Context No. 254 of 4322 · 1 Kings

1 Kings 15:25-34: in context

25Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah; and he reigned over Israel two years. 26He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin. 27Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha struck him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon. 28Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha killed him and reigned in his place. 29As soon as he was king, he struck all the house of Jeroboam. He didn’t leave to Jeroboam any who breathed, until he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite; 30for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and with which he made Israel to sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger. 31Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 32There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 33In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel in Tirzah for twenty-four years. 34He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.

This passage is another turn of the same grim wheel in the northern kingdom, one dynasty earlier than the palace murders that follow. Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, is king, and like his father he does evil in the LORD's sight. While he is besieging a Philistine town, a man named Baasha conspires against him, kills him, takes the throne, and then destroys every last member of Jeroboam's household, leaving no one alive who breathed.

The writer says this fulfilled a prophet's word against Jeroboam's house, so on one level it is judgment falling exactly where it was promised. But watch what Baasha does with his new throne. He has just wiped out Jeroboam's entire line, and then the text says he walked in the way of Jeroboam and in the sin with which he made Israel to sin. He destroyed the family and kept the sin. The very thing he executed Jeroboam's house for, he took up himself and carried on for twenty-four years. The phrase made Israel to sin repeats through these verses like a refrain, attached to one king after another, long after Jeroboam himself is dust.

That is the quiet horror of it. You can wipe out the man and inherit his worst habit in the same breath. Baasha thought he was ending Jeroboam and was actually continuing him. What have I condemned in someone else, and worked hard to be rid of, only to carry on doing myself?

Sources

1 Kings 14:7-11: the prophet Ahijah's word against the house of Jeroboam, fulfilled here
1 Kings 15:29-30: Baasha destroying the whole house of Jeroboam for the sin of Jeroboam
1 Kings 15:34: Baasha himself walking in the way of Jeroboam and the sin he made Israel commit