Two chapters cover roughly fifty years and eight kings, and the verdicts run together: “he did evil in the sight of the LORD… walked in the way of Jeroboam… made Israel to sin… to provoke the LORD to anger.” Dynasty replaces dynasty by assassination — Baasha wipes out Jeroboam’s house, Zimri wipes out Baasha’s and lasts seven days, Omri takes the throne. And it ends with Ahab, who did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him — and who marries Jezebel.
A study in 1 Kings 15-16 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 8 min read
A Lamp In Jerusalem
“And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father. Nevertheless for David’s sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem:”
1 Kings 15:3-4
This is about Abijam of Judah — a bad king — and the reason the line survives him is not his own worth: “nevertheless for David’s sake.” God keeps “a lamp in Jerusalem” burning for the sake of a promise made two generations back. The Davidic covenant is doing quiet, load-bearing work all through Kings, holding the southern line together when the men on the throne do not deserve it.
Asa Did That Which Was Right
“And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father… But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa’s heart was perfect with the LORD all his days.”
1 Kings 15:11-14
One bright spot: Asa of Judah. The book’s summary formula for a good king is “his heart was perfect with the LORD” — the exact standard Solomon failed. It is not a claim of sinlessness; Asa leaves the high places standing, and later leans on a foreign alliance instead of God. But the direction of his life is set toward the LORD, and Kings counts that as “right.”
In Being Like The House Of Jeroboam
“Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam… And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD… in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed him.”
1 Kings 16:2-7
God’s word to Baasha is almost verbatim what He said to Jeroboam: I raised you “out of the dust,” and you did the same evil. Baasha had been God’s instrument to destroy Jeroboam’s house — and is condemned both for the idolatry and “because he killed him.” Being used by God to carry out a judgment does not make a man righteous; Baasha’s own sins bring the same axe down on his own line.
Ahab Did More To Provoke The LORD Than All Before Him
“And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him… And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.”
1 Kings 16:30-33
Jeroboam’s calves were at least meant to be worship of the LORD, badly done. Ahab drops the pretence: he marries Jezebel, a Sidonian princess and zealous Baal-worshipper, builds Baal a temple in the capital, and makes Baal the state religion. The narrator’s verdict — worse than everyone before him — sets the stage. It is into this that God sends a man from Gilead with a message about the weather.
