1 Kings 16:1-7 – Serve God responsibly

These verses in 1 Kings 16:1-7 describe how Baasha’s life ended. He should know better not to follow in the footsteps of  Jeroboam, yet he didn’t. He walked in the ways of Jeroboam. Like him, he made the people of Israel sin and provoked the Lord to anger with his sin. So God sent Jehu the son of Hanani with a message for him. He had squandered the opportunity to eradicate Jeroboam’s apostasy. Instead of dealing with the latter’s delinquency and bringing Israel back to the faith, he repeated Jeroboam's errors. He was deemed to be no better than him and so ended up sharing the same misfortune as he. His children would die horribly too, so said Jehu, the son of Hanani

Like the two kings of Israel before him, his works and exploits were written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. And like Jeroboam, Baasha had failed his God-given opportunity to obey God, to bring Israel back to their covenant faithfulness with Him. He was used to annihilate Jeroboam’s family, yet he would follow in his footsteps. Unlike Asa of Judah, he failed in his role as a reformer. Both Jeroboam and Baasha were given power by God, yet both failed to do His will as He desired. He died and was buried in Tirzah and was succeeded by his son Elah.

From Baasha,'s life, we learn that God’s instruments are expected to be faithful. One must not take a God-assigned task frivolously. It is an awesome privilege to be chosen by God to be His instrument. The privilege accorded always comes with accountability. With greater privilege, greater accountability should be expected. We must serve God responsibly and don’t expect immunity if we fail to do so!