Yahweh’s word came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, “Because I exalted you out of the dust, and made you prince over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house; and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. The dogs will eat Baasha’s descendants who die in the city; and he who dies of his in the field, the birds of the sky will eat.”
Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah; and Elah his son reigned in his place.
Moreover Yahweh’s word came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and against his house, both because of all the evil that he did in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he struck him.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 7 Thus spake Jehu to Baasha in the Name of…
Thus spake Jehu to Baasha in the Name of the Lord.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–7 1Ki 16:1 Then the word of the LORD came…
1Ki 16:1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,
Ver. 1. Came to Jehu the son of Hanani.] Who was also a prophet, and had, by good education, fitted him for the office.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 7 Jehu, a prophet, of whom see more 2Ch 19:2;…
Jehu, a prophet, of whom see more 2Ch 19:2; 20:34. Hanani also was a prophet, 2Ch 16:7.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Here is, I. The ruin of the family of…
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.
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2. The warning was sent by Jehu the son of Hanani. The father was a seer, or prophet, at the same time (Ch2 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 (Ch2 19:2) above forty years after, and writing the annals of that prince, Ch2 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 (Kg1 16:2): I exalted thee out of the dust to the throne of glory, a great instance of the divine sovereignty and power, Sa1 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, Hos 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 (Kg1 16:2), and been like his house, Kg1 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 (Kg1 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, Kg1 16:3, Kg1 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, Hos 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 (Kg1 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, Kg1 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 (Kg1 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, Kg1 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 (Kg1 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 (Kg1 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, Kg1 16:9, Kg1 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 (Luk 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 (Kg1 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? Kg2 9:31. In this, (1.) The word of God was fulfilled, Kg1 16:12. (2.) The sins of Baasha and Elah were reckoned for, with which they provoked God by their vanities, Kg1 16:13. Their idols are called their vanities, for they cannot profit nor help. Miserable are those whose deities are vanities.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–7 Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu…
Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu the son of Hanani,.... The seer that reproved Asa, Ch2 16:7, so that this man was the son of a prophet then living, and was a young man; for we hear of him several years after reproving Jehoshaphat, Ch2 19:2, and as a writer of history, Ch2 20:34, the prophecy that came to him from the Lord was
against Baasha; king of Israel:
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saying; as follows.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 7 The ruin of Baasha's family foretold, ver. 1-7. And…
The ruin of Baasha's family foretold, ver. 1-7. And executed by Zimri, ver. 8-14. Zimri's short reign, ver. 15-20. The struggle between Omri and Tibni, and Omri's reign, ver. 21-28. The beginning of Ahab's reign, ver. 29-33.
Hanani - He 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.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 7 Jehu the prophet denounces the destruction of Baasha,1-7.
CHAPTER XVI
Jehu the prophet denounces the destruction of Baasha,1-7.
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Zimri conspires against him, and slays him and his family, and
reigns seven days, 8-15.
The people make Omri king, and besiege Zimri in Tirzah; who,
finding no way to escape, sets fire to his palace, and consumes
himself in it, 16-20.
The people are divided, half following Tibni, and half Omri;
the latter faction overcomes the former, Tibni is slain, and
Omri reigns alone, 21-23.
He founds Samaria, 24.
His bad character and death, 25-28.
Ahab reigns in his stead; marries Jezebel, restores idolatry,
and exceeds his predecessors in wickedness, 29-33.
Hiel the Beth-elite rebuilds Jericho, 34.
NOTES ON CHAP. XVI
Verse 1. Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu] Of this prophet we know nothing but from this circumstance. It appears from 2Ch 16:7-10, that his father Hanani was also a prophet, and suffered imprisonment in consequence of the faithful discharge of his ministry to Asa.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 7 1Ki 16:1. The word of the Lord came to…
1Ki 16:1. The word of the Lord came to Jehu — This Jehu was a prophet, and the son of a prophet. His father Hanani, who was a prophet before him, was sent to reprove Asa king of Judah for hiring Benhadad king of Syria to assist him against Baasha and for relying on the Syrians, instead of relying on the Lord, 2Ch 16:7. But Jehu, Hanani’s son, who was young and more active, was sent on this longer and more dangerous expedition to Baasha, king of Israel. It appears, he continued long in his usefulness; for we find him reproving Jehoshaphat, above forty years after, and writing the annals of that prince, 2Ch 19:2; 2Ch 20:24. The gift of prophecy, thus happily entailed, and descending from the father to the son, was worthy of so much the more honour. It seems there was not wanting a succession of prophets, during the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, as Abarbinel has observed, their names being preserved in the Holy Scriptures.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 7 Hanani, the father of Jehu, was seer to Asa…
Hanani, the father of Jehu, was seer to Asa in the kingdom of Judah 2Ch 16:7-10. His son Jehu, who here discharges the same office in the kingdom of Israel, appears at a later date as an inhabitant of Jerusalem where he prophesied under Jehoshaphat, whom he rebuked on one occasion. He must have lived to a great age, for he outlived Jehoshaphat, and wrote his life (marginal references).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 7 Jehu was different from one of the same name…
Jehu was different from one of the same name and parentage, who came to Josaphat; (2 Paralipomenon xix. 2.; Du Hamel; Tirinus) though, if Baasa did not put him to death, as there is some reason to doubt, he might be the same, ver. 7. (Calmet) --- Hanani had been sent to Asa, 2 Paralipomenon xvi. 7. (Abulensis, q. 3.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 7 Forasmuch as I exalted thee--The doom he pronounced on…
Forasmuch as I exalted thee--The doom he pronounced on Baasha was exactly the same as denounced against Jeroboam and his posterity. Though he had waded through slaughter to his throne, he owed his elevation to the appointment or permission of Him "by whom kings reign."
over my people Israel--With all their errors and lapses into idolatry, they were not wholly abandoned by God. He still showed His interest in them by sending prophets and working miracles in their favor, and possessed a multitude of faithful worshippers in the kingdom of Israel.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 7 1. Jehu the son of Hanani — The Hanani…
1. Jehu the son of Hanani — The Hanani here mentioned was, probably, the seer who reproved Asa for seeking help from the king of Syria. 2Ch_16:7. His son Jehu was early called to the same divine work which distinguished his father, and some thirty years after this we find him reproving Jehoshaphat, (2Ch_19:2,) whose acts he afterwards wrote in a book. 1 Kings 19:34. This prophecy (1Ki_16:2-4) is substantially the same as that which Ahijah uttered against Jeroboam, (1Ki_14:7-11,) and it should be observed that Jehu utters it against the very “king over Israel” whom Ahijah foretold as the instrument raised up by God to “cut off the house of Jeroboam.” 1Ki_14:14. But that prophecy of Jeroboam’s fate gave Baasha no authority to massacre him and his house; and those bloody deeds exposed him further to the rebukes of Jehu. 1Ki_16:7.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 6, 7 1Ki_16:1. Then [R.V. and] the word of the Lord…
1Ki_16:1. Then [R.V. and] the word of the Lord came] The conjunction is the simple copula, and this verse is in close connexion with the closing sentence of the previous chapter.
Jehu the son of Hanani] This prophet, named in this chapter and in 2Ch_19:2; 2Ch_20:34, was the son of that prophet Hanani who rebuked Asa (2Ch_16:7-10) for his alliance with the Syrians against Baasha. Jehu seems to have lived in Jerusalem, though his prophetical ministry was mainly directed to the kingdom of Israel. He rebuked Jehoshaphat king of Judah for his alliance with Ahab, and must have outlived Jehoshaphat, as a history of that king’s reign is said (2Ch_20:34) to be contained in this prophet’s writings. Jehu must therefore have begun his labours as a prophet at an early age.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 7 (1) Jehu the son of Hanani—probably of Hanani the…
(1) Jehu the son of Hanani—probably of Hanani the seer of Judah in the reign of Asa (2Ch_15:7). Jehu must have been now young, for we find him rebuking Jehoshaphat after the death of Ahab, and writing the annals of Jehoshaphat’s reign (2Ch_19:2; 2Ch_20:34).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–7 This division of chapters, immediately after the commencement of…
This division of chapters, immediately after the commencement of the narrative of the reign of Baasha, is somewhat unfortunate, inasmuch as it obscures the close connexion between the sin of Baasha and the prophecy which it provoked. The idea the historian would convey is clearly this the analogy between the dynasty of Jeroboam and that which supplanted it,
(1) in their sin,
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(2) in the denunciation of each by a prophet, and
(3) in the punishments which followed their sins an analogy so close that the prophet Jehu almost employs the ipsissima verba of his predecessor, Ahijah.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu, the son of Hanani Hanani is mentioned in 2Ch_16:7-10 as having admonished Asa, and as having been thrown into prison for so doing. Both he and his son would seem to have belonged to the kingdom of Judah. We find the latter in 2Ch_19:2 a resident in Jerusalem, and protesting against the alliance between Jehoshaphat, whose historian he became, and whom, consequently, he must have survived, (2Ch_20:34) and Ahab. He is mentioned in the verse last cited as "made to ascend on the book of the kings of Israel" (see Introduction, p. 13.) His prophetic career must have extended over at least half a century against Baasha, saying,
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD Vers. 1-7.
Jehu"s Prophecy.
Jehu was a prophet and the son of a prophet. Of his father Hanani we read 2Ch_16:7-10, where it is recorded to his honour that he suffered imprisonment for the fidelity of his testimony against Asa. This son was worthy of such a father. His testimony before Baasha, a man of desperate resolution and unscrupulous irreligion, was admirably courageous. We hear of him again after an interval of forty years. (see 2Ch_19:2 2Ch_20:34) In his prophecy here
I HE RECITES THE CRIMES OF BAASHA. These were
1. That he walked in the way of Jeroboam." This implies
(1) that he was influenced by a like ambition. An ambition to be great in the eyes of men to be a king. (See 1Ki_11:37)
(2) That to compass this he resorted to unscrupulous measures. He rebelled against his king. He rebelled against his God.
2. That he made the people of the Lord to sin.
(1) To make any people, or person, to sin is a great crime. And who can sin only to himself? Directly or indirectly sin must exert an influence beyond.
(2) To make God"s covenanted people to sin is a higher crime. The oath upon them is violated. The salt of the earth, too, loses its savour, and the world is left to putrefy.
(3) To make God"s people to sin, not as by accident, but of set purpose, is the highest crime. This Baasha did in upholding Jeroboam"s calves the "work" of men"s "hands" (ver. 7). He did this fearing, as Jeroboam had feared, that if the people went to Jerusalem to worship they might repent of their rebellion against the house of David. For the same reason Baasha opposed the reformation under Asa, and to this end set about the building of Ramah. (see 2Ch_16:1)
3. That he thereby provoked the anger of the Lord against them.
(1) This expressed itself in the incessant wars by which they were shaken "as a reed is shaken in the water". (1Ki_14:15)
(2) This is laid at He door of Baasha. His house is implicated with him. Jehu, therefore, had a message also to his house (ver. 7).
4. And because he killed Jeroboam.
(1) This, however, he did not, in person. Jeroboam died on his bed. (1Ki_14:20)
(2) But, in his house, he slew him. (1Ki_15:27-29) A man lives in his posterity; when his posterity are destroyed or exterminated, he is extinct.
(3) Perhaps the words "because he killed him" might be fairly rendered "because he killed it," viz., the house of Jeroboam. This any. how is the meaning. (see 1Ki_15:27, 1Ki_15:29) The notion that he killed Jehu is inconsistent with the records of history, which bring Jehu upon the scene again in the days of Jehoshaphat.
II HE UTTERS THE JUDGMENTS OF THE LORD.
1. The posterity of Baasha was to be taken away.
(1) His own. He was to have no male representative.
(2) That of his house. His female as well as male issue was to be destroyed. He was to be utterly rooted out.
2. History repeats itself.
(1) It does this because crime must provoke appropriate punishment. God recognizes the lex talionis eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
(2) The house of Baasha being like to that of Jeroboam, the doom is.similar. As Baasha executed the judgment of the Lord upon the house of Jeroboam, another aspirant to royalty is to execute the judgment of the Lord upon the house of Baasha. Note
3. There are posthumous punishments.
(1) Baasha was as great a criminal as any of his house, yet he came to his grave in peace and honour. He died on his bed and was buried in state. Must there not be future reckoning and retribution?
(2) Baasha is punished in the extermination of his house. But this judgment came upon him after his decease. How could that affect Aim unless there be a future state?
(3) The same inference follows from the judgment upon the bodies of his posterity after their decease. What matter would it be to him or them to have their bodies eaten by dogs or by vultures when the life was gone, unless the spirits survived?
(4) How such things react Upon the disembodied spirit is a mystery. "There are many things in heaven and earth that do not enter into our philosophy. J.A.M.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 1Ki_16:1. Word of the Lord came to Jehu—His father…
THE DYNASTIC TROUBLES OF ISRAEL
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
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1Ki_16:1. Word of the Lord came to Jehu—His father was a prophet (2Ch_16:7). This is the only incident on record of Jehu.
1Ki_16:2. Forasmuch as I exalted thee—Not that God sanctioned the method by which Baasha attained the throne, but Divine Providence allowed the attainment.
1Ki_16:3. Behold I will take away—“By me kings reign.” Having reproduced the iniquities of Jeroboam, he should experience the same doom; the similitude of their fate extending to their “posterity.”
1Ki_16:9. His servant Zimri—Josephus states that Zimri took advantage of the absence of the army and its chief to undertake the siege of Gibbethon. Doubtless this arrangement for debauching Elah in Asa’s house was a part of the plot of Zimri. He thought to consolidate his sovereignty by the massacre, not only of the relatives, but also of “the friends” of the royal house.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_16:1-14
THE DOOM OF THE USURPER
I. Is self-imposed.
1. Opportunity is afforded to reach a different destiny “I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel” (1Ki_16:2). Though the means by which Baasha seized the throne was foully wrong, yet when he had acquired the highest rank and the mightiest power in the realm, he had the opportunity of using his influence in favour of religious reform. He was raised from the lowest rank, and from a tribe hitherto undistinguished; and the “might” with which he ruled for twenty-four years, causing even Asa to call in the aid of the Syrian king, showed that he was not deficient in capacity. Had he striven to walk in the commandments of God, his sins would have been forgiven, and his dynasty firmly secured. But the opportunity passed unimproved. A great person is like a great hill, sometimes giving a beautiful prospect, at other times shrouded in darkness and shaking with storms.
2. A course of evil is deliberately and persistently followed. “Thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam” (1Ki_16:2). A man is not wicked all at once. Wickedness has its gradations. Bad thoughts come first, bad words follow, and bad deeds finish the progress. Wickedness is infectious. “Thou hast made my people Israel to sin.” A bad man is like bad water: both are poisons. The only disturber of men, of families, cities, kingdoms, worlds, is sin; there is no such troubler, no such traitor to any state, as the wilfully wicked man; no such enemy to the public as the enemy of God. Sin which is deliberately chosen and practised, and enforced on others, will bring its own doom.
II. Is not reached unwarned (1Ki_16:1-4; 1Ki_16:7). This is made clear by a double reference to the fact that the prophet Jebu was sent to remind Baasha of his sin, and to pronounce a judgment on him and his house, similar to that which fell on the house of Jeroboam. Though the destruction of Jeroboam had been foretold, and though Baasha may be rightly regarded as God’s instrument to punish Jeroboam’s sins, yet, as he received no command to execute God’s wrath on the offender, and was instigated solely by ambition and self-interest, his guilt was just as great as if no prophecy had been uttered. The proud usurper, blinded by success, and still more by a life of impenitent wickedness, is apt to be indifferent to the awful doom which is certainly descending on his head. But, in his mercy, God sends His faithful messengers to warn and prepare; and be that taketh warning shall deliver his soul (Eze_33:4). The warnings of God are manifold and constant; and dull indeed must be the ear that cannot hear, and hard indeed the heart that cannot feel. The sinner’s can not is his will not, and his will not is his condemnation.
III. Will be terrible and complete (1Ki_16:11-13). The doom so long and so plainly threatened fell at length with fearful and desolating severity. Zimri exterminated the race of Baasha; and the Jews say when such a matter is determined, they not only destroy the house of the person himself, but the five neighbouring houses, that the memory of such a person may perish from the earth. “The excesses of our youth are drafts upon our old age, payable with interest about thirty years after date.” Philo Judaeus says that the builders of Babel engraved everyone his name upon a brick, with a view of perpetuating their memory: yet this did not serve their purpose. It is just with God to bury those names in the dust which are raised by sin. The atrocities of the usurper will not go unpunished.
IV. Extends to his posterity (1Ki_16:9-10). Elah inherited all the low, gross instincts of his father, without any of his courage and ability. When an oriental monarch indulges in intoxication he is expected at any rate to do it secretly. He is further precluded by etiquette from accepting the hospitality of his subjects. Elah appears to have set at defiance this restraint, and, like the Egyptian Amasis, to have continually reminded men of his low origin by conduct unworthy of royalty. It is sometimes the curse of a bad man that his sins descend to his children, and their punishment too. When a man lays the foundation of his own ruin, others will be too apt to build upon it. As the winds of winter chase the withered leaves hither and thither, so are the wicked chased. They flee at their own shadow, and death opens to them all the errors of a misspent life. When too late they shut their eyes in despair—undone! undone!
LESSONS:—
1. A possession unlawfully acquired is a fruitful source of evil.
2. God warns before he strikes.
3. To harden the heart in iniquity is to bring ruin on one’s own head.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki_16:1-14. Of the two kings, Elah and Zimri, we learn nothing besides that they held to the sin of Jeroboam, except how they died. This was, however, sufficient to characterise them. We see that Elah did not even inherit energy and courage from his father Baasha, but was a coward and a low souled glutton, because when the whole army was engaged in combat with the Philistines before Gibbethon, he not only remained at home, but drank and caroused. Zimri was still worse; ambition led him to unfaithfulness and treason; he not only murdered his king and master, but the king’s whole house. How little esteemed and respected he was, appears from the fact that the whole army, as soon as they heard of his having ascended the throne, immediately made another king, and marched against Zimri. Then when shut in and surrounded, he set fire to the citadel over his head, and gave himself to the flames—his act was one of despair rather than of heroism (1Ki_16:17-18).—Lange.
1Ki_16:1-4. The general law is repeated with the same stern simplicity to one man as to another. “Whether you came in by right means or foul; whether you are a legitimate heir or a conspirator, God has made you a prince; your crime is your own. Your power is His. Trying to be something in yourself, you pronounce your own sentence. When you think to make gods, God unmakes you.” The principle is again affirmed, that a regular succession, a sure house, is a blessing to a land: that a man who desires to found such a one, desires a good gift; but that it is a gift; that as a witness of God’s permanence and presence it is good; that succession, apart from Him, is a mere transmission of curses. The particular phrase, “provoke me to anger,” is used here as it is everywhere else in the Bible. God is contemplated as jealous over His people, feeling like a husband or father to a rebellious wife or child. It is presented with all boldness to men who had the lowest, most grovelling conceptions of the divine nature, not to flatter them, but to counteract them, to destroy the fiction that God is indifferent to His creatures or hates them, which is the foundation of all idolatry, to prepare the way for the full revelation of that truth which interprets His jealousy, and is the ground of all right faith in man—“God is Love.”—Maurice.
1Ki_16:2-4. The sins of the common people which they have learned from their princes, as well also as those which these do not restrain when they can, are charged to them. Those who are lifted up out of the dust are often the proudest and most arrogant, because they think they must thank only themselves for their exalted position, and they forget what is written in 1Sa_2:7. For Baasha, also, the hour struck when it was said, Behold, oh! most proud, &c. (Jer_50:31). The throne that has been obtained by lying, deceit, falsehood, and bloodshed, has no stability. The judgment of God, though delayed for a time, will not always tarry (Psa_5:6-7). Robbers and murderers are not always in caves and the hidden recesses of forests; sometimes they are seated upon thrones: but the Lord will sweep them away, and their end will be with horror. Before His tribunal, no people, no crown is a protection.—Osiander.
1Ki_16:2. The responsibilities of rank. I. Afford exceptional opportunities for doing great good, or great mischief. II. Are rarely used for the noblest purposes when unrighteously acquired. III. Merit corresponding punishment when abused.
1Ki_16:6. The little that is told of Baasha is sufficient to show that he was an ambitious, rough, and violent—indeed, even a blood-thirsty—man. He did not conspire against his lord and king, and usurp the throne in order to bring the fundamental law of Israel into force again, and to make an end of the sin of Jeroboam, for he himself adhered firmly to it all his life, in spite of all the warnings and threatenings of the prophets. He only cared for dominion, and for this he esteemed the sin of Jeroboam as necessary as the latter had done. In short, he seems to have been a rough soldier who cared little or nothing about religion. He was the first king-murderer in Israel, and led the way, as it were, to this crime, which was afterwards so often imitated.—Lange.
1Ki_16:8-10. King Elah. I. He riots and carouses whilst his people are pouring out their blood in war. It is a sign of great barbarousness and rudeness amid exterior refinement, when the great and rich lead a frivolous and luxurious life, whilst the masses eat their bread in the sweat of their brow, and are famishing. A riotous court life is the usual precursor of the storm which shakes or destroys the throne. II. Death suddenly overtakes him in drunkenness. To go suddenly and unprepared from time into eternity is a heavy fate: but it is still more fearful to leave the world in drunkenness. The nearer chastisement comes to the ungodly, the more secure are they. It is fearful when one can say nothing more of a man than “He has despised God and His word, served his belly, and ended his life with a revel.” Better to famish and be miserable with Lazarus, and then be borne by angels into Abraham’s bosom, than with the rich man to live in splendour and revelry, and afterwards to suffer the pains of Hell.—Wurt. Summ.
1Ki_16:8. The crime of murder. I. Is heinous in the sight of God and man. II. Is ever a ready weapon in the hand of an unscrupulous usurper. III. Never goes unavenged. IV. Is a stain of infamy on succeeding generations.
1Ki_16:9. Drunkenness.
1. Is an evidence of great moral degradation.
2. Forfeits the respect of others.
3. Renders a man an easy victim to his enemies.
4. Is closely associated with violence and crime.
5. Incapacitates for the most obvious duties.
6. Inevitably issues in a miserable death.
—Drunken revels are an abomination to the Lord, and only occur where the fear of God is absent. The drunkards rank with those who will not inherit the Kingdom of God (1Co_6:9-10); and the Lord Christ warns—Take heed to yourselves, &c. (Luk_21:34).
1Ki_16:13. The emptiness of idolatry. I. It is a “vanity”—“vapour,” “nothingness.” II. As a creation of man it is inferior to himself. III. It is unsatisfying to man. IV. It provokes the anger of God.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 1Ki 16:7
1Ki 16:7
Notice:—
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I. The prophet who denounced the altar and the sacrifices in Bethel (chap. 1Ki 13:1-7). Such men as this prophet are said to speak the word of the Lord, or sometimes in the word of the Lord. He testifies to Jeroboam that the juices and springs of life are renewed from an invisible source, that it is Another than the dead thing he is worshipping who can dry them up or give them their natural flow. The withering of the king’s arm was a protest on behalf of regularity and law and for a God of regularity and law, with whom are the issues of daily life and death. The other part of the sign is precisely of the same kind. The altar is rent, and the ashes are poured out from the altar, as a sure and everlasting testimony that law and order shall not be violated with impunity by any ruler under any religious pretext.
II. The yielding of the prophet to the temptation of the old prophet to eat bread with him teaches us: (1) that even a true prophet, a prophet of God, might be deceived; and (2) that he must be deceived if he yielded to any pretences of inspiration on the part of any man when what he said went against a sure witness and conviction as to his own duty; (3) that a prophet not habitually a deceiver might on a certain occasion wilfully deceive, in the plain language of Holy Writ might lie. The characteristic quality of the prophet when he is true is obedience. If he once forgets the invisible Ruler and Lawgiver, no one will commit such flagrant errors, such falsehood, such blasphemy.
F. D. Maurice, The Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament, p. 107.
References: 1Ki 16:21-34.—Parker, Fountain, Jan. 18th, 1877. 1Ki 16:25.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xii., p. 147. 1Ki 16:30.—J. Baines, Sermons, p. 154. 1Ki 16:34.—J. R. Macduff, Sunsets on the Hebrew Mountains, p. 132. 1Ki 16—Expositor, 3rd series, vol. v., p. 47.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Reigns of Elah, Zimri, and Omri
The Reigns of Elah, Zimri, and Omri
1. Jehu the son of Hanani] Hanani is mentioned in 2Ch_16:7-10. Jehu's denunciation of Baasha is similar to Ahijah's denunciation of Jeroboam (1Ki_14:7-11).
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9. As he was.. drunk] Elah's incapacity and dissoluteness doubtless tempted Zimri to aspire to the throne.
13. Vanities] i.e. idols, and so in 1Ki_16:26.
15. Gibbethon] see 1Ki_15:27. The siege, begun in the reign of Nadab, had apparently not succeeded, and had been resumed.
18. Palace] RV 'castle.'
19. For his sins, etc.] The phrase is a stereotyped one, and so is applied to Zimri in spite of the fact that he only reigned seven days.
23. In the thirty and first year of Asa] probably an error: 1Ki_16:27 gives 'in the twentyseventh year of Asa.'
24. The hill Samaria]
This stood in the middle of a wide and fertile valley (cp. Isa_28:1), and was a place of great natural strength, as is evidenced by the protracted sieges sustained by the city that was built upon it (2Ki_6:24; 2Ki_17:5). Called the name.. Samaria] Heb. Shõmeron.
27. The rest.. Omri] Omri seems to have engaged in war with the Syrians, but was so unsuccessful that he had to grant them the privilege of having 'streets' (i.e. trading quarters) in Samaria (1Ki_20:34). Two additional facts respecting Omri's reign are furnished by certain inscriptions, (a) On the Moabite Stone it is stated by Mesha, the king of Moab, that Omri 'afflicted' that country. (b) On the Assyrian monuments Israel is regularly termed 'the land of Omri,' a designation which suggests that it was in his reign that the Assyrians came first into contact with Israel. It was probably in view of Assyrian aggression that Omri cemented an alliance with the king of Zidon and Tyre (Ethbaal) by a marriage between his own son Ahab and the Zidonian princess Jezebel (1Ki_16:31). According to Menander, Ethbaal (Gk. Itho-balos) was the great-grandfather of Dido, the founder of Carthage.
31. Served Baal] Baal was merely a title (meaning 'lord' or 'owner') and was applicable to a number of deities (hence the plural Baalim) who were described as the Baals of particular localities ('Baal Peor,' 'Baal Hermon'). The introduction into Israel of the worship of the Zidonian Baal was more dangerous than that of other Baals in proportion as it was more powerfully supported; whilst Ahab's sin was worse than Jeroboam's, since the calves worshipped by the latter were at least symbols of the Lord.
34. Did.. build] i.e. fortified. Jericho, in the Jordan valley, a little N. of the Dead Sea, had been rebuilt since its destruction by Joshua, for it is mentioned in David's time (2Sa_10:5). In Abjram] RV 'with the loss of Abiram.' The word of the Lord] see Jos_6:26. For the potency believed to attach to a curse see Num_22:6; 2Ki_2:24. Possibly the mention of Hiel's conduct in fortifying Jericho in spite of the malediction of Joshua is intended to illustrate the prevalent lack of faith in Jehovah's power.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Rule of Baasha and Elah in Israel
The Rule of Baasha and Elah in Israel
v. 1. Then, when it was evident that Baasha was guilty of the same wickedness as Jeroboam, the word of the Lord came to Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baasha, saying,
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v. 2. Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, from a very low position among the people to that of commander in the army and finally to that of king, and made thee prince over My people Israel, for be could not have carried out his ambitious plans if they had been contrary to the purposes of Jehovah, and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made My people Israel to sin, by fostering idolatry in their midst, to provoke Me to anger with their sins, for the jealous God; being the only true God, cannot bear a rival beside Him,
v. 3. behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha and the posterity of his house, by cutting off and exterminating his family, and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, of whose family not one member survived.
v. 4. Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth of his in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat. It was the same terrible curse which had been pronounced upon Jeroboam, 1Ki 14:11.
v. 5. Now, the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, the extent of his military resources, are they not written In the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
v. 6. So Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah, which he also had made his residence; and Elah, his son, reigned In his stead.
v. 7. And also, a thought being added here to prevent a misunderstanding, by the hand of the prophet Jehu, the son of Hananl, 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, as noted above, v. 2, in provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, guilty of the same idolatrous practices, and because he killed him, for the extermination of Jeroboam’s family by Baasha had not been done by divine command or for the purpose of eradicating idolatry, but was an arbitrary, selfish act on the part of Baasha.
v. 8. In the twenty and sixth year of Asa, king of Judah, began Elah, the son of Baasha, to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years; he reigned one full year and a fraction of the second.
v. 9. And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, an important and mighty officer in his army, conspired against him as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah, who probably was in the conspiracy and had purposely arranged this banquet and drinking-bout.
v. 10. And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, this being all the easier since the army apparently was in the field against the Philistines, and reigned in his stead, he proclaimed himself king.
v. 11. And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, for he lost no time in carrying out his wicked designs, that he slew all the house of Baasha, down to the very last man; he left him not one that pisseth against the wall, neither of his kinsfolks nor of his friends; in order to secure himself against any possible revengers of blood, no man was left alive.
v. 12. Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord which He spake against Baasha by Jehu, the prophet, his act being done not by God’s command, but in accordance with His threat, which was thereby fulfilled,
v. 13. for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah, his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities, with their worship of the golden calves erected by Jeroboam.
v. 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? This story shows with what jealous seriousness God watches over His honor. All the threats which God has uttered against the godless, all the promises which He has spoken concerning His children, will surely be fulfilled.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 7 The word of Yahweh came
The word of Yahweh came
This idiom means God spoke. See how you translated this in 1 Kings 6:11. AT: "Yahweh spoke his message" (See: Idiom)
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Although I exalted you
This is God's message that Jehu was to give to Baasha. The word "you" refers to Baasha.
I exalted you out of the dust
"I raised you out of the dust." Being in the dust on the ground represents not being important. Exalting someone represents making him important. AT: "I raised you from a very unimportant position" or "when you had no power or influence over people, I made you important" (See: Metaphor)
you have walked in the way of Jeroboam
Walking represents behaving. Jeroboam and Baasha both sinned. The full meaning of this statement can be made clear. AT: "you have done the same things that Jeroboam did" or "you have sinned as Jeroboam sinned" (See: Metaphor and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
word of God
Jehu
Baasha
exalt
people of God
kingdom of Israel
walk
Jeroboam
sin
anger
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 5 16:1 Like his father Hanani, whom Asa had imprisoned…
16:1 Like his father Hanani, whom Asa had imprisoned (2 Chr 16:10), Jehu was a prophet. Also like his father, Jehu would fearlessly deliver the Lord’s message anywhere, even if it meant confronting the king.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.