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Texts -- 1 Kings 16:1-34 (NET)

Context
16:1 Jehu son of Hanani received from the Lord this message predicting Baasha’s downfall : 16:2 “I raised you up from the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel . Yet you followed in Jeroboam’s footsteps and encouraged my people Israel to sin ; their sins have made me angry . 16:3 So I am ready to burn up Baasha and his family , and make your family like the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat . 16:4 Dogs will eat the members of Baasha’s family who die in the city , and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country .” 16:5 The rest of the events of Baasha’s reign, including his accomplishments and successes , are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel . 16:6 Baasha passed away and was buried in Tirzah . His son Elah replaced him as king . 16:7 The prophet Jehu son of Hanani received from the Lord the message predicting the downfall of Baasha and his family because of all the evil Baasha had done in the sight of the Lord . His actions angered the Lord (including the way he had destroyed Jeroboam’s dynasty ), so that his family ended up like Jeroboam’s .
Elah’s Reign over Israel
16:8 In the twenty-sixth year of King Asa’s reign over Judah , Baasha’s son Elah became king over Israel ; he ruled in Tirzah for two years . 16:9 His servant Zimri , a commander of half of his chariot force , conspired against him . While Elah was drinking heavily at the house of Arza , who supervised the palace in Tirzah , 16:10 Zimri came in and struck him dead . (This happened in the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah .) Zimri replaced Elah as king . 16:11 When he became king and occupied the throne , he killed Baasha’s entire family . He did not spare any male belonging to him; he killed his relatives and his friends . 16:12 Zimri destroyed Baasha’s entire family , just as the Lord had predicted to Baasha through Jehu the prophet . 16:13 This happened because of all the sins which Baasha and his son Elah committed and which they made Israel commit . They angered the Lord God of Israel with their worthless idols . 16:14 The rest of the events of Elah’s reign, including all his accomplishments , are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel .
Zimri’s Reign over Israel
16:15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah , Zimri became king over Israel; he ruled for seven days in Tirzah . Zimri’s revolt took place while the army was deployed in Gibbethon , which was in Philistine territory. 16:16 While deployed there, the army received this report : “Zimri has conspired against the king and assassinated him.” So all Israel made Omri , the commander of the army , king over Israel that very day in the camp . 16:17 Omri and all Israel went up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah . 16:18 When Zimri saw that the city was captured , he went into the fortified area of the royal palace . He set the palace on fire and died in the flames. 16:19 This happened because of the sins he committed . He did evil in the sight of the Lord and followed in Jeroboam’s footsteps and encouraged Israel to continue sinning . 16:20 The rest of the events of Zimri’s reign, including the details of his revolt , are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel .
Omri’s Reign over Israel
16:21 At that time the people of Israel were divided in their loyalties. Half the people supported Tibni son of Ginath and wanted to make him king ; the other half supported Omri . 16:22 Omri’s supporters were stronger than those who supported Tibni son of Ginath . Tibni died ; Omri became king . 16:23 In the thirty-first year of Asa’s reign over Judah , Omri became king over Israel . He ruled for twelve years , six of them in Tirzah . 16:24 He purchased the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver . He launched a construction project there and named the city he built after Shemer , the former owner of the hill of Samaria . 16:25 Omri did more evil in the sight of the Lord than all who were before him. 16:26 He followed in the footsteps of Jeroboam son of Nebat and encouraged Israel to sin ; they angered the Lord God of Israel with their worthless idols . 16:27 The rest of the events of Omri’s reign, including his accomplishments and successes , are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel . 16:28 Omri passed away and was buried in Samaria . His son Ahab replaced him as king .
Ahab Promotes Idolatry
16:29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa’s reign over Judah , Omri’s son Ahab became king over Israel . Ahab son of Omri ruled over Israel for twenty-two years in Samaria . 16:30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the sight of the Lord than all who were before him. 16:31 As if following in the sinful footsteps of Jeroboam son of Nebat were not bad enough, he married Jezebel the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians . Then he worshiped and bowed to Baal . 16:32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal he had built in Samaria . 16:33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole ; he did more to anger the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 16:34 During Ahab’s reign, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho . Abiram , his firstborn son , died when he laid the foundation ; Segub , his youngest son, died when he erected its gates , just as the Lord had warned through Joshua son of Nun .

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

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  • During its history the Northern Kingdom had three capitals: first Shechem (v. 25), then Tirzah (14:17; 15:33), and finally Samaria (16:23-24). Perhaps the king strengthened Penuel in west-central Gilead as a Transjordanian pr...
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  • Zimri's seven-day reign in 885 B.C. was the shortest in the history of the Northern Kingdom.Omri was commander-in-chief of Israel's army. He outranked Zimri. When word of Zimri's assassination of Elah reached the soldiers at ...
  • Controversy over who should succeed to Israel's throne raged for six years (885-880 B.C.) in Israel and threatened to consume the nation. Civil war followed Zimri's death (vv. 21-22). Omri finally overpowered Tibni and probab...
  • Verses 30 and 33 bracket and set forth Ahab's unusual wickedness with special emphasis. The writer had just written that Omri was the worst king so far (v. 25), but now he said Ahab exceeded him in wickedness. For Ahab, the f...
  • God had a very unusual ministry for Elijah to perform in which he would stand alone against hundreds of opponents (18:16-40). This section reveals how the Lord prepared him for it.The site of Zarephath was between Tyre and Si...
  • Again God told Elijah to "go"(v. 18; cf. 17:3, 9; 18:1; 19:15). As a faithful servant, he went to confront the king again.226Ahab was not in Samaria then (v. 18) but in Jezreel (v. 19). The mention of Samaria was evidently an...
  • Second Kings begins with Ahaziah's reign that fell during the 33-year period of Israel and Judah's alliance (874-841 B.C.; -1 Kings 16:29-2 Kings 9:29). This period in turn fits within the larger context of the divided kingdo...
  • Jezebel evidently painted her eyes and adorned her head (v. 30) to receive Jehu. Unwittingly, or perhaps deliberately,59she prepared herself for her own death. At least one interpreter believed she was trying to seduce Jehu.6...
  • This purge evidently took place in Samaria (1 Kings 16:32). Jehu's true religious preferences had not yet become known publicly. The Hebrew words translated "pillar"in verses 26 and 27 are not the same indicating that Jehu de...
  • Perhaps Eliphaz wanted to scare Job into repenting with these words. As before, Eliphaz's authority was his own observations (v. 17; cf. 4:8). To this he added the wisdom of their ancestors (vv. 18-19; cf. 8:8). Probably vers...
  • "But it is just here, when everything is blackest, that his faith . . . like the rainbow in the cloud . . . shines with a marvelous splendor."89This short section contains probably the best known verses in the book (vv. 23-27...
  • Tyre was the leading city of Phoenicia. The sin of the Phoenicians was the same as that of the Philistines. They had sold whole communities of people to the Edomites as slaves.25They also broke a covenant of brothers."If Isra...
  • 7:10 Amaziah, who was one of the apostate priests who served at the Bethel sanctuary (cf. 1 Kings 12:26-33), felt that Amos was being unpatriotic in what he was prophesying. So Amaziah sent a message to King Jeroboam II charg...
  • 6:13 Because of these sins the Lord promised to make His people sick, downtrodden, and desolate.6:14 They would continue to eat, but their food would not bring them satisfaction (cf. Lev. 26:26). Their excessive accumulation ...
  • The first part of this oracle focused particularly on the true King who would come and exercise sovereignty over the nations (ch. 9). Now the emphasis changes to the people of the King, the Israelites, who will return to the ...
  • 23:1 As we have seen, there were three groups of people present in the temple courtyard. These were the disciples of Jesus, His critics, namely the various groups of Israel's leaders, and the crowds of ordinary Israelites. Je...
  • There are several connections between this section and the preceding ones that provide continuity. One is the continuation of water as a symbol (cf. 2:6; 3:5; 4:10-15). Another is the continuation of conversation in which Jes...
  • Evidently a woman claiming to be a prophetess (cf. Luke 2:36; Acts 21:9; 1 Cor. 11:5) had been influencing some in this church to join the local trade guilds without which a tradesman could not work in Thyatira. This meant pa...
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