1 Kings 15

1 Therefore in the eighteenth year of the realm of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam reigned upon Judah. (And so in the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign upon Judah.)
2 Three years he reigned in Jerusalem (He reigned for three years in Jerusalem); the name of his mother was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.
3 And he went in all the sins of his father, which he did before him; and his heart was not perfect with his Lord God, as the heart of David, his father, was perfect.
4 But for David, his Lord God gave to him a lantern in Jerusalem, that he should raise (up) his son after him, and that he should stand in Jerusalem; (But for David's sake, the Lord his God gave him a light, or a flame, in Jerusalem, so that he would raise up his son after him, and keep Jerusalem secure;)
5 for David had done rightfulness in the eyes of the Lord, and had not bowed [away] from all things that the Lord had commanded to him, in all the days of his life, except the word of Uriah (the) Hittite . (for David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned away from all the things that the Lord had commanded to him, in all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.)
6 Nevertheless battle was betwixt Abijam and Jeroboam, in all the time of his life. (And there was always battle between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, in all the time of Abijam's life.)
7 Soothly the residue of the words of Abijam, and all things that he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah? And battle was betwixt Abijam and Jeroboam (And there was always battle between Abijam and Jeroboam).
8 And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa, his son, reigned for him.
9 And Asa, king of Judah, reigned in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel; (And Asa, the king of Judah, began to reign in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, the king of Israel;)
10 and Asa reigned one and forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his (grand)mother was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.
11 And Asa did rightfulness in the sight of the Lord, as David, his father, did;
12 and he took away from the land men of women's conditions, and he purged all the filths of idols, which his fathers (had) made.
13 Furthermore and he removed Maachah, his (grand)mother, that she should not be princess in the solemn things of the idol Priapus, and in his maumet wood that she had hallowed; and he destroyed the den of him, and he brake the foulest simulacrum, and burnt it in the strand of Kidron; (And furthermore he removed Maachah, his grandmother, so that she would no longer be the queen mother, for she had erected an idol of Priapus in a grove, and worshipped it/for she had made an obscene idol for the worship of Asherah; and he broke up, and destroyed, that most foul idol, and burned it by the Kidron Stream/and burned it in the Kidron Gorge;)
14 soothly he did not (do) away the high things (but he did not do away the hill shrines); nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with his Lord God, in all his days.
15 And he brought into the house of the Lord those things, which his father had hallowed, and avowed, (the) silver, and gold, and vessels.
16 Forsooth battle was betwixt Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, in all the days of them.
17 And Baasha, king of Israel, went up into Judah, and builded Ramah, that no man of the part of Asa, king of Judah, might go out, either go in. (And Baasha, the king of Israel, went up to Judah, and fortified Ramah, so that no man of Asa, the king of Judah, could come in, or go out.)
18 Therefore Asa took all the silver and gold, that (were) left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king's house, and gave it into the hands of his servants; and he sent it to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, son of Hezion, the king of Syria, that dwelled in Damascus (who lived in Damascus), and said,
19 A bond of peace is betwixt me and thee, and betwixt my father and thy father, and therefore I sent to thee gifts, gold, and silver; and I ask, that thou come, and make void the bond of peace, that thou hast with Baasha, king of Israel, and that he go away from me. (There is a covenant between me and thee, and between my father and thy father, and so I sent gifts of gold and silver to thee; and I ask that thou come, and dissolve the covenant, that thou hast with Baasha, the king of Israel, so that then he shall go away from me.)
20 Benhadad assented to king Asa, and sent the princes of his host into the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel, the house of Maachah (and Abelbethmaachah), and all Cinneroth, that is, all the land of Naphtali.
21 And when Baasha had heard this thing, he left (off) to build Ramah, and turned again into Tirzah. (And when Baasha had heard of this thing, he stopped fortifying Ramah, and returned to Tirzah.)
22 Forsooth king Asa sent [a] message into all Judah, and said, No man be excused. And (so) they (all came, and) took (away) the stones of Ramah, and the trees thereof, by which Baasha had builded (it); and king Asa builded of the same stones and trees Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah. (And King Asa sent a message to all Judah, and said, No man shall be excused. And so they all came, and took away the stones, and the timber, from Ramah, with which Baasha had fortified it; and King Asa used these same stones and timber to fortify Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.)
23 Soothly the residue of all the words of Asa, and of all his strength, and all things that he did, and the cities which he builded, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of [the] kings of Judah? Nevertheless Asa had (an) ache in his feet, in the time of his eld (age).
24 And Asa slept with his fathers, and he was buried with them in the city of David, his father; and Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned for him.
25 Forsooth Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, reigned on Israel, in the second year of Asa, king of Judah; and he reigned on Israel two years. (And Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign upon Israel in the second year of Asa, the king of Judah; and he reigned upon Israel for two years.)
26 And he did that, that was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he went in the ways of his father, and in the sins of him, in which he made Israel to do sin.
27 And Baasha, the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, setted treason to him, and he smote him in Gibbethon , which is a city of Philistines; and Nadab and all Israel besieged Gibbethon. (And Baasha, the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, set treason for him, and he struck him down in Gibbethon, which is a city of the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel besieged Gibbethon.)
28 Therefore Baasha killed him, in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned for him.
29 And when he had reigned, he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not one man of his seed, till he did away him, by the word of the Lord, which he spake in the hand of his servant, Ahijah of Shiloh, a prophet, (And once he began to reign, he struck down all the house of Jeroboam; he left not one of his descendants, until he had done away all of them, by the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant, the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh,)
30 for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and in which he made Israel to do sin, and for the trespass, by which he wrathed the Lord God of Israel. (for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and in which he made Israel to do sin, and for the trespass by which he stirred the Lord God of Israel to anger.)
31 Soothly the residue of the words of Nadab, and all things which he wrought, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?
32 And battle was betwixt Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, in all the days of them. (And there was battle between Asa and Baasha, the king of Israel, in all their days.)
33 In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, reigned upon all Israel, in Tirzah, four and twenty years. (In the third year of Asa, the king of Judah, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, began to reign upon all Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years.)
34 And he did evil before the Lord, and he went in the ways of Jeroboam, and in his sins, by which he made Israel to do sin.

1 Kings 15 Commentary

Chapter 15

Wicked reign of Abijam, king of Judah. (1-8) Good reign of Asa, king of Judah. (9-24) The evil reigns of Nadab and Baasha in Israel. (25-34)

Verses 1-8 Abijam's heart was not perfect with the Lord his God; he wanted sincerity; he began well, but he fell off, and walked in all the sins of his father, following his bad example, though he had seen the bad consequences of it. David's family was continued as a lamp in Jerusalem, to maintain the true worship of God there, when the light of Divine truth was extinguished in all other places. The Lord has still taken care of his cause, while those who ought to have been serviceable thereto have lived and perished in their sins. The Son of David will still continue a light to his church, to establish it in truth and righteousness to the end of time. There are two kinds of fulfilling the law, one legal, the other by the gospel. Legal is, when men do all things required in the law, and that by themselves. None ever thus fulfilled the law but Christ, and Adam before his fall. The gospel manner of fulfilling the law is, to believe in Christ who fulfilled the law for us, and to endeavour in the whole man to obey God in all his precepts. And this is accepted of God, as to all those that are in Christ. Thus David and others are said to fulfil the law.

Verses 9-24 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That is right indeed which is so in God's eyes. Asa's times were times of reformation. He removed that which was evil; there reformation begins, and a great deal he found to do. When Asa found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence. Reformation must begin at home. Asa honours and respects his mother; he loves her well, but he loves God better. Those that have power are happy when thus they have hearts to use it well. We must not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well; not only cast away the idols of our iniquity, but dedicate ourselves and our all to God's honour and glory. Asa was cordially devoted to the service of God, his sins not arising from presumption. But his league with Benhadad arose from unbelief. Even true believers find it hard, in times of urgent danger, to trust in the Lord with all their heart. Unbelief makes way for carnal policy, and thus for one sin after another. Unbelief has often led Christians to call in the help of the Lord's enemies in their contests with their brethren; and some who once shone brightly, have thus been covered with a dark cloud towards the end of their days.

Verses 25-34 During the single reign of Asa in Judah, the government of Israel was in six or seven different hands. Observe the ruin of the family of Jeroboam; no word of God shall fall to the ground. Divine threatenings are not designed merely to terrify. Ungodly men execute the just judgments of God upon each other. But in the midst of dreadful sins and this apparent confusion, the Lord carries on his own plan: when it is fully completed, the glorious justice, wisdom, truth, and mercy therein displayed, shall be admired and adored through all the ages of eternity.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 15

In this chapter we have a short history of the reign of Abijam, 1Ki 15:1-8 and of Asa, 1Ki 14:9-24, both kings of Judah; and of the reigns of Nadab the son of Jeroboam, and of Baasha, who destroyed his family, both kings of Israel, 1Ki 15:25-34.

1 Kings 15 Commentaries

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.