Baasha & Elah

Introduction

I began to name this the ‘Bible Person Study’, but chose to go with the ‘Bible Character Study’. I hesitated to name it that, as I don’t want to diminish the fact that these are real people we’ll be examining. But the reason that it’s named the Bible Character Study is because we’ll be focusing on the person’s character throughout. But don’t forget that these were real people, with real lives that made real choices that had real consequences.

I. Their Nature

((What is their History / Background?)

The Third & Fourth Kings of Israel Divided

Baasha is the Father of Elah

Baasha Slew Nadab, son of Jeroboam to Ascend the Throne (1Ki. 15:27-28)

Baasha was used as a tool of God to overthrow the House of Jeroboam.

Elah Inherited the Throne

Elah in contrast did not fight for the throne, he inherited it from his father Baasha.

They Reigned for 26 years Combined (1Ki. 15:33; 16:8)

Baasha for 24 yrs; Elah for 2 yrs

During the Reign of Asa King of Judah

Began in the 3rd year of Asa’s reign.

Baasha would be the one who was there the longest during Asa’s reign, there for over half.

Elah was Slain by Zimri (1Ki. 16:8-9)

Which slew all the House of Baasha (1Ki. 16:11)

II. Their Notoriety

(What they are known for?)

Both of these kings have very little written about them concerning their reigns & accomplishments.z

Baasha - Walking Without Wisdom

Slaying Nadab and the House of Jeroboam

When we consider the life & reign of Baasha, we must first recognize the recording of his first action - the slaying of Nadab.

While God did use him to accomplish His Will concerning Jeroboam, that doesn’t mean that God CAUSED or CONDONED the actions. (It’s very important to understand the difference).

God can use people’s sin for the greater good, but God doesn’t cause that sin. If God did (as the Calvinist would say), then that would make God the AUTHOR of sin - GOD FORBID!

How Baasha came to power was pretty underhanded to say the least. While Nadab was leading his nation against a warring nation such as the Philistines, we see that Baasha led a coup against his king while during that very time! (It doesn’t get much lower).

This is a ‘Brutus moment’ in a sense - where the enemy was as close as could be.

After Nadab’s murder, Baasha would go on to destroy the rest of the House of Jeroboam as well - so of course, none would be alive to challenge the throne.

The Slaying of Nadab & the House of Jeroboam

Walking in the Way of Jeroboam (1Ki. 15:34)

What’s amazing is that while the ruling party changed, nothing else really did.

I think we’ve experienced that a lot in America over the last 80-100 years. We’ve forsaken God, continued to become more ungodly and government growing exponentially - we’ve had presidents w/ ‘D’s’ & others with ‘R’s’ after their name, but honestly, very little changed - till now.

‘Walking in the way of Jeroboam’ will be a familiar notion, as many are said to have done it. They not only were ungodly sinners themselves, but the problem is that they had a responsibility to lead the people away from idolatry and unto the LORD God of Heaven, but none in Israel did.

Baasha walked in the way of Jeroboam.

Warring Against Asa (1Ki. 15:32)

We’re not told much about these wars, save the building up in Ramah to cut off Judah & set themselves up for a seige.

Being Witnessed Against by God (1Ki. 16:1-4)

Because of Baasha’s ungodliness & disobedience, Baasha & his house would suffer the same fate as the house of Jeroboam. God declared it in 1Ki. 16:1-4)

Elah - The Forgotten King

I named him this for two reasons:

Because I forgot about him when listing the kings that reigned during Asa’s tenure in Judah

Because so little is said about him, he’s treated as an after thought.

Drinking Himself Drunk (1Ki. 16:9)

The only thing that is really spoken of concerning Elah is that he went and got himself drunk there in the capital city, and got himself killed by Zimri.

Assassinated by Zimri (1Ki. 16:10)

The Bible tells us that Zimri was in a position of power - over half the chariots in the nation, conspired against him & killed him.

(People think conspiriacies are just for the nutty - but they’re all through the Scriptures:

Jesus (multiple times); Joseph

Losing His Father’s House

At this point, Elah would have been the caretaker - the leader - the one responsible for his entire family - and he let them down by not protecting them!

He lost his families house

III. What Makes them Noteworthy

(What Lessons we can Learn from them?)

Baasha:

What Goes Around, Comes Around

It’s interesting to see the similarities between Jeroboam & Baasha:

Similar Reign:

Jeroboam reigned 22y; Baasha 24

Similarities in their sons:

They each reigned 2 year each

Both of them conspired against & killed by their own people

Similar ends to their Houses

Both houses were utterly destroyed.

God used Baasha to bring Judgment against Jeroboam’s house; God used Zimri to bring Judgment against Baasha’s.

What goes around comes around is the old saying: The Bible words it as such:

Galatians 6:7 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Proverbs 26:27 “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: And he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.”

Obadiah 15 “For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; Thy reward shall return upon thine own head.”

Job 4:8 “Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, And sow wickedness, reap the same.”

Hosea 8:7 “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: It hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: If so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.”

If there was A verse that taught this precept, it wouldn’t do well to build entire doctrine around it - however, we see the repetitive nature of it throughout.

If you are sowing seeds of destruction, deceit & misery, you can only expect the same to come back your way. However, there’s another truth we much consider:

Proverbs 11:18 “The wicked worketh a deceitful work: But to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.”

2 Corinthians 9:6 “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”

If we sow righteousness & goodness, then we can expect rewards & blessings!

Be Careful Who Your Friends Are (2Chr. 16:3-4)

As we go more to the story of Asa, we see that there was originally a league between Baasha and Ben-hadad, but all it took to break that was Asa sending some riches his way.

Ben-hadad would be known as a ‘fair-weather friend’.

I can’t stress the importance of having the right friends.

Friends sharpen one another:

Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpeneth iron; So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”

We should have the right friends:

Proverbs 13:20 “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: But a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

It’s better to have no friends than the wrong ones:

Psalm 1:1–2 “Blessed is the man That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; And in his law doth he meditate day and night.”

Be careful who your friends are. Everyone of your ‘Facebook friends’ are NOT your friends.

Be Careful Who Your Influences Are (1Ki. 15:34; 16:2)

Notice the words of the LORD here TWICE. Baasha was certainly influenced by Jeroboam - in his rule and his influence.

We must be careful who our influences are.

(Ill.) How many of you have seen the movie ‘October Sky’? It’s a movie based on the true story of the ‘Rocket Boys’. The main character was named Homer, and he had two people who influenced him in a great way: Wernher von Braun - a rocket scientist from Germany who worked for America in developing our space program. The other was his father. Both of these men had some great attributes and influenced him in great ways. CONSEQUENTLY, Homer ended up successfully becoming a Rocket scientist and worked for NASA himself.

Fast forward to today, and what do we see? How many kids are influenced by normal successful intelligent people (not to mention, Godly). Today’s influences are the Kardashians, Taylor Swift, TikTok personalities, etc. And IT SHOWS in the direction of our society.

It’d be good practice to take stock of who our influences are - especially for the young. Because whoever you allow influence over your life will dictate how your life unfolds.

Be careful who your influences are

A Long Ministry Doesn’t Equate to a Fruitful One

As mentioned, Baasha had a relatively long tenure as king. 24 years is nothing to sneeze at - especially when you compare it to those around him.

But as you study what’s written about Baasha, you’ll find that nothing much is mentioned. The only successful thing that he did was kill Nadab.

That being said, even though you may have a long ministry doesn’t necessarily make it a fruitful one.

There are many Christians who’ve come and gone over the years who may have lived long lives, but allowed the flesh to rob them of fruit.

They’ve spent their lives caring for the desires of the flesh instead of submitting to the Spirit, and because of such, they simply haven’t been productive Christians.

(Ill.) The older I get, the more COGNIZANT I am about time, and the more CONCERNED I am about living a productive life.

I want to be productive in my Christian walk

I want to be productive in my daily doings in tending to the needs of my family and the necessities of life

I look back at all the times I’ve spent doing things that truly hold no value at all, and it saddens me. In my daily prayers, I thank God for another do to do good or evil, and pray that I be productive.

I don’t want to be one who lives 100 years on this earth and have nothing to show for it!

A Long Ministry doesn’t equate to a fruitful one

God’s Word ALWAYS Comes to Pass

God said it, and it surely came to pass.

This is not only true in the life of Baasha, but for you and I as well!

God’s Word has power, and is true! And it will ALWAYS COME TO FRUITION!

God’s Word Always Comes to Pass

Elah:

Drunkenness Leads to Destruction

Time prevents me from having a full discussion on the truth concerning intoxicating beverages, the short answer is God does NOT approve of drinking intoxicating beverages at all in Scripture, and the couple places that one would turn to to try and justify it are just that - a way to try and justify a feeding and filling of the flesh.

When one looks at the dangers of intoxicating beverages, the damage & destruction thereof, you are either a fool, an addict or have loved ones who are if you think they are anything but bad!

My favorite passage of Scripture concerning it is found in Pro. 23:29-35. A few things to note:

A distinction between intoxicating and fresh wine (v31)

The destructive power in it

It certainly led this man to his demise.

Drunkeneness Leads to Destruction

The Effects of Sin are Not Isolated

Elah being the King was not only head of the nation, but head of his family - and because of his sin, his family paid the price. (One could argue that it was Baasha who’s to blame, and you’d be part right - but Elah DIDN’T HAVE TO BE LIKE HIS DAD! But that’s who influenced him, so that’s what he turned out to be - and his family paid for it!

the Effects of Sin are not Isolated

Even Kings are Forgotten Who Waste their Lives

Billions live upon the earth, very few are remembered two generations later.

The more you waste your lives, the quicker you’ll be forgotten. It matters not who you are, or how powerful you might be.

Even Kings are Forgotten who Waste their Lives

Conclusion