(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, let's jump right in here. 1 Kings chapter 16, look at verse number 1, the Bible reads, Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu the son of Hinnai against Baasha's saying. Now I just want to point out really quickly who this Jehu is. Now there's a couple of different Jehus in the Bible. This is Jehu the prophet. He's the son of a prophet. It's not the same Jehu that goes off and then becomes king later on in a few more chapters of different Jehu, but that's Jehu the son of Nimshai, I think, not the Jehu the son of Hinnai. They're two different people. But this Jehu is really interesting. I think this is great. If you remember just from last week in chapter 15, we did a lot of reading and studying about the king Asa. And king Asa was a righteous king before God, but kind of later in his life he had done a few things. He screwed up and didn't quite keep his faith in the Lord in certain areas of his life, you know, militarily and then when he got his disease. And if you remember, Hinnai was the prophet that confronted Asa and told him, you know, hey, you're doing wrong. You know, remember when God was with you when you trusted completely in God and you defeated the Egyptians and the Lubims who were much greater in number than the Syrians. You remember that? You remember that great victory he wrought for you and now you're going and asking for help and, you know, not relying on God. And then Asa got mad at him and threw him into prison, you know, and just kind of plagued him. Well, here we have, and praise God for this, Hinnai raised his son right. His son knew all this stuff happened. His son saw that Asa, you know, what could happen when you preach the word of God, some of the consequences that might make some people get scared, some people close up and not want to preach God's word, even though God's saying, hey, preach my word, shout it from the rooftops, let it be known, thus saith the Lord. And his son Jihu is the same way, the man after his dad's own spirit, his dad's own heart, because right now he's confronting another king. And what else is interesting is you go through this whole book, you're going to realize God is sending prophets and he's sending prophets to these kings. He's trying to set them right. This isn't just some dramatization, you know, like, and the reason why I say that, it's not just like, you know, the Calvinistic view that just says that God is just controlling and manipulating everything all the way down to just what everybody does is ridiculous. And none of this stuff would make sense if God is just completely controlling everybody and making everything happen. Why would he have to send prophets? Why, you know, it's like, why this big spectacle, why this big show, why this big theater if no one ultimately has free will? It doesn't make any sense. But what you're going to find is that he is sending his prophets. He's sending people. People always have a chance to do what's right before God's going to bring his judgment. In this lifetime, people have a chance. We have a chance to put our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation. We all have the chance. The Bible says that even in, you know, in Romans 1 that, that the invisible things are clearly seen. You know, his eternal power and Godhead are evident by his own creation, by everything that he's done. It's evident that God exists and that we are without excuse. There is no reason for us not to come to the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ. There's no reason for that not to happen. God is just in everything that he does and we see all throughout the Bible him sending his prophets. And he seems to send them more and more. We're going to, this chapter in particular, a big overview, we just see a lot of wicked kings of Israel and they get worse and worse and worse and worse and worse. I don't know if you noticed that every single king, because there's like four of them that the Bible talks about just in this one chapter. From king to king to king to king, it's like that one did worse and then that one did worse and then that one did worse. And as all of this is happening, God's sending his prophets. I mean, he's sending Asa to, or not Asa, he's sending Jehu to Baasha. Now, jump up a little bit into chapter 15 because chapter 16 starts with then, you know, as in the next thing, right? The Bible originally didn't have chapter divisions. It was just all, it was just, you know, the book, the first Kings was just written as a book and chapter divisions were put in there. I think they make sense to have. I think it's great to be able to reference places and for us to kind of, dig into certain sections, but keep that in mind that chapters don't just necessarily stand alone. Now, the thoughts kind of do, which is where they put the divisions in the first place. They make sense where they're inserted into the Bible. But overall, you know, this is a continuation exactly from what we were just reading last week. So, we're going to jump up there to verse number 33 in chapter 15, just to make sure we're getting the context right here. In the third year of Asa, king of Judah began Baasha, the son of Ahijah, to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, twenty and four years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin, wherewith he made Israel the sin, then the word of the Lord came to Jehu, the son of Anani, against Baasha, saying. So, he already starts to be walking the wrong path. You know, God gives him a chance. Okay, let's see what Baasha is going to do. Baasha comes to power. What's he going to do? Starts walking in the ways of Jeroboam, not following God, not listening to God. So, what does God do? God says, okay, well, I'm going to send a prophet. I'm going to send Jehu. I'm going to send Jehu who's got boldness. Jehu, the son of Anani, who I know is not going to hold back, who I know isn't going to trim the message, and he's going to tell Baasha exactly what he needs to hear. So, look what he says here in verse number two. This is the word of the Lord. This is God's message to Baasha. Personal message. For as much as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel, and now 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 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. Now, we see here, and I preach to tell you a story about this not that long ago, about, you know, the extent to which God does get involved in our lives, because he does. I mean, he says clearly right here, look, I exalted thee out of the dust. Baasha, you should know better than this. Baasha, you are low like the dust. You had nothing, and I lifted you up. I blessed you. I raised you up to this position where you're at right now. He says, I made you a prince over my people Israel. I caused that to happen, and you're just going to go and serve these idols and just continue in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat? Jeroboam was raised up from nothing. King Saul was raised up from nothing. So many men we see in the Bible, and look, this should serve as a warning also. If you are blessed in your life at some point, maybe God lifts you up for some reason. Don't let that go to your head and turn your back on God. Stay humble. Keep a humble heart and mind and attitude. Maybe you start getting a lot of accolades and praises from people for whatever reason, at your job or in church or, you know, anywhere in your life. Don't let it get to your head. We need to keep ourselves humble, and definitely when you hear the preaching, don't have the Asa attitude that just gets angry, and lashes out at the messenger. You need to humble yourself and accept what is being, you know, what God is saying to you, just like God had a message here for Baasha. He says, look, I exalted you out dust, and I believe that. God blessed him. God gave him the opportunity. God kind of pushed him along in the way to be able to become that king. But see, it was still up to Baasha to decide, choose you this day whom you're going to serve. He had the opportunity to either serve the Lord and do what's right and be thankful for God blessing him and putting him in that position, or he could choose wrong. Everybody has that choice. That's up to you. God does not control your will. He can bless you. He can lift you up, but he's not going to control your will to do things. So, as a result of Baasha continuing to walk in the way of Jeroboam and continuing to provoke God to anger with their sins, his answer in verse 3 says, I'm going to take away your posterity. And this is a severe punishment. He's saying, what does it mean? What is his posterity? It means his children after him, right? I'm going to take away the name of his household. I'm going to, I'm going to cause you, you know, it's a big deal to lose your posterity. So, the sins that we commit, that you commit can impact your children, even though your children didn't do anything necessarily, right? What you do impacts other people. Your sins has ramifications on other people. And it's not that the children are being judged for something that they didn't do. It's that they're, they're reaping what you've sown. Your impact, you know, the things that we do impact other people. And that's the way that sin works. When you go against God, you're always going to be, you know, having this collateral damage of those around you as a result of your own wickedness. Verse number 4 says, to 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 airy. So, this is a very severe curse. He's just saying, you're not, you're not even going to be buried, just like Jeroboam's family, right? Jeroboam had the one son that was brought to the grave. God said, you know what, the rest of your family, dogs are going to eat you in the streets. You're not, you're not even going to have that final piece of having a proper burial. Your bodies are just going to be destroyed, just mutilated and torn about as meat, as flesh, as nothing. Verse number 5, now the rest of the acts of Baasha and what he did in his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? So, Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah, and Elah his son reigned and said, and that's it about Baasha. Like I said, we're going to be blowing through these kings. There's not much information given, and actually some of the kings that we're going to see here, Amrai and Zimrai, all the information we have pretty much comes right here. We don't get to see very much, but they were in the succession of kings, so God deals with them that way. Verse number 7 here, the Bible says, 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, look at this, and because he killed him. So, the word of the Lord came against Baasha because of all the evil that he did, because he provoked the Lord of anger like we saw before, but now he adds one other thing and he says, and because he killed him. Who's him? Jeroboam. Or excuse me, Jeroboam's son, right, is in the house of Jeroboam. Jump back if you would to chapter 15. We went over this last week. Look at verse number 25. Bob reads, And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father. And in his sin, wherewith he made Israel the sin. And Baasha the son of Ahijah, the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha smote him at Gibethon, which belonged to the Philistines. For Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibethon. Even in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, to Baasha, slay him and reigned in his stead. 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 Shiloh knight, 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. Now this is real interesting, because you read this and you say, but wasn't he just fulfilling the word of the Lord and doing that? When he killed Nadab, when he killed the son of Jeroboam, I mean, didn't God say he was gonna die? Yes he did, but that doesn't mean that what he did was righteous. So we're gonna find, you're gonna find in the Bible that even though people may be carrying out the will of the Lord, and what God said was going to happen, it doesn't make what they do a righteous act. It doesn't mean that they should have done that. Beyasha conspired against the king and killed him, and basically just took over the throne. He took over. He shouldn't have done that. He was a murderer. Now it did also fulfill what God had sentenced against Jeroboam in his house. But see, these things can all work together even though it still doesn't justify what Beyasha himself did. That's why we saw in 1 Kings 16 verse 7 that the prophet Jehu spake against him because of all the things that he did and because he killed Nadab, the house of Jeroboam. Now I had a person recently tell me that we should be thanking Judas Iscariot, the traitor, for what he did to Jesus Christ. Because without Judas, you know, we couldn't receive our salvation. So we should really thank Judas for that. That is one of the most perverted, wicked things I swear that I've ever heard. I was shocked when I heard it. I was just like, are you out of your mind? The Bible says Jesus Christ himself said, woe unto the world because of offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. Did Jesus have to die on the cross for our sins? Yes, he did. But you know what? Woe unto those people that were involved in that. Woe unto Judas. Woe unto Herod. Woe unto the Jews that cried, crucify him, crucify him. Woe unto them. How could you say that any of that was good? It wasn't good. And to think otherwise is just, I mean, you have to be out of your mind. I mean, this could go along with my preaching on Sunday night, the sin of stupidity, because I mean, at some point, you know, you're starting to just think about things and twist them. Look, I'm all for being thankful for our salvation just as much as everyone else. But I also have a lot of love and respect for our savior too. And, and we shouldn't be blessing the guy that cursed Jesus Christ. I mean, it only makes sense. Yes, he had a job to do in fulfilling that prophecy, but it doesn't make what he did good. I mean, this should be very simple, but I mean, it boggled my mind to even hear that when someone, when a person came to me with that, I was shocked. Honestly, I was shocked. I was not expecting to hear that from this person, but you know, let's not let ourselves get twisted around in this. Judas had to fulfill the prophecy, but that was his own doing. God knew and foresaw all the events. God knows man's hearts. God's able to put people in the right situations for things that happen the way they do. And God can, can kind of steer things along, but at the end of the day, hey, Judas was responsible for his own actions. Judas was a traitor. He chose to do that. Herod was, you know, some politician as not God-fearing at all. He chose to do what he did. Everyone along the path still followed their own will, but God worked it out perfectly among these people that in them following out their will with Jesus, you know, every, all the prophecies were able to be fulfilled and Jesus Christ was able to die and, and be crucified for our sins. But at no point should we bless or thank the wicked doer. That's the same thing we see here in this case is that by Asher, yeah, he carried out the will of the Lord, but he was still unrighteous in doing so. And if you read the book of Habakkuk, you'll find the same thing. You'll see God using nations who are even more wicked sometimes to come in and bring judgment. He used people, you know, to bring judgment on his own people. Read the whole book of Habakkuk. It's, it's Habakkuk and God kind of going back and forth having this conversation. And Habakkuk's asking, like, why, you know, like, why are they gonna come and do, like, they're more wicked than we are. Like, I know we're wicked. I know we've got sins, but I mean, they're way worse than us. Why are you gonna allow them to come in and destroy us? But that's the way that God works. And, and, you know, we go on and on about it. I'm not gonna keep going on that point, but, you know, these things happen, but it doesn't make the evil doer justified in any sense of the word. Let's keep reading here. Look at verse number eight. In the 20th and sixth year of Asa, King of Judah began Elah, the son of Baasha, to reign over Israel in Tirzah two years. And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah. And Zimri went in and smote him and killed him in the 20 and 7th year of Asa, King of Judah, and reigned in his stead. So, you know, it's like, and this is, this is all basically the kings of Israel. Now Asa is the king of Judah, and this is all happening basically during the reign of Asa. Asa's doing that, which is right over in Judah. In Israel, it's just one conspiracy after another. You've got these people, their whole houses are getting wiped out because they're just, they're, they're, they're such wicked kings. And here we've got Baasha's son. He only reigns for two years, and there he is drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of God. He's a king, and what's he doing? Drinking himself drunk. The Bible says in Proverbs 20 verse 1, wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Baasha's son here, Elah, was not wise at all. Bad things happen around drunk people. Let me tell me to start off with that. You say, well I'm not a king. What have we learned from this? Well, bad things happen when people are getting drunk, and I don't even care if you're not the one getting drunk. You shouldn't be hanging around these places or going out to bars or, or whatever. We've got a group of people that are all just drunk. Because, remember as I was talking about earlier, there's, there's this, what's the word I'm looking for? The, the back, the unintended consequences, you know, you've got, you've got collateral damage. That's the word I'm looking for. Collateral damage of being around. Do you hang around people who are just, just involved with a whole bunch of sins? You hang around a bunch of drunk people, guess what? There's gonna be some collateral damage, because the sin that they're doing, getting drunk, is gonna fall out on those around them. And we need to, you need to be careful about that, and if you're deceived by wine or strong drink, the Bible says you're not wise. But when, when people get drunk, the first thing that happens is their good judgment goes out the window, and iniquity starts to abound. It leads to more and more and more sins, because now you're more open to doing things that you would have never done had you been sober. Kids, listen up to this. This is extremely important. This is probably one of the most important lessons you're gonna learn in life from a young age. Don't get involved with drinking alcohol ever. Stay away from it. It causes people to do really, really bad things. In Proverbs 31, verse 4, the Bible says, it is not for kings, O Lemuel, it's not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Elah, the son of Baasha, wasn't reading Proverbs 31. Didn't follow in the, in the wisdom of Solomon, who really wasn't even that far prior to him. Not, not many years had passed since Solomon was given this wisdom. And this isn't even necessarily from when the Proverbs were being created, right? I mean, this is Lemuel's mother. It's not for kings to drink strong wine, nor for princes strong drink. They drink, you forget the law, and they pervert judgment. This happens to everyone. You're gonna forget God's law. You're gonna forget what's right. You're gonna forget what's wrong. You're gonna pervert judgment, and sin abounds. Proverbs 23, 29 says, who hath woe, who hath sorrow, who hath contentions, which is fighting, who hath babbling, who hath wounds without cause, who hath redness of eyes. They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine, look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and it stingeth like an adder, and adders a snake. That's what alcohol does in the end. It's like getting stung by a snake, getting bit, and a poison going through your body, because that's what alcohol is, is a poison. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Alcohol makes you say things that are just perverted. Perverted. I don't think anyone in this room would like to be called a pervert, would you? Well go ahead and drink some alcohol, because you know what it's gonna do? It's gonna make you say things that would make you people call you a pervert, because you're saying perverted things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me, and I felt it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. Alcohol causes you, ultimately, when you get drunk, you black out, you don't even know what's going on, you don't know what's going on around you. People could be literally beating you up, and you have no idea what's going on, and you wake up the next day, and you're like, oh man, I'm sore, I'm bruised, I have wounds without cause. Where did that come from? Or, in Ela's case, you wind up dead. Drinking himself drunk, yeah, it's all fun, having a blast, having a party. He's killed. Two years into his reign, gone. Wiped out. You're left defenseless when you get drunk. You are at the mercy of those around you when you go out and get drunk. Your alertness slows down, you're not aware of your surroundings as much, your reaction time is slowed down until you pass out, and you're basically dead to the world, and you end up like Noah ended up. Bible gives a story of Noah in Genesis chapter 9, I'll read it for you. Genesis chapter 9 verse 20, and Noah began to be a husband, and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine and was drunken. Drinking himself drunk in his tent, right? And he was uncovered within his tent, and at that time, if there's ever a time in the world you think you could be safe, be after the flood, because there's so few people on the earth. Wouldn't you think so? I mean, it's like, it's you and your family. It's me, my wife, my three sons, their wives. I don't have to worry about anything. I could get drunk. I don't got to worry about anyone taking advantage of me. I'm not worried about that stuff, right? Let's see what happens. He drank of the wine and was drunk, and he was uncovered within his tent. He was naked. Verse 22, and Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without, and Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father, and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. Now, a lot of people get confused about this. I was confused about this for a long time. I didn't quite understand. What's the big deal, right? I mean, it sounds like, in the story, until we keep reading, it sounds like Ham just walks in, and I was like, whoa, wait, Dad's drunk. He's naked, and he tells his brothers, right? That's what it sounds like what happened. So then the brothers come in, and it says, you know, they walk backwards, and they cover up Dad. One thing you got to understand, though, is uncovering nakedness in the Bible is a euphemism. That means it means more than just covering with like a cloth. So when you uncover someone's nakedness, it's referring to an event that actually happens normally, in normal situations, between a married, a husband and a wife. You read throughout the Bible, and it starts going into various sins. It talks about people seeing their nakedness and uncovering their nakedness, and it's referring to a lot more than just being nude in front of the other person. And you say, well, how can you say that that's something that happened in this case? I mean, it was his own son. Well, when you keep on reading, that's how you know for sure. Verse number 24 of Genesis 9 says, and Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done unto him. It doesn't say he knew what his younger son had seen of him. It says he knew what his younger son had done unto him. Now, what do you think? If it wasn't that big of a deal, whatever was done unto him, how could he even know after blacking out, passing out, waking up, and still knowing that something was done unto him? It was wicked. It was perverted. It's something that I don't even like thinking about, but the Bible gives us this story as a warning. And then he says, cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren, Canaan his Ham's son. He curses Ham and his posterity with a major curse, saying he is going to be a servant to everybody. And, you know, he goes on and on. I'm going to read the curses, but it was a serious event because his own son took advantage of him while he was passed out drunk. This is what happens when people get drunk. It happens all the time. Believe it or not, there's people that actually try to get people to get drunk in order to take advantage of them. Don't ever forget that. Someone might try to tell you, oh, it's real fun. Look, we're at this party. Everybody's having drinks. Just have one drink. One drink can literally end your life from the hands of a wrong person. There are people out there that conspire and are just bent on doing wickedness, and especially when they see someone pure, they see someone undefiled, they see a nice pretty young girl, someone who may have never had one drink in their entire life, and they throw a little bit of drugs into that drink. They take them and do whatever they want to them, and, you know, if they're a murderer, they're going to kill them and dispose of them like they're nothing. You need to watch out for that. Don't be deceived by anybody who tries to tell you alcohol is cool, or it's fun. Baasha's son got himself killed, and I don't think it's a coincidence at all that the Bible tells us that he was drinking himself drunk and then he winds up dead. Not a coincidence at all. There's something to be learned there. Let's heed the warnings of the alcohol. Let's keep reading here. Verse number 11. And it came to pass when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he slew all the house of Baasha, he left him not one that pisseth against the wall, neither of his kin's folks, nor of his friends. Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet. For all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, and provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities. Now the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did. Are they not written in the book of, excuse me, the chronicles of the kings of Israel? Fourteen verses in we've got two kings of Israel dead already. Wicked kings dead. Let's keep reading here. Verse number 15. In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzim, and the people were encamped against Gibethon, which belonged to the Philistines, and the people that were encamped heard say, Zimri hath conspired and hath also slain the king. Wherefore all Israel made Amrai the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp. And Amrai went up from Gibethon and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzim. And it came to pass when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king's house, and burnt the king's house over him with fire, and died. For his sins which he sinned, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did to make Israel the sin. He only reigned for seven days, and the Bible is still saying, you know, this is all coming about him for the sins that he did, and the sins he caused other people to do, and following after sins of Jeroboam. He wasn't a righteous man before he took over the reign. I mean, he didn't do all that wickedness in seven days. He was, that was a life of him just being a wicked person. He lasts seven days. So what happens here is he thinks he's gonna, gonna steal the kingdom, basically, and become king. I mean, why not Baasha did it, right? So he kills the new king, but what, what happens is that the people hear about this. They're all fighting a battle. You know, the warriors, the men of war are out fighting, and they hear what happened. They're like, who does this guy think he is? We don't want this guy to be a king, Zimrai, right? And basically, they're treating to him as, as a, as a traitor. You know, as, as someone committing treason, as someone who's, you know, killed the king, conspirator. They were, they're going to get him out. So since the king's dead, they just say, well, hey, Amrai, he was the, basically, the, the general. He's the captain of the guard. He's out there, the captain of the host, leading the army. Obviously, a man that the, the warriors all had respect for, because they're following him into battle, and they're saying, well, if the king's dead, then you should be our king, not this guy. So then they all come back into town, and Zimrai sees what's going on, and Zimrai, of course, has this wicked attitude. Well, if I can't be king, then no one could be king, right? So he just burns the whole house down. He burns the king's house, and everything else just burns into the ground, and basically, they commit suicide inside of, inside of that house, and he dies. Now we have, so there's another king, wicked king, dead. Now we've got Amrai king. Look at verse number 20. Now the rest of the acts of Zimrai and his treason that he wrought, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of Kings of Israel? Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts. Half of the people followed Tibnei, the son of Gennath, to make him king, and half followed Amrai. So now Israel's kind of split up. See, when the people hear about it right away, the warriors are like, we got to take care of this, you know, they're just like, Amrai, you're the king, let's go in and take care of Zimrai. So they go back home, they take care of it, but now things have kind of settled down a little bit, and the people are going, well, we don't want Amrai to be king. You know, we want this other guy, and they're kind of split half and half. And it says in verse 22, but the people that followed Amrai prevailed against the people that followed Tibnei, the son of Gennath. So Tibnei died and Amrai reigned. Now this is, anytime there's a person that has influence of a large number of people and is a threat to the throne, the way that it's always dealt with, at least the way we see it in the Bible, is that that person just gets killed off. And we saw that happen even with Solomon, when his brother, you know, he spared him at first when his brother tried to steal the kingdom from him, but then he said, okay, you know, if you prove yourself to be a good guy and, you know, you're not going to cause any problems, I'll let you live. But what happens, he tries again to get his foot in the door and try to make it, making moves to try to steal the kingdom away, and he's got to go. So the threat to the throne dies. And, you know, it's kind of a shame because you got this guy, I mean, who knows what this guy was like. We don't know anything about him, Tibnei, the son of Gennath, but it's like half of the country likes him, but once he's dead, what are you going to do? So you say, okay, well, Amrai gets established as being the king, but as we're going to see here in just a couple verses, Amrai is no better than any of the rest of them. Verse number 23, in the 30 and first year of Asa, king of Judah, began Amrai to reign over Israel. Twelve years. Six years reigned he in Tirzah, and he bought the hill of, excuse me, the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver and built on the hill and called the name of the city which he built after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria. So Amrai buys this hill. So, you know, the king's house gets burned down and that's kind of where the capital was of Israel at that time. Until now, where Amrai buys a new piece of land and he buys Samaria, basically is what it is. And the New Testament, you're going to hear about the Samaritans. You know the story of the good Samaritan, right? The good Samaritan that helped the guy that fell among robbers by the wayside. And the priests and the Levites, you know, these people who are supposed to be really good people passed by on the other side. And this Samaritan helped the person on the side of the road. Well, the word Samaritan comes from Samaria. This is the first time we see Samaria being established in the Bible. And this becomes, this ends up becoming the capital city of Israel, essentially where the kings are living and reigning from. And he just buys this here. And the man's name was Shemer. So, Samaria is a form of the name Shemer. And that's who is named after. So that's what we see here, just a little bit of historical information there. Verse number 25, But Amrai wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and look at this statement, and did worse than all that were before him. We have Baashim. We have Baash's son drinking himself drunk. We've got, you know, these conspirators that come in, Zimraim. And then we have Amraim. And between all those other, and Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, of course, prior to them. Now we have Amrai, and it's in the Bible that Amrai did worse than all that were before him. He's even more wicked. Verse number 26, For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities. Now the rest of the acts of Amrai which he did, and his might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel. So Amrai slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria, and Ahab his son reigned in his stead. Now Ahab is another piece of work, and Ahab is actually someone that the Bible goes a lot more in-depth in. These last few kings that we just read, who didn't really do a whole lot in general, don't have very much recorded on their whole life in the Bible. They were there. The Bible just says they were wicked. They died. You know, people conspired against them, and they're killed. And you have to be pretty hated anyways to pull off this conspiracy, and for people to to kill you. You know, if the way that we see things happen today is anything to say, I mean people aren't that much different than they were. And you think about how bad does a person have to be before someone's willing to just kill them and take them out, you know. Now sometimes it's because a person may be really good, and they're, you know, and the wicked people are, you know, like Jesus Christ, right? I mean he was perfect, and people conspiring to kill him, because they wanted to shut him up. But oftentimes you get the really wicked people, because they all fight among themselves anyway. So you got one wicked person in power, another wicked person is going to come along and try to off him. And they figure no one's going to care, because the guy's wicked anyways. Let's keep reading here now. We're going to see a little bit about Ahab. Not that much. The, the, the chat, the rest of the first Kings is kind of gonna shift a little bit. We're gonna get into Elijah next week, and we're gonna see a lot about, about Elijah and his life. But Ahab was an extremely wicked king. Let's keep reading here. Verse number 29, and in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab, the son of Amrai, to reign over Israel. And Ahab, the son of Amrai, reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. So he actually has a significant reign. Most of the Amrai before him, I think the Bible said was twelve years. And prior to that, I mean, Zimrai was seven days. You know, Baash's son was two years. So they kind of been going through these kings pretty quickly, and no one really stayed in power for that long. But now you have Ahab, and his reign is twenty-two years. So that's, that's a significant reign. And it says in verse 30, and Ahab, the son of Amrai, did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. So he's even worse than his own dad, who was worse than everyone else that was before him. It's this downward spiral of this wickedness, and these kings getting worse and worse and worse. And it's gonna get to the point, you see, I mentioned this kind of earlier in our, in our Bible study going through 1 Kings, how this was going to happen. And we saw all the way back from Jeroboam what happens when you kick out the priests and Levites in God, and you start just building up false gods, and getting, essentially trying to get God out of the country, getting, getting rid of the Lord, and, and worshiping and serving him. You go downhill really fast, as is evidenced by all these various kings now who are getting more and more and more wicked. Verse 31 says, and it came to pass as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam. And see, the Bible is very clear to say the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, is a big deal in and of itself. I mean, what he did was horrible, is extremely wicked, and setting up those idols, and setting up those gods, and telling people to worship these false gods. All these people were doing exactly what Jeroboam was doing, and worse. He said, you know, if that had just been a light thing for him to walk, because it's not a light thing for him to walk in the ways of Jeroboam and the son of Nebat, but if that were just, you know, if that would have just been a light thing, it says that he also took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians. So, he marries this heathen woman, this extremely wicked woman. Anyone who's read their Bible knows a little bit about Jezebel. Extremely wicked woman, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him. So, he goes off and serves the devil. When Jeroboam reared up his false gods, he tried to say, like, it's still, you're still worshiping the Lord, you're just worshiping the Lord here, at these, you know, at these golden calves. Ahab's just like, I'm just gonna go worship the devil, just total different false god Baal. Now, it's not, I'm not trying to justify the calves by any means, they're still false gods, but like, there was some semblance of the Lord being there, because that's how they tried to deceive the people into doing it in the first place. Now, he's just like, we're gonna set up some altars to Baal here, we're gonna serve Satan outright, out in the open. Verse 32, and he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove, and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. What is continually being mentioned that is provoking the Lord to anger? Every time, it's the worshiping and serving of false gods. God hates that, and I know I've been bringing that up a lot lately, but it's been coming up a lot lately. We've got to remember that, and realize that, and see the writing on the wall, as it were, in this country, when people want to get rid of Jesus, get rid of the Ten Commandments, get rid of God, and you see it politically happening, you see the, you know, all the sympathy towards the Muslims, and propping up Muslim prayers, and schools, and getting rid of the Christian organizations, and Christian activities, and bringing in false gods, and basically trying to steer the whole United States culture into worshiping and serving some other God than Jesus Christ. It's happening. I mean, the attacks against the Christianity in the mainstream is just continuing to get worse, and worse, and worse, and the propping up of any other false religion, really, seems to be progressing. It's not, they're not just getting rid of all religion. They're setting up a swap of, we're going to accept this, and get rid of that, and really provoke the Lord God to anger. Let's finish up the chapter here. Look at verse number 34, last verse. In his days did Hyle the Bethelite build Jericho. He laid the foundation thereof in a biram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Seghab, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun. Now, I think I might have covered this when I did Bible prophecies. I don't remember if I specifically mentioned this one or not, but how amazing is this? Joshua 6 26, if you want to write that down, that's the reference for this verse of what actually happened. That is the reference when Joshua made his statement through the word of the Lord. Joshua 6 26, this is after they defeated Jericho. You remember Jericho? Jericho was that mighty city when the children of Israel were coming in. They had those big walls, and they came in, and they went around the city one time, and then they camped, and then they went around the city another time the next day, and then they camped, and they did that seven days, and on the seventh day they went around the city seven times, and they blew with the trumpets, and the walls came crumbling down, and they went in, and they had that great victory, and God was with them, right? They won the Battle of Jericho, and all the nations around them feared, because if they could defeat Jericho, and it's obvious God's on their side, who's going to stand before him? Great victory, and at the end of that victory, Joshua says in Joshua 6 24, and Joshua adjured them at that time saying, cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it, and exactly his words come to pass. Joshua the son of none. You have Moses, you've got Joshua leading the children of Israel in, and then you've got the whole time of the judges, right? So you got 400 years where there's no kings, and then you get Saul, and then you get David, and then you get Solomon, and then you get Rehoboam, and then you get this split, right? And in all these things that have happened, you know how many years? I mean this is over 500 years. Well over 500 years have passed since Joshua made that statement, and now you've got Heil. Heil the Bethelite. Heil the Bethelite that has no respect for the Word of God. Heil, try telling Heil that this book is just a book of fairy tales, right? Like the atheist wants to say, oh you and your fake, you know, flying God in heaven. Try telling that to Heil. Heil didn't seem to think much about the Bible, but you know what Heil did? Heil built Jericho. The Bible says he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram, his firstborn. Firstborn son Abiram, dead in the laying of the foundation of Jericho, set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segham, according the Word of the Lord. No mess with God's Word. What it doesn't, you know, you read these words say, oh that was that was 500 years ago. That was 600. It's so old. That didn't come to pass. I don't got to worry about building this city. Jericho, what is that old book saying? Should pay a little bit more attention to it, I guess. Praise God for his words. I mean, and that's an amazing, that just, it's just so incredible for so many hundreds of years to go by, and just that one little phrase that Joshua made on the day they won that battle. You know what? This city's cursed. Cursed to be the guy that tries to build this city up again. And it happened exactly the way that he said it happened. Praise God. Let's have a word of prayer. Do you, Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for these stories in the Bible. I pray that you would please just open up our wisdom and our understanding of your God. Pray that you would please just help us to live by these words and not to take them for granted, dear Lord. But they truly are the words of God, that they are your words, that they don't return void, that everything that you say, everything that you promise, everything that's written will come to pass, dear God. I pray that you would please just help us in this dark and wicked world to proclaim your word, to not be ashamed of your word, dear Lord, and to just preach it from the housetops and not be ashamed of it, God. Strengthen us and embolden us. Lord, help us to do a great work for you, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.