Things went downhill, from generation to generation, both in the northern kingdom, Israel, and in the southern kingdom, Judah. Among the kings of Judah, Abijam’s “heart was not true to the Lord his God” (I Kings 15:3). Asa was the best of the next few generations: his heart was true, and he ejected the male temple prostitutes and took down the idols (how bad had it gotten, that there were not only idols in the temple, but male temple prostitutes?). Yet while King Asa managed to clean up the temple in Jerusalem, he did not take away the country shrines to the fertility gods of Canaan, which were located on one hilltop or another outside of most villages (15:9-14).

Meanwhile in Israel, King Nadab son of Jeroboam “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the way of his father and in the sin that he caused Israel to commit” (15:26). Then Baasha son of Ahijah formed a conspiracy against Nadab. While the army of Israel was besieging the Philistine town of Gibbethon, Baasha assassinated Nadab, and made himself king. Then he killed all of Jeroboam’s surviving relatives (15:27-30), thus fulfilling the prophecy of Ahijah (14:10). King Baasha would turn out to be just as evil (15:34), and his son who succeeded him, Elah, was a drunk (16:9). Then Zimri, commander of a chariot division, assassinated Elah and made himself king. As soon as he took the throne, he had all of Baasha’s relatives killed, just as Baasha himself had done.

It’s all about power. Whenever we get some, we expect to be in charge: maybe not over the nation, but at least over our own small fiefdom. Insisting that we have the authority, though, puts us in opposition to God, making the choices we think will be best and expecting the Lord to ratify our decisions. Just as happened with the kings of Israel and Judah, it usually doesn’t work out as well as we anticipated.

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We get so trapped in wanting our own way, O Lord, when we allow ourselves to drift from you, and it all gets more and more destructive. Give us hearts that long to serve you, instead of longing to boss others around.