Episode 139: He left him not one that pisseth against a wall

1 Kings 15-16

Abijam wasn't perfect like David

15 ¹ Abijam became the king of Judah after his father Rehoboam died. ³ He was sinful like his father Rehoboam; his heart wasn't perfect like David's. ⁴ But for David's sake, God gave him a son, Asa.

⁵ (Everything that David did was right in God's eyes, except for the matter of Uriah.)

Asa was intolerant (but perfect in the eyes of the Lord)

^8-9 After Abijam died, his son Asa became king of Judah.

^11-12 Asa did what is right in God's eyes (like David did) by expelling sodomites and removing all the idols.

¹³ He removed his mother as queen for making an idol in a grove. Then he destroyed his mom's idol by burning it.

¹⁴ And although he didn't remove all the high places, his heart was perfect all his days.

Asa's war with Baasha

¹⁶ Asa (king of Judah) and Baasha (king of Israel) were always at war with each other.

^18-19 So Asa paid Benhadad, the king of Syria, to fight with him against Israel.

²⁰ Benhadad accepted Asa's offer and smote several cities in Israel.

Asa's foot disease

²³ When Asa was old, he had a foot disease. ²⁴ When he died, his son Jehoshaphat became king of Judah.

Nadab did evil in the sight of the Lord and Baasha killed him

²⁵ In the second year of Asa's reign over Judah, Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, became king of Israel.

²⁶ Nadab did evil in the sight of the Lord and made Israel sin.

²⁷ Baasha killed Nadab and became king of Israel.

Baasha kills Jeroboam's family (according to the word of the Lord)

²⁹ When Baasha became king he killed everyone in Jeroboam's family leaving nothing that breathed, according to the saying of the Lord through the prophet Ahijah.

³⁴ But Baasha, like Jeroboam, did evil in the sight of the Lord, and made Israel sin.

God tells Jehu that he will kill Baasha's family

16 ^1-7 The word of God came to the prophet Jehu, and said this about Baasha:

I'm going to kill Baasha's family and feed their bodies to the dogs (if they lived in the city) or the birds (if they were country folk) because Baasha did evil in my sight, made me angry, and killed Jeroboam's family.

Baasha's son Elah becomes king, and is killed by Zimri

^8-10 Baasha died and his son Elah became king of Israel. Elah's captain, Zimri, killed Elah while he was getting drunk, and thereby became king himself.

Zimri kills Baasha's family and friends

^11-13 As soon as Zimri began to reign, he killed everyone among Baasha's friends and family that pissed against a wall, according to the word of the Lord.

Zimri is king for a week. Then he burns to death.

¹⁵ Zimri was king of Israel for a week after killing king Elah. ¹⁶ But when the people heard that Zimri killed Elah, they made their captain Omri king. Omri and everyone in Israel attacked the city of Tizrah, where Zimri was living. ¹⁸ When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the king's palace and set it on fire. He died in the fire. ¹⁹ Zimri burned to death to punish him for doing evil in the sight of the Lord, behaving like Jeroboam, and causing Israel to sin.

Omri becomes king

²⁵ Omri was evil in the sight of the Lord and was the worst person that ever existed. ²⁶ He behaved like Jeroboam, made Israel sin, and made God angry.

After Omri dies, his son Ahab becomes king

²⁸ When Omri died, his son Ahab became king of Israel. ³⁰ Ahab was the worst person that ever existed. ³¹ He married Jezebel, worshipped Baal, and built an altar to Baal in Samaria. ³³ He did more to anger God than all the kings of Israel before him.