As the new kingdom of Israel’s first king, Jeroboam set up an entirely new worship system. Though God sent a prophet to condemn the new practice, Jeroboam did not change his ways. Then, every subsequent king followed in his footsteps. After a while, the sin started to progress.
This seems to be the nature of generational sin. Usually, children either commit the same sins as their parents or break free from them and do the opposite. Seldom do children behave slightly better than their parents, and if they follow in their footsteps, the sin often progresses.
Those who don’t learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them and those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Four of Israel’s Kings - 1 Kings 16:1-34
After Hanani was imprisoned for delivering God’s message to Asa, king of Judah (2 Chronicles 16:7–10), the Lord sent his son Jehu to deliver a message to Baasha, king of Israel. God had raised Baasha from nothing to make him Israel’s king, yet he did not honor God. Instead, he continued to lead the people in the false worship practices set up by Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:26–33). Because of this, his family would suffer the same fate as Jeroboam’s (1 Kings 14:10–11). They would be killed and left without the honor of a proper burial.
So Baasha died and was buried in the capital city of Tirzah, and his son, Elah, succeeded him as king, taking the throne in the 26th year of Asa’s reign (931 B.C.). But the following year, in the 27th year of Asa’s reign, while he was at a friend’s house drinking, Zimri, the commander of half his chariots, struck and killed him. So he took Elah’s place as Israel’s king. Meanwhile, he proceeded to kill the rest of Baasha’s house, not leaving any males of his household alive, neither family nor friend. Coincidentally, this is exactly what Baasha did to Jeroboam’s family (1 Kings 15:27–30) in fulfillment of God’s punishment against him and his son for their sin in leading Israel astray with worthless idols (1 Kings 14:7–16). But instead of recognizing his error, he followed in their footsteps and suffered the same fate.
