-
1. Then the wordH1697of the LORDH3068came to JehuH3058the sonH1121of HananiH2607against Baasha,H1201saying,H559
-
2. Forasmuch as I exaltedH7311thee out of the dust,H6083and madeH5414thee princeH5057over my peopleH5971Israel;H3478and thou hast walkedH3212in the wayH1870of Jeroboam,H3379and hast made my peopleH5971IsraelH3478to sin,H2398to provoke me to angerH3707with their sins;H2403
-
3. Behold, I will take awayH1197the posterityH310of Baasha,H1201and the posterityH310of his house;H1004and will makeH5414thy houseH1004like the houseH1004of JeroboamH3379the sonH1121of Nebat.H5028
-
4. Him that diethH4191of BaashaH1201in the cityH5892shall the dogsH3611eat;H398and him that diethH4191of his in the fieldsH7704shall the fowlsH5775of the airH8064eat.H398
-
5. Now the restH3499of the actsH1697of Baasha,H1201and what he did,H6213and his might,H1369are they not writtenH3789in the bookH5612of the chroniclesH3117ofH1697the kingsH4428of Israel?H3478
-
6. So BaashaH1201sleptH7901with his fathers,H1and was buriedH6912in Tirzah:H8656and ElahH425his sonH1121reignedH4427in his stead.
-
7. And also by the handH3027of the prophetH5030JehuH3058the sonH1121of HananiH2607came the wordH1697of the LORDH3068against Baasha,H1201and against his house,H1004even for all the evilH7451that he didH6213in the sightH5869of the LORD,H3068in provoking him to angerH3707with the workH4639of his hands,H3027in being like the houseH1004of Jeroboam;H3379and because he killedH5221him.
-
8. In the twentyH8141andH6242sixthH8337yearH8141of AsaH609kingH4428of JudahH3063began ElahH425the sonH1121of BaashaH1201to reignH4427over IsraelH3478in Tirzah,H8656two years.H8141
-
9. And his servantH5650Zimri,H2174captainH8269of halfH4276his chariots,H7393conspiredH7194against him, as he was in Tirzah,H8656drinkingH8354himself drunkH7910in the houseH1004of ArzaH777steward of his houseH1004in Tirzah.H8656
-
10. And ZimriH2174went inH935and smoteH5221him, and killedH4191him, in the twentyH6242and seventhH7651yearH8141of AsaH609kingH4428of Judah,H3063and reignedH4427in his stead.
-
11. And it came to pass, when he began to reign,H4427as soon as he satH3427on his throne,H3678that he slewH5221all the houseH1004of Baasha:H1201he leftH7604him not one that pissethH8366against a wall,H7023neither of his kinsfolks,H1350nor of his friends.H7453
-
12. Thus did ZimriH2174destroyH8045all the houseH1004of Baasha,H1201according to the wordH1697of the LORD,H3068which he spakeH1696against BaashaH1201byH3027JehuH3058the prophet,H5030
-
13. For all the sinsH2403of Baasha,H1201and the sinsH2403of ElahH425his son,H1121by which they sinned,H2398and by which they made IsraelH3478to sin,H2398in provoking the LORDH3068GodH430of IsraelH3478to angerH3707with their vanities.H1892
-
14. Now the restH3499of the actsH1697of Elah,H425and all that he did,H6213are they not writtenH3789in the bookH5612of the chroniclesH3117ofH1697the kingsH4428of Israel?H3478
-
15. In the twentyH8141andH6242seventhH7651yearH8141of AsaH609kingH4428of JudahH3063did ZimriH2174reignH4427sevenH7651daysH3117in Tirzah.H8656And the peopleH5971were encampedH2583against Gibbethon,H1405which belonged to the Philistines.H6430
-
16. And the peopleH5971that were encampedH2583heardH8085say,H559ZimriH2174hath conspired,H7194and hath also slainH5221the king:H4428wherefore all IsraelH3478made Omri,H6018the captainH8269of the host,H6635kingH4427over IsraelH3478that dayH3117in the camp.H4264
-
17. And OmriH6018went upH5927from Gibbethon,H1405and all IsraelH3478with him, and they besiegedH6696Tirzah.H8656
-
18. And it came to pass, when ZimriH2174sawH7200that the cityH5892was taken,H3920that he wentH935into the palaceH759of the king'sH4428house,H1004and burntH8313the king'sH4428houseH1004over him with fire,H784and died,H4191
-
19. For his sinsH2403which he sinnedH2398in doingH6213evilH7451in the sightH5869of the LORD,H3068in walkingH3212in the wayH1870of Jeroboam,H3379and in his sinH2403which he did,H6213to make IsraelH3478to sin.H2398
-
20. Now the restH3499of the actsH1697of Zimri,H2174and his treasonH7195that he wrought,H7194are they not writtenH3789in the bookH5612of the chroniclesH3117ofH1697the kingsH4428of Israel?H3478
-
21. Then were the peopleH5971of IsraelH3478dividedH2505into two parts:H2677halfH2677of the peopleH5971followedH1961H310TibniH8402the sonH1121of Ginath,H1527to make him king;H4427and halfH2677followedH310Omri.H6018
-
22. But the peopleH5971that followedH310OmriH6018prevailedH2388againstH854the peopleH5971that followedH310TibniH8402the sonH1121of Ginath:H1527so TibniH8402died,H4191and OmriH6018reigned.H4427
-
23. In the thirtyH8141andH7970firstH259yearH8141of AsaH609kingH4428of JudahH3063began OmriH6018to reignH4427over Israel,H3478twelveH6240H8147years:H8141sixH8337yearsH8141reignedH4427he in Tirzah.H8656
-
24. And he boughtH7069the hillH2022SamariaH8111of ShemerH8106for two talentsH3603of silver,H3701and builtH1129on the hill,H2022and calledH7121the nameH8034of the cityH5892which he built,H1129after the nameH8034of Shemer,H8106ownerH113of the hill,H2022Samaria.H8111
-
25. But OmriH6018wroughtH6213evilH7451in the eyesH5869of the LORD,H3068and did worseH7489than all that were beforeH6440him.
-
26. For he walkedH3212in all the wayH1870of JeroboamH3379the sonH1121of Nebat,H5028and in his sinH2403wherewith he made IsraelH3478to sin,H2398to provoke the LORDH3068GodH430of IsraelH3478to angerH3707with their vanities.H1892
-
27. Now the restH3499of the actsH1697of OmriH6018which he did,H6213and his mightH1369that he shewed,H6213are they not writtenH3789in the bookH5612of the chroniclesH3117ofH1697the kingsH4428of Israel?H3478
-
28. So OmriH6018sleptH7901with his fathers,H1and was buriedH6912in Samaria:H8111and AhabH256his sonH1121reignedH4427in his stead.
-
29. And in the thirtyH8141andH7970eighthH8083yearH8141of AsaH609kingH4428of JudahH3063began AhabH256the sonH1121of OmriH6018to reignH4427over Israel:H3478and AhabH256the sonH1121of OmriH6018reignedH4427over IsraelH3478in SamariaH8111twentyH6242and twoH8147years.H8141
-
30. And AhabH256the sonH1121of OmriH6018didH6213evilH7451in the sightH5869of the LORDH3068above all that were beforeH6440him.
-
31. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thingH7043for him to walkH3212in the sinsH2403of JeroboamH3379the sonH1121of Nebat,H5028that he tookH3947to wifeH802JezebelH348the daughterH1323of EthbaalH856kingH4428of the Zidonians,H6722and wentH3212and servedH5647Baal,H1168and worshippedH7812him.
-
32. And he reared upH6965an altarH4196for BaalH1168in the houseH1004of Baal,H1168which he had builtH1129in Samaria.H8111
-
33. And AhabH256madeH6213a grove;H842and AhabH256didH6213moreH3254to provoke the LORDH3068GodH430of IsraelH3478to angerH3707than all the kingsH4428of IsraelH3478that were beforeH6440him.
-
34. In his daysH3117did HielH2419the BetheliteH1017buildH1129Jericho:H3405he laid the foundationH3245thereof in AbiramH48his firstborn,H1060and set upH5324the gatesH1817thereof in his youngestH6810son Segub,H7687according to the wordH1697of the LORD,H3068which he spakeH1696byH3027JoshuaH3091the sonH1121of Nun.H5126
Commentary for 1 Kings 16 Click here to view
This chapter relates wholly to the kingdom of Israel, and the revolutions of that kingdom - many in a little time. The utter ruin of Jeroboam's family, after it had been twenty-four years a royal family, we read of in the foregoing chapter. In this chapter we have, I. The ruin of Baasha's family, after it had been but twenty-six years a royal family, foretold by a prophet (1 Kings 16:1-7), and executed by Zimri, one of his captains (1 Kings 16:8-14). II. The seven days' reign of Zimri, and his sudden fall (1 Kings 16:15-20). III. The struggle between Omri and Tibni, and Omri's prevalency, and his reign (1 Kings 16:21-28). IV. The beginning of the reign of Ahab, of whom we shall afterwards read much (1 Kings 16:29-33). V. The rebuilding of Jericho (1 Kings 16:34). All this while, in Judah, things went well.
Here is, I. The ruin of the family of Baasha foretold. He was a man likely enough to have raised and established his family - active, politic, and daring; but he was an idolater, and this brought destruction upon his family.
1. God sent him warning of it before. (1.) That, if he were thereby wrought upon to repent and reform, the ruin might be prevented; for God threatens, that he may not strike, as one that desires not the death of sinners. (2.) That, if not, it might appear that the destruction when it did come, whoever might be instruments of it, was the act of God's justice and the punishment of sin. 2. The warning was sent by Jehu the son of Hanani. The father was a seer, or prophet, at the same time (2 Chronicles 16:7), and was sent to Asa king of Judah; but the son, who was young and more active, was sent on this longer and more dangerous expedition to Baasha king of Israel. Juniores ad labores - Toil and adventure are for the young. This Jehu was a prophet and the son of a prophet. Prophecy, thus happily entailed, was worthy of so much the more honour. This Jehu continued long in his usefulness, for we find him reproving Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 19:2) above forty years after, and writing the annals of that prince, 2 Chronicles 20:34. The message which this prophet brought to Baasha is much the same with that which Ahijah sent to Jeroboam by his wife. (1.) He reminds Baasha of the great things God had done for him (1 Kings 16:2): I exalted thee out of the dust to the throne of glory, a great instance of the divine sovereignty and power, 1 Samuel 2:8. Baasha seemed to have raised himself by his own treachery and cruelty, yet there was a hand of Providence in it, to bring about God's counsel, concerning Jeroboam's house; and God's owning his advancement as his act and deed does by no means amount to the patronising of his ambition and treachery. It is God that puts power into bad men's hands, which he makes to serve his good purposes, notwithstanding the bad use they make of it. I made thee prince over my people. God calls Israel his people still, though wretchedly corrupted, because they retained the covenant of circumcision, and there were many good people among them; it was not till long after that they were called Loammi, not a people, Hosea 1:9. (2.) He charges him with high crimes and misdemeanours, [1.] That he had caused Israel to sin, had seduced God's subjects from their allegiance and brought them to pay to dunghill-deities the homage due to him only, and herein he had walked in the way of Jeroboam (1 Kings 16:2), and been like his house, 1 Kings 16:7. [2.] That he had himself provoked God to anger with the work of his hands, that is, by worshipping images, the work of men's hands; though perhaps others made them, yet he served them and thereby avowed the making of them, and they are therefore called the work of his hands. [3.] That he had destroyed the house of Jeroboam (1 Kings 16:7), because he killed him, namely, Jeroboam's son and all his: if he had done that with an eye to God, to his will and glory, and from a holy indignation against the sins of Jeroboam and his house, he would have been accepted and applauded as a minister of God's justice; but, as he did it, he was only the tool of God's justice, but a servant to his own lusts, and is justly punished for the malice and ambition which actuated and governed him in all he did. Note, Those who are in any way employed in denouncing or executing the justice of God (magistrates or ministers) are concerned to do it from a good principle and in a holy manner, lest it turn into sin to them and they make themselves obnoxious by it. (3.) He foretels the same destruction to come upon his family which he himself had been employed to bring upon the family of Jeroboam, 1 Kings 16:3, 1 Kings 16:4. Note, Those who resemble others in their sins may expect to resemble them in their plagues, especially those who seem zealous against such sins in others as they allow themselves in; the house of Jehu was reckoned with for the blood of the house of Ahab, Hosea 1:4. II. A reprieve granted for some time, so long that Baasha himself dies in peace, and is buried with honour in his own royal city (1 Kings 16:6), so far is he from being a prey either to the dogs or to the fowls, which yet was threatened to his house, 1 Kings 16:4. He lives not either to see or feel the punishment threatened, yet he was himself the greatest delinquent. Certainly there must be a future state, in which impenitent sinners will suffer in their own persons, and not escape, as often they do in this world. Baasha died under no visible stroke of divine vengeance for aught that appears, but God laid up his iniquity for his children, as Job speaks, Job 21:19. Thus he often visits sin. Observe, Baasha is punished by the destruction of his children after his death, and his children are punished by the abuse of their bodies after their death; that is the only thing which the threatening specifies (1 Kings 16:4), that the dogs and the fowls of the air should eat them, as if herein were designed a tacit intimation that there are punishments after death, when death has done its worst, which will be the sorest punishments and are most to be dreaded; these judgments on the body and posterity signified judgments on the soul when separated from the body, by him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell. III. Execution done at last. Baasha's son Elah, like Jeroboam's son Nadab, reigned two years, and then was slain by Zimri, one of his own soldiers, as Nadab was by Baasha; so like was his house made to that of Jeroboam, as was threatened, 1 Kings 16:3. Because his idolatry was like his, and one of the sins for which God contended with him being the destruction of Jeroboam's family, the more the destruction of his own resembled that, the nearer did the punishment resemble the sin, as face answers to face in a glass. 1. As then, so now, the king himself was first slain, but Elah fell more ingloriously than Nadab. Nadab was slain in the field of action and honour, he and his army then besieging Gibbethon (1 Kings 15:27); but the siege being then raised upon that disaster, and the city remaining still in the Philistines' hands, the army of Israel was now renewing the attempt (1 Kings 16:15) and Elah should have been with them to command in chief, but he loved his own ease and safety better than his honour or duty, or the public good, and therefore staid behind to take his pleasure; and, when he was drinking himself drunk in his servant's house, Zimri killed him, 1 Kings 16:9, 1 Kings 16:10. Let it be a warning to drunkards, especially to those who designedly drink themselves drunk, that they know not but death may surprise them in that condition. (1.) Death comes easily upon men when they are drunk. Besides the chronic diseases which men frequently bring themselves into by hard drinking, and which cut them off in the midst of their days, men in that condition are more easily overcome by an enemy, as Amnon by Absalom, and are liable to more bad accidents, being unable to help themselves, (2.) Death comes terribly upon men in that condition. Finding them in the act of sin, and incapacitated for any act of devotion, that day comes upon them unawares (Luke 21:34), like a thief. 2. As then, so now, the whole family was cut off, and rooted out. The traitor was the successor, to whom the unthinking people tamely submitted, as if it were all one to them what kind they had, so that they had one. The first thing Zimri did was to slay all the house of Baasha; thus he held by cruelty what he got by treason. His cruelty seems to have extended further than Baasha's did against the house of Jeroboam, for he left to Elah none of his kinsfolks or friends (1 Kings 16:11), none of his avengers (so the word is), none that were likely to avenge his death; yet divine justice soon avenged it so remarkably that it was used as a proverb long after, Had Zimri peace who slew his master? 2 Kings 9:31. In this, (1.) The word of God was fulfilled, 1 Kings 16:12. (2.) The sins of Baasha and Elah were reckoned for, with which they provoked God by their vanities, 1 Kings 16:13. Their idols are called their vanities, for they cannot profit nor help. Miserable are those whose deities are vanities.Solomon observes (Proverbs 28:2) that for the transgression of a land many were the princes thereof (so it was here in Israel), but by a man of understanding the state thereof shall be prolonged - so it was with Judah at the same time under Asa. When men forsake God they are out of the way of rest and establishment. Zimri, and Tibni, and Omri, are here striving for the crown. Proud aspiring men ruin one another, and involve others in the ruin. These confusions end in the settlement of Omri; we must therefore take him along with us through this part of the story.
I. How he was chosen, as the Roman emperors often were, by the army in the field, now encamped before Gibbethon. Notice was soon brought thither that Zimri had slain their king (1 Kings 16:16) and set up himself in Tirzah, the royal city, whereupon they chose Omri king in the camp, that they might without delay avenge the death of Elah upon Zimri. Though he was idle and intemperate, yet he was their king, and they would not tamely submit to his murderer, nor let the treason go unpunished. They did not attempt to avenge the death of Nadab upon Baasha, perhaps because the house of Baasha had ruled with more gentleness than the house of Jeroboam; but Zimri shall feel the resentments of the provoked army. The siege of Gibbethon is quitted (Philistines are sure to gain when Israelites quarrel) and Zimri is prosecuted. II. How he conquered Zimri, who is said to have reigned seven days (1 Kings 16:15), so long before Omri was proclaimed king and himself proclaimed traitor; but we may suppose it was a longer time before he died, for he continued long enough to show his inclination to the way of Jeroboam, and to make himself obnoxious to the justice of God by supporting his idolatry, 1 Kings 16:19. Tirzah was a beautiful city, but not fortified, so that Omri soon made himself master of it (1 Kings 16:17), forced Zimri into the palace, which being unable to defend, and yet unwilling to surrender, he burnt, and himself in it, 1 Kings 16:18. Unwilling that his rival should ever enjoy that sumptuous palace, he burnt it; and fearing that if he fell into the hands of the army, either alive or dead, he should be ignominiously treated, he burnt himself in it. See what desperate practices men's wickedness sometimes brings them to, and how it hurries them into their own ruin; see the disposition of incendiaries, who set palaces and kingdoms on fire, though they are themselves in danger of perishing in the flame. III. How he struggled with Tibni, and at length got clear of him: Half of the people followed this Tibni (1 Kings 16:21), probably those who were in Zimri's interest, with whom others joined, who would not have a king chosen in the camp (lest he should rule by the sword and a standing army), but in a convention of the states. The contest between these two lasted some years, and, it is likely, cost a great deal of blood on both sides, for it was in the twenty-seventh year of Asa that Omri was first elected (1 Kings 16:15) and thence the twelve years of his reign are to be dated; but it was not till the thirty-first year of Asa that he began to reign without a rival; then Tibni died, it is likely in battle, and Omri reigned, 1 Kings 16:22. Sir Walter Raleigh, in his History of the World (2.19.6), enquires here why it was that in all these confusions and revolutions of the kingdom of Israel they never thought of returning to the house of David, and uniting themselves again to Judah, for then it was better with them than now; and he thinks the reason was because the kings of Judah assumed a more absolute, arbitrary, and despotic power than the kings of Israel. It was the heaviness of the yoke that they complained of when they first revolted from the house of David, and the dread of that made them ever after averse to it, and attached to kings of their own, who ruled more by law and the rules of a limited monarchy. IV. How he reigned when he was at length settled on the throne. 1. He made himself famous by building Samaria, which, ever after, was the royal city of the kings of Israel (the palace at Tirzah being burnt), and in process of time grew so considerable that it gave name to the middle part of Canaan (which lay between Galilee on the north and Judea on the south) and to the inhabitants of that country, who were called Samaritans. He bought the ground for two talents of silver, somewhat more than 700l. of our money, for a talent was 353l. 11s. 10 1/2d. Perhaps Shemer, who sold him the ground, let him have it considerably the cheaper upon condition that the city should be called after his name, for otherwise it would have borne the name of the purchaser; it was called Samaria, or Shemeren (as it is in the Hebrew), from Shemer, the former owner, 1 Kings 16:24. The kings of Israel changed their royal seats, Shechem first, then Tirzah, now Samaria; but the kings of Judah were constant to Jerusalem, the city of God. Those that cleave to the Lord fix, but those that leave him ever wander. 2. He made himself infamous by his wickedness; for he did worse than all that were before him, 1 Kings 16:25. Though he was brought to the throne with much difficulty, and Providence had remarkably favoured him in his advancement, yet he was more profane, or more superstitious, and a greater persecutor, than either of the houses of Jeroboam or Baasha. He went further than they had done in establishing iniquity by a law, and forcing his subjects to comply with him in it; for we read of the statutes of Omri, the keeping of which made Israel a desolation, Micah 6:16. Jeroboam caused Israel to sin by temptation, example, and allurement; but Omri did it by compulsion. V. How he ended his reign, 1 Kings 16:27, 1 Kings 16:28. He was in some repute for the might which he showed. Many a bad man has been a stout man. He died in his bed, as did Jeroboam and Baasha themselves; but, like them, left it to his posterity to fill up the measure, and then pay off the scores, of his iniquity.We have here the beginning of the reign of Ahab, of whom we have more particulars recorded than of any of the kings of Israel. We have here only a general idea given us of him, as the worst of all the kings, that we may expect what the particulars will be. He reigned twenty-two years, long enough to do a great deal of mischief.
I. He exceeded all his predecessors in wickedness, did evil above all that were before him (1 Kings 16:30), and, as if it were done with a particular enmity both to God and Israel, to affront him and ruin them, it is said, He did more purposely to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger, and, consequently, to send judgments on his land, than all the kings of Israel that were before him, 1 Kings 16:33. It was bad with the people when every successive king was worse than his predecessor. What would they come to at last? He had seen the ruin of other wicked kings and their families; yet, instead of taking warning, his heart was hardened and enraged against God by it. He thought it a light thing to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, 1 Kings 16:31. It was nothing to break the second commandment by image-worship, he would set aside the first also by introducing other gods; his little finger should fall heavier upon God's ordinances than Jeroboam's loins. Making light of less sins makes way for greater, and those that endeavour to extenuate other people's sins will but aggravate their own. II. He married a wicked woman, who he knew would bring in the worship of Baal, and seemed to marry her with that design. As if it had been a light thing to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, he took to wife Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31), a zealous idolater, extremely imperious and malicious in her natural temper, addicted to witchcrafts and whoredoms (2 Kings 9:22), and every way vicious. The false prophetess spoken of Revelation 2:20 is there called Jezebel, for a wicked woman could not be called by a worse name than hers; what mischiefs she did, and what mischief at last befel her (2 Kings 9:33), we shall find in the following story; this one strange wife debauched Israel more than all the strange wives of Solomon. III. He set up the worship of Baal, forsook the God of Israel and served the god of the Sidonians, Jupiter instead of Jehovah, the sun (so some think), a deified hero of the Phoenicians (so others): he was weary of the golden calves, and thought they had been worshipped long enough; such vanities were they that those who had been fondest of them at length grew sick of them, and, like adulterers, much have variety. In honour of this mock deity, whom they called Baal - lord, and for the convenience of his worship, 1. Ahab built a temple in Samaria, the royal city, because the temple of God was in Jerusalem, the royal city of the other kingdom. He would have Baal's temple near him, that he might the better frequent it, protect it, and put honour upon it. 2. He reared an altar in that temple, on which to offer sacrifice to Baal, by which they acknowledged their dependence upon him and sought his favour. O the stupidity of idolaters, who are at a great expense to make one their friend whom they might have chosen whether they would make a god of or no! 3. He made a grove about his temple, either a natural one, by planting shady trees there, or, if those would be too long in growing, an artificial one in imitation of it; for it is not said he planted, but he made a grove, something that answered the intention, which was to conceal and so countenance the abominable impurities that were committed in the filthy worship of Baal. Lucus, à lucendo, quia non lucet - He that doeth evil hateth the light. IV. One of his subjects, in imitation of his presumption, ventured to build Jericho, in defiance of the curse Joshua had long since pronounced on him that should attempt it, 1 Kings 16:34. It comes in as an instance of the height of impiety to which men had arrived, especially at Bethel, where one of the calves was, for of that city this daring sinner was. Observe, 1. How ill he did. Like Achan he meddled with the accursed thing, turned that to his own use which was devoted to God's honour. He began to build, in defiance of the curse well known in Israel, jesting with it perhaps as a bugbear, or fancying its force worn out by length of time, for it was above 500 years since it was pronounced, Joshua 6:26. He went on to build, in defiance of the execution of the curse in part; for, though his eldest son died when he began, yet he would proceed in contempt of God and his wrath revealed from heaven against his ungodliness. 2. How ill he sped. He built for his children, but God wrote him childless; his eldest son died when he began, the youngest when he finished, and all the rest (it is supposed) between. Note, Those whom God curses are cursed indeed; none ever hardened his heart against God and prospered. God keep us back from presumptuous sins, those great transgressions!