Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 16:1-14
Here is, I. The ruin of the family of Baasha foretold. He was a man likely enough to have raised and established his family - active, politic, and daring; but he was an idolater, and this brought destruction upon his family.
1. God sent him warning of it before. (1.) That, if he were thereby wrought upon to repent and reform, the ruin might be prevented; for God threatens, that he may not strike, as one that desires not the death of sinners. (2.) That, if not, it might appear that the destruction when it did come, whoever might be instruments of it, was the act of God's justice and the punishment of sin.
2. The warning was sent by Jehu the son of Hanani. The father was a seer, or prophet, at…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 16:2
Forasmuch as I exalted thee--The doom he pronounced on Baasha was exactly the same as denounced against Jeroboam and his posterity. Though he had waded through slaughter to his throne, he owed his elevation to the appointment or permission of Him "by whom kings reign."
over my people Israel--With all their errors and lapses into idolatry, they were not wholly abandoned by God. He still showed His interest in them by sending prophets and working miracles in their favor, and possessed a multitude of faithful worshippers in the kingdom of Israel.
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 16:2
Made thee prince over my people - That is, in the course of my providence, I suffered thee to become king; for it is impossible that God should make a rebel, a traitor, and a murderer, king over his people, or over any people. God is ever represented in Scripture as doing those things which, in the course of his providence, he permits to be done.
John Gill on 1 Kings 16:3
Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house,.... By death, there shall be none of his family remaining in any branch of it:
and I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat; execute the same judgment on it, and in the same manner, their sins being alike.
