1 Kings 15:25-16:28

1 Kings 15:25-16:28

Now it is time to take a look at the kings of Israel that followed Jeroboam. Remember how the timelines work in the book of Kings and you will not get lost. When Jeroboam died, Asa was king in Judah. He remained the king in Judah through the reigns of Nadab and Baasha (the next 2 kings in Israel who we have already met). Nadab, like his father Jeroboam, did not follow God’s commands. Instead, he led Israel down a path of sin. He was only on the throne for 2 years before Baasha took over.


God had promised Jeroboam that the kingdom would eventually be stripped from his family. Although his son would be allowed to rule over Israel for a time, destruction was part of his punishment for not following God’s commands. Then, when Nadab decided to follow in the steps of his father and not help lead the nation back to God, God used Baasha to overthrow Nadab. Nadab was killed in the heat of battle, and Baasha took the throne.

Although God used Baasha to fulfill His purposes in removing Jeroboam and his family from the throne of Israel, Baasha did not continue to follow God. Instead, he followed Jeroboam’s example, who had also been used by God in a similar situation but in the end turned from God and did things his own way. Therefore, God responded in a very similar fashion. He sent Jehu, a prophet, to Baasha and warned him of his coming destruction. Because of his disobedience and his decision to follow in the ways of Jeroboam, God decided that He would destroy the house of Baasha as well.

After his death, Elah took the throne in Israel (while Asa was still reigning in Judah). Like those before him, he did not follow God. As a result, another man by the name of Zimri rose up seeking to overthrow him, which he did. Elah had a short reign of only 2 years, and Zimri took the throne after him. Zimri also destroyed anyone and everyone associated with the house of Baasha, once again fulfilling the prophecy that God had made. Zimri took the throne (while Asa continued to reign in Israel), but he too had a very short reign. Hearing that Zimri had gone out and killed their king, the Israelites revolted against him, choosing a man by the name of Omri as their new king. They sent him to go in and confront Zimri, but when Zimri heard of their revolt, he shut himself up in his house, set it on fire, and let it fall on top of him, thus killing himself. This gave the throne over to Omri.

Omri did not get the throne easily, for Israel was split on who to promote as king. Although he eventually received the honor, he had to battle it out with another man, Tibni, first. But even after he was chosen to lead Israel, he chose to disobey God, and 1 Kings 16 tells us that he was the worst king Israel had seen up to that point. He was worse than any of the kings that had come before him. Although he had a fairly long reign of about 12 and ½ years, he eventually died, and the throne was given to his son, Ahab.

Do you feel like you are reading the same story over and over again? 1 Kings 15-16 seem to be quite repetitive, but that is due to the sinfulness of these kings. You would think that after seeing how God had consistently dealt with the kings that had come before them, that they would decide to actually follow God. But instead, they continued to do things their own way and led the nation of Israel further away from God. But before we cast too much judgment on these kings (although they deserve it in some ways), we are not that much different. We have the advantage of reading their stories, seeing how God dealt with them thousands of years ago, and yet we do some of the very things. We have our own idols, things that cause us to turn away from God today. We have our own sins that trap us. And do we turn back to God or do we try to do things our own way? The truth is that we are all sinners, and we all have times in our lives where we drift from God. So we must let these tragic stories be a warning to us. We must decide to not allow sin to control us. We must decide to live for God daily, giving our lives over to Him. May we follow in the ways of Asa (king of Judah) who followed God. While all this turmoil was going on in Israel, and they were replacing their king every few years, Judah was in a time of peace as they continued to follow God.

Matt