Read 1 Kings 16 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
16:1-7 {p} The prophet to Baasha: because you have done evil, your house will be like the house of Jeroboam
16:8-14 {p} Elah the son of Baasha king over Israel/ Zimri killed him and all the house of Baasha
16:15-20 {p} Israel made Omri the commander of the army king, Zimri killed himself before Omri could slay him
16:21-22 {p} Civil war over the kingship of Israel, but Omri prevailed and was established as king
16:23-28 {p} Omri bought the hill of Samaria and made his capital city, Samaria, there
16:29-34 {s} Ahab the son of Omri king over Israel/ he did more evil than all who were before him
The Strong themes:
15:33-16:7 {s+p} The reign of Baasha (of Issachar) over Israel/ he did evil/ the prophecy against him
16:8-28 {px4} The reigns of three wicked kings of Israel: Elah, Zimri, Omri
1 Kin 15:1-16:34 Chiastic structure:
When Chapter 16 opens, righteous Asa is king in Judah, and when the chapter closes Asa is still king in Judah. Judah under its righteous king from the house of David experienced stability and prosperity. Israel, on the other hand, in the same period of time, had gone through six kings, Nadab to Ahab; two dynastic houses, Jeroboam’s and Baasha’s; two assassinations; and one civil war. Israel was not experiencing stability and prosperity.
And it is because of the worsening state of her kings. They walked in the sins of Jeroboam, that is, forsaking the worship of YHVH in Jerusalem, forsaking His priesthood and festival days, and embracing the worship of two golden calves, who were, however, nothing. The Hebrew calls them “vanities:”
… Because of all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and caused Israel to sin, provoking YHVH God of Israel to anger with their vanities. 1 Kin 16:13
And he [Omri] walked in all the way of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and in his sins with which he caused Israel to sin, provoking YHVH God of Israel to anger with their vanities. 1 Kin 16:26
A vanity is in the Hebrew, Strong’s H1892 הבל hebel, an abstract concept, from Strong’s H1891 הבל habal, a primitive verb meaning, “to be or become vain.” The ancient pictographs are hey + bet + lamed.
hey ה = man w/ raised arms, so look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath
bet ב = house, thus house, household, family, in, within
lamed ל = shepherd’s staff, thus teach, yoke, to, bind
The parable being told by the Hebrew Root Word is of breath (hey) within (bet) sent forth (lamed, in the sense of toward); that is, to exhale. Anything which flows away as breath flows away from the body when exhaled, is considered lost, empty, or vain. “Vain” here does not mean, conceited; having or showing undue or excessive pride in one’s appearance or achievements, as Webster’s defines the word as it is most commonly used today. Rather it means, having no real value; idle, or worthless, as it was most commonly used in the past.
Israel was sinking itself into a downward spiral, all because of something that was nothing. But then,
And in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab, son of Omri, began to reign over Israel; and Ahab, son of Omri, reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab, son of Omri, did evil in the eyes of YHVH more than all who were before him. And was it a light thing to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat? He took Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, as wife, and went and served the Baal and worshiped him. And he raised up an altar for the Baal in the house of the Baal that he built in Samaria. And Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did more to provoke YHVH God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 1 Kin 16:29-33
Was it a light thing to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat? as the Hebrew frames the rhetorical question. No, that wasn’t good enough for Ahab; he added to even the depravity of his father Omri, who did worse than all who were before him, not only the worship of nothing, that Jeroboam had introduced; but the worship of Baal, the god of the Canaanites and Phoenicians.
They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. Psa 106:36-38
What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 1 Cor 10:19-20
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