Moreover, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and also because he destroyed it.
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?
Two charges, not one
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:
C KnappAn 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.
Judgment on the man who carried out judgment
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:
Eugene P. Vedder Jr.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:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHe 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.
Motive is weighed, not only the deed
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:
James BoydGod 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).
God's purpose never cancels man's guilt
A wicked act can serve God's plan and still leave the doer fully guilty:
W. W. FeredayThe 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.
Raised by God, therefore answerable to God
God's message to Baasha starts not with his crimes but with his rise:
Leslie M. GrantThe 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.
The sentence carried out
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).
Summary
- 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.