1 Kings 15:25

JEROBOAM WAS SUCCEEDED BRIEFLY BY NADAB WHO WAS SLAIN BY BAASHA WHO TOOK HIS THRONE

"And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah; and he reigned over Israel two years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon. Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him and reigned in his stead. And it came to pass that, as soon as he was king, he smote all the house of Jeroboam: he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed until he had destroyed him; according to the saying of Jehovah, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite; for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and wherewith he made Israel to sin, because of his provocation wherewith he provoked Jehovah, the God of Israel, to anger."

This narrative, of course, takes us back almost to the beginning of the reign of Asa, filling us in with the record of what had been happening in Israel in the meanwhile.

"Gibbethon" (1 Kings 15:27). This place is supposed to be about 16 miles southeast of Joppa. At the time of this narrative, it belonged to the Philistines. In the times of Joshua, it was assigned to the Levites (Joshua 21:23).

Nothing is any more remarkable than the arrogant and stupid perversity of the kings of Israel, who could not have been ignorant of the fact that the families of preceding kings were mercilessly liquidated upon the direct commandment of God because of their idolatry in the worship of the calves, and of the fact that the succeeding king, in each case, became God's instrument of punishment and destruction. And yet, those succeeding kings took up and promoted the very same sinful idolatry for which God had destroyed their predecessors. Surely Satan himself must have blinded such men, whose ambition to reign as king appears to have been the sole motivation that prevented their return to the true worship of God in Jerusalem and to their allegiance to the house of David.

In those nine dynasties of Israel, as Keil noted, "It came to pass through the just judgment of God, that they all were executioners of one another in turn: Baasha was the executioner of the sons of Jeroboam; Zambri was the executioner of the sons of Baasha; and the executioner of Zambri was Omri."[7]