1 Kings 15: 1 – 34
Seeing life through God’s Eyes
15 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. 2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom. 3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. 4 Nevertheless for David’s sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem; 5 because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. 7 Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 8 So Abijam rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place. 9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah. 10 And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom. 11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did his father David. 12 And he banished the perverted persons from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 13 Also he removed Maachah his grandmother from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. And Asa cut down her obscene image and burned it by the Brook Kidron. 14 But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless, Asa’s heart was loyal to the LORD all his days. 15 He also brought into the house of the LORD the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated: silver and gold and utensils. 16 Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 17 And Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 18 Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the treasuries of the king’s house and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, 19 “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you a present of silver and gold. Come and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.” 20 So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maachah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. 21 Now it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah, and remained in Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted. And they took away the stones and timber of Ramah, which Baasha had used for building; and with them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah. 23 The rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. 24 So Asa rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. Then Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place. 25 Now Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. 26 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin. 27 Then Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha killed him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon. 28 Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place. 29 And it was so, when he became king, that he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam anyone that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the LORD which He had spoken by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, 30 because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he had sinned and by which he had made Israel sin, because of his provocation with which he had provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger. 31 Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 32 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah became king over all Israel in Tirzah and reigned twenty-four years. 34 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin.
Ever been to a football game at half time when the band forms words or pictures in the middle of the field? They look great from up in the stands. But have you thought about what they look like from the sidelines? Pointless, confusing, apparently meaningless. We see life from the sidelines. God sees it from the stands. As we gain perspective, we leave the sidelines and start working our way up.
When we see the all-powerful God on the throne of the universe—God our Father committed to our good—we are relieved of much stress. And the stress we must still experience leaves us far richer.
Having a biblical perspective is seeing life through God’s eyes. It is seeing order in chaos, use in the useless, and good in the bad. If we are to develop eyes to see God’s hand in everything, we must believe (not necessarily understand) what Scripture says about the purpose of stress. Stress is an effective tool in the hands of our God, a tool that is intended both for His glory and our good. In this article we will look at some ways God uses stress.
God uses stress to get our attention. God created our bodies. He designed them to send us messages. If I stick my hand in fire, my body will send me a message, quickly and clearly. If I ignore it, I’ll pay the price.
Some of us are hard of hearing. We ignore physical, mental, and spiritual warning signs. God wants us to tune our ears to the messages He sends us through our minds and bodies.
God uses stress to help us redefine or rediscover our priorities.
Everyone has priorities. Some have never chosen or experienced the right ones and need to redefine them. Others of us have long known the right priorities and merely need to rediscover them: we’ve tasted right priorities, but we’ve allowed ourselves to drift away from them; we’ve replaced fellowship with entertainment, giving with buying, and family time with the television. By abandoning our God-given priorities, we set ourselves up to learn a hard lesson.
Stress should take us back to the basics. It is an opportunity to re-evaluate our priorities and bring them in line with God’s.
God uses stress to draw us to Himself. Time and again it was said of the people of Israel, “But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them” (2 Chronicles 15:4).
The Psalms are full of references of turning to God, seeking Him and finding Him in times of intense stress.
Psalms 18:6 reads, “In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears”.
Psalms 120:1 says, “I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me”.
When our lives are comfortable and stress-free, too often we withdraw from the Lord into our own worlds of spiritual independence and isolation. Smug and self-satisfied, we forget what life all is about. But as the thirsty seek for water, those under stress often seek God. Many non-believers have come to Christ and many believers have returned to Him in times of stress.
God uses stress to strengthen our faith. 1 Peter 1:7 tells us: “These (trials) have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
There is only one way a muscle grows—through stress. A muscle that is rarely exercised atrophies; it shrinks into uselessness. A muscle seldom stretched beyond its usual limits can only maintain itself. It cannot grow. To grow, a muscle must be taxed. Unusual demands must be placed upon it.
Stress is a demand placed upon our faith. Without it our faith will not, cannot, grow.
If we give in to stress we do what king Asa of Judah did, he panicked. We see today that this king was like his grandfather David and tried his best to follow the Lord God Yahweh. However, when the king of Israel kept harassing him instead of trusting Yahweh he emptied the treasury and made a deal with the king of Syria to go and fight his brethren Israel.
In response, God sent lack of fulfillment, disillusionment, and failure. Coming up with your own plan and leave off our Holy Lord and Master Who Is always willing to help is a bad mistake. You might get some temporary relief but ultimately you will have to pay the piper in other areas. He withheld His blessing till His people rediscovered their priorities. The good king in his senior years wound up being stricken with bad feet. The bible says that the feet speak about our walk. Everyone around the palace would witness that king Asa’s walk wasn’t right.
There now follows information concerning the reigns of seven kings, each of which is dealt with briefly. The first two kings were kings of Judah. The first, Abiyam, shared the condemnation of Rehoboam. He was a warning against compromise and half-heartedness. The second, Asa, turned out truly to be a lamp for he did what was right in the eyes of YHWH, and his heart was right towards YHWH. Nevertheless, due to his failing to fully trust YHWH he lost the treasures that he had built up and ended up diseased in his feet. He was a warning against the danger of not fully trusting with all his heart.
Due to Asa’s long reign the next five kings were kings of Israel. The picture in that case was one of continual decline as things got worse and worse. It began with Nadab who followed in the way of his father, and was assassinated as a result of God’s judgment on Jeroboam, continued with Baasha who not only continued in the way of Jeroboam but also sought to prevent Israelites from entering Judah in order to worship YHWH, and was continually hostile towards Judah, with the result that his son, who followed in his ways, was also assassinated for the same reason. The man who carried out the assassination was Zimri, a chariot commander, who lasted only seven days, and after a period of civil war he was followed by Omri, Israel’s commander-in-chief who not only walked in the way of Jeroboam but also began to lay a greater emphasis on the open worship of Baal. The sad state displayed that no king of Israel concerned himself with purifying the worship of YHWH, but instead contributed to the continuing deterioration. Had it not been for the rise of Elijah faith in YHWH in Israel may well have died out.
15 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah.
The reign of Abiyam was very short, possibly cut off by illness, and during it he made no effort to improve the nation’s attitude towards YHWH, although nothing is said about his condoning it. He may well therefore himself have been faithful to the worship of the Temple, without having revealed a wholehearted response towards YHWH by seeking to reform the people.
All his life he had known a continual attitude of war towards Jeroboam and Israel, and it continued during his own short reign. But because of YHWH’s covenant with David, YHWH set up his son (the Davidic heir) after him as a lamp in Jerusalem, because David had done what was right in His eyes, and had not turned aside from His commandments, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. Thus, the dynasty continued for David’s sake.
2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom.
In the usual introduction we learn that he reigned ‘for three years’ in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ‘Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom’ confirming that he was a true ‘son of David’.
3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.
Like his father Rehoboam, Abiyam appears to have worshipped at the Temple, remaining true to Yahwism, while at the same time not seeking to do anything about the worship of many Judaeans at the high places. Like his father his own faith was nominal, and not spiritually alive like David’s.
4 Nevertheless for David’s sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem; 5 because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
For David’s sake YHWH promised the continuing of his dynasty in Jerusalem, and to establish Jerusalem, giving him a son to be a lamp in Jerusalem which kept alive his name and the lamp of the Davidic house. This was because David had done what was right in YHWH’s eyes, and had been continually obedient, except during the sad episode of Uriah the Hittite (2 Samuel 11).
6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.
Our Precious Holy Spirit teaches us that Abiyam had been brought up to continual war and strife between Judah and Israel all the days of his adult life, during the reign of his father. He had thus become inured to it and did not seek to make peace when he became king, thus hindering the possibility of Israelites returning to worship at the Central Sanctuary.
7 Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 8 So Abijam rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place.
Abiyam died prematurely but peacefully, probably in his forties, and was buried in the city of David. The dynasty of David continued in that Asa his great grandson reigned instead of him. The promise to David of a continuing house was being fulfilled.
9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah.
Asa began to reign over Judah in the twentieth year of Jeroboam. Rehoboam had reigned seventeen years and Abiyah three years. In Asa we have the first king following David who made a genuine effort to turn the people back to YHWH. He removed the most blatant excesses, and his only failure was that he failed to rid the land of all its illegitimate high places.
10 And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom.
And he reigned forty- one years in Jerusalem, ‘the city which YHWH had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there’ (14.21) because of His love for David.
11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did his father David.
Asa is the first king after David of whom it was said that ‘he did what was right in the eyes of YHWH’ and was thereby compared with David positively. David was the standard by which many of the kings of Judah would be judged.
12 And he banished the perverted persons from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
Asa put away the male and female cult prostitutes out of the land and ‘removed all the idols which his fathers had made’.
13 Also he removed Maachah his grandmother from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. And Asa cut down her obscene image and burned it by the Brook Kidron.
In a bold and unpresented move, he removed his grandmother Maacah from being ‘queen mother’. He did it because she had erected an Asherah image in Jerusalem. Then he cut down the image and burnt it at the Wadi Kidron where the ashes of burnt waste were disposed of.
14 But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless, Asa’s heart was loyal to the LORD all his days.
There were a large number of high places up and down the land, and what Asa did to Maacah’s image demonstrated that he would do the same to any that he found. But rooting out all of them would have required concentrated manpower, and he was busy defending Judah against her enemies.
15 He also brought into the house of the LORD the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated: silver and gold and utensils.
Since the removal by Shishak of Egypt of the treasures from the Temple and the king’s house in the days of Rehoboam more treasures had been accumulated by raiding spoils, by tolls from trading and by ‘taxation’, and these had presumably been stored in the Temple as dedicated to YHWH. Asa now brought them into the Temple, together with what he himself had gathered and dedicated to YHWH.
16 Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
Baasha came to the throne of Israel after Asa had become king of Judah. Baasha had slaughtered Jeroboam’s family and had usurped the throne from Jeroboam’s son after Jeroboam’s long reign (15.27-30). Like Jeroboam he was a belligerent king, and thus during his reign there was continual hostility between Judah and Israel. Instead of cooperating, which would have been to their mutual benefit, they were still vicious enemies.
17 And Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
Baasha went even further than past kings, for he advanced into Judah and sought to fortify Ramah which was in the territory of Benjamin (part of which had gone over to the ‘ten tribes’) and only about five and a half miles north of Jerusalem. It was in a crucial position, being on the north-south road through mountainous country and at the head of the Descent of Beth-horon which led down to the Coastal Plain. It thus enabled Baasha to prevent people, especially trading caravans, and those who wished to visit the Sanctuary at Jerusalem from travelling to Judah through Israel, and also prevented direct passage from Judah to the north. People could, of course still enter Judah by going through the valley of Esdraelon from the north and along the way that they would take for Philistia and Egypt, and then turning eastwards, but it made it a far longer circuitous journey. Baasha was trying to squeeze Judah’s trade and communications, and at the same time prevent his own people from going to Jerusalem to worship.
18 Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the treasuries of the king’s house and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, 19 “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you a present of silver and gold. Come and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”
Asa saw that this could cause him great trouble, and that it was even close enough to be very threatening to Jerusalem, so not seeing himself as strong enough to compete with Israel on his own (for which in Chronicles he was rebuked by YHWH), he sought assistance from the Aramaeans (Syrians) who were to the north of Israel and centered in Damascus. These were the people who, for reward, had gone to the aid of the Ammonites in the time of David (2 Samuel 10). They were always ready to give aid if paid enough.
In order to obtain their help Asa knew that he would have to ‘bribe’ them, and so he took all the silver and the gold which he had stored up in the house of YHWH and in his own house and arranged for his servants to take it to the Aramaeans in return for their assistance. Note again the emphasis on the fact that it was not just the Temple that was depleted, it was the king’s own treasury as well. It was the whole house of David and the country that suffered loss.
This is a reminder that although Asa was such a good king there were things in his life which displeased YHWH, otherwise all this would not have happened. What was lacking was a full trust in YHWH. When faced with this testing he should have trusted completely in YHWH, but instead he relied on human aid and as a result lost all the treasures that he had so laboriously built up.
Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, who lived in Damascus had made treaties with both countries as it suited him. And in the long term he broke them as it suited him (no treaty could be expected to last forever. It would only have been treacherous if he had broken it immediately on making it). So, Asa asked him to remember his alliance with Judah, and forget his alliance with Baasha, in return for a huge present of silver and gold, in view of Israel’s belligerence against Judah. He wanted Ben-hadad to act in such a way that Baasha, threatened from the rear, would withdraw.
20 So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maachah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.
Benhadad responded to Asa’s generous offer and sent his commanders to raid cities in northern Israel. These included Ijon, Dan and Abel-beth-maacah, as well as the area around the sea of Galilee (Chinneroth) and all the land of Naphtali (which would interrupt the trade route to Tyre and Sidon). It thus gave the appearance of being a serious invasion (and would in fact have gathered much spoils and brought much suffering to the inhabitants).
21 Now it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah, and remained in Tirzah.
When Baasha heard of this he ceased fortifying Ramah, recognizing that he had to pay attention to his wider frontiers, and returned and took up residence in Tirzah, his capital city, from where he could administer all Israel, and meet the threat posed by the Aramaeans.
22 Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted. And they took away the stones and timber of Ramah, which Baasha had used for building; and with them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.
Seizing his opportunity, Asa conscripted all Judah to the work of dismantling Ramah of Benjamin. None were exempted. And they took the materials of which Ramah was made and used it to fortify Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah, two strong border cites of Judah, thus making the frontiers secure.
23 The rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.
In this verse we come to the fact that Asa was diseased in his feet. This was probably not gout but something more serious, and the aim in mentioning it was to bring out that YHWH was not totally pleased with Asa.
24 So Asa rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. Then Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.
Asa too died peacefully, probably in his sixties, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David ‘his father’. He shared the Davidic inheritance, in accordance with YHWH’s covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7. The reference to ‘his father’ underlines that he walked as David walked. And in accordance with YHWH’s covenant with David his son Jehoshaphat reigned.
There are numerous lessons from Asa’s long life. The first is that we need to walk faithfully in accordance with God’s requirements, with a heart that is right towards God. The second is that we need to root out of our lives all our ‘idols’. The third is that we need to learn to trust fully in God rather than in men. The fourth is that we need to take every opportunity to build up our defenses (Ephesians 6.10-18).
25 Now Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. 26 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin. 27 Then Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha killed him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon.
Nadab was the son of Jeroboam following the proclamation of Ahijah the prophet that God would cut off the house of Jeroboam. He did, however, contribute towards his own downfall by following in the ways of his father, and especially by committing the sin for which his father and his house were condemned, namely the worship of the golden calves in the false high places.
He was thus doomed from the start, and the main item in his reign was his assassination by Basha, and the assassination of all the males in his house by which YHWH’s pronouncement was fulfilled.
28 Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place.
When Nadab was campaigning against the Philistines at the siege of Gibbethon, one of his commanders. Baasha, the son of Ahijah, conspired against him and assassinated him. Gibbethon was a frontier town of Dan which had been occupied by the Philistines. Baasha was from the tribe of Issachar in south west Galilee.
29 And it was so, when he became king, that he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam anyone that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the LORD which He had spoken by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, 30 because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he had sinned and by which he had made Israel sin, because of his provocation with which he had provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.
Once Baasha was in place and had returned to Tirzah he arranged the murder of all the males in the house of Jeroboam. He left not one of them alive. This was just as Ahijah the prophet at Shiloh had prophesied, and it was because of the awful sin of Jeroboam which had provoked YHWH to ‘anger.
31 Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
The remainder of the acts of Nadab in his brief reign were to be found in the official state records of Israel.
The lesson we may learn from Nadab’s life, are:
• 1). The brevity of life. It is a reminder that in the midst of life we are near death.
• 2). The certainty of God’s judgment on sin.
• 3). A recognition of the holiness of a God Who so hates sin that He allowed the wiping out of a family because of its sinfulness.
• 4). The folly of following in the footsteps of those who have turned against God and His ways.
There is nothing good to say about Baasha. He was belligerent, he did evil in the sight of YHWH, he continued the false cult, he was a murderer, and he was so wicked that YHWH determined judgment on his house.
32 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
There is an emphasis in this case on just how belligerent Baasha was. Even though Asa was a good king Baasha would make no peace with him.
33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah became king over all Israel in Tirzah and reigned twenty-four years.
Here we have the usual details for a king of Israel, the date when he began to reign and the length of his reign. His mother’s name was irrelevant because he was a usurper and is anyway never given for the kings of Israel, possibly because they had no link with the Davidic house therefore their source did not matter. Baasha thus died in the twenty seventh year of Asa.
34 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin.
We see that the kings of Judah were compared to David and his love for Yahweh. With the kings of Israel we see that they are compared to Jeroboam and all the sin he committed. Baasha is seen as having done evil in the sight of YHWH because he did not seek to bring the nation back to pure Yahwism. He continued Jeroboam’s evil heresy himself and led the people in that direction. Israel’s great crime, for which it would eventually be destroyed, was that from the beginning of its independent existence under the kings it distorted true Yahwism.
