of royal blood. He was probably an adventurous soldier who
saw his opportunity and won his way to the crown by sheer force of
audacity and daring. He began his reign by killing all the possible
aspirants to the throne in the persons of the family of Jeroboam. His
reign was marked by a succession of wars with Judah.)

And it came to pass that, as soon as Baasha was king, 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
spoke by the hand of his servant Ahijah the Shilonite: for the sins of
Jeroboam which he sinned, and wherewith he made Israel to sin; because
of his provocation wherewith he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel,
to anger. And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all
their days.

In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah
to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, and reigned twenty and four years.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in
the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.
And the word of the Lord came to Jehu against Baasha, saying,
"Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the {369} 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; behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and
his house; and I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the
son of Nebat. Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat;
and him that dieth of his in the field shall the fowls of the air
eat."

And Baasha died, and was buried in Tirzah; and Elah his son reigned in
his stead. And moreover by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of
Hanani came the word of the Lord against Baasha, and against his
house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the
Lord, to provoke him to anger with the work of his hands, in being
like the house of Jeroboam, and because he smote him.

{370}

ELAH.

(The son of Baasha, the adventurer, seems to have been as weak and
incompetent as his father was ready and daring. While his army was off
to the wars, he stayed at home and indulged his appetites. He was
"drinking himself drunk" in the house of his steward Arza, when Zimri,
captain of his chariots, came in and murdered him in cold blood as he
lay like a beast in the slumber of drunkenness.)