History – 1 Kings 14-18

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Today we are starting on a journey through the history of Israel, looking at the kings of both the Northern (Israel) and the Southern (Judah) kingdoms. The chart above gives us a quick glance at the 4 chapters we are reading today, of the kings of Israel and Judah, with the year in which they reigned and their durations.

Bible Passage: 1 Kings 14 to 18

Throughout the records of the kings of both kingdoms, there are 2 common phrases that are frequently used, “And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.”, and also, “They did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.”

The summary of each chapter for today may be as follows:

Chapter 14: Abijah the son of Jeroboam was sick, and Jeroboam got his wife disguised as another woman and sent her to Shiloh to inquire of the Lord through Prophet Ahijah regarding his son. The Lord knew Jeroboam’s plan and told Prophet Ahijah about it before Jeroboam’s wife came to the him. God prophesied against Jeroboam and also that his son Abijah would die of the sickness. Abijah indeed died when his mother stepped into the threshold of the house.

Over in Israel, the people continued to do evil in the eyes of God. They built high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree. They did all the abominations according to what the people whom God hated had done. Then God allowed the king of Egypt to attack Israel and plundered all the treasures in the house of the Lord and the king’s house. There was also no peace between Israel and Judah, they had wars continually within the days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

Chapter 15: After the death of Rehoboam, his son Abijam became king in Judah. His heart was not loyal to God and he did evil in the sight of God. War continued between Israel and Judah during Abijam’s reign. After his death, his son Asa became king, and he was loyal to God and did right in the eyes of God. He banished those perverted persons, ie. those that practiced sodomy and prostitution under the cloak of religion, but he did not remove the high places. He even removed his grandmother from being queen mother as she worshiped Asherah. During Asa’s reign, Baasha was king in Israel, and there was war between them. Baasha came up to Judah and fortified Ramah so that he could control the trade route to Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, so Asa seek the help of Ben-Hadad, king of Syria by forging an alliance with him using all the gold and silver that were left in the house of the Lord and the king’s house. Due to the prowess of the alliance, Baasha withdrew from Ramah and Asa used all the building materials that were left behind at Ramah to build Geba and Mizpah.

Before Baasha became king, Nadab, son of Jeroboam was king, but Baasha conspired and killed him and took over his throne over Israel. Baasha then annihilated the whole house of Jeroboam according to the prophecy of God. Nadab was like his father, who did abominable things in the sight of God.

Chapter 16: Baasha was not loyal to God, he provoked the Lord to anger with all his evil deeds, so God sent Prophet Jehu to prophesy against Baasha that he and his household would have the same fate as the house of Jeroboam. After Baasah died, his son Elah succeeded his throne. But he only reigned for 2 years in Israel, because Zimri, Elah’s commander of half his chariots murdered him while he was drunk, then Zimri took over the throne. As soon as Zimri began to reign, he killed all the household of Baasha according to what Prophet Jehu had prophesied.

When Zimri was on the throne for only 7 days, the army of Israel (still under the command of king Elah) heard that Zimri had killed their king, they made Omri, the commander their king, and they went up and besieged Tirzah where Zimri was. Zimri knew he could not fight against the army under Omri, so he committed suicide by burning the king’s house with him in it.

Within the people of Israel, they were divided to choose who their king should be. Half of the people favored Omri and half, Tibni. But those who followed Omri overpowered Tibni’s, so Omri reigned over Israel. He bought the hill from Shemer and built a city which he named Samaria, and he reigned over Israel from that city. Omri did evil in the sight of God, even worse than all the kings who were before him.

After the death of Omri, his son Ahab succeeded his throne. In him, there was no God, for he served and worshiped Baal and he built altars and temples for him. In this chapter we see a prophecy that came to past from the time of Joshua (Joshua 6:26). This prophecy came with a curse about the one who rebuilt Jericho which was laid waste by God, would have to lay its foundation with his firstborn, and the gates with his youngest.

Chapter 17: God sent Prophet Elijah to proclaim a severe drought on the land to Ahab, and Elijah was also told to go into hiding by the Brook Cherith. Elijah did so and drank from the brook while ravens brought food to him, until the brook dried up, he was told by God to go dwell at Zarephath with a widow who would provide his daily needs.

When Elijah reached Zarephath, he met the widow who planned to prepare a last meal for her son and herself before they die. Elijah insisted that she should bring food for him, and he assured that there would be enough to feed both herself and her son according to the word of the Lord. A miracle happened that the flour did not use up and the oil did not run dry in the widow’s house. Later it happened that the son of the widow died of a sickness, but through the prayer of Elijah, he was revived back to life.

Chapter 18: God again sent Elijah to speak to King Ahab that He would send rain. The wife of Ahab, Jezebel, being a worshiper of Baal, she had 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah; she massacred the prophets of the Lord, but Ahab’s housekeeper, who was a worshiper of the True God, hid 100 of the prophets in caves.

Elijah came to challenge the false prophets so that the people can know for themselves who was their true God. At Mount Carmel, 2 bulls were prepared as sacrifices, 1 for Baal’s prophets and 1 for Elijah, and whoever was able to call upon their god to burn up the sacrifice, that became a prove of who is serving the true God. The prophets of Baal called out to Baal from morning till noon, they even cut themselves till they bled, but there was no fire from Baal to consume their sacrifice. But when it came to Elijah’s turn, He called on the name of the Lord, and fire came down from the Lord to consume the sacrifice with the woods which were soaked wet with water, even the water in trenches around the altar was being licked up by the fire from God. The people saw with their own eyes what happened, then they realized their fault and under the command of Elijah, they executed the prophets of Baal at the Brook Kishon.

After the prophets of Baal were executed, Elijah went up to Mount Carmel to pray for rain. After awhile, a small cloud arose from the sea and he knew that there was a storm coming. He advised Ahab to return to Jezereel before the storm came. Ahab obeyed and he mounted his chariot and rode away, but Elijah was empowered by God to run ahead of Ahab’s chariots all the way back to Jezereel.

Reading through these 4 chapters, the first 3 chapters are filled with gloom. But when it comes to chapter 17 and 18, though Elijah appears abruptly, the atmosphere somehow brightens up a little, because we see the glory and victory brought about by God through Prophet Elijah amidst the dark and filthy condition of Baal worships.

There is nothing much that I can say about the continuous ungodly kings that came into successions, but one thing is for sure that we can realize, and that it is unwise, even to the extant of being foolish to disobey, disregard, and turn ones back against our God to do the dictates of the human heart. During the time of the kings, the Word of God was not readily available to the people. But in our era, do we have any excuses for not knowing the will of God? Do we have any excuses not to read the Bible and to draw near to God? The author of Hebrews reminds us in Hebrews 2: 2 – 4,

For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,

how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.

God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

We do not only have the Word of God readily available by our sides, we are also being blessed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Due to weaknesses of our flesh, we may forcefully go against the word of God just to satisfy our wants and desires. We all knew very well that this is wrong and can grief the Holy Spirit, therefore we have to forcefully go against our own selfish will. I believe we have all heard the saying, “The greatest enemy is ourselves”, and indeed it is very true. Paul also confessed in the book of Romans that in him there were wars between his flesh and the Laws of God. But Paul admonished us to submit to the Holy Spirit so we can be freed from the subjection of our sinful flesh. So we need to put in a lot of effort in our spiritual nurture.

Elijah being brought into the time of the kings tells us of the heart of God. “Elijah” means “The Lord is my God”, God desired that the people could return to Him through the message presented by Elijah.

The challenge on Mount Carmel is truly amazing, and another word that I can use to describe is simply “AWESOME”! There is nothing, absolutely nothing that is too hard for God to accomplish. Through Elijah’s experience, we can also be assured that God would never leave His faithful servants; and do not forget the 100 prophets whom God protected and hid in the caves through Obadiah.

When God came as Jesus on earth, His doings never fail to amaze us, healing the sick, causing the blind to see again, casting out demons, calming the storm, the list can go on. He is awesome yesterday, today, and forever. Today, I believe many of us have experienced God’s love and power in one way or another. As for me, whenever I sit down and ponder over God’s love and the things He had done for me, they make me prostrate in awe towards Him, and I can not stop praising Him.

This reminds me of this beautiful song, one of my favorites, “Awesome God”. No king can reign like our King and Lord, He reigns from above, with wisdom, power and love.