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Sunday, August 22 2010
Elah, in Hebrew pronounced ay-law, meaning an oak (a word that has a direct relation to the meaning of El, a name of God - see the Fact Finder question below) was the son and successor of Baasha, king of Israel (see Baasha Of Israel). Baasha and Elah began, and ended, one of the nine royal lines, or dynasties, of The Northern Kingdom of Israel (see Israelite Dynasties). They fell because they were defiantly corrupt - thereby bringing the wrath of the LORD upon themselves.
"16:1 Then the word of the LORD [i.e. of Jesus Christ - see 'Before Abraham Was, I AM' and 'The God Of The Old Testament'] came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, 16:2 Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; 16:3 Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 16:4 Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth of his in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat.16:5 Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 16:6 So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah: and Elah his son reigned in his stead." (1 Kings 16:1-6 KJV)
"Thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin"
Note very carefully that it wasn't some "religious leader" (in the northern kingdom of Israel, the obedient to the LORD Levites had left anyway - see No Levites In The Lost Ten Tribes?) that led the entire nation into sin - it was their political leader. No king (or Prime Minister, or President) regards himself subservient to the leader of a nation's religion. Elah's reign began merely as a continuation of his father's mis-leadership.
"16:7 And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed him.16:8 In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years." (1 Kings 16:7-8 KJV)
And so it was that Elah was assassinated by Zimri, one of his own military commanders.
"16:9 And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of his house in Tirzah. 16:10 And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead." (1 Kings 16:9-10 KJV)
Whether Zimri realized it or not, or whether he did it merely to eliminate any rival claims to the throne that Zimri then claimed for himself, Zimri "slew all the house of Baasha" - "according to the word of the LORD, which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet."
"16:11 And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends. 16:12 Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, 16:13 For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities.16:14 Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?" (1 Kings 16:11-14 KJV)
Fact Finder: How is the word for "oak" involved in the Name of the LORD?
See The Mighty Oak
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This Day In History, August 22
565: Columba, a prominent Irish monk of the Church of Rome, reported seeing a monster in Loch Ness - one of the earliest of such recorded "sightings."
1138: The English battled the Scots at Cowton Moor. Banners of various supposed "saints" were carried into battle, which led to its being called the Battle of the Standard.
1350: John II, also known as John the Good, succeeded Philip VI as king of France.
1485: Richard III of England was defeated and killed at The Battle of Bosworth Field, the last of the Wars of the Roses between the Houses of Lancaster and York.
1567: The Duke of Alba, sent to reestablish Spanish authority in the Netherlands, instituted the Council of Troubles at the start of his tyrannical rule. It was nicknamed the "Council of Blood."
1642: The Civil War in England began between the supporters of Charles I ("Royalists" or "Cavaliers") and of Parliament ("Roundheads").
1846: The U.S. annexed (a political term meaning "take by conquest; as of territory") New Mexico from Mexico.
1864: The Geneva Convention for the protection of the wounded during times of active warfare was signed, leading to the formation of the Red Cross.
1910: Korea was annexed by Japan after five years as a protectorate.
1922: Irish politician and Sinn Fein leader Michael Collins was killed in an ambush. He was largely responsible for the 1921 Anglo-Irish treaty.
1939: Foreign ministers Molotov of Russia and Ribbentrop of Germany signed a non-aggression pact which paved the way for the German invasion of western Poland and for Russia to take eastern Poland and the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Germany and Russia soon thereafter declared war on each other.
1941: Nazi troops reached the outskirts of Leningrad. They eventually surrounded the city on September 8 at the start of the siege which lasted until January 1944.
1942: Brazil declared war on the Axis powers. It is the only South American country to send combat troops into Europe during the Second World War.
1944: German officer Heinz Stahlschmidt deliberately blew up a bunker full of detonators, effectively preventing the planned destruction of Bordeaux by his own retreating German army.
1968: Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit Latin America, in Colombia.
1971: Bolivian President General Juan Jose Torres Gonzalez was deposed in a coup by Colonel Hugo Banzer Suarez.
