Dear Friends,

Begin your study with I Kings 15:25 and as you continue on, contrast the way so many of Israel’s kings came to throne with Christ’s receiving the name that is above every name in Philippians 2:5-11. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,

John Janney

    b. The Reign of Baasha (15:32-16:7)

“Here is a 24-year reign, yet there is nothing here about ‘his might’ (16:5), only minimal factual data (15:33), a negative assessment (15:34), a sermon against him (16:1-4), an obituary notice (16:6), and the reason he was denounced (16:7). Out of nine verses, six are prophetic critique, three contain minimal necessary detail. When all the ink is spilt what to you learn about Baasha? He was like Jeroboam. More of the same.” [Davis, p. 181]

“Twenty-four years he reigned (v. 33), but shows that it was not from any dislike to Jeroboam’s sin that he destroyed his family, but from malice and ambition; for, when he had rooted out the sinner, he himself clave to the sin, and walked in the way of Jeroboam (v. 34), though he had seen the end of that way; so strangely was his heart hardened with the deceitfulness of sin.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 513]

“…His massacre was no conscious blow for Yahweh but mere military opportunism.” [Martin, p. 358]

“Instead of avoiding the sins that brought about the extinction of Jeroboam’s family ― and he was the man who killed them ― Baasha copied the lifestyle of his predecessor! It has well been said that the one thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.” [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary II, p. 466]

“God sent him warning… (1.) That, if he were thereby wrought upon to repent and reform, the ruin might be prevented; for God threatens, that he may not strike, as one that desires not the death of sinners. (2.) That, if not, it might appear that the destruction when it did come, whoever might be instruments of it, was the act of God’s justice and the punishment of sin. 2. The warning was sent by Jehu the son of Hanani. The father was a seer, or prophet, at the same time (2 Chron. 16:7), and was sent to Asa king of Judah; but the son, who was young and more active, was sent on this longer and more dangerous expedition to Baasha king of Israel…. The message which this prophet brought to Baasha is much the same with that which Ahijah sent to Jeroboam by his wife. (1.) He reminds Baasha of the great things God had done for him (v. 2): I exalted thee out of the dust to the throne of glory, a great instance of the divine sovereignty and power, 1 Sam. 2:8. Baasha seemed to have raised himself by his own treachery and cruelty, yet there was a hand of Providence in it, to bring about God’s counsel, concerning Jeroboam’s house; and God’s owning his advancement as his act and deed does by no means amount to the patronizing of his ambition and treachery. It is God that puts power into bad men’s hands, which he makes to serve his good purposes, notwithstanding the bad use they make of it. I made thee prince over my people. God calls Israel his people still, though wretchedly corrupted, because they retained the covenant of circumcision, and there were many good people among them; it was not till long after that they were called Loammi, not a people, Hosea 1:9. (2.) He charges him with high crimes and misdemeanors, [1.] That he had caused Israel to sin, had seduced God’s subjects from their allegiance and brought them to pay to dunghill-deities the homage due to him only, and herein he had walked in the way of Jeroboam (v. 2), and been like his house, v. 7. [2.] That he had himself provoked God to anger with the work of his hands, that is, by worshipping images, the work of men’s hands; though perhaps others made them, yet he served them and thereby avowed the making of them, and they are therefore called the work of his hands. [3.] That he had destroyed the house of Jeroboam (v. 7), because he killed him, namely, Jeroboam’s son and all his: if he had done that with an eye to God, to his will and glory, and from a holy indignation against the sins of Jeroboam and his house, he would have been accepted and applauded as a minister of God’s justice; but, as he did it, he was only the tool of God’s justice, but a servant to his own lusts, and is justly punished for the malice and ambition which actuated and governed him in all he did…. 3.) He foretells the same destruction to come upon his family which he himself had been employed to bring upon the family of Jeroboam, v. 3, 4. Note, Those who resemble others in their sins may expect to resemble them in their plagues…” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 513-514]

“How often Christians fall for the ‘if-only’ heresy. If only we can get another regime into power, another administration elected, another party in control, then…. Then what? Then there will likely be more of the same. We are slow to get the point that our help is in the name of the Lord, not in the next election. The church repeatedly practices the idolatry of change.” [Davis, p. 181]

      c. The Reign of Elah (16:8-14)

“The next king on the historian’s stage is Elah…whose reign was very brief, only a few months. Guilty of the same national sins of his father, Elah added another personal weakness, Drunkenness. While his army was enduring the hardships and dangers of battle in the field against the Philistines, Elah was ‘drinking himself drunk’ in the house of Arza, the manager of his royal palace in Tirzah (v. 9)….

     “Taking advantage of Elah’s weakness, a military officer named Zimri devised a plot to eliminate the king and assume the crown himself…. More than likely, the king’s steward, Arza, was in on the plot too and may have lured the king to his house. When he was sufficiently drugged by alcohol, Arza let in Zimri to carry out the assassination.

“’As soon as he was seated on the throne’ in Tirzah, Zimri killed all the family of Elah as well as the families of the king’s friends. This was to make sure there was no heir to claim succession nor friend to avenge his death.” [Dilday, p. 189]

“Not only was the royal family extirpated, but the friends of the king, his councilors and favorite officers were put to death. It is not surprising that, under these circumstances, Zimri’s rule was not acquiesced in. Omri, as having been in the confidence of the late monarch, would naturally fear for himself and resolve to take the course which promised him at least a chance of safety.” [Rawlinson, p. 581]

“With their vanities.] The allusion is once more to the ‘calves.’ As an idol is ‘nothing in the world” (I Cor. viii.4) ― a mere nonentity, utterly powerless ― the Hebrews call it by terms signifying ‘emptiness,’ ‘vapor,’ or ‘nothingness.’” [Rawlinson, p. 581]

“Elah’s two years (v. 8) may have been no more than a few months (parts of years being counted as wholes).” [Davis, p. 187]

“The second dynasty to rule over Israel, for a period of twenty-five years, is totally destroyed. The people of Israel, who had rejected the Davidic house, are sheep without reliable shepherds.” ” [Van Groingen, p. 246]

“The nation from whose heart rectitude is gone, in whose soul vice runs riot, has its throne built on moral gunpowder.” [Hom. Com. in Gray & Adams Bible Commentary I, p. 890]

      d. The Reign of Zimri (16:15-20)

“The Reign of Zimri lasted only seven days. As soon as the people of war…who were besieging Gibbethon (see at ch. 15:27), heard of his conspiracy, his usurpation of the throne, and his murderous deeds, they proclaimed Omri king in the camp of the military commanders, and he at once, with all Israel, i.e., all the army, raised the siege of Gibbethon, to lay siege to Thirza. Now when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the castle of the royal palace and burned the king’s house over his own head…” [Keil, p. 158]

“The obituary (19) may seem an undue indictment of a ‘reign’ of only seven days, but emphasizes that Zimri was no reforming zealot but another self-seeking adventurer well prepared to accept the mold in which Jeroboam had cast the northern kingdom.” [Martin, p. 359]

  e. The Reign of Omri (16:21-28)

“After a week of bloody violence in which (1) King Baasha, his family, and his closest friends were killed by Zimri, who then assumed the throne, (2) a military countercoup named Commander Omri king in opposition to Zimri, (3) King Omri and his troops besieged the capital city, and (4) King Zimri committed suicide by burning down the palace — it is no surprise that a full-scale civil war broke out. Half the people followed the newly proclaimed military ruler, Omri, and the other half followed a man named Tibni, who also claimed the throne…. It appears that at least for a while, Israel had two kings reigning simultaneously, maybe in different pasts of the country.” [Dilday, p. 191-192]

“…Tibni has his funeral and Omri his coronation.” [Davis, p. 191]

“Tibni’s death, exactly at this time, can scarcely be supposed to have been natural. Either he must have been slain in battle against Omri, or have fallen into his hands and put to death..” [Rawlinson, p. 582]

“Now the official entry about Omri consists of six verses (vv. 23-28)….and almost all of that consists of the usual formulas used in such entries. Only one verse highlights anything distinctive about Omri: verse 24 reports his purchase, building, and naming of Samaria, his new capital…. Our writer is not overly impressed with the great Omri. Omri bought the hill and Omri did evil…. The writer is not saying he is ignorant of Omri’s achievements — he is saying they don’t matter…. When the first two commandments (=Exod. 20:3-6) are despised nothing else counts.” [Davis, p. 191-193]

“One notable accomplishment of his reign was the establishment of the nation’s capital in Samaria, where it remained until Israel was taken away captive by Assyria in 722 B.C. After the death of Tibni, Omri felt free to relocate the capital wherever he pleased, and he made what strategists call a wise choice. The hill of Samaria, rising about three hundred feet above the surrounding fertile plain, is located nor far from the important costal highway. This location afforded easy access to Megiddo and Jezreel in the north, Shechem and Tirazh in the east, and Jerusalem in the south.

“Omri bought the site for the city personally, just as David had purchased the site for Jerusalem. Consequently he could pass on the property to his children and thus begin a new dynasty in his own capital city.” [Dilday, p. 193]

“Jeroboam’s son and successor was killed by Baasha, Baasha’s son and successor was killed by Zimri, who reigned for a week, and then burned the palace and died in the flames. A struggle for the throne followed between Omri, the commander-in-chief, and Tibni. ‘Tibni died, and Omri reigned.’ So in fifty years, the kingdom that was to relieve Israel from oppression staggered through seas of blood, and four kings, or would-be kings, died by violence.” [Maclaren, “Second Samuel and the Books of Kings to Second Kings VII,” Expositions of Holy Scripture II, p. 229-230]

Omri “did evil like his predecessors, and is chiefly remembered today for having been the father of Ahab.” [Phelps, Human Nature in the Bible, p. 160]

“Omri’s report card in verse 25 carries not only a failing grade by an ‘F minus.’ The grading curve by which the author appraises the moral quality of the kings puts Omri at the bottom of the class — worse than all who went before him.’” [Dilday, p. 194]

     B. The Period of Cooperation (16:29-22:53)

“During this period, lasting thirty-three years, limited friendship develops between the ruling houses of Israel and Judah. However, this does not influence Israel to adopt the way of life in Judah which is described as walking in the way of Asa and David (1 Kings 22:43). The tragic fact is that Judah is influenced by Israel’s Royal family.” ” [Van Groingen, p. 246]

        1. The Reign of Ahab in Israel (16:29-22:40)

“Ahab is one of the best known characters in the Old Testament. He takes more pages in the Old Testament than any other worker of iniquity.” [Clarence Edward Macartney, The Woman of Tekoah and Other Sermons on Bible Characters, (New York: Abingdon Press, 1955),, p. 24]

“There is no period of Bible history more dramatic than the life and times of Ahab. Some of the worst and some of the best Old Testament characters were his contemporaries. There was Jezebel, one of the wickedest women who ever lived, and there was Elijah, who lived in a tempest and went to heaven in a whirlwind. The times were evil but they were not dull. Something was happening every minute.” [Vance Havner, Why Not Just Be Christians? (Westwood, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1964), p. 73]

“In this epoch, which embraces only thirty-four years, the history of the kings of Judah falls so far into the background behind the history of the kingdom of Israel, that it seems to form merely an appendix to it; and the history of the monarchy is so controlled by the description of the labors of the prophets, that it seems to be entirely absorbed in them.” [Keil, p. 160]

   “Ahab prob. meaning God is friend.” [Gray & Adams Bible Commentary I, p. 891]

“Ahab, King of Israel, was but a poor creature, and, like most weak characters, he turned out a wicked one, because he found that there were more temptations to do wrong than inducements to do right. Like other weak people, too, he was torn asunder by the influence of stronger wills. On the one side he had a termagant of a wife, stirring him up to idolatry and all evil, and on the other side Elijah thundering and lightning at him…” [Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture II, p. 268]

“Ahab’s marriage with Jezebel was, no doubt, thought by his father a clever stroke of policy, assuring them of an ally. But it flooded the nation with the cruel and lustful cult of Baal, and that finally ruined Ahab and his house. God’s servants can never mingle themselves with His enemies without harm, unless they mingle with them for the purpose of turning them into His servants. If we prefer the company of those who do not love Jesus, our love to Him must be faint, and will soon be fainter. If Ahab takes Jezebel for his wife, Ahab will soon take Jezebel’s foul god for his god.” [Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture II, p. 232-233]

“The shadow of Queen Jezebel falls dark for many years over the history of Israel and Judah. She was one of those masterful, indomitable, implacable women who, when fate places them in exalted power, leave a terrible mark on the annals of nations…. Not content with insulting the religion of the nation by the burdensome magnificence of her idolatrous establishments, she made an attempt to crush Jehovah-worship altogether.” [Farrar, p. 299]

We now see “the certain widening of the smallest departure from God. Jeroboam professed to retain the worship of Jehovah, and to introduce only a small alteration in setting up a symbol of Him. He would vehemently have asserted that he was no idolater, and would have shuddered at the very notion of bowing down to the gods of the nations, but in less than fifty years a temple to the Sidonian Baal rose in Samaria, and his worship, with its foul sensuality, was corrupting all Israel…. Let no one say: ‘Thus far and no farther will I go.’ There is no stopping at will on that course, any more than a man sliding down a steeply sloping sheet of smooth ice can pull himself up before he plunges over the edge into the abyss below.” [Maclaren, “Second Samuel and the Books of Kings to Second Kings VII,” Expositions of Holy Scripture II, p. 231-232]

“The false prophetess spoken of Rev. 2:20 is there called Jezebel, for a wicked woman could not be called by a worse name than hers… this one strange wife debauched Israel more than all the strange wives of Solomon.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 516]

“After the destruction of Jericho Joshua had pronounced a curse upon anyone who would rebuild Jericho (Josh. 6:26)… The curse did not prohibit folks from living on the site, for there seem to have been post-conquest settlements there (cf. Josh. 18:21; Judg. 3:13; 2 Sam. 10:5). The curse was on anyone who dared to rebuild Jericho as a fortress.

“After the division of the kingdom (931 BC) Jericho apparently came under the aegis of the northern kingdom. It was a strategic site, standing at the southeast corner of that part of Israel’s territory that lay west of Jordan. Ahab may have wanted it fortified both as a defensive measure and as an outpost for keeping Moab under control. But what regime would ever want to defy Joshua’s curse? Ahab’s. He…[hired] Hiel of Bethel. Hiel repaired the foundation; his firstborn died. He finished off the project, installing the doors of the gates; then he made arrangements for the funeral of Segub, his youngest.

“The text is telling you that open defiance of Yahweh’s word typified Ahab’s regime.” [Davis, p. 200-201]

        a. The Land Judged (17:1)

“So sad was the character both of the princes and people of Israel as described in the foregoing chapter, that one might have expected God would cast off a people that had so cast him off; but…never was Israel as blessed with good prophets as when it was so plagued with a bad king. Never was king so bold to sin as Ahab; never was prophet so bold to reprove…as Elijah… Scarcely any part of the Old Testament history shines brighter than this history of the spirit and power of Elijah: he only, of all the prophets, had the honor of Enoch, the first prophet, to be translated that he should not see death, and the honor of Moses, the great prophet, to attend our Savior in his transfiguration. Other prophets prophesied and wrote, he prophesied and acted, but wrote nothing; but his actions cast more luster on his name than their writings did on theirs.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 517]

“Elijah, Jehovah He is God; or Jehovah is my God. Probably assumed by the prophet as the meaning of his life.” [Gray & Adams Bible Commentary I, p. 892]

“…Elijah [is] one of the brightest lights in the constellation of Israel’s great heroes. Elijah has been called ‘God’s answer to Baal.’”  [Dilday, p. 168]

“The grandest and most romantic character that Israel ever produced.” [Robert Young, Analytical Concordance to the Bible, (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1936), p. 295]

“If, generally speaking, a prophet to a king was like ants at a picnic, Elijah was like a swarm of bees.” [Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who, (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1979), p. 9]

“…To see him appear thus reminds us that we need not despair when we see great movements of evil achieving spectacular success on this earth, for we may be sure that God, in unexpected places, has already secretly prepared His counter-movement. God has always His ways of working underground to undermine the stability of evil. God can raise men for His service from nowhere…. Therefore the situation is never hopeless where God is concerned. Whenever evil flourishes, it is always a superficial flourish, for at the height of the triumph of evil God will be there, ready with His man and His movement and His plans to ensure that His own cause will never fail.” [Ronald S. Wallace, Elijah and Elisha, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957), p. 3]

“From now on the narrative is magnificent.” [Phelps, Human Nature in the Bible, p. 161]

“We are impressed with the suddenness of Elijah’s appearance. Everything seemed to be capitulating to Baal (16:31-33a) when suddenly we are staring at a prophet whose confession of faith is in his name: ‘My God is Yahweh’ (=Elijah)…. We know nothing about him…. We don’t even know where Elijah met Ahab. As so often in the Bible, details are suppressed because the message is supremely important.

“…Give attention to the significance of Elijah’s message. The message is simple: ‘There will not be dew nor rain these years except by my word’ — uttered within a solemn oath formula.

“Elijah is saying that Yahweh is going to inflict the covenant curses upon Israel for her covenant-breaking. Moses had warned that if Israel worshiped other gods, Yahweh would, among other things, ‘shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit’ (Deut. 11:16, 17, NASB; see also Deut. 28:23-24). Moreover….the ongoing absence of moisture couldn’t be interpreted as a ‘bad break’ or an impenetrable mystery because Elijah had already announced it as Yahweh’s deed to Ahab….

“The rain delay will also strike a blow at the alleged prowess of Baal. …Baal was a fertility god, a storm god, who, among other life-giving activities, sent rain to fructify the earth…. Elijah’s ‘no dew or rain’ then constitutes a challenge to Baal…. If he cannot produce in the area of his expertise, in his specialty, his reputation will suffer a shattering blow. Baal’s deity will shrivel as the cracks in the fields get wider.” [Davis, p. 202-204]

“An extended drought, announced and controlled by a prophet of Jehovah, would make it clear to everybody that Baal the storm god was not a true god at all.” [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary II, p. 468]

     b. The Prophet Sustained (17:2-24)

“God had commanded the prophet to hide (17:3; contrast 18:1). Now Israel would endure not simply a famine of food and water, but a famine of the word of God…” [Dillard, Faith in the Face of Apostasy, p. 21]

     i.   Food from unclean birds (17:2-7)

“Elijah had but one meal brought him at a time, every morning and every evening, to teach him not to take thought for the morrow.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 518]

“I do not believe that the ravens would have fed Elijah anywhere else, nor would the widow woman have appeared anywhere else except ‘there.’ God did not say, ‘Elijah, ramble around as you please and I will provide for you.’ ‘There’ was the place of God’s will for Elijah — the place of His Purpose, the place of His Power, and the place of His Provision.” [The Best of Vance Havner, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1969), p. 52]

“Ravens are voracious eaters and robber birds. But, at the Lord’s direction, these birds bring food. Elijah has direct confirmation that not Baal but the Lord is Master of creation.” ” [Van Groingen, p. 247]

“They are birds of prey, ravenous devouring creatures, more likely to have taken his meat from him, or to have picked out his eyes (Prov. 30:17)…”  [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 518]

“Through this miracle, which unbelievers reject, because they do not acknowledge a living God, by whom, as the Creator and Lord of all creatures, even the voracious ravens are made subservient to His plans of salvation, Elijah was not only cut off from intercourse with men, who might have betrayed his place of abode to the king, but was mightily strengthened himself, through the confidence inspired in the almighty assistance of his God, for his approaching contests with the worshippers of idols, and for the privations and sufferings which awaited him in the fulfillment of his vocation.” [Keil, p. 166-167]

    ii.  Food from empty vessels (17:8-16) Cf. Matthew 6:33

“After some time this brook dried up for want of rain. Then the Lord directed His servant to go to the Sidonian Zarephath, and to live with a widow whom He had commanded to provide for him…. According to ch. 18: 1, the sojourn of Elijah at Cherith and Zarephath lasted at least two years.” [Keil, p. 167]

“The powers of nature are limited, but not the powers of the God of nature.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 518]

“God’s instructions may have shocked the prophet, for the Lord commanded him to travel northeast about a hundred miles to the Phoenician city of Zarephath. God was sending Elijah into Gentile territory, and since Zarephath was not too far from Jezebel’s home city of Sidon, he would be in enemy territory! Even more, he was instructed to live with a widow whom God had selected to care for him, and widows were usually among the neediest people of the land.” [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary II, p. 469]

“The woman does not say ‘as the Lord my God liveth,’ or even ‘as the Lord God liveth;’ but ‘as Jehovah thy God liveth.’” [Rawlinson, p. 586]

“God says, ‘Give me everything you have (v. 13), for I will give you everything you need (v. 14).” [Davis, p. 216]

“This is the first recorded miracle of its kind ― a supernatural and inexplicable multiplication of food. It has parallels in the miracle of Elisha, related in 2 K. iv.42-44, and in the feeding of the multitude on two occasions by our Blessed Lord. (See Matt. xiv.15-21; xv. 32-38.)” [Rawlinson, p. 587]

“The Phoenician woman, in whose land Baal was honored as the god of fertility, the sun, and the owner of all nature, learned that the Lord, whom Elijah serves, alone supplies food and drink.” [Van Groingen, p. 247]

iii. Life for a dead boy (17:17-24)

“This is the first recorded instance in Scripture of the resurrection of a dead person…. The evidence seems clear that the widow’s son actually died and didn’t just faint… He stopped breathing (v. 17) and his spirit left his body (vv. 21-22). According to James 2:26, when the spirit leaves a body, the person is dead. The great distress of both his mother and the prophet would suggest that the boy was death, and both of them used the word ‘slay’ with reference to the event {vv. 18 and 20, KJV).”” [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary II, p. 470]

“…The death of the child (like that of Lazarus, John 11:4) was for the glory of God and the honor of his prophet.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 521]

“Note how 1 Kings 16 closes with the word of God despised by Israel, while 1 Kings 17 closes with the word of God embraced by a gentile.” [Davis, p. 227]