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1 Kings Chapter 16

Verses 1-7

The ministry of “Jehu the son of Hanani” demonstrated God’s grace to His people. He consistently sent prophets to remind them of “the word of the LORD.”

God is not content to let His people experience His wrath without first warning them and calling them back to Him.

1 Kings 16:1 "Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,"

“Jehu the son of Hanani” (verses 7).

This Hanani may have been the prophet who warned Judah’s King Asa (2 Chron. 16:7-9).

Jehu, like Ahijah before him (14:7-16), delivered the LORD’s message of judgment to the king of Israel.

The pattern emerges in the book of Kings that the LORD used His prophets as a legitimate means by which to confront the sin of Israel’s kings.

He was also active in the reign of Jehoshaphat over Judah (2 Chron. 19:1-3).

He is credited with authoring a book dealing with the era of Jehoshaphat which was included in “The Books of the Kings of Israel.”

Jehu was a prophet of Judah.

His father, Hanani, was the seer who rebuked Asa.

Even though Jehu was a prophet of Judah, he spoke against Baasha here.

Verses 2-4

Baasha had angered the LORD by following the sinful paths of Jeroboam. Appropriately, he faced the same humiliating judgment Jeroboam had (14:10-11).

Though he waded through slaughter to his throne, he owed it to the permission of God, by whom all kings reign.

His judgment was that no long line of heirs would succeed him.

Instead, his family would be totally annihilated and their corpses shamefully scavenged by hungry dogs and birds.

1 Kings 16:2 "Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins;"

From a very low estate, and mean family.

"And made thee prince over my people Israel”:

As they were of right, and ought to have been; and though Baasha got the kingdom by treachery and murder, yet the translation of the kingdom to him was according to the appointment of God, and by his overruling providence.

And even his act of killing Nadab was a fulfilment of a prophecy of his.

And had he done it in obedience to the will of God, and in vengeance for his sin, would not have been blameworthy, since then he would have been an executioner of the justice of God.

"And thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins":

Committing and encouraging the same idolatrous practices, so very provoking to God.

For “prince” (spiritual leader; see the note on 14:7).

The LORD is speaking through Jehu.

It was the LORD who elevated Baasha to be king over the ten tribes of Israel.

This is a reprimand from the LORD, for the sinful lifestyle of Baasha.

Jeroboam followed after false gods and so has Baasha.

He and the people have angered God with their false gods.

1 Kings 16:3 "Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat."

By death, there shall be none of his family remaining in any branch of it. "And will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat":

Execute the same judgment on it, and in the same manner, their sins being alike.

He had killed the family of Jeroboam, and that is just what will happen to his family. There will be none left to carry on the name of Baasha.

God will see to that.

His family will die, as Jeroboam's house had died.

1 Kings 16:4 "Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth of his in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat."

They should not have burial, which is just the same that was threatened to and executed on Jeroboam's family (1 Kings 14:11).

This is just saying they will not have a proper burial.

Their carcases will be eaten by the dogs and the fowls.

1 Kings 16:5 "Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?"

As those of Jeroboam and Nadab were (1 Kings 14:19).

These records are mentioned several times in these lessons.

1 Kings 16:6 "So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah: and Elah his son reigned in his stead."

Or died, not a violent, but a natural death.

"And was buried in Tirzah; where was the royal palace of the kings of Israel. "And Elah his son reigned in his stead”:

Yet but a short time.

The prophecy that had been given by Jehu was not specifically for Baasha, but for his descendants.

Baasha was buried the usual way with his fathers.

1 Kings 16:7 "And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the

sight of the LORD, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed him."

This is here repeated, as Abarbanel thinks, because in the former prophecy the threatening was on account not of his own sin, but because he made Israel to sin.

But here it is because of his own evil works, as it follows.

"Even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam":

Worshipping the golden calves as they did.

"And because he killed him":

Either Jeroboam; for, according to Dr. Lightfoot, he was alive this year; rather Nadab the son of Jeroboam, who it is certain was slain by Baasha.

Though it may refer; as Abarbanel thinks; to the whole house of Jeroboam.

Though it was agreeable to the will of God, yet was not done by Baasha with any regard to it, but to gratify his malice and ambition, and therefore punishable for it.

We see in this, the reason for the LORD not allowing Baasha's descendants to live and carry on his name.

The most important reason was because of his idolatry.

The reason his family would be killed the way they were, is because he showed no mercy to the family of Jeroboam but killed men, women, and children.

We read that all who breathed of Jeroboam were killed.

Whatever a person sows, he will reap.

This was surely the case here.

Verses 8-14

“Elah … two years”:

886-885 B.C.

1 Kings 16:8 "In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years."

Not complete, for he died in the twenty seventh of Asa (1 Kings 16:10).

He reigned just the time that Nadab the son of Jeroboam did (1 Kings 15:25). Elah was like his father.

He was evil.

It appears that his reign was very short, just two years.

Verses 9-15

Like other kings in the ancient Near East, “Zimri” killed every one of his predecessor’s heirs, leaving no living rival to the throne.

Nonetheless, Zimri was only able to stay in power for “seven days”, the shortest rule in Israelite history.

1 Kings 16:9 "And his servant Zimri, captain of half [his] chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of [his] house in Tirzah."

His military chariots; there were two captains of them, and this was one of them.

So the Targum: “one of the two masters or captains of the chariots”.

"Conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of his house in Tirzah":

Who had the charge of his wine and other liquors, to which he was addicted beyond measure.

And this was a fit opportunity for Zimri to fall upon him, and slay him, when he was drunk, and off his guard.

And his army at the same time was besieging Gibbethon (1 Kings 16:15), so that there was a very great likeness in what befell the family of Baasha, to that of the family of Jeroboam.

For as the son of the one, and of the other, reigned but two years, so they were both slain by their servants, and both at a time when Gibbethon was besieged.

The Targum takes this Arza to be the temple of an idol so called, near the royal palace.

Elah was a drunkard. "Elah" means “oak”.

Zimri was a descendent of Saul through Jonathan.

Zimri perhaps, would try to take the throne back for his ancestor Saul.

Whether there was a conspiracy between Zimri and Arza to get Elah drunk and take his kingdom, we do not know.

He was not the leader that a king should be.

He is drunk and not even in the palace, but in a servant's home.

1 Kings 16:10 "And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead."

When in his drunken fit: and this was in the twenty seventh year of Asa; when Elah had not reigned two full years.

"And reigned in his stead”:

That is, Zimri; his reign was short indeed, but seven days (1 Kings 16:15). This is understandable, since Baasha killed Nadab to reign in his stead. Now we see Zimri killing Elah to become king.

1 Kings 16:11 "And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, [that] he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends."

“Friends”:

I.e., “relatives able to redeem” (compare Ruth 2:1).

Zimri not only killed Elah and his immediate sons, but all of the extended relatives of Baasha who could help his family.

This is simply saying that he killed all of the males in the family of Baasha. This again, is because Baasha killed all of the family of Jeroboam.

The only reason for killing his friends was because they might rise up against him.

1 Kings 16:12 "Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,"

That not only his posterity, but all any way related to him, should be cut off.

It seems to have been carried further, even to all that were in any connection with him in point of friendship (see 1 Kings 16:3).

Jehu had prophesied this, but it did not happen because Zimri was doing the will of the LORD. It happened and God knew that it would happen ahead of time.

It was not predestined, but foreknown.

1 Kings 16:13 "For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities."

The Hebrew word translated “idols” (here and in 16:26), is from the Hebrew word “vapor, breath,” implying that idols lack any lasting substance.

This is why some translations render the word in both verses as “worthless idols.” Elsewhere, scripture reveals that idolatry leads to emptiness and bondage (Judges 18:24, 31). The golden calves are spoken of here.

God was very angry about the worship of these calves.

The Ten Commandments are specific about not worshipping anything, except the One True God. God is jealous, and He will not permit worship of false gods.

The people, who do such things, have committed spiritual adultery.

1 Kings 16:14 "Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?"

(See 1 Kings 16:5).

Elah was evil all the days of his life.

His sins were part of the reason; he just reigned part of two years.

This book of chronicles is the same book we have been reading about, that was the record kept of the kings.

1 Kings 16:15 "In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah. And the people [were] encamped against Gibbethon, which [belonged] to the Philistines."

“Seven days”:

Zimri’s reign (885 B.C.), was the shortest of any king of Israel. “Gibbethon” (see note on 15:27).

Zimri reigned for just 7 days.

His only claim to fame was that he killed Elah and the entire family of Baasha. This all happened while they were at war with the Philistines at Gibbethon.

1 Kings 16:16 "And the people [that were] encamped heard say, Zimri hath conspired, and hath also slain the king: wherefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp."

“Omri”:

When the soldiers of Israel in the field heard of Elah’s death, they immediately acclaimed Omri, the commander of Israel’s army, as the new king.

Omri is the first “king” of the Third Dynasty in “Israel.”

The revolt of “Zimri” (verses 9-13), ended the Second Dynasty.

Omri and Tibni (verses 21-22), must be viewed as rivals to the throne, who never really secured the recognition of all Israel to establish a dynasty.

Omri was the commander of the armies of Elah.

The army did not accept Zimri as king and they proclaimed Omri king.

Omri pursues Zimri to kill him for murdering Elah.

We will find that Omri will be the evilest of all of Israel's kings.

1 Kings 16:17 "And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah."

He, and the army under him, broke up the siege of that place, and marched to Tirzah. Which, according to Bunting, were thirty six miles distant from each other.

And they besieged Tirzah; the royal city, in which Zimri was.

1 Kings 16:18 "And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king's house, and burnt the king's house over him with fire, and died,"

That Omri, and the army with him, had got into it, being a place not much fortified.

And Zimri not having force enough to defend it against such an army.

"That he went into the palace of the king's house": Into the innermost and most splendid, as well as the strongest part of it.

"And burnt the king's house over him with fire, and he died":

That he might not fall into the hands of his rival, who he might fear would use him ill, and that he might not enjoy the royal palace.

Though Kimchi thinks that Omri set fire to the palace, and burnt it over the head of Zimri, in which he perished.

And this sense the text will bear.

Tirzah was in the hill country, and that is why the statement "they went up" is given.

Zimri had fled to the inner part of the palace of the king's house, and set fire to the palace.

He burned to death in the fire.

When he realized that Omri would take the city he feared a cruel death, so he committed suicide. Zimri was evil and the cruel death he died, was because of the terrible sins he committed.

1 Kings 16:19 "For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin."

In the former part of his life, as well as now.

"In walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel sin”:

Worshipping the golden calves, which he might do while a captain of the chariots, and also since he usurped the crown, sacrificing to them by way of thanksgiving, for being in possession of the kingdom.

And though his reign was so short, he might give plain and strong intimations that he should continue the worship of idols.

There is very little to write, except the murders he committed.

It appears it was a very dangerous thing to be king of Israel.

It was even more dangerous to be a member of the family of the previous king. The Scripture above indicates that he too was promoting the worship of the calf.

1 Kings 16:20 "Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he wrought, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?"

What he did both before and after his usurpation, during the seven days he was king, and the manner of his conspiracy, and success in it.

The key word in the Scripture above is treason.

He was working for the king that he killed.

Verses 21-28

“Omri” Ruled the northern kingdom ca. 885-874 B.C.

1 Kings 16:21 "Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri."

“Tibni”:

The death of Zimri (verses 17-18), automatically placed the kingdom in Omri’s hands.

Half of the population, including the army, sided with Omri, but the other half backed Tibni.

Nothing further is known of Tibni, but he was strong enough to rival Omri for about 4 years (verse 15 with verse 23).

Perhaps this Tibni controlled a large number of the soldiers, and Omri controlled another group. We do see that the army was divided in its loyalty.

This seemed to be a time of great confusion.

The people had no idea who their next leader would be.

If you chose the wrong leader, you would probably be killed when the other king took over.

1 Kings 16:22 "But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned."

Very probably they had a battle, in which the latter were worsted.

"So Tibni died”:

In the battle.

"And Omri reigned": Took possession of the throne, his rival being slain.

Being commander of the army would give Omri quite an advantage.

He would have the most skilled fighters.

They would also have been better equipped for battle.

It appears this struggle went on for 4 years and finally Omri prevailed.

Verses 16:23

2 Kings 13:25:

This section is strategic in the book(s) of Kings and contains over one third of the total narrative of the book(s).

The coming of the dynasty of Omri to the kingship of Israel brought with it the introduction of Baal worship with official sanction in Israel 16:31-32).

Through intermarriage with the house of Omri, Baal worship penetrated into Judah and corrupted the line of David (2 Kings 8:18, 27), initiating a gigantic struggle before Baalism was officially eradicated in both Israel and Judah (2 Kings 9:14 - 12:21).

1 Kings 16:23 "In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah."

“Twelve years”:

Omri ruled 12 years (ca. 885-874 B.C.), from Asa’s 27th year (16:15) to Asa’s 38th year (verse 29).

This notice of his beginning to reign in Asa’s 31st year must be a reference to his sole rule.

All of the time that the ten tribes of Israel were changing from one king to the other because of their unfaithfulness to God, Asa reigned in Judah.

Omri reigned for a longer period than most of them.

The Scriptures indicate that he was the evilest of the rulers.

He built Samaria and made it his capital.

Omri was proclaimed king in the 27th year of the reign of Asa, and died in the 38th year of Asa's reign.

This means then, that he reigned parts of twelve years.

1 Kings 16:24 "And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria."

Omri’s most acclaimed achievement was his construction of a new capital city, “Samaria.” Situated along a chief commercial route, it was located on a hill that provided easy defense. Samaria remained Israel’s capital until Assyria plundered it in 722 B.C.

“Samaria”:

The hill of Samaria, named after its owner, Shemer, was located 7 miles northwest of Shechem and stood 300 feet high.

Though ringed by other mountains, it stood by itself so that attackers had to charge uphill from every side.

This new capital amounted to the northern equivalent of Jerusalem.

Its central location gave Israelites easy access to it.

Samaria was situated on a strategically located “hill.”

Militarily, its height made it easily defensible.

Politically, it enjoyed a central location in the northern kingdom.

Commercially, it commanded a spot overlooking the chief trading routes of the Esdraelon Plain. A talent of silver was believed to weigh 125 pounds.

This means then, that the land was purchased for 250 pounds of silver.

The palace had been burned by Elah so Omri picks out a new capital and builds there. The new capital is Samaria.

This capital, like many of the others, was built on a hill for safety.

1 Kings 16:25 "But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that [were] before him."

Both openly and publicly, as if it were in defiance of him. "And did worse than all that were before him":

Taking no warning by the judgments inflicted on them, which aggravated his sins.

Besides, he not only worshipped the calves, as the rest, and drew Israel by his example into the same, as they did.

But he published edicts and decrees, obliging them to worship them, forbidding them to go to Jerusalem.

Called "the statutes of Omri" (Micah 6:16).

Calf worship had taken the place of the one True God.

The people were strictly forbidden to go to the temple in Jerusalem.

1 Kings 16:26 "For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities."

By worshipping the calves.

"To provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities”:

These, and whatsoever idols else were worshipped by him (see 1 Kings 16:13). Jeroboam had started the calf worship with the two golden calves.

Omri carried it even further than Jeroboam had done.

Jeroboam had mixed the worship of the LORD with the worship of the calves. Omri worshipped just the calves.

1 Kings 16:27 "Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he showed, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?"

“Omri” is dismissed quickly in the biblical account but is well known in extrabiblical literature.

The Moabite Stone records his conquest of the plains of Moab to the north of the Arnon River.

In the Assyrian annals, Israel becomes known as Bit Humria, “House of Omri,” from Omri’s time and afterward.

He also saw to the marriage of his son Ahab to the Phoenician princess Jezebel, daughter of the Sidonian king, again indicating some prominence for the dynasty that Omri established (verse 31).

1 Kings 16:28 "So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria: and Ahab his son reigned in his stead."

He died a natural death. "And was buried in Samaria":

The city he had built, and now the royal seat and metropolis of the kingdom. "And Ahab his son reigned in his stead":

Of whom much is said in the following history.

The Israelites were great record keepers, and these chronicles, that continue to be mentioned, verify that.

Omri was buried in the city of Samaria that he had built.

Ahab, his son, would be another of the very evil kings.

Omri had been the most evil up until his time, but Ahab was even more evil than Omri. "Ahab" means “uncle”.

Verses 16:29 - 22:40

“Ahab … twenty and two years” (ca. 874-853 B.C.; see notes on 2 Chron. 18:1-34).

1 Kings 16:29 "And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years."

At the latter end of it, the same year his father died (see 1 Kings 16:23).

"And Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years": The same number of years Jeroboam did (1 Kings 14:20).

The Jewish religion was at its very lowest ebb in Israel at the time that Ahab was king. He reigned 22 years.

Every year was terrible.

Asa was still king in Judah when Ahab began to reign.

He left his capital in Samaria that his father Omri had built.

1 Kings 16:30 "And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that [were] before him."

“Evil … above all that [were] before him”:

With Ahab, Israel’s spiritual decay reached its lowest point.

He was even worse that his father, Omri, who was more wicked than all before him (verse 25).

Ahab’s evil consisted of perpetuating all the sins of Jeroboam and promoting the worship of Baal in Israel (verse 31-32).

Of all Israel’s kings, Ahab outraged the LORD most (verse 33).

Verses 31-32 “Baal”:

Meaning “lord, husband, owner,” Baal was the predominant god in Canaanite religion. He was the storm god who provided the rain necessary for the fertility of the land.

The worship of Baal was widespread among the Canaanites with many local manifestations under various other titles.

The Tyrians calling him Baal Melqart.

The worship of Baal had infiltrated Israel long before the time of Ahab (Judges 2:11, 13; 3:7; 10:6, 10; 1 Sam. 12:10).

However, Ahab gave it official sanction in Samaria through building a temple for Baal (see 2 Kings 3:2).

As David had captured Jerusalem and his son Solomon had built a temple for the LORD there, so Omri established Samaria and his son Ahab built a temple for Baal there.

1 Kings 16:31 "And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him."

“Jezebel”:

The wretched wife of Ahab became symbolic of the evil of false religion (Rev. 2:20).

“Ethbaal”:

His name meant “Baal is alive.”

The father of Jezebel was the king of Phoenicia (including Tyre and Sidon) who had murdered his predecessor and, according to Josephus, was a priest of the gods Melqart and Astarte.

As in the case of Solomon, political state marriage was to have a disastrous effect for Israel (21:25).

Ahab’s reign was to bring Israel to its spiritual depths.

Jezebel’s name means “Where Is the Prince?” (Baal).

The worship of Baal became prominent during the rule of Ahab.

He was not only the most wicked ruler to this date, but he married the most wicked woman he could find.

The name Jezebel, even unto this day, is a symbol of the worst kind of woman.

"Jezebel" means “unmarried”.

Two strange meanings for her name are non-cohabited, or un-husbanded.

She had 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Astarte.

Her father was the king of the Zidonians.

She not only worshipped Baal herself, but caused Ahab to worship Baal also.

Verses 32-33

All of the ugliness and depravity of the Canaanite religious practices now enjoyed the official sanction of the Israelite crown along with the continued state religion of Jeroboam I (see the notes on Judges 2:11-15; 1 Kings 14:15).

1 Kings 16:32 "And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria."

That he might not go so far as Tyre or Zidon; and for his wife's convenience also he built a temple in Samaria for Baal, and erected an altar there to offer sacrifices upon it unto him.

So open and daring was he in his idolatrous practices.

This was even worse than the two golden calves.

The golden calves, in some twisted way, were thought to represent God.

In this building of the altar to Baal, there is no pretense.

This is worship of a false god.

1 Kings 16:33 "And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him."

About the temple of Baal or anywhere else, in which he placed an idol.

And where all manner of filthiness was secretly committed.

Or rather "Asherah", rendered "grove", is Astarte, the goddess of the Zidonians, an image of which Ahab made.

"And Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him":

His idolatries being more open and barefaced, and without any excuse, pretense, or color, as well as more numerous.

This had dropped to the lowest ebb that any had done up until this time.

This is in open opposition to God.

It was as if Ahab were deliberately trying to provoke the LORD.

1 Kings 16:34 "In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest [son] Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun."

“Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho”:

The re-fortification of Jericho was forbidden by God, who had supernaturally destroyed it.

But Joshua predicted that a man and his sons would violate God’s restriction (see note on Joshua 6:26).

Two of Hiel’s sons died when they sought to assist him to fortify the city.

The rebuilding of “Jericho” was done in the face of Joshua’s long-standing curse and prophetic declaration (Joshua 6:26-27).

Ahab’s granting of permission to build Jericho is further evidence of his basic disregard for spiritual things.

Whether Hiel’s sons were killed in the building activities or were sacrifices as foundation offerings, a well-known ancient Near Eastern practice, “Hiel” paid a high price for disregarding Joshua’s curse.

Which forbade the rebuilding of Jericho as a fortified city (Josh. 6:26-27 with Josh. 18:21; Judges 3:13; 2 Sam. 10:5).

Hiel possibly knew of the warnings Joshua had spoken about this re-building, and was doing this in defiance.

Joshua 6:26 "And Joshua adjured [them] at that time, saying, Cursed [be] the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest [son] shall he set up the gates of it."

This means that his firstborn died because of the building of the foundation, and his son, Segub, died as they set up the gates.

God's word is true.

Whatever He says will be.

1 Kings Chapter 16 Questions

1.Who was Jehu?

2.Who did Jehu speak against?

3.Who is he directly speaking to in verses 1 and 2?

4.Why is the condemnation spoken on Baasha?

5.What will happen to his family?

6.What will happen to those that die in the city?

7.Where was Baasha buried?

8.Why were Baasha's descendants not allowed to live?

9.When did Elah begin to reign?

10.How long did he reign?

11.Who conspired against Elah?

12.What was Elah doing, when the uprising began?

13.What does "Elah" mean?

14.Baasha killed _________ to reign in his stead.

15.What was Zimri's first act as king?

16.What were the vanities in verse 13?

17.How long did Zimri reign?

18.Who rose up against Zimri?

19._______ was the commander of the armies of Elah.

20.What did Zimri do, when he saw the city was taken?

21.What was the only thing Zimri was known for?

22.Who opposed Omri?

23.What helped Omri to win power?

24.How long did Omri reign?

25.How much did Omri pay for the hill of Samaria?

26.What does a talent weigh?

27.What kind of king was Omri, in the sight of the LORD?

28.Where was Omri buried?

29.When did Ahab begin to reign?

30.Who did Ahab take to wife?

31.What became prominent during their reign?

32.What does "Jezebel" mean?

33.How many prophets of Baal did they have?

34.How was the worship of Baal worse than the calf worship?

35.What warning of Joshua did Hiel ignore, when he built Jericho?

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