Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu the son of Hanani ,.... The seer that reproved Asa, 2 Chronicles 16:7 , so that this man was the son of a prophet then living, and was a young man; for we hear of him several years after reproving Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 19:2 , and as a writer of history, 2 Chronicles 20:34 , the prophecy that came to him from the Lord was against Baasha ; king of Israel: saying ; as follows. read more
Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust ,.... From a very low estate, and mean family: and made thee prince over my people Israel ; as they were of right, and ought to have been; and though Baasha got the kingdom by treachery and murder, yet the translation of the kingdom to him was according to the appointment of God, and by his overruling providence; and even his act of killing Nadab was a fulfilment of a prophecy of his; and had he done it in obedience to the will of God, and in... read more
Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house ,.... By death, there shall be none of his family remaining in any branch of it: and I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat ; execute the same judgment on it, and in the same manner, their sins being alike. read more
Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth of his in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat. They should not have burial, which is just the same that was threatened to and executed on Jeroboam's family, 1 Kings 14:11 . read more
Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? As those of Jeroboam and Nadab were, 1 Kings 14:19 . read more
So Baasha slept with his fathers ,.... Or died, not a violent, but natural, death: and was buried in Tirzah ; where was the royal palace of the kings of Israel: and Elah his son reigned in his stead ; yet but a short time. read more
And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, came the word of the Lord against Baasha, and against his house ,.... Which is here repeated, as Abarbinel thinks, because in the former prophecy the threatening was on account not of his own sin, but because he made Israel to sin; but here it is because of his own evil works, as it follows: even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house... read more
Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu - Of this prophet we know nothing but from this circumstance. It appears from 2 Chronicles 16:7-10 , that his father Hanani was also a prophet, and suffered imprisonment in consequence of the faithful discharge of his ministry to Asa. read more
Made thee prince over my people - That is, in the course of my providence, I suffered thee to become king; for it is impossible that God should make a rebel, a traitor, and a murderer, king over his people, or over any people. God is ever represented in Scripture as doing those things which, in the course of his providence, he permits to be done. read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Kings 16:1-14
Here is, I. The ruin of the family of Baasha foretold. He was a man likely enough to have raised and established his family?active, politic, and daring; but he was an idolater, and this brought destruction upon his family. 1. God sent him warning of it before. (1.) That, if he were thereby wrought upon to repent and reform, the ruin might be prevented; for God threatens, that he may not strike, as one that desires not the death of sinners. (2.) That, if not, it might appear that the... read more