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.
And 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?
Elah's two-year reign ends like most reigns in Kings: with a note that the fuller account lies somewhere else. What was that book, and why does the record keep so little of Elah's life — a drunken evening, a murder, and his whole family wiped out?
Elah's reign gets almost no space. One writer calls this verse the usual sign-off on a life with nothing worth telling. He reads the fall of Israel's first two royal families as a warning from God:
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 ruin to be an example to people who would live ungodly lives later. In these records they stand as beacons, warning all rulers and their people away from the rocks that wrecked them for ever. "Whoever is wise, let him understand these things... for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them" (Hosea 14:9). The usual formula ends the record of Elah's worthless life (1 Kings 16:14).
The "Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel" is not the Bible book we call Chronicles. Comparing the two books shows they draw on different kinds of material:
Another clear difference between these two interesting books is where their writers got their material. In Kings it seems always to be taken from state records, such as "the book of the acts of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:41) and "the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel" (1 Kings 14:19). Chronicles draws more on the writings of individual people, such as "Samuel the seer," "Nathan the prophet" and "Gad the seer"...
So Kings draws on documents that already existed. One writer explains why the result is still God's own word:
In various places the writer refers to books that contain more about the life of the king in question, and on which he may have based his accounts... The author of the books of Kings was able to use these "references" under the guidance of the Holy Spirit while writing his God-inspired work.
Those royal annals recorded achievements. Two things they left out. One writer names them, commenting on the same closing formula later in the history:
If the chronicles of the kings of Israel (v. 34) were ever found, they would contain the acts and all the might of Jehu. They would not contain what he was before God, or God's judgment on his conduct as king.
But there is a second set of books. One writer asks the same closing question about a later king, then answers it:
"Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?" Yes — and they, with the wicked acts recorded here, are written in God's books above. Those books are not just "the chronicles of the kings of Israel." They hold the deeds and doings of every man's life, whether good or evil. Solemn facts for us all!
Out of two whole years, the record keeps one drunken night and the killing that followed:
The history of the kings of Israel grows darker and more tragic. The curse of God rests upon this apostate line. Elah, the son of Baasha, reigns two years (v. 8). Zimri, a high-ranking army officer, kills him at Tirzah while he 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 relative or friend" (v. 11).
Elah's one remembered act was self-pleasing at the worst possible moment, and he is not alone in that:
David (2 Sam. 11), Belshazzar (Dan. 5) and Elah all indulged their bodily appetites while their people were at war. For each of them and for many others like them the results proved tragic.
One writer points from kings like Elah to Christ:
He alone could say, "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8:29).
- Two records. Elah's fuller story went into royal archives. His real story went into God's books above, which hold "the deeds and doings of every man's life, whether good or evil."
- Human records fall short. Court annals kept acts and might, but not what a man "was before God, nor the judgment of God upon his conduct."
- God's record selects. The Holy Spirit guided the writer of Kings as he used these sources. What he kept exposes Elah: a drunken night, a murder, a family wiped out.
- The record vindicates the word. Elah's fall began to fulfil Jehu's prophecy against the house of Baasha. The ways of the Lord are right, and transgressors stumble in them.
- Read it as a beacon. These ruined royal families stand in Scripture as beacons. They warn later generations away from the rocks that wrecked them, and point us to the One who always did what pleased His Father.