For this next study, I wanted to do something just a little bit different. I feel led to study a particular person (a prophet) from the Old Testament, Elijah. Elijah first appears in 1 Kings. Instead of reading 1 Kings from the first verse, I will begin with 1 Kings 16, passages that set up the state of Israel just before Elijah appears in scripture for the first time.
For context with these first verses, from gotquestions.org: "Baasha was king of Israel from 909–886 BC. His contemporary in [the kingdom of] Judah was King Asa, the great-grandson of King Solomon. The two kings were polar opposites—while Asa “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done” (1 Kings 15:11), King Baasha was an evil ruler and followed idolatrous practices."
Israel had initially been a unified nation. Following King Solomon's death, the one kingdom divided into two. The kingdom of Israel was in the north (with its capital in Samaria) and the kingdom of Judah was in the south (with its capital in Jerusalem).
1 Kings 16:1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu son of Hanani concerning Baasha:
2 “I lifted you up from the dust and appointed you ruler over my people Israel, but you followed the ways of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to sin and to arouse my anger by their sins.
3 So I am about to wipe out Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat.
4 Dogs will eat those belonging to Baasha who die in the city, and birds will feed on those who die in the country.”
5 As for the other events of Baasha’s reign, what he did and his achievements, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
6 Baasha rested with his ancestors and was buried in Tirzah. And Elah his son succeeded him as king.
7 Moreover, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani to Baasha and his house, because of all the evil he had done in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger by the things he did, becoming like the house of Jeroboam—and also because he destroyed it.
7 Moreover, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani to Baasha and his house, because of all the evil he had done in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger by the things he did, becoming like the house of Jeroboam—and also because he destroyed it.
Elah King of Israel
8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah [a town in the Samarian highlands northeast of Shechem] two years.
8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah [a town in the Samarian highlands northeast of Shechem] two years.
9 Zimri, one of his officials, who had command of half his chariots, plotted against him. Elah was in Tirzah at the time, getting drunk in the home of Arza, the palace administrator at Tirzah.
10 Zimri came in, struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah. Then he succeeded him as king.
11 As soon as he began to reign and was seated on the throne, he killed off Baasha’s whole family. He did not spare a single male, whether relative or friend.
11 As soon as he began to reign and was seated on the throne, he killed off Baasha’s whole family. He did not spare a single male, whether relative or friend.
12 So Zimri destroyed the whole family of Baasha, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken against Baasha through the prophet Jehu—
13 because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, so that they aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by their worthless idols.
14 As for the other events of Elah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
14 As for the other events of Elah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
Commentary
(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, 1706 -- www.christianity.com)
"This chapter relates wholly to the kingdom of Israel, and the revolutions of that kingdom. God calls Israel his people still, though wretchedly corrupted. Jehu foretells the same destruction to come upon Baasha's family, which that king had been employed to bring upon the family of Jeroboam. Those who resemble others in their sins, may expect to resemble them in the plagues they suffer, especially those who seem zealous against such sins in others as they allow in themselves. Baasha himself dies in peace, and is buried with honour. Herein plainly appears that there are punishments after death, which are most to be dreaded.
Let Elah be a warning to drunkards, who know not but death may surprise them. Death easily comes upon men when they are drunk. Besides the diseases which men bring themselves into by drinking, when in that state, men are easily overcome by an enemy, and liable to bad accidents. Death comes terribly upon men in such a state, finding them in the act of sin, and unfitted for any act of devotion; that day comes upon them unawares.
The word of God was fulfilled, and the sins of Baasha and Elah were reckoned for, with which they provoked God. Their idols are called their vanities, for idols cannot profit nor help; miserable are those whose gods are vanities."
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