I Kings 16: Easy Come, Easy Go?

While good King Asa of Judah enjoys his 41-year reign in Jerusalem, a succession of kings - and even entire dynastic families - come and go in neighboring Israel.

When Asa, who was the great-great-grandson of David, ascended to the throne (approximately 911 BC), Jeroboam was still king over Israel.  Jeroboam was the original ruler who broke the northern half of the kingdom away from Solomon's son Rehoboam.  Asa than watched as Jeroboam's son Nadab took over for his father and reigned two years.  Following his brief rule, the house of Jeroboam was done away with completely by Baasha, who instituted a royal family of his own.

 Baasha ruled Israel for 24 years (just over half of Asa's length of rule!).  When Baasha died, his son Elah ascended to the throne.  Evil like his father, his reign lasted just two years.  A servant of his, Zimri, killed him while he was drunk.  In fulfillment of prophecy, Zimri then killed every single relative of his, putting an end to the house of Baasha, as Baasha had done earlier to Jeroboam's family.

Zimri might have saved himself his trouble.  While his reign is considered the third line to rule Israel, he only held onto the throne for a week!  His was a case of "easy come, easy go."  Upon hearing the news of the coup against Elah, Omri, commander of the army, took his troops to war against Zimri.  When successful, Omri became king, starting the FOURTH family to rule over Israel.  Meanwhile, Asa was still king over Judah.

Omri lasted twelve years.  Half of that time he ruled from the city of Tirzah.  For the last six years, he transferred the capital to a city on a hill called Samaria.  Omri was evil, just like all the kings of Israel before him.  In fact, the Bible says that he "did more evil than all who were before him" (vs. 25).  Omri's rule passed to his son, Ahab, when he died.  Asa was in his 38th year.

Ahab is considered one of the worst kings of Israel.  What made him even worse than previous kings was his marrying Jezebel of the Sidonians who led him further astray.  He compounded his wickedness by erecting an altar for Baal and making a sacred pole.  "Ahab did more to provoke the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than had all the kings of Israel who were before him" (vs. 33).  That's no easy feat, but Ahab managed it.

As a footnote to this chapter, there is a prophetic throwback in verse 34.  During the reign of Ahab, the accursed city of Jericho was rebuilt.  It came at a heavy price: Hiel, its rebuilder, laid the foundation at the cost of his oldest son and set the gates at the cost of his youngest.  This had been prophesied by Joshua centuries earlier in Joshua 6:26.  (Jericho is definitely not a case of "easy come, easy go.")