1 Kings 15

1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam (Nebat's son), Abijam began to rule Judah.

2 He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.

3 He followed the sinful example his father had set and wasn't committed to the LORD his God as his ancestor David had been.

4 But for David's sake the LORD his God made Abijam a lamp in Jerusalem. He appointed David's descendant to rule after him and protected Jerusalem.

5 The LORD did this because David did what the LORD considered right: David never failed to do anything the LORD commanded him to do his entire life (except in the matter concerning Uriah the Hittite).

6 There was war between Abijam and Rehoboam throughout their lives.

7 Isn't everything else about Abijam--everything he did--written in the official records of the kings of Judah? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

8 Abijam lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. His son Asa succeeded him as king.

9 In Jeroboam's twentieth year as king of Israel, Asa began to rule as king of Judah.

10 He ruled 41 years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was named Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.

11 Asa did what the LORD considered right, as his ancestor David had done.

12 He forced the male temple prostitutes out of the land and got rid of the idols his father had made.

13 He also removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she made a statue of the repulsive goddess Asherah. Asa cut the statue down and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

14 Although the illegal worship sites were not torn down, Asa remained committed to the LORD his entire life.

15 He brought into the LORD's temple the silver, the gold, and the utensils he and his father had set apart as holy.

16 There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel as long as they lived.

17 King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah to keep anyone from going to or coming from King Asa of Judah.

18 Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the LORD's temple and the royal palace and turned them over to his officials. King Asa sent them to Damascus to Aram's King Benhadad, son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion.

19 He said, "There's a treaty between you and me [as] there was between your father and my father. I'm sending you a present of silver and gold. Now break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone."

20 Benhadad did what King Asa requested. He sent his generals and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and the entire area around Chinneroth with the entire territory of Naphtali.

21 When Baasha heard the news, he stopped fortifying Ramah and lived in Tirzah.

22 Then King Asa drafted everyone in Judah and excused no one. He made them carry the stones and lumber from Ramah. Baasha had been using those to fortify the city. King Asa used the materials to fortify Geba in Benjamin and Mizpah.

23 Isn't everything else about Asa--all his heroic acts, everything he did, and the cities he fortified--written in the official records of the kings of Judah? But when he was old, he had a foot disease.

24 Asa lay down in death with his ancestors. He was buried with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor, David. His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.

25 Nadab, son of Jeroboam, began to rule Israel in Asa's second year as king of Judah. He ruled for two years.

26 He did what the LORD considered evil, living as his father did, leading Israel into the same sins.

27 Then Baasha, son of Ahijah from the tribe of Issachar, plotted against Nadab. Baasha assassinated him in the Philistine city of Gibbethon while Nadab and the Israelite forces were attacking it.

28 The assassination happened in Asa's third year as king of Judah. Baasha succeeded Nadab as king of Israel.

29 As soon as he was king, he killed everyone else in Jeroboam's family. He did not spare a soul, as the LORD had spoken through his servant Ahijah from Shiloh.

30 This was because of Jeroboam's sins and the sins which he led Israel to commit. Those sins made the LORD God of Israel furious.

31 Isn't everything else about Nadab--everything he did--written in the official records of the kings of Israel?

32 There was war between Asa and Baasha as long as they lived.

33 In Asa's third year as king of Judah, Baasha, son of Ahijah, began to rule Israel in Tirzah. He ruled for 24 years.

34 He did what the LORD considered evil. He lived like Jeroboam and led Israel into committing the [same] sins.

1 Kings 15 Commentary

Chapter 15

Wicked reign of Abijam, king of Judah. (1-8) Good reign of Asa, king of Judah. (9-24) The evil reigns of Nadab and Baasha in Israel. (25-34)

Verses 1-8 Abijam's heart was not perfect with the Lord his God; he wanted sincerity; he began well, but he fell off, and walked in all the sins of his father, following his bad example, though he had seen the bad consequences of it. David's family was continued as a lamp in Jerusalem, to maintain the true worship of God there, when the light of Divine truth was extinguished in all other places. The Lord has still taken care of his cause, while those who ought to have been serviceable thereto have lived and perished in their sins. The Son of David will still continue a light to his church, to establish it in truth and righteousness to the end of time. There are two kinds of fulfilling the law, one legal, the other by the gospel. Legal is, when men do all things required in the law, and that by themselves. None ever thus fulfilled the law but Christ, and Adam before his fall. The gospel manner of fulfilling the law is, to believe in Christ who fulfilled the law for us, and to endeavour in the whole man to obey God in all his precepts. And this is accepted of God, as to all those that are in Christ. Thus David and others are said to fulfil the law.

Verses 9-24 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That is right indeed which is so in God's eyes. Asa's times were times of reformation. He removed that which was evil; there reformation begins, and a great deal he found to do. When Asa found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence. Reformation must begin at home. Asa honours and respects his mother; he loves her well, but he loves God better. Those that have power are happy when thus they have hearts to use it well. We must not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well; not only cast away the idols of our iniquity, but dedicate ourselves and our all to God's honour and glory. Asa was cordially devoted to the service of God, his sins not arising from presumption. But his league with Benhadad arose from unbelief. Even true believers find it hard, in times of urgent danger, to trust in the Lord with all their heart. Unbelief makes way for carnal policy, and thus for one sin after another. Unbelief has often led Christians to call in the help of the Lord's enemies in their contests with their brethren; and some who once shone brightly, have thus been covered with a dark cloud towards the end of their days.

Verses 25-34 During the single reign of Asa in Judah, the government of Israel was in six or seven different hands. Observe the ruin of the family of Jeroboam; no word of God shall fall to the ground. Divine threatenings are not designed merely to terrify. Ungodly men execute the just judgments of God upon each other. But in the midst of dreadful sins and this apparent confusion, the Lord carries on his own plan: when it is fully completed, the glorious justice, wisdom, truth, and mercy therein displayed, shall be admired and adored through all the ages of eternity.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 15

In this chapter we have a short history of the reign of Abijam, 1Ki 15:1-8 and of Asa, 1Ki 14:9-24, both kings of Judah; and of the reigns of Nadab the son of Jeroboam, and of Baasha, who destroyed his family, both kings of Israel, 1Ki 15:25-34.