HEBREW WORD STUDY – RELIED UPON –  SHA’AN    נעשׁ  

II Chronicles 16:7: “At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.”

Asa was a Godly king.  The prophet came to Asa in II Chronicles 15:2 and said: “The Lord is with you, while you are with him. If you seek Him, He will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.”  Asa then led the nation of Judah into a covenant to seek the Lord with all their hearts and with all their souls. In fact, anyone who did not seek God was put to death. The Bible tells us in verse 15 that the nation found God and God gave them rest. Asa even removed his mother from her position as queen because she made an idol. Asa cut the idol down and burned it. He brought gold and silver into the temple and dedicated it to the Lord. For 35 years Judah lived in peace and prosperity and there was no war.

Then Baasha, the king of the Northern kingdom of Israel built a city called Ramah which cut off all trade to Judah.  Suddenly the economy of Judah was about to collapse, their food and water supply were under threat. After 35 years of trusting God, seeking God with all his heart, he fell into fear. He and Judah had lived 35 years in peace and prosperity and now with the threat of that prosperity ending, he fell into panic. Instead of going to the God, who had promised peace and prosperity and in 35 years never failed in that promise, Asa went to the temple, not to seek God, but to strip it of all the silver and gold and bring it to Syria pleading for their help. Syria was not necessarily an ally, but they were not an enemy. 

Well, the plan worked. Bassha dismantled the city of Ramah and peace and prosperity returned. But the prophet came to Asa in 16:7 and told Asa that because he relied on Syria rather than God, Syria will one day destroy Judah. Asa, in a rage, had the prophet thrown into prison. Four years later Asa came down with a disease in his feet.  It is believed that he developed an infection that spread throughout his body and for two years he lived in agony until he finally succumbed to the disease. 

I am looking at only one Hebrew word today.  It is the word nishe’aneta to rely upon.  Asa relied on Syria, not God.  This is from the root word sh’an. The word is spelled Shin Ayin Nun.  The Shin, and Ayin represents peace through spiritual insight. The final letter is Nun which represents faith.  Asa sought peace by placing his faith in his own insight.  For 35 years Asa knew the blessings of God.  After 35  years he grew comfortable with the blessings and forgot where the blessings came from and when he faced the threat of losing that blessing when the economy of Judah was about to collapse he became fearful he fell to his own reasoning or insight and ran to a godless nation for help. He placed his faith in man, in the arm of the flesh. He used the gold and silver, that he 35 years earlier had dedicated to God, to bribe this man this nation the arm of the flesh for help. 

We must never lose sight of where our blessings come from. Every time we eat a meal we need to thank God, every paycheck we get we need to thank God, every day we go to a job, we need to thank God, not that God will be  upset with us if we don’t say thank you but thank you is a reminder so we never forget where that meal comes from, or where that job comes from. For we are no different than Asa, we are blessed and if ever there is a threat to losing that blessing, we could easily forget where that blessing came from and run to human circumstance for a solution rather than to God.  Twenty four hours can change your life. It did for Asa.