Person
Baasha בעשא
king of Israel for twenty-four years
Baasha was of the tribe of Issachar — not of royal stock but of the army. Having killed Nadab and destroyed Jeroboam's house, he reigned twenty-four years from Tirzah. All his life he warred with Asa king of Judah, and began fortifying Ramah to close the road to Jerusalem; Asa bought off the king of Aram with the Temple treasures, and the work was abandoned.
The prophet Jehu son of Hanani came to him with the word that God had raised him from the dust and made him leader over the people, yet he walked in Jeroboam's way — and therefore his house would meet what he himself had dealt Jeroboam's (1 Kings 16:1–4). So it fell out two years after his death.
On the timeline
2988 · 773 BCEThe House of Jeroboam Cut Off: Nadab and Baasha2990 · 771 BCEAsa: Idols Cleared Out, an Army of a Million, and the Seer's Rebuke3014 · 747 BCEZimri's Seven Days and the Purchase of the Hill of Samaria
Sources
Tanakh
- Melachim I (1 Kings) 15:27–16:7 — the twenty-four years, the war with Asa, the fort at Ramah, and the word of the prophet Jehu
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.