where his real trust lay.
What happened after this in Asa’s story?
The Syrian attack did force Baasha to withdraw, so Asa’s plan worked in the short term. But the prophet Hanani confronted Asa, and Asa responded by putting the prophet in prison. Later in his reign, Asa developed a severe foot disease but still did not seek the Lord, only the physicians. His later years show a man who drifted from the simple trust that marked his early life.
For pastors & researchers
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