1 Kings 16 Bible Study (Elah, Zimri, Omri & Ahab's Reigns) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Will meet me in the book of First Kings in chapter 16,

please. This chapter that we aim to

complete tonight will almost feel like a conveyor belt of

truth because what we have before us is five consecutive

accounts of five different kings who ruled and reigned in Israel.

And their names are given to us in these added headings of our

Bibles, but they're mentioned there in the text as well.

But a brief glance will show us that the first one that we are

going to deal with is Basha, the second being Edla, the third

being Zimri, the 4th being Omri. And lastly, the infamous Ahab is

where we will conclude our study.

And just from a brief surface level reading of this chapter,

you can grasp 2 features that all of these kings have in

common. It's pretty obvious.

And the first one is no surprise.

The first commonality that these kings share, these kings of the

northern tribes, is that each of them were wicked.

No surprise, each of them were evil.

In fact, you get the impression that as you move from one king

to the next that the wickedness and the rebellion and the

apostasy only gets more intense, more intense than the former

king. That is the first thing to

mention. The 2nd characteristic that

these kings share is that each of them ascended and descended

during the one single administration of the King of

Judah. So what you're going to notice

is that in this chapter, you have the introductions of these

kings, and those introductions will be the time stamps of King

ASA. And when these other kings of

the North ascended during his reign.

In other words, in the one reign of King ASA in the southern part

of Israel, you're going to have 5 kings show up, disappear, show

up again, disappear at the same time.

And so how we're going to break down the study is the way that

the text breaks up for us. Naturally, we're going to look

at each of these kings. And though we're not going to

exhaustively examine each one, though we can make each one into

a Bible study, we will just have principles based on preview.

And so let's read together the first few verses of First Kings

16 as we now continue to examine the roster of the Kingdom of

Israel verse one. And the word of the Lord came to

Jehu the son of Hanani, against Basha, 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 Basha and his house, and I

will make your house like the House of Jeroboam, the son of

Nabat. Anyone belonging to Basha 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.

Let's pause there before looking at the lessons of King Basha.

Let's consider who this prophet was.

Jehu, the son of Hanani. He appears on the scene and he

gives a very, as you just read, a bold rebuke to this king.

But my question is, who is he? And we have clues based on his

lineage. He is the son of Hanani.

Now Hananani might not be familiar to you in our study of

First Kings, but he is familiar to us in the parallel study of

kings which is found in Second Chronicles in chapter 16 and

verse seven. You don't have to turn there,

just listen to this. Han and I was a prophet himself.

So Jehu's father was a man of God who spoke on behalf of God.

Han and I was the one who approached a king, King ASA,

when King ASA disobeyed the Lord, as we learned last week,

by robbing God of His glory and his rights, by taking the gold

from the temple and the silver and giving it to the king of

Syria and his time of trouble to fight against the king of the

North. Hanani was the one who

approached King ASA and rebuked him and he was rewarded with

imprisonment. ASA was angry and he threw him

into jail. Now here's why this is so moving

to me, and This is why I want to just make a brief comment.

God raised up Han and I's son Jehu to walk in the same steps

as his father. And what I love, though we do

not have much about Jehu, he's mentioned more than once that we

do not have much said about him. Isn't the fact that he is the

son of Han? And I say enough that this man,

though he was, yes, called by God, made a conscience choice to

walk in the same prophetic mandate as his father, though he

himself witnessed his father paying a high price for speaking

the truth. I like Jehu, I'm moved by Jehu

because here you have a man who is faithful and fearless and

he's willing to do what God called him to do, even though he

experienced a close pain seeing his father being treated as such

as a man of God. And what we're going to see as

we study kings is that though these kings will increase in

wickedness, with that also will be the increase of the activity

of prophets. If you actually look at the

timeline of the kings, you'll see that a majority of the

prophets spoke and appeared during the time of great

apostasy. That says something about God's

heart. Prophets are like doctors,

spiritual doctors who appear on the scene and treat a

spiritually sick people. They speak a bold word.

They speak a confronting word, but with the redemptive aim of

seeing you restored. And so when you read the

prophetic literature of Scripture, keep in mind that

those prophets were speaking and ministering during the times of

these wicked rulers of both the northern tribes and the southern

tribes. When a nation goes South in

terms of their sin and away from God, God will raise up in His

mercy prophets. And what do prophets really do

in the Bible? People say, oh, they tell of

what's to come. That's a small part of their

ministry. The main job of a prophet is to

tell people to go back to the word of God.

So when you hear me or anybody else in these times, I've used

this before, May God raise up prophets.

What I primarily mean is May God raise up men who will speak the

word and say get back to the Bible because that's what true

prophet does. A lot of people claiming that

they're prophets and they're more like fortune tellers.

True prophets are those who say, thus says the Lord through the

written word of the Lord and had that burning heart to see the

bride of Christ purified and a lost world redeemed.

And so Jehu is just one of many prophets.

In fact, maybe you didn't realize this, but we're going to

spend a lot of time in king studying a major prophet, not a

major prophet in terms of him having a big part of the Bible

with his writings, but a major prophet in terms of a figure,

Elijah. Elijah's coming down to our

study in the next one. So this is Jehu.

And the first lesson that we get from King Basha is what he says

in verse two. Look with me, we're going to try

to do this in one setting. Since I exalted you, this is a

Lord speaking, since I exalted you out of the dust and made you

leader over my people, Israel. So here's what the prophet is

saying and reminding Basha where you are right now.

Who you are today is because of God's providential mercies.

Your promotion has been ultimately determined by God.

And by saying this to him, he wants him to remember that he

relinquished and he forfeited. And he really trashed this

opportunity to see Reform as a king, to bring the people back

to God, and instead imitated Jeroboam in his disobedience.

So essentially from this being conveyed, what Basha is hearing

is you wasted. You wasted what God permitted to

happen in your life. And it's important to know that

this idea of promotional mercies is something that not just Basha

should be aware of, but every person should know of as well.

Here's a text for you to consider.

It's very, very good In Psalm 75.

You can look at it. Actually, I would encourage you

to turn that, to see it with your own eyes.

Psalm 75, verse six and seven. This is a universal principle of

how God works in the earth, how God works in people's lives.

It says here for not from the east or from the West and not

from the wilderness comes lifting up.

And then it goes on to say for not from the east or from the

West, but it is from God who executes judgment, putting down

one and lifting up another. In other words, when you see the

lifting up in the bringing down, that's ultimately God's

orchestration. I like how the King James puts

it. The King James puts it this way.

For promotion neither cometh from the east nor from the West.

Promotion ultimately comes from God.

Any kind of promotion in any sector, any sphere of life,

exaltation comes from the exalted One.

Many truths can be drawn from this.

Can I give you 1 to meditate on? Please let God exalt you.

Let God exalt you. Do not rely on being combative

with others. Do not come to a point where you

promote yourself, where you advertise yourself.

Rest to know that ultimately, no matter even what you do, God is

the one who gives permission for any kind of promotion.

That should put you at ease, That should cause you to be

content with where you are. And more than content, be

faithful exactly where you are, trusting that if in God's wisdom

He wants you to do more, He will let it happen.

And no one can stop him. He exalts, He opens the doors,

he shuts the doors, and he brings down.

So he does it all essentially. And what I see here is that

there is a comparative jewel that we can look at when we look

at these first few words of Jehu.

Look again at Jehu's words. He says in verse two, Since I

exalted you out of where, tell me out of the dust.

Now go back to what one other prophet said to King Jeroboam.

It's only two chapters before this first Kings 14.

Look at verse 7. Go tell Jeroboam.

Thus says the Lord the God of Israel, because I exalted you

from where? What does it say among the

people? So Jeroboam was told you were

exalted from among the people. Basha was told you were exalted

from the dust. And why that's mentioned is to

under score the lowliness that Basha was emerged from.

And it was a reminder. And it is a reminder to you and

I that the Lord can elevate and the Lord can draw out any run

from anything or anywhere. That's the truth there.

And so you and I have to take this at least, at least this

truth. Be faithful unto the Lord,

whether you are among people or whether you are as overlooked as

dust. How much lower can you get than

dust? How much more hidden can you be

than dust? Among the people?

I get it, you're among the common people, but you're at

least on the same level as people.

Basha. No, you're below people.

Even I can bring you from underneath people's feet if I

choose to do so. That's what I'm able to

complete. And all you and I have to do is

just wait on the Lord. And if he desires to do it, he

will do it and just smile in every season, whether he exalts

you or he doesn't. So he tells him that you came

from the dust, but unfortunately, this is how you

treated what I allowed to happen in your life.

Now let's read in verse 5 and let's complete the rest of our

lessons from Basha, though not limited to this, I'm sure.

Now the rest of the acts of Vasha and what he did and his

might, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of

the Kings of Israel? And Vasha slept with his fathers

and was buried at Tirza, and Eli his son, reigned in his place.

Now here's the verse that we want to park at verse 7.

Moreover, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Jehu, the

son of Hanani, against Vasha and his house, both because of all

the evil that he had done in the sight of the Lord, provoking him

to anger. Pause.

God is not angry. That's not his disposition.

God is provoked to anger. Many people view God as an angry

God. That's how the ancient Pagan

worshippers viewed their false gods, that they constantly had

to appease them because generally they were

characterized by fury. Notice that God is provoked to

anger. His disposition is love.

His disposition, yes, holiness, yes, purity, yes, brilliance in

light. But He is provoked to anger and

it's sin that angers him. But we see that He is provoking

him to anger with the work of his hands and being.

Now this is the reason why God was provoked to anger.

There are two reasons in being like the House of Jeroboam 1 and

two, and also because he destroyed it.

Interesting. Interesting because what we

learned last week about Asha is verse 29 of chapter 15.

Read that with me Speaking of ABBA Asha and how he ascended

and secured the throne. We are told in verse 29 of

chapter 15. And as soon as he was king, he

killed all the House of Jeroboam.

He left to the House of Jeroboam not one that breathe until he

had destroyed it according to the word of the Lord that he

spoke by his servant Aija, the Shiloh knight.

So hold on, Basha destroyed the House of Jeroboam according to

the word of the Lord. And then you come to the next

chapter and you learn that Basha is going to be destroyed and his

dynasty is going to come to extinction because he destroyed

the House of Jeroboam. How do we make sense of this?

Let's consider three things. OK, Three very brief points that

hopefully will help. First, it's important for you to

realize that Bosh's pursuit of the throne was not from holy

ambition. He coveted the throne, and he so

wanted that power, not authority that he was willing to murder

for, and he did so. This is not coming from a holy

place, a pure place, a good place.

This is coming out of envy. This is coming out of selfish

ambition. Secondly, though Bosh has

secured the throne through unfortunate means, he did not

take advantage of the opportunity that he had to do

good. He did not present the

opportunity to reform and to change the place and to

revitalize it for the glory of God.

Confirming the first point that he came to the throne and he

secured and stayed on the throne for the purpose of South.

And here's the most important part.

We have to remember that Basha arriving to the throne and

Jeroboam being destroyed as a result of that was prophesied.

And just because the Lord predicts A historic shifting

event does not mean that he authored it.

In fact, what you'll realize about God is that if He desires

to judge evil, He will allow and permit evil as the instrument to

judge other evil. And that does not make him

culpable or responsible for the evil of another.

It's just his providential permission allowing one to do

what he desires to do, but God in his wisdom, accomplishing his

work through it. Baasha did destroy Jeroboam's

household and he would be guilty for it.

God predicted it. He is not the author of evil.

And even when he did arrive to the throne, God was willing to

do something of mercy towards him if he took advantage of the

realization of where he was at. But he failed even in that.

So he deserves to be judged as was prophesied.

Let's go to the next king. Remember conveyor belt, right?

We're looking at one, whoop, there go, there he goes, another

one. OK, here we go.

Previews and principles from these previews in this Bible

study, let's look at the son of Basha and let's read about him.

Verse eight, in the 26th year of ASA, king of Judah, Ela, the son

of Basha began to reign over Israel in Tirza and he reigned 2

years. But his servant Zimri, commander

of half his Chariots, pause. Is the fact that Ela having

Chariots a good thing or a bad thing?

Why is it bad? Because kings were not to

acquire many horses. And if you have a commander for

half your Chariots, that's an indication that you got a lot of

horses. So already we have an idea that

this is not a good king. But it gets worse.

Commander of half his Chariots conspired against him.

So Zimri now is planning a conspiracy against Ela the king.

When he being Ela, was at Tears, drinking himself drunk in the

House of Arza, who was over the household of Tears, Zimri came

in and struck him down and killed them in the 27th year of

ASA, king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

So Ela takes the place of his father Basha.

He only reigns for two years before he was assassinated.

And the fact that Ela again was a commander of Chariots is a

clue that he was not a man who was concerned about being

consecrated to the law of God. But Ela's problems go beyond

that, do they not? Because what we read about him

is, yes, he was murdered, but he was murdered in a certain state

of mind. Let's look at it again, verse 9.

But his servant Zimri, commander of half his Chariots, conspired

against him when he was at Tirza drinking himself drunk in the

House of Arza. Who is over the household in

Tirza? So where do you find Ela the

king of Israel? The time where he was slain, he

was at his Co workers house drinking himself into oblivion.

I know of people in my lifetime who have died in that same

state, even in high school. I remember being in high school

and we had to be brought together as a school because

there's two students who were slain in a state of being at the

wrong place, doing the wrong things.

And it makes you wonder if Ela was busy doing what he was

supposed to be doing as a king, that Zimri's conspiracy would be

much more difficult to accomplish.

Does that make sense? Because there is a lesson here

based on the fact that this is presented to us in Scripture for

our instruction, for our completion as men and women of

God. The lesson is the way you

socialize and the way we indulge can be deadly.

The way you and I choose to socialize and the way you and I

choose to indulge can be absolutely lethal.

It's clear that Ela didn't take heed to the word of God of what

kings were supposed to do in relationship to alcohol, right?

Do you remember what King Lemuel heard and Proverbs 31 verse

four? That is not for kings to drink

or rulers to take strong drink. And it is for certain that both

Ela and his Co worker, another ruler, did not take heed to the

words of Solomon elsewhere where we're told this.

And I encourage you to turn there with me in Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 10:16

chapter 10, verse 16. Meet me there briefly.

I want you to see this woe that Solomon pronounces on kings who

choose to do something that is related to what Ela does.

Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse 16.

Ecclesiastes 10:16

I'll wait for you. As long as you bring your

Bibles, I'll wait for you. Ela forgot or probably didn't

even look at this in his lifetime.

Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child.

And that is not limited to age, by the way, because there were

kings who were young and they were righteous.

Speaks of your maturity. When your king is a child and

your Princess feast in the morning.

Question for you, especially for my Middle Eastern friends.

Is it wrong to feast? No, not wrong to feast.

Is it wrong to feast in the morning?

Depends the occasion. But it was wrong for kings and

Princess and rulers to feast in the morning because the Bible

tells us that kings were to be preoccupied with a different

kind of activity before the heat of the day would arrive.

And we even have a verse of what kings were to do in the morning

time according to the prophet Jeremiah.

You can turn there if you'd like.

I'll quote it to you. Anyway, it's found in Jeremiah

Jeremiah 21:12

chapter 21, verse 12, and it'll be up there on the screen.

But notice what the prophet says to the House of David and

Jeremiah 2112, O House of David. Thus says the Lord, Execute

justice when? In the afternoon, at night time.

No, no, execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the

hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, lest my wrath

go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it because of

your evil deeds. So he's speaking to the House of

David. He's specifically speaking to

the rulers, and he's saying, oh, rulers, it's your job that

you've neglected to execute justice.

What time of the day? In the morning?

In other words, we're being told here that the priority of the

activity of the king is to administer justice.

First thing of the day is to occupy the seat of justice and

to give judgement and to administer wisdom and to give

consultation and as a result to see the oppressor free and to

see people experience God's righteousness through that

vessel of a king. And so we see here that the

morning they are to be busy and what does Solomon say?

Woe to your land when your Princess feast instead of

fulfilling their God-given role as a king in the land.

Here's the larger principle. Misguided priorities are

spiritually deadly for you and for others, especially if

whatever you try to replace your God-given responsibility with,

even if it's in the pursuit of pleasure or delight, it will

kill you and it will harm others.

Woe to you, O land, when your Princess feast in the morning,

when Jeremiah says you're supposed to be busy doing

something else in the morning, O kings.

And so we have to understand that if we do not properly frame

our interactions and our activities, then we're in

trouble. And that's what we see in the

next verse of Ecclesiastes 10. The reward of doing it the way

God calls us to do it. Happy are you old land?

Happy are you old land? When your king is the son of

nobility and your Princess feast, when does it say it?

Oh, it's not there at the proper time.

A feasting is not wrong. When they feast in Ecclesiastes

10/17 at the proper time. The morning is not the proper

time. There are other times where

you're supposed to be doing that.

And notice this when they feast. Yes, for strength and not for

drunkenness. So a righteous king does not

just eat for delight, he eats for strength.

And so he's not mastered by anything.

He's ultimately mastered by his God-given call.

And he sees anything else that's inferior to that as a means, as

instruments for him to better do what God's called him to do and

be effective where God's called him be effective.

So he eats, yes, he feasts, but it's his fuel, it's his energy

and he does not allow any delight, any delight.

I don't care what that delight is, whether it's a morsel or

it's a person, or it's your job, or it's your endeavors or it's

your hobbies. Nothing will distract him from

his ultimate responsibility of glorifying God in the context

that he's been called. Never forget, listen, that

self-control will prosper you. self-control is a lost art and

it's rarely proclaimed from the pulpit for fear of being

indicted by the people of being legalistic.

It's biblical. And don't be those Christians

that look at things in the Bible that are clear and call it

legalistic just because you don't like it.

People do that. It's legalism.

No, it's actually Bible. Legalism is when you take your

ideas and impose them on the scripture or you take light

things and make the major things.

But when it's clear, it's a command and we are people who

obey commands. Yes, we people who love the

grace of God. Happy are you O land.

self-control doesn't just prosper you, it prospers others

around you. Notice he didn't say happy are

you O king? He says happy are you O land.

In other words, yourself control and your scripturally framed

priorities will bless everything around you.

It's going to bless your marriage.

It will bless your marriage. It will bless your relationship

with your friends. It will bless your finances.

It will bless your business. It will bless your local church.

But when you refuse to by the power of the Holy Spirit

exercise that self-control that leads to a more prosperous life.

Listen to this. It is a sure destination to a

slow spiritual suicide. So Ela was found drunken,

doesn't say if he was there in the morning, but he was there in

the morning. Excuse me?

He was there in Azra's house, and whether there he was in the

morning or not, Zimmering knew of his whereabouts.

For him to be able to come and do what he did and to commit

this great crime. So it shows, I believe, that Ela

was in that place in a frequent way, and I'm sure that he was

there in the morning as well. And this is what led ultimately,

not ultimately, but it did contribute to his death.

And Speaking of suicide, that is what will stand out in the next

King's story. Let's go to it together.

We'll skip verses 11 to 14 as it gives us a familiar commentary

about why this king was judged and why he was ultimately

destroyed by God. But let's come down to Zimri

story. In the 27th year of ASA, king of

Judah, Zimri reigned 7 days in tears.

That's got to be a world record of some sort.

Seven days. Imagine being a king for a week.

We thought two years were short. Seven days now the troops were

camped against Gibbethan which belonged to the Philistines.

We talked about Gibbethan last week and the troops who were

encamped heard it said Zimri has conspired and he has killed the

king. Therefore all Israel made Umri

the commander of the army, king over Israel.

That day in the camp saw Umri went up from giveth on and all

Israel with him and they besieged Tirza.

And 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. What a gruesome way to die

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.

Now the rest of the acts of Zimri and the conspiracy that he

made, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of

the Kings of Israel. So Zimri now, who killed by Asha

and his household, he fulfilled the word of the Lord by the

mouth of Jehu, He reigns and he reigns for a week.

And in that week, we learned that he assumed too much.

He seizes the throne. And because of him seizing the

throne, we see that because of the lack of things taking place

so quickly, as they do in our day, word went about in a matter

of a few days that Zimri has become king.

And Zimri again made this decision without realizing an

important factor of becoming a king, especially in the way that

he did it. You need people to support you.

And he didn't have the popular vote.

In fact, when everybody heard Zimri becomes king, they go.

He doesn't he, he's not supposed to be the king.

Omri should be the king. And so they elect Omri.

Omri has the entire support of the nation of Israel.

And what happens? They besiege the capital.

Zimri looks out of his window and he sees that he is

surrounded by the people that he thought that he was going to

rule and that they were going to accept them.

And this is this is his decision.

I have no chance. Because as you know, the pattern

of this time was if a rival person was to come and attack

your throne, they would not only attack you and ask you to kindly

move and say some mean things to you, they would kill you and

they would kill your descendants and kill everyone associated

with you so that there would be no usurping in the future.

So Zimri knows that he's finished.

And So what does he do? He's, he chooses to finish

himself. I'll, I'll just do the job on my

own. This is one of a few accounts

and records of suicide in the Bible.

This is one of them. There's actually a total of

seven. And to make this a little bit

more interactive, I'm curious to know if you know some of them.

Can you tell me the different records in the Scripture where

we're told of a man who committed suicide?

Samson is 1. One at a time.

I'll just lift your hands so we don't talk over each other,

please. Yes, Judas is the obvious one.

So let me, let me put it this way.

Now, there's only one in the New Testament that our brother just

mentioned, and the rest are in the Old Testament.

We ought to be dealt with. Samson, Judas.

Yes, Saul, very good. Saul is another one.

So that's three. Any other ones?

All right, if you remember, let us know.

Oh, that's that's one that people don't have to get.

But you got to figure out the name.

I can't just give it to you. You're on it, though.

You're on it. I'll give you a hint.

He's in the book of Judges. Samson is in the book of Judges.

But there was somebody else before him who committed this

grievous act of self murder. He was the son of a very notable

figure, one that you hear about in your Sunday school

curriculum. He's the son of somebody who God

told him to diminish his army down to a few 100.

Do you know? I saw, yes, Abimelech.

Abimelech is the first one. Yes, absolutely.

In Judges Chapter 9. Then there is Samson.

Judges 9 · chapter mention

Then there is Saul. We touched on Zimri.

We touched on Judas. There's two others.

Two others. I think Volvo is another one.

Yes. When he realized that his plot

was not honored by Absalom, he went home and he put his house

in order and he hung himself. There's one more.

There's one more. OK, that was something else.

That was actually an act of murder, but that's a good guess.

There's one more. I'll give you a hint.

I'll just give you one hint, Saul.

That's all I'm going to say. And then we have to move forward

because I don't want this to drag too, too long.

Saul's the hint. Saul's armor bearer.

You got it. Good job.

Yes. When Saul killed himself, the

armor bearer thought, OK, I might as well join him.

So those are the seven accounts. And I argue that there could

have been, I'm sure there could have been more that.

But there is a close call of another New Testament individual

who could have been mentioned along with this horrific list of

people who have come to such desperation in their lives.

Can you think of a New Testament person who was close to

committing that act but was spared?

What's that? The Philippian jailer?

Can I show you that in Acts 16 verse 27 there could have been

Acts 16:27

another suicide record in the Bible, but it was prevented by

something that, listen you and I must believe is able to rescue

anyone from such despair, even if such despair reaches a point

where self murder seems to be a better alternative.

Read this with me in Acts 1627. When the jailer woke and saw

that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about

to kill himself. Supposing that the prisoners had

escaped. Why would the jailer want to

kill himself realizing that the prisoners had escaped?

That could be one idea. Yes, his authorities would have

killed him. Yes, I think that's more likely

that the authorities would have given him the verdict of these

prisoners and for letting them escape, they would have now put

him to the butcher's block. And so he thought to himself,

I'm finished. Like my, my, my authorities are

merciless. So let me just let just like

Jimmy, let me just do the job myself.

But something prevented him. Two men who were so filled with

God, two men who had the hope of the gospel, who brought this man

to salvation. So here you have an individual

that's ready, who's so hopeless, who's so overcome with grief and

concern and worry, with a bleak future, but was apprehended by

two men who, instead of escaping for their own benefit, chose to

remain in order to provide hope. Hey, we're still here.

Don't do this to yourself. And then this man asked, as he

trembled and fell before them, What must I do to be saved?

What provoked the jailer to say that this hardened, brutal,

tough man, to be weak in the knees and to be melted like

this, to say what must have to be saved?

Well, remember, before this and before the earthquake, you had

two men, the same men who were singing hymns and praying to God

at midnight, and they were heard.

And I'm sure the jailer heard it too, and I'm sure something was

trying to register in his mind. How do you have these two guys

that have fresh wounds in their back, who are bleeding, who are

bruised, who are battered? How is it that they have so much

hope? What is it that they believe in

that can have them singing in this way, though, treated in

this way? I want to know what they have.

People often ask, is it possible for a true Christian to commit

suicide? And the way I answer is this,

that in a moment of extreme weakness, in a season of

incredible challenges, a Christian is capable of many

things. Is that not true?

But what I will say with that is that if there is somebody who

professes Christ and consistently contemplates and

justifies something as severe as suicide, you and I have every

right to challenge that person to examine the sincerity of

their faith. And the reason why I say that is

because the Bible characterizes Christians in many ways.

And one of the ways is that Christians are overcome by this

thing called hope. We are a hopeful people, not

wishful thinking, not just hope for a thing to come.

When I pass from this life, a hope that is so weighty and such

an anchor to our lives that it brings about deliverance day by

day. The Christian is characterized

by hope. And what is suicide?

Ultimately, it's an act of total and ultimate hopelessness, one

that convinces you because you do not believe you have purpose

or that the things around you happening have purpose.

And I want to show you by way of example how this hope is not

just a tenet of our faith or something that we kind of throw

around as Christians is something that has real impact

on the life of a believer. So Paul says something in Second

Corinthians 18 where he is ambiguous in the nature of his

trial, but he says this trial that we are enduring is so

intense that we despaired of life itself.

Paul is saying that we're not talking about a weak Christian

here. We're talking about a strong, if

not the strongest example of what a Christian should look

like and live like. And yet even such a man was

susceptible to such a temptation, where he says in

Second Corinthians 18, Let me read it to you in his own words,

for we do not want you to be unaware, brothers.

Of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly

burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life

itself. This was so overwhelming.

This was so overbearing, this was so consuming that we

thought, man, I can't live like this.

And yet 2 verses later in verse 10, notice what he says.

He delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver

us on him. We have set our what?

Our hope. So this Christian hope, this

gospel hope, this Christ centered hope is powerless,

powerful enough to deliver you from the powerful temptation of

despairing of life itself. You know this is true or this is

just poetic license. No, it's true.

It's real, and it changes people.

So, yeah, a Christian is capable of much in a place, in a season,

even in a moment of extreme grief, pain, confusion,

frustration. But I would say, one who

consistently entertains and justifies such an act, those

around it and him himself, must call for an examination of the

sincerity of that faith, as you would any other sin that one

would justify, and consistently meditate on thinking that they

are allowed to do it. So we come to our 4th king.

And verse 21. Then the people of Israel were

divided into two parts. Half of the people followed

Tibney the son of Ganath to make him king, and half followed

Omri. This is a mess.

OK, so you already have the nation divided in two, and now

we're focused on the northern part.

And within the northern tribes you have another division.

Sin divides, Sin splits up. A Kingdom that is divided in

this way cannot stand. And so now you have two parts

within the one part and you have half the people who follow this

guy named Tibney and the other half who want to follow this guy

that they like the name Umri. And what I find so interesting

is a brief note is that before we read earlier that all of

Israel wanted Umri and now half of the people want to don't put

any stock in the recognition and praise from people.

It's very short lived. It's very fickle.

One day they praise you, the next day they condemn you.

So don't put too much, don't put any rather of your identity, of

your esteem, of your joy and what people have to say, because

one day they want you to be there and the next day want

somebody to replace you. So now we read that the people

wanted this other king, but Omri was a brilliant general.

So in verse 22. But the people who followed Omri

overcame the people who followed Tibney, the son of Ghanaut.

So Tibney died and Omri became king in the 31st year of ASA,

king of Judah. Umri began to reign over Israel

and he reigned for 12 years, Six years he reigned in Tirza.

He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of

silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the

city that he built Samaria after the name of Shemer, the owner of

the hill. So Tirza was the capital for

quite some time of the Northern Kingdom.

Under Omri's administration, he transfers the capital over to a

place called Samaria. Why?

Because strategically it made sense.

It was a hill. There was geographical advantage

to that. You had created greater

difficulty for any invasion, and you had a greater outlook of the

horizon and your surroundings. So this makes sense from a

military standpoint. But we read on and we see

something that is crushing, because despite any

accomplishment, the Spirit of God does not speak highly of

this man. Verse 25.

Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more

evil than all who were before him.

So if Zimri broke the record of the shortest reign in Israel's

history, Omri broke the record of reaching to new lows for the

evil one can commit. As a king, he did more evil than

all who were before him. For he walked in all the way of

Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, and in the sins that he made Israel

to sin, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel to anger by their

idols. What did Omri do?

We're not told in detail, but we do have an indication of another

place because he's barely mentioned in the Bible.

But in this one other place where he is mentioned, we have

an idea of the caliber of his wickedness.

It's an interesting place in the Bible.

Mark it down if you don't want to turn there now, I'll read it

to you and Micah. In Micah 6, verse 16, the

Micah 6:16

prophet pronounces an indictment against that generation, and

this is the explanation of their ways.

For you have kept the statutes of Omri and all the works of the

House of Ahab. So based on this, Omri was not

just like a silly Sinner, right? He was not just this kind of

foolish man who was just self absorbed and did things here and

there. This man created laws that

encouraged and discipled an entire generation and nation

into sin. He had laws.

Laws are contrary to God's laws. Laws that perhaps even punish

those who would not submit to his desires.

He had statutes. And I believe that indicates the

level of evil that this man was consumed by, that he caused

other people to intentionally sin by way of legislation, by

way of even punishment in terms of disobeying what he had asked

of them. And so this man was evil.

He was wicked. And if you think this man was

bad, our final king will prove otherwise.

But let me say this as a side note.

If you're one who enjoys history and you like to see how world

history coincides and correlates and complements biblical

history, look up Omri and you'll realize that there are ancient

artifacts from the Moabites and the Assyrians that mention Omri

by name. And I just like those things

from time to time because they are just Nuggets of God's

providential preservations to show us that this Bible is, in

fact, true. And so Omri was mentioned

because he was praised even by neighboring nations of being a

very successful commander and leader at this time in history.

Look it up for yourself. But let's come to our final king

as we close our Bible study. You know this man, I'm sure it's

the son of Omri. His name is Ahab.

Look at verse 29 with me in the 38th year of ASA.

Remember, every single king that we've touched on so far has been

during the reign of ASA. In the 38th year of ASA, king of

Judah, Ahab the son of Umri began to reign over Israel.

And Ahab the son of Umri reigned over Israel and Samaria 22

years. And Ahab, the son of Emory, did

evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before

him, including his father. And here is what he is notorious

for. Here's what is underscored and

emphasized about Ahab. Verse 31.

Look at how the spirit inspired the author to write this.

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 Ethbao, king of the Cydonians.

It's like, as though it wasn't enough for him to do what

Jeroboam did. You know what Ahab did?

He married a woman named Jezebel.

For somebody to speak like that about your wife says something

about your wife says something about this woman, and you're

going to discover that. Though Ahab imitated the faults

of many perform, including Solomon, who imported much

idolatry through his political marriage alliances, the

impression that you're supposed to get by reading this is that

Jezebel is going to cause more problems than Solomon's 1000

wives combined. She's going to cause more issues

to the Kingdom of Israel than all those other women who

preceded her. And that is something that you

and I have to brace ourselves for.

And we get a hint of it already here.

Notice verse 31. Jezebel, the daughter of Ethel,

king of the Cydonians. And the next part is meant to

show us that because of Jezebel's influence over Ahab,

this is what happens. And went and served Baal and

worshipped him. Look at verse 32.

He erected an altar for Baal in the House of Baal, which he

built in Samaria. Now we've seen kings before this

build temples and high places and stations of false worship

here and there. But what we're supposed to see

here is that Ahab takes it to another level, because Ahab does

build this House of worship, but in the capital city of the

northern Kingdom. And though most of these wicked

kings are being compared to Jeroboam, when Jeroboam

introduced idolatry to the northern tribes, he made an

attempt to try to refashion the religion of Yahweh.

And so he tried to incorporate this thing with the truth that

they were familiar with. He tried to even mimic the

feasts and all of that, right? So he's trying to do this thing

where you get the flavor of the Lord's truth, and he's bleeding

it in with his own ideas. But that's not what what Ahab

does. Ahab is not looking to

integrate. He's not looking to mingle.

He's not looking to any of that. Ahab is looking to completely

replace Yahweh from the minds and the devotions and the

worship of the nation of Israel. So he under Jezebel's leading

institutes, Baal worship, listen as the state religion for

Israel. And Jezebel would be so

ferocious in her pursuit of wanting Baal to be recognized

that she will even hunt down the prophets of the Lord, as you and

I are about to discover in the coming chapters.

So this is a a new campaign, a new kind of campaign where

Israel's existence as being distinct, as a covenant people

is now on the brink of extinction.

This is serious, this is severe, this is heartbreaking.

Jericho, he laid its foundation at the cost of a Byram, his

first bullet. Cursed be the man who rebuilds

the walls of the city, and cursed be the man who rebuilds

it. At what cost?

At the cost of his first born shall he lay its foundation, and

at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.

There was a permanent perpetual curse looming over the people if

anyone would entertain and execute the resurrection of the

city of Jericho, and this man does it.

But what's the connection? Look at the 1st 3 words of verse

34. In his days.

Whose days? The days of Ahab.

You know what this is meant to convey.

Ahab as a leader created such an atmosphere in such an

environment that it encouraged people to do the unthinkable.

Leaders have that kind of an influence.

You have this individual here who felt confident enough to

challenge God's curse and check this out.

At the laying of the foundation, the eldest dies and he doesn't

even stop there. He continues to complete the

project at the death and at the cost of his other son's life.

You're saying what wouldn't Hail be familiar with this curse?

Most likely. But what does it mean for

somebody to do such a thing, even at the price of losing his

sons, when you have been living in an environment where you're

conditioned to sacrifice your children?

That's what people were doing day in and day out around them.

And so it meant nothing at this point of Israel's history to

give up your children. We've been doing this in the

Northern Kingdom for quite some time.

And so it was effortless. It wasn't even a second thought

to do this grievous thing. And really what this meant to

show us is to give us just a little taste of the path that

Ahab as a ruler was leading this people into.

And at the same time, I would say that this is an act of God's

mercy towards Ahab, because in God honoring his word by

executing judgment in the way that he prophesied many

generations ago. You know what that would

communicate to Ahab and Jezebel? I take my word seriously.

I'm not playing around here. Ahab Jezebel, you think that you

can bring in Baal to eclipse my glory in this place?

Realize that by doing so, and let me show you by way of

example, that I am looking at you.

I'm marking you, and I will execute vengeance against you.

If anything, like we've seen with Jeroboam, this was meant to

awaken Ahab to his senses and to repent before he he met a

similar fate and they would meet similar fates in years to come.

Here's an here's a practical truth you could draw from this

and seeing he all do this under the leadership of Ahab.

Leaders have to realize this sobering rule.

As a leader, you are leading people in a direction whether

you are intending to do so or not.

By people choosing to submit under your direction, you will

bear the responsibility of where you lead.

People do not covet the place of leadership, my friend, And those

who currently stand as leaders understand that there are souls

under your care, especially if you're in the place of an elder.

So this is a sobering reminder that your holiness can rub off

on others, and your lack of holiness can equally rub off on

others. What you do in your private

life, what you do before the people of God, how you treat

this word, all these things that you have to factor in does not

remain with you. It will spill over to others.

Now, that is the rule, a sobering one for leaders.

But there's also a warning for those who are not leaders.

For those who are not leaders, hear me very carefully.

You have to make a conscious and calculated choice in your life,

especially in your spiritual life, about which leadership you

choose to sit under. People often ask what should I

look for in a local church? And this is my go to answer.

Look at the leadership of that church.

Look at the leadership of the church because the leadership

will ultimately determine the direction of that church.

The leadership will ultimately determine the reverence and the

esteem and the obedience and the standard of that local body.

So if you want to know if this is a place that I want to commit

to, look no further than those who are in charge and you'll get

everything that you need to know about whether or not this church

is healthy or not. So be careful who you choose to

sit under. Be careful men, especially the

men here who are now seeing not just the blessing of marriage,

but the blessing of babies coming into your life.

You have to also make a choice today, tomorrow, every day for

the rest of your life, as long as you're in this world.

Who am I going to allow to speak spiritual truths to my family

every week? These are things that we must

give ear to. And this is not going to be the

last time we hear of Ahab. In fact, for the rest of the

Book of First Kings, he's going to be the main feature of

Israel's history at this time. And I'm excited to see what God

does when a leadership from a governmental standpoint, from a

spiritual leadership standpoint goes S what does God do?

You know what you're going to discover in First Kings 17?

He raises up men of God. I'm excited to get there.

Let's thank God for this Bible study, please.

Well, we know that it is not often that we examine a portion

of Scripture at this rate and at this pace, but we trust that

what's been said did something to our hearts.

And Lord, we pray that these truths would not be easily

forgotten, but we would have recall and we would be able to

remember them. We were able to connect them

with other truths. We were able to see the harmony

and the Symphony of the Word of God as we personally study

through it. And as we study through it

together, many truths from so many angles have come to us.

Lord, help us apply what you want us to apply.

And Lord, at the close of this service, we are grateful for the

weekly reminder that there is no King like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now we worship him in spirit and in truth.

As we look to you in song, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.

There is no king like King Jesus.

Let's stand and worship him because he's the living King.