The kings of Israel and Judah

King Nadab

The kingdom of Israel (the north) · Reigned two years (1 Kings 15:25) · Evil before God · 1 Kings 15:25 to 31

Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, was the second king of Israel and reigned barely two years. He did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father and in the sin with which he made Israel to sin. While he was besieging a Philistine town, a man named Baasha conspired against him and killed him, then destroyed the entire house of Jeroboam, fulfilling the prophet Ahijah's word of judgment on Jeroboam's line.

And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.1 Kings 15:26 (KJV)

A short and evil reign

Nadab began to reign over Israel and reigned two years. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. He simply continued the idolatry his father had established, adding nothing of his own but his brief share in it.

The Bible records nothing good of him and few details at all, only that he carried on the golden-calf worship of Jeroboam and that his reign was cut short by violence.

The fall of the house of Jeroboam

While Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon, a Philistine town, Baasha of the tribe of Issachar conspired against him and killed him there, and reigned in his place. As soon as Baasha was king, he struck down all the house of Jeroboam, leaving not one that breathed, until he had destroyed them all.

This was the fulfillment of the word the LORD had spoken by his servant Ahijah the prophet, that the whole house of Jeroboam would be swept away because of the sins Jeroboam sinned and made Israel to sin. God's word against Jeroboam's dynasty came exactly to pass.

The biblical verdict and where it points

Nadab is judged evil, a king who inherited his father's throne and his father's sin and lost both within two years. His life is a brief, sad footnote, chiefly important as the point at which God's judgment on Jeroboam's house fell.

His swift end shows that the throne built on idolatry could not stand, and that the word of the LORD spoken through his prophets is always fulfilled. The northern kingdom's first dynasty ended in blood almost as soon as it began, a pattern that would repeat again and again, and that made ever plainer the need for the one everlasting kingdom that God would raise up in Christ.

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: Jeroboam I · Baasha · All the kings of Israel and Judah