I Kings 16 - 17

Chapter 16 opens with the appraisal of Baasha given by Jehu, a prophet. Jehu said, verses 3-6, “So I am about to consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam. . . Dogs will eat those belonging to Baasha who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. . . .and Elah his son succeeded him as king.” This prophecy is similar to that which was spoken against Jeroboam.

Baasha died and his son Elah, became king of Israel, but he only reigned for two years (verse 8). His reign was cut short when Zimri, one of his officials, assassinated him when Elah was drunk. And, as you might guess, Zimri went on a killing spree, wiping out all of Baasha’s family.

When the people of Israel heard what Zimri had done, they refused to accept him as king and so proclaimed Omri, the head of the army, as their king (verse 16). Omri laid siege to Tirzah. Zimri fled into the citadel of the royal palace and set the palace on fire around him (verse 18), choosing suicide over capture.

Omri solidified his reign only after four years of war with Tibni, another claimant to the throne (verse 21).

One commentator noticed that the elevation of both kings, Zimri and Omri gives no hint that God’s hand was in these events. No prophet was involved. No divine intervention is mentioned nor was there any hint of divine approval of what was happening.

Omri reigned for twelve years, six of them in Tirzah, the remaining six were in the new capital of Samaria (verses 23-24).

How was Omri’s reign characterized? Was he a good king who brought his people closer to God, or an evil one? Being a king of the northern Kingdom of Israel, you know that he, like all the others, followed in the footsteps of Jeroboam. Verse 25-26, “But Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord and sinned more than all those before him. He walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit, so that they provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols.”

Verse 28, “He rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria.

There is so little that we know for sure about Omri. We don’t know which tribe he was from. We don’t know the meaning, if any, of his name. What we do know is that he was a military commander before becoming the worse king of Israel up to his time and that he purchased land to make Samaria the new capital.

But Omri didn’t remain “The Worse King Ever” for long. He was succeeded by an even more evil king, his son Ahab (verse 28).

What kind of king was Ahab? From a secular perspective, Ahab was the first king of the Ten Tribes who was able to maintain a strong and stable government. Ahab established a closer relationship with Judah which put an end to the rivalry that had existed between them since the days of the great schism. This allowed him to better defend himself against other nations such as Syria.

This was also a time of prosperity, indicated by the fact that Ahab’s palace had inlays of ivory. (I Kings 22:39). Israel gained access to the Phoenician ports; Phoenicia gained passage through Israel’s central hill country to Transjordan and especially to the King’s Highway, the heavily traveled inland route connecting the Gulf of Aqaba in the south with Damascus in the north.

But from a spiritual perspective, he was among the worse kings. I Kings 16:30-31 “He did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians and began to serve Baal.”

He went even further. Verses 32-33, “He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. He also made an Asherah pole.” So defiant in his apostasy was he that Jewish tradition says that he inscribed on all the doors of the city of Samaria the words, "Ahab hath abjured (rejected) the living God of Israel." It’s as if Ahab tried to make Baal worship the new state religion.

Israel’s topography, customs and religion would certainly be very different from those of Jezebel’s native land. Instead of the lushness of the moist seacoast, she would find Israel to be an arid, desert nation. Perhaps she was very unhappy to have been sent off to this strange country. The least Ahab could do would be to provide her with a chapel to worship her gods in.

It appears to me that Ahab had little or no feelings of guilt when he sinned. He “considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam.” It’s as if his conscience was getting duller over time.

Paul refers several times to the conscience. As for his own conscience, unlike Ahab’s, he described it as “good” or “clear” (Acts 23:1; 24:16; 1 Cor. 4:4). This meant that his words and deeds were in line with God. He also recognized that Gentiles, who didn’t have the written Law of Moses have a conscience or the Law written on their hearts (Rom. 2:14-15). In other words, it’s as if all mankind is hardwired to know right from wrong.

One illustration of how all mankind has the law of God written on their hearts is found in the commonly held ethical teachings of the major religions. All the major religions, regardless of their time and place of origin teach the golden rule, love thy neighbor, honor your father and mother, speak the truth, it is more blessed to give than to receive. The common ethical teaching of religions such as Christianity (Israel), Judaism (Middle East), Islam (Saudi Arabia), Buddhism (India), Taoism (China), Jainism (India), Sikhism (India), and Confucianism (China), Shintoism (Japan), etc. indicates that all mankind has the law of God “written on their hearts.”

The Apostle Paul spoke of the possibility that the conscience can be hardened, “seared” or rendered insensitive as though it had been cauterized with a hot iron (1 Tim. 4:1-2).

We call people with seared consciences psychopaths. These people lack empathy towards others, are often pathological liars, arrogant, deceitful, have no feelings of guilt, are inclined to violence and morally depraved. Serial killers are often labeled as psychopaths.

How does this happen? Usually, it’s a gradual process. A career criminal might feel pangs of guilt when he first started to break the law. But over time, the conscience gets dulled or seared.

“He also married Jezebel daughter of the king of the Sidonians and began to serve Baal and worship him.” What do we know about Jezebel? She was from Sidon, a Phoenician city known for its opulence and wickedness along with the worship of Baal. Sidon is oftentimes mentioned with the twin city of Tyre. Sidon was the source of some of the building material for the temple (1 Chron. 22:4). Their people helped build the second temple in the time of Ezra (Ezra 3:7). Near Sidon was the city of Zarephath where a widow took care of Elijah, and the Lord provided her with oil and flour during a time of famine and where Elijah raised her dead son back to life (I Kings 17:8-24). In the New Testament crowds from these two cities came to hear Jesus (Mark 3:7-8) and Paul’s ship anchored there on his way to Rome (Acts 27:3).

During Ahab’s time, a man by the name of Hiel rebuilt Jericho (verse 34). But he paid a high price for his actions. He suffered a curse pronounced in Josh. 6:26, “At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son (Abiram) he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest (Segub) he will set up its gates.”

Hiel’s sons may have died by “accident” because of the curse or as has been documented, deliberately sacrificed when foundations were laid. Did Hiel know about the curse? Did he volunteer for this project or was conscripted to do it? If the sons were sacrificed, were they killed at the same time?

Why would there be a curse placed to prevent the reconstruction of permanently fortified city? Perhaps God wanted the walls and gates of Jericho to remain in ruins as a reminder that Israel had received the land of Canaan from God.

In Hiroshima Japan, the sight of the first atomic bomb explosion towards the end of WW 11, there is a building (picture below) which remains unbuilt. It’s part of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Like the walls of Jericho, it serves as a reminder of what happened there.