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1 Kings 16

Israel’s kings change through bloodshed, yet their rebellion persists, and YHWH’s words of judgment come to pass.

The prophet Jehu announces YHWH’s judgment against Baasha for leading Israel into sin. After Baasha’s death, Zimri kills his son Elah and destroys his household, fulfilling that word. Zimri’s own reign lasts seven days before Omri’s forces take Tirzah. After a struggle for the throne, Omri rules and builds Samaria. His son Ahab exceeds the evil of earlier kings, establishing Baal worship. The account closes with Hiel rebuilding Jericho at the cost of his sons.

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1The LORD’s word came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,
2“Because I exalted you out of the dust and made you prince over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins,
3behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house; and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
4The dogs will eat Baasha’s descendants who die in the city; and he who dies of his in the field, the birds of the sky will eat.”
5Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
6Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah; and Elah his son reigned in his place.
7Moreover the LORD’s word came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and against his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he struck him.
8In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah for two years.
9His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah;
11When he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he attacked all the house of Baasha. He didn’t leave him a single one who urinates on a wall among his relatives or his friends.
12Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the LORD’s word which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,
13for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and with which they made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities.
14Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
15In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.
16The people who were encamped heard that Zimri had conspired, and had also killed the king. Therefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.
17Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah.
18When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the fortified part of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over him with fire, and died,
19for his sins which he sinned in doing that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did to make Israel to sin.
20Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he committed, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
21Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri.
23In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel for twelve years. He reigned six years in Tirzah.
24He bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.
25Omri did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and dealt wickedly above all who were before him.
26For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sins with which he made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities.
27Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he showed, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
29In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel. Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.
30Ahab the son of Omri did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight above all that were before him.
31As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.
32He raised up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
33Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did more yet to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
34In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho. He laid its foundation with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the LORD’s word, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.
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Key verses
1 Kings 16:31Ahab’s marriage to Jezebel and worship of Baal mark a further descent beyond the sins inherited from Jeroboam.
1 Kings 16:34Hiel’s losses at Jericho show that YHWH’s word through Joshua remains binding long after it was spoken.
1 Kings 16:9Elah’s drunkenness and Zimri’s conspiracy set the scene for the violent destruction of Baasha’s house foretold by Jehu.
Where this chapter reaches

Joshua records the warning about rebuilding Jericho that the closing verse identifies as fulfilled through Hiel’s loss of his sons. 2 Kings continues the account of Ahab’s house and Jezebel, carrying forward the linked themes of Baal worship, royal violence, and the fulfillment of prophetic judgment.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do the repeated judgments about leading Israel into sin show you about the weight of leadership?

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What stands out when you compare the kings’ brief reigns with the reach of YHWH’s word?

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Questions people ask about 1 Kings 16

Why was Ahab worse than the kings before him?

Ahab continued the sins associated with Jeroboam and went further by serving Baal. He married Jezebel, daughter of the Sidonian king, built a temple and altar for Baal in Samaria, and made the Asherah. The narrator measures his reign by the evil he did in YHWH’s sight.

Why did Hiel lose his sons when he rebuilt Jericho?

The account links the loss of Hiel’s firstborn at the foundation and his youngest son at the gates to YHWH’s word spoken through Joshua. It presents these deaths as fulfillment of that warning. The verse does not explain how the sons died or describe a ritual sacrifice.

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1 Kings · 22 chapters

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).