1 Kings 15
15
Chapter 15
Abijah, king of Judah
1Abijah became king of Judah after Nebat's son Jeroboam had been king of Israel for 18 years. 2Abijah ruled in Jerusalem as king for three years. His mother's name was Maakah. She was the daughter of Abishalom. #15:2 Abishalom may be another way to write Absalom, who was King David's son. So maybe Maakah was the granddaughter of King David. 3Abijah did the same bad things that his father had done before him. He did not serve the Lord his God faithfully, as his ancestor King David had done. 4But the Lord his God gave Abijah a son to rule after him in Jerusalem. He also made Jerusalem a strong city. The Lord did that because of his promise to David. 5David had always done things that pleased the Lord. David had obeyed the Lord's commands in his whole life, except what he did to Uriah, the Hittite man. #15:5 David sent Uriah to his death, so that he could marry Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. See 2 Samuel 11.
6In Abijah's whole life, there was a war between the armies of Rehoboam and Jeroboam.
7The other things that happened while Abijah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about all the things that Abijah did. While Abijah was king, there was war between his army and Jeroboam's army.
8Abijah died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David. Abijah's son Asa became king after him.
Asa, king of Judah
9Asa became king of Judah when Jeroboam had been king of Israel for 20 years. 10Asa ruled in Jerusalem as king for 41 years. His grandmother was Maakah. She was the daughter of Abishalom. 11Asa did things that pleased the Lord, as his ancestor King David had done. 12He removed the male prostitutes from the altars on the hills. He sent them out of Judah. He removed all the useless idols that his ancestors had made. 13He also told his grandmother Maakah that she could no longer have authority as the Queen Mother. #15:13 ‘Queen Mother’ was the wife of a king that had now died. She had authority to make important decisions. This was because she had made a disgusting Asherah pole to worship. Asa cut down the Asherah pole and he burned it in the Kidron Valley. #15:13 The Kidron Valley was outside Jerusalem. 14Asa did not remove the altars on all the hills, but he served the Lord faithfully for his whole life. 15He brought into the Lord's temple the things that he and his father had made as gifts to the Lord. They used silver and gold to make some of these things.
16There was always a war between King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel while they ruled. 17One time, Baasha attacked Judah. He put a group of his soldiers in Ramah and he made it a strong town. As a result, nobody could travel into Judah or out of Judah, where King Asa ruled. #15:17 Ramah was near to Jerusalem, in Benjamin's land. It was part of King Asa's kingdom. 18So Asa took all the silver and gold that they had stored in his palace and in the Lord's temple. He gave it to his servants. He told them to take it to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus. Ben-Hadad's father was Tabrimmon and his grandfather was Hezion. 19Asa sent this message to Ben-Hadad: ‘We should make an agreement to be friends, as our fathers did. I am sending you this gift of silver and gold. Please stop being friends with Baasha, king of Israel. If you no longer help him, he will have to take his soldiers out of my country.’ 20Ben-Hadad agreed to do what King Asa asked him to do. He sent his army with its leaders to attack towns in Israel. They won the battles at Ijon, Dan, Abel-Beth-Maakah, as well as the region of Kinnereth and the land of Naphtali. 21When King Baasha heard this news, he stopped the work in Ramah. He left there and he went to live in Tirzah. 22Then King Asa commanded all the men in Judah to do some hard work. Everyone had to do this: They must carry away from Ramah all the big stones and the wood that Baasha had been using there. Then King Asa used those things to make Geba (in Benjamin's land) and Mizpah strong towns again.
23The other things that happened while Asa was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about Asa's power and all the great things that he did. It also tells about the cities that he built. When Asa became an old man he had a disease in his feet.
24Asa died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David, his ancestor. Asa's son Jehoshaphat became king after him.
Nadab, king of Israel
25When Asa had been king of Judah for two years, Jeroboam's son became king of Israel. Nadab ruled Israel as king for two years. 26He did things that the Lord said were evil. He did the same bad things that his father had done. He also caused the Israelites to do bad things.
27Baasha decided to kill King Nadab. Baasha was Ahijah's son and he belonged to Issachar's tribe. This happened while Nadab and Israel's army were attacking Gibbethon, a town of the Philistines. 28Baasha killed King Nadab in the third year that Asa was king of Judah. Baasha became king of Israel instead of Nadab.
29When Baasha became king, he killed all Jeroboam's descendants. He did not leave anyone in Jeroboam's family alive. He killed them all. The Lord had already said that this would happen. He had given the message to his servant Ahijah, who was from Shiloh. #15:29 Ahijah's message to Jeroboam is in 1 Kings 14:10-11. 30This happened because of Jeroboam's sins, and the sins which he caused the Israelites to do. These sins had made the Lord, Israel's God, very angry.
31The other things that happened while Nadab was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the things that Nadab did. 32There was always a war between the armies of King Asa and King Nadab.
Baasha, king of Israel
33In the third year that Asa was king of Judah, Ahijah's son Baasha became the king of all Israel. He was living in Tirzah. Baasha ruled as king for 24 years. #15:33 Tirzah was a beautiful place. See Song of Songs 6:4. Perhaps that is why Israel's kings lived there instead of in Shechem. 34Baasha did things that the Lord said were evil. He did the same sins that Jeroboam had done. He also caused the Israelites to do those bad things.
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1 Kings 15: EASY
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