Chapter 168. 1 Kings 16. Wicked Kings of Israel.
DURING the time of Asa’s reign in Jerusalem over Judah, seven kings, one after the other, sat on the throne over the ten tribes. The first was Jeroboam, then Nadab his son. This wicked king did not reign long. After two years, a man named Baasha conspired against him, and killed him, and made himself king of Israel. When Baasha was king, the first thing he did was to destroy all Jeroboam’s family. He did not let one of them escape. Baasha was a very cruel and wicked man. But God used him to fulfill His word against Jeroboam spoken by Ahijah the prophet. He never forgets what He says.
Baasha was constantly at war with Asa, king of Judah. It was then that Asa displeased God by trusting in the king of Syria for help. Like Jeroboam and Nadab, Baasha worshiped idols. He sinned like them, and God said he should be punished like them, too. After Baasha, his son, Elah, became king. He followed his father’s bad example, and God sent Jehu, the prophet, with a message that the family of Baasha should be destroyed. Zimri, captain over Elah’s chariots, conspired against his master, and killed him while he was eating and drinking and making merry with his godless friends.
Zimri, however, did not reign long. There was another captain in Israel as ambitious and selfish as he. His name was Omri. The people of Isfael liked Omri and chose him for their king; he and his soldiers went to Tirzah, where Zimri lived, and besieged the city. Zimri was frightened when he saw Omri coming against him.
People with a bad conscience cannot but be troubled and fearful in time of danger. If we do not know the Lord as our Saviour we cannot go to Him for safety; but if, through faith in Christ Jesus, we can call God our Father, then in all confidence we shall be able to say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” (Heb. 13:66So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. (Hebrews 13:6).)
Zimri knew he could not escape; he felt he must die. His ill-gotten riches could not save him. In despair he went into the king’s palace, and set it on fire. Thcre, he perished miserably as a result of his sins, as a punishment from God. The Lord has kept an account of the actions of this wicked king and of the others. How solemn to think of it. It was recorded in the book of the kings of Israel. Our actions, likewise, are all recorded in God’s books, and on that great and terrible day when these books are opened, whosoever shall not have his or her name written in the book of life, to show that all these black deeds have been atoned for by the precious blood of Christ, shall be cast into the lake of fire. (See Rev. 20:12-1512And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:12‑15).)
Omri was king after Zimri. At first he lived in Tirzah, but after a few years he bought a mountain and built on it the city of Samaria which became the capital. Omri was worse than all the previous kings; he taught the people to sin, too. They all became idolaters, and forsook the only true God who had borne with them those many years.
Ahab succeeded his father at his death. Not only was the new king an idolater, but he committed all sorts of wicked acts. He married a bad woman named Jezebel, who encouraged him in his ways. They served the idol Baal and built an altar to it and provoked God to anger. Although “the Lord is long suffering, not willing that any should perish,” He could not countenance these things, and the day was fast coming when He must punish them. A day of reckoning is also coming upon this world. Woe unto those who shall be found out of Christ!
ML 12/10/1916