1 Kings

1 Kings 16:1-6

Baasha led the people away from the Lord much like Jereboam.  Because he led the people to sin, Jehu delivered a prophecy against him.  He had provoked God to anger so that God took away his posterity.  His house would be like that of Jereboam whereas the gods would eat whoever died in the city and the birds would eat whoever died in the country.  This was a disgraceful death where no one could or would be able to bury them and remember them. 

Baasha died and was buried; and he would be the last of his line to have a grave.  Elah, his son became king.

1 Kings 16:7-14

Elah had a shor reign of two years, but it was long enough to establish that he was just like his father and just like Jereboam.  He promoted idolatry and led the people to sin also.  God had raised up a man for judgment and had made him commander of part of Elah's military.  Zimri plotted agaist Elah and killed him while he was drunk.  Zimri became king in his place.  The first thing he did was kill all the males of Baasha's family as well as his friends. 

1 Kings 16:15-20

While God used Zimri to bring judgment he was not to remain king.  He had only reigned 7 days when the people heard of Elah's death and responded by making Omri king. Omri was leader of the army and he went and took Tirzah.  When Zimri saw this he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned it down around him killing himself. 

While Zimri had a purpose, he also was guilty of walking in the ways of Jereboam and provoking the Lord to anger.  He also took part in bringing the people to sin.

1 Kings 16:21-28

The divided nation was divided even further.  The land was split when half the people followed Tibni as king and the other half followed Omri.  In the wake of all this idolatry and poor leadership there is only brokenness and division.  Omri prevailed of Tibni and became king.  He reigned 12 years, 6 years at Tirzah.  Omri built on the hill of Shemer and called it Samaria.  This became his capital of the Northern kingdom.  Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  When he died, Ahab, his son, becomes king. 

1 Kings 16:29-34

Ahab was king for 22 years and ruled from Samaria.  He did more evil than all who were before him.  We've seen that phrase several times.  Things are getting progressively worse as the nation gets further from the Lord.  The sin that was once unheard of in Israel was now a trivial matter; the things that used to be apalling and unheard of were now commonplace.  Such is the affect of sin on a nation. 

Ahab took a foreign wife in Jezebel.  This woman became symbolic and iconic of all evil.  Ahab and Jezebel led the nation to serve Baal and worship him.  They set up the Asherah, which was an idol they used to worship. 

As if to put an exclamation point on the idea that the nation was evil, under Ahab's reign was Hiel who decided to rebuild Jericho.  In Joshua 6:26 God restricted the rebuilding of Jericho but a prophecy was given that said someone would do it at the cost of his children.  It cost Hiel 2 of his sons in the attempt.  The firstborn would be lost with the laying of the foundation; the loss of the youngest at the setting of the gates.

©2016 Doug Ford