1 Kings 15:19
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. 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.
The verse stands in the part of 1 Kings after the first eleven chapters on Solomon, which records the kings after the division of the kingdom under Rehoboam, when Israel and Judah continued together sometimes at war and sometimes at peace until Israel was obliterated in 721 B.C. and Judah was conquered and carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. More narrowly, it belongs to the reign of Asa in Judah, in the time of Nadab and Baasha and the kings of Israel down to Ahab, after Solomon's multiplying of wives turned away his heart and divided the kingdom into Judah and Israel with war and strife between the two divisions. That history in 1 Kings 15-16 is one of apostasy, in which the kings led Israel to forsake the worship of the living God for idols, turning away from the God-given worship that pointed to Christ and revealed the way of salvation from sin, and exchanging what was pure and true and uplifting for the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, what was impure and untrue and degrading, the worship of the creature instead of the Creator.
The reigns of Abijah and Asa in Judah are described more fully in Chronicles. The verse records Asa of Judah sending a present of silver and gold to Ben-hadad, king of Syria, invoking the league between their fathers and urging him to break his league, alliance and treaty with Baasha, king of Israel, and help Asa so that Baasha would depart from him and withdraw.
The silver and gold Asa sent were taken from the house of the Lord to seek Syrian help against Baasha in the conflict between the divided kingdoms. The division brought lasting financial weakness: after the treasures were taken to Egypt and Rehoboam replaced the gold shields with bronze ones, the kingdoms never regained the same financial strength before losing their independence.