1 Kings 15:29

And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) According unto the saying of the Lord.—See 1Kings 14:10-14. There seems no reason to suppose that Baasha had any formal mission of vengeance, or that his conspiracy and assassination were due to any motive but his own ambition. The contrary, indeed, may be inferred from the declaration of 1Kings 16:7, that the judgment on Baasha was in part “because he killed” Nadab and his house. Sin which works out God’s purpose is not the less truly sin. Of Baasha we know nothing, except his attempt on the independence of Judah, and its failure (1Kings 15:16-22).

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 15:29. He smote all the house of Jeroboam — The first thing he did when he came to the crown was, to cut off all that had any title to it, that he might secure himself in his usurped government. He did not think it enough to imprison or banish them, but he destroyed them; and carried his vengeance so far, that he left not only no males, as was foretold 1 Kings 14:10, but not any that breathed. Herein he was barbarous; but God was righteous; and Jeroboam’s sin was punished: for they that provoke God do it to their own confusion, Jeremiah 7:19. According to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Ahijah — Baasha had no thought about fulfilling Ahijah’s prophecy, but God overruled his ambition and cruelty to that end, and thereby executed, on the house of Jeroboam, the judgments he had threatened, and that as speedily as Ahijah had foretold, (1 Kings 14:14,) for no word of God shall fall to the ground.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:25-34 During the single reign of Asa in Judah, the government of Israel was in six or seven different hands. Observe the ruin of the family of Jeroboam; no word of God shall fall to the ground. Divine threatenings are not designed merely to terrify. Ungodly men execute the just judgments of God upon each other. But in the midst of dreadful sins and this apparent confusion, the Lord carries on his own plan: when it is fully completed, the glorious justice, wisdom, truth, and mercy therein displayed, shall be admired and adored through all the ages of eternity.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Baasha ... of the house of Issachar - It is curious to find Issachar furnishing a king. Tola, its one very undistinguished Judge Jdg 10:1, on obtaining office had at once settled himself in the territory of Ephraim. The tribe was as little famous as any that could be named. The "ass crouching between two burthens" was a true symbol of the patient, plodding cultivators of the plain of Esdraelon Genesis 49:14-15. Baasha probably owed his rise neither to his tribe nor to his social position, but simply to his audacity, and his known valor and skill as a soldier 1 Kings 16:2.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. when he reigned, he smote all the house of Jeroboam—It was according to a barbarous practice too common in the East, for a usurper to extirpate all rival candidates for the throne; but it was an accomplishment of Ahijah's prophecy concerning Jeroboam (1Ki 14:10, 11).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Any that breathed, i.e. any of the males of that family. See Deu 20:16 Joshua 10:40. According unto the saying of the Lord: so God overruled Baasha’s ambition and cruelty, to fulfil his own counsel and prediction.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam,.... That he might have no rival, or any that could pretend any title to the crown:

he left not Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite; not that his intention in destroying Jeroboam's family was to fulfil that prophecy, but so it was eventually; see 1 Kings 14:10.

Geneva Study Bible

And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he {k} smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite:

(k) So God stirred up one tyrant to punish the wickedness of another.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. when he reigned, that he smote] R.V. that as soon as he was king he smote. Being an usurper he would desire to make his power secure by removing at once everyone who might become a rival. This is expressed in the original, and the R.V. seems to bring it out fully. Thus God used the policy of Baasha to fulfil the prophecy against Jeroboam.

by his servant] The Hebrew says by the hand of his servant, and as this mode of expression is not uncommon in the Old Testament, the R.V. has given the full form. For the threat against Jeroboam and the reason, see 1 Kings 14:9-11.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - And it cams to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed [Same expression in Joshua 11:14; cf. Deuteronomy 20:16. Males and females alike were destroyed; see 1 Kings 14:11], until he had destroyed him according unto the saying of the Lord, which he spake by his servant AhiJah the Shilonite [1 Kings 14:10. It is not implied that it was because of this prophecy that Baasha exterminated the house of Jeroboam. It is probable that, so far from setting himself to fulfil it, he knew nothing about it, and, as he thought, merely took effectual measures for his own security. His seat could never be safe, so long as one of Jeroboam's house survived. Grotius aptly cites, with reference to these wholesale murders, the saying, ο{ς πατέρα κτείνας υἱοὺς κατέλιπε]: 1 Kings 15:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

He walked in the ways of his father (Jeroboam) and in his sin, i.e., in the calf-worship introduced by Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:28). When Nadab in the second year of his reign besieged Gibbethon, which the Philistines and occupied, Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house, I the family or tribe, of Issachar, conspired against him and slew him, and after he became king exterminated the whole house of Jeroboam, without leaving a single soul, whereby the prediction of the prophet Ahijah (1 Kings 14:10.) was fulfilled. Gibbethon, which was allotted to the Danites (Joshua 19:44), has not yet been discovered. It probably stood close to the Philistian border, and was taken by the Philistines, from whom the Israelites attempted to wrest it by siege under both Nadab and Baasha (1 Kings 16:16), though apparently without success. לא השׁאיר כּל־נשׁמה as in Joshua 11:14 (see the Comm. on Deuteronomy 20:16).