16:1 Jehu son of Hanani received from the Lord this message predicting Baasha’s downfall:
Jehu was a prophet. His father was Hanani. Hanani may have been the prophet who warned King Asa of Judah. The details of this prophecy were recorded in 2 Chronicles. At this time, Jehu the prophet warned King Baasha of Israel that his kingdom would fall.
16:2 “I raised you up from the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel. Yet you followed in Jeroboam’s footsteps and encouraged my people Israel to sin; their sins have made me angry.
Jehovah raised up Baasha from a servant to become the King of Israel. Instead of honoring the God who placed him in royal power, Baasha followed in the footsteps of the man whom he assassinated.
16:3 So I am ready to burn up Baasha and his family, and make your family like the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat.
Jehovah exterminated Jeroboam’s family for leading Israel into idolatry. King Baasha of Israel was to receive the same punishment.
16:4 Dogs will eat the members of Baasha’s family who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.”
Like Jeroboam’s family, Baasha’s family will not be buried. Their bodies will be left out in the open and eaten by scavengers.
16:5 The rest of the events of Baasha’s reign, including his accomplishments and successes, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.
The royal history of King Baasha was recorded in the uninspired secular “Annals of the Kings of Israel.” This book has been lost to this day.
16:6 Baasha passed away and was buried in Tirzah. His son Elah replaced him as king.
Elah, Baasha’s son, became the sixth king of Israel.
16:7 The prophet Jehu son of Hanani received from the Lord the message predicting the downfall of Baasha and his family because of all the evil Baasha had done in the sight of the Lord. His actions angered the Lord (including the way he had destroyed Jeroboam’s dynasty), so that his family ended up like Jeroboam’s.
King Baasha of Israel was only supposed to kill the male heirs of Jeroboam’s family. Instead, he killed the women and children as well. Jehovah judged him for these extra murders.
16:8 In the twenty-sixth year of King Asa’s reign over Judah, Baasha’s son Elah became king over Israel; he ruled in Tirzah for two years.
King Elah of Israel began his reign during the 26th year of King Asa’s reign over Judah. King Elah of Israel was coronated, knowing that prophets predicted a bloody death for him and his family. He only ruled for two years.
16:9 His servant Zimri, a commander of half of his chariot force, conspired against him. While Elah was drinking heavily at the house of Arza, who supervised the palace in Tirzah,
General Zimri conspired against King Elah of Israel. King Elah of Israel drank too much alcohol at a royal party, placing him in a vulnerable position.
16:10 Zimri came in and struck him dead. (This happened in the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah.) Zimri replaced Elah as king.
General Zimri killed his king and replaced him. Zimri became the fifth king of Israel.
16:11 When he became king and occupied the throne, he killed Baasha’s entire family. He did not spare any male belonging to him; he killed his relatives and his friends.
Like other pagan kings, King Zimri of Israel purged the house of Baasha.
16:12 Zimri destroyed Baasha’s entire family, just as the Lord had predicted to Baasha through Jehu the prophet.
This Baasha purging was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Jehu.
16:13 This happened because of all the sins which Baasha and his son Elah committed and which they made Israel commit. They angered the Lord God of Israel with their worthless idols.
Jehovah judged King Baasha for worshiping false gods in Israel.
16:14 The rest of the events of Elah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.
The history of King Elah was recorded in the uninspired secular “Annals of the Kings of Israel.” This book has been lost to this day.
16:15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Zimri became king over Israel; he ruled for seven days in Tirzah. Zimri’s revolt took place while the army was deployed in Gibbethon, which was in Philistine territory.
King Zimri of Israel only ruled for seven days.
16:16 While deployed there, the army received this report: “Zimri has conspired against the king and assassinated him.” So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day in the camp.
The people of Israel were not very happy about General Zimri assassinating the king and declaring himself as the new king. Therefore, the citizens of Israel made General Omri their king instead.
16:17 Omri and all Israel went up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah.
Omri attacked King Zimri at Tirzah.
16:18 When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he went into the fortified area of the royal palace. He set the palace on fire and died in the flames.
Zimri was losing the battle. He was about to be captured and executed. Therefore, he decided to set the palace on fire and burn in the flames.
16:19 This happened because of the sins he committed. He did evil in the sight of the Lord and followed in Jeroboam’s footsteps and encouraged Israel to continue sinning.
King Zimri was just as evil as the preceding kings of Israel.
16:20 The rest of the events of Zimri’s reign, including the details of his revolt, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.
The royal history of King Zimri was recorded in the “Annals of the Kings of Israel.” This was a non-inspired secular history book which has been lost to this day.
16:21 At that time the people of Israel were divided in their loyalties. Half the people supported Tibni son of Ginath and wanted to make him king; the other half supported Omri.
The citizens of Israel possessed divided loyalties on the selection of the new king. Half of Israel preferred Tibni, while the other half supported Omri.
16:22 Omri’s supporters were stronger than those who supported Tibni son of Ginath. Tibni died; Omri became king.
Omri’s supporters were stronger, so Tibni was defeated and killed. However, Tibni was very strong, because it took six years for Omri to defeat him. King Omri became the king of Israel.
16:23 In the thirty-first year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Omri became king over Israel. He ruled for twelve years, six of them in Tirzah.
King Omri of Israel ruled in Israel for six years. King Asa of Judah survived four Israelite kings.
16:24 He purchased the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver. He launched a construction project there and named the city he built after Shemer, the former owner of the hill of Samaria.
King Omri of Israel began construction projects in the hill country of Samaria. He built a new city there and named it “Shemer” after the former owner of the hill of Samaria. Samaria was located seven miles northwest of Shechem. The hill stood 300 ft. high. In order to attack Samaria, soldiers had to charge uphill from every direction. This new capital was very similar to Jerusalem in that it was easily defensible. It was located in the center of Israel for easy access.
Archaeologists have excavated the city of Samaria and found it to have been built by skilled craftsmen. This city dominated the north-south trade routes. Omri was the builder of Samaria. He was named on the famous Moabite Stone and other archaeological monuments. Assyrian inscriptions called it “the house of Omri.”
16:25 Omri did more evil in the sight of the Lord than all who were before him.
After six evil kings in Israel, Omri was the most evil of all of them.
16:26 He followed in the footsteps of Jeroboam son of Nebat and encouraged Israel to sin; they angered the Lord God of Israel with their worthless idols.
Omri was involved in idol worship, even more than the previous five kings of Israel.
16:27 The rest of the events of Omri’s reign, including his accomplishments and successes, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.
Omri was probably the strongest leader of Israel up to that time. He was able to protect Israel from Moab and other attackers. His victory was recorded on the famous Moabite Stone. He also made an alliance with the Phoenicians which brought the Princess Jezebel to Israel to marry his son Ahab. The history of King Omri was recorded in the “Annals of the Kings of Israel.” This was an uninspired secular book which has since been lost to this day.
16:28 Omri passed away and was buried in Samaria. His son Ahab replaced him as king.
Omri’s son, Ahab, became the seventh king of Israel.
16:29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Omri’s son Ahab became king over Israel. Ahab son of Omri ruled over Israel for twenty-two years in Samaria.
King Asa of Judah had now survived five Israelite kings. This means that some of King Asa’s reforms were keeping Judah in a more stable government environment. At the same time, Israel was ripe with assassinations and coups d’etat, mostly coming from the judgments of Jehovah upon evil Israelite kings.
16:30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the sight of the Lord than all who were before him.
King Ahab of Israel was even worse than his father Omri, who was the worst of the other five kings before him. At least the six other Israelite kings before Ahab made a pretense of serving Jehovah (such as syncretism with the golden calf).
16:31 As if following in the sinful footsteps of Jeroboam son of Nebat were not bad enough, he married Jezebel the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians. Then he worshiped and bowed to Baal.
King Ahab married Jezebel. Jezebel was a foreign wife from Tyre. Her father was Ethbaal, meaning“Baal is alive.” He was the king of Phoenicia. Phoenicia controlled the two sister seaports of Tyre and Sidon. According to Josephus, King Ethbaal murdered his predecessor and became a priest of the gods Baal and Astarte.
Baal means “lord, husband, or owner.” Baal was the main god of the Canaanites. He was the storm god who brought rain to keep the land agriculturally fertile. Those in Tyre called him Baal Melqart.
Jezebel was the daughter of a Baal king and priest, so she was an expert in this religion. She influenced her husband Ahab to bring Baalism into Israel.
The name Jezebel means “unmarried” or “without cohabitation.” The marriage of Ahab and Jezebel was not a romance, but a political marriage to secure peace between the borders of Tyre and Israel. Jezebel was a masculine woman with strong intellectual powers and a passion for evil. She was strong-willed with a dominant personality, but she had no godly morals. Her conscience was hardened. She was one of the most evil women in history. She attempted to corrupt the true religion of Jehovah and replace it with paganism.
16:32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal he had built in Samaria.
The worship of Baal had infiltrated Israel long before the time of Ahab, but Ahab made it the official religion of Israel. He even built a temple for Baal in Samaria. Samaria became the occultic capital of Israel, just as Jerusalem was the godly capital of Jerusalem.
16:33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole; he did more to anger the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
King Ahab of Israel also worshiped an erect male penis. Jehovah was more angry at Ahab that any other Israelite king in Israel.
16:34 During Ahab’s reign, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. Abiram, his firstborn son, died when he laid the foundation; Segub, his youngest son, died when he erected its gates, just as the Lord had warned through Joshua son of Nun.
After Joshua defeated Jericho, he predicted that a man would attempt to rebuild Jericho, but he would lose both of his sons. King Ahab and Jericho ignored this biblical curse as a defiance against Jehovah. Hiel attempted to rebuild and fortify the city. He lost both of his sons, possibly to Baal sacrifice or construction accidents.