The kings of Israel and Judah

King Elah

The kingdom of Israel (the north) · Reigned two years (1 Kings 16:8) · Evil before God · 1 Kings 16:6 to 14

Elah, the son of Baasha, was the fourth king of the northern kingdom and reigned only about two years. Little is recorded of him except his death: while he was drinking himself drunk in the house of his steward, a chariot commander named Zimri conspired against him, struck him down, and seized the throne, then destroyed the entire house of Baasha, fulfilling the prophet Jehu's word of judgment.

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.1 Kings 16:9 (KJV)

A brief reign ended in drunkenness

Elah began to reign over Israel and reigned two years. The Bible tells almost nothing of his deeds, only the manner of his fall. His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him as Elah was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, the steward of his house.

The one image Scripture leaves of Elah is of a king senseless with drink in a servant's house while a conspirator waited outside, a picture of a careless and dissipated reign brought to a sudden and ignoble end.

The end of Baasha's house

Zimri went in, struck Elah, and killed him, and reigned in his place. As soon as he sat on the throne, Zimri killed all the house of Baasha, not leaving him a single male, neither his kinsfolk nor his friends. So the house of Baasha was destroyed, according to the word of the LORD which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, for all the sins of Baasha and Elah his son, by which they made Israel to sin.

The judgment Baasha had brought on the house of Jeroboam now fell on his own house, exactly as the prophet had foretold, in the very same way.

The biblical verdict and where it points

Elah is judged among the evil kings, sharing in the sins that provoked God, and his short life ends as a warning against the carelessness of a heart that thinks itself secure. He was drinking in false safety while his kingdom and his life were about to be taken.

His story continues the grim rhythm of the north, where the sin of Jeroboam is passed from house to house and each ends in blood under the word of the LORD. Against such instability and such fecklessness, Scripture keeps holding out the promise of the watchful, righteous King who does not sleep nor drink away his charge, but keeps his people, and whose kingdom does not pass from hand to hand but endures for ever.

A note on the record: everything here is drawn from the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Kings and Chronicles sometimes tell a reign differently, Chronicles often adding a king's repentance or building works, and where they differ this is said plainly rather than smoothed over. The exact lengths and overlaps of the reigns are genuinely complex, because kings often shared the throne with a son for a time, so the totals in Scripture do not always add up in a simple line. The verdict good or evil is the Bible's own assessment, whether a king did right or evil in the sight of the LORD.

Related: Baasha · Zimri · All the kings of Israel and Judah