https://esv.literalword.com/?q=1+Kings+16
Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Tuesday, 23 September 2025:
1 Kings 16:1-7 — And the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, “Since I exalted you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins, behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the field the birds of the heavens shall eat.”
Baasha had been raised by God from obscurity to leadership, yet he squandered his opportunity by repeating Jeroboam’s sins and leading the nation deeper into idolatry. The sobering irony is that he destroyed Jeroboam’s house for its rebellion, yet imitated the very rebellion that brought Jeroboam down. God’s judgment fell on Baasha in the same way, showing that leaders who reject Him are replaceable, no matter how secure they think their thrones are. God will not be mocked: “For whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
“You have… have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins.” Sin makes God angry. Don’t convince yourself otherwise. Leaders are held to a higher standard by God. God calls all Christians to be leaders, “priests.”
“I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.” The Bible repeats the warning that sin has a devastating impact on family for generations.
1 Kings 16:8-14 — In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned two years. But his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. When he was at Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah, Zimri came in and struck him down and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.
Elah’s reign is tragically short, and his downfall is almost pitiful in its simplicity: he is killed in a drunken stupor. This is a king entrusted with shepherding God’s people, yet he gave himself to indulgence and left himself vulnerable to betrayal. Sin dulls vigilance and erodes stewardship, and leaders intoxicated by pleasure inevitably lose both their dignity and their calling. His fate fulfills God’s word to Baasha, but it also warns us how quickly the house of cards built on sin collapses.
1 Kings 16:12, 13 — Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols.
Again, we see that God uses ungodly people to punish other ungodly people. God will still hold accountable the ungodly people He used for His purposes. Remember, just because someone or something might be used by God doesn’t mean he or it is approved by God. And though God might continue to bless you while you continue in sin, doesn’t mean is ok with your sin and won’t hold you accountable for it – he will. Don’t be foolish – obey the King!
- Galatians 6:7 — Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
1 Kings 16:15-20 — In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. … When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over him with fire and died, because of his sins that he committed, doing evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin.
Zimri’s seven-day reign is one of the shortest and most infamous in Scripture. Having assassinated Elah and destroyed the rest of Baasha’s family, he himself is almost immediately overthrown. In despair and pride, he burns the palace down on top of himself, leaving nothing but ashes as his legacy. This is the bitter fruit of sin: violence begets violence, and pride ends in self-destruction. Zimri is remembered not for leadership but for folly. Proverbs 14:12 captures his life perfectly: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
Zimri seized the throne of Israel by conspiracy, yet reigned only seven days before his life and ambitions ended in fire and ruin. His story is a striking reminder of the futility of living for self and the brevity of earthly power. Seven days of a crown, seven days of grasping at control, and then eternity — a sobering picture of how short this life truly is in comparison to forever. Jesus warns us of the foolishness of forfeiting our souls to gain the whole world, even if it were possible. Nothing is worth the loss of eternal life in Christ. Living for self is hopeless, for apart from Him we are lifeless and dead even before death. But living for Christ fills us with an unshakable hope, for He is the giver of abundant life now and eternal fullness in the age to come.
Jesus said, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Only as we are connected to Christ, the true vine, can our lives bear fruit that will last. From the eternal perspective, the span of our years will feel like Zimri’s seven days, brief and fleeting. Yet the seeds we plant in this short time can yield a harvest that endures forever, even when we cannot yet see it. The sobering reality is that every person you meet will live forever, either in the joy of God’s Kingdom, His presence, and His providence, or separated from Him in eternal darkness and ruin. Dallas Willard once wrote, “You are an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe.” In “The Weight of Glory,” C.S. Lewis observed, “It is a serious thing… to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations.” This is the truth that must shape how we live today: not for fleeting crowns or selfish gain, but for the eternal life that is found in Christ. When all else is stripped away, what endures is who we are in Him and who we are with in Him, our relationship with God and with those joined to Him in Christ. Live today with eternity in view, sowing what lasts forever.
1 Kings 16:21-28 — Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri. But the people who followed Omri overcame the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri became king. … Omri did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did more evil than all who were before him.
The civil war between Tibni and Omri reveals the instability of a kingdom divorced from God’s covenant. Power struggles replace faithfulness, and in the end Omri prevails. From a worldly perspective, Omri was considered a successful king: he founded Samaria as the new capital, expanded Israel’s influence, and secured its political standing. But God’s perspective defines his reign differently: “Omri did more evil than all who were before him.” His worldly success was hollow because his heart was corrupt. Success apart from God is failure in His eyes, and history testifies that Omri’s achievements crumbled because they lacked the foundation of righteousness.
- 1 Corinthians 3:11 — For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
- 2 Timothy 2:19 — But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
1 Kings 16:29-34 — In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
Ahab’s reign plunges Israel into new depths of rebellion. Not content with perpetuating Jeroboam’s idolatry, he actively marries into a pagan royal household, institutionalizes Baal worship, builds altars to false gods, and leads the nation into open defiance against the Lord. The text emphasizes that he treated sin “as a light thing” — a chilling phrase that captures how desensitized he was to rebellion. Sin seemed small to Ahab, but to God it was a grievous provocation. His alliance with Jezebel set the stage for even greater corruption, violence, and persecution of God’s prophets. Ahab’s choices show how leaders can normalize wickedness in a culture, dragging an entire people into deeper bondage.
1 Kings 16:34 — In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.
This verse closes the chapter with a stark reminder that God’s word is never broken. Centuries earlier, Joshua had pronounced a curse on anyone who rebuilt Jericho (Joshua 6:26). In Ahab’s day, that word came true. The price was the lives of Hiel’s sons. This final detail underscores how seriously God takes His word, and how costly disobedience becomes when a society treats His commands as trivial.
- Joshua 6:26 — Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.”
God keeps His promises of blessings and curses through the generations. His commands and warnings apply to all, whether they know about them or not, whether they believe in them or not.
- Deuteronomy 11:26-28 — “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today….
- Deuteronomy 30:19-20 – “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 23 September 2025: 1 Kings 16 is a chapter of decline, from Baasha’s wasted calling, to Elah’s drunken demise, to Zimri’s self-destruction, to Omri’s empty success, and finally to Ahab’s brazen rebellion. The lesson is urgent: sin compounds when left unchecked, each generation plunging deeper than the one before. What one leader tolerates, the next embraces, and the next institutionalizes. Today, take time to examine whether you have begun treating sin as “a light thing.” Are there attitudes, habits, or compromises you excuse as small, but which God sees as rebellion? Bring them into the light through confession, repentance, and accountability. What seems small now can shape the destiny of your family and community tomorrow. Break the cycle now by clinging wholly to Christ, who alone breaks the chains of generational sin.
Pray: “Lord God, You are holy, and Your word never fails. Forgive me for the ways I have treated sin lightly. Keep me from chasing worldly success while neglecting faithfulness. Give me courage to confront the compromises in my life, and to walk in wholehearted obedience before You. Establish me in Christ, and let my life reflect His holiness, His courage, and His truth, so that others may be drawn out of darkness into Your marvelous light. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
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