I Kings 15: Overlapping Reigns

As we read the accounts of the Old Testament rulers, it can be challenging to keep the various kings straight in our minds.  We are tracking two separate nations at this point (Israel in the north and Judah in the south) and the reigns of each ruler often overlap with others.  The biblical narrative switches back and forth to follow the story of both countries.

Some points that may be helpful to remember in this section:

The northern kingdom of Israel included ten tribes (what will become known as the "ten lost tribes" of Israel).  They rebelled against the southern kingdom of Judah and David's house.  Thus, in Israel, the throne is no longer held by descendants of David.  In fact, the family dynasties of the rulers change several times.  The kings are mostly uniformly evil and the people engage in idolatrous worship.  The northern kingdom will fall first, to the Assyrians.

The southern kingdom of Judah holds on longer, but it, too, will one day fall to the Babylonians and suffer exile.  In the meantime, there are a string of both good and bad kings, all descended from David, who rule from Jerusalem, which is also where the Temple is located.  The tribes under their rule are Judah and Benjamin.  Most of the prophetic books have to do with Judah.

In I Kings 15, we hear accounts of the reign of King Abijam of Judah (Rehoboam's son) who was an evil king and reigned for only three years and his son, Asa, who succeeded him and reigned for 41 years as a good king.  While Asa was not perfect (he allowed the high places where worship apart from the Temple was going on), "his heart was true to the Lord all his days" (vs. 14).  He even took steps against his own mother for her pagan ways.

Meanwhile, in Israel, Jeroboam's reign came to an end after 22 years, and he was succeeded by his son Nadab.  An evil king, his rule lasted only two years.  A man named Baasha overthrew Nadab, killed him and everyone in Jeroboam's household to start a new dynasty of his own.  Baasha, also an evil king, reigned for 24 years.

For the extent of their rules, Baasha and Asa were at war with one another.  Verses 17-22 tells of some of the strategies that the kings employed to try to best one another.