The Rise of a Wicked King

The kings of northern Israel fall one after another. Baasha wiped out the house of Jeroboam, only to walk in the very same ways, and his dynasty ended with his son. Zimri reigned for seven days; then, after Omri, Ahab at last comes to the throne. Ahab served Baal, a foreign god, and provoked God to anger more than any king before him.

As God judged the wicked, so the curse Joshua had pronounced long before came true for the man who rebuilt Jericho. Whether it speaks blessing or curse, not one letter of God’s word fails. Yet in the midst of that dark history, the prophet Hanani and his son Jehu, one generation after the other, boldly proclaimed the word of the Lord.

The world grows ever darker and more wicked. Yet whatever course it takes, God’s people are to bear the calling he has entrusted to them to the very end, hold fast to their faith, and hand it on to the next generation. That is where they must stand.