Text -- 1 Kings 15:1-31 (NET)

Abijah’s Reign over Judah

15:1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah became king over Judah. 15:2 He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom. 15:3 He followed all the sinful practices of his father before him. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had been. 15:4 Nevertheless for David’s sake the Lord his God maintained his dynasty in Jerusalem by giving him a son to succeed him and by protecting Jerusalem. 15:5 He did this because David had done what he approved and had not disregarded any of his commandments his entire lifetime, except for the incident involving Uriah the Hittite. 15:6 Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other throughout Abijah’s lifetime. 15:7 The rest of the events of Abijah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. Abijah and Jeroboam had been at war with each other. 15:8 Abijah passed away and was buried in the city of David. His son Asa replaced him as king.

Asa’s Reign over Judah

15:9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam’s reign over Israel, Asa became the king of Judah. 15:10 He ruled for forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was Maacah daughter of Abishalom. 15:11 Asa did what the Lord approved like his ancestor David had done. 15:12 He removed the male cultic prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the disgusting idols his ancestors had made. 15:13 He also removed Maacah his grandmother from her position as queen because she had made a loathsome Asherah pole. Asa cut down her Asherah pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 15:14 The high places were not eliminated, yet Asa was wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord throughout his lifetime. 15:15 He brought the holy items that he and his father had made into the Lord’s temple, including the silver, gold, and other articles. 15:16 Now Asa and King Baasha of Israel were continually at war with each other. 15:17 King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah and established Ramah as a military outpost to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the land of King Asa of Judah. 15:18 Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace and handed it to his servants. He then told them to deliver it to Ben Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, ruler in Damascus, along with this message: 15:19 “I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made. See, I have sent you silver and gold as a present. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land.” 15:20 Ben Hadad accepted King Asa’s offer and ordered his army commanders to attack the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and all the territory of Naphtali, including the region of Kinnereth. 15:21 When Baasha heard the news, he stopped fortifying Ramah and settled down in Tirzah. 15:22 King Asa ordered all the men of Judah (no exemptions were granted) to carry away the stones and wood that Baasha had used to build Ramah. King Asa used the materials to build up Geba (in Benjamin) and Mizpah. 15:23 The rest of the events of Asa’s reign, including all his successes and accomplishments, as well as a record of the cities he built, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. Yet when he was very old he developed a foot disease. 15:24 Asa passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor David. His son Jehoshaphat replaced him as king.

Nadab’s Reign over Israel

15:25 In the second year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Jeroboam’s son Nadab became the king of Israel; he ruled Israel for two years. 15:26 He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He followed in his father’s footsteps and encouraged Israel to sin. 15:27 Baasha son of Ahijah, from the tribe of Issachar, conspired against Nadab and assassinated him in Gibbethon, which was in Philistine territory. This happened while Nadab and all the Israelite army were besieging Gibbethon. 15:28 Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa’s reign over Judah and replaced him as king. 15:29 When he became king, he executed Jeroboam’s entire family. He wiped out everyone who breathed, just as the Lord had predicted through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite. 15:30 This happened because of the sins which Jeroboam committed and which he made Israel commit. These sins angered the Lord God of Israel. 15:31 The rest of the events of Nadab’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: 1Ki 15:1

So his reign began with Jeroboam's eighteenth year, continued his whole nineteenth year, and ended within his twentieth year, in which also Asa's reign began. And thus one and the same year may be attributed to two several persons.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:2

That is, part of three years.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:2

Or, of Absalom, as he is called 2Ch 11:21. And because he is here mentioned as a known person, without any addition of his kindred or quality, some conceive that this was Absalom's daughter, called properly Tamar, 2Sa 14:27, and from her royal grandmother, 2Sa 3:3, Maacah.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:4

A son and successor to perpetuate his name and memory, which otherwise had gone into obscurity.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:4

That he might maintain that city, and temple, and worship, as a witness for God, in the world, against the Israelites and heathen world.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:5

This and the like phrases are not to be understood as exclusive of every sinful action, hut only of an habitual and continued apostasy from God, as the very phrase of turning aside from God, or from his commands, doth constantly imply. And thus it is most true. For David's other sins were either sudden and transient acts, soon repented of and blotted out, as in the cases of Nabal and Achish; or, mistakes of his judgment, which was not fully convinced of the sinfulness of such actions: whereas that which concerned Uriah's wife was a designed and studied sin, long continued in, defended with a succession of other sins, presumptuous, and scandalous to his government, and to the true religion.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:6

_Upon Jeroboam's invading him with a great army: acting then in his own defence, he totally routed Jeroboam, so that he was quiet the rest of his reign.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:10

That is, his grandmother's, as appears from 1Ki 15:2, who is called his mother, as David is called Abijam's father, 1Ki 15:3.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:10

mother's name may be here mentioned, rather than his mother's, because his mother was either an obscure person, or was dead, or unwilling to take care of the education of her son, and so he was educated by the grand - mother, who, though she poisoned his father Abijam with her idolatrous principles, 1Ki 15:12, yet could not infect Asa, nor withhold him from prosecuting his good purposes of reforming religion.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:11

As to the government of his kingdom, and the reformation, and establishment of God's worship. That is right indeed which is so in God's eyes. Those are approved whom he commendeth.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:12

All whom he could find out; but some escaped his observation, as appears from 1Ki 22:46.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:12

And if his father had made them, he had the more need to remove them, that he might cut off the entail of the curse.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:13

He took from her either the name and authority of queen regent, which she, having been Rehoboam's wife, and Abijam's mother, took to herself during Asa's minority; or, the dignity of the queen mother, and those guards, or instruments of power, which she had enjoyed and misemployed.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:13

Heb. a terror, or horror, that is, an horrible idol; which it may be so called, because it was of a more terrible shape than ordinary, and not to be seen without horror.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:13

That when it was burnt to powder, it might be thrown into the water, and be unfit for any use.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:14

2Ch 14:3. He took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places where they were worshipped: but as for those high places where the true God was worshipped he did not take them away; partly, because he thought there was no great evil in them, which had been used by David and Solomon, and other good men; partly, because he thought the removal of them might do more hurt than their continuance, by occasioning the total neglect of God's worship by many of the people, who either could not, or, through want of faith and zeal, would not go up to Jerusalem to worship, now especially, when the Israelites, formerly their friends, were become their enemies, and watched all opportunities to invade or molest them.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:14

That is, he sincerely and constantly adhered to the worship of God. Though he could not hinder the people from using the high places, yet he entirely devoted himself to the worship of God in the manner and place prescribed by him.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:15

Abijam, when he was in distress, and going to fight with Jeroboam, 2Ch 13:1-3, though afterwards he did not perform his vows, nor bring in what he had devoted; probably he was prevented by death.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:17

That is, repaired and fortified.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:18

What either Shishak had left, or Abijam, or Asa, or others, both of Israel or Judah had dedicated; which probably was not inconsiderable, because Asa had got great spoils from Zerah, 2Ch 14:9-15, and he and his numerous and prosperous people, did at this time express a great zeal for the house and worship of God.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:18

Wherein he committed three great faults, amongst many others, first, he alienated things consecrated to God, without necessity. Secondly, he did this out of distrust of that God whose power and goodness he had lately experienced. Thirdly, he did this for an ill intent, to hire him to the breach of his league and covenant with Baasha, 1Ki 15:19, and to take away part of that land which by right, and the special gift of God, belonged to the Israelites.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:21

Now the royal city of Israel. There he abode to defend his own kingdoms, and durst not return to oppose Asa, lest the Syrian king should make a second invasion. So Asa met with success in this ungodly course as good men sometimes meet with disappointment in a good cause and course. So there is no judging of causes by events.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:22

_All sorts of persons were obliged to come, except those who were disabled by age, or infirmity, or absence, or by the public service of the king and kingdom in other places.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:22

Repaired and strengthened them, for they were built before.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:23

Notwithstanding the great things which he had done, and the glory and prosperity which he enjoyed, he felt the effects of human infirmity, and of his own sins.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:25

Not compleat, as appears from 1Ki 15:28 , 1Ki 15:33.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:26

In the worship of the calves which his father had made.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:28

_It was threatened, 1Ki 14:15, that Israel should be as a reed shaken in the water. And so they were, when, during the single reign of Asa, their government was in seven or eight different hands. Jeroboam was upon the throne at the beginning of his reign, and Ahab at the end of it: between whom were Nadab, Baashah, Elah, Zimri, Tibni, and Omri, undermining and destroying one another. This they got by deserting the house both of God and of David.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:29

Any of the males of that family.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:29

So God overruled Baasha's ambition and cruelty, to fulfil his own prediction.

Wesley: 1Ki 15:30

So that same wicked policy which he used to establish the kingdom in his family, proved his and their ruin: which is very frequently the event of ungodly counsels.

JFB: 1Ki 15:1

His name was at first Abijah (2Ch 12:16); "Jah," the name of God, according to an ancient fashion, being conjoined with it. But afterwards, when he was found "walking in all the sins of his father" [1Ki 15:3], that honorable addition was withdrawn, and his name in sacred history changed into Abijam [LIGHTFOOT].

JFB: 1Ki 15:2

(compare 1Ki 15:1 with 1Ki 15:9). Parts of years are often counted in Scripture as whole years. The reign began in Jeroboam's eighteenth year, continued till the nineteenth, and ended in the course of the twentieth.

JFB: 1Ki 15:2

Or Michaiah (2Ch 13:2), probably altered from the one to the other on her becoming queen, as was very common under a change of circumstances. She is called the daughter of Abishalom, or Absalom (2Ch 11:21), of Uriel (2Ch 13:2). Hence, it has been thought probable that Tamar, the daughter of Absalom (2Sa 14:27; 2Sa 18:18), had been married to Uriel, and that Maachah was their daughter.

JFB: 1Ki 15:3

(Compare 1Ki 11:4; 1Ki 14:22). He was not positively bad at first, for it appears that he had done something to restore the pillaged treasures of the temple (1Ki 15:15). This phrase contains a comparative reference to David's heart. His doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord (1Ki 15:5) is frequently used in speaking of the kings of Judah, and means only that they did or did not do that which, in the general course and tendency of their government, was acceptable to God. It furnishes no evidence as to the lawfulness or piety of one specific act.

JFB: 1Ki 15:4

"A lamp" in one's house is an Oriental phrase for continuance of family name and prosperity. Abijam was not rejected only in consequence of the divine promise to David (see on 1Ki. 11:13-36).

JFB: 1Ki 15:10-13

She was properly his grandmother, and she is here called "the king's mother," from the post of dignity which at the beginning of his reign she possessed. Asa, as a constitutional monarch, acted like the pious David, laboring to abolish the traces and polluting practices of idolatry, and in pursuance of his impartial conduct, he did not spare delinquents even of the highest rank.

JFB: 1Ki 15:13

The sultana, or queen dowager, was not necessarily the king's natural mother (see 1Ki 2:19), nor was Maachah. Her title, and the privileges connected with that honor and dignity which gave her precedency among the ladies of the royal family, and great influence in the kingdom, were taken away. She was degraded for her idolatry.

JFB: 1Ki 15:13

A very obscene figure, and the grove was devoted to the grossest licentiousness. His plans of religious reformation, however, were not completely carried through, "the high places were not removed" (see 1Ki 3:2). The suppression of this private worship on natural or artificial hills, though a forbidden service after the temple had been declared the exclusive place of worship, the most pious king's laws were not able to accomplish.

JFB: 1Ki 15:15

Probably the spoils which Abijam had taken from the vanquished army of Jeroboam (see 2Ch 13:16).

JFB: 1Ki 15:15

After his own victory over the Cushites (2Ch 14:12).

JFB: 1Ki 15:16-17

Asa enjoyed a ten years' peace after Jeroboam's defeat by Abijam, and this interval was wisely and energetically spent in making internal reforms, as well as increasing the means of national defense (2Ch 14:1-7). In the fifteenth year of his reign, however, the king of Israel commenced hostilities against him, and, invading his kingdom, erected a strong fortress at Ramah, which was near Gibeah, and only six Roman miles from Jerusalem. Afraid lest his subjects might quit his kingdom and return to the worship of their fathers, he wished to cut off all intercourse between the two nations. Ramah stood on an eminence overhanging a narrow ravine which separated Israel from Judah, and therefore he took up a hostile position in that place.

JFB: 1Ki 15:18-20

Asa's religious character is now seen to decline. He trusted not in the Lord (2Ch 16:7). In this emergency Asa solicited the powerful aid of the king of Damascene-Syria; and to bribe him to break off his alliance with Baasha, he transmitted to him the treasure lying in the temple and palace. The Syrian mercenaries were gained. Instances are to be found, both in the ancient and modern history of the East, of the violation of treaties equally sudden and unscrupulous, through the presentation of some tempting bribe. Ben-hadad poured an army into the northern provinces of Israel, and having captured some cities in Galilee, on the borders of Syria, compelled Baasha to withdraw from Ramah back within his own territories.

JFB: 1Ki 15:18-20

(See on 1Ki 11:14).

JFB: 1Ki 15:22

The fortifications which Baasha had erected at Ramah were demolished, and with the materials were built other defenses, where Asa thought they were needed--at Geba (now Jeba) and Mizpeh (now Neby Samuil), about two hours' travelling north of Jerusalem.

JFB: 1Ki 15:23

(See on 2Ch 16:12, where an additional proof is given of his religious degeneracy.)

JFB: 1Ki 15:25

No record is given of him, except his close adherence to the bad policy of his father.

JFB: 1Ki 15:27

This town, within the tribe of Dan, was given to the Levites (Jos 19:44). It lay on the Philistine borders, and having been seized by that people, Nadab laid siege to recover it.

JFB: 1Ki 15:29

It was according to a barbarous practice too common in the East, for a usurper to extirpate all rival candidates for the throne; but it was an accomplishment of Ahijah's prophecy concerning Jeroboam (1Ki 14:10-11).

Clarke: 1Ki 15:1

Reigned Abijam over Judah - Of this son of Rehoboam, of his brethren, and of Rehoboam’ s family in general, see 2 Chronicles 12, where many particulars are added.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:3

His heart was not perfect - He was an idolater, or did not support the worship of the true God. This appears to be the general meaning of the heart not being perfect with God.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:4

The Lord - give him a lamp - That is, a son to succeed him; see 1Ki 11:36.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:5

Save only in the matter of Uriah - Properly speaking, this is the only flagrant fault or crime in the life of David. It was a horrible offense, or rather a whole system of offenses. See the notes on 2 Samuel 11 (note), and 2 Samuel 12 (note).

Clarke: 1Ki 15:6

There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam - This was mentioned in the preceding chapter, 1Ki 14:30, and it can mean no more than this: there was a continual spirit of hostility kept up between the two kingdoms, and no doubt frequent skirmishing between bordering parties; but it never broke out into open war, for this was particularly forbidden. See 1Ki 12:24. Hostility did exist, and no doubt frequent skirmishes; but open war and pitched battles there were none

But why is this circumstance repeated, and the history of Abijam interrupted by the repetition? There is some reason to believe that Rehoboam is not the true reading, and that it should be Abijam: "Now there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam all the days of his life."And this is the reading of fourteen of Kennicott’ s and De Rossi’ s MSS. The Syriac has Abia the son of Rehoboam; the Arabic has Abijam. In the Septuagint the whole verse is omitted in the London Polyglot, but it is extant in those of Complutum and Antwerp. Some copies of the Targum have Abijam also, and the Editio Princeps of the Vulgate has Abia. This is doubtless the true reading, as we know there was a very memorable war between Abia and Jeroboam; see it particularly described 2Ch 13:3 (note), etc.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:10

His mother’ s name - Our translators thought that grandmother was likely to be the meaning, and therefore have put it in the margin

Clarke: 1Ki 15:10

The daughter of Abishalom - She is called, says Calmet, the daughter of Absalom, according to the custom of the Scriptures, which give the name of daughter indifferently to the niece, the grand-daughter, and great grand-daughter.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:12

The sodomites - הקדשים hakkedeshim ; literally, the holy or consecrated ones. See on 1Ki 14:24 (note).

Clarke: 1Ki 15:13

She had made an idol in a grove - The original word, מפלצת miphletseth , is variously understood. I shall give its different views in the versions: -

"Besides, he removed his mother Maacha from being chief in the sacred rites of Priapus, and in his grove which she had consecrated.

- Vulgate

" And Ana, [other copies Maacha ], he removed from being governess, because she had made an assembly in her grove.

- Septuagint

"Moreover, he deprived Maacha, his mother, of her own magnificence, because she had celebrated a solemnity to her own worship.

- Syriac

"And even Maacha, his mother, he removed from the kingdom, because she had made an idol in a grove.

- Chaldee

"Besides, he removed Maacha, his mother, from her kingdom, because she had made a high tree into an idol.

- Arabic

"Also he removed Maacha, his mother, from the kingdom, because she had made a horrible statue; and our rabbins say that it was called מפלצת miphletseth , because מפליא ליצנותא maphli leytsanutha , it produced wonderful ridicule; for she made it ad instar membri virilis , and she used it daily.

- Rabbi Solomon Jarchi

From the whole, it is pretty evident that the image was a mere Priapus, or something of the same nature, and that Maachah had an assembly in the grove where this image was set up, and doubtless worshipped it with the most impure rites. What the Roman Priapus was I need not tell the learned reader; and as to the unlearned, it would not profit him to know. Maachah was most likely another Messalina; and Asa probably did for his mother what Claudius did for his wife.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:14

The high places were not removed - He was not able to make a thorough reformation; this was reserved for his son Jehoshaphat

Clarke: 1Ki 15:14

Asa’ s heart was perfect - He worshipped the true God, and zealously promoted his service; see on 1Ki 15:3 (note). And even the high places which he did not remove were probably those where the true God alone was worshipped; for that there were such high places the preceding history amply proves, and Jarchi intimates that these were places which individuals had erected for the worship of Jehovah.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:15

Which his father had dedicated - On what account he and his father dedicated the things mentioned below, we know not; but it appears that Asa thought himself bound by the vow of his father.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:16

There was war - That is, there was continual enmity; see on 1Ki 15:6 (note). But there was no open war till the thirty-sixth year of Asa, when Baasha, king of Israel, began to build Ramah, that he might prevent all communication between Israel and Judah; see 2Ch 15:19; 2Ch 16:1. But this does not agree with what is said here, 1Ki 16:8, 1Ki 16:9, that Elah, the son and successor of Baasha, was killed by Zimri, in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Asa. Chronologers endeavor to reconcile this by saying that the years should be reckoned, not from the beginning of the reign of Asa, but from the separation of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. It is most certain that Baasha could not make war upon Asa in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, when it is evident from this chapter that he was dead in the twenty-sixth year of that king. We must either adopt the mode of solution given by chronologists, or grant that there is a mistake in some of the numbers; most likely in the parallel places in Chronicles, but which we have no direct means of correcting. But the reader may compare 2Ch 14:1, with 2Ch 15:10, 2Ch 15:19; 2Ch 16:1.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:17

And Baasha - built Ramah - As the word signifies a high place, what is here termed Ramah was probably a hill, (commanding a defile through which lay the principal road to Jerusalem), which Baasha fortified in order to prevent all intercourse with the kingdom of Judah, lest his subjects should cleave to the house of David. Ramah was about two leagues northward of Jerusalem.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:18

Asa took all the silver - Shishak, king of Egypt, had not taken the whole, or there had been some treasures brought in since that time

Clarke: 1Ki 15:18

Ben-hadad - This was the grandson of Rezon, called here Hezion, who founded the kingdom of Damascus. See 1Ki 11:23, 1Ki 11:24; and Calmet.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:19

There is a league between me and thee - Or, Let there be a league between me and thee; as there was between my father and thy father. There was no reason why Asa should have emptied his treasures at this time to procure the aid of the Syrian king; as it does not appear that there was any danger which himself could not have turned aside. He probably wished to destroy the kingdom of Israel; and to effect this purpose, even robbed the house of the Lord.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:20

Ijon, and Dan, etc. - He appears to have attacked and taken those towns which constituted the principal strength of the kingdom of Israel.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:21

Dwelt in Tirzah - This seems to have been the royal city; see 1Ki 15:33, and 1Ki 14:17; and in this Baasha was probably obliged to shut himself up.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:22

None was exempted - Every man was obliged to go and help to dismantle the fortress at Ramah which Baasha had built. This was a general levee en masse of the people: every one was obliged to lend a helping hand, as the state was then supposed to be in danger, and all exemptions necessarily ceased. This is a maxim of civil policy, Ubi adversus hostem muniendi sent limites, omnis immunitas cessat : "Where the boundaries are to be fortified against an enemy, then all exemptions cease.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:23

And the cities which he built - Such as Geba and Mizpah, which he built out of the spoils of Ramah

Clarke: 1Ki 15:23

He was diseased in his feet - Probably he had a strong rheumatic affection, or the gout. This took place in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, three years before his death; and it is said that he sought to physicians rather than to the Lord, 2Ch 16:12, 2Ch 16:13.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:24

Asa slept with his fathers - Of his splendid and costly funeral we read 1Ch 16:14.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:25

Nadab - began to reign over Israel - He began his reign in the second year of the reign of Asa, and reigned two years.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:27

Smote him at Gabbethon - This was a city in the tribe of Dan, and generally in the possession of the Philistines.

Clarke: 1Ki 15:29

He smote all the house of Jeroboam - This was according to Ahijah’ s prophetic declaration; see 1Ki 14:10, 1Ki 14:14. Thus God made use of one wicked man to destroy another.

Defender: 1Ki 15:18

This is the first of three Ben-hadads mentioned in Scripture. See note on 1Ki 20:1."

Defender: 1Ki 15:29

This utter destruction of Jeroboam and all his family (with the one exception of the child who had died before reaching an age of conscious sin - 1Ki 14:13) had been foretold by the prophet Ahijah (1Ki 14:10-14), the very same prophet who had earlier called Jeroboam to be king over Israel (1Ki 11:29-39)."

TSK: 1Ki 15:1

1Ki 14:31; 2Ch 13:1, 2-22

TSK: 1Ki 15:2

his mother’ s : 1Ki 15:13; 2Ch 11:20-22

Maachah : 2Ch 13:2, Michaiah the daughter of Uriel

Abishalom : 2Ch 11:21, Absalom

TSK: 1Ki 15:3

all the sins : 1Ki 14:21, 1Ki 14:22

and his heart : 1Ki 3:14, 1Ki 11:4, 1Ki 11:33; 2Ki 20:3; 2Ch 25:2, 2Ch 31:20, 2Ch 31:21; Psa 119:80

TSK: 1Ki 15:4

for David’ s : 1Ki 11:12, 1Ki 11:32; Gen 12:2, Gen 19:29, Gen 26:5; Deu 4:37; 2Sa 7:12-16; Isa 37:35; Jer 33:20-26; Rom 11:28

give him : 1Ki 11:36; 2Ch 21:7; Psa 132:17; Luk 1:69-79, Luk 2:32; Joh 8:12; Rev 22:16

lamp : or, candle, Psa 18:28

and to establish : Psa 87:5; Isa 9:7, Isa 14:32, Isa 62:7; Jer 33:2; Mic 4:1, Mic 4:2; Mat 16:18

TSK: 1Ki 15:5

David : 1Ki 15:3, 1Ki 14:8; 2Ki 22:2; 2Ch 34:2; Psa 119:6; Luk 1:6; Act 13:22, Act 13:36

save only : 2Sa 11:4, 2Sa 11:15-17, 2Sa 12:9, 2Sa 12:10; Psa 51:1 *title

TSK: 1Ki 15:6

there was war : Instead of Rehoboam fourteen manuscripts, the Arabic, and some copies of the Targum, read Abijam . The Syriac has ""Abia, the son of Rehoboam;""and the Editio Princeps of the Vulgate has Abia . This is doubtless the true reading, as otherwise it would be an unnecessary repetition of 1Ki 14:30, and a repetition which interrupts the history of Abijah. (See note on 2Ch 13:3, etc.) 1Ki 14:30

TSK: 1Ki 15:7

the rest : 1Ki 14:29; 2Ch 13:2, 2Ch 13:21, 2Ch 13:22

there was war : 2Chr. 13:3-20

TSK: 1Ki 15:8

am 3049, bc 955

Abijam : 1Ki 14:1, 1Ki 14:31; 2Ch 14:1

Asa : 1Ch 3:9; Mat 1:7, Mat 1:8

TSK: 1Ki 15:10

am 3049-3090, bc 955-914

mother’ s : that is, grandmother’ s. 1Ki 15:2, 1Ki 15:13; 2Ch 11:20, 2Ch 11:21, 2Ch 13:2

TSK: 1Ki 15:11

Asa : 1Ki 15:3; 2Ch 14:2, 2Ch 14:11, 2Ch 15:17, 2Ch 16:7-10

TSK: 1Ki 15:12

the sodomites : 1Ki 14:24, 1Ki 22:46; Rom 1:26, Rom 1:27; Jud 1:7

all the idols : 1Ki 15:3, 1Ki 11:7, 1Ki 11:8, 1Ki 14:23; 2Ch 14:2-5; Eze 20:18, Eze 20:19; Zec 1:2-6; 1Pe 1:18

TSK: 1Ki 15:13

Maachah : 1Ki 15:2, 1Ki 15:10; 2Ch 15:15, 2Ch 15:16-19

his mother : Deu 13:6-11, Deu 33:9; Zec 13:3; Mat 10:37, Mat 12:46-50; 2Co 5:16; Gal 2:5, Gal 2:6, Gal 2:14

destroyed : Heb. cut off, Lev 26:30; Deu 7:5; 2Ki 18:4, 2Ki 23:12-15; 2Ch 34:4

and burnt : Exo 32:20; Deu 9:21; Jos 6:24

the brook : 2Sa 15:23; 2Ki 23:6; Joh 18:1, Cedron

TSK: 1Ki 15:14

the high places : 1Ki 22:43; 2Ki 12:3, 2Ki 14:4, 2Ki 15:4; 2Ch 14:3, 2Ch 14:5

was perfect : 1Ki 15:3, 1Ki 8:61, 1Ki 11:4; 2Ch 15:17, 2Ch 15:18, 2Ch 16:9, 2Ch 25:2

TSK: 1Ki 15:15

he brought : 1Ki 7:51; 1Ch 26:26-28; 2Ch 14:13, 2Ch 15:18

things : Heb. holy

TSK: 1Ki 15:16

1Ki 15:6, 1Ki 15:7, 1Ki 15:32, 1Ki 14:30; 2Ch 16:1-6

TSK: 1Ki 15:17

am 3074, bc 930

Baasha : 1Ki 15:27; 2Ch 16:1-6

Ramah : By building Ramah is here meant fortifying it, in order to prevent all intercourse with the kingdom of Judah, lest his subjects should cleave to the house of Davidcaps1 . fcaps0 or Ramah was a city of Benjamin, situated on the confines of both kingdoms, probably on a hill, as the name imports, commanding a narrow defile between the mountains, through which lay the principal road to Jerusalem; so that a fortification being erected here, no communication could be held between the people of Israel and Judah, without Baasha’ s permission. 1Ki 15:21; Jos 18:25; 1Sa 15:34; Jer 31:15

he might not suffer : 1Ki 12:27; 2Ch 11:13-17

TSK: 1Ki 15:18

Asa : 1Ki 15:15, 1Ki 14:26; 2Ki 12:18, 2Ki 18:15, 2Ki 18:16; 2Ch 15:18, 2Ch 16:2-6

Benhadad : 1Ki 20:1-5, 1Ki 20:33, 1Ki 20:34; 2Ki 8:7-15

Damascus : 1Ki 11:23, 1Ki 11:24; Gen 14:15, Gen 15:2; Jer 49:27; Amo 1:4

TSK: 1Ki 15:19

There is a league : 2Ch 19:2; Isa 31:1

break thy league : 2Sa 21:2; 2Ch 16:3; Eze 17:13-16; Rom 1:31, Rom 3:8

depart : Heb. go up

TSK: 1Ki 15:20

Ijon : Probably the same as Hazar-enan, a frontier town to Damascus (Eze 48:1); and perhaps the Inna of Coele-Syria, long. 68 degrees and a half, lat. 33 degrees, according to Ptolemy. 2Ki 15:29

Dan : 1Ki 12:29; Gen 14:14; Jdg 18:29, Abel-beth-maachah, 2Sa 20:14, 2Sa 20:15

Cinneroth : Jos 11:2, Jos 12:3

TSK: 1Ki 15:21

when Baasha : 2Ch 16:5

Tirzah : 1Ki 14:17, 1Ki 16:15-18; Son 6:4

TSK: 1Ki 15:22

made a proclamation : 2Ch 16:6

exempted : Heb. free

Geba : Jos 18:24, Gaba, Jos 21:17

Mizpah : Jos 18:26; 1Sa 7:5, Mizpeh, Jer 40:6, Jer 40:10

TSK: 1Ki 15:23

rest of all : 1Ki 15:7, 1Ki 15:8, 1Ki 14:29-31

in the time : 2Ch 16:12-14; Psa 90:10

TSK: 1Ki 15:24

am 3090, bc 914

was buried : Of his splendid and costly funeral we read in 2Ch 16:14.

Jehoshaphat : 1Ki 22:41-43; 2Ch 17:1-9; Mat 1:8, Josaphat

TSK: 1Ki 15:25

am 3050-3051, bc 954-953

Nadab : 1Ki 14:12, 1Ki 14:20

began to reign : Heb. reigned

TSK: 1Ki 15:26

he did evil : 1Ki 16:7, 1Ki 16:25, 1Ki 16:30

walked : 1Ki 12:28-33, 1Ki 13:33, 1Ki 13:34

in his sin : 1Ki 15:30, 1Ki 15:34, 1Ki 14:16, 1Ki 16:19, 1Ki 16:26, 1Ki 21:22, 1Ki 22:52; Gen 20:9; Exo 32:21; 1Sa 2:24; 2Ki 3:3, 2Ki 21:11, 2Ki 23:15; Jer 32:35; Rom 14:15; 1Co 8:10-13

TSK: 1Ki 15:27

Baasha the son : 1Ki 15:16, 1Ki 15:17, 1Ki 14:14

conspired : 1Ki 16:9; 2Ki 12:20

Gibbethon : 1Ki 16:15, 1Ki 16:17; Jos 19:44, Jos 21:23

TSK: 1Ki 15:28

Deu 32:35

TSK: 1Ki 15:29

he left not : 1Ki 14:9-16; 2Ki 9:7-10, 2Ki 9:36, 2Ki 9:37, 2Ki 10:10, 2Ki 10:11, 2Ki 10:31, 2Ki 19:25

TSK: 1Ki 15:30

the sins : 1Ki 15:26, 1Ki 14:9-16

by his provocation : 1Ki 14:22

TSK: 1Ki 15:31

am 3050-3051, bc 954-953

are they not written : 1Ki 14:19, 1Ki 16:5, 1Ki 16:14, 1Ki 16:20, 1Ki 16:27

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 1Ki 15:2

Three years - More strictly, not much more than two years (compare 1Ki 15:1, 1Ki 15:9). Any part of a year may, however, in Jewish reckoning, be taken as a year.

His mother’ s name was Maachah - Or Michaiah, according to the present reading of marginal reference.

The daughter of Abishalom - Absalom seems to have had but one daughter, Tamar 2Sa 14:27, so that Maachah must have been, not his daughter, but his grand-daughter. Her father (see the margin) was Uriel of Gibeah whom, therefore, Tamar married. Maachah took her name from her great-grandmother 2Sa 3:3.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:3

He walked in all the sins of his father - Yet Abijam prepared precious offerings for the temple service 1Ki 15:15, probably to replace vessels which Shishak had carried off, and in his war with Jeroboam professed himself a faithful servant of Yahweh 2Ch 13:10-12.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:4

To set up his son - The idolatry of Abijam deserved the same punishment as that of Jeroboam 1Ki 14:10-14, of Baasha 1Ki 16:2-4, or of Zimri 1Ki 16:19, the cutting off of his seed, and the transfer of the crown to another family. That these consequences did not follow in the kingdom of Judah, was owing to the "faithfulness"of David (see the marginal reference), which brought a blessing on his posterity. Few things are more remarkable and more difficult to account for on mere grounds of human reason, than the stability of the succession in Judah, and its excessive instability in the sister kingdom. One family in Judah holds the throne from first to last, during a space but little short of four centuries, while in Israel there are nine changes of dynasty within two hundred and fifty years.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:6

The writer repeats what he had said in 1Ki 14:30, in order to remind the reader that Abijam inherited this war from his father. Abijam’ s war is described in marginal reference That the author of Kings gives none of its details is agreeable to his common practice in mere military matters. Thus he gives no details of Shishak’ s expedition, and omits Zerah’ s expedition altogether.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:10

Mother’ s name - Rather, "grandmother’ s."The Jews cal any male ancestor, however remote, a father, and any female ancestor a mother (compare 1Ki 15:2; Gen 3:20). This Maachah was the favorite wife of Rehoboam 2Ch 11:21, and the mother of Abijam. The way in which she is here mentioned strongly favors the notion that the position of queen-mother was a definite one at the court, and could only be held by one person at a time.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:13

Asa degraded Maachah from the rank and state of queen-mother.

The word translated "idol"both here and in the parallel passage (marginal reference), does not occur elsewhere in Scripture. It is derived from a root signifying "fear"or "trembling,"and may perhaps best be understood as "a fright, a horror."Such a name would seem best to apply to a grotesque and hideous image like the Phthah of the Egyptians. She made it to serve in lieu of the ordinary "grove"- asherah, or idolatrous emblem of Astarte (Exo 34:13 note). Asa cut it down, for like the usual "asherah,"Maachah’ s "horror"was fixed in the ground.

And burnt it at the brook Kidron - Similarly Josiah, when he removed Manasseh’ s "grove"- asherah - from the house of the Lord, brought it out to the brook Kidron, and burned it there. The object probably was to prevent the pollution of the holy city by even the ashes from the burning.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:14

2Ch 14:3 would seem at first sight to imply that he entirely put down the worship. But idolatry, if at one time put down, crept back afterward; or while Asa endeavored to sweep it wholly away, his subjects would not be controlled, but found a means of maintaining it in some places - not perhaps in the cities (see 2Ch 14:5), but in remote country districts, where the royal authority was weaker, and secrecy more practicable.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:15

Abijam’ s dedications were made after his victory over Jeroboam, and probably consisted of a portion of the spoils which were the fruit of the battle 2Ch 13:16-19.

Asa’ s dedications may have been made from the spoils of Zerah the Ethiopian, who attacked him in his eleventh year (2Ch 14:9, etc.). They were not deposited in the temple until his fifteenth year 2Ch 15:10, 2Ch 15:18.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:16

Baasha became king of Israel in the third year of Asa 1Ki 15:33. The petty warfare which ordinarily prevailed on the borders of the two kingdoms continued "all the days"of Asa and Baasha. During the first ten years of Asa’ s reign he was little molested 2Ch 14:1, 2Ch 14:6.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:17

Ramah (perhaps "Er-Ram;"marginal reference) was situated halfway between Bethel and Jerusalem. Its distance from Jerusalem was no more than five miles so that its occupation was a menace to that capital. Baasha’ s seizure of Ramah implies a previous recovery of the towns taken by Abijam from Jeroboam, namely, Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephrain 2Ch 13:19, and was a carrying of the war into the enemy’ s country. Could his conquest have been maintained, it would have crippled Judah seriously, and have almost compelled a transfer of the capital to Hebron.

That he might not suffer any to go out or come in - Baasha, in seizing Ramah, professed to be acting on the defensive. His complaint seems to have been well founded (compare 2Ch 15:9); but it was more than a defensive measure - it was the first step toward a conquest of the southern kingdom.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:18

Left - Or, according to another reading, "found."The wealthy condition of the temple treasury is sufficiently indicated in 1Ki 15:15. Compare 2Ch 15:18.

Asa’ s conduct in calling Benhadad to his aid, condemned by the seer Hanani 2Ch 16:7, cannot, of course, be justified; but there was much to excuse it. An alliance, it appears, had existed between Abijam and Tabrimon, Benhadad’ s father 1Ki 15:19 - an alliance which may have helped Abijam to gain his great victory over Jeroboam and achieve his subsequent conquests 2Ch 13:17-20. This had been brought to an end by Baasha, who had succeeded in inducing Benhadad to enter into a league with him. It was only natural that Asa should endeavor to break up this league; and, politically speaking, he had a full right to go further, and obtain, if he could, the support of the Syrian troops for himself. The Israelites had set the example of calling in a foreign power, when Jeroboam obtained the aid of Shishak.

To Benhadad - On the probable succession of the Damascene kings, and on the meaning of the name Hadad, see 1Ki 11:14, 1Ki 11:23.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:19

Rather, "Let there be a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father."

Barnes: 1Ki 15:20

Ijon is probably marked by the ruins called "Tel-Dibbin,"which are situated a few miles northwest of the site of Dan, in a fertile and beautiful little plain which bears the name of "Merj’ Ayun"or "meadow of fountains."On Abel-beth-maachah, or Abel-maim ("Abel-on-the waters") and Dan, see the marginal references

For Cinneroth or Genesareth see Jos 11:2.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:22

Geba, situated opposite to Michmash 1Sa 14:5, is almost certainly "Jeba,"which stands picturesquely on the top of its steep terraced hill on the very edge of the "Wady Suweinit."Its position was thus exceedingly strong; and, as it lay further north than Ramah, Asa may have considered that to fortify and garrison it would be a better protection to his northern frontier than fortifying Ramah.

For Mizpah see the marginal reference From Jer 41:9 we learn that Asa, besides fortifying the place, sank a deep well there to secure his garrison from want of water if the town should be besieged.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:23

The rest of all the acts of Asa - A few of these are preserved in 2Ch 15:9-15; 2Ch 16:7-12. From the whole narrative of Chronicles we gather that the character of Asa deteriorated as he grew old, and that, while he maintained the worship of Yahweh consistently from first to last, he failed to maintain the personal faith and piety which had been so conspicuous in his early youth.

The cities which he built - Asa, during the earlier part of his reign, before any serious attack had been made upon him, had the prudence to "build fenced cities in Judah,"with "walls and towers, gates and bars,"so strengthening himself against a possible evil day 2Ch 14:6-7.

In the time of his old age - See the marginal reference. If it has been rightly supposed that Rehoboam was a young man of 21 or 22 at his accession 1Ki 12:8, Asa’ s age at this time must have been less than 50. It may seem strange to speak of "old age"in such a case; but Solomon was regarded as "old"at about 50 (1Ki 11:4 note).

Barnes: 1Ki 15:24

Asa prepared his own sepulchre in his lifetime, as has been so often done by Oriental kings; and his funeral was conducted with great magnificence 2Ch 16:14.

Barnes: 1Ki 15:25

The sacred historian now gives an account of the contemporary kings of Israel, beginning with Nadab, who ascended the throne in Asa’ s second year, and concluding with Ahab, in whose fourth year Asa died. This narrative occupies him almost to the close of the first Book of Kings.

Chronology of Kingdoms
Year of the Divided Kingdom	Kings of Judah	Years of Reign	Kings of Israel	Years of Reign
1	Rehoboam	17	Jeroboam	22
5	(Invasion of Shishak)
18	Abijam	3
20	Asa	41
22			Nadab	2
23			Baasha	21
31	(Invasion of Zerah)
34	(Great Feast at Jerusalem)
46			Elah	2
47			Zimri Omri	12
58			Ahab	22
61	(Last year of Asa)		(4th year of Ahab)

Barnes: 1Ki 15:27

Baasha ... of the house of Issachar - It is curious to find Issachar furnishing a king. Tola, its one very undistinguished Judge Jdg 10:1, on obtaining office had at once settled himself in the territory of Ephraim. The tribe was as little famous as any that could be named. The "ass crouching between two burthens"was a true symbol of the patient, plodding cultivators of the plain of Esdraelon Gen 49:14-15. Baasha probably owed his rise neither to his tribe nor to his social position, but simply to his audacity, and his known valor and skill as a soldier 1Ki 16:2.

Poole: 1Ki 15:1

Object. How can this be, when he reigned three years, 1Ki 15:2 , and Asa his successor began his reign in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, 1Ki 15:9 ?

Answ Parts of years are commonly called and accounted years, both in the Old and New Testament, and in profane writers. So his reign began with Jeroboam’ s eighteenth year, and continued his whole nineteenth year, and ended within his twentieth year, in which also Asa’ s reign began. And thus one and the same year may well be, as it frequently is, attributed to two several persons.

Poole: 1Ki 15:2

Three years: See Poole "1Ki 15:1".

Of Abishalom or, of Absalom , as he is called, 2Ch 11:21 . And because he is here mentioned as a known person, without any addition of his kindred or quality, some conceive that this was Absalom’ s daughter, called properly Tamar , 2Sa 14:27 , and from her royal grandmother, 2Sa 3:3 Maachah ; and that she is called Michaiah (which differs not much from Maachah ) the daughter of Uriel , 2Ch 13:2 , because she was first married to Uriel, as Josephus affirms, Antiq. viii. 3, and afterwards to Rehoboam. Others think this was another person, and that both she and her father had each of them several names, which was not unusual among the Hebrews.

Poole: 1Ki 15:3

In all the sins of his father which his father lived in; either, first, Before his humiliation. Or rather, secondly, After his deliverance from Shishak, when, though he did not openly renounce the worship of God, he seems to have relapsed into his former sins; which otherwise would not have been remembered against him; as David’ s name and memory is never loaded with the shame of his sins, because he truly repented of them.

Poole: 1Ki 15:4

A lamp i.e. a son and successor to perpetuate his name and memory, which otherwise had gone into obscurity. The same phrase is used above, 1Ki 11:36 2Ki 8:19 2Ch 21:7 .

To establish Jerusalem i.e. that he might maintain that city, and temple, and worship, as a witness for God in the world against the Israelites and heathen world, who should have inquired after it, and embraced the true religion there established and set up, as a beacon upon a high hill, that all men might take notice of it.

Poole: 1Ki 15:5

Quest How is this true, seeing David sinned in the matter of Nabal, 1Sa 25 , and Achish, 1Sa 27 , and Mephibosheth, and his indulgence to his children, Adonijah, Amnon, and Absalom, and in the numbering of the people? Answ. This and the like phrases are not to be understood as exclusive of every sinful action, but only of a sinful course or state, or of an habitual and continued apostacy from God, or from his ways, as the very phrase of turning aside from God, or from his commands, doth constantly imply, as appears from Exo 32:8 Deu 9:12,16 1Sa 8:3 Psa 78:57 Isa 44:20 1Ti 1:6 5:15 , &c. And thus it is most true. For David’ s other sins were either sudden and transient acts, proceeding from human infirmity, and extraordinary temptations, and soon repented of and blotted out, as in the cases of Nabal and Achish; or mistakes of his judgment, which was not fully convinced of the sinfulness of such actions, as in the other cases alleged; whereas that which concerned Uriah’ s wife was a designed and studied sin, long continued in, defended with a succession of other sins, presumptuous, and scandalous to his government and to the true religion, which he so eminently professed.

Poole: 1Ki 15:6

Which was said 1Ki 14:30 , and may be here repeated, to signify the cause and original of the war between Abijam and Jeroboam, which is implied here, and particularly described 2Ch 13 . Abijam continued the war which Rehoboam had begun, and pushed it on to a decisive battle. But the place may be thus rendered, Yet there was war, &c., i.e. although God was pleased to show so much respect to David, as for his sake to continue the succession to the kingdom in his posterity, yet he thought fit to manifest his displeasure against David’ s successors for their sins, and to mix their honour and happiness with wars and troubles.

Poole: 1Ki 15:7

The chronicles of the kings of Judah in their annals; whence they were long after this time translated into the sacred Book of Chronicles. See Poole "1Ki 14:19" .

Poole: 1Ki 15:9

In or towards the end of the year. See Poole "1Ki 15:1" .

Poole: 1Ki 15:10

i. e. His grandmother’ s, as appears from 1Ki 15:2 , who is called his mother, as David is called Abijam’ s father, 1Ki 15:3 , and this Asa’ s father, 1Ki 15:11 . And so the names of father, and mother, and sons, and daughters are oft taken, both in sacred and profane authors, for grandparents and grandchildren. And his grandmother’ s name may be here mentioned rather than his mother’ s, because his mother was either an obscure person, or was long since dead, or indisposed or unwilling to take care of the education of her son, and so he was educated by the grandmother, who, though she did poison his father Abijam with her idolatrous principles, 1Ki 15:12 , yet could not infect Asa, nor withhold him from prosecuting his good purposes of reforming religion; which is here remembered to his praise.

Poole: 1Ki 15:11

That which was right in the eyes of the Lord as to the government of his kingdom and life, and the reformation and establishment of God’ s worship.

Poole: 1Ki 15:12

The Sodomites of whom see 1Ki 14:24 , not all of them, but those whom he could find out; but some escaped his observation and censure, as appears from 1Ki 22:46 .

Poole: 1Ki 15:13

Her he removed from being queen i.e. he took from her either the name and authority of queen-regent, which she, having been Rehoboam’ s wife, and Abijam’ s mother, took to herself during Asa’ s minority, and abused to the patronage of idolatry; or the dignity of the queen-mother, and those guards, or other ensigns of honour, or instruments of power, which, as such, she had enjoyed and misemployed. Otherwise,

he removed her from the queen i.e. from his wife, that she might not be infected by her, and afterwards infect his children; which was a prudent and necessary care, for the prevention of so great and public a mischief.

An idol Heb. a terror, or horror , i.e. a horrible idol; which it may be so called, either because all idols, though for a season they please, yet in the end will bring dreadful effects upon their worshippers; or because this was an idol of a more horrible or terrible shape, more abominable than ordinary, and not to be seen without horror; whether it was that filthy idol, called Priapus , which was commonly placed in groves or gardens; or Pan , or some other heathen god, to whose service she in a special manner devoted herself.

Burnt it by the brook Kidron that when it was burnt to powder, it might be thrown into the water, and be unfit for any use. See Exo 32:20 Deu 12:3 .

Poole: 1Ki 15:14

The high places were not removed

Object. He did take these away, 2Ch 14:3 .

Answ He took away those which were devoted to the worship of idols, as is there said, he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the highplaces, to wit, where they were worshipped: but as for those high places where the true God was worshipped, he did not take them away; partly, because he thought there was no great evil in them, because they had been used by David and Solomon, and other good and wise men; and because the true God was there worshipped, and that in the manner, though not in the place, which God had appointed; and partly, because he thought the removal of them might do much more hurt than their continuance, to wit, by occasioning the total neglect of God’ s worship by many of the people, who either could not, or through want of competent faith and zeal would not, go up to Jerusalem to worship, now especially, when the Israelites, their near neighbours, formerly their friends, were become their enemies, and watched all opportunities to invade or molest them, which they concluded they would do when all their males were gone up to Jerusalem; and partly, because the people were so obstinately bent towards them, that it was, or at least seemed to him, impossible to remove them without great offence, or such commotions as were highly dangerous to that church and state.

Asa’ s heart was perfect with the Lord i.e. he did sincerely and constantly adhere to the worship and service of God. Though he could not hinder the people from using the high places, yet he did entirely devote himself to the worship of God in the manner and place prescribed by God.

Poole: 1Ki 15:15

Which his father had dedicated Abijam, to wit, when he was in distress, and going to fight with Jeroboam, 2Ch 13 though afterwards he did not perform his vows, nor bring in what he had devoted; whether because he was prevented by death, or because he afterwards relapsed to idolatry, as may seem probable from the 12th verse of this chapter.

Poole: 1Ki 15:16

So long as they two lived and reigned together; which is not so to be understood, as if there were a solemn and declared war continuing all that time, (for Asa was quiet in a great measure for his first ten years, 2Ch 14:1 , till the Israelites had recovered themselves from that dreadfull blow given them by Abijah, 2Ch 13 , and Baasha began to reign in Asa’ s third year,) but so that there were many private and particular hostilities practised among them; in which sense the same phrase is used 1Ki 14:30 .

Poole: 1Ki 15:17

Baasha went up against Judah perceiving Asa’ s great success, of which see 2Ch 14 2Ch 15 , and the defection of many of his own subjects to him upon that occasion, 2Ch 15:9 , he began to bestir himself, and commenceth a war against him.

Built i.e. repaired and fortified, Ramah, a city of Benjamin; which either belonged to the kingdom of Israel, from the division, (as some other places of that tribe are supposed to have done; of which See Poole "1Ki 11:13" ,) or belonged to Judah, but was now invaded and taken by Baasha, and fortified.

That he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah therefore he chose this place, because it was in the way from his kingdom to Jerusalem, and, as some add, in or near the straits of the mountains, where they could easily discover and hinder all passengers that way.

Poole: 1Ki 15:18

All the silver and the gold that were left these poor remainders, which either Shishak had left at that time, 1Ki 14:26 , or Abijam, or Asa, or others, both of Israel and Judah, had dedicated; which probably was not inconsiderable, because Asa had got great spoils from Zerah, 2Ch 14 , and he and his numerous and prosperous people did at this time express a great zeal for the house and worship of God.

Asa sent them to Ben-hadad wherein he committed three great faults, amongst many others. First, He alienated things consecrated to God without necessity. Secondly, He did this out of carnal fear and distrust of that God whose power and goodness he had lately experienced. Thirdly, He did this for an ill intent, to hire him to the breach of his league and covenant with Baasha, 1Ki 15:19 , and to take away part of that land which by right, and the special gift of God, belonged to the Israelites.

Poole: 1Ki 15:19

There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father whereby it appears, that albeit he was an adversary to Israel all Solomon’ s days, 1Ki 11:25 , yet after the division of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah he was in league with both of them; either because his designs lay upon the enlargement of his empire other ways; or rather, because he thought it his wisdom and interest to leave them to themselves, to undo one another by their intestine wars, and so to prepare the way to his conquest of both; whereas his invading of either of them might have made up the breach, and forced them to unite against their common enemy. And therefore as soon as he was free from this fear, and one of them needed and earnestly desired his help against the other, he gladly embraced the opportunity.

That he may depart from me that being called to defend himself, he may be forced to depart from my territories.

Poole: 1Ki 15:20

The northern parts of Baasha’ s kingdom, which were nearest to his own kingdom of Damascus, and most remote from those parts where Baasha was now employed, which were in the most southern parts of his dominions.

Poole: 1Ki 15:21

Now the royal city of Israel. See 1Ki 14:17 . There he abode to defend his own kingdoms, and durst not return to oppose Asa, lest the Syrian king should make a second and worse invasion. So Asa met with success in his ungodly course, as on the other side good men sometimes meet with disappointment in a good cause and course. So there is no judging of causes by events.

Poole: 1Ki 15:22

None was exempted all sorts of persons were obliged to come, except those who were disenabled by age, or infirmity, or absence, or by the public service of the king and kingdom in other places.

Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah i.e. repaired and strengthened them, for they were built before. See Jer 41:9 .

Quest. Why did he not rather perfect the fortifications of Ramah which Baasha had begun?

Answ Because Baasha might have returned and recovered it afterwards; and he thought it most convenient that there should be no city nor fort in that place.

Poole: 1Ki 15:23

Nevertheless notwithstanding the great things which he had done, and the glory and prosperity which he enjoyed, he felt the effects of human infirmity, and of his own sins; of which see 2Ch 16:12,13 .

Poole: 1Ki 15:25

Not complete, as appears from 1Ki 15:28,33 .

Poole: 1Ki 15:26

i.e. In the worship of the calves which his father had made.

Poole: 1Ki 15:27

Of the house of Issachar i.e. of the tribe, which is oft called a house, as Jud 10:9 Psa 135:20 Hos 1:7 . Which belonged to the Philistines; who, taking advantage of the division between Israel and Judah, had retaken this town, which belonged to the tribe of Dan, Jos 19:44 , and belonged to the Levites, Jos 21:23 ; upon whose departure to Judah, 2Ch 11:14 , the kings of Israel seized their towns and lands to their own use, as was noted before; which made them so much concerned for this town, to besiege it both now and many years after this time, 1Ki 16:15 .

Poole: 1Ki 15:28

In the third year of Asa: how this agrees with 2Ch 16:1 , see in the notes there.

Did Baasha slay him which he did, not to fulfil God’ s threatening, but only to advance himself; and therefore this is called murder, 1Ki 16:7 .

Poole: 1Ki 15:29

Any that breathed i.e. any of the males of that family. See Deu 20:16 Jos 10:40 . According unto the saying of the Lord: so God overruled Baasha’ s ambition and cruelty, to fulfil his own counsel and prediction.

Poole: 1Ki 15:30

Which he made Israel sin so that same wicked policy which he used to establish the kingdom in his family proved his and their ruin; which is very frequently the event of ungodly counsels.

Haydock: 1Ki 15:2

Years, wanting some months. Maacha. She is called elsewhere, Michaia, daughter of Uriel; but is was a common thing, in those days, for a person to have two names. (Challoner) ---

Abessalom and Absalom, the son of David are the same, 2 Paralipomenon xi. 21. (Calmet) ---

St. Jerome (Trad.) is of a different opinion. (Menochius) ---

Josephus ([Antiquities?] viii. 10.) intimates that Maacha was the daughter of Thamar. The eldest daughter, in the kingdom of Gessur, seems to have been usually styled Maacha, ver. 10. (Tirinus)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:4

Lamp, son; (chap. xi. 36.) though he deserved to have his family exterminated. (Calmet) ---

He is preserved for his father's sake. (Worthington)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:5

Hethite. This could not be excused. But all his other imperfections might not appear criminal in the eyes of the world, as they had some pretext of virtue; so that God reserves the judgment of them to himself, and to David's conscience, who confessed that he had sinned, 2 Kings xxiv. 10. (Tirinus) ---

Except David, Ezechias, and Josias, all the kings of Juda committed sin; (Ecclesiasticus xlix. 5.; Calmet) and not one of those who ruled over Israel, gave an example of virtue. (Haydock) ---

David soon entered into himself, with respect to his other failings. But he continued for a long time involved in the guilt of adultery and murder. (Sanchez)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:6

Roboam. This had been remarked, chap. xiv. 30. (Haydock) ---

There was a domestic quarrel between the two families. (Calmet) ---

Some suspect that Roboam is placed to designate his successors, or that we ought to read, Abia. (Sanchez) ---

Castalion rashly ventures to alter the text. (Calmet) ---

Abiam gained a decisive victory over Jeroboam, ver. 7., and 2 Paralipomenon xiii. 3.

Haydock: 1Ki 15:9

Year complete, when the 21st was running on. (Usher) ---

Septuagint, "the 24th." (Calmet) ---

But Grabe's edition agrees with the Hebrew. (Haydock)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:10

His mother's, &c. That is, his grandmother; unless we suppose, which is not improbable, that the Maacha here named is different from the Maacha mentioned [in] ver. 2. (Challoner) ---

She was probably another grand-daughter of David's son, (Calmet) as such are frequently styled simply daughters. So David is called the father of Asa, (ver. 11.; Haydock) though he was really his great-grandfather. (Menochius)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:12

Effeminate. See chap. xiv. 24. Yet his zeal could not entirely eradicate this evil. There was room for the exertions of his son Josaphat, chap. xxii. 47. (Calmet) ---

The king punished with death such as he could discover. (Haydock)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:13

Priapus. He would not spare such abominations in his own family. (Menochius) He took from his mother the direction of the palace, (Vatable) and her guards. (Grotius) ---

Hebrew, "even her he removed from being queen, because she had made a Miphlatstah." (Haydock) ---

Septuagint render this term a synod, "meeting," or something shameful; also a cavern, or den; and in Paralipomenon, the "idol" Astarte. St. Jerome also gives different meanings; so that the precise import is not well known. Most people translate, "a scarecrow;" (Calmet) terriculum. In the gardens of Greece and or Rome, the figure of Priapus was set up (Du Hamel) to frighten thieves and birds away. Inde ego furum aviumque

Maxima formido. (Horace, Sat. l. 8.)

Others understand that Pan, another frightening idol, is here meant; (Castalion) or the abominations of Phallus and Ithyphallus, derived from the same Hebrew word. (Seldon) ---

As the goddess Astarte, or Asera, "the grove," here the object of adoration, was the wife of Adonis, it is probable, that the same obscenities were carried in triumph, as Herodotus (ii. 28., and 49.) specifies in the description of the festival of Bacchus, celebrated by the Egyptians. ---

To him. Protestants, "She had made an idol in the grove." Hebrew also, "to Asera; and Asa destroyed her idol, (miphlatstah) and burnt it." (Haydock)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:14

The high places. There were excelsa, or high places, of two different kinds. Some were set up and dedicated to the worship of idols, or strange gods: and these Asa removed, 2 Paralipomenon xiv. 2. Others were only altars of the true God, but were erected contrary to the law, which allowed of no sacrifices but in the temple; and these were not removed by Asa. (Challoner) ---

They had been built before the temple, and tolerated by the prophets; (Calmet) and, though they were now improper for sacrifices, (Haydock) Asa thought it would be imprudent to molest them, (Calmet) as perhaps he could not take them away. (Du Hamel) ---

He left also the ruins of (Haydock) the temples built by Solomon, (Worthington) on Mount Olivet, (4 Kings xxiii.; Menochius) as no longer dangerous. (Salien) ---

Lord. Asa had his faults; but never forsook the worship of the Lord. (Challoner) ---

In the same sense, David is so often praised as a just prince. Asa threw a prophet into prison, and placed his trust as much in physicians, &c., 2 Paralipomenon xvi. 10, 12. But he did penance, and deserves to be ranked (Calmet) among the few just kings of Juda. (Haydock)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:15

Vowed. Hebrew, "which he himself had dedicated," or vowed, 2 Paralipomenon xv. 18. (Haydock) ---

Asa made liberal presents to the Lord, and gave what his father had promised, (Menochius) probably during the famous battle against Jeroboam, 2 Paralipomenon xiii. 5. (Abulensis, q. 17.) ---

Abiam was a wicked prince, and had neglected this duty, though he reigned three years. Hence he was slain by God, ibid. v. 20. It seems that heirs were bound to execute the vows of their parents, though Moses does not express it. (Calmet)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:16

Their days: not that they were always fighting. (Haydock) ---

Open war was declared only in the 35 th year of Asa, (2 Paralipomenon xv. 19.) which must be dated from the schism, and not from the commencement of his reign; since his rival, Baasa, enjoyed the sovereignty only 24 years, and died in the 26th of Asa, which was the 36th from the division of the two kingdoms. Thus Hardouin observes that the years of Commodus, in some ancient Egyptians medals, are dated from the reign of M. Aurelius, chief of that family; so that the first of Commodus is inscribed the twenty-first of Aurelius. Asa defeated Zara in the fifteenth, and attacked Israel in the sixteen year of his reign. (Usher) (Tirinus) (Calmet) ---

Others would substitute 25 for 35, (Grotius; Capel.) though contrary to the text, and to all the versions. (Calmet)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:17

Rama, fortifying it with a wall all round, 2 Paralipomenon xvi. (Haydock) ---

Rama signifies, "a height." This fort commanded a narrow pass, between the two kingdoms, (Calmet) and cut off all communication; which Baasa dreaded, lest his subjects should return to the service of the true God, and of Juda. (Haydock) ---

Josue (xviii. 25.) mentions Rama, near Gaboan, (Calmet) about five miles north of Jerusalem. (St. Jerome) ---

There was another towards the south. (Menochius) ---

But there the king of Israel would have no power. (Haydock)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:18

House. Sesac had not carried off all the treasures, (Calmet) and the losses had been since in a great measure repaired, ver. 15. (Haydock) ---

Asa thought himself justified in employing these treasures in such a pressing necessity, (Calmet) perhaps (Haydock) without reason, as the danger was not so great; and he might have gained the victory without having recourse to an infidel, if he had placed more confidence in God, 2 Paralipomenon xvi. 7, 9. (Menochius) ---

He had already discomfited Zara, king of Ethiopia, and had an army of 580,000 men. (Calmet) (2 Paralipomenon xiv. 8.) ---

Tabremon, "Good Remmon," idol of Damascus. (Haydock) ---

Hezion, the same with Razon, chap. xi. 23. (Menochius)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:19

League. The infidel is ready to take part with the best bidder. (Haydock) ---

Benadad gains a double reward, as he plunders the conquered. (Menochius)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:20

Ahion, or Ain, remote in the north, whence Theglathphalasar took away captives, (4 Kings xv. 29.) is perhaps the Enan of Ezechiel xlviii. 1., and Numbers xxxiv. 9. ---

Maacha. In Paralipomenon, Abel-maim, "Abela of the waters," 2 Kings xx. 14. ---

Ceneroth, near the sea of Tiberias, Josue xi. 2. Benadad kept possession of some of these places, and even built streets in Samaria, chap. xx. 34.

Haydock: 1Ki 15:21

Returned. So the Septuagint. Hebrew, "dwelt." (Calmet) ---

He returned to protect his own dominions, (Menochius) and shut himself up in his capital. (Calmet)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:22

Excused. "When the country is to be defended, all exemptions cease." (Leg. ult.) (Calmet) ---

Septuagint seem to preserve the terms of the original untranslated, "Asa called all....to Annacim." Hebrew en naki, (Haydock) means, "no one exempt." (Calmet) ---

Rama belonged to the enemy; and, as it appears from this passage, was in the vicinity of Maspha. (Haydock) ---

Gabaa, the city of Saul, (Menochius) adding fresh fortifications, as this and Maspha were frontier towns, against the inroads of Israel. (Haydock)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:23

Strength. Septuagint, "dynasty," or power, whether of his dominions or of his person. (Calmet) ---

Feet, with the gout, (Menochius) three years before his death. He did not confide in the Lord sufficiently, 2 Paralipomenon xvi. 12. His body was embalmed or burnt, unless aromatic spices evaporated with it was laid on a bed of state, before it was consigned to the tomb, which Asa had prepared for himself in the city of David, 2 Paralipomenon xvi. 14.

Haydock: 1Ki 15:25

Two years, incomplete; since he commenced his reign in the second, and died in the third year of Asa, ver. 28. (Calmet) ---

Petau only allows him, "a few months;" and supposes, that he had been associated on the throne with Jeroboam. But this is unnecessary. (Houbigant) ---

Nadab was the first king of Israel, who fell a pray to the fury of his subjects. (Salien, the year before Christ 971.)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:27

Gebbethon, of the tribe of Dan, occupied by the Philistines. It was often attacked, chap. xvi. 15. (Calmet) ---

The occasion of this war is not known. (Menochius)

Haydock: 1Ki 15:29

Jeroboam. The author of schism is punished in his posterity. (Worthington) ---

The body of Nadab was left unburied, chap. xiv. 11. (Menochius)

Gill: 1Ki 15:1

Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah. That is, began to reign; and by this it appears that Rehoboam was in the eighteenth year of his reign when he died, for he and Jeroboam began their reign at the same time.

Gill: 1Ki 15:2

Three years reigned he in Jerusalem,.... And three only; his reign was short, and indeed not three full years, only one whole year and part of two others; for Asa his son began to reign in the twentieth of Jeroboam, 1Ki 15:9 so that he reigned part of his eighteenth, this whole nineteenth, and part of his twentieth:

and his mother's name was Maachah the daughter of Abishalom; called Absalom, 2Ch 11:20, generally supposed by the Jews to be Absalom the son of David, and which may seem not improbable, since his other two wives were of his father's family, 2Ch 11:18. Josephus says ^q she was the daughter of Tamar the daughter of Absalom, and so his granddaughter; and which may account for her being called Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah, 2Ch 13:2 since the difference between Maachah and Michaiah is not very great; and Uriel might he the name of Tamar's husband; though it is most likely that both father and daughter had two names; she seems to be mentioned here, to observe that she was the cause and means of her son's disagreeable walk, as follows, see 1Ki 15:13.

Gill: 1Ki 15:3

And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him,.... Having such bad examples as both parents to copy after; it chiefly respects idolatrous practices, see 1Ki 14:23,

and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God; he did profess the true God, and worshipped him, but not wholly, and only, and sincerely; he worshipped other gods besides him: and so his heart was not

as the heart of David his father; who was a sole and sincere worshipper of God, never departed from him and his service.

Gill: 1Ki 15:4

Nevertheless, for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem,.... A kingdom there, as the Targum, splendid and glorious, to be continued in his posterity: to set up his son after him; in it:

and to establish Jerusalem: to continue that in which the temple was, for the sake of which, and the worship of God in it, there was a succession of David's posterity on the throne of Judah.

Gill: 1Ki 15:5

Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord,.... With respect to worship: and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life; especially in matters of religion, nor even in his moral walk and conversation, deliberately, studiously, and with design:

save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite; the killing of him, and other sins which led on to it, and were in connection with it; Abarbinel thinks, because the affair of Bathsheba is not mentioned, that was not reckoned to David as a sin; but no doubt it was, and is included here.

Gill: 1Ki 15:6

And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. Not the days of Rehoboam, though that was true, and is observed, 1Ki 14:30, but all the days of Abijam, before he came to the throne, and in which, when a young man, he was concerned, and which still continued between him and Jeroboam; though some think he is called by his father's name, as Rehoboam is called David, 1Ki 12:16.

Gill: 1Ki 15:7

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?.... Which seem to be written by Iddo the prophet, see 2Ch 13:22,

and there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam; and a famous pitched battle between them we read of in 2Ch 13:3.

Gill: 1Ki 15:8

And Abijam slept with his fathers,.... That is, died as they did:

and they buried him in the city of David, in the sepulchre of his royal ancestors, David, Solomon, and Rehoboam:

and Asa his son reigned in his stead; who perhaps was the eldest of his twenty two sons, 2Ch 13:21.

Gill: 1Ki 15:9

And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah. How this is to be accounted for See Gill on 1Ki 15:2.

Gill: 1Ki 15:10

And forty one years reigned he in Jerusalem,.... Being a good king, had the blessing of a long reign, and reached, and even exceeded, the years of the reigns of David and Solomon:

and his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom; that is the name of his grandmother, see 1Ki 15:2 she is called his mother, not because she brought him forth, but because she brought him up; and this is observed to his commendation, that though he was educated by an idolatrous woman, yet was not corrupted by her as his father was.

Gill: 1Ki 15:11

And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father. In his personal walk and conversation, in his government of the nation, and especially in the matters of his God, and of religion, he made David his pattern and example to copy after.

Gill: 1Ki 15:12

And he took away the Sodomites out of the land,.... Which were in the times of Rehoboam, 1Ki 14:24, and continued in his father's reign; those he took away, either by driving them out of the land, or by putting them to death according to the law of God, Lev 20:13 even as many of them as he had knowledge of, for some remained, see 1Ki 22:46,

and removed all the idols that his fathers had made; or suffered to be made, as Solomon, Rehoboam, and Abijam, see 1Ki 11:7.

Gill: 1Ki 15:13

And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen,.... From the kingdom, as the Targum; from having any share in the government, as she might have had during his minority, his mother being dead, as some conjecture; and not only took away her power and authority, but all the ensigns of it, and perhaps forbid her the court: or he removed her from the queen, his own wife, that she might not be corrupted by her; or rather it was from presiding over the rites of the idol next mentioned, and the worshipping of it:

because she had made an idol in a grove; which had its name from horror and trembling; either because it was of a terrible aspect, or injected horror into its worshippers, or brought terrible calamities and judgments upon them: according to some Jewish writers ^r, it was a Priapus, of an obscene figure; and so others ^s, who suppose she presided over the sacred rites of this impure deity, the same with Baalpeor; and the Heathens used to place Priapus in their gardens ^t, to fright away birds; see Gill on Jer 49:16, others take it to be Pan, from whence the word "Panic", used for any great fright:

and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron: and cast the ashes of it into it, that none might have any profit by it, the gold and silver on it, and in indignation to it, see Exo 32:20.

Gill: 1Ki 15:14

But the high places were not removed,.... That is, such as had been used for the worship of God, before the temple was built, which yet now should have been removed, since sacrifice was now only to be offered there; but he might think they were still lawful, or the people had such an opinion of them, that it was difficult and dangerous to attempt to remove them; otherwise high places for idolatry were removed by him, 2Ch 14:3,

nevertheless, Asa's heart was perfect all his days; he was sincere in the worship of God, and did everything to the best of his knowledge and capacity for restoring true religion, and destroying idolatry.

Gill: 1Ki 15:15

And he brought in the things which his father had dedicated,.... The spoils he had taken in war from Jeroboam, and which he had devoted to religious uses, but lived not to perform his vows, which his son now did for him; so that it seems, notwithstanding the sins he fell into, he had some regard to God and his worship, see 2Ch 13:19.

and the things which himself had dedicated; out of the spoils taken from the Ethiopians, 2Ch 14:13, these he brought into the house of the Lord, silver, and gold, and vessels; of various sorts.

Gill: 1Ki 15:16

And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days: That is as long as they lived together; for Baasha died many years before Asa, and this must be reckoned from the time the war began between them. Baasha did not begin his reign until the third year of Asa, 1Ki 15:25 and in the first ten years of Asa's reign the land was quiet and free from war, 2Ch 14:1 of which there must be seven in the reign of Baasha, who is here made mention of out of course, for Nadab reigned before him, 1Ki 15:25, the reason of which Abarbinel thinks is, that the historian, having given an account of the good deeds of Asa, relates his failings before he proceeds to the other part of his history.

Gill: 1Ki 15:17

And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah,.... Which, in 2Ch 16:1 is said to be in the thirty sixth year of Asa's reign, or rather of his kingdom; for it can never mean the year of his reign, for Baasha was dead many years before that, since his reign began in the third of Asa, and he reigned but twenty four years, and therefore must die in the twenty seventh of Asa; but it is to be understood of the kingdom of Judah, when it was divided from Israel; from that time to this were thirty six years, seventeen under Rehoboam, three under Abijam, so that this year must be the sixteenth of Asa; thus it is calculated in the Jewish chronology ^u, and which is followed by many of the best of our chronologers:

and built Ramah; a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:25, but taken by the king of Israel, which he rebuilt or fortified:

that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah; that his people might not go to and from Jerusalem, and worship at the temple there; this garrison lying on the borders of both kingdoms, he thought hereby to cut off all communication between them.

Gill: 1Ki 15:18

Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house,.... What was left untaken away by Shishak king of Egypt, 1Ki 14:26, or what he had put there dedicated by his father and himself, 1Ki 15:15 and be they either, they were not to be taken, especially the treasures of the house of the Lord, and put to profane use, and particularly to such bad purposes as these were:

and delivered them into the hands of his servants: to be disposed of as next directed:

and King Asa sent them to Benhadad the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus; according to some chronologers ^w, Hezion, the grandfather of this Benhadad, is the same with Rezon the first king of Damascus, 1Ki 11:23, who was succeeded by Tabrimon, and he by Benhadad:

saying: as follows.

Gill: 1Ki 15:19

There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father,.... For though Hezion, if he is the same with Rezon, was an adversary to Israel in the days of Solomon, 1Ki 11:25, yet it seems his son was not, but was a confederate with the kings of Israel and Judah:

behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; taken out of the treasury of the temple and his own treasury:

come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me; it was sinful in him to take the money out of the temple, to which it was dedicated; it was more so to make use of it to bribe an Heathen to break his covenant and alliance with another, in order to serve him; in which he betrayed great distrust of the Lord, and of his power to help him; which was the more aggravated, when he had had such a wonderful appearance of God for him against the Ethiopians, see 2Ch 16:7.

Gill: 1Ki 15:20

So Benhadad hearkened unto King Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel,.... He broke off his alliance with the king of Israel; and as he had a standing army, with proper officers, he sent them directly to take the cities of Israel:

and he smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali; places which lay on the northern part of Israel, the nearest to Syria. Ijon some place in the tribe of Naphtali, others in Asher; it seems to be on the extreme border of the land northward, as Dan also was; hence the phrase from Dan to Beersheba, i.e. from north to south. Abelbethmaachah is the same with Abelmaim, 2Ch 16:4 which perhaps is the same with that Abela, placed by Jerome ^x between Damascus and Paneas, supposed to be the Enhydra of Pliny ^y. Cinneroth is the same with Gennesaret, a fruitful country in Galilee, from which is a sea or lake of that name, mentioned in the New Testament, and was in the tribe of Naphtali, the land of which was seized upon at this time.

Gill: 1Ki 15:21

And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof,.... What was doing in the northern part of his kingdom:

that he left off building of Ramah; which was the thing designed to be answered by this diversion:

and dwelt in Tirzah; in the tribe of Manasseh, nearer at hand, to observe and stop the motions of the Syrian king.

Gill: 1Ki 15:22

Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah,.... Summoned men of all sorts, ranks, and degrees:

(none was exempted;) the Jews ^z say, not so much as a newly married man, whom the law excused from war the first year, nor the disciples of the wise men:

and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; or fortified the place; these; the men of Judah, whom Asa summoned, carried off:

and King Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah; which were both in the tribe of Benjamin, and which he fortified, Jos 18:24.

Gill: 1Ki 15:23

The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and 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?.... Some of which are to be met with in the canonical book of that name, 2Ch 14:1, and others in the annals of the kings, out of which the Scripture account was taken:

nevertheless, in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet; seized with the gout, as the Jews say ^a, and which was two years before his death, see 2Ch 16:12.

Gill: 1Ki 15:24

And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father,.... In a sepulchre there he himself had made, and in great pomp and solemnity, being laid on a bed filled with sweet odours and spices, prepared according to art, and which were burned for him, 2Ch 16:14,

and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead; a very pious and worthy prince.

Gill: 1Ki 15:25

And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah,.... Before Baasha did:

and reigned over Israel two years, not two whole years; for he began in the second of Asa, and in the third of that king's reign Baasha slew him, and reigned in his stead, 1Ki 15:28.

Gill: 1Ki 15:26

And he did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Committed idolatry, than which nothing is a greater evil in his sight:

and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin: in making and worshipping of golden calves.

Gill: 1Ki 15:27

And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar,.... A man of that tribe; but who he was, or his father, is nowhere else said, very probably an officer in Nadab's army:

conspired against him; laid a scheme to take away his life, and seize the kingdom:

and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon; a city in the tribe of Dan, Jos 19:44.

which belongeth to the Philistines; it was a city given to the Levites, Jos 21:23 and they being driven from it by Jeroboam, the Philistines seized on it, or had heretofore made a conquest of it; and Nadab was desirous of getting it out of their hands, and therefore besieged it, as follows:

for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon; and while he was besieging it, Baasha took the opportunity to slay him, where his carcass lay exposed to dogs, or fowls of the air, and had no burial, as Ahijah predicted, 1Ki 14:11.

Gill: 1Ki 15:28

Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead. Which seems to be his only or chief view in slaying him, to get possession of his kingdom.

Gill: 1Ki 15:29

And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam,.... That he might have no rival, or any that could pretend any title to the crown:

he left not Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite; not that his intention in destroying Jeroboam's family was to fulfil that prophecy, but so it was eventually; see 1Ki 14:10.

Gill: 1Ki 15:30

Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the Lord God of Israel. Not that Baasha destroyed the family of Jeroboam because of his sins, which did so much mischief to Israel, and were so provoking to the Lord, from any dislike or hatred of them, for he walked in the same, 1Ki 15:34, but the Lord threatened this by his prophet, and suffered it to be done because of his abominations.

Gill: 1Ki 15:31

Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did,.... In his short reign, which yet were more than here related:

are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? in which those of his father Jeroboam were written, 1Ki 14:19.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:1

¹ tc The Old Greek also has the phrase “the son of Rehoboam.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:2

¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

² sn Abishalom (also in v. 10) is a variant of the name Absalom (cf. 2 Chr 11:20). The more common form is used by TEV, NLT.

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:3

¹ tn Heb “his heart was not complete with the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:4

¹ tn Heb “gave him a lamp.”

² tc The Old Greek has the plural “his sons.”

³ tn Heb “by raising up his son after him.”

⁴ tn Heb “and by causing Jerusalem to stand firm.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:5

¹ tn The words “he did this” are added for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”

³ tn Heb “and had not turned aside from all which he commanded him.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:6

¹ tc Most Hebrew mss read “Rehoboam”; a few Hebrew mss and the Syriac read “Abijam” (a variant of Abijah).

² tn Heb “his”; the referent (Abijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:7

¹ tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Abijah, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:8

¹ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.” The Old Greek also has these words: “in the twenty-eighth year of Jeroboam.”

² tn Heb “and they buried him.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:10

¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

² tn Heb “mother,” but Hebrew often uses the terms “father” and “mother” for grandparents and more remote ancestors.

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:11

¹ tn Heb “what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”

² tn Heb “father,” but Hebrew often uses the terms “father” and “mother” for grandparents and more remote ancestors.

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:12

¹ tn The word used here, גִלּוּלִים [gillulim], is always used as a disdainful reference to idols. It is generally thought to have originally referred to “dung pellets” (cf. KBL 183 s.v. גִלּוּלִים). It is only one of several terms used in this way, such as “worthless things” (אֱלִילִים, ’elilim), “vanities” or “empty winds” (הֲבָלִים, havalim).

² tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 24).

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:13

¹ tn Heb “mother,” but Hebrew often uses the terms “father” and “mother” for grandparents and more remote ancestors.

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:14

¹ tn Heb “yet the heart of Asa was complete with the Lord all his days.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:15

¹ tn Heb “and he brought the holy things of his father and his holy things (into) the house of the Lord, silver, gold, and items.” Instead of “his holy things,” a marginal reading (Qere) in the Hebrew text has “the holy things of [the house of the Lord].”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:16

¹ tn Heb “There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:17

¹ tn Heb “and he built up Ramah so as to not permit going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:18

¹ tn Heb “King Asa sent it.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:19

¹ tn Heb “[May there be] a covenant between me and you [as there was] between my father and your father.”

² tn Heb “so he will go up from upon me.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:20

¹ tn Heb “and Ben Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of the armies which belonged to him against the cities of Israel.”

² tn Heb “he struck down.”

³ tn Heb “and all Kinnereth together with all the land of Naphtali.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:21

¹ tn Heb “building.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:22

¹ tn Heb “and King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah, there was no one exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its wood which Baasha had built.”

² tn Heb “and King Asa built with them.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:23

¹ tn Heb “As for the rest of all the events of Asa, and all his strength and all which he did and the cities which he built, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”

² tn Heb “Yet in the time of his old age he became sick in his feet.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:24

¹ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:26

¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

² tn Heb “and he walked in the way of his father and in his sin which he made Israel sin.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:27

¹ tn Heb “against him”; the referent (Nadab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:29

¹ tn Heb “and when he became king, he struck down all the house of Jeroboam; he did not leave any breath to Jeroboam until he destroyed him.”

² tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord which he spoke.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:30

¹ tn Heb “because of Jeroboam which he committed and which he made Israel commit, by his provocation by which he made the Lord God of Israel angry.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 15:31

¹ tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Nadab, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”

Geneva Bible: 1Ki 15:2

Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Maachah, the daughter of ^{( a )} Abishalom.

^{( a )} Some think that this was Absalom Solomon's son.

Geneva Bible: 1Ki 15:4

Nevertheless for David's sake did the LORD his God give him a ^{( b )} lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem:

^{( b )} Meaning, a son to reign over Judah.

Geneva Bible: 1Ki 15:10

And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his ^{( c )} mother's name [was] Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

^{( c )} That is, his grandmother, as David is often called the father of those who are his grandchildren.

Geneva Bible: 1Ki 15:13

And also Maachah his mother, even her he ^{( d )} removed from [being] queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt [it] by the brook Kidron.

^{( d )} Neither kindred nor authority should be regarded when they blaspheme God and become idolaters, but must be punished.

Geneva Bible: 1Ki 15:14

But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa's heart was ^{( e )} perfect with the LORD all his days.

^{( e )} Though he permitted them to worship God in other places than he had appointed it came from ignorance, and not from malice.

Geneva Bible: 1Ki 15:17

And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built ^{( f )} Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

^{( f )} For the same reason that Jeroboam did, because the people should not go up to Jerusalem, least they follow Asa.

Geneva Bible: 1Ki 15:19

[There is] a league between me and thee, [and] between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may ^{( g )} depart from me.

^{( g )} And vex me no longer.

Geneva Bible: 1Ki 15:23

The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and 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? Nevertheless in the time of his old age he was diseased in his ^{( h )} feet.

^{( h )} He had gout and put his trust physicians rather than in the Lord, (2Ch 16:12).

Geneva Bible: 1Ki 15:24

And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his ^{( i )} father: and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.

^{( i )} His great-grandfather.

Geneva Bible: 1Ki 15:29

And it came to pass, when he reigned, [that] he ^{( k )} smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite:

^{( k )} So God stirred up one tyrant to punish the wickedness of another.

Geneva Bible: 1Ki 15:30

Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his ^{( l )} provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.

^{( l )} By causing the people to commit idolatry with his calves, and so provoking God to anger.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 1Ki 15:1-34

1 Abijam's wicked reign.

7 Asa succeeds him.

9 Asa's good reign.

16 The war between Baasha and him causes him to make a league with Bed-hadad.

23 Jehoshaphat succeeds Asa.

25 Nadab's wicked reign.

27 Baasha conspiring against him, executes Ahijah's prophecy.

31 Nadab's acts and death.

33 Baasha's wicked reign.

MHCC: 1Ki 15:1-8

Abijam's heart was not perfect with the Lord his God; he wanted sincerity; he began well, but he fell off, and walked in all the sins of his father, following his bad example, though he had seen the bad consequences of it. David's family was continued as a lamp in Jerusalem, to maintain the true worship of God there, when the light of Divine truth was extinguished in all other places. The Lord has still taken care of his cause, while those who ought to have been serviceable thereto have lived and perished in their sins. The Son of David will still continue a light to his church, to establish it in truth and righteousness to the end of time. There are two kinds of fulfilling the law, one legal, the other by the gospel. Legal is, when men do all things required in the law, and that by themselves. None ever thus fulfilled the law but Christ, and Adam before his fall. The gospel manner of fulfilling the law is, to believe in Christ who fulfilled the law for us, and to endeavour in the whole man to obey God in all his precepts. And this is accepted of God, as to all those that are in Christ. Thus David and others are said to fulfil the law.

MHCC: 1Ki 15:9-24

Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That is right indeed which is so in God's eyes. Asa's times were times of reformation. He removed that which was evil; there reformation begins, and a great deal he found to do. When Asa found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence. Reformation must begin at home. Asa honours and respects his mother; he loves her well, but he loves God better. Those that have power are happy when thus they have hearts to use it well. We must not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well; not only cast away the idols of our iniquity, but dedicate ourselves and our all to God's honour and glory. Asa was cordially devoted to the service of God, his sins not arising from presumption. But his league with Benhadad arose from unbelief. Even true believers find it hard, in times of urgent danger, to trust in the Lord with all their heart. Unbelief makes way for carnal policy, and thus for one sin after another. Unbelief has often led Christians to call in the help of the Lord's enemies in their contests with their brethren; and some who once shone brightly, have thus been covered with a dark cloud towards the end of their days.

MHCC: 1Ki 15:25-34

During the single reign of Asa in Judah, the government of Israel was in six or seven different hands. Observe the ruin of the family of Jeroboam; no word of God shall fall to the ground. Divine threatenings are not designed merely to terrify. Ungodly men execute the just judgments of God upon each other. But in the midst of dreadful sins and this apparent confusion, the Lord carries on his own plan: when it is fully completed, the glorious justice, wisdom, truth, and mercy therein displayed, shall be admired and adored through all the ages of eternity.

Matthew Henry: 1Ki 15:1-8

We have here a short account of the short reign of Abijam the son of Rehoboam king of Judah. He makes a better figure, 2 Chr. 13, where we have an account of his war with Jeroboam, the speech which he made before the armies engaged, and the wonderful victory he obtained by the help of God. There he is called Abijah - My father is the Lord, because no wickedness is there laid to his charge. But here, where we are told of his faults, Jah , the name of God, is, in disgrace to him, taken away from his name, and he is called Abijam. See Jer 22:24.

I. Few particulars are related concerning him. 1. Here began his reign in the beginning of Jeroboam's eighteenth year; for Rehoboam reigned but seventeen, 1Ki 14:21. Jeroboam indeed survived Rehoboam, but Rehoboam's Abijah lived to succeed him and to be a terror to Jeroboam, while Jeroboam's Abijah (whom we read of 1Ki 14:1) died before him. 2. He reigned scarcely three years, for he died before the end of Jeroboam's twentieth year, 1Ki 15:9. Being made proud and secure by his great victory over Jeroboam (2Ch 13:21), God cut him off, to make way for his son Asa, who would be a better man. 3. His mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom, that is, Absalom, David's son, as I am the rather inclined to think because two other of Rehoboam's wives were his near relations (2Ch 11:18), one the daughter of Jerimoth, David's son, and another the daughter of Eliab, David's brother. He took warning by his father not to marry strangers; yet thought it below him to marry his subjects, except they were of the royal family. 4. He carried on his father's wars with Jeroboam. As there was continual war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, not set battles (these were forbidden, 1Ki 12:24), but frequent encounters, especially upon the borders, one making incursions and reprisals on the other, so there was between Abijam and Jeroboam (1Ki 15:7), till Jeroboam, with a great army, invaded him, and then Abijam, not being forbidden to act in his own defence, routed him, and weakened him, so that he compelled him to be quiet during the rest of his reign, 2Ch 13:20.

II. But, in general, we are told, 1. That he was not like David, had no hearty affection for the ordinances of God, though, to serve his purpose against Jeroboam, he pleaded his possession of the temple and priesthood, as that upon which he valued himself, 2Ch 13:10-12. Many boast of their profession of godliness who are strangers to the power of it, and plead the truth of their religion who yet are not true to it. His heart was not perfect with the Lord his God. He seemed to have zeal, but he wanted sincerity; he began pretty well, but he fell off, and walked in all the sins of his father, followed his bad example, though he had seen the bad consequences of it. He that was all his days in war ought to have been so wise as to make and keep his peace with God, and not to make him his enemy, especially having found him so good a friend in his war with Jeroboam, 2Ch 13:18. Let favour be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness, Isa 26:10. 2. That yet it was for David's sake that he was advanced, and continued upon the throne; it was for his sake (1Ki 15:4, 1Ki 15:5) that God thus set up his son after him; not for his own sake, nor for the sake of his father, in whose steps he trod, but for the sake of David, whose example he would not follow. Note, It aggravates the sin of a degenerate seed that they fare the better for the piety of their ancestors and owe their blessings to it, and yet will not imitate it. They stand upon that ground, and yet despise it, and trample upon it, and unreasonably ridicule and oppose that which they enjoy the benefit of. The kingdom of Judah was supported, (1.) That David might have a lamp, pursuant to the divine ordination of a lamp for his anointed, Psa 132:17. (2.) That Jerusalem might be established, not only that the honours put upon it in David's and Solomon's time might be preserved to it, but that it might be reserved to the honours designed for it in after-times. The character here given of David is very great - that he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord; but the exception is very remarkable - save only in the matter of Uriah, including both his murder and the debauching of his wife. That was a bad matter; it was a remaining blot upon his name, a bar in his escutcheon, and the reproach of it was not wiped away, though the guilt was. David was guilty of other faults, but they were nothing in comparison of that; yet even that being repented of, though it be mentioned for warning to others, did not prevail to throw him out of the covenant, nor to cut off the entail of the promise upon his seed.

Matthew Henry: 1Ki 15:9-24

We have here a short account of the reign of Asa; we shall find a more copious history of it 2Ch 14:1-15, 15, and 2Ch 16:1-14. Here is,

I. The length of it: He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem, 1Ki 15:10. In the account we have of the kings of Judah we find the number of the good kings and the bad ones nearly equal; but then we may observe, to our comfort, that the reign of the good kings was generally long, but that of the bad kings short, the consideration of which will make the state of God's church not altogether so bad within that period as it appears at first sight. Length of days is in Wisdom's right hand. Honour thy father, much more thy heavenly Father, that thy days may be long.

II. The general good character of it (1Ki 15:11): Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and that is right indeed which is so in God's eyes; those are approved whom he commends. He did as did David his father, kept close to God, and to his instituted worship, was hearty and zealous for that, which gave him this honourable character, that he was like David, though he was not a prophet, or psalmist, as David was. If we come up to the graces of those that have gone before us it will be our praise with God, though we come short of their gifts. Asa was like David, though he was neither such a conqueror nor such an author; for his heart was perfect with the Lord all his days (1Ki 15:14), that is, he was both cordial and constant in his religion. What he did for God he was sincere in, steady and uniform, and did it from a good principle, with a single eye to the glory of God.

III. The particular instances of Asa's piety. His times were times of reformation. For,

1. He removed that which was evil. There reformation begins; and a great deal of work of that kind his hand found to do. For, though it was but twenty years after the death of Solomon that he began to reign, yet very gross corruption had spread far and taken deep root. Immorality he first struck at: He took away the sodomites out of the land, suppressed the brothels; for how can either prince or people prosper while those cages of unclean and filthy birds, more dangerous than pest-houses, are suffered to remain? Then he proceeded against idolatry: He removed all the idols, even those that his father had made, 1Ki 15:12. His father having made them, he was the more concerned to remove them, that he might cut off the entail of the curse, and prevent the visiting of that iniquity upon him and his. Nay (which redounds much to his honour, and shows his heart was perfect with God), when he found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence, 1Ki 15:13. When it appeared that Maachah his mother, or rather his grandmother (but called his mother because she had the educating of him in his childhood), had an idol in a grove, though she was his mother, his grandmother, - though, it is likely, she had a particular fondness for it, - though, being old, she could not live long to patronise it, - though she kept it for her own use only, yet he would by no means connive at her idolatry. Reformation must begin at home. Bad practices will never be suppressed in the country while they are supported in the court. Asa, in every thing else, will honour and respect his mother; he loves her well, but he loves God better, and (like the Levite, Deu 33:9) readily forgets the relation when it comes in competition with his duty. If she be an idolater, (1.) Her idol shall be destroyed, publicly exposed to contempt, defaced, and burnt to ashes by the brook Kidron, on which, it is probable, he strewed the ashes, in imitation of Moses (Exo 32:20) and in token of his detestation of idolatry and his indignation at it wherever he found it. Let no remains of a court-idol appear. (2.) She shall be deposed, He removed her from being queen, or from the queen, that is, from conversing with his wife; he banished her from the court, and confined her to an obscure and private life. Those that have power are happy when thus they have hearts to use it well.

2. He re-established that which was good (1Ki 15:15): He brought into the house of God the dedicated things which he himself had vowed out of the spoils of the Ethiopians he had conquered, and which his father had vowed, but lived not to bring in pursuant to his vow. We must not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well, not only cast away the idols of our iniquity, but dedicate ourselves and our all to God's honour and glory. When those who, in their infancy, were by baptism devoted to God, make it their own act and deed to join themselves to him and vigorously employ themselves in his service, this is bringing in the dedicated things which they and their fathers have dedicated: it is necessary justice - rendering to God the things that are his.

VI. The policy of his reign. He built cities himself, to encourage the increase of his people (1Ki 15:23) and to invite others to him by the conveniences of habitation; and he was very zealous to hinder Baasha from building Ramah, because he designed it for the cutting off of communication between his people and Jerusalem and to hinder those who in obedience to God would come to worship there. An enemy must by no means be suffered to fortify a frontier town.

V. The faults of his reign. In both the things for which he was praised he was found defective. The fairest characters are not without some but or other in them. 1. Did he take away the idols? That was well; but the high places were not removed (1Ki 15:14); therein his reformation fell short. He removed all images which were rivals with the true God or false representations of him; but the altars which were set up in high places, and to which those sacrifices were brought which should have been offered on the altar in the temple, those he suffered to stand, thinking there was no great harm in them, they having been used by good men before the temple was built, and being loth to disoblige the people, who had a kindness to them and were wedded to them both by custom and convenience; whereas in Judah and Benjamin, the only tribes under Asa's government which lay so near Jerusalem and the altars there, there was less pretence for them than in those tribes which lay more remote. They were against the law, which obliged them to worship at one place, Deu 12:11. They lessened men's esteem of the temple and the altars there, and were an open gap for idolatry to enter in at, while the people were so much addicted to it. It was not well that Asa, when his hand was in, did not remove these. Nevertheless his heart was perfect with the Lord. This affords us a comfortable note, That those may be found honest and upright with God, and be accepted of him, who yet, in some instances, come short of doing the good they might and should do. The perfection which is made the indispensable condition of the new covenant is not to be understood of sinlessness (then we were all undone), but sincerity. 2. Did he bring in the dedicated things? That was well; but he afterwards alienated the dedicated things, when he took the gold and silver out of the house of God and sent them as a bribe to Benhadad, to hire him to break his league with Baasha, and, by making an inroad upon his country, to give him a diversion from the building of Ramah, 1Ki 15:18, 1Ki 15:19. Here he sinned, (1.) In tempting Benhadad to break his league, and so to violate the public faith. If he did wrong in doing it, as certainly he did, Asa did wrong in persuading him to do it. (2.) In that he could not trust God, who had done so much for him, to free him out of this strait, without using such indirect means to help himself. (3.) In taking the gold out of the treasury of the temple, which was not to be made use of but on extraordinary occasions. The project succeeded. Benhadad made a descent upon the land of Israel, which obliged Baasha to retire with his whole force from Ramah (1Ki 15:20, 1Ki 15:21), which gave Asa a fair opportunity to demolish his works there, and the timber and stones served him for the building of some cities of his own, 1Ki 15:22. But, though the design prospered, we find it was displeasing to God; and though Asa valued himself upon the policy of it, and promised himself that it would effectually secure his peace, he was told by the prophet that he had done foolishly, and that thenceforth he should have wars; see 2Ch 16:7-9.

VI. The troubles of his reign. For the most part he prospered; but, 1. Baasha king of Israel was a very troublesome neighbour to him. He reigned twenty-four years, and all his days had war, more or less, with Asa, 1Ki 15:16. This was the effect of the division of the kingdoms, that they were continually vexing one another, and so weakened one another, which made them both an easier prey to the common enemy. 2. In his old age he was himself afflicted with the gout: He was diseased in his feet, which made him less fit for business and peevish towards those about him.

VII. The conclusion of his reign. The acts of it were more largely recorded in the common history (to which reference is here had, 1Ki 15:23) than in this sacred one. He reigned long, but finished at last with honour, and left his throne to a successor no way inferior to him.

Matthew Henry: 1Ki 15:25-34

We are now to take a view of the miserable state of Israel, while the kingdom of Judah was happy under Asa's good government. It was threatened that they should be as a reed shaken in the water (1Ki 14:15), and so they were, when, during the single reign of Asa, the government of their kingdom was in six or seven different hands, as we find in this and the following chapter. Jeroboam was upon the throne in the beginning of his reign and Ahab at the end of it, and between them were Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Tibni, and Omri, undermining and destroying one another. This they got by deserting the house both of God and of David. Here we have, 1. The ruin and extirpation of the family of Jeroboam, according to the word of the Lord by Ahijah. His son Nadab succeeded him. If the death of his brother Abijah had had a due influence upon him to make him religious, and the honour done him at his death had engaged him to follow his good example, his reign might have been long and glorious; but he walked in the way of his father (1Ki 15:26), kept up the worship of his calves, and forbade his subjects to go up to Jerusalem to worship, sinned and made Israel to sin, and therefore God brought ruin upon him quickly, in the second year of his reign. He was besieging Gibbethon, a city which the Philistines had taken from the Danites, and was endeavouring to re-take it; and there, in the midst of his army, did Baasha, with others, conspire against him and kill him, (1Ki 15:27), and so little interest had he in the affections of his people that his army did not only not avenge his death, but chose his murderer for his successor. Whether Baasha did it upon a personal pique against Nadab, or to be avenged on the house of Jeroboam for some affront received from them, or whether under pretence of freeing his country from the tyranny of a bad prince, or whether merely from a principle of ambition, to make way for himself to the throne, does not appear; but he slew him and reigned in his stead, 1Ki 15:28. And the first thing he did when he came to the crown was to cut off all the house of Jeroboam, that he might the better secure himself and his own usurped government. He thought it not enough to imprison or banish them, but he destroyed them, left not only no males (as was foretold, 1Ki 14:10), but none that breathed. Herein he was barbarous, but God was righteous. Jeroboam's sin was punished (1Ki 15:30); for those that provoke God do it to their own confusion; see Jer 7:19. Ahijah's prophecy was accomplished (1Ki 15:29); for no word of God shall fall to the ground. Divine threatenings are not bugbears. 2. The elevation of Baasha. He shall be tried awhile, as Jeroboam was. Twenty-four years he reigned (1Ki 15:33), but showed 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 (1Ki 15:34), though he had seen the end of that way; so strangely was his heart hardened with the deceitfulness of sin.

Keil-Delitzsch: 1Ki 15:1-2

Reign of Abijam (cf., 2 Chron 13). - Abijam reigned three years, and his mother's name was Maacah , daughter (i.e., grand-daughter) of Absalom. We have the same in 2Ch 11:20-21; but in 2Ch 13:2 she is called Michajahu , daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. If אבישׁלום was without doubt Absalom, the well-known son of David, as we may infer from the fact that this name does not occur again in the Old Testament in connection with any other person, since Absalom had only one daughter, viz., Thamar (2Sa 14:27), who was fifty years old when Solomon died, Maacah must have been a daughter of this Thamar, who had married Uriel of Gibeah, and therefore a grand-daughter of Absalom. This is sustained by Josephus ( Ant . viii. 10, 1). The form of the name מיכיהוּ is probably an error in copying for מעכה , as the name is also written in 2Ch 11:20, 2Ch 11:21, and not a different name, which Maacah assumed as queen, as Caspari supposes ( Micha , p. 3, note 4).

Keil-Delitzsch: 1Ki 15:3-5

Abijam walked as king in the footsteps of his father. Although he made presents to the temple (1Ki 15:15), his heart was not שׁלם , wholly or undividedly given to the Lord, like the heart of David (cf., 1Ki 11:4); but ( כּי , after a previous negative) for David's sake Jehovah had left him a light in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him and to let Jerusalem stand, because ( אשׁר ) David had done right in the eyes of God, etc., i.e., so that it was only for David's sake that Jehovah did not reject him, and allowed the throne to pass to his son. For the fact itself compare 1Ki 11:13, 1Ki 11:36; and for the words, "except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite,"see 2 Sam 11 and 12.

Keil-Delitzsch: 1Ki 15:6-8

"And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all his life;"i.e., the state of hostility which had already existed between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued "all the days of his life,"or so long as Abijam lived and reigned. If we take חיּיו כּל־ימי in this manner (not כּל־ימיהם , 1Ki 15:16), the statement loses the strangeness which it has at first sight, and harmonizes very well with that in 1Ki 15:7, that there was also war between Abijam and Jeroboam. Under Abijam it assumed the form of a serious war, in which Jeroboam sustained a great defeat (see 2 Chron 13:3-20). - The other notices concerning Abijam in 1Ki 15:7, 1Ki 15:8 are the same as in the case of Rehoboam in 1Ki 14:29, 1Ki 14:31.

Keil-Delitzsch: 1Ki 15:9-24

Reign of Asa (cf., 2 Chron 14-16). - As Asa ascended the throne in the twentieth year of the reign of Jeroboam, his father Abijam, who began to reign in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam (1Ki 15:1), can only have reigned two years and a few months, and not three full years.

1Ki 15:10

Asa reigned forty-one years. "The name of his mother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom."This notice, which agrees verbatim with 1Ki 15:2, cannot mean that Abijam had his own mother for a wife; though Thenius finds this meaning in the passage, and then proceeds to build up conjectures concerning emendations of the text. We must rather explain it, as Ephr. Syr., the Rabbins, and others have done, as signifying that Maacah, the mother of Abijam, continued during Asa's reign to retain the post of queen-mother or הגּבירה , i.e., sultana valide, till Asa deposed her on account of her idolatry (1Ki 15:13), probably because Asa's own mother had died at an early age.

1Ki 15:11-14

As ruler Asa walked in the ways of his pious ancestor David: he banished the male prostitutes out of the land, abolished all the abominations of idolatry, which his fathers (Abijam and Rehoboam) had introduced, deposed his grandmother Maacah from the rank of a queen, because she had made herself an idol for the Ashera, and had the idol hewn in pieces and burned in the valley of the Kidron. גּלּלים is a contemptuous epithet applied to idols (Lev 26:30); it does not mean stercorei , however, as the Rabbins affirm, but logs, from גּלל , to roll, or masses of stone, after the Chaldee גּלל (Ezr 5:8; Ezr 6:4), generally connected with שׁקּצים . It is so in Deu 29:16. מפלצת , formido , from פּלץ , terrere , timere , hence an idol as an object of fear, and not pudendum , a shameful image, as Movers ( Phöniz . i. p. 571), who follows the Rabbins, explains it, understanding thereby a Phallus as a symbol of the generative and fructifying power of nature. With regard to the character of this idol, nothing further can be determined than that it was of wood, and possibly a wooden column like the אשׁרים (see at 1Ki 14:23). "But the high places departed not,"i.e., were not abolished. By the בּמות we are not to understand, according to 1Ki 15:12, altars of high places dedicated to idols, but unlawful altars to Jehovah. It is so in the other passages in which this formula recurs (1Ki 22:24; 2Ki 12:4; 2Ki 14:4; 2Ki 15:4; and the parallel passages 2Ch 15:17; 2Ch 20:33). The apparent discrepancy between the last-mentioned passages and 2Ch 14:2, 2Ch 14:4, and 2Ch 17:6, may be solved very simply on the supposition that the kings (Asa and Jehoshaphat) did indeed abolish the altars on the high places, but did not carry their reforms in the nation thoroughly out; and not by distinguishing between the bamoth dedicated to Jehovah and those dedicated to idols, as Thenius, Bertheau, and Caspari, with many of the earlier commentators, suppose. For although 2Ch 14:2 is very favourable to this solution, since both בּמות and הגּכר dna בּמו מזבּחות are mentioned there, it does not accord with 2Ch 17:6, where הבּמות cannot be merely idolatrous altars dedicated to the Canaanitish Baal, but unquestionably refer to the unlawful altars of Jehovah, or at any rate include them. Moreover, the next clause in the passage before us, "nevertheless Asa's heart was wholly given to the Lord,"shows that the expression סרוּ לא סרוּ nois does not mean that the king allowed the unlawful Jehovah- bamoth to remain, but simply that, notwithstanding his fidelity to Jehovah, the bamoth did not depart, so that he was unable to carry the abolition of them thoroughly out.

1Ki 15:15

He brought the sacred offerings of his father and his own sacred offerings into the house of Jehovah; probably the booty, in silver, gold, and vessels, which his father Abijam had gathered in the war with Jeroboam (2Ch 13:16-17), and he himself on the conquest of the Cushites (2Ch 14:12-13). The Keri וקדשׁי is a bad emendation of the correct reading in the Chethîb קדשׁו , i.e., קדשׁו ( קדשׁיו ); for יהוה בּית is an accusative, and is to be connected with ויּבא .

1Ki 15:16-17

The state of hostility between Judah and Israel continued during the reign of Asa; and Baasha the king of Israel advanced, etc. These statements are completed and elucidated by the Chronicles. After the great victory obtained by Abijam over Jeroboam, the kingdom of Judah enjoyed rest for ten years (2Ch 14:1). Asa employed this time in exterminating idolatry, fortifying different cities, and equipping his army (2Ch 14:1-7). Then the Cushite Zerah invaded the land of Judah with an innumerable army (in the eleventh year of Asa), but was totally defeated by the help of the Lord (2Ch 14:8-14); whereupon Asa, encouraged by the prophet Azariah, the son of Oded, proceeded with fresh zeal to the extermination of such traces of idolatry as still remained in the kingdom, then renewed the altar of burnt-offering in front of the temple-hall, and in the fifteenth year of his reign held, with the whole nation, a great festival of thanksgiving and rejoicing to the Lord at Jerusalem (2Ch 15:1-15). The next year, the sixteenth of his reign and the thirty-sixth from the division of the kingdom (2Ch 16:1), Baasha commenced hostilities, by advancing against Judah, taking possession of Ramah , the present er Râm (see at Jos 18:25), which was only two hours and a quarter from Jerusalem, and fortifying it. The occupation of Ramah is not expressly mentioned indeed, but it is implied in יהוּדה על ויּעל על יה , which affirms the hostile invasion of Judah. For Ramah, from its very situation in the heart of the tribe of Benjamin and the immediate neighbourhood of Jerusalem, can neither have been a border city nor have belonged to the kingdom of Israel. The intention of Baasha, therefore, in fortifying Ramah cannot have been merely to restrain his own subjects from passing over into the kingdom of Judah, but was evidently to cut off from the kingdom of Judah all free communication with the north. וגו תּת לבלתּי , "that they might not give one going out or one coming in to Asa;"i.e., to cut off from the others all connection with Asa, and at the same time to cut off from those with Asa all connection with this side. The main road from Jerusalem to the north passed by Ramah, so that by shutting up this road the line of communication of the kingdom of Judah was of necessity greatly disturbed. Moreover, the fortification of Ramah by Baasha presupposes the reconquest of the cities which Abijam had taken from the kingdom of Israel (2Ch 13:19), and which, according to 2Ch 13:19, were still in the possession of Asa.

1Ki 15:18-19

In order to avert the danger with which his kingdom was threatened, Asa endeavoured to induce the Syrian king, Benhadad of Damascus, to break the treaty which he had concluded with Baasha and to become his ally, by sending him such treasures as were left in the temple and palace.

(Note: Asa had sought help from the Lord and obtained it, when thepowerful army of the Cushites invaded the land; but when an invasionof the Israelites took place, he sought help from the Syrians. Thisalteration in his conduct may probably be explained in part from thefact, that notwithstanding the victory, his army had beenconsiderably weakened by the battle which he fought with theCushites (2Ch 14:9), although this by no means justified his wantof confidence in the power of the Lord, and still less his harsh andunjust treatment of the prophet Hanani, whom he caused to be put inthe house of the stocks on account of his condemnation of theconfidence which he placed in the Syrians instead of Jehovah (2Ch 16:7-10).)

הגּותרים may be explained from the face that the temple and palace treasures had been plundered by Shishak in the reign of Rehoboam (1Ki 14:26); and therefore what Asa had replaced in the temple treasury (1Ki 15:15), and had collected together for his palace, was only a remnant in comparison with the former state of these treasures. The name בּן־הדד , i.e., son of Hadad , the sun-god (according to Macrobius, i. 23; cf., Movers, Phöniz . i. p. 196), was borne by three kings of Damascus: the one here named, his son in the time of Ahab (1Ki 20:1, 1Ki 20:34), and the son of Hazael (2Ki 13:24). The first was a son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezyon . According to 1Ki 15:19, his father Tabrimmon (good is Rimmon ; see at 2Ki 5:18) had also been king, and was the contemporary of Abijam. But that his grandfather Hezyon was also king, and the same person as the Rezon mentioned in 1Ki 11:23, cannot be shown to be even probable, since there is no ground for the assumption that Hezyon also bore the name Rezon, and is called by the latter name here and by the former in 1Ki 11:23.

1Ki 15:20

Benhadad consented to Asa's request, and directed his captains to advance into the kingdom of Israel: they took several cities in the north of the land, whereby Baasha was compelled to give up fortifying Ramah and withdraw to Thirza. Ijon ( עיּון ) is to be sought for in all probability in Tell Dibbin , on the eastern border of Merj Ayun ; and in Ajun , although Ajun is written with Aleph , the name Ijon is probably preserved, since the situation of this Tell seems thoroughly adapted for a fortress on the northern border of Israel (vid., Robinson, Bibl. Res . p. 375, and Van de Velde, Mem . p. 322). Dan is the present Tell el Kadi ; see at Jos 19:47. Abel-Beth-Maachah , the present Abil el Kamh , to the north-west of Lake Huleh (see at 2Sa 20:14). "All Chinneroth "is the district of Chinnereth , the tract of land on the western shore of the Lake of Gennesareth (see at Jos 19:35). כּל־ארץ נ על , together with all the land of Naphtali (for this meaning of על fo gninae m compare the Comm. on Gen 32:12). The cities named were the principal fortresses of the land of Naphtali, with which the whole of the country round was also smitten, i.e., laid waste.

1Ki 15:21

ויּשׁב , and remained at Thirza, his place of residence (see at 1Ki 14:17).

1Ki 15:22

Asa thereupon summoned all Judah נקי אין , nemine immuni , i.e., excepto , no one being free (cf., Ewald, §286, a .), and had the stones and the wood carried away from Ramah, and Geba and Mizpah in Benjamin built, i.e., fortified, with them. Geba must not be confounded with Gibeah of Benjamin or Saul, but is the present Jeba , three-quarters of an hour to the north-east of Ramah (see at Jos 18:24). Mizpah , the present Nebi Samwil , about three-quarters of a geographical mile to the south-west of Ramah (see at Jos 18:26).

1Ki 15:23-24

Of the other acts of Asa, the building of cities refers to the building of fortifications mentioned in 2Ch 14:5-6. The disease in his feet in the time of his old age commenced, according to 2Ch 16:12, in the thirty-ninth year of his reign; and he sought help from the physicians, but not from the Lord; from which we may see, that the longer he lived the more he turned his heart away from the Lord (compare 2Ch 16:10).

Keil-Delitzsch: 1Ki 15:25-32

The Reign of Nadab lasted not quite two years, as he ascended the throne in the second year of Asa, and was slain in his third year.

1Ki 15:26-31

He walked in the ways of his father (Jeroboam) and in his sin, i.e., in the calf-worship introduced by Jeroboam (1Ki 12:28). When Nadab in the second year of his reign besieged Gibbethon, which the Philistines and occupied, Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house, I the family or tribe, of Issachar, conspired against him and slew him, and after he became king exterminated the whole house of Jeroboam, without leaving a single soul, whereby the prediction of the prophet Ahijah (1Ki 14:10.) was fulfilled. Gibbethon , which was allotted to the Danites (Jos 19:44), has not yet been discovered. It probably stood close to the Philistian border, and was taken by the Philistines, from whom the Israelites attempted to wrest it by siege under both Nadab and Baasha (1Ki 16:16), though apparently without success. לא השׁאיר כּל־נשׁמה as in Jos 11:14 (see the Comm. on Deu 20:16).

1Ki 15:32

1Ki 15:32 is simply a repetition of 1Ki 15:16; and the remark concerning Baasha's attitude towards Asa of Judah immediately after his entrance upon the government precedes the account of his reign, for the purpose of indicating at the very outset, that the overthrow of the dynasty of Jeroboam and the rise of a new dynasty did not alter the hostile relation between the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah.

Constable: 1Ki 15:1-8

4. Abijam's evil reign in Judah 15:1-8

Abijam (or Abijah, lit. my father is Yah[weh]) reigned from 913-911 B.C. while Jeroboam ruled over Israel.¹⁵⁵

"The accession formulae from this reign onwards make cross-references between Judah and Israel. It is not clear whether this was to correlate the sources for the reader or to emphasize the essential unity which should have marked both peoples."¹⁵⁶

The king's mother was a descendant of "Absalom," a variant spelling of "Abishalom" (v. 2). According to 2 Chronicles 13:2, Maacah was the daughter of Uriel and therefore the granddaughter of Absalom. Abijam continued to tolerate the pagan worship reintroduced to Judah during his father's reign (14:23-24). He experienced chastening from the Lord because his heart did not fully belong to Yahweh (vv. 3, 6; cf. 2 Chron. 13:2-20). God's patience with Abijam was due to His promises to David more than to Abijam's own character (vv. 4-5; cf. 2 Sam. 21:17; 1 Kings 11:36).¹⁵⁷

Constable: 1Ki 15:9-24

5. Asa's good reign in Judah 15:9-24

Asa was the first of eight kings of Judah whom the writer of Kings judged as good. Four were reformers who sought to bring the nation back to the Mosaic Covenant, and Asa was the first of these. The writer of Chronicles described his reforms more fully in 2 Chronicles 14-16.

Constable: 1Ki 15:9-15

Asa's godliness 15:9-15

Asa came to power close to the end of Jeroboam's reign over Israel in 910 B.C. Asa reigned from 911-870 B.C., 41 years, an unusually long reign that probably began when he was quite young (cf. 15:2). It was his grandmother (NIV), not his mother (NASB), who bore the name Maacah (cf. 15:2). The queen mother (dowager), not the king's wife, was the first lady in the kingdom.¹⁵⁸

The rightness of Asa's acts is clear from his removing the pagan worship practices of Rehoboam and Abijam (vv. 12-13; cf. Deut. 9:21). He did away with some of the high places (2 Chron. 14:3), but not all of them (v. 14). However his heart was true to Yahweh all his days (v. 14) even though he became somewhat self-reliant later in his life (2 Chron. 16:7-10).

Constable: 1Ki 15:16-22

Asa's victory over Israel 15:16-22

Antagonism continued between Israel and Judah in Asa's day. Ramah was a border town just north of Judah. Many Israelites were leaving Israel to live in Judah, an indication of God's blessing on the Southern Kingdom (cf. 2 Chron. 11:13-17). Baasha may have been building a Berlin wall type of structure at Ramah. Asa's plan to divert Baasha's attention to Ben-Hadad (ca. 900-860 B.C.) worked. His treaty evidenced some lack of trust in Yahweh (2 Chron. 16:7-9). Asa's strategy was one God blessed, however, and it enabled him to break down Baasha's fortifications that he used to rebuild two towns on Judah's side of the border (v. 22).

"Tabrimmon (v. 18) means good is Rimmon', the Thunderer-god, a title of Baal."¹⁵⁹

Constable: 1Ki 15:23-24

Asa's death 15:23-24

Asa experienced some personal discipline for his trust in the flesh (v. 23; 2 Chron. 16:12). It may have been because of his ill health that Asa's son, Jehoshaphat, became coregent with him late in his reign (873-870 B.C.).¹⁶⁰ When Asa died, Ahab was reigning in Israel (874-853 B.C.).

Asa's heart was right with God all his reign (v. 14) as David's had been. Nevertheless like David he also sinned. He experienced personal blessing in the form of a long reign and victory over his enemies because of his commitment to Yahweh. He also became a source of blessing to Judah.

Constable: 1Ki 15:25-32

6. Nadab's evil reign in Israel 15:25-32

Nadab ruled Israel from 910-909 B.C. Evidently Baasha assassinated him during a battle with the Philistines. Gibbethon stood three miles west of Solomon's stronghold city of Gezer near the border where Israel, Philistia, and Judah met. Baasha not only killed Nadab but also all of Jeroboam's male descendants (v. 29). This was a fulfillment of Ahijah's prophecy that God would cut off Jeroboam's dynasty (14:14).

"Nothing is more characteristic of the northern state than its extreme internal instability."¹⁶¹

The writer of Kings noted carefully the prophecies of the blessings and cursings of the kings because of their obedience or disobedience to Yahweh's authority. This is one of the major motifs in Kings.¹⁶²

Guzik: 1Ki 15:1-34

1 Kings 15 - The Reigns of Abijam, Asa, Nadab and Baasha

A. Two kings of Judah.

1. (1-8) The reign of King Abijam (known as Abijah in 2 Chronicles 13).

In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom. 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. 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; 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. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. 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. So Abijam rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place.

a. Abijam became king over Judah: This son of Rehoboam only reigned three years, showing that God did not bless his reign.

i. From the comparing this account with 2 Chronicles 13 we can tell that Abijam knew something of the LORD, and knew how to preach - but he did not uproot the idolatry and sexual immorality that was introduced by Rehoboam. The successor of Abijam (Asa) removed the centers of the sexually-charged idolatry that was so common in this land (1 Kings 15:12-13).

b. His heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David: This was the real problem with Abijam's reign - his lack of a real personal relationship with God. David sinned during his reign, but his heart stayed loyal to the LORD his God.

i. 2 Chronicles 13 fills in more interesting details about the reign of Abijam (called Abijah in Chronicles). It tells us how there was war between Jeroboam of Israel and Abijam of Judah, and how Abijam challenged Jeroboam on the basis of righteousness and faithfulness to God. Jeroboam responded with a surprise attack, and victory seemed certain for Israel over Judah - but Abjiam cried out to the LORD, and God won a victory for Judah that day. 2 Chronicles 13:18 says of that war, Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time; and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD God of their fathers.

ii. "For David's sake and in response to his faith, he was allowed a spectacular victory over the encircling Israelites whom he had challenged, for being even more apostate than he . . . This is an instance of God blessing the unworthy for the sake of the worthy." (Wiseman)

iii. Yet Chronicles also tells us his standing at the end of his brief reign: But Abijah grew mighty, married fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters (2 Chronciles 13:21). In the midst of his victory and good leadership for Judah, he never had the relationship with the LORD he should have had.

c. For David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem: God preserved the dynasty of David in Jerusalem for the sake of David, not because of the character or quality of his descendants.

i. "Chronicles spells his name Abijah, which means 'Yahweh is my father.' Kings spells the name Abijam, which means 'my father is Yam.' Yam was a Canaanite sea-god. Could it be that he started out as Abijah, a follower of Yahweh, and ended up as Abijam, a follower of a false god?" (Dilday)

2. (9-11) Summary of the reign of King Asa of Judah.

In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah. And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother's name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom. Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did his father David.

a. Asa became king over Judah: This great-grandson of Solomon took the throne Judah at the end of Jeroboam's reign in Israel, after his father's brief reign.

b. Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did his father David: The kings of Judah were usually measured against David, the founder of their dynasty. In contrast to his father Abijah (1 Kings 15:3), Asa followed in the same heart as David.

i. The phrase his father David shows us that in Hebrew literature the word father could be used of an ancestor in general, instead of strictly referring to one's father. David was actually the great-great-grandfather of Asa.

3. (12-15) The reforms of King Asa of Judah.

And he banished the perverted persons from the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 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. But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless Asa's heart was loyal to the LORD all his days. 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.

a. He banished the perverted persons from the land: These state-sanctioned homosexual idol-temple prostitutes were introduced into Judah during the reign of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:24). Asa's father Abijam didn't remove these perversions and idols, but King Asa did.

b. Also he removed Maachah his grandmother from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah: This demonstrates the thoroughness of Asa's reforms. He was able to act righteously even when his family was wrong, in particular his own grandmother.

i. "Maacah was apparently the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah (2 Chronicles 13:2) and Tamar (2 Samuel 14:27), hence the granddaughter of Absalom, David's rebellious son." (Patterson and Austel)

ii. By the Brook Kidron: "The Kidron Valley east of Jerusalem was then the city's main rubbish dump." (Wiseman)

iii. An obscene image: "This image is described as 'obscene' in our English translation, but the Hebrew word is closer in meaning to 'frightening,' 'horrible,' or 'abominable.' Some commentators believe it was some sort of phallic symbol consistent with the fertility cult of Asherah." (Dilday)

iv. "From the whole, it is pretty evident that the image was a mere Priapus, or something of the same nature, and that Maachah had an assembly in the grove where the image was set up, and doubtless worshipped it with the most impure rites. What the Roman Priapus was I need not tell the learned reader; and as to the unlearned, it would not profit him to know." (Clarke)

c. But the high places were not removed: 2 Chronicles 14:3 says that Asa did remove the high places, but it mentions these high places in connection with altars of the foreign gods. Therefore Asa removed the high places that were dedicated to idols, but not the ones that were dedicated to the LORD.

d. Nevertheless Asa's heart was loyal to the LORD all his days: Asa's loyal heart was shown in his reforms against idolatry and state-sanctioned perversion, and in his restoration of certain silver and gold utensils to the temple.

4. (16-24) Asa buys the favor of Ben-Hadad, King of Syria.

Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 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. 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, "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." 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. Now it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah, and remained in Tirzah. 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. 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. 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.

a. 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: This continues the struggle for dominance between the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Baasha gained the upper hand in the days of Asa because he effectively blocked a main route into Judah at the city of Ramah. He hoped this military and economic pressure on Judah would force Asa into significant concessions.

b. 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: Asa used this treasure to buy the favor of Ben-Hadad of Syria, so that he would withdraw support from Israel. Apparently, Baasha of Israel could not stand against Judah by himself - he needed the backing of Syria.

i. 2 Chronicles 16:7-10 tells us that God was not please by this, and delivered this work by the prophet Hanani: "Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars." (2 Chronicles 16:7b-9)

ii. Sadly, Asa did not respond to this word properly. Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time (2 Chronicles 16:10). Asa shows us the tragedy of a man who rules well and seeks the LORD for many years, yet fails in a significant challenge of his faith and then refuses to hear God's correction.

iii. "Wherein he committed three great faults, amongst many others. First, He alienated things consecrated to God without necessity. Secondly, He did this out of carnal fear and distrust of that God whose power and goodness he had lately experienced. Thirdly, He did this for an ill intent, to hire him to the breach of his league and covenant with Baasha, and to take away part of that land which by right, and the special gift of God, belonged to the Israelites." (Poole)

c. The rest of all the acts of Asa . . . are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 2 Chronicles 14-16 provides many more details regarding the reign of Asa.

· He encouraged national piety: He commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment. (2 Chronicles 14:4)

· He built fortified cities and presided over a long period of peace (2 Chronicles 14:6)

· In response to Asa's prayer, God defeated a huge Ethiopian army that came against Judah (2 Chronicles 14:9-13)

· He had an encouraging word from the prophet Azariah that encouraged him to continue his reforms (2 Chronicles 15:1-9)

· Asa led a national re-commitment to the covenant (2 Chronicles 15:10-15)

d. But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet: 2 Chronicles gives us the more complete analysis: his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians. (2 Chronicles 16:12). This happened after he refused to hear God's word of correction through Hanani the seer.

i. Some think that Asa's foot ailment was gout, "but gout was uncommon in Palestine and ancient Egypt and it is more likely, in very of Asa's age, the severity of the disease and death within two years, to have been a peripheral obstructive vascular disease with ensuing gangrene." (Wiseman)

ii. Morgan on Asa: "It is the record of a faulty life, but one in which the deepest thing, that of desire, was right; and so it is the record of a life, the influence of which was a blessing rather than a curse. It is a revealing story."

iii. All in all, Asa was a good man who did not finish well. The last years of his life were marked by unbelief, hardness against God, oppression against his people, and disease. Age and time do not necessarily make us better; they only do if we continue to follow God in faith.

B. Two kings of Israel.

1. (25-32) The short reign of Nadab, king of Israel.

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. 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. 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. Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place. 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, 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. 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? And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

a. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father: Nadab, this son of Jeroboam did as his father did, continuing in his idolatry and harness towards God.

b. Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place. And it was so, when he became king, that he killed all the house of Jeroboam: This was the end of the dynasty of Jeroboam. Had Jeroboam remained obedient to the LORD, God promised him a lasting dynasty like the house of David (1 Kings 11:38). Because of Jeroboam's sin, though he enjoyed a long reign, his son only reigned two years before assassination of Nadab and the murder of all Jeroboam's descendants.

i. "Thus God made use of one wicked man to destroy another." (Clarke)

ii. "Nadab was king little more than one year, but since it covered parts of two years, Hebrew time measurement reckons his reign as two years." (Dilday)

c. According to the word of the LORD which He had spoken by His servant Ahijah: This word is recorded in 1 Kings 14:7-16.

2. (33-34) The reign of Baasha, king of Israel.

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. 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.

a. Baasha the son of Ahijah became king over all Israel: As expected with a man who came to the throne through assassination, Baasha was a wicked man and ushered in a dreadful period for Israel, both spiritually and politically.

b. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam: The summary puts it simply. Though Baasha was not a genetic descendent of Jeroboam (having murdered his family), he was certainly a spiritual descendent of Jeroboam.

© 2004 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Commentary -- Other

Critics Ask: 1Ki 15:5

1 KINGS 15:5—Is this the only sin David committed?

PROBLEM: According to this verse, David was without sin except on one occasion— the sin involving Bathsheba! It claims David “had not turned aside from anything that He [God] commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” But, this is both contrary to general statements about fallen human beings (cf. Gen. 6:5 ; Jer. 17:9 ; Rom. 3:10-23 ) and specific condemnations of David on other occasions. David himself said, after God convicted him for numbering Israel ( 1 Chron. 21:1 ), “I have sinned greatly” (v. 8 ).

SOLUTION: The statement in question is by no means a pronouncement of David’s virtual sinlessness for several reasons. First of all, it is a general and true characterization of David’s life. Just as Job was not sinless, but was called “blameless and upright” ( Job 1:1 ), even so David’s life was without major fault. Second, this commendation of David is not absolute, but relative to all the sins Abijam had committed (cf. 1 Kings 15:1 , 3 ). David did, with one major exception, “that which was right in the eyes of the Lord” (v. 5 ). Third, even when he sinned, he did what was right, namely repented immediately when confronted by God (cf. 2 Sam. 12:1ff and 1 Chron. 21:8 ). Fourth, the exception clause (“except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite”) is not found in many manuscripts of the OT, including the Vatican Ms. Without it, the point that this was only a general commendation of David has even stronger force. Fifth, the phrase “had not turned aside” indicates that God is speaking of the generally steadfast direction of David’s life, not every specific sin in it. This would account for why David’s other sins are not mentioned, since they did not turn him from the generally forward direction of his life in serving the Lord to this point.   

Critics Ask: 1Ki 15:14

1 KINGS 15:14—Did Asa destroy the high places or leave them standing?

PROBLEM: Second Chronicles 14:3 asserts that “he [Asa] removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places.” But here, 1 Kings says that, during the reign of king Asa, “the high places were not removed.”

SOLUTION: There are several possible explanations. One is that these passages may refer to different times in Asa’s reign. In his early period, he may have been more active in putting idolatry down. Or, it may have been that Asa was unsuccessful in carrying through his reforms, so that the high places were not completely removed. Some have suggested that he may have only torn down the high places to other gods (as 2 Chronicles notes) but allowed the ones to the Lord to remain (which 1 Kings speaks about). Any one of these would take care of the difficulty.   

Introduction / Outline

JFB: 1 Kings (Book Introduction)

THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF KINGS, in the ancient copies of the Hebrew Bible, constitute one book. Various titles have been given them; in the Septuagint and the Vulgate they are called the Third and Fourth Books of Kings. The authorship of these books is unknown; but the prevailing opinion is that they were compiled by Ezra, or one of the later prophets, from the ancient documents that are so frequently referred to in the course of the history as of public and established authority. Their inspired character was acknowledged by the Jewish Church, which ranked them in the sacred canon; and, besides, it is attested by our Lord, who frequently quotes from them (compare 1Ki 17:9; 2Ki 5:14 with Luk 4:24-27; 1Ki 10:1 with Mat 12:42).

JFB: 1 Kings (Outline)

• ABISHAG CHERISHES DAVID IN HIS EXTREME AGE. (1Ki 1:1-4)
• ADONIJAH USURPS THE KINGDOM. (1Ki. 1:5-31)
• SOLOMON, BY DAVID'S APPOINTMENT, IS ANOINTED KING. (1Ki. 1:32-49)
• ADONIJAH, FLEEING TO THE HORNS OF THE ALTAR, IS DISMISSED BY SOLOMON. (1Ki 1:50-53)
• DAVID DIES. (1Ki 2:1-11)
• SOLOMON SUCCEEDS HIM. (1Ki 2:12-24)
• JOAB SLAIN. (1Ki. 2:28-45)
• SHIMEI PUT TO DEATH. (1Ki 2:34-46)
• SOLOMON MARRIES PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER. (1Ki 3:1)
• HIGH PLACES BEING IN USE, HE SACRIFICES AT GIBEON. (1Ki 3:2-5)
• HE CHOOSES WISDOM. (1Ki 3:6-15)
• HIS JUDGMENT BETWEEN TWO HARLOTS. (1Ki 3:16-28)
• SOLOMON'S PRINCES. (1Ki 4:1-6)
• HIS TWELVE OFFICERS. (1Ki 4:7-21)
• HIS WISDOM. (1Ki 4:29-34)
• HIRAM SENDS TO CONGRATULATE SOLOMON. (1Ki 5:1-6)
• FURNISHES TIMBER TO BUILD THE TEMPLE. (1Ki 5:7-12)
• SOLOMON'S WORKMEN AND LABORERS. (1Ki 5:13-18)
• THE BUILDING OF SOLOMON'S TEMPLE. (1Ki 6:1-4)
• THE CHAMBERS THEREOF. (1Ki 6:5-10)
• GOD'S PROMISES UNTO IT. (1Ki 6:11-14)
• THE CEILING AND ADORNING OF IT. (1Ki 6:15-22)
• THE TIME TAKEN TO BUILD IT. (1Ki 6:37-38)
• BUILDING OF SOLOMON'S HOUSE. (1Ki 7:1)
• OF THE HOUSE OF LEBANON. (1Ki 7:2-7)
• HIRAM'S WORKS. (1Ki. 7:13-51)
• THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE. (1Ki 8:1-12)
• SOLOMON'S BLESSING. (1Ki 8:12-21)
• HIS PRAYER. (1Ki. 8:22-61)
• HIS SACRIFICE OF PEACE OFFERING. (1Ki 8:62-64)
• THE PEOPLE JOYFUL. (1Ki 8:65)
• GOD'S COVENANT IN A SECOND VISION WITH SOLOMON. (1Ki 9:1-9)
• THE MUTUAL PRESENTS OF SOLOMON AND HIRAM. (1Ki 9:10-23)
• SOLOMON'S YEARLY SACRIFICES. (1Ki 9:24-28)
• THE QUEEN OF SHEBA ADMIRES THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. (1Ki 10:1-13)
• HIS RICHES. (1Ki. 10:14-29)
• SOLOMON'S WIVES AND CONCUBINES IN HIS OLD AGE. (1Ki 11:1-8)
• GOD THREATENS HIM. (1Ki 11:9-13)
• REFUSING THE OLD MEN'S COUNSEL. (1Ki 12:1-5)
• JEROBOAM MADE KING OVER THEM. (1Ki 12:20-33)
• JEROBOAM'S HAND WITHERS. (1Ki. 13:1-22)
• THE DISOBEDIENT PROPHET SLAIN BY A LION. (1Ki 13:23-32)
• AHIJAH DENOUNCES GOD'S JUDGMENTS AGAINST JEROBOAM. (1Ki. 14:1-20)
• REHOBOAM'S WICKED REIGN. (1Ki 14:21-24)
• SHISHAK SPOILS JERUSALEM. (1Ki 14:25-31)
• ABIJAM'S WICKED REIGN OVER JUDAH. (1Ki 15:1-8)
• ASA'S GOOD REIGN. (1Ki 15:9-22)
• NADAB'S WICKED REIGN. (1Ki 15:25-34)
• JEHU'S PROPHECY AGAINST BAASHA. (1Ki 16:1-8)
• ZIMRI'S CONSPIRACY. (1Ki 16:9-22)
• OMRI BUILDS SAMARIA. (1Ki 16:23-28)
• JOSHUA'S CURSE FULFILLED UPON HIEL THE BUILDER OF JERICHO. (1Ki 16:34)
• ELIJAH, PROPHESYING AGAINST AHAB, IS SENT TO CHERITH. (1Ki 17:1-7)
• HE IS SENT TO A WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH. (1Ki 17:8-16)
• HE RAISES HER SON TO LIFE. (1Ki 17:17-24)
• ELIJAH MEETS OBADIAH. (1Ki. 18:1-16)
• ELIJAH, BY PRAYER, OBTAINS RAIN. (1Ki 18:41-46)
• ELIJAH FLEES TO BEER-SHEBA. (1Ki 19:1-3)
• ELISHA FOLLOWS ELIJAH. (1Ki 19:19-21)
• BEN-HADAD BESIEGES SAMARIA. (1Ki 20:1-12)
• THE SYRIANS ARE SLAIN. (1Ki 20:13-20)
• A PROPHET REPROVES HIM. (1Ki 20:35-42)
• NABOTH REFUSES AHAB HIS VINEYARD. (1Ki 21:1-4)
• JEZEBEL CAUSES NABOTH TO BE STONED. (1Ki 21:5-16)
• ELIJAH DENOUNCES JUDGMENTS AGAINST AHAB AND JEZEBEL. (1Ki 21:17-29)
• AHAB SLAIN AT RAMOTH-GILEAD. (1Ki. 22:1-36)

TSK: 1 Kings 15 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

1Ki 15:1, Abijam’s wicked reign; 1Ki 15:7, Asa succeeds him; 1Ki 15:9, Asa’s good reign; 1Ki 15:16, The war between Baasha and him causes him to make a league with Bed-hadad; 1Ki 15:23, Jehoshaphat succeeds Asa; 1Ki 15:25, Nadab’s wicked reign; 1Ki 15:27, Baasha conspiring against him, executes Ahijah’s prophecy; 1Ki 15:31, Nadab’s acts and death; 1Ki 15:33, Baasha’s wicked reign.

Poole: 1 Kings (Book Introduction)

FIRST BOOK OF KINGS COMMONLY CALLED

THE THIRD BOOK OF THE KINGS

THE ARGUMENT

THESE two Books called Of the Kings, because they treat of the kings of Judah and Israel, were written by the prophets, or holy men of God, living in or near their several times, and by some one of them digested into this order. But whoever was the penman, that these are a part of those Holy Scriptures which were Divinely inspired is sufficiently evident first,

From the concurring testimony of the whole Jewish church in all ages, to whom were committed the oracles of God, Rom 3:2 , who also did faithfully discharge their duty in preserving and delivering them entirely and truly to their posterity from time to time, as plainly appears, because Christ and his apostles, who reproved them freely for their several sins, never taxed them with this fault, of depraving the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. Secondly, Because this is manifest concerning divers parcels of them which were taken out of the records of the prophets Nathan, Ahijah, and Iddo, 2Ch 9:29 , and out of the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah; and the rest doubtless were of the same nature.

Thirdly, From the approbation of these books by the New Testament, both generally, as 2Ti 3:16 , All Scripture is given by inspiration from God, &c., which is affirmed concerning all those Holy Scriptures which Timothy had known, from a child, 2Ti 3:15 , and therefore must necessarily be meant of all the books of the Old Testament, which the Jews owned for canonical Scripture; and particularly Rom 11:2,3 , &c., where a passage out of these books is quoted and owned as a part of the Holy Scripture, called the Scripture by way of eminency.

Poole: 1 Kings 15 (Chapter Introduction)

KINGS CHAPTER 15

Abijam followeth his father’ s sins; God however keepeth promise: he dieth, and Asa his son succeedeth him, 1Ki 15:1-8 . His good reign, 1Ki 15:9-15 . Baasha wareth against him: he maketh a league with Ben-hadad, 1Ki 15:16-22 . He dieth, and Jehoshaphat succeedeth him, 1Ki 15:23,24 . Nadab’ s wicked reign: Baasha slayeth him; destroyeth his father’ s house, and succeeds him: his wicked reign, 1Ki 15:25-34 .

MHCC: 1 Kings (Book Introduction)

The history now before us accounts for the affairs of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, yet with special regard to the kingdom of God among them; for it is a sacred history. It is earlier as to time, teaches much more, and is more interesting than any common histories.

MHCC: 1 Kings 15 (Chapter Introduction)

(1Ki 15:1-8) Wicked reign of Abijam, king of Judah.

(v. 9-24) Good reign of Asa, king of Judah.

(1Ki 15:25-34) The evil reigns of Nadab and Baasha in Israel.

Matthew Henry: 1 Kings (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The First Book of Kings

Many histories are books of kings and their reigns, to which the affairs of their kingdoms are reduced; this is a piece of honour that has commonly been paid to crowned heads. The holy Scripture is the history of the kingdom of God among men, under the several administrations of it; but there the King is one and his name one. The particular history now before us accounts for the affairs of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, yet with special regard to the kingdom of God among them; for still it is a sacred history, much more instructive and not less entertaining than any of the histories of the kings of the earth, to which (those of them that are of any certainty) it is prior in time; for though there were kings in Edom before there was any king in Israel, Gen 36:31 (foreigners, in that point of state, got the precedency), yet the history of the kings of Israel lives, and will live, in holy Writ, to the end of the world, whereas that of the kings of Edom is long since buried in oblivion; for the honour that comes from God is durable, while the honour of the world is like a mushroom, which comes up in a night and perishes in a night. - The Bible began with the story of patriarchs, and prophets, and judges, men whose converse with heaven was more immediate, the record of which strengthens our faith, but is not so easily accommodated to our case, now that we expect not visions, as the subsequent history of affairs like ours under the direction of common providence; and here also we find, though not many types and figures of the Messiah, yet great expectations of him; for not only prophets, but kings, desired to see the great mysteries of the gospel, Luk 10:24 - The two books of Samuel are introductions to the books of the Kings, as they relate the origin of the royal government in Saul and of the royal family in David. These two books give us an account of David's successor, Solomon, the division of his kingdom, and the succession of the several kings both of Judah and Israel, with an abstract of their history down to the captivity. And as from the book of Genesis we may collect excellent rules of economics, for the good governing of families, so from these books we may collect rules of politics, for the directing of public affairs. There is in these books special regard had to the house and lineage of David, from which Christ came. Some of his sons trod in his steps, and others did not. The characters of the kings of Judah may be thus briefly given: - David the devout, Solomon the wise, Rehoboam the simple, Abijah the valiant, Asa the upright, Jehoshaphat the religious, Jehoram the wicked, Ahaziah the profane, Joash the backslider, Amaziah the rash, Uzziah the mighty, Jotham the peaceable, Ahaz the idolater, Hezekiah the reformer, Manasseh the penitent, Amon the obscure, Josiah the tender-hearted, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, all wicked, and such as brought ruin quickly on themselves and their kingdom. The number of the good and bad is nearly equal, but the reigns of the good were generally long and those of the bad short, the consideration of which will make the state of Israel not altogether so bad in this period as at first it seems. In this first book we have, I. The death of David, ch. 1 and 2. II. The glorious reign of Solomon, and his building the temple (ch. 3-10), but the cloud his sun set under, ch. 11. III. The division of the kingdoms in Rehoboam, and his reign and Jeroboam's, ch. 12-14. IV. The reigns of Abijah and Asa over Judah, Baasha and Omri over Israel, ch. 15 and 16. V. Elijah's miracles, ch. 17-19. VI. Ahab's success against Benhadad, his wickedness and fall, ch. 20-22. And in all this history it appears that kings, though gods to us, are men to God, mortal and accountable.

Matthew Henry: 1 Kings 15 (Chapter Introduction)

In this chapter we have an abstract of the history, I. Of two of the kings of Judah, Abijam, the days of whose reign were few and evil (1Ki 15:1-8), and Asa, who reigned well and long (v. 9-24). II. Of two of the kings of Israel, Nadab the son of Jeroboam, and Baasha the destroyer of Jeroboam's house (1Ki 15:25-34).

Constable: 1 Kings (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

The Books of 1 and 2 Kings received their names because they document the reigns of the 40 kings of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah following David.¹

In the Hebrew Bible 1 and 2 Kings were one book until the sixteenth century. The ancients regarded them as the continuation of the narrative begun in Samuel. The Septuagint (Greek) translation of the Hebrew text, dating from about 250 B.C., was the first to divide Kings into two books. That division has continued to the present day. The Septuagint translators, however, called these two books 3 and 4 Kingdoms. First and 2 Kingdoms were our 1 and 2 Samuel. Jerome's Vulgate (Latin) translation, which dates about A.D. 400, changed the name from Kingdoms to Kings.

"The English Bible presents the books primarily as historical accounts. Their placement next to 1, 2 Chronicles demonstrates the collectors' interest in detailing all the events of Israel's history. In contrast, the Hebrew Bible places Joshua-Kings with the prophets, which highlights their common viewpoints. This decision implies that 1, 2 Kings are being treated as proclamation and history."²

Writer and Date

Most Old Testament scholars today believe several different individuals wrote and edited Kings because of theories concerning textual transmission that have gained popularity in the last 150 years. However, many conservatives have continued to follow the older tradition of the church that one individual probably put Kings together.³ This view finds support in the stylistic and linguistic features that run through the whole work and make it read like the product of a single writer. Some of these features are the way the writer described and summarized each king's reign, the consistent basis on which he evaluated all the kings, and recurring phrases and terms.

The identity of the writer is unknown today and has been for centuries. Ancient Jewish tradition suggested Ezra or Ezekiel as possible writers since both of these men were biblical writers who lived after the Babylonian exile. The record of King Jehoiachin's release from Babylonian captivity (2 Kings 25:27-30) points to a date of final composition sometime after that event. Jeremiah has traditional Talmudic support as well though he never went to Babylon but died in Egypt. Of course, someone else may have written Kings. Scholars have suggested these men only because they were famous writers who lived when Kings reached its final form.

Most non-conservatives date Kings considerably later than the sixth or fifth centuries.⁴

Scope

The historical period Kings covers totals about 413 years. The events that frame this period were Solomon's coronation as co-regent with David (973 B.C.) and Jehoiachin's release from Babylonian exile (560 B.C.).

However, most of Kings deals with the period that spans Solomon's coronation and the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., a period of 387 years. In terms of the temple, at the beginning we see the temple built and at the end the temple burnt.

". . . 1, 2 Kings present Israel's history as a series of events that describe how and why the nation fell from the heights of national prosperity to the depths of conquest and exile."⁵

"More specifically, 1, 2 Kings explain how and why Israel lost the land it fought so hard to win in Joshua and worked so hard to organize in Judges and 1, 2 Samuel."⁶

"Plot relates the causes and effects in a story. Thus, the story line in 1, 2 Kings may be that Israel went into exile, but the plot is Israel went into exile because of its unfaithfulness to God. To make cause and effect unfold, plots normally have at least two basic aspects: conflict and resolution. A plot's conflict is the tension in a story that makes it an interesting account, while a plot's resolution is the way the conflict is settled. How the author develops these two components usually decides the shape and effectiveness of the plot."⁷

This historical period is more than twice that of the one the Books of Samuel covered, which was about 150 years in length. The Book of Judges covers about 300 years of Israel's history.

The dates of the kings of Israel and Judah that I have used in the following notes are those of Edwin Thiele.⁸ He has worked out the many problems regarding these dates more satisfactorily than anyone else in the opinion of most scholars.⁹

Message¹⁰

The fact that this book opens and closes with death should be a clue as to its message.

It opens with David's death, and it closes with Ahab's death. The intervening period of about a century and a half is a story of national decline, disruption, disintegration, and disaster. Israel and Judah passed from affluence and influence to poverty and paralysis.

There is an emphasis in this book on thrones.

Obviously there were the thrones of Judah and Israel on earth with their kings who succeeded one another. However there is also the throne in heaven with its one King. Rehoboam and Jeroboam had their successors, the kings who replaced one another. Yahweh also in a sense had His successors, the prophets who replaced one another as His messengers to the people. While the kings remind us of the thrones on earth, the prophets remind us of the throne in heaven.

The thrones on earth present a story of disruption, disintegration, and disaster in both kingdoms, Judah and Israel. This trend continued despite changes in the methods the various rulers employed to govern their people.

Solomon's method of government was oppression. He taxed the people greatly and conscripted them into government service. The result was material magnificence. He multiplied riches and manifested great displays in the temple, the palace, and throughout his kingdom. He increased the military strength of the nation. Nevertheless in the process he ground down the people. The state became more important than the people. The testimony to this appears in 12:4. The result was dissatisfaction with Solomon's method of government.

In reaction to this method Rehoboam chose a new method of government: autocracy. He decided to tighten his grip on the people so he could control them (12:14). He believed the people should trust in their rulers, but he did not trust in God. Consequently he failed. Autocracy led to revolution (12:16).

Jeroboam chose a third method of government: democracy. He let the people determine how they would live. While this resulted in more pleasant conditions for the people, it also resulted in ultimate disaster for his nation. Notice what democracy produced in Jeroboam's day: 12:27-29. People cannot rule themselves effectively. We need God to govern us. Jeroboam believed rulers should trust in the people, but he did not trust in God. Consequently he failed. He made religion convenient, and the people became corrupt (12:30-31).

Rehoboam's successors in Judah chose a method of government we could call government by policy. That is, they chose to follow precedent, the pattern of their predecessors, rather than getting and following God's direction for their nation. There were some exceptions to this approach, but on the whole this was Judah's method of government.

Jeroboam's successors in Israel, however, chose a different method of government: selfishness. The kings of Israel cared little for the people of Israel. What concerned them primarily was what they could get out of being king for themselves. That is why the story of the kingdom of Israel is a story of intrigue, assassinations, and much bloodshed.

In summary, every form of human government results in disastrous failure if people do not acknowledge God's sovereignty. People cannot govern themselves effectively. The result is always decline, disruption, and disintegration. This is one of the great revelations of 1 Kings.

However there is another throne in view in this book: the throne in heaven. Whereas 1 Kings reveals that human government always fails, it also reveals that God's government never fails. There are two ways God exercised His kingship over His people during Israel's monarchy.

First, He broke in on human life with messages that the prophets delivered. Ahijah announced the division of the kingdom (11:26-39). Later he announced the death of Jeroboam's son (14:4-16). Shemaiah directed Rehoboam not to fight against Jeroboam (12:21-24). An unnamed prophet announced the fate of Jeroboam's altar (13:1-10). Jehu announced Baasha's doom (16:1-4). Elijah vindicated Yahweh in the days of Ahab's apostasy (chs. 17-21). Another unnamed prophet rebuked Ahab for allowing Ben-Hadad to escape (20:35-43). Micaiah foretold Israel's scattering (22:8-28). These are all evidences that God was governing His people independently of the kings when they forgot Him. The heavenly throne ruled in spite of the earthly thrones.

The second way God exercised His rule, in addition to sending messages by the prophets, was by directly and indirectly intervening in the lives of His people. He appeared and spoke directly to Solomon, which resulted in the building of the temple. He raised up an adversary to Solomon, namely Jeroboam. He slew Abijah. He withheld rain and brought famine. He sent fire from heaven on Mt. Carmel. He sent rain. He appeared to Elijah in an earthquake. He enticed Ahab into battle through the mouths of lying prophets.

In short, God ruled by exercising direct and indirect influence over people, by directly intervening and by controlling circumstances occasionally. He manipulated history. God sits in perfect control and continuity over all the human chaos that peoples' failure to rule themselves causes.

The message of the book, therefore, is that when people exclude God, every method of human government will fail; but even so God is still on His throne and is in control.

If people exclude God, every method of government ends in disaster. Even though in Solomon's reign the king emphasized religious forms and ceremonies, internal development, foreign treaties, and intellectual attainment, his oppression did not bring stability and peace. Autocracy will end in revolution eventually. Democracy that locks God out can result in the most terrible consequences for the people whose interests it professes to advocate. Government by policy can only deteriorate. Selfish rulers will only rape their nations.

Man cannot govern himself because he does not know himself apart from God's Word. How can he govern others about whom he knows even less? If people do not submit to the throne in heaven, no matter what method of government they choose, they will fail. As Christians, we must remember who is in control. We must look beyond our government to our God.

First Kings also reveals God's method in the midst of human failures.

First, when a throne on earth rebels against the throne in heaven God abandons that throne on earth. He separated Himself from it. He allowed the evil choices of the rulers to work themselves out to their inevitable consequences. Departure leads to disaster. Apostasy results in awful consequences (cf. Rom. 1).

Second, God keeps some consciousness of Himself and His government alive in the hearts and minds of a remnant. The prophets spoke. All Christians exercise that ministry today. We should speak for God to our generation.

Third, God maintains ultimate control. He controls history directly and indirectly so His purposes get accomplished. The Christian never needs to panic. God has revealed His plan for history. Knowledge of the Word should give us stability in uncertain times.

What I have said is true on the national scale is also true on the individual level. If a person excludes God from his or her life, no matter how the person may live, he or she will fail. We can resist God's authority, but we cannot overcome it. People only break themselves by refusing to submit to the throne in heaven. People need reminding of the throne in heaven. These principles have worked out throughout history. God's plan moves ahead.

Constable: 1 Kings (Outline)

Outline

I. The reign of Solomon chs. 1-11

A. Solomon's succession to David's throne 1:1-2:12

1. David's declining health 1:1-4

2. Adonijah's attempt to seize the throne 1:5-53

3. David's charge to Solomon 2:1-9

4. David's death 2:10-12

B. The foundation of Solomon's reign 2:13-4:34

1. Solomon's purges 2:13-46

2. Solomon's wisdom from God ch. 3

3. Solomon's political strength ch. 4

C. Solomon's greatest contribution chs. 5-8

1. Preparations for building ch. 5

2. Temple construction ch. 6

3. Solomon's palace 7:1-12

4. The temple furnishings 7:13-51

5. The temple dedication ch. 8

D. The fruits of Solomon's reign chs. 9-11

1. God's covenant with Solomon 9:1-9

2. Further evidences of God's blessing 9:10-28

3. Solomon's greatness ch. 10

4. Solomon's apostasy ch. 11

II. The divided kingdom -1 Kings 12-2 Kings 17

A. The first period of antagonism 12:1-16:28

1. The division of the kingdom ch. 12

2. Jeroboam's evil reign in Israel 12:25-14:20

3. Rehoboam's evil reign in Judah 14:21-31

4. Abijam's evil reign in Judah 15:1-8

5. Asa's good reign in Judah 15:9-24

6. Nadab's evil reign in Israel 15:25-32

7. Baasha's evil reign in Israel 15:33-16:7

8. Elah's evil reign in Israel 16:8-14

9. Zimri's evil reign in Israel 16:15-20

10. Omri's evil reign in Israel 16:21-28

B. The period of alliance -1 Kings 16:29-2 Kings 9:29

1. Ahab's evil reign in Israel 16:29-22:40

2. Jehoshaphat's good reign in Judah 22:41-50

3. Ahaziah's evil reign in Israel -1 Kings 22:51-2 Kings 1:18

(Continued in notes on 2 Kings)

One writer observed that a chiastic structure marks the Books of Kings.¹¹

A Solomon/United Monarchy -- 1 Kings 1:1-11:25

B Jeroboam/Rehoboam; the division of the kingdom -- 1 Kings 11:26-14:31

C Kings of Judah/Israel -- 1 Kings 15:1-16:22

D The Omride dynasty; the rise and fall of the Baal cult in Israel and Judah -- -1 Kings 16:23-2 Kings 12

C' Kings of Judah/Israel -- 2 Kings 13-16

B' The fall of the Northern Kingdom -- 2 Kings 17

A' The Kingdom of Judah -- 2 Kings 18-25.

Constable: 1 Kings

1 Kings

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: 1 Kings (Book Introduction)

THE THIRD BOOK OF KINGS.

INTRODUCTION.

This and the following Book are called by the holy Fathers, The Third and Fourth Book of Kings; but by the Hebrews, the First and Second. They contain the history of the kingdoms of Israel and Juda, from the beginning of the reign of Solomon to the captivity. As to the writer of these books, it seem most probable they were not written by one man, nor at one time; but as there was all along a succession of prophets in Israel, who recorded, by divine inspiration, the most remarkable things that happened in their days, these books seem to have been written by these prophets. See 2 Paralipomenon, alias 2 Chronicles ix. 29., xii. 15., xiii. 22., xx. 34., xxvi. 22., and xxxii. 32. (Challoner) --- This book informs us of the death of David, chap. ii. 11, where some Greek copies concluded the second book "of the reigns or kingdoms," as they style all the four books. Theodoret and Diodorus follow this division. The point is of no consequence; and the Hebrew editions have often varied. Origen observes, that the Jews denoted these two books from the first words, "Ouammelech David." (Eusebius, Hist. vi. 25.) (Haydock) --- In St. Jerome's time, the four books made only two. The present book details the actions of Solomon, (Calmet) till the end of the 12th chapter. Then we behold the division of the kingdom: Roboam, Abias, Asa, and Josaphat, reign over Juda; Jeroboam, &c., over Israel; while the prophets Abias, Elias, Eliseus, appear in the remaining eleven chapters. (Worthington) --- Though the memoirs seem to have been left by contemporary authors, (Haydock) one, and most probably Esdras, made the compilation, after the captivity, inserting frequently the very words of his authors, yet so as to make some additional reflections. (Calmet) --- The Rabbins generally attribute the work to Jeremias. (Haydock) --- He is more attentive to the house of David, and to display the rewards of the piety, and the punishment of vice, as well as the glory of the temple and of religion, than to describe the military exploits, which occupy so much of the profane history. (Calmet)

Gill: 1 Kings (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS

This, and the following book, properly are but one book, divided into two parts, and went with the Jews under the common name of Kings. This, in the Syriac version, is called the Book of Kings; and in the Arabic version, the Book of Solomon, the Son of David the Prophet, because it begins with his reign upon the death of his father; and, in the Vulgate Latin version, the Third Book of Kings, the two preceding books of Samuel being sometimes called the First and Second Books of Kings, they containing the reigns of Saul and David; and in the Septuagint version both this and the following book are called Kingdoms, because they treat of the kingdom of Israel and Judah, after the division in the times of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, and of the several kings of them; as of Solomon before the division, so afterwards of the kings of Judah; Rehoboam, Abijam, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Jehoash, Amaziah, Uzziah or Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah; and of the kings of Israel, Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam the son of Joash, Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hoshea; so that these books may, with great propriety, be called the books or histories of the kings in the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel: who they were written by, is not easy to say; some think they were written by piecemeal by the prophets that lived in the several reigns successively, as Nathan, Ahijah the Shilonite, Iddo, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and afterwards put together by an inspired writer. The Jews commonly say ^a, that Jeremiah wrote the book of the Kings, by which they mean this, and the following book; though very probably they were written by Ezra, since the history in them is carried down to the liberty granted to Jehoiachin in Babylon; but that Ezra was the writer of all the preceding historical books, and even of the Pentateuch, cannot be admitted, which is the conceit of Spinosa ^b; part of whose tract is just now republished by somebody, word for word, under a title as in the margin ^c; but that Ezra was not the writer of the Pentateuch is clear, since he refers to it as written by Moses, and as the rule of religion and worship in his times, Ezr 3:2; and it is certain these writings were in being in the times of Josiah, Amaziah, Joash, yea, of David, and even of Joshua, 2Ch 34:14; and as for the book of Joshua, that also was written long before Ezra's time; it must be written long before the times of David, before the Jebusites were expelled from Jerusalem, since the writer of it says, that they dwelt there in his days, Jos 15:63; the book of Judges must be written before the times of Samuel and David, since the former refers to the annals of it, 1Sa 12:9; and the latter alludes to some passages in it, Psa 68:7; see Jdg 5:4; and a speech of Joab's, 2Sa 11:21, shows it to be an history then extant: to which may be added, that in it Jerusalem is called Jebus, Jdg 19:10; which it never was, after it was taken by David out of the hands of the Jebusites, 2Sa 5:6; the book of Ruth very probably was written by Samuel; had it been of a later date, or written by Ezra, the genealogy with which it concludes, would doubtless have been carried further than to David: the Book of Samuel, and particularly the song of Hannah in it, were written in all probability before the penning of the hundred thirteenth psalm, Psa 113:1, in which some expressions seem to be taken from it wherefore, though the two books of Kings may be allowed to be written or compiled by Ezra, the ten preceding ones cannot be assigned to him: however, there is no room to doubt of the divine authority of these two books, when the honour our Lord has done them is observed, by quoting or referring to several histories in them; as to the account of the queen of Sheba coming to hear the wisdom of Solomon; of the famine in the times of Elijah; and of that prophet being sent to the widow of Sarepta, and of the cleansing of Naaman the Syrian in the times of Elisha, Mat 12:42 from 1Ki 17:1 2Ki 5:10; to which may be added, the quotations and references made by the apostles to passages in them, as by the Apostle Paul in Rom 11:2 from 1Ki 19:14 where this book is expressly called the Scripture; and by the Apostle James, Jam 5:17; who manifestly refers to 1Ki 17:1; and there are various things in this part of Scripture, which are confirmed by the testimonies of Heathen writers, as will be observed in the exposition of it. The use of these books is to carry on the history of the Jewish nation, to show the state of the church of God in those times, and his providential care of it amidst all the changes and vicissitudes in the state; and, above all, to transmit to us the true genealogy of the Messiah, which serves to confirm the Evangelist Matthew's account of it.

Gill: 1 Kings 15 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 15

In this chapter we have a short history of the reign of Abijam, 1Ki 15:1 and of Asa, 1Ki 14:9, both kings of Judah; and of the reigns of Nadab the son of Jeroboam, and of Baasha, who destroyed his family, both kings of Israel, 1Ki 15:25.