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One Kings Fifteen

by Dr. Henry M. Morris

(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)

1 Kings 15:1 Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah.

1 Kings 15:2 Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

daughter of Abishalom. Abishalom is an alternate form of Absalom. Thus Abijam, a great grandson of David through Solomon and Rehoboam was also his great grandson through Absalom and Maachah.

1 Kings 15:3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.

heart was not perfect. Although it is not mentioned here, Abijam did rebuke Jeroboam for his idolatry, and win a great military victory over him (2 Chronicles 13:3-17). In general however, his reign of three years was marked by further apostasy in Judah.

1 Kings 15:4 Nevertheless for David's sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem:

1 Kings 15:5 Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

1 Kings 15:6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

1 Kings 15:7 Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

1 Kings 15:8 And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 15:9 And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah.

1 Kings 15:10 And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

1 Kings 15:11 And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father.

that which was right. Despite the ungodly example of Solomon, Rehoboam and Abijam as well as the idolatry of his mother (1 Kings 15:13), Asa was a good king for the most part, trying to restore the true worship of Jehovah to the land. See also 2 Chronicles 14-16 for more details of the reforms and later failures of King Asa.

1 Kings 15:12 And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

1 Kings 15:13 And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron.

1 Kings 15:14 But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the LORD all his days.

1 Kings 15:15 And he brought in the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which himself had dedicated, into the house of the LORD, silver, and gold, and vessels.

1 Kings 15:16 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

1 Kings 15:17 And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

1 Kings 15:18 Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants: and king Asa sent them to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,

Ben-hadad. This is the first of three Ben-hadads mentioned in Scripture. See note on 1 Kings 20:1.

1 Kings 15:19 There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

1 Kings 15:20 So Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.

1 Kings 15:21 And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building of Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah.

1 Kings 15:22 Then king Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted: and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

1 Kings 15:23 The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.

1 Kings 15:24 And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 15:25 And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two years.

1 Kings 15:26 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.

1 Kings 15:27 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 laid siege to Gibbethon.

1 Kings 15:28 Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 15:29 And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite:

smote all the house. God had offered to build Jeroboam “a sure house” (1 Kings 11:38), in effect a long dynasty of his seed over Israel, but as it turned out—because of his gross rebellion against God's Word—his dynasty lasted only two years after he died (1 Kings 15:25, 29-30).

destroyed him. This utter destruction of Jeroboam and all his family (with the one exception of the child who had died before reaching an age of conscious sin—1 Kings 14:13), had been foretold by the prophet Ahijah (1 Kings 14:10-14), the very same prophet who had earlier called him to be king over Israel (1 Kings 11:29-39).

1 Kings 15:30 Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.

1 Kings 15:31 Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

1 Kings 15:32 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

1 Kings 15:33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, twenty and four years.

1 Kings 15:34 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.