1 Kings 16:21-34
Omri Reigns in Israel
21 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. 22 But the people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri reigned. 23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and reigned twelve years. Six years he reigned in Tirzah. 24 And he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; then he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, Samaria, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill. 25 Omri did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all who were before him. 26 For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.
27 Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
28 So Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. Then Ahab his son reigned in his place.
Ahab Reigns in Israel
29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. 31 And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. 32 Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34 In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation with Abiram his firstborn, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates, according to the word of the LORD, which He had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun.
After all the evil rulers before Omri came and went, you would think that this one would have looked back at their end and turned from idolatrous sin back to Him who reigns on high over all kings, and especially among God’s people. He did not. After building ding the city of Samaria, Omri did more evil than those before him as if patterning his life after Jeroboam who showed how to provoke the LORD with such evil sins and leading God’s people to follow him to the divine’s disdain. When Omri died and passed the torch to his son Ahab, the chain continued to loosen in even more disobedience to God and His word of righteousness and worship. The first commandment tumbled away and the others followed in their praxis of the Law given to guide them into peace and a lasting relationship with their Creator. Ahab continued this downward spiral of sin, even marrying Jezebel and serving her false god Baal. He carved a wooden idol to replace the God of the commandments and rejected the living God of his people whom he also led away from Him. During this time, Jericho was raised up by a man named Hiel, a city that was supposed to remain in rubble and whose sons were used in its foundation as promised (Joshua 6:26) after the LORD leveled it when He led His people into the promised land now sullied with the sins and consequences they had been warned of. The sins of the leaders had spread this far to influence complete disobedience to their God. We must therefore beware of evil influence (1 Corinthians 5:6-7, 15:33) and keep the word of God foremost in our thoughts to guide our right (1 Corinthians 15:34) actions. We start by choosing to follow the right leader, one who follows the written word (2 Timothy 3:15, Hebrews 13:7) and imitates (1 Corinthians 11:1) the living (John 1:1, Hebrews 4:12) Word.
No comments:
Post a Comment