Nadab King of Israel
25 Nadab son of Jeroboam became king of Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. 26 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the ways of his father and committing the same sin his father had caused Israel to commit.
27 Baasha son of Ahijah from the tribe of Issachar plotted against him, and he struck him down at Gibbethon, a Philistine town, while Nadab and all Israel were besieging it. 28 Baasha killed Nadab in the third year of Asa king of Judah and succeeded him as king.
More than one commentator has pointed out that passages like this one in Kings become boring because they’re all just the same thing over and over again. Maybe that’s why people struggle to tell the difference between the Assyrians and the Babylonians, or between the Phoenicians and the Philistines, or between the Greeks and the Romans. They seem the same, and whenever one of them does something wicked, it’s just more of the same wickedness. Dale Ralph Davis (a Presbyterian minister in Mississippi) has called this “the tedium of evil.” Baasha conspired against Jeroboam’s son and killed him while they were supposed to be laying siege to a town on their Philistine border. We’ve already met Baasha, and now we see why: He assassinated Jeroboam’s son and family so fast that there’s no time to get to know Nadab anyway.
29 As soon as he began to reign, he killed Jeroboam’s whole family. He did not leave Jeroboam anyone that breathed, but destroyed them all, according to the word of the LORD given through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite. 30 This happened because of the sins Jeroboam had committed and had caused Israel to commit, and because he aroused the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel.
We’re not really done with the Nadab story, but it’s so short that our author will spend almost all of the “Nadab” story on Baasha’s successful rebellion. God’s judgment on Jeroboam was carried about by the equally sinful Baasha. Notice that the Lord is still here, even among all of this wickedness and murder. The Lord is watching, waiting, and judging everything that’s taking place.
The prophecy of Ahijah was brief, but to the point. At the beginning of chapter 14, Jeroboam’s wife disguised herself to ask Ahijah about their son, and he told her: “I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone” (1 Kings 14:10). Now the prophecy had come true. No one from Jeroboam’s family survived, all because of Jeroboam’s sin.
31 As for the other events of Nadab’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? 32 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns. (NIV)
I mentioned Pastor Davis’ statement about “the tedium of evil.” It’s easy to get tired of the same old thing, especially when that “same old ting” is useless, pointless rebellion against God. Do we sometimes think we get tired of the “same old” worship of the true God? Does the devil wring out our attention spans like a cold washcloth so that we think we get impatient with regular worship and praise? Which will it be, the tedium of evil, or the Te Deum of God? Regular worship reminds us of what we forget so easily. Our God is a loving and forgiving God as well as a jealous and a punishing Deity. Jesus stepped into the gulf between God and us and took the full blast of God’s wrath so that we could peacefully serve him. He gave us the calmness and peace of regular worship. If we’re bored, we’re not listening. Listening is a skill that we need to practice: It starts with closing our mouths, and letting what comes into our ears get inside our hearts.
Job said: “Teach me, and I will be quiet” (Job 6:24). Solomon said: “Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife” (Proverbs 17:1).
Lord, teach us the joy of a quiet life in you.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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