Week 18 2 Kings 17
The kingdom of Israel was finished by chapter 17. Kaput.
At the end of the story the writer goes back to the beginning and says something about the first king: Jeroboam drew Israel away from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin. And the people persisted in all the evil ways of Jeroboam. Jeroboam stands out as a beacon of darkness and his (bad) influence comes up again-and-again. For instance Jeroboam’s son: Nadab did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and followed the example of his father, continuing in the sins of idolatry that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit.
I wondered about the other 17 kings – Baasha Elah Zimri Omri Ahab Ahaziah Jehoram Jehu Jehoahaz Jehoash Jeroboam II Zechariah Shallum Menahem Pekahiah Pekah & Hoshea. How many of them imitated Jeroboam?
I did a quick 27-chapter scan looking to see if it was definitely spelled-out whether a king followed Jeroboamism. And what I found was that Baasha Zimri Omri Ahab Ahaziah Jehoram Jehu Jehoahaz Jehoash Jeroboam II Zechariah Menahem Pekahiah & Pekah all did (Elah Shallum & Hoshea were the exceptions.)
The kings who followed Jeroboam might have rung-up some of their own individual religious-isms. But the starting point was Jeroboam in 1 Kings 12. He got the ball rolling. The others added momentum.
I don’t know if that makes Jeroboam 1 the worst king (that’s not what I was after). But I think it’s a warning about the power of a bad influencer.
Note: quotes from 2 Kings 17:21-22 1 Kings 15:26 (NLT)