11. BAASHA

BAASHA

"The word of Jehovah came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over My people Israel, and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made My people Israel to sin, provoking Me to anger with their sins; behold, I will take away Baasha and his house, and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat."

1Ki 16:1-3 A lthough God had dealt with the house of Jeroboam in severest judgment, this did not change the hearts of the people. Baasha of the tribe of Issachar had been God’s instrument to smite "all the house of Jeroboam; he left to Jeroboam none that breathed; until he had destroyed him.because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and wherewith he made Israel to sin" (1Ki 15:29-30).

Israel had turned away from the Lord. But the Lord did not write them off. Though rebellious and wayward, they were still His people. Many years later He uses the prophet Hosea to express His feelings and detail His dealings with them in touching manner. "How shall I give thee over, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee up, Israel," He laments (Hos 11:8). He goes back to Israel’s earliest history, to Jacob’s struggling with Esau in their mother’s womb and his wrestling with God at Peniel (Hos 12:3-4). Again and again He had been provoked to anger with His people’s sins. Yet they were His people. He still loved them.

Baasha, God’s instrument of judgment to exterminate the house of Jeroboam, was now to face the same judgment he had meted out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and deal harshly with them for their sins. How solemn when we then go ahead and repeat the same sins ourselves! This is no trifling matter before God.