Вааса

Baasha is the third king of Israel and the founder of the second dynasty (1 Kings 15:33; 2 Chronicles 16:1; fn. Jer. 41:9), the son of Ahijah from the tribe of Issachar, such an humble family that Jehu speaks of him as “raised from the dust” (1 Kings 16:2). He served first in the army of Nadab, the son and successor of Jeroboam, and received, no doubt for his bravery, a great promotion; but ambition led him to crime. While the king of Israel was besieging the Philistines in their strong city of Gibethon, Baasha raised against him one of those military disturbances which were frequent at that time and which placed the crown at the disposal of the soldiers. Nadab was killed, and Baasha, having reached the throne, put to death all the male relatives of Jeroboam, as the prophet Ahijah the Shilohite had predicted to him (1 Kings 15:29; cf. 14:10). His reign consisted of constant wars against the kingdom of Judah (1 Kings 15:16,32). But, stopped in his undertakings by the attack of Vanhadad, Asa's ally, he had to leave Rama and retire to his capital Tirzah. From a religious point of view, the reign of Baasha was no better than the reign of his predecessors. He indulged in idolatry, “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sins” (1 Kings 15:34; 16:2). As a result, God announced to him through the prophet Inuya that his house would be destroyed, as happened during the reign of his son Ila, when his entire house was destroyed by his successor Zamri. Baasha died and was buried in Tirzah, a magnificent city (Song II. 6, 4), which was his capital. He reigned for twenty-four years, from the 3rd to the 26th year of the reign of Asa, king of Judah, 950 - 927 or, according to another chronology, 953 - 930 BC.