We talked about how this assassination fulfilled a prophecy spoken to King Jeroboam in which he would be left with no successors due to the idolatrous state-sponsored religion he instituted during his reign. But Baasha will be just as sinful as King Jeroboam was. I think perhaps at one time he was not a violent and idolatrous man, according to something we'll read in today's text, but as the leader of Israel he will adopt and enforce the same state-sponsored religion as his predecessor. He will direct worship toward Jeroboam's golden calf images at Dan and Bethel. He will discourage his subjects from going to Jerusalem to worship the one true God.
"In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years." (1 Kings 15:33) Ahijah was a common name during the era we are studying. We previously met a prophet by the name of Ahijah but he is not Baasha's father. Ahijah the prophet was from Shiloh, which lay within the territory of the tribe of Ephraim, and Baasha's father was from the tribe of Issachar.
"He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the ways of Jeroboam and committing the same sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit." (1 Kings 15:34) This is where we learn Baasha did the same things Jeroboam did, spiritually speaking, but was he always a spiritually wayward man? This next portion of our text makes me wonder whether at one time he at least considered leaning in the Lord's direction. It makes me wonder whether the Lord may have made a conditional promise to him like the one He made to Jeroboam: that if he would be faithful to the Lord, the Lord would make a great dynasty for him. "Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu son of Hanani concerning Baasha: '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 sin.'" (1 Kings 16:1-2)
We don't know what Baasha was like before he decided to assassinate Nadab and assume the throne. It could be that the Lord had told him He would make him king someday and Baasha took matters into his own hands, not waiting for the Lord to promote him to the kingship in His own time and in His own way. Then, having successfully carried out a violent coup, Baasha decided to maintain control over the people by controlling their religion, preventing them as much as possible from going into the kingdom of Judah to worship the Lord at Jerusalem.
If Baasha had repented of his violence and his idolatry, he could have had a blessed reign and an enduring dynasty. But as we'll see tomorrow, his dynasty will be very-short lived. A man named Zimri will conspire against Baasha's son, assassinate him, take over the throne, and kill all of Baasha's family just as Baasha killed all of Jeroboam's family. The prophet Jehu warns Baasha that this is going to happen but Baasha doesn't take his words to heart and repent. The Lord says through the prophet, "So I am about to wipe out Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat. Dogs will eat those belonging to Baasha who die in the city, and birds will feed on those who die in the country.'" (1 Kings 16:3-4) The Lord spoke this same prophecy against the house of Jeroboam and it came to pass. Baasha knows this but he doesn't change his ways and begin serving the Lord because he doesn't want to serve the Lord. Perhaps he thinks he has too many supporters for the Lord's words to come true but no one is powerful enough to oppose the Lord.
"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? Baasha rested with his ancestors and was buried in Tirzah. And Elah his son succeeded him as king." (1 Kings 16:5-6) Last week we learned from the book of 2 Chronicles that during Baasha's reign he captured the area of Ramah (which lay within the tribe of Benjamin which was part of the kingdom of Judah) to prevent anyone from going into or leaving the kingdom of Judah. But King Asa of Judah made an alliance with the king of Syria who sent his troops against several cities of Israel, causing Baasha to have to withdraw from Ramah in order to defend the cities being attacked in Israel.
In our day we don't possess all the books mentioned in the Bible, such as the books that describe all the achievements of the kings, but what we know of Baasha paints a portrait of a man who served only himself. He may have brought offerings and sacrifices to the golden calves at Bethel or Dan in order to make a show of following the state religion but I think he was the god of his own life. He, like King Jeroboam, feared the people would turn against him if they were allowed to go to Jerusalem to serve the Lord. King Jeroboam struggled with the paranoid fear that the people of Israel would go up to the temple to worship, then transfer their loyalty to the King of Judah, and come back and assassinate him. If King Jeroboam had obeyed the terms of the conditional promise the Lord made to him, there would have been no reason for living in fear because the Lord would have protected him and his successors. But Jeroboam wanted to serve only himself and therefore he wasn't under the Lord's protection. Neither was his son Nadab who was just like him. Neither is Baasha. Neither is Baasha's successor.
"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." (1 Kings 16:7) The Lord tried to reason with Baasha through the prophet Jehu and Baasha wouldn't listen. The Lord gave Baasha twenty-four years to repent of his wrong ways but he never repented. During those twenty-four years Baasha raised his son Elah up in idolatry. Elah knew what the Lord was saying to his father through the prophet Jehu since the author of 1 Kings tells us that the prophet spoke these words "to Baasha and his house" but Elah won't change his ways. In tomorrow's study we'll find him reigning only two years before he's assassinated during a drinking party.
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