1 Kings 15:25

1 Kings 15:25 says, 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.  Nadab, Jeroboam's son, succeeded him on the throne of Israel in the second year of Asa's rule in Judah, but he only reigned for two years.  Matthew Henry says that the evil kings as a rule did not reign as long as the good kings, but I don't believe that we can make that statement about rulers in the world today.  Sometimes, it seems that the evil rulers have very long reigns.  Verse twenty-six adds, 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 to sin. We are told that Nadab did evil in God's sight, just as Jeroboam his father had, and he caused Israel to sin.  The death of his brother Abijah had not caused him to turn to God in obedience.  Again, I don't believe that anyone can cause us to sin, but they can tempt us.  Yet, our sins our own responsibility.  Verse twenty-seven continues, And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon.  Baasha, another who would rule Israel, killed Nadab, which ended the rule of the house of Jeroboam as God had foretold.  Nadab was attempting to retake Gibbethon from the Philistines when he was killed.  This may have been a good goal, but he was doing so without God's direction and protection.  People may be trying to do good things today, but if they are not doing so under God's guidance then they will not have His protection.  Verse twenty-eight states, Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead. By the third year of Asa's reign in Judah, Israel had their third different king.  As stated earlier, Matthew Henry said that the bad kings didn't seem to reign as long as the good kings, and I stated that this was not necessarily true in the world today. The one exception is Jesus Christ. Who is really the only good ruler, and He will reign forever.  Verse twenty-nine adds, 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 Shilonite:  We had already learned that Nadab had been killed by Baasha, and now we learn that he destroyed all of Jeroboam's descendants which ensured his family would never rule again in accordance with God's prophecy to Ahijah.  There are still rulers today who kill other family members to keep them from being a threat to their rule, and if they don't kill family members, they certainly often kill political rivals to ensure that they stay in power.  In God's kingdom, we can never act out of jealousy toward others, but we need to support them if they have been called to their position by God.  Verse thirty continues, 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.  The permanent end to Jeroboam's rule was because of his sin toward God in which he provoked God.  Jeroboam did this by making and worshipping false God's, and if we worship false god's today and refuse to accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we are going to provoke God.  Verse thirty-one says, Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?  The statement was made again that the acts of Nadab were written in the chronicles of the king.  Our acts are written in God's book and that is all that will ever matter.  Verse thirty-two adds, And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.  It seems that no matter who was king in Israel, they were at war with Judah.  These were all a part of God's chosen people, and yet they were constantly at war with each other.  As Christians today, we cannot afford to be at war with other Christian's, but if they are Christian in name only and are still worshipping the things of this world, we cannot really unite with them either.  Verse thirty-three adds, 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.  Baasha was an exception to the fact of bad kings only having short reigns as Matthew Henry had stated.  Baasha reigned for twenty-four years.  As I have already stated, there is no assurance today that those rulers who do not follow God are going to only rule for a short period of time.  Verse thirty-four continues, 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 to sin.  Baasha also continued to worship idols as Jeroboam had and he led Israel into the temptation to do so as well, and it would seem that they did.  We cannot allow anyone to lead us away from worshipping God, which has to begin by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.