1 Kings 22:51-53--Ahaziah Reigns in Israel

1 Kings 22:51-53
English Standard Version
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Ahaziah Reigns in Israel
51 Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. 52 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 53 He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done.

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This is the end of the book of 1st Kings.  Next time, we'll start looking at the book of 2nd Kings.  They together make "The Book of the Kings."  The last king we'll look at in 1 Kings is Ahaziah, the son of Ahab.  He began to reign in Israel (the Northern Kingdom) in the capital city of Samaria in seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.  His reign was short-lived (remember that the house of Ahab had been cursed by the LORD so that all his male relatives would be cut off and no one from his line would ever rule again, and his family would be disinherited from the Promised Land).  Ahaziah followed in his father's and mother's footsteps and in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat (the first king of Israel who led the northern ten tribes into idolatry and rebellion).  He served and worshiped the pagan god known as Baal, which provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger (for He is a jealous God).  This anger that the LORD felt towards Ahaziah was the same kind of anger that the LORD had towards King Ahab.

That's where we leave the story.  We thought we had a glimmer of hope for a moment when Ahab repented towards the end of his life (though he didn't fully repent).  There was a chance that his son would see the foolishness' of his father's ways and would choose to follow the LORD, but, alas, he followed in his father's footsteps.  Therefore the judgment that was proclaimed on the house of Ahab came just as the LORD had promised, starting with Ahab and Jezebel and then their son Ahaziah shortly after.  By this point, you would think Israel would have seen a pattern and would have tried to change something to have a different outcome since they are changing kings pretty quickly here.  However, they just harden their hearts more and more and double-down on their rebellion so that at some point "soon" the longsuffering of the LORD will reach its limit, and He will be forced to judge His own people of Israel (and Judah is not that far behind them).