You have Israel Come's in, destroys Jericho, and then we have a history that ultimately ends in Solomon building a temple where the Lord places his name and you have the worship of Yahweh. Now, in what? A couple of chapters, Israel has regressed to where Jericho has been rebuilt under the reign of a king whose wife is in st- Welcome to Episode 126 of Bible Talk — A Podcast brought to you by 9Marks. 9Marks exist to help pastors build healthy churches for more. You can visit 9Marks.org.
If you'd like to support the work we're doing here, you should go to 9Marks.org slash talk and make a prayerful donation. We'd really appreciate it. My name is Alex Duke. With me are my two friends. Samolotti. Jim Hamilton. Alright, so guys, last week — Can you keep from so much cussing in this album? It would be great. But it's going to come up, you know? I mean, the Archivic King uses the language. Does it come up again?
Yeah, in verse 12, the word of idols is related to the word that we saw rendered dung back in verse 10 of chapter 14, yeah. And the because word back in 1416. Yeah, it's the same consonants. You're just really, you know, lowering. No, listen, if the Bible says it, I'm happy. I mean, you know, okay, okay. You're going to talk about what the Bible talks about. That's exactly right. Which of the Bible talks to you? Last week, despite the potty humor, I thought of humor. Out of humor.
I'm kidding. Last week, I thought we were going to talk about all of the kings we're going to talk about today. But we only made it to the end of 1 Kings 14. We talked about excrement and the Exodus, right, Sam? That's what we talked about. You look like you're blushing. Well, I have a sunburn as I explained before we got on the air. So, but we talked about the judgment of Jeroboam and we talked about the rot of Reboam, the sort of first first, forget that Alex.
Yeah, thanks. The first generation of kings in Israel and Judah. Are you a Baptist? By conviction, yes. Are you? I'm just poking at you, man, for doing the eliteration. First Kings 15 and 16 is what we're going to do today. So we're going to, we're going to get right up to the story of Elijah and we're going to spend some time with him in the next several episodes after this one. We're going to talk about eight Kings. We're
going to talk about two Kings in Judah, Abijam and Asa. We're going to talk about six Kings in the northern kingdom of Israel, Nadab, Bashar, Eilah, Zimri, Omri and Ahab. Sound good? Sounds great. Sounds great. Okay, so I have some questions though. Like, can you give us a sense of the structure? Because what we're about to read is not exactly chronological. It's, it's, it's organ,
I assume it has some organizing principle that's not mere chronology. Help us understand what we're, what we're about to get into. Yeah. So what happens is the author of Kings, he'll start with a King. Let's say it, let's say he starts with the King in the north and there will be, he'll, he'll work through that guy's reign, but the Kings and the South are going to come into the narrative and
he's going to stay with that King in the north until the end of his reign and then he's going to circle back and pick up the narrative where the, where he left off with the last King in the South and then he's going to work through that next King in the South and as the Kings in the North come into it, he'll mention them, but he'll stay with that guy until the end of his reign and then he'll go back to the King in the north, the next
one. So he kind of alternates back and forth between Kings of North and South. So we have Judah first. Yeah, Judah, Judah, Israel, Israel, with the reigns of Abijim and Asa. Yeah. Okay. Right. And then six Kings of Israel. And, and, and so effectively are you, are we saying that that the reigns of the four Israel, I'm sorry, the six Israel Kings. So if you look at, it essentially covers the same territory as the reigns of the
first two Judah Kings, is that what we're kind of saying? Kind of. But so for instance, if you look at 151, well actually 1419 and 20, you get Jeroboam's death. Yeah. And then he goes to Rehoboam. Yeah. And, um, Rehoboam and Judah. Yeah. Right. Rehoboam and Judah. But then he's going to, in 151, now in the 18th year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebath, who died. Okay. So he's already narrated his story. We've already seen the
structure you talked about in the first iteration. Right. Right. Okay. But, but now he's, you know, he's, he's working down through the history. And, and I think the guiding concern is the end of that King's reign. Okay. So as you're reading, this is not strictly chronological. These are, these are in some sense in parallel columns. Yep. Uh, and, and we're, we're getting and they overlap with one another. And it's, I mean, the, the guy who reigns for a couple
of days, gets almost as much real estate as the guy who reigns for several decades. Yeah. So like in 151, we're in the 18th year of King Jeroboam, 159, the 20th year of Jeroboam King of Israel. So that guy that we're talking about in 151 through 80 only reigns like two years. Well, and Zimrian. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Less than a year. Yeah. And I think one of the reasons the author of Kings is doing this is because you have to think about
his interests. Um, he, he's clearly not interested in just giving you a play by play chronological story. He's setting up these Kings. Uh, as you said, Alex in, in parallel columns. So as to draw comparisons and contrasts. And I think the most important contrast are these evidences of grace that we see in the line of Judah, uh, Kings like King Asa and, and
good that God does the Kings of Judah because of God's faithfulness to David. Um, but we also see comparison, um, with, with these Kings and that many of the traits of these ungodly Israelite Kings are going to show up in the Kings of Judah. Yeah. So we, I think we said last time. So the like, Jeroboam is presented as like the paradigmatic wicked King. Uh, and of course, David is represented as the, the paradigmatic good king. Oh, not perfect.
Okay. Um, let's, let's just get a sample of what we got here. So let, we'll start in 15 one. Sam, why don't you take the lead and read, read, read, at least the end of Abijim's reign Abijim, you know, just as you say, Jim, say it loud. Yeah. Now the 18th year of King Jeroboam, the son of the bat, Abijim began and a reign over Judah. He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maaka, the daughter of Abishalom, and he walked
in all the sins that his father did before him. And his heart was not wholly true to the Lord, his God as the hearts of David, his father. Nevertheless, for David's sake, here's that evidence of the Lord being good to the line of Judah because of David. For David's sake, the Lord, his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem. Well, what is this lamp? This lamp. And there is David. Well, I think it refers to a abijim, or maybe it does refer
to David. How would you take that, Jim? I think a bottom. Yeah. Sorry. So he gives him, we can talk about it later. He gives him a lamp, right? So there's this, there's this bad guy lamp in Jerusalem. There's a, there's a bright spot, right? In this family. Well,
what is it? Setting up his son after him and establishing Jerusalem. And as we're going to see his son, Asa is a good king because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he had commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Eureia, the Hittite. And as I suggested last time, I think the way that we understand passages like that is even though scripture records other sins
of David. For instance, taking the census at the end of second Samuel, David always in his sin deals with the Lord. He doesn't turn to idols. He doesn't engage in, in that type of false worship of the nations. And so he's, he's a man of genuine repentance who deals with his sin before Yahweh. And so whereas, whereas he makes infractions of the covenant, he is not spiritually adulterous in the way that these idol worshiping kings are.
Okay. The next verse we're about to read, I think makes the timeline question a bit confusing. So run to read for us for six. Now would help us understand. There was war between Rehobom and Jerobom all the days of his life. So I understand the reference back here to Rehobom's dead. Rehobom's dead. This is his father. So why would, why would he say there's war between Rehobom and Jerobom the days of his life, abiding him's life? I think what
the author is doing is as it were telescoping, right? If you think about telescope, you can expand it out and you can push it back in. So you can telescope the narrative. You can push it back in in order to kind of mix events and characters. So as to say, hey, everything here is all of a piece. You know, these guys are all cut from the same cloth. And what is the history of Israel at this point? Well, I mean, it's just a bunch of sinners having
civil war with each other. So Rehobom's war is a bism's war. And these these scoundrels are not so different from one another. You know, he's a chip off the old block as it were. We're going to get a lot of that intercutting of characters in these in these passages today. Jim, any comment about that? Yeah, I would just observe that in 1430, you have almost the very same statement. There was war between Rehobom and Jerobom continually. And then
156, there was war between Rehobom and Jerobom all the days of his life. And I think abiding him just he's a representative of Rehobom's house. So yeah, keep going, Sammy. The rest of the acts of abiding him and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings? The Chronicles we have. That's my understanding, yeah. And there was war between a bism and Jerobom and a bism slept with his fathers and they buried
him in the city of David and Asa, his son, reined in his place. So just a comment here about, as you've said before, Alex, the amount of real estate given to this character, two books given to David, 11 chapters given to Solomon. And now we are just clippin' through Kings, you know, paragraph by paragraph. And I think what the author is doing is he's setting up for us
a hall of shame. This is a quick survey of Israel's history. So it's to make this overwhelming case to the people of Israel as to why it is that the Lord has sent them into exile. Okay, so if it's a hall of shame, there are a few, there's a few bright spots. We're about to read about one. So Jamont, why don't you take the lead on this second King? So this would be Abijim's son, Asa, the land Judah. Right. So 59 in the 20th year of Jerobom,
King of Israel. So in other words, just I'm trying to track Jerobom has already died in the narrative, but he's sort of catching up with what would have been happening, coterminously, with his reign are these Kings showing up. So Jerobom apparently outlived Rehobom. And so we worked through Rehobom to the end of his life. And then we're going to work through the Kings of Judah who reigned during Jerobom's life until Jerobom died and then we'll... So that's the kind of
dance we're doing. Yeah, exactly. I'm asking the... Just because it's helped even just to say it out loud, helps me understand it. Yep. So 59 in the 20th year of Jerobom, King of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah and he reigned 41 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maaka, the daughter of Abisha Lom. And those those words in 1510 exactly match 152, his mother's name was Maaka, the daughter
of Abisha Lom. So does he have the same mom? Well, or does the mother... Or does the mother mean other things than just direct descendant one generation away? There are translations that render this his grandmother's name in 1510, even though it's the exact same Hebrew text. And I think that that's probably the way we should understand this because clearly, you know, Asa is Abijum's son. And I doubt it's the case that Abijum slept with his mother as a result of which we have Asa. I don't
think Asa would become King in that if that were how it played out. Yeah. In other words, if that were the history, that fact would be mentioned in that way. It would be disqualifying. Yeah, we're about to read about all sorts of wicked things that are happening in the in the nation that Asa actually sort of stiff arms away. Right. And I don't think we would get Asa being called a lamp that is set up. Yeah. You know, in the previous passage. Okay. So that's helpful. So just when you come across
that verse, doesn't probably think of it as grandmother. Yes. Sam agreed. Uh, okay. We didn't expect that. Okay. And the other option would be that it is incestuous. That's incestuous. Yeah. Okay. And people are just okay with it. I'm not saying, oh, it's definitely incestuous. I'm saying, I think it's a possible interpretive option. Verse 11.
And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord as David his father had done. He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land, which that is shocking that you would have male cult prostitutes in the land of Israel. And, um, you know, a fertility cult, just to make an observation here, a fertility cult is going to engage in fertility rights in order to try to bring about the fertility
of the land. So it's like you you engage in sex acts with a prostitute in the hope that you will provoke the gods to then fertilize as it were the clouds through their own maybe self-copulation or whatever they're going to do. And then as a result of the clouds being fertilized, the clouds fertilize the land, which then gives life to the flocks and herds and the fields and so forth. So it's really indicative of how bad things have already got. The blasphemous superstitious.
Yes. That's right. That's right. And profane and, you know, defiled. And he put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols. And this is where we get a word that sounds like the word that was rendered dung back in 1410. This word for idols, it's built out of the same consonants as that word dung. It shows what the author thinks about. Yeah, that's right. He removed all that, you know, fill in the blank. Yeah. I wonder what you put in that blank. That's
right. That his fathers had made. Verse 13, he also removed Ma'aka, his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asha Ra. So I think we can see from this that Asa is a man of integrity and that he's taking stands of conviction that that are going to be risky. So in the middle of verse 13 there, and Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook kidron. But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true to Yahweh
all his days. I'm inclined to think that these high places that are not taken away, and yet Asa's heart is wholly true to Yahweh are probably high places, not where people are engaging in fertility cult worship, but where they're worshiping Yahweh, just not in accordance with his instructions. They're not, they're not worshiping at the place where the Lord has chosen to set his name, which is the temple in Jerusalem instead of irregular but true. Exactly. Okay, I don't know that
we need to read 16 to 24. Verse 15, I need to read verse 15. Yes, you do. And he brought into the house of the Lord the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts silver and gold and vessels. Okay. So this is the reign of Asa. Again, a good king who reigns 41 years. That's right. And the author for the rest of this chapter, at least until verse 24, and we switch over to Israel, is going to summarize for us. I do have a question about it. He's
going to summarize for us. Basically, give us the context where Asa and this guy, Basha, who we've not met yet. They fought. He tried to build an alliance with the king of Syria, he being Asa. And then eventually it tells us that he, I think I understand the details right that he tears down
this stronghold fortress and Rama. So my question is of his 41 years, apart from getting rid of his mom or Makkah, Makkah as the queen mother who's doing all sorts of awful stuff, it seems strange to highlight just like one military maneuver as like the other highlight of his four decade reign. So am I missing the significance in some way? Well, so if you look down at, do I have the details right? Yeah. If you look down at 1525, we're going to read that Nadab, the son of Jeroboan,
began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa, King of Judah. And he reigned over Israel two years. And then in 1533, in the third year of Asa, King of Judah, Basha, the son of Ahadja, began to reign. So again, he's going to work through the whole reign of Asa, including this episode that you're wanting us to skip. Not wanting to skip. I'm wanting you to help me understand the significance. But then he's going to come back and pick up those northern kingdoms and kind of
treat them in the order of their appearance. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. And Basha is kind of Asa's contemporary, more so than Nadab, who only reigns for a couple of years. Right. Like they probably had a longer, more grinding. Well, conflict. I mean, that's just this true. Yeah, he reigns for 24 years. So yeah. Yeah. And from the third year, so from the third year to like the 27th year, was reigning. Yeah. But asa would have reigned for longer than he did because Asa reigns for 41 years.
Sam, does my question make sense? Yeah, I have the same question actually. I don't understand how this paragraph contributes to the arguments. So I'd be I would be more than happy for Jim to. And again, the paragraph we're describing is essentially verses 16 to 24, which highlights this military skirmish situation. What is this telling us about Asa? What is the author's interpretive perspective on these events? How does this contribute to the argument of the book of kings?
You know, telling us how Israel got into exile? Yeah. Why are you asking me that? Well, I'm just just elaborating the question. Let's just look for a few things. Do you have a thesis? Well, I think some important things are introduced here in this episode. Okay. So so if I just start reading of verse 16, there was war between, we're not going to skip it. We'll get what you want. There was war between Asa and Bayesha, King of Israel, all their days for 17. That's similar.
Nothing new there. Yeah. But Asa, King of Israel, went up against Judah and built Rama or Rama, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa, King of Judah. Verse 18, I think this is a profoundly significant verse. Then Asa took all the silver and gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord. Okay. So earlier in the narrative of kings, we saw Shyshash, King of Egypt
come and plunder the temple. Now Asa gathers up what's left and he sent them to Ben Hedad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, King of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, let there be a covenant between me and you as there was between my father and your father. Okay. So now we're seeing. Is this a Jewish Samaritan? What's the area? What's the area? No. This guy Ben Hedad, so that name, son of Hezion, it means something like son of Hedad. And Hedad is likely the name of some,
you know, ancient Near Eastern God. So Asa is now entering into a covenantal treaty arrangement with this guy who is the son of his God, the Ben Hedad. Okay. So covenant, are you using that word, are you using that word? Look at what it says there in verse 19, let there be a covenant between me and you as there was, do you have a footnote or treaty? Yeah. But it's the same term. As there was
between my father and your father. So now we learn that the kings of Judah have, they've already entered into covenantal arrangements with these, these surrounding kings of surrounding nations who worship other gods. So my question is, you seem to be putting a very negative or a negative assessment on this. So not just military alliance. I think it's complicated. I think it's complicated. Well, I mean, later, you don't read it necessarily right here with with Asa. And I think this
probably is a function of what's the heart of the king involved. You don't read about it with Asa, but when we read over in second king 16 about the king with whom Isaiah interacts, A has, he is going to go make one of these treaties. And interestingly, you know, this is kind of in the corresponding section of second kings. This part of first king stands across from in the whole chiastic structure. And A has is going to send messengers and he's going to say to this pagan
king in second king 16 seven, I am your servant and your son. I'm your evad and your bane. I mean, he's supposed to be the servant and son of God. And he's saying to this pagan king, I am your servant and your son. And then he says, come up and rescue me, basically save me from my enemies. And then he is going to remove the altar of Yahweh and replace it with an altar to this pagan god. So in the case of A has a covenant, a treaty with this foreign power is going to involve
stopping the worship of Yahweh and replacing it with the worship of a foreign king. And I think with Asa, the author is saying, look, you're going to have entanglements with foreign nations. And you're going to have covenants with foreign nations. It doesn't have to go the way it went with A has. So you're, are you saying you're not arguing for Israelite isolationism for Israelite isolationism's sake? No, you're arguing for a kind of I think life is complicated. People are
doing the best they can. They're trying to make the best of bad situations. And even in the, you know, the theonomy of Israel in which Yahweh is king and his law reigns, they're mixed up with some bad stuff. Go ahead. And maybe are you saying if they had trusted the Lord to get them through this, they wouldn't have I have. I mean, I mean, yeah, I don't know the answer to that question.
You would certainly say that about second king since you're like, you can't do with a has mixed military and that's right and religious better for them to overrun you and and kill you and drag you off into exile then for you to remove the altar of Yahweh and replace it with the altar. And that's not what what Asa has done here at least. So in essence, it could be a contrast in the coming of the corresponding sections. Yeah. Well, but you're bringing out some features of the text that
have not really looked at carefully Jim, but I do think I helped you. Now that you're, you're doing a great job, Alex. Now that you're now that you're mentioning it, you know, when you look at 18, Asa Tug, verse 18, verse, yeah, excuse me, verse 18, when you look at 15, 18, then Asa Tug, the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord. I mean, what is he doing?
He's taking the gold that belonged to the Lord. I mean, we just read about positively that he brought into the house of the Lord sacred gifts of his father and of his own sacred gifts silver and gold and vessels. So he has been replenishing the temple. And now he's in a bind and he is taking from the temple in order to make this covenant with an idolatrous nation. And so I do think and and, you know, the language here of, you know, let there be a covenant between you and me as it was
between my father and your father. You know, Asa's father was not a good guy. So I do think there's elements in this that suggest that we should read this more as a comparison to what we see with A has in second Kings. Yeah. That this is not a good thing for Asa to be doing. And then if we just keep reading in that verse, okay, so we've read, we've read the offer of alliance. We have yet seen
how it works. Yeah. So verse 19, you know, he, Sam just read this, he goes on to say, be hold, I am sending you a present of silver and gold go break your covenant with the asha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me. Now, I mean, this is almost like entering into a covenant with Darth Vader, you know, you know, if you enter into a bargain with Vader, you're going to get double crossed. And Asa is saying to this guy, I'm giving you more money. Stop being loyal to him. And
instead start, but well, what's going to happen? Well, the high, the next time is better that comes along. He's going to have that guy's loyalty away from you. You know, so this is the king of Syria. Is that I definitely should know the answer to this. The land of Syria is a Syria? No, no, no. So to be similar names, if we think in terms of the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, you know, you, the Dead Sea is kind of near the southern corner where Egypt is. And then if you go north on the
Jordan River, you get to the Sea of Galilee. If you go north from there, you get to the land of Syria. If you take a right and go east over toward the Tigris and the Euphrates River, that's where Osiria is. So not the same place. Thank you. Yeah. So he's, he tells him to go break his covenant, which I mean, you know, when you're making a covenant with somebody that you can say, go break your covenant, you, you kind of ought to know where this is going to go. They're not,
they're not going to be loyal to the covenant that they're entering into with you. At least, they're only going to be loyal as long as the money is there. First 20, being bin Hadeh ad listen to King Asa and sit the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and conquered Ijon Dan Abel, Beth Maaka and all Cheneroth with all the land of Neftali. So he another team becomes basically a mercenary war fighter for that. That's right. That's right.
And when Beesha heard of it, he stopped building Rema and he lived in Tearsah. So you know, he built the city of Rema to kind of cut off Judah to sort of blockade them. And now he has to stop doing that. Verse 22, then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah. None was exempt. And they carried away the stones of Rema and its timber with which Beesha had been building. And with them, King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mipha. Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might and
all that he did and the cities that he built. Are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah, not the book of chronicles in the Bible? But in his old age, he was diseased in his feet. And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, his father and Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his place. Now we're not going to pick up Jehoshaphat until we've worked through the kings of the northern kingdom, which is a while. Yeah, that take us
down to the reign of Jehoshaphat. Okay. So we've talked about two kings in Judah. The next six are all from Israel and they are all bad and they sort of culminate in the big bad. Whatever the reversal of a culmination is, that's what happens in the big bad here and the end of 16. So we've got Nadab, but Asha, Ila, Zimri and Ulmari. Now I'm so tempted to be like, yeah, I think we're good. Let's see. We got to read what Beesha does to Nadab. So what do we need to highlight in this
chapter? Okay. So in verse 25, this guy Nadab comes to power in the second year of Asa. Nadab is the son of Jeroboam. That's right. He's the king in the north. And then verse 27, but Asha, the son of a hija of the house of Isikar, conspired against him. And but Asha struck him down at Gibathon, which belonged to the Philistines for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibathon. So this guy, but Asha, he just decides, I'm going to murder the king. I'm going to conspire against
and murder the king. And then I'm going to set myself up as king. I mean, this is shocking. You know, we don't, we don't do this here. And I don't think they do this in any civilized nation on earth. You don't just go murder the sitting king, not unless you're some kind of banana republic. And that's basically what the Northern Kingdom of Israel has now become. Mm-hmm. This is part of the contrast that's being drawn between these two columns of kings that
are given to us in this book. Now the line of Jeroboam is cut off and we have a new dynasty. And then we're going to see in a minute, but Asha's dynasty is going to be cut off and we're going to have a new dynasty. So Israel is in complete disarray at this moment. You know, there's no royal family that has legitimacy to government and to the throne. This is a contrast to what's going on in the Southern Kingdom, even though the Southern Kingdom is going to be characterized by its
own share of sinful kings, the kingdom belongs to the house of David. And that is going to continue on throughout the Southern Kingdom. They don't have these types of coos and changes in dynastic families. That's good. Now in 164, the Lord is going to threaten But Asha and he's going to say to him, well, at first in 163, he says, I will. You fast forwarded to the... I fast forwarded. So in the day of 16. Yeah. Are we going to go to good brother?
Okay. So now you're in Baasha. That's right. The next king, the guy, basically the John Wilkes Booth for, you know, if he had slightly higher aspirations. Yeah. Okay, keep going. Okay, so 163, the Lord declares through this guy, J. Who, the son of Hanani, which it's interesting that there's a guy named J. Who here who's receiving prophetic revelation. We're going to get another J. Who, a different J. Who later in the book. You're king, right? Yeah, that's right. So 163,
behold, I will utterly sweep away the house of, away, Baasha and his house. And I will make your house, I think he's addressing, but Asha, like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city, the dog shall eat. And any one of his who dies in the fields, the birds of the heaven shall eat. So this is exactly what was said about Jeroboam's house back in 1411. Yeah. Anybody that dies in the city, the dogs are going to eat, anyone who dies in
the open country, the birds will eat. And the point there, I suppose, is like the curse is contagious. You can't just because Jeroboam's family died that suddenly this kingdom is going to be good. Like, they're, they're, they're persisting in sin and therefore they will meet the same fate. You know, in, we're supposed to understand. This just teaches us we shouldn't skip verses.
So 162. You have a very slowly read audio. 162. There you go. That's right. He says, since I exalted you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel sin, provoking me to anger with their sins, then I'm going to do this. So I think the idea is if Baasha having become king in this illegitimate wicked way had repented and said, we need to get serious about this covenant with Yahweh. And we
got this book called Deuteronomy and we need to live in accordance with it. And we really need to make peace with the southern kingdom and bring ourselves under the reign of the king from David's line. Then probably his house would have been established. You're saying because he ties his behavior to Jeroboam. Therefore he ties his, his fate to Jeroboam. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it happens again. And this is, this is every king. It's a great way of saying it out like this
behavior is tied to Jeroboam. So his fate is tied to Jeroboam. What is that teaching Israel? These kings are miniaturized stories of their own history. Yeah. They have tied their action to the actions of their kings and now they're receiving the fate of their kings in the exile. Yeah. So 168, you know, we're just working down through the reign of Asah through these northern kings. 168 in the 26 year of Asah, king of Judah, Ila, the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel
in Tearsah and he reigns two years. But his servant, Zimri, commander of half his chariots conspired against him. When he was at Tearsah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Aza, who was over the household at Tearsah, Zimri came in and struck him down and killed him. So, you know, Baasha murders the sitting king and then his son begins to reign and somebody else comes in and murders him and sets himself up as king. Yeah. So it's just that it's an ongoing disaster.
And this guy's super short-lived. That's right. That's right. Okay. So I'm appreciating, I'm beginning to appreciate more than I did upon studying for this episode, this sort of cascading similarities of these negative assessments and, you know, same, especially your comment about how the dynastic line in the north is sort of almost hilariously switching. It's like a keep-away game. It's like, they're just like, it's keeps switching who's grabbing the attention of the crowd.
And so, Zimri kills... I don't know why I'm going to get that name. Yeah, Zimri kills Ila. And then Zimri, he gets a week. He doesn't even... Well, but in that week, I mean, look what he does in 1611, when he began to reign as soon as he had seated himself on his throne, he struck down all the house of Beisha. He did not leave him a single male of his relatives or his friends, which is
I want to get a fulfillment of basically the Lord's prophecy, which is what he's about to say. Look, look at 1612, thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Beisha according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke against Beisha by J. Huthu Prophet. So the author of Kings is like, hey, this is exactly what the Lord said was going to happen. Zimri reigns for a week. He gets killed by Omri. Yeah. Just another murderer who decides I'm going to be King. Yeah. And the way to be King
is to murder the sitting King. I mean, you want to... I mean, at this point, like, what do you want to do, Jim? Do you want to just read 15 down to the end? Sure. Okay. Sure. So in the 27th year of Asa, King of Judah, Zimri reigns seven days in Tearsah. Again, the guy who just killed the drunk King. That's right. Right. Now, the troops were in camp against Ghibathon, which belonged to the Philistines and the troops who were in camp heard it said, Zimri has conspired and he has killed
the King. Therefore, all Israel made Omri the commander of the army, King over Israel that day in the camp. Talk about a no vote of no confidence. Oh, man. No thanks. That's we're going to pick somebody else. Yeah. Verse 17. So Omri went up from Ghibathon and all Israel with him and they besieged Tearsah. And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the King's house and burned the King's house over him with fire and died. I think that had to inspire
J. R. Or talking that he killed himself. Yeah. He set the house on fire and brought it down upon his own head. Yeah. Well, pardon, Tolkien. The the the the the steward, the steward of Gondor. Yeah. Set himself on fire and Dennis, the steward of Gondor. Yeah. Have you not seen Lord of the Rings? Is this one of those weird allies? I have actually know it's not because it's popular. No, no, no, no, you refuse to watch it. I dismiss that characterization.
I haven't seen the movies in about two decades though. Okay. I would like to see them again. For the big screen. So if you're listening and you have access to that, make it happen. Well, there's there's this thing called flashback cinema. Yeah. And they're doing they're doing the like 6 p.m. showing. Yeah, that's true for me. But they're doing the Lord of the Rings this year. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. Yeah. That's okay. So he he Zimri's like, oh yeah, I'm going to die.
Like yeah, I'm out. Yep. Omnib is going to kill me. So he kills himself. And then 1621, then the people of Israel were divided into two parts. So it's almost like the civil war that is split it in the north and south is now. Yeah. Replicating itself in the north. Yeah. So true. Half the people followed Tibne the son of Ginoff to make him king and half followed Omri. But the people who followed Omri overcame the people who followed Tibne the son of Ginoff.
So Timdi died and Omri became king. And this all took place verse 23 in the 31st year of Asa, King of Judah. So there's just chaos going on. So Asa is imperfectly plotting along doing the best he can. He's a good king. Holy devoted to the Lord, but not perfect. Chaos reigns in the north. That's right. Okay. Keep going. Verse 24. Okay. I mean, the middle of okay, verse 24. Speaking of Omri, he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemaer for two talents of silver and he fortified the hill
and called the name of the city that he built Samaria. I think at that point, the capital of the northern kingdom switches from Teersah to Samaria. And this is this is relevant because there's a positive reference to Teersah in the song of songs. And it's one of the things that you know, conservative scholars will look to and they'll say they probably wouldn't refer positively to
Teersah after the kingdom was split in two. So this probably sets the song of songs during the reign of Solomon, the writing of the song of songs during the reign of Solomon, I mean, which the book says the song of songs, which is Solomon's, but you know, biblical scholars being what they are, they're a bunch of them are like, oh, well, no way Solomon. Of course, Solomon didn't write that.
He had had been written much later, but it seems unlikely that you would have a positive reference to Teersah, which becomes the capital of the north, you know, after the split in the north and south. And Samaria, is that that shows up importantly in the New Testament, right? Yes, that's right. That's right. So, you know, where we're going is the northern kingdom is going to be exiled. And then the the king that defeats it is going to repopulate it with non-Israelites.
And then there's going to have you're going to have all this inner marriage and inner meangling of these foreigners with remaining Israelites in the northern kingdom. And they're going to, they're going to have us a sort of knockoff version of Judaism that's often referred to as Samaritan
Judaism. And then Jesus, and for that reason, the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans, as John says and John four, because they're, they're, you know, not polygamists, synchrotists, you know, they've got this mixed up religion and they've got kind of their own version of things. And Jesus is going to affirm the way that things are done down in Jerusalem, even as he interacts positively with and brings a message to salvation to the Samaritans. Yeah, has compassion, not
condemnation, that's right. Just simply because where she's from. That's right. Yeah. So, this is like the very, very first seeds of that of that division, I suppose. Yeah. Yeah. Guys, the Bible's one big book, you know, that it is fascinating. Cool. Yeah. So then Omri Sun in 1629, Ahab comes to power and it's Ahab that's going to be in power during the reign,
or during the prophetic ministry of Elijah. And so I think in a way, what the author is trying to do is show us the torturous path to the reign of Ahab so that he can introduce the ministries of Elijah and the Lasha. Yeah. And I mean, the concluding 29 to 34 of chapter 16 really does kind of just set the table, introduce all the characters and their wicked ways, which is going to persist for from what 17 to second kings four or seven somewhere through there. Yeah.
It sets the table for what's about to happen, but it really is a tell us and an end goal as it were for this story of these kings and the changing dynasties and the turmoil. What we see here is a couple of things. Verse 31, Jezebel the daughter of F. Baal king of the Sidoanians. She served Baal and worshiped him and she erects altars for Baal in the house of Baal,
which he built in Samaria. So this is an intensifying of the idolatry in Israel. It's also, you know, you have this this line in verse 30, Ahab the son of Amri did evil inside of the Lord more than all who were before him. So this is this is a climactic passage in the sense that things things are getting things are worse now than they've ever been. You thought you thought the last six stories were bad. You just wait until you hear about Ahab. Also here in the final
verse of the chapter in his days, Hyal of Bethel built Jericho. He and the idea here I think is that Ahab is making this possible for Hyal to be able to do this. He laid its foundation at the cost of a bairam, his firstborn son, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segoube. So perhaps this is, you know, he's sending out his sons to secure the city and they're dying in war. Maybe he's offering his sons a sacrifices to false gods in order to appease the
gods or whatever for for the sake of the city. According to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua, the son of none. So this is recalling the rebuilding Jericho. This is recalling Joshua 626. The author of King's Love to point out scriptural fulfillment. The fulfillment of the word Lord. I didn't even catch any of what you're about to say as I was reading. It's a great example of just your mind kind of just going to the end of the chapter. Joshua 626 Joshua laid an oath
on this. So this is after they destroyed Jericho. Joshua laid it after they set up the monuments and right. So they set up the altar on the other side of the Jordan and then they marched around Jericho and the Lord destroys the city for them. Joshua laid an oath on them at that time saying cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city Jericho at the cost of his firstborn. Shall he lay its foundation at the cost of his youngest son, Shelley set up its gates.
So this is this is the fulfillment of that prophecy in Joshua and the record of what's going on here is signifying that these people are under God's curse. This is not what you should have if you were meditating on the law of the Lord day and night and you knew your your history, you would not be rebuilding Jericho. You're bringing yourself under God's condemnation. So think
about this. You have you have Israel comes in destroys Jericho and then we have a history that ultimately ends in Solomon building a temple where the Lord places his name and you have the worship of Yahweh. Now in what a couple of chapters, Israel has regressed to where Jericho has been rebuilt under the reign of a king whose wife is installing centers for the worship of Bale. So it's as if these kings of Israel are recanenizing the land of Israel and the conquest is turning
in on itself. Time has rolled backwards. Now we are as it were back to the place where the Canaanites are in charge and Jericho is one of the main cities here in the land. Also really interestingly, verse 29 top that you really want to keep talking. Yeah, this is just a fun little fact. In verse 29 in the 38th year of Asah, king of Judah, Ahab the son of Amri. So Ahab is seventh in line from from Jeroboam and interestingly, second kings, second kings, 827.
In that passage, we're talking about the kings of Judah in the 20 in the 12th year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah, the son of Jehorim, king of Judah began to reign. Ahaziah was 22 years old when he began to reign. Any reign, one year in Jerusalem, his mother's name was Atholiah, she was the granddaughter of Amri, king of Israel. He, that is Ahaziah, the king of Judah, walked in the way of the house of Ahab. So ordinarily in the northern kingdom, kings are
compared to Jeroboam. Now in the southern kingdom, you have a king that's being compared to Ahab. So what it's showing is Judah's disintegration. Judah eventually gets a king like this wicked king Ahab and and just as Ahab is seventh in line from Jeroboam, this king Ahaziah is seventh in line from Rehabom. So the seventh king in Israel is Ahab and then the seventh king in Judah is a man just like Ahab. I'm good. I'm good. Well done Sam. Thanks. I'm grateful for you. Well, Jim carried
the episode. I just made some fun comments at the end. I did all right too. I'd say like one for three with a blue single. You carry all the episodes out. You made a lot of great plays in the field. Amen. Guys, thank you so much. Thank you for listening. Always remember Psalm 111, verse 2, great are the works of the Lord studied by all who delight in them. For more articles, books and podcasts, please visit 9marks.org.