Baasha

Baasha was a man of Issachar who assassinated King Nadab and destroyed the entire house of Jeroboam, seizing the throne of Israel and reigning twenty-four years. Though he executed God's judgment on Jeroboam's line, he himself walked in the same idolatrous sins, and the prophet Jehu pronounced that his own house would be swept away in the same manner. His dynasty ended in a single generation when his son Elah was murdered.

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Biography

Occupation: King of Israel
Tribe: Issachar
Era: Divided Kingdom
Nationality: Israelite

Old Testament Divided Kingdom King 1 Kings

Did You Know?

Baasha seized Israel's throne by assassinating Nadab and then exterminating the entire house of Jeroboam, fulfilling the prophet Ahijah's judgment - yet he promptly walked in the same sins (1 Kings 15:29).

The prophet Jehu son of Hanani warned that Baasha's own house would be destroyed exactly as he had destroyed Jeroboam's (1 Kings 16:3), and it was, when his son Elah was murdered.

Baasha fortified Ramah to blockade the border with Judah, prompting King Asa to buy Syrian intervention - an act of political panic the chronicler condemns.

Key Chapters

1 Kings 15 Kings of Judah and Israel 6 min read Baasha kills Nadab and wipes out Jeroboam's family, fulfilling prophecy yet cont... 1 Kings 16 Kings of Israel 6 min read The prophet Jehu foretells that Baasha's house will meet the same fate he dealt ...

Key Passages

Baasha Destroys Jeroboam's House

1 Kings 15:27-30

Baasha kills Nadab and wipes out Jeroboam's family, fulfilling prophecy yet continuing in sin.

A²⁷nd Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon.

²⁸ Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead. ²⁹ And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite: ³⁰ Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.

Read full chapter: 1 Kings 15 →

Judgment on Baasha

1 Kings 16:1-7

The prophet Jehu foretells that Baasha's house will meet the same fate he dealt to Jeroboam.

T¹hen the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,

² Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; ³ Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ⁴ 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. ⁵ 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? ⁶ So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah: and Elah his son reigned in his stead. ⁷ 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, 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 of Jeroboam; and because he killed him.

Read full chapter: 1 Kings 16 →