1 Kings 15

(1 Kings 15 is explained by 2 Chronicles 14, 15, 16, which is dealt with below.)

V. 1, now we come to the very confusing dates, for me anyway.

Both Jeroboam (over Israel) and Rehoboam (over Judah) reigned at the same time. Bot started at year one or at the death of Solomon, close to his death, anyway. 18 years after his death, his son, Rehoboam died, and his son, Abijam reigned over Judah. He not only was the grandson of Solomon, but also the grandson of Absalom. Absalom and Solomon were half brothers.

Abijam was no good, serving self and idols.

V. 9, Abijam died after only 2-3 years, and his son, Asa took over. Jeroboam had been over the ten tribes now for 20 years.

Asa reigned 41 years, longer than David or his son, Solomon, but there were some kings who reigned longer.

V. 11, Asa did right, but notice his standard, as did David his father. (Note the great great grandson of David is called a son of David. Thus, Scripture many times passes over several generations as though they were one.)

There is nothing wrong with having the right human standard, but how much better to have the Lord as oru standard. Men will set up other men as their standard, which is human nature.

Vv. 12, 13. Asa called the nation back to God. Notice where his godly reform had to start:

First, he removed the sodomites, and the he turned to his own family. He removed the idols that his father had made, both Rehoboam's an dAbijam's. Notice that Rehoboam's son's name was Abijam. The prophet of God's name was Ahijah. Sounds like Rehoboam named his son after God's man, Ahijah. Abijah, though, sure was not a godly man in any sense of the word. Naming someone after a godly man will not make that person godly. Godly training is still required.

Asa's reform started with his dad's and grandad's idols, and carried over even to his mother, Maachah. He removed her idol, and burned it publically. Can one have a successful public ministry without reforming his own home first?

However, public success depends upon the grace of God.

There are scores of preachers who have failed because they could not or would not see that their own household was in order.

Asa could not desire the people to put away their idols until he did the same at home. Why do we expect others to do things we are unwilling to do?

V. 14. Asa cleaned up everything he could, except the high places (unauthorized places of worship of the Lord God.). Maybe he could not get to them all, but it does not say he attempted to remove the high places. Or maybe they were so intrenched in the hearts of the people that he could not remove them all.

nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days. We will be accountable before God for what we can do, not for what we cannot do, e.g., I won't be held accountable for singing a nice song in public, for I cannot do that. But I will be accountable for teaching a proper Bible lesson. I won't be held accountable for what a church member watches on TV, but I will be for the example I set by what I watch.

V. 15, When the king and the people serve the Lord God, there is treasure to dedicate unto the lord. (Comp. with v. 18. When God's people turn from the Lord, then the prosperity is over, peace is gone, and the enemy removes the treasure.)

Asa had peace and prosperity under the Lord for about ten years, 2 Chronicles 14:1.

Let us be very cautious, and clean up our areas of responsibility.
2 Chronicles 14:3, 1) images, 2) groves
1) Canaanites stone pillars set upright, such as our Washington Monument. These pillars were believed to contain the local fertility god, Baal.
2) The counterpart. Baal's goddess, consort, Asheroth.

Luther said three things make a minister (also make a man): "Prayer, Meditation and Temptation" – the Idols must be removed by the force of a new love for the Lord.
Fear is removed by perfect love.
"Everything that defileth" is burned away by the flames of the heart that is dedicated to the Lord. (1 Peter 5:10.)

Over in 2 Chronicles 14:1ff., is a detailed account of Asa's good years up to 1 Kings 15:16.

Observe:

2 Chronicles 14:1-5. As we have already seen, Asa cleaned up the mess in Judah, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord. Asa meant business because there was the death penalty instituted latter for not serving the Lord. 3 Chronicles 15:13. (While meditating on this, a nation will either declare and fight wars against ungodliness within its borders, and have God's protection from its enemies [2 Chronicles 14:12], or they will have to fight wars against the enemies without their borders in their own strength. Do we want true peace? Then we must declare war against ungodliness within, and God will become our protector without.)

2 Chronicles 14:6, he build... He starts a defense plan for protection even in the time of peace. But even with his defense plan, a larger army came against him.

Note: We can take every human precaution there is, and arm ourselves to the teeth against the enemy, spiritual or physical, but it will not be enough.

Asa's army had 508,000 men, all mighty men of valour, v. 18. The enemy came against him with 1,000,000 men, 2 to 1. No matter how strong we might make ourselves in any area, the enemy is waiting with something stronger.

V. 10, Asa went out and looked. He realized he was powerless.

1) If he had though, "Look at all I have done–built cities for defense, trained and well equipped my army, so now we can take the enemy with no problem". He would have fallen.

1 Corinthians 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. The teaching here–if Asa had been convinced he could stand, or would stand, because of his new cities with walls and bars, v. 7, and his 580,000 well trained and armed men, then he would have fallen.

The very area a person has self-confidence in is the area in which he will fall. But Because Asa was able to put that all aside and see the uselessness and hopelessness of all his strength, then he fled to the Lord with one of the greatest, most powerful prayers in all Scripture, v. 11. 47 words, and God overturned a million man army.

V. 11.

1) Lord his God. He had better be our God, Lord first over every area of life. Asa has already thrown down the idols, images and groves. Asa has already commanded Judah to serve the Lord. Asa had already set his heart to serve the Lord with all he had in every area. Now there was still some things to do yet which he did, but he had already made his decision.

2) Lord, it is nothing... He realized and believed that all power was the Lord's, that the victory was in the Lord. All he had to do was claim that victory. Remember what our Lord said, According to your faith so be it..., and Asa had faith the lord could and would do what was needed to meet the million man army. It did not matter what the odds were. Could Asa here been thinking of Johathan and his armour bearer?

3) no power... He realized and confessed that he had no power in himself. Of course, having a million man army outside the gates waiting to attack should humble anyone. As we follow him up to this point, vv. 6, 7, we see that he built cities of defense.

V. 8, he had equipped and trained a great army.

We would probably say, "Lord, this is the area in which I am well trained. I have made great preparation for this very battle. Stand back Lord, and watch my smoke."

The very area we feel the most confidence in is the area in which we are most vulnerable. We forget we have no power to stand against the enemies, including ourselves.

4) help us... Cry out to God for help in complete dedperation.

5) for we rest completely on the Lord.

6) in thy name... There are more verses on this than I can count. Here is one to establish our thought:

Psalms 109:21 But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. 27 That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it.

Hast done it... God will move for only one reason, for his name's sake. For his own honour, glory and praise. You will not find any other motive in Scripture for God moving in the affairs of men.

He will move to come to our aid, but it will be for His own glory and because of His mercy. (To our aid – grace. Reason – mercy. Result – his glory.)

To often, we are demanding his aid to protect our name, and this is called pride. If we cannot do something in His name, then we should stay home.

7) we go... Too many times we fell the rest on thee is a call to do just that, rest. Sit under the pomegranate tree (1 Samuel 14:2), and pray, and make vows. More often than not, victory is conditioned upon GO.

A. Pray for the neighbour, friend, loved one, and go speak with them.
B. Pray for the strength to stand, and then stand. Standing and going is not based upon some mystical feeling. Rather, it is based upon determination to obey the command-word of God:

Galatians 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. (The law of the flesh, world, &c.)

The word led does not refer to inner feelings, hunches, visions, nor extra-biblical revelations. The Holy Spirit enlightens the believer as he reads the Word of God. Then He works in him to give the strength or ability to obey.

"I'll stand because I feel like standing." "I'll go because I feel like going."

I am sure Asa did not feel like going against the million man army of well trained and equipped men, but he went because he depended on God for his victory. (There are exception , but the Lord will make that plain like he did with Gideon and Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 20:17.)

8) Against the multitude... Odds are no problem with the Lord. In fact, the greater the odds, the greater the glory for his name, and the more we realize oru dependance upon him. Adam's nature is a mess. If we can see our own way through or out of our mess, then we really have a difficult time resting on thee.

The greater the odds against us, the more we look to him. Maybe this is why we stay in such deep problems.

Do we have a multitude to go against?
The multitude does not limit God. Our rest on thee is all that limits him.

I am reminded of Philippians 2:13 For it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do his good pleasure.

Adam's nature rebells against resting on him.

ANSWER: Adimt we canot bring our old nature into line to rest on him, and then ask the Lord to work in us, an denable us to rest on him, as we go about doing his will.

This is one of the jobs of the new nature, the Holy Spirit. WE can psych up, puff up or spruce up the old nature all we want, but that is sin. We must admit it is dead and useless, and the only victory lies in the working of the Holy Spirit in and through us.

9) let not man prevail... This is beautiful to me. I am reminded of Psalms 2 here.

1 ¶ Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. ...

Man in all his strength and pride is less than vanity.
Man will not prevail against God nor agains ta man of God, nor a people of God who are resting on him. The only way man will prevail is if God will gain glory from it. Christ was perfect in every area, but man prevailed so that God might prevail in the end.

One last thing here:

10) against thee...

It was the Ethiopians against Asa.
It was 1,000,000 against 580,000
But it was against thee O Lord. Remember Jack Hyles' message: IT'S GOD THEY ARE AFTER, and it is. The enemy desires to pull God down from heaven, but the only way he can attack God is through his people and his church.

Men by the score are moving against God's people and his church, but actually it is against thee. We need to keep this in mind as they multitudes line up against us. It is God they are against, not us. If we would compromise with them, change our stand, then they would no longer be against us. It is God they are against.

It is God's name being attacked, and it is up to him to defend his name. It is up to us to have the right attitude.

1. Lord his God
2. Lord, it is nothing
3. We have no power
4. Help us
5. For we rest on thee
6. In thy name
7. We go
8. Against the multitude
9. Let not man prevail
10. Against thee

V. 12ff., So the LORD smote..., and the Ethiopians fled. The Ethiopians were overthrown..., for they were destroyed.

We too many times expect v. 12ff., without v. 11. We might see a little of v. 12ff, but how much better to see the Lord provide a complete deliverance?

Keep in mind that this is taking place during the first ten years of Asa's reign. Now after this great victory, God sends a warning to Asa:

1 Chronicles 15:1 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: 2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. 4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. 5 And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. 6 And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. 7 Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded. 8 ¶ And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.

God does not move, nor does he change his mind. Man is the one who moves and changes.

Asa took courage from the message of ht eLord here, and he continued his cleanup campaign, removing idols, renewing the altar, and calling the people together to serve the Lord.

As Asa did this, the people still in the ten tribes (Israel) who desired to serve God came to Asa's kingdom. When God's people take a stand for right, it will draw others who want to do right.

Notice:

1. Jeroboam's heresy with the ten tribes was a worship of the Lord in an unauthorized way.
2. Rehoboam's and Asa's worship of the Lord was in the correct way. Both Israel and Judah were God's people They were not heathens, and they were not allowed to fight against each other (although they did), because they were both God's people. (2 Chronicles 18.) Judah was not allowed to join with Israel to fight a common enemy (v. 28ff.).

Why?

2 Chronicles 18:31. God may desire to destroy the ungodly (Israel, the ten tribes of God's people who decided to worship the Lord in their own way), and in doing so, the godly will be destroyed also.

3. Those who loved God and wanted to serve him lawfully yet they were in Israel (the heresy divided them), started going to Judah, so they could worship God correctly. (2 Chronicles 15:9) Keep in mind that both were God's people. 1> Israel went into heresy, and the calves at Dan and Bethel prospered. It was the religion of the majority. 2> Judah kept the proper worship at Jerusalem.

4. Baasha (1 Kings 15:17, 2 Chronicles 16:1) built Ramah to block the exodus from his kingdom to Judah to worship God lawfully in Jerusalem. (He was over the ten tribes, following Jeroboam.) Rather than calling his nation back to lawful worship, he sought to block those who wanted to serve God lawfully.

Ramah—high or lofty.

Anything that comes between God's people and proper service to him is high, lofty, exalted above the Lord God.

There are many Ramah's built in churches today to keep God's people from seeking and serving God lawfully.

Another thing here of interest, maybe no connection. Asa and Baasha – the false worship (heresy) at Bethel not only looks like the real thing, but sounds real also:

Jeroboam (false), vs. Rehobam (true).
Baasha (false), vs. Asa (true).

The enemy divides and conquers by ‘splitting hairs', and the hairs are worth dividing over.

He did not come in with his heresy, offering Baal or Ashtroath, although he did latter. But he said, "Here, you can worship God, the Lord, just as well here (at home) as you can there. It's too much trouble to do it right."

The first step away from the Lord was a step of convenience, not a step of conviction. The convenience did not lead through a change of conviction.

Here, this way is just as good.
This way is easier to understand.
This way is more convient.
This way means the same.

He does not try to replace Scripture with the book of Mormon; rather, he brings in something "just as good" as Scripture, maybe the NIV.

5. Baasha (ten tribes, Israel, heresy division) built Ramah to prevent Israel from going to Judah, Jerusalem, to worship God properly. (1 Kings 15:17.) Look at what asa does:

17 And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 18 Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants: and king Asa sent them to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, 19 There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

V. 19 takes place about 35 years after Israel was divided between Rehoboam (Judah) and Jeroboam (Israel). Raamah is built, and this deal with Benhadad takes place after the 15th year of Asa, 2 Chronicles 15:10.

Question:

Why did Asa, a man who tried to serve God even to the point of death of those who would not (2 Chronicles 15:13), make such a deal with Benhadad?

Consider:

1 Kings 12:24, 2 Chronicles 11:4, God forbad Israel and Judah from fighting one another, so he hires a pagan to fight Israel for him. Remember, they were both God's people.

Asa, as he served God, had prospered greatly, 2 Chronicles 15:18. He dedicated silver and gold to the Lord, and, true to human nature, the more he prospered, the more he came to depend on the prosperity instead of the One who made it possible.

Though David seemed to avoid the prosperity trap, Solomon was caught in it. He depended on God. God caused him to prosper. He followed after the prosperity instead of after the One who caused it.

Baasha starts to hinder the people from coming to Jerusalem to worship, and to bring their gifts to the temple. Asa prevented from fighting with Baasha directly, now turns to a third party, Benhadad the Syrian, to do his dirty work, 16:2. He forgot that God had delivered him from Ethiopia, and had given him great spoil from them. (16:7, 8.)

1) Before we get too hard on Asa, how many times do we try to circumvent something we know God is against, so we can do it anyway.

Example: Someone is not what we think he or she should be. We know we cannot gossip and criticize them, so we get someone else to talk about them.

Asa sold out the Lord to get the heathen to move against the one he was against. Now Baasha was not right in building Remah, but that did not make Asa right in getting Benhadad to move against Israel, Baasha. Two wrongs do not make a right.

If Asa had only taken it to the Lord, he could have had the same victory as he had over Ethopia. But no, he felt God would not help, so he made a deal with a heathen king.

2) Notice also here that all the goo he had done up to this point, 2 Chronicles 15:18, 19, was given away in one foolish move. 2 Chronicles 16:9.

The treasure he had stored up by depending on the Lord.
The peace he had earned by depending on the Lord.
All gone now in a foolish moment of doubt in God's ability.

How much of God's grace and goodness do we undo by our own foolishness on the spur of the moment decisions?

3) The very thing Asa depended on to permit God's people to worship the Lord at Jerusalem comes back and destroys Jerusalem later, and carries the people away captive, 2 Chronicles 28:5.

Asa only used money here to purchase Benhadad's services, but he sold his people into captivity.

The expedient thing is very seldom the right thing – this is the reason we have God's word.

4) Baasha build Ramah. Asa hired Benhadad the Syrian to attack Israel, Baasha, to take the pressure off of himself. The goal was to get Baasha to leave off building Ramah, and Asa used God's money to hire the heathen.

The end result was Ramah destroyed, but the end does not justify the means of getting there.

How often do we get this very idea, and use Asa's means: "Well, the money was out of my pocket." The money still belonged to the Lord.

5) Benhadad attacked Baasha. Asa found rest, and was able to destroy Ramah. "This must have been God's will because we succeeded, and Ramah is destroyed. Now all who want to worship God properly can do so."

6) A problem: God's man shows up, Hanani, the seer. (2 Chronicles 15:7.) Hanani points his finger at Asa, and he calls sin sin, and pronounces a curse upon Asa: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. (V. 9.)

A) Asa could have spoiled even the Syrians, if he would only have turned to the Lord, but Syria escaped. It looks like the Lord had planned to deliver Syria into Asa's hands, if Asa had only cried unto the Lord his God, the Lord would have smote the enemies, and he would have had probably a far greater spoil than he got from the Ethiopians. (14:11.)

B) Almost every time I make a decision without sleeping on it or praying over it, I end up in the same mess.

How many times do we reach for the most convenient method to deal with a difficult situation, and have a measure of success as Asa did? He removed Ramah. But also like Asa, look at what we miss out on—the hand of the Lord. God has a much better plan if we will only wait upon him, and seek his face.

Human nature (Adam's nature) demands we get rid of Ramah, and even use the world's means if we need to — Look at how Ramah is preventing those who desire to worship God from worshiping him.

Look though at 2 Chronicles 15:2, 7, 9, 15. Look at the promises Asa had. We have the same promises if we will only seek him first. (Matthew 6:33.) As we put him first, all other things will fall into place.)

11/3/84, Saturday. This Sunday, I am preaching on the Humanist Manifesto point #3, and emphasizing the Humanist doctrine of Education as the answer to all of man's ills. The answer to man's every need is 15:2, and if you seek him, he will be found of you... We must teach our children and people to seek the Lord if they are to have rest round about, and prosper.

Asa turned to the world's means (education in our case) to accomplish his task, and the result was:
a) he accomplished his goal, Ramah destroyed.
b) added benefit: God's anger at him.
c) again, the ones he turned to for help, Syria, carried away his children. (See Hosea 4:6.)

7) God's man shows up and points out his sin of trusting in man rather than trusting in God. 16:7 His sin was that he relied on the king of Syria and not on the Lord thy God. Asa turned to the world's means of prosperity instead of the Lord's way.

How many Christians are teaching their children and people the world's means of prosperity? "Education will solve all your problems." They are calling down the wrath of God upon themselves as well as upon their children.

8) 2 Chronicles 16:9 contains a beautiful promise – a study and message all in itself. Let me give just one of many points for now:

whose heart is perfect toward him...
God is the only one who can make our hearts perfect toward himself. Psalms 51. If we will step out in faith and do th elittle things whether we feel like it or not, then he will work on our hearts. But can those who are unable to do the little things see God show himself strong life toward loved ones, friends, neighbours, community?

God, make our hearts perfect toward yourself.

9) Therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. (9b)

Here is an amazing statement. If Asa would have sought the Lord and waited upon him, he would have had peace. He did not, so now he has wars the rest of his life.

Consider: How many "WARS" do God's people bring upon themselves because they seek the world's means to accomplish God's tasks?

Asa could have had peace and prosperity as he did in 15:15.
Asa now has wars. However, he did not lose the throne, and the kingdom went to his son.

God's people bring many of their own problems upon themselves by not seeking the Lord. (Cf., James 1:13-18.) Oh, they are able to remove Ramah, but look at the cost.

10) Asa is mad at the bearer of bad news from the Lord, Hanani. (2 Chronicles 16:10.)

Asa tried to serve God, but he still got angry at someone who told him the truth. He even put the man of God in jail for telling him the truth.

11) disease in his feet
exceeding great
sought the Lord
sought the physicians

Asa could not walk right before God in his latter reign, now he cannot walk right before men. The spiritual problems result in physical problems—God indicates here that there could have been a spiritual answer to his physical problem.

a) any time there is a physical problem in our lives or in our families, we need to look for a spiritual problem. Sad to say, most of us would rather live the two years with the disease than to seek the spiritual answer.

b) I do not believe this passage will work against physicians, but for a child of God to seek a purely physical answer for a physical problem, I believe is the sin of Asa here.

We must seek the Lord, examine oru lives in our physical problems, and he may see fit to us the physicians to heal the disease.

c) 2 Chronicles 16:12, could easily be the text verse for 90% of the Christians I know. They would rather die a painful death or allow a family member to go lame for the rest of his life than to swallow pride, and look honestly at the spiritual relation with the Lord, and take action accordingly.

d) God wants us to seek him first in all things.

1 Kings 15:24

12) and Asa slept with his fathers and died... And he died... Back to 1 Kings 15:24. Asa dies, and Jehoshaphat reigns. From here to 1 Kings 22:4, we follow the kings of Israel. We pick up Jehoshaphat the king of Judah again in 22:41.

It looks like the books of the Kings deals pretty much with the ungodly reign of the Kings of Israel and the Chronicles deal with the better reigns of the Kings of Judah. (I deal with the reign of Asa above out of Chronicles, but I think I'll just stay with the lines mentioned in Kings, and deal more with the better ones when I get to Chronicles.)

15:25 refers back to 14:20, Jeroboam slept with his fathers..., and Nadab his son reigned in his stead. God counts the time of the ungodly's reigns by the better reigns of Judah's kings.

Nadab was a rascal. These dates are very confusing, but look anyway:

Rehoboam reigned 17 years, 14:21, at the same time Jeroboam reigned over the ten tribes.
Adijam, his son, reigned 3 years, 15:2, when Jeroboam had been reigning 18 years. (Problem is, parts of years are listed as whole years.)
Asa his son reigned 41years, 15:10. Two years into his reign, Nadab, Jeroboams son, started, making Nadab start about 20 years after the split.

V. 23. Nadab's reign was wicked. But notice, they are not serving Baal yet. Not until Ahab, 16:23. The sin here is still the sin of Jeroboam, which was heresy, not idolatry.

Heresy = Choosing our own way to serve and worship God.
Idiolatry = serving another god.

Nadab kept the heresy of his dad. Now God's prophecy is going to be fulfilled against Jeroboam's house. (14:10.)

Note here: 11:37, Jeroboam was allowed to reign as his soul desired. The (12:26) heart of man is deceitful, and says, "one way is as good as the other." (14:10, 11.) But it is not. Jeroboam completed his reign. He had reigned about 20 years, and had prospered. He served the Lord as he felt was the best at Bethel with the calves. Many others agreed with him, as they followed him into his heresy. It took 20 years for it to catch up. Really, 22 years, for it was 2 years into his son's reign before it caught up. (15:25, 16.)

We can go ahead and serve God as we see fit (Christian Humanist), but it will catch up with our families.

V. 27, Baasha now moves against Nadab, and the house of Jeroboam, fulfilling the prophecy of 14:10, 11. This takes place about 22 years after the split.

Vv. 27-30. Anyone even remotely related to Jeroboam is killed, including all the blood relatives. "The revengers of blood."

I am sure Baasha did not sit down and think to himself, "I am going to fulfill the prophecy of the Lord against Jeroboam." Baasha was motivated by greed and personal ambition beyond any doubt, but in following his own personal wicked desires, he accomplished God's purpose the same as did Jeroboam in splitting the kingdom 22 years earlier.

Paul deals with this in Romans 9:19, Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? (Don't leave out v. 20.) Every man will answer for his own sins.

Because of the sins of Jeroboam...

Jeroboam is used as the bad standard for Israel from here on, in contrast to David.

V. 25, Nadab reigned less than 2 years. Did evil...

V. 27, Baasha... conspired... somte him – smote all the house of Jeroboam.

Notice v. 25, 35, He made Israel to sin, but it did not take much encouragement. The sin of Jeroboam, remember, was "you can worship God in a way far more convenient, just as well here at home (Bethel) as you can in Jerusalem." His end is just as God said it would be.

Here in these few verses we see seven kings rise over Israel, counting Jeroboam's fall.

1) Jeroboam until the second year of Asa.
2) Nadab until the third year of Asa.
3) Baasha until the twenty-sixth year of Asa.
4) Elah until the twenty-seventh year of Asa.
5) Zimri until the twenty-seventh year of Asa. (Reigned only 7 days.) Here the kingdom split between Tibni and Omri, who had been captain over the host. Results in a civil war until Tibni was killed.
6) Omri reigns six years (16:23), until the thirty-eighth year of Asa.
7) Omir's son, Ahab, starts his reign in the thirty-eighth year of Asa, and reigns twenty two years.

Asa, a godly king, sees seven kings on the throne of Israel, plus the extra on ein the civil war, which lasted four years.

It pays to serve God.
Each of these kings did the same as Jeroboam, only worse.
Notice 16:3, 4, is equal to 14:10, 11. Same sin; therefore, same results.

Really not much to say about these kings. They come and go pretty fast. God's hand is against them for their sins. Why did not they return to the true worship of God instead of getting worse and worse? If they had returned, their kingdom would have been established.

Of course, to return to the Lord would have meant going to Jerusalem, and they were not about to take the chance of reuniting Israel and Judah. Notice something strange here, yet not so strange, considering what the sin of Jeroboam was (heresy):

1) The son of Hanani, the prophet, was named Jehu — Hanani spoke against Asa for buying off the king of Syria, Benhadad, 2 Chronicles 16:7.

Jehu spoke against Baasha, 1 Kings 16:1-7.

Looks like age-wise, this would make the prophet Jehu old enough and the future king of 1 Kings 19:16, 2 Kings 9:2 - Israel, young enough that Jehu the King was named after Jehu the prophet.

2) Also, Jehoshaphat the son of Asa, the godly king of Judah, 1 Kings 15:24.

Jehu the king of Israel who slew all of Ahab's house, his dad was named Jehoshaphat, 2 Kings9:2.

Again notice the same name.

Remember, Jeroboam's sin was heresy: "You can serve the Lord God here at Bethel just as well as there in Jerusalem." The devil's substitute looks and sounds just like the real. He even had the same names as did the godly line in Judah. The devil's crowd uses godly terms in order to push their (or OK their) false doctrines.