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1 Kings 15 · a question people ask

Was Baasha doing the LORD's will when he struck the house of Jeroboam?

In the text

1 Kings 15 says what Baasha did and whose word it matched. Ahijah had told Jeroboam's wife, "Moreover the LORD will raise up a king for himself over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam" (14:14). Baasha "conspired against" Nadab and killed him (15:27-28), and "As soon as he was king, he struck all the house of Jeroboam" (15:29), "according to the saying of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite" (15:29), "for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and with which he made Israel to sin" (15:30). The chapter doesn't say that Baasha knew of that word or acted to keep it. The next chapter adds more. The LORD's word against Baasha, which came to Jehu the son of Hanani (16:1), begins, "Because I exalted you out of the dust and made you prince over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam" (16:2), and 16:7 says the LORD's word came against Baasha and his house "both because of all the evil that he did in the LORD’s sight… in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he struck him" (16:7). 1 Kings doesn't explain how 15:29 and 16:7 fit together, and these notes don't guess; chapter 16 comes back to 16:7.

The verses

“Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that you won’t be recognized as Jeroboam’s wife. Go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said that I would be king over this people.”
1 Kings 14:2 · World English Bible
“Moreover the LORD will raise up a king for himself over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is the day! What? Even now.”
1 Kings 14:14 · World English Bible
“The LORD’s word came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, “Because I exalted you out of the dust and made you prince over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins,”
1 Kings 16:1-2 · World English Bible
“Moreover the LORD’s word came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and against his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he struck him.”
1 Kings 16:7 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Kings 15

1 Kings 15: A lamp in Jerusalem

The Hebrew word for the lamp the LORD gave Abijam "for David’s sake" (15:4), nir, comes only four times in the Hebrew Bible, each time of the lamp for David (11:36; 2 Kings 8:19; 2 Chronicles 21:7). And each of the three times 1 Kings 15 says "made Israel to sin", the sin is Jeroboam's (15:26, 15:30, 15:34).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions