And the word of Jehovah came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,
Baasha had seized Israel's throne by wiping out the house of Jeroboam. Then he walked in Jeroboam's own sins. Now a message arrives. It does not go to the palace first, but to a prophet. It is a word against the king who thought his power was his own.
Israel had turned its back on God. Yet He kept speaking, and one writer shows how long His love for them lasted:
Israel had turned away from the Lord. But the Lord did not write them off. Though rebellious and wayward, they were still His people. Many years later He uses the prophet Hosea. Through him He expresses His feelings and describes His dealings with them in a touching way. "How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel?" He laments. He goes back to Israel's earliest history. He recalls Jacob's struggle with Esau in their mother's womb, and his wrestling with God at Peniel. Again and again His people's sins had provoked Him to anger. Yet they were His people. He still loved them.
Jehu followed his father Hanani as a prophet. His work reached both kingdoms, and one writer draws out why the same man could confront two very different kings:
After Hanani there appears Jehu, his son. He is a prophet in Israel as well as in Judah. He prophesies against Baasha, the king of Israel, Asa's enemy. But he also prophesies against Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, the friend of Ahab. These two things — the world's hatred for the children of God, and the friendship of God's children for the world — are equally sinful in the eyes of the Lord.
The message tells Baasha that God had lifted him "out of the dust." Baasha would have told the story of his rise very differently:
The Lord had another servant to bring a solemn message to Baasha. Jehu, the son of Hanani, was the messenger at this time (v.1). The history records that Baasha had murdered his master to take his place as king. Yet God tells Baasha that He had lifted him out of the dust to make him ruler over Israel. We may be sure Baasha had not considered God at all in taking the kingdom. But now he must face this: God required something of him, because God had given him the place of rule.
The phrase "out of the dust" points to where Baasha started. It also exposes how little a change of ruler achieves:
"Out of the dust" implies his lowly origin. How often revolutionaries think the trouble is that the hated ruler is of noble birth or royal line! So they imagine the remedy is to put one of their own class and rank into power. And how soon they learn that "a servant when he rules" is the very worst type of tyrant known. No, it is not a question of natural birth, whether high or low, but of new birth and "ruling in the fear of God."
Baasha had been the hand that carried out God's sentence on Jeroboam's line. That history now turns back on him:
Baasha, God's instrument of judgment to wipe out the house of Jeroboam, was now to face the same judgment he had handed out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and deal harshly with them for their sins. How serious it is when we then go ahead and repeat the same sins ourselves! This is no trifling matter before God.
His motive matters too. One writer notes that "his motive was not one of righteousness, for he was no better than those he murdered, and continued to walk in their sin" (C. Knapp).
The word given to Jehu was not left hanging. Years later Zimri reigned for seven days. In that time he destroyed Baasha's family, and Scripture ties the act back to this word:
He reigned only seven days. Besides his terrible death, the only deed mentioned is the killing of all the house of Baasha "according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet."
- Word. God did not go silent over a wayward Israel. He sent Jehu the son of Hanani. Israel was still His people, and He still loved them.
- Gift. Baasha grabbed the throne by murder. But God says He gave it: He lifted him out of the dust. A place of rule received from God carries a claim from God.
- Reach. Jehu spoke to Baasha of Israel and later to Jehoshaphat of Judah. The world's hatred for God's people, and God's people's friendship with the world, are both sin in His eyes.
- Mirror. Baasha carried out judgment on Jeroboam's house, then repeated Jeroboam's sins. So the same sentence fell on him. Condemning others never excuses us.
- Fulfilment. Zimri's seven-day reign ended Baasha's house, "according to the word of the LORD… by Jehu the prophet." What God speaks against evil, He carries out.
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 hast made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins;
Baasha seized Israel's throne by murder, yet God's message to him traces his rise back to God Himself. That raises two questions: what God wants from a man He lifts up, and why this man ends up under the sentence he once carried out.
The opening words point to where Baasha started. He rose from nothing, and his name fit the ruler he became.
"Out of the dust" implies his lowly origin. How often do revolutionaries think like this! The ruler they hate is of noble birth or royal line, so the remedy must be to put one of their own class and rank in power. And how soon they learn that "a servant when he rules" is the very worst kind of tyrant known! … Baasha came of common stock. Yet his name — he who lays waste — tells all too well what kind of ruler he proved to be.
The history says Baasha took the crown by violence. God says He gave it. Both are true, and the second is what makes the charge stick.
The history records that Baasha had murdered his master to take his place as king. Yet God tells Baasha that He had lifted him out of the dust to make him ruler over Israel. We may be sure Baasha had not considered God at all in taking the kingdom. But now he must face it: God required something of him, because God had given him the place of rule.
The road Baasha chose to walk had been laid down by the first king of the ten northern tribes. It was not a lapse in a few details but a whole rival religion.
Jeroboam had no faith in God and His word. He feared for the security of his throne if the people kept going up to Jerusalem to worship. So he set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan… He appointed priests from among all classes, ignoring the special privilege of the Levites. He started feasts of his own devising, in defiance of the LORD's law… So the people were turned completely away from God's centre and from His order connected with it. All this was more than unfaithfulness; it was open apostasy.
Twice in one sentence God calls the nation His own. Baasha was made leader over God's people, and he dragged God's people into sin. Their sins anger God, yet the charge in this verse lands on the man who led them into it.
Israel had turned away from the Lord. But the Lord did not write them off. Though rebellious and wayward, they were still His people. … Again and again He had been provoked to anger by His people's sins. Yet they were His people. He still loved them.
Baasha himself had carried out the sentence on Jeroboam's family. He had seen first-hand what God does with such a king — then copied him.
He sinned as Jeroboam did. Yet he was the one who carried out God's judgment on the descendants of the wicked king. He had not heard the voice of the LORD speaking in the events of the past. … "I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat." Such is divine justice.
The sentence that follows in verse 3 is the one Baasha himself had executed. Commentators draw the same conclusion from it, and one turns it directly on the reader.
Baasha was God's instrument of judgment to wipe out the house of Jeroboam. Now he was to face the same judgment he had handed out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and deal harshly with them for their sins. How solemn when we then go ahead and repeat the same sins ourselves! This is no trifling matter before God.
Baasha fits a long pattern: God uses a man as His rod, then judges the rod.
God might use Jeroboam to discipline Solomon and his house. He might use the kings of Assyria to discipline Jeroboam's subjects. He might use Nebuchadnezzar to discipline Judah and its kings. But God has had to judge all of them in their turn. These rods of His anger were no more faithful to God than the people He used them against.
- Raised. Baasha began in the dust, with a lowly background. God, not Baasha, lifted him out of it.
- Responsible. Because God gave him the place of rule, God required something of him, however he had grabbed the crown.
- Repeated. He walked the way of Jeroboam — calf worship, invented priests, invented feasts. That was not a slip but open apostasy.
- Repaid. The man God used to end Jeroboam's house got Jeroboam's sentence. God's instruments are not exempt from God's judgment.
- Remembered. Twice God calls them "My people" — provoked to anger by their sins, He still owned them and still loved them.
behold, I will take away Baasha and his house, and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
Baasha became king of Israel by killing Nadab and destroying Jeroboam's whole family, acting as God's instrument of judgment. Now the prophet Jehu son of Hanani tells him that his own house will end the same way — so why is the man God used to judge judged himself?
One writer weighs Baasha's beginning, the threat to his descendants, his name, and how God saw the man himself:
"Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, I lifted you out of the dust and made you prince over My people Israel. Yet you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made My people Israel sin, provoking Me to anger with their sins. Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha and the posterity of his house" — a terrible thought to an Israelite! — "and will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat." Here God solemnly pronounces his doom and the doom of all his house. "Out of the dust" implies his lowly origin. … Baasha was of humble stock, yet his name — "he who lays waste" — tells only too accurately what kind of ruler he proved himself to be. … God, who looks on the heart, sees him only as an assassin serving his own ambition, killing king Nadab and the entire house of Jeroboam.
(The ESV reads that God will "utterly sweep away Baasha and his house." The older wording quoted here says "posterity" — it means his descendants.)
Baasha had carried out God's judgment himself, and learned nothing from it:
He sinned as Jeroboam did, though he had been the executer of God's judgment upon the descendants of the wicked king. He had not heard Jehovah's voice speaking in the events of the past. … "I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat." Such is divine justice.
What happened to Baasha is not an isolated case. It runs right through the history:
God might use Jeroboam to discipline Solomon and his house. He might use the kings of Assyria to discipline Jeroboam's subjects. He might use Nebuchadnezzar to discipline Judah and its kings. But God has had to judge all of these in their turn, for these rods of His anger were no more faithful to God than the people He used them against.
The verse sets Baasha's house beside the house he himself destroyed. One writer brings that home to us:
Baasha, God's instrument of judgment to exterminate the house of Jeroboam, was now to face the same judgment he had meted out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and deal harshly with them for their sins. How solemn when we then go ahead and repeat the same sins ourselves! This is no trifling matter before God.
The threat was not empty talk. Zimri, the murderer of Baasha's son Elah, carried it out:
His murderer Zimri at once began to massacre "all the house of Baasha," sparing none, "neither of his relatives, nor of his friends." It was complete extermination, exactly as God had ordained it should be. "Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet. It came for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they … made Israel to sin, in provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities" (idol worship).
Twice in this message God calls the sinning nation "My people Israel." That claim was not withdrawn when judgment fell on the dynasty:
Israel had turned away from the Lord. But the Lord did not write them off. Though rebellious and wayward, they were still His people. Many years later He uses the prophet Hosea to express His feelings and detail His dealings with them in a touching way. "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?" He laments (Hos. 11:8). Again and again His people's sins had provoked Him to anger. Yet they were His people. He still loved them.
- Raised. God lifted Baasha "out of the dust" and made him prince — a man of lowly birth who owed the throne entirely to God.
- Used. God made him the instrument that ended Jeroboam's line — yet he never heard God's voice in what he did.
- Copied. He punished another man's sins, then committed them himself. He walked in the way of Jeroboam and made Israel sin.
- Judged. The rod God uses is still answerable to God. Baasha's house ended like the house he destroyed, and Zimri carried out the sentence to the letter.
- Loved. Through it all the nation is still "My people Israel" — the dynasty falls, but God does not write off the people He loves.
Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth of his in the field shall the fowl of the heavens eat.
The sentence falls on Baasha's whole family, not on Baasha alone. It matches a judgment Israel had already watched fall on another royal house.
Jehu then tells Baasha the word of the Lord. God had lifted Baasha out of the dust to make him ruler over Israel. But Baasha had followed Jeroboam in his evil and idolatrous course, causing Israel to sin just as Jeroboam did (v.2). So God would take away Baasha's descendants, reducing his house to the same solemn judgment as the house of Jeroboam. Instead of proper burials, dogs would eat Baasha's descendants who died in the city. Ravenous birds would eat those who died in the fields (vs.3A).
Baasha came from nothing, and God raised him to the throne. His low birth was never the problem.
His doom, and that of all his house, is here solemnly pronounced. "Out of the dust" implies his lowly origin... It is not a question of natural birth, whether high or low, but of new birth and "ruling in the fear of God"... Baasha was of common stock, yet his name, he who lays waste, tells only too accurately what kind of ruler he proved himself to be.
To a reader today this may just sound grim. In Israel it said something exact, because of what dogs were and what they ate.
Dogs are constantly referred to in Scripture as unclean and debased animals, so the unclean Gentiles — the nations outside Israel — are compared to dogs... The most offensive thing you could call a man was a dead dog. They were, and are, the scavengers of Eastern cities. People throw all their rubbish into the streets, and the dogs eat it. It was the dogs who ate the body of Jezebel, and licked up the blood of Naboth and of Ahab.
The sting is not only how these people die but what is withheld afterwards. The very same words were later spoken over another royal family in Israel, and the point of them is put plainly:
As to Ahab's family, he is told that the dogs would eat any of those who died in the city and the birds would eat any who died in the field (v.24). None of them would be allowed the dignity of a burial. What a message for a king of Israel to receive!
Behind the lost burial stands a loss that an Israelite felt even more keenly — a family line simply ending.
Thus the house of Baasha, like that of Jeroboam before him, became extinct — the greatest calamity, to Jewish minds, that could overtake a man.
Baasha had destroyed Jeroboam's family himself. Now the same sentence comes back with his own name in it.
Baasha, God's instrument of judgment to exterminate the house of Jeroboam, was now to face the same judgment he had meted out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and deal harshly with them for their sins. How solemn when we then go ahead and repeat the same sins ourselves! This is no trifling matter before God.
The word did not stay a threat. Years later Zimri killed Baasha's son Elah, and the record ties what followed to what Jehu had said.
- Lifted — God raised Baasha "out of the dust" to rule. The throne was a gift, and this verse answers what he did with it.
- Copied — He destroyed Jeroboam's house, then repeated Jeroboam's sin. So God spoke the same judgment over his own family.
- Degraded — Dogs were the unclean scavengers of the streets. Ending as their food, in city or field, meant total contempt.
- Erased — No grave and no children left. To an Israelite, nothing worse could happen to a man.
- Fulfilled — Zimri wiped out the house of Baasha, just as God had said. A warning from God is never only words.
And the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
Verse 5 closes Baasha's reign with the same formula used for every king of the northern kingdom: his other deeds and his strength sit on file in a national archive. So what is such a record worth, and why does Scripture point us to a book it did not keep?
The verse sends readers to a state archive. One commentator notes that this is always where the writer of Kings got his material:
Another clear difference between these two books is where each writer got his material. In Kings it always comes from state records. Chronicles draws more on the writings of individual men: Samuel the seer, Nathan the prophet, Gad the seer, the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, the visions of Iddo the seer.
One writer weighs what that archive is worth to a believer:
These chronicles were drawn up during the reigns of all the rulers of those times, Jewish or Gentile. They have nothing to do with the Word of God. What it has not pleased the Lord to record or explain is found written there. These chronicles have been lost. The believer needs none of them. He has God's Word. There, in God's account, he finds everything he needs. He also finds God's own assessment of people, events and things. Deeds may be recorded in writings that are not inspired, and even recorded with great accuracy. But such records never carry more than a human assessment. Men of God — prophets and seers — could be used to draw up these chronicles and write these commentaries. Those writings are still not the inspired Word of God.
The same writer adds what was lost when those records disappeared:
While they still existed, these records bore witness to the divine character of this Word. They testified that the facts recorded in it are real. Now that they have disappeared, they have no witness left except the mention made of them in the sacred writings. These things fall into ruin and vanish. The Word of God remains — the only monument, the only document that cannot be shaken.
Baasha rose to power from nothing, and his name suited him:
"Out of the dust" implies his lowly origin... Baasha came from common stock, yet his name — he who lays waste — describes only too accurately the kind of ruler he proved to be.
Scripture does not stop at the formula. The next verse adds God's own reason for judging Baasha:
Then a further verse is added. It stresses that God judged him and his family because of his idolatries and his murder of the house of Jeroboam... God looks on the heart. He sees him only as an assassin who killed king Nadab and the whole house of Jeroboam to serve his own ambitions.
Baasha's long reign gave him room to change:
Despite Baasha's evil life, the Lord allowed him to reign twenty-four years. So God gave him plenty of time to repent and change his ways. But he followed the ways of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin.
There is a warning here for anyone quick to judge another person's sin:
Baasha was God's instrument of judgment to wipe out the house of Jeroboam. Now he had to face the same judgment he had handed out. We find it easy to condemn others and deal harshly with them for their sins. How serious it is when we then go on and commit the same sins ourselves! This is no small matter before God.
- Two books. Man's book filed Baasha's acts and strength; God's book filed the reason his house fell. Only one of the two survived.
- Lowly origin. The archive praised his strength, but he had risen from the dust; his name — he who lays waste — says what he did with his power.
- Divine reading. The state record said king. God, who looks on the heart, said assassin, and named idolatry and murder as the reason for judgment.
- Time granted. Twenty-four years were room to repent, not a reward; he spent them repeating the very sins he had been sent to punish.
- What lasts. Human monuments crumble. The Word of God stands as the one document that cannot be shaken, and it alone gives God's assessment of a life.
And Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah; and Elah his son reigned in his stead.
Baasha's reign ends with the same calm words used for better kings. He dies, he is buried in his capital, and his son takes the throne. Yet God had just sentenced his house to the same ruin that fell on Jeroboam's family. So what does this quiet ending mean?
Commentators note that the record adds a further verse to explain why God dealt with this family:
And then a further verse is added, to stress the reason: God judged him and his family because of his idolatries and his murder of the house of Jeroboam… God looks upon the heart. He sees him only as an assassin carrying out his ambitious plans, killing king Nadab and the entire house of Jeroboam.
Baasha reached the throne by murdering his predecessor. God's message to him told the story of his rise differently.
The history records that Baasha had murdered his master to take his place as king. Yet God tells Baasha that He had lifted him out of the dust to make him ruler over Israel. We may be sure Baasha had not considered God at all when he took the kingdom. But now he must face this: God required something of him, because God had given him the place of rule.
His name itself, one writer notes, turned out to be a description of his rule:
Baasha came from common stock. Yet his name, "he who lays waste," describes only too well the sort of ruler he proved to be.
Baasha had been the tool God used to wipe out Jeroboam's family. What came next carries a warning for anyone who judges other people.
Baasha, God's instrument of judgment to exterminate the house of Jeroboam, was now to face the same judgment he had meted out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and deal harshly with them for their sins. How solemn when we then go ahead and repeat the same sins ourselves! This is no trifling matter before God.
The sentence fell on Baasha's whole house, not on the man alone. Baasha himself went to a grave like his ancestors.
Jehu prophesies against Baasha, who had struck down the house of Jeroboam. He pronounces on Baasha the same judgment that had already fallen on Jeroboam… Still, Baasha, just like Jeroboam, "slept with his fathers."
The son named in this verse did not hold the throne long:
Baasha personally was buried when he died, and his son Elah took the throne, though only for a short time (two years).
The verse names Tirzah as his burial place. Baasha had made this city his royal seat, and its name points to what is pleasant.
He was from the tribe of Issachar, and he had that tribe's trait — an eye for what looked "pleasant." So he made beautiful Tirzah the royal residence during his reign. Some trace its name to ratzah, which means "pleasant." He may have known something of God's purpose in cutting off Jeroboam's house. Even so, his motive was not righteousness. He was no better than the men he murdered, and he went on walking in their sin.
The verse before this one sends readers to the royal chronicles for Baasha's deeds. One writer draws a sharp line between those chronicles and Scripture.
These chronicles have nothing to do with the Word of God. They record what it has not pleased the Lord to record or to explain. These chronicles are now lost… The believer has no need for any of them; he has God's Word. In God's account he finds all that he needs, and God's own evaluation of people, events, and things. Writings that are not inspired may record certain deeds, and record them with great exactness. But nothing more than a human evaluation ever goes with those deeds.
The royal records that once listed his "might" are gone. The short notice God kept has outlasted them.
These things fall into ruin and disappear. The Word of God remains — the only monument, the only document that cannot be shaken!
- Dust — God says He lifted Baasha out of the dust to rule Israel. The place was a gift, and it carried a demand Baasha never considered.
- Waste — his name meant "he who lays waste." His reign matched it: he destroyed Jeroboam's house, then repeated Jeroboam's sins.
- Sentence — the man who carried out judgment on another family came under the same judgment himself. Writers read this as a warning to anyone quick to condemn.
- Grave — Baasha was buried in peace at Tirzah, yet the sentence on his house still stood; his son Elah held the throne only two years.
- Word — the royal chronicles that recorded his might are lost. Only the inspired record survives, and it alone gives God's own evaluation of the man.
And also through the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani the word of Jehovah came against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of Jehovah, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he had smitten him.
Baasha wiped out the family of Jeroboam, and that act carried out a judgment God had already announced. Now the prophet Jehu brings God's word against him for that very act — how can God condemn a man for doing what He decreed?
The verse reads like a closing note on Baasha's reign, and it names two counts against him. One is "the work of his hands" — his idols. The other is the house he struck down:
An extra verse is added to stress why God judged Baasha and his family: his idolatries, and his murder of the house of Jeroboam… God, who looks upon the heart, sees him only as an assassin carrying out his own ambitious plans, killing king Nadab and the whole house of Jeroboam.
The last words of the verse are "because he destroyed it." Baasha struck one guilty house down, and now the same sentence falls on his own:
Baasha was God's instrument of judgment to wipe out the house of Jeroboam. Now he had to face the very judgment he had handed out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and deal harshly with them for their sins. How serious it is when we then go on and repeat those same sins ourselves! This is no small matter before God.
Baasha had watched God's word come true on Jeroboam's house, and learned nothing from it:
He sinned as Jeroboam did, though he had been the one who carried out God's judgment on the descendants of the wicked king. He had not heard the Lord's voice speaking in the events of the past… "I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat." Such is divine justice.
A different Jehu — not the prophet of this verse — carried out the Lord's judgment on Ahab's house. God still called him to account for the way he did it:
God takes into account not only what men do, but their aim in doing it. Jehu carried out the Lord's judgment on the house of Ahab, and on all his guilty partners, until not one of them remained alive… But he was harsh in carrying out the Lord's just judgments, and his reasons for that harshness were selfish. Both were far from acceptable. So by the mouth of the prophet Hosea He says, "In just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel."
Baasha fails the same test. He killed Jeroboam's family, yet "his motive was not one of righteousness… for he was no better than those he murdered, and continued to walk in their sin" (C Knapp).
A wicked act can serve God's plan and still leave the doer fully guilty:
The believer's heart finds great support in this: neither the wickedness of man nor the schemes of Satan can frustrate any divine purpose. Rebels against their Maker, whether human or angelic, are forced, despite themselves, to contribute to the final result as He planned it. This does not, of course, lessen their wickedness in the smallest degree. God and His purposes have no place at all in their thoughts.
God's message to Baasha starts not with his crimes but with his rise:
The history records that Baasha had murdered his master to take his place as king. Yet God tells Baasha that He had lifted him out of the dust to make him ruler over Israel. We may be sure Baasha had not considered God at all when he took the kingdom. But now he must face it: God required something of him, because God had given him the place of rule.
God's word through Jehu came true. Zimri later killed Baasha's son Elah and wiped out the whole family, "sparing none, neither of his relatives nor of his friends… exactly as God had determined it should be" (C Knapp).
- Lifted. God says He raised Baasha out of the dust; the throne was a gift, and a gift makes a man answerable.
- Charged. The verse names two counts together: the idols his own hands made, and the blood of the house he destroyed.
- Weighed. God takes into account not only what men do, but their aim in doing it — as Jehu also learned.
- Responsible. Wickedness cannot wreck God's purpose. Serving that purpose does not make a man less wicked.
- Repaid. Baasha became like the house he wiped out; Zimri finished his line exactly as the prophet had said.
In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah for two years.
Elah, the son of Baasha, takes the throne of Israel in Tirzah for two years, while Asa is only in his twenty-sixth year over Judah. The verse reads like a routine date-stamp, but commentators treat it as the first line of a sentence God had already passed on his father's house.
Elah inherited a house that a prophet had already spoken against.
The history of the kings of Israel becomes increasingly dark and tragic. The curse of God rests on this apostate line. Elah, the son of Baasha, reigns two years (v. 8); Zimri, who held high rank in the army, kills him at Tirzah while he was drinking himself drunk. So the word of Jehu the prophet starts to come true: "As soon as he sat on his throne, he struck down all the house of Baasha. He did not leave him a single male of his relatives or his friends" (v. 11). … When a man's heart is turned away from God, each of his deeds carries the mark of it, and that is how a mass of sins can pile up in so short a time.
Elah's father Baasha chose this capital, and the city's name tells you what drew him to it.
He was of Issachar, and had the tribal trait — an eye for what appeared "pleasant" (Genesis 49:15). So he made beautiful Tirzah (which some derive from ratzah, "pleasant"; see Song of Solomon 6:4) the royal residence during his reign. Whatever he may have known of God's purpose in cutting off Jeroboam's house, his motive was not righteousness (like Jehu's, later). He was no better than the men he murdered, and he went on walking in their sin.
Scripture records almost nothing Elah did — except one thing.
Elah was no different from his father in his evil character. For two years he evidently reigned only for his own pleasure. The only specific action we read of on his part is that he was "drinking himself drunk" (v. 9). It is not surprising that his own servant conspired against him and killed him. Elah left himself open to any kind of assault by his drunkenness, and his own servants had reason to despise him.
The timing makes it worse. His soldiers were in the field, and his own steward had a hand in it.
How tragic! King Elah indulging his own appetites, drinking himself drunk! His steward Arza helping his master do wrong! All this while the people were encamped against the Philistine city of Gibbethon! No wonder one of his top military officers takes advantage of this to assassinate him! Wrong as this was and always is, we tend to sympathise with Zimri rather than with drunken Elah. Nor can we forget that the wrath of man shall praise the Lord, and the rest He will restrain (Psalm 76:10). So God's judgment overtook the house of Baasha.
Elah is not the only king who did this:
David (2 Samuel 11), Belshazzar (Daniel 5) and Elah all indulged their own appetites while their people were at war. For each of them and for many others like them the results proved tragic.
Elah lived to please himself. One Man never did.
What a contrast we have in the Lord Jesus. "For Christ did not please Himself," we read in Romans 15:3. He alone could say, "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8:29). No one could challenge this; rather, "As He was saying these things, many believed in Him" (v. 30). Self-control is also one of the Spirit's nine delicious flavours of fruit in Galatians 5. "Against such things there is no law."
Elah's two years close a family line. The record of it was not kept for curiosity.
In less than fifty years the first two dynasties of Israel's kings had come to an end and every member of their families had been wiped out. God meant their doom to be an example to those who would afterwards live ungodly lives. In these records they stand as warning lights. They warn every ruler and subject off the rocks that wrecked these kings forever. "Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them" (Hosea 14:9).
- Sentence — Elah takes a throne already under a prophet's word against his father's house. His two years are where that word starts to land.
- Setting — He reigns in Tirzah, the "pleasant" city his father chose for its looks.
- Self — Two years on the throne, and the only deed on record is that he drank himself drunk. He reigned for his own pleasure.
- Sword — He drank while his army camped against Gibbethon. That left him open to the officer who killed him. The same self-indulgence turned tragic for David and Belshazzar.
- Signal — Two royal houses wiped out in under fifty years stand as warning lights. The opposite is Christ, who did not please Himself.
And his servant Zimri, captain of half [his] chariots, conspired against him; and he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was the steward of his house in Tirzah;
One of his own chariot officers kills the king of Israel in a private house, while the king is drunk. That one scene sums up the whole reign of Elah son of Baasha, and it raises two questions: what self-indulgence does to a man, and how a traitor's hand carries out God's earlier sentence on Baasha's family.
Two years on the throne left nothing worth reporting. One writer ties Elah's drinking to the way he died:
Elah was no different from his father in his evil character. It seems that for two years he reigned only for his own pleasure. The one action we read of on his part is that he was "drinking himself drunk" (v.9). No wonder his own servant conspired against him and killed him. His drunkenness left him open to attack of any kind, and his own servants had reason to despise him.
The verse names the house where Elah died and the man who owned it. Arza was the steward, the servant who ran the king's household:
Of Elah, Josephus (viii. 12, § 4) says he was slain while his army was away at the siege of Gibbethon, begun in his father Baasha's day. His murder was carried out in the house of his steward Arza (earthliness), who was probably as given to self-indulgence as his master. Contrast the steward Obadiah, 1 Kings 18:3.
Obadiah is named as the opposite case — a steward in a later reign. A servant either feeds his master's weakness or stands against it.
The timing is the sharpest detail. The army was camped against a Philistine city while the king drank indoors:
How tragic! King Elah giving in to his bodily desires, drinking himself drunk! His steward Arza adding to his master's wrongdoing! All this while the people were encamped against the Philistine city of Gibbethon! No wonder one of his top military officers takes advantage of this to assassinate him! Wrong as this was and ever is, we tend to sympathise with Zimri rather than with drunken Elah. Nor can we forget that the wrath of man shall praise the Lord, and the rest of it He will hold back (Ps. 76:10). So God's judgment overtook the house of Baasha.
Zimri's motive and God's purpose were not the same, yet they met in one act. The killing carried out a word God had sent to Baasha through the prophet Jehu:
Zimri followed Baasha's example by killing both Elah and all the male descendants of Baasha (v.11). More than this, he killed the friends of Baasha. Zimri's motives were selfish and evil, but the Lord used Zimri's wickedness to carry out the prophecy He had sent to Baasha through Jehu (v.12). The whole house of Baasha died, and Elah and his friends with them. This happened because of the sins of both men, who provoked the Lord to anger by worshipping idols (v.13).
The killer was no outsider — the verse calls Zimri the king's own servant. He took the throne and kept it one week:
The conspiracy did not settle the kingdom. The army chose the next king, and one writer draws out the pattern:
On the day Zimri seized power, the people camped before Gibbethon chose Omri, the captain of the army, as their king. These things always repeat themselves when empires decline. When a people is without God, His will counts for nothing. What He set up at the beginning is thrown away. Whoever has power rules, and since power lies in the army, the empire is at the mercy of the military. Conspiracy on the one hand, military revolt on the other.
- Pleasure. Elah reigned for his own enjoyment, and the one act recorded of him is drinking himself drunk.
- Company. His host Arza — whose name is read as "earthliness" — was probably as self-indulgent as his master; the steward Obadiah is named as the contrast.
- Exposure. Drunkenness left him defenceless; his people were at war while he was at the table, and his own officer struck.
- Purpose. Zimri's motives were selfish, yet God used that wickedness to fulfil His word against Baasha's house for its idol worship.
- Collapse. The murder settled nothing. Where God's will counts for nothing, power decides, and the throne fell to whoever commanded the army.
and Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned in his stead.
Elah's two years as king of Israel end with one of his own officials killing him and taking the throne. It reads like palace politics. Commentators read it as God carrying out a sentence He had already spoken — and as a warning about how a man spends his time.
Scripture records almost nothing Elah did as king except drink. One writer ties his death to that drunkenness:
Elah was no different than his father in his evil character. For two years he evidently reigned only for his own pleasure. The only specific action we read of on his part is that he was "drinking himself drunk." No surprise, then, that his own servant conspired against him and killed him. Elah left himself open to any kind of assault by his drunkenness, and his own servants had reason to despise him.
Elah lived to please himself. One writer sets that beside the one life that never did:
What a contrast we have in the Lord Jesus. "For Christ did not please Himself," we read in Romans 15:3. He alone could say, "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8:29). No one could challenge this. Instead, "As He was saying these things, many believed in Him." Self-control is also one of the fruit of the Spirit's nine delicious flavours in Galatians 5. "Against such things there is no law."
The killing was not random. The prophet Jehu had already given Elah's father Baasha God's sentence on his whole family. The slaughter after Elah's death carried it out to the letter:
His murderer Zimri at once began to massacre "all the house of Baasha," sparing none, "neither his relatives nor his friends." It was complete extermination, just as God had ordained it should be. So "Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet." And it was "for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son … which they made Israel to sin, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their idols."
Zimri wanted the throne for himself. His crime still served a purpose he never intended:
Zimri followed Baasha's example by killing both Elah and all the male descendants of Baasha. More than this, he killed the friends of Baasha. The motives of Zimri were selfish and evil, but the Lord used Zimri's wickedness to carry out the prophecy He had sent Baasha by Jehu.
Baasha himself had wiped out the family of the king before him. Now the same judgment falls on his own house:
Baasha, God's instrument of judgment to exterminate the house of Jeroboam, was now to face the same judgment he had handed out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and deal harshly with them for their sins. How solemn when we then go ahead and repeat the same sins ourselves! This is no trifling matter before God.
Zimri held the throne for one week. One writer weighs what he did with it:
Zimri finished this extermination in a few days, for he reigned seven days at Tirzah. And these seven days were enough for him to do "evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin." When a man's heart is far from God, every one of his deeds bears the mark of it. So a mass of wrongdoing can pile up in a very short time.
What he never did in that week matters as much as what he did:
Zimri did a quick but thorough job of wiping out the house of Baasha, even killing all his friends. But his effort went only that far. He made absolutely no effort to repent, to turn to the Lord, or to walk in His ways. His brutality was totally self-seeking and led to swift disaster for himself and Israel.
- Pleasure — The only act Scripture records of Elah as king is getting drunk. A reign spent on pleasure left him open to attack and despised by his own servants.
- Word — Zimri's blow was not an accident of politics. It carried out to the letter what God had spoken against Baasha's house through the prophet Jehu.
- Instrument — Zimri's motives were selfish and evil. The Lord still used his wickedness to carry out the judgment He had announced. Being useful to God is not the same as being right with Him.
- Measure — Baasha carried out God's judgment on the house before him, then repeated its sins. The judgment he handed out came back on his own son.
- Days — Seven days were enough for Zimri to fill up his record of evil, and enough to show he never once turned to the Lord. A short reign excuses nothing.
And it came to pass when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he slew all the house of Baasha he left him not a male, neither of his kinsmen nor of his friends.
Zimri has just killed King Elah and seized the throne, and his first act is to destroy Baasha's whole family. The chapter treats the bloodbath as a prophecy coming true — so how can one man's brutality and God's word run along the same track?
Years earlier the prophet Jehu had told Baasha that his house would end like Jeroboam's. Zimri's massacre is where that word lands.
His murderer Zimri at once began to massacre "all the house of Baasha," sparing none, "neither his relatives nor his friends." It was complete extermination, exactly as God had ordained it should be. "Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet."
Baasha had climbed to the throne by killing Nadab and destroying Jeroboam's family. What falls on his own house now matches what he once handed out.
Baasha, God's instrument of judgment to wipe out the house of Jeroboam, was now to face the same judgment he had dealt out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and treat them harshly for their sins. How serious it is when we then go on and repeat the same sins ourselves! This is no small matter before God.
Jehu's message named the reason: Baasha had copied the very sins he once punished.
He sinned as Jeroboam did, though he had been the one who carried out God's judgment on the descendants of the wicked king. He had not heard the LORD's voice speaking in the events of the past... "I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat." Such is divine justice.
Zimri did not set out to serve God. His hand carried out the sentence while his heart pursued a throne.
Zimri followed Baasha's example by killing both Elah and all the male descendants of Baasha. More than this, he killed the friends of Baasha. The motives of Zimri were selfish and evil, but the Lord used Zimri's wickedness to accomplish the prophecy He had sent Baasha by Jehu.
Commentators draw the same line about a different Jehu — the man who destroyed the house of Ahab:
God takes into account not only what men do, but their aim in doing it. Jehu carried out the judgment of the Lord on the house of Ahab, and on all his guilty partners, until not one of them remained alive... But the harshness with which he carried out the Lord's just judgments, and his own selfish reasons for that harshness, were far from acceptable.
Zimri held the throne for a week. Even so, the record of his reign says he did evil in the sight of the Lord — and the speed is the point.
Zimri finished this work of extermination in a few days, for he reigned only seven days at Tirzah. Those seven days were enough for him to do "evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin." When a man's heart is far from God, every one of his deeds carries that stamp. So a mass of sins can pile up in a very short time.
Two royal families vanished inside fifty years. God left their end on record as a lesson for later readers.
In less than fifty years the first two dynasties of Israel's kings had come to an end and every member of their families had been wiped out. God meant their doom to be an example to those who would afterwards live ungodly lives. They stand in these records as warning lights, to steer all rulers and subjects clear of the rocks on which they wrecked themselves for ever. "Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them" (Hosea 14:9).
- Word — Jehu's prophecy against Baasha's house was no empty threat. Zimri's massacre carried it out to the letter.
- Measure — Baasha destroyed Jeroboam's family, then copied Jeroboam's sins. The judgment he once carried out came back on his own house.
- Motive — Zimri's aims were selfish and evil. God used his wickedness without excusing it, because He weighs why men act, not only what they do.
- Speed — seven days on the throne were enough to mark Zimri as a man who did evil. A heart far from God stamps every deed.
- Warning — two dynasties fell within fifty years. Their record stands as a warning light, steering later readers clear of the rocks that wrecked them.
And Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spoke against Baasha through Jehu the prophet,
Zimri killed every male in Baasha's family within a week, and the Bible calls this not palace politics but the fulfilment of a word God had spoken through a prophet. That raises two questions: why was Baasha's house doomed, and how can a murderer's crime carry out God's word?
The messenger named here had already been sent to more than one throne, and his errands cut both ways.
After Hanani there appears Jehu, his son. He is a prophet in Israel as well as in Judah. He prophesies against Baasha, the king of Israel, who was Asa's enemy. He also prophesies against Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, who was Ahab's friend (2 Chronicles 19:2; 20:34). Both things — the world's hatred for the children of God, and the friendship of God's children for the world — are just as sinful in the eyes of the Lord.
The killing of a drunken king in Tirzah looks like nothing but ambition. Read against the prophecy, it is the opening move of something announced in advance.
Elah, the son of Baasha, reigns two years (v. 8). Zimri, who had a high rank in the army, kills him at Tirzah while Elah is drinking himself drunk. So the word of Jehu the prophet begins to be fulfilled: "As soon as he had seated himself on his throne, he struck down all the house of Baasha. He did not leave him a single male of his relatives or his friends" (v. 11). Zimri finished this work of extermination in a few days, for he reigned seven days at Tirzah (v. 15).
Nothing here excuses Zimri. He chased his own ends, and God's word came true through them.
Zimri followed Baasha's example by killing both Elah and all the male descendants of Baasha (v. 11). More than this, he killed the friends of Baasha. The motives of Zimri were selfish and evil, but the Lord used Zimri's wickedness to accomplish the prophecy He had sent Baasha by Jehu (v. 12).
This judgment is not random. The verse ties it to named sins. Older translations say they provoked God with their "vanities," which the writer explains as their idols.
His murderer Zimri at once began to massacre "all the house of Baasha," sparing none, "neither of his relatives nor of his friends." It was complete extermination, exactly as God had ordained it should be. "Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they … made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities" (idolatries).
Baasha had once destroyed a dynasty as God's instrument. Now the same judgment falls on his own family, and that turnaround carries a lesson.
Baasha, God's instrument of judgment to exterminate the house of Jeroboam, was now to face the same judgment he had handed out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and deal harshly with them for their sins. How serious it is when we then go ahead and repeat the same sins ourselves! This is no small matter before God.
Zimri did the work thoroughly, and that is his whole record.
Zimri did a quick but thorough job of wiping out the house of Baasha, even killing all his friends. But his effort went only that far. He made absolutely no effort to repent, to turn to the Lord, or to walk in His ways. His brutality was totally self-seeking and led to swift disaster for himself and for Israel.
So why keep such a grim record of wiped-out families?
In less than fifty years the first two dynasties of Israel's kings had come to an end and every member of their families had been wiped out. God meant their doom to be an example to those who would later live ungodly lives. They stand in these records as warning lights. They steer all rulers and subjects clear of the rocks that these kings struck, to their everlasting ruin. "Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them" (Hosea 14:9).
- Word spoken. God sent Jehu son of Hanani with this word before any of it happened. His errands went to kings in both Israel and Judah.
- Word justified. The verse ties the sentence to named sins — idolatry, and leading the nation into sin — not to raw politics.
- Word fulfilled. Zimri's motives were selfish and evil, yet the Lord used his wickedness to bring the prophecy to pass.
- Word returning. Baasha had once wiped out Jeroboam's house as God's instrument. The judgment he handed out came back on his own family.
- Word warning. Two dynasties were gone inside fifty years. The record stands as a warning light, so others steer clear of the same rocks.
for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and wherewith they made Israel to sin, provoking Jehovah the God of Israel to anger with their vanities.
Zimri had just wiped out the whole family of King Baasha. Verse 13 gives God's reason for it: the sins of two kings, father and son, who worshipped idols and drew a whole nation in with them.
Zimri acted for himself. Yet his massacre carried out a word God had already spoken.
Zimri followed Baasha's example by killing both Elah and all the male descendants of Baasha (v.11). More than this, he killed the friends of Baasha. Zimri's motives were selfish and evil, but the Lord used his wickedness to carry out the prophecy He had sent to Baasha through Jehu (v.12). This slaughter of the whole house of Baasha, and of Elah and his friends, came because of the sins of both of these men. Their idol worship provoked the Lord to anger (v.13).
The word translated "vanities" is not vague wickedness. Writers take it as a plain reference to the idols the two kings kept.
His murderer Zimri at once began to massacre "all the house of Baasha," sparing none, "neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends." It was complete extermination, even as God had ordained it should be. "Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they … made Israel to sin, in provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities" (idolatries).
Elsewhere the same word gets a sharper edge. Idols are described as things with no substance at all:
"Idols" as used in that verse is a very remarkable word. It really means "nonentities".
Both kings named in the verse had a record of their own. They also stood in a line of kings where not one was good.
Fifty-eight years had passed since the kingdom had been split in two at the death of King Solomon. During this period seven kings had reigned, all, without exception, wicked men. Jeroboam had made Israel to sin with the golden calves. Nadab, his son, "did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father." Baasha was a murderer. Elah his son was a drunkard. Zimri was a traitor and murderer.
Baasha had every reason to break the pattern and did not.
A new dynasty was starting, and the dynasty before him had a sad history. One might hope that Baasha would have taken a different course, and turned to Jehovah. Sadly, we read: "And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he made Israel to sin."
The verse charges them twice: they sinned, and they made Israel sin. One writer notes how often the record repeats that second charge.
Let us note here what the earlier chapters repeat so often: the sins of their kings made Israel sin. One person's sin becomes far more serious when it makes others stumble. Its results are charged to those who drag the ignorant and the unsteady into the path of their own disobedience.
Elah reigned two years and Zimri only seven days. A short reign did not make a small record of sin.
The history of the kings of Israel grows darker and more tragic. The curse of God rests on this line that has turned away from Him. Elah, the son of Baasha, reigns two years (v. 8). Zimri, who held a high rank in the army, kills him at Tirzah while he is drinking himself drunk… Zimri finished this work of extermination in a few days, for he reigned seven days at Tirzah (v. 15). When a man's heart is far from God, each of his deeds carries that mark. So a mass of sins may pile up in a very short time.
One writer reads the whole book as one story: a kingdom set up under responsibility, its fall, God's patience, and judgment at last.
The Books of Kings contain the history of the kingdom in Israel: how it was set up under this responsibility, and how it fell. They tell of the patience of God, and of God's testimony in the middle of the ruin that flowed from the unfaithfulness of the first king. At last they tell of the judgment being carried out. To delay it any longer would only have falsified God's own character, and the testimony that should be given to the holiness of that character.
- Sin — Baasha had a fresh start and the warning of the dynasty before him, yet he walked in Jeroboam's way. Elah his son kept the same course.
- Idols — what stirred God's anger was worship given to idols, a word one writer says means "nonentities."
- Spread — they did not sin alone; they made Israel sin. Such results are charged to those who lead weaker people into their own disobedience.
- Speed — two years for Elah and seven days for Zimri were long enough to fill the record. Every deed of a heart far from God carries that mark.
- Sentence — Zimri's selfish violence became the tool that fulfilled Jehu's prophecy. God could not delay the judgment forever without denying His own holiness.