1 Kings 15-16 part 10

 

Last week we read about what happened to Jeroboam and Rehoboam during their reigns tonight we will be examining several kings that come after Jeroboam who ruled of over the northern kingdom and the next king who came after Rehoboam who ruled over southern kingdom Judah. As we examine these various Kings we be looking at what 2 Chronicles has to say about them as well as it offers more details of what happens during the reigns of these kings. Let us begin in,

 

1 Kings 15:1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah.  2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maachah (may-ah-kah) the granddaughter of Abishalom.  3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.  4 Nevertheless for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem;  5 because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.  6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.  7 Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.  8 So Abijam rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place.  

 

Please remember the Abijam was Rhoboam’s son and all that 1 Kings reveals to us is that his rein only lasted 3 years and that he followed in dad’s footsteps. We also learn that Abijam continued to fight with Jeroboam as his father did. Now the only reason that God continued to allow Judah to have more kings on David’s thrown was because of David himself and his faithfulness. But lets learn more about reign of Abijam as we look at,

 

2 Chronicles 13:1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.  2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Michaiah (my-kye-uh) the daughter of Uriel (U-rye-l) of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.  3 Abijah set the battle in order with an army of valiant warriors, four hundred thousand choice men. Jeroboam also drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand choice men, mighty men of valor.  4 Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, (zim-ah-ray-im) which is in the mountains of Ephraim, and said, "Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel:  5 "Should you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt?

 

Here we learn about one of the confrontations between Judah and Israel. Abijah is speaking to his adversary trying to convince them to give up by saying it hopeless for them to fight against God.

 

2 Chronicles 13:6 "Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord.  7 "Then worthless rogues gathered to him, and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and inexperienced and could not withstand them.  

 

Jeroboam had no intentions of surrendering against this young inexperienced man but now let read what else Abijah says in,

 

2 Chronicles 13:8 "And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD, which is in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and with you are the gold calves which Jeroboam made for you as gods.  9 "Have you not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests, like the peoples of other lands, so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of things that are not gods?  10 "But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests who minister to the LORD are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their duties.  11 "And they burn to the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense; they also set the showbread in order on the pure gold table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps to burn every evening; for we keep the command of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken Him.  12 "Now look, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!"

 

He was doing his best to try and convince them that the Judah was truly the nation of God and that it would be pointless to fight against them since God was on their side. Well, despite his great effort to persuade them it didn’t work as we read in,

 

2 Chronicles 13:13 But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them; so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them.  14 And when Judah looked around, to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear; and they cried out to the LORD, and the priests sounded the trumpets.  15 Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.  16 And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand.  17 Then Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter; so five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain.  18 Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time; and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD God of their fathers.

 

One of the themes that you are going to see throughout these different reigns is when a king would rely upon God instead of themselves or someone else God will help them defeat their enemy. This event must have been one of the few times that Abijah relied upon God or did things the way that God had commanded because our account in 1 Kings tells us that he walked in the ways of his father Rhoboam. So while he has some good qualities these were over shadowed by sin in his life. This also shows us today that we should always rely upon God first to help us with our problems if we do we can feel confident that God will put a plan in place through his providence  that will help up be victorious over our problem.

 

2 Chronicles 13: 19 And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took cities from him: Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah (juh-shay-nuh) with its villages, and Ephrain (ee-freh-em) with its villages.  20 So Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the LORD struck him, and he died.  21 But Abijah grew mighty, married fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.  22 Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways, and his sayings are written in the annals of the prophet Iddo.  NKJ 2 Chronicles 14:1 So Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.  

 

So as you can see 2 Chronicles gives us much more detail about this king. We learn that in his lifetime he had married 14 wives and had a total of 38 kids. One of his sons names Asa became the next king in his place and we will talk more about him next week, but we do learn that the first 10 years of his reign are peaceful. For the rest of our study tonight we will now be looking at the northern kingdom and several of its kings. The first king we will examine is Nadab who was Jeroboam’s son.

 

 1 Kings 15:25 Now Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.  26 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin.  27 Then Baasha (bay-uh-shah) the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha (bay-uh-shah)  killed him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon.  28 Baasha (bay-uh-shah)  killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.  29 And it was so, when he became king, that he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam anyone that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the LORD which He had spoken by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite,  30 because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he had sinned and by which he had made Israel sin, because of his provocation with which he had provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.  31 Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 

We don’t learn a great deal about Nadab other than his reign was very short just 2 years and that he followed in his farther footsteps. The only significant event that happens is that he lead a siege against the Philistines at Gibbethon located here on the map. This is also where loses his life to a fellow Jew named Baasha (bay-uh-shah)  along with all his household which fulfilled one of the prophecies that Ahijah said would happen in 1 Kings 14:14 which once again shows that God keeps his promises. Now Baasha (bay-uh-shah) is the new king of Israel.

 

 

 

1 Kings 15:32 And there was war between Asa (ay-sah) and Baasha (bay-uh-shah) king of Israel all their days.  33 In the third year of Asa(ay-sah)  king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah became king over all Israel in Tirzah, (tur-zuh) and reigned twenty-four years.  34 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin.

 

Again I want to say that we will be looking at Asa (ay-sah)  next week. But one thing I want you to know is that during Asa (ay-sah)  long reign of 41 years there were 8 kings that rose and fell in the northern kingdom this is why you keep seeing for instance that Baasha (bay-uh-shah) became king during the third year of Asa(ay-sah)   reign. Baasha reigned for 24 years and did so from Tirzah as seen here on the map and once again we have another bad king that did not follow God and this will be the pattern for every king of the northern kingdom because not one of them was good.

 

We also learn from 2 Chron. 16:1 that Baasha (bay-uh-shah) went down to Ramah and build this city up to prevent the children of Israel of going to Judah to worship. This was the city where Samuel was born and it was just a few miles from Jerusalem but Baasha efforts failed because King Asa (ay-sah)  made an agreement Ben-Hadad who attacked the northern kingdom and made them leave the city of Ramah.

 

1 Kings 16:1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani, (hah-nah-nigh) against Baasha, (bay-uh-shah)  saying:  2 "Inasmuch as I lifted you out of the dust and made you ruler over My people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made My people Israel sin, to provoke Me to anger with their sins,  3 "surely I will take away the posterity of Baasha (bay-uh-shah) and the posterity of his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.  4 "The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Baasha and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the fields."  5 Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, (bay-uh-shah) what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?  6 So Baasha rested with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah. Then Elah his son reigned in his place.  7 And also the word of the LORD came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani (hah-nah-nigh)  against Baasha(bay-uh-shah)  and his house, because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD in provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he killed them.  8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa (ay-sah) king of Judah, Elah (ee-la) the son of Baasha became king over Israel, and reigned two years in Tirzah.  9 Now his servant Zimri, (zimm-rye) commander of half his chariots, conspired against him as he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah.  10 And Zimri went in and struck him and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa (ay-sah) king of Judah, and reigned in his place.  11 Then it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he was seated on his throne, that he killed all the household of Baasha; he did not leave him one male, neither of his relatives nor of his friends.  12 Thus Zimri destroyed all the household of Baasha, (bay-uh-shah) according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,  13 for all the sins of Baasha (bay-uh-shah) and the sins of Elah (ee-la) his son, by which they had sinned and by which they had made Israel sin, in provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.  14 Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 

Once again we are not given any great details here but we can see that Baasha is going to suffer the same fate at Jeroboams household did because of his evil ways and because he killed Jeroboam’s household. As we read Baasha’s son Elah reins for 2 years but had bit of drinking problem and while he was all liquored up his servant Zimri kills him and Baasha’s entire household as foretold by Jehu and Zimri becomes the new king. Well, at least for 7 days.

 

1 Kings 16:15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri had reigned in Tirzah seven days. And the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.  16 Now the people who were encamped heard it said, "Zimri has conspired and also has killed the king." So all Israel made Omri, (um-rih) the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.  17 Then Omri (um-rih) and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon, and they besieged Tirzah.  18 And it happened, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house down upon himself with fire, and died,  19 because of the sins which he had committed in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he had committed to make Israel sin.  20 Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the treason he committed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 

Zimri reign was very short and full of turmoil because of the evil thing that he did.When he saw the people were getting close to him he committed suicide by burning himself up in his house. Next we find out there is division over who would be the next king over Israel.

 

1 Kings 16:21 Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni (tib-nie)the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri.  22 But the people who followed Omri (um-rih) prevailed over the people who followed Tibni (tib-nie)the son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri reigned.  23 In the thirty-first year of Asa (ay-sah)  king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and reigned twelve years. Six years he reigned in Tirzah. (tur-zuh)

 

During this time when the division occurred these two men were reigning at the same time as king for about 4 to 5 years before Tibni (tib-nie)dies and leaves Omri as the only King over all of Israel. The way I know that this took 4 to 5 years is by doing simply math. We can see that Zimri the previous king died during the 27th year of Asa  in verse 15 and Omri (um-rih)  didn’t become the one king of Israel until 31st year of Asa which makes 4 to 5 years. All together Omri (um-rih) reigned for 12 years. Now watch what happens to him as we finish up lesson tonight.

 

 

 

1 Kings 16:24 And he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; then he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, Samaria, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill.  25 Omri (um-rih) did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all who were before him.  26 For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.  27 Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?  28 So Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. Then Ahab his son reigned in his place.

 

Just when you think that no one could be more evil than some of the previous kings Omri pulls it off as he is labeled as worse than all who were before him. One his main works recorded for us was buying this hill of Samaria and building a city on it and then following the pattern of Jeroboam and setting up idols to worship instead of worshiping God. Then finally we learn that his son Ahab takes his place as king. We will be looking at Ahab later as the Bible has much to say about this evil man. Please don’t forget to keep the hand out I gave you which shows the order of the kings and most of the prophets that we will be dealing with. Just as suggestion you might want mark the Kings that we cover as we go so that you can easily see which ones we will be talking about next.