And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of
Issachar
A man of that tribe; but who he was, or his father, is nowhere
else said, very probably an officer in Nadab's army:
conspired against him;
laid a scheme to take away his life, and seize the kingdom:
and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon;
a city in the tribe of Dan, ( Joshua 19:44
)
which belongeth to the Philistines;
it was a city given to the Levites, ( Joshua 21:23
) and they being driven from it by Jeroboam, the Philistines
seized on it, or had heretofore made a conquest of it; and Nadab
was desirous of getting it out of their hands, and therefore
besieged it, as follows:
for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to
Gibbethon;
and while he was besieging it, Baasha took the opportunity to
slay him, where his carcass lay exposed to dogs, or fowls of the
air, and had no burial, as Ahijah predicted, ( 1 Kings
14:11 1 Kings
14:13 ) .
