1 Kings 15:17

Baasha had lost several of his cities. So he built Ramah to cut off all contact from then on, "that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah." He could not attack Asa without putting himself in danger. So he set out to stop his own subjects from leaving him and joining God's testimony... This pattern shows up again and again. People like Baasha still keep up a profession of true religion, though it is mixed with deadly errors — and they cannot bear a testimony near them that attracts souls.

Compare this verse with 1 Kings 15:33 and 16:8 and you meet a problem with the dates. By those references Baasha must have been dead ten years before the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign... The only apparent way out is to date "the thirty-sixth year" from the beginning of Judah as a kingdom separate from Israel. That would place the event in the sixteenth year of Asa's actual reign... Ramah stood on the main road from the northern kingdom. It would be only natural for Baasha to move at once and fortify this key city on the border, and so stop any more of his people going over to Asa.

Baasha and Asa king of Judah were at war all their days. Baasha made a treaty with Benhadad king of Syria, and he built up Ramah as a fort on his southern border. He wanted to stop, if he could, the flow of his own subjects into Judah, where the prosperity under Asa was drawing them.

Baasha, king of Israel, had become alarmed at the thought of some in Israel defecting to Judah. So he came and built Ramah as a buffer between the two companies. What a picture this is! Those who have left the Lord's center will do all they can to keep their followers from returning to the place the Lord has for them. This was not a direct attack on Judah, but Asa took it as an offense. Why then did he not appeal to God, as he did when the Ethiopians attacked?

Baasha, the king of Israel, comes up against Judah and starts to build Ramah. His goal is to shut Asa up in his kingdom so that he cannot get out. To block this, Asa leans on Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria. He sends him gifts, courts his alliance, and uses him to drive Baasha away. The plan looked like a success: the king of Israel abandoned Ramah... But what unfaithfulness in this godly king! He had defeated Zerah the Ethiopian and his army of a million men, yet he failed to commit his interests to the Lord. An alliance with the world may bring us advantages at first, but later we taste its bitter fruit.

He was very afraid of Baasha... "The fear of man brings a snare." How this reveals the weakness of man! After all the proofs of the LORD's mercy and power, Asa could turn away from Him like this and enter an unholy alliance with a pagan king. He got what he was after, and Baasha had to give up his plan. But God had watched it all... "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him." The Lord looks for faith, for confidence.