Prophet Old Testament

Prophet Hanani

Also known as Hanani · Hananiah

An Old Testament seer who rebuked King Asa of Judah for trusting in a foreign alliance rather than in the Lord, and was imprisoned for his words (2 Chronicles 16).

Feast Day

March 27

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Commemorated as

The Holy Prophet Hanani the Seer

Life

Hanani was an Old Testament seer who prophesied in the kingdom of Judah during the reign of King Asa, in the ninth century B.C. He is known from a single episode recorded in the Second Book of Chronicles, in which he rebuked the king for relying on a foreign military alliance rather than on the Lord, and was imprisoned for his words. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on March 27.

According to the account in 2 Chronicles, when Baasha king of Israel fortified Ramah to cut off the territory of Judah, Asa sent silver and gold from the Temple and the royal treasury to Ben-Hadad I, king of Syria, to secure his help against Israel. Hanani came to the king and declared that because Asa had relied on the king of Syria and not on the Lord his God, the Syrian army had escaped his hand; he reminded the king that trust in God had previously delivered far larger forces to him, and warned that from that time wars would not cease against Judah.

The name Hanani is understood to mean 'God is gracious' or 'God has gratified me.' His rebuke of Asa appears only in 2 Chronicles and has no parallel in the corresponding narrative of 1 Kings. By tradition he is identified as the father of the prophet Jehu, who likewise carried prophetic rebukes to the kings of both Israel and Judah.

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The Rebuke of King Asa

The synaxarion places the episode in the thirty-sixth year of the kingdom, during a conflict between Judah under Asa and Israel under Baasha. Rather than trusting in divine deliverance as he had done earlier in his reign, Asa purchased the intervention of Ben-Hadad of Syria with treasures drawn from the house of God. Hanani's message turned on this misplaced reliance: the very alliance that seemed to secure victory had, in the prophet's words, allowed the Syrian army to escape Asa's hand, depriving him of a fuller deliverance.

Angered by the rebuke, Asa had the prophet bound and cast into prison. The Chronicler notes that the king also dealt harshly with some of the people at the same time, and Hanani is said to have had supporters whose protests were likewise suppressed. The Orthodox tradition relates that the prophet afterward reposed in peace.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints