1 Kings 16:3, commentary and pictures

1 Kings 16:3 belongs to the historical record in 1 Kings 15 and 16 of the kings of Israel after the division of the kingdom into Judah and Israel because Solomon multiplied wives to himself and turned his heart from God, standing with the successive reigns of Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri and wicked Ahab. It describes the apostasy of Israel when the nation was led by her kings to forsake the worship of the living God and turn to the worship of idols, to turn away from the God-given plan of worship which pointed to Christ and revealed salvation from sin. It describes forsaking all that was pure and true and uplifting and turning to Baal and Ashtoreth, to what was impure, untrue and degrading, to worship of the creature instead of the Creator. It stands in the account of the great apostasy in Elijah's time, the time of Elijah's ministry under the weak king Ahab and his Baal-worshiping wife Jezebel, whose idolatry corrupted Israel and led the people to transgress God's commandments.

The verse gives the word of the prophet Jehu against Baasha, identifying Jehu as a prophet who delivered the Lord's judgment against Baasha and exemplifying the many prophets mentioned in the Old Testament. The judgment came because Baasha followed in the way of Jeroboam and continued in Jeroboam's sins. Jeroboam was the strong king who led Israel to revolt against the weak Rehoboam and whose great mistake was setting up altars against the altar of God and making Israel to sin, and Baasha, though he had slain Nadab and taken the throne, did no better during his twenty-four years, continuing the steady decline from bad to worse. The verse foretells that Baasha's posterity, descendants and royal house would be taken away, condemned to destruction, and made like the house of Jeroboam, as Jeroboam's family had been destroyed.

The sentence was fulfilled when Baasha's son Elah repeated the history of Nadab by reigning only two years and dying by violent hands, when Zimri killed him and destroyed all the house of Baasha and took the throne, bringing Baasha's house to an end. The verse belongs to a sad record of the consequences of leaders turning from God, with important lessons about the influence and responsibility of leaders. In that period of apostasy God found a faithful remnant who responded to the call of His prophet. The condemnation of Baasha's house to a fate like Jeroboam's house exemplifies the condemnation that fell on Israelites who violated God's law by practicing human sacrifice.