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Nach YomiI Kings · מלכים א׳Chapter 15

I Kings 15

מלכים א׳ פרק ט״ו

Section: נביאים · נביאים ראשונים | Book: I Kings | Chapter: 15 of 22 | Day: 115 of 742

Date: June 6, 2026

קלאוד על הנ״ך

Chapter 15 inaugurates the synchronized double-track narrative that will structure the rest of Sefer Melakhim: each southern reign and each northern reign reported in turn, dated against the kings of the other house, with each king issued a verdict by a single yardstick — did he do “what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done,” or did he “walk in the way of Jeroboam.” Three kings are covered in this single chapter: Abijam and Asa of Judah, and Nadab of Israel. With Asa, we meet the first king of the divided monarchy who receives an unqualified positive verdict; with Nadab, we see the prophecy of Ahijah from chapter 14 fulfilled in less than a year.

Abijam’s account is jarringly brief — three years, and four verses of indictment summary. He walked in all the sins of his father Rehoboam, and “his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God like the heart of David his father” (verse 3). The chapter then pauses on what looks like a theological accounting: the only reason the Davidic line survived Abijam’s reign was למען דוד — for David’s sake. Verse 4’s striking image of the “ניר” (lamp) of David in Jerusalem makes explicit a principle that will recur throughout Melakhim: the survival of the Davidic dynasty in this corrupt era is not earned by any current king but is a function of God’s prior covenant with David. Verse 5 gives the rare evaluation of David himself — he did right “all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite” — a candid summary that Chazal famously soften (Metzudat David: in the matter of Bat-Sheva David did not sin, since soldiers in David’s army wrote provisional divorces; only the Uriah affair is the residue).

The chapter’s heart is Asa (verses 9-24). His forty-one-year reign begins by ridding Judah of two specific Canaanite-style abominations introduced in his father’s and grandfather’s day: he removes the kedeshim (cultic prostitutes) and the gillulim (idols, literally “dung-things”), and even deposes his own grandmother Maacah from the queen-mother’s office because she made a מפלצת — a “horror” or “abomination” — for the asherah. Rashi, citing Avodah Zarah 44a, reads the מפלצת as a phallic image with which Maacah ritually had relations daily. Asa cuts down the object himself and burns it in the Kidron Valley — the same wadi that will become a kind of dumping ground for idolatrous objects in later reforms (II Kings 23). One genuine flaw is named, however: “the bamot were not removed” (verse 14). Rashi distinguishes between the bamot of Israel (high places for foreign worship, which Asa did remove) and the private bamot — individual altars for sacrifice to the God of Israel that had been permitted between Shilo’s destruction and the Temple’s building, and which the people had grown accustomed to and resisted abandoning even after the Temple was built. Asa removed every public abomination but could not fully extirpate this popular folk-practice, and the narrator records this as the one residual mark on an otherwise straight reign.

The Baasha crisis (verses 16-22) is the chapter’s most morally complex episode. Baasha of Israel fortifies Ramah — just six miles north of Jerusalem — choking off Judah’s traffic from the north. Asa’s response is to empty the Temple and palace treasuries and send the silver and gold to Ben-Hadad of Aram in Damascus, paying him to break his pact with Israel and attack from the north. The strategy works: Ben-Hadad captures Ijon, Dan, Abel-Beit-Maacah, and all the Galilee. Baasha abandons Ramah, and Asa carts away its stones and timbers to fortify Geba and Mizpah in his own kingdom. But Chazal (cited by Rashi, Radak, and the parallel account in II Chronicles 16) read the episode as Asa’s signal failure — he trusted in the king of Aram rather than in God, and the conscription of “no man exempted” (אין נקי) included even Torah scholars, who were Biblically exempt from military service. The closing note that “in his old age he suffered in his feet” (verse 23) is read by the Gemara (Sotah 10a) as the punishment for forcing talmidei chakhamim into corvée labor. The reign that began with reform ends with a king whose name is great but whose feet — in old age, in literal infirmity, in midrashic moral imagery — could no longer carry him properly.

The chapter’s final movement returns to the north and watches Ahijah’s prophecy come true. Nadab, son of Jeroboam, reigns just two years before Baasha of Issachar conspires against him at the siege of Gibbethon (a Philistine city Israel had not retaken since the days of Joshua) and assassinates him. Baasha then exterminates every member of Jeroboam’s house, “as the word of the Lord spoken by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite.” The man who carries out the divine sentence is no righteous reformer; he merely repeats Jeroboam’s sins and becomes the next king to be condemned. The northern kingdom has begun its long pattern of dynastic violence — one bloody coup begetting another, each new dynasty inheriting the sins of the last — a pattern that will continue all the way to the Assyrian exile two centuries on.

פרק ט״ו · Chapter 15

פסוק א׳ · Verse 1

Hebrew:

וּבִשְׁנַת֙ שְׁמֹנֶ֣ה עֶשְׂרֵ֔ה לַמֶּ֖לֶךְ יָרׇבְעָ֣ם בֶּן־נְבָ֑ט מָלַ֥ךְ אֲבִיָּ֖ם עַל־יְהוּדָֽה׃

English:

In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah.

The chapter opens with the first regnal synchronization of the divided monarchy: Abijam, son of Rehoboam, begins to reign over Judah in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam. The classical commentators wrestle with the chronological details -- Rashi and Metzudat David note that since Rehoboam and Jeroboam began to reign in the same year and Rehoboam reigned seventeen years, Abijam's accession would naturally be in Jeroboam's eighteenth.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
וּבִשְׁנַת שְׁמוֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה לַמֶּלֶךְ יָרָבְעָם. שָׁנָה אַחַת אַחַר מוֹת רְחַבְעָם, וּבִשְׁנַת עֶשְׂרִים לְיָרָבְעָם מָלַךְ אָסָא, שָׁנָה הַשְּׁלִישִׁית שֶׁל נָדָב (אֲבִיָּם) נִמְנֵית לַמֶּלֶךְ אָסָא שָׁנָה, וְלוֹ נַמֵּי נִמְנֵית.
In the eighteenth year [of the reign] of King Yerovom. One year after Rechovom's death, in the twentieth year of Yerovom, Asa reigned. The third year of Nodov (Aviyam) is counted for King Asa as a year, and for him it is also counted.

פסוק ב׳ · Verse 2

Hebrew:

שָׁלֹ֣שׁ שָׁנ��֔ים מָלַ֖ךְ בִּירוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם וְשֵׁ֣ם אִמּ֔וֹ מַעֲכָ֖ה בַּת־אֲבִישָׁלֽוֹם׃

English:

He reigned three years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.aMaacah daughter of Abishalom Cf. 2 Chron. 13.2 “Micaiah daughter of Uriel of Gibeah,” and v. 10 below, where Maacah, daughter of Abishalom, appears as mother of Asa.

Abijam's reign lasts only three years -- and Metzudat David clarifies they were 'broken' years (מקוטעות), not full calendar years. His mother is named as Maacah daughter of Avishalom; Radak notes the mention is deliberate, since she will reappear in verse 13 as the maker of an idolatrous מפלצת -- a clue that the son walked in his mother's spiritual footsteps.

פסוק ג׳ · Verse 3

Hebrew:

וַיֵּ֕לֶךְ בְּכׇל־חַטֹּ֥אות אָבִ֖יו אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֣ה לְפָנָ֑יו וְלֹא־הָיָ֨ה לְבָב֤וֹ שָׁלֵם֙ עִם־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהָ֔יו כִּלְבַ֖ב דָּוִ֥ד אָבִֽיו׃

English:

He continued in all the sins that his father before him had committed; he was not wholehearted with the ETERNAL his God, like his forefather David.

פסוק ד׳ · Verse 4

Hebrew:

כִּ֚י לְמַ֣עַן דָּוִ֔ד נָתַן֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהָ֥יו ל֛וֹ נִ֖יר בִּירוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם לְהָקִ֤ים אֶת־בְּנוֹ֙ אַחֲרָ֔יו וּֽלְהַעֲמִ֖יד אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם׃

English:

Yet, for the sake of David, the ETERNAL his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by raising up his descendant after him and by preserving Jerusalem.

The Davidic line survives Abijam not because of his merits but לְמַעַן דָּוִד -- for the sake of David. The 'lamp in Jerusalem' is read by Metzudat David as the dynastic light preserved precisely so that the Temple in Jerusalem would remain standing under a son of its builder. This verse establishes one of the great recurring themes of Melakhim: the Davidic covenant operates as a brake against the destruction that the kings' own behavior would otherwise have brought.

פסוק ה׳ · Verse 5

Hebrew:

אֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשָׂ֥ה דָוִ֛ד אֶת־הַיָּשָׁ֖ר בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה וְלֹא־סָ֞ר מִכֹּ֣ל אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֗הוּ כֹּ֚ל יְמֵ֣י חַיָּ֔יו רַ֕ק בִּדְבַ֖ר אוּרִיָּ֥ה הַֽחִתִּֽי׃

English:

For David had done what was pleasing to GOD and never turned throughout his life from all that had been commanded him, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

The verse offers a rare summary verdict on David himself: he did right in God's eyes all the days of his life, 'except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.' Metzudat David, following Chazal, defends David further -- in the matter of Bat-Sheva there was no sin since soldiers in David's army wrote provisional divorces before going to war; only the orchestration of Uriah's death remains as the singular blemish on his record.

פסוק ו׳ · Verse 6

Hebrew:

וּמִלְחָמָ֨ה הָיְתָ֧ה בֵין־רְחַבְעָ֛ם וּבֵ֥ין יָרׇבְעָ֖ם כׇּל־יְמֵ֥י חַיָּֽיו׃

English:

There was war between AbijambAbijam So several mss.; most mss. and the editions read “Rehoboam.” and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

פסוק ז׳ · Verse 7

Hebrew:

וְיֶ֨תֶר דִּבְרֵ֤י אֲבִיָּם֙ וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה הֲלוֹא־הֵ֣ם כְּתוּבִ֗ים עַל־סֵ֛פֶר דִּבְרֵ֥י הַיָּמִ֖ים לְמַלְכֵ֣י ��ְהוּדָ֑ה וּמִלְחָמָ֥ה הָיְתָ֛ה בֵּ֥ין אֲבִיָּ֖ם וּבֵ֥ין יָרׇבְעָֽם׃

English:

The other events of Abijam’s reign and all his actions are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah; there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

The narrator returns once more to record that war continued between Abijam and Jeroboam -- Metzudat David emphasizes that Abijam did not cease the conflict even in his own brief reign. The split kingdom is now a permanent state of warfare.

פסוק ח׳ · Verse 8

Hebrew:

וַיִּשְׁכַּ֤ב אֲבִיָּם֙ עִם־אֲבֹתָ֔יו וַיִּקְבְּר֥וּ אֹת֖וֹ בְּעִ֣יר דָּוִ֑ד וַיִּמְלֹ֛ךְ אָסָ֥א בְנ֖וֹ תַּחְתָּֽיו׃ {פ}

English:

Abijam rested with his ancestors; he was buried in the City of David, and his son Asa succeeded him as king.

פסוק ט׳ · Verse 9

Hebrew:

וּבִשְׁנַ֣ת עֶשְׂרִ֔ים לְיָרׇבְעָ֖ם מֶ֣לֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל מָלַ֥ךְ אָסָ֖א מֶ֥לֶךְ יְהוּדָֽה׃

English:

In the twentieth year of King Jeroboam of Israel, Asa became king over Judah.

In the twentieth year of Jeroboam, Asa becomes king of Judah. The chronology threads together: Abijam reigned three (broken) years from Jeroboam's eighteenth, so Asa's accession in Jeroboam's twentieth fits exactly. The year is counted both as the end of Abijam's reign and the beginning of Asa's.

פסוק י״ · Verse 10

Hebrew:

וְאַרְבָּעִ֤ים וְאַחַת֙ שָׁנָ֔ה מָלַ֖ךְ בִּירוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם וְשֵׁ֣ם אִמּ֔וֹ מַעֲכָ֖ה בַּת־אֲבִישָׁלֽוֹם׃

English:

He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

Asa's forty-one-year reign is announced -- one of the longest of any king of either kingdom. Strikingly, his 'mother' is given the same name as Abijam's mother, Maacah daughter of Avishalom. Metzudat David and Radak explain that this Maacah is actually Asa's grandmother (the queen mother of his father), and Scripture calls her 'mother' because she raised him. Radak adds the key thematic note: despite being raised by an idolatrous woman, Asa did right in God's eyes.

פסוק י״א · Verse 11

Hebrew:

וַיַּ֧עַשׂ אָסָ֛א הַיָּשָׁ֖ר בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה כְּדָוִ֖ד אָבִֽיו׃

English:

Asa did what was pleasing to GOD, as his forefather David had done.

פסוק י״ב · Verse 12

Hebrew:

וַיַּעֲבֵ֥ר הַקְּדֵשִׁ֖ים מִן־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַיָּ֙סַר֙ אֶת־כׇּל־הַגִּלֻּלִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשׂ֖וּ אֲבֹתָֽיו׃

English:

He expelled the consecrated workerscconsecrated workers Or “retainers”; meaning of Heb. qedeshim uncertain. from the land, and he removed all the idols that his ancestors had made.

Asa's reforms begin: he expels the קְדֵשִׁים -- cultic prostitutes attached to pagan worship -- and removes all the gilulim ('dung-idols,' a contemptuous term for foreign images) that his ancestors Rehoboam and Abijam had introduced. The targum, cited by Rashi, renders kedeshim as 'prostitutes' (נפקת ברא), making the moral-cultic intertwining explicit.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
וַיַּעֲבֵר הַקְּדֵשִׁים. תִּרְגֵּם יוֹנָתָן: וּפַלֵּי נָפְקַת בְּרָא.
And he rid [the land] of prostitutes. [Targum] Yonoson rendered, "and he abolished the prostitutes."

פסוק י״ג · Verse 13

Hebrew:

וְגַ֣ם ׀ אֶת־מַעֲכָ֣ה אִמּ֗וֹ וַיְסִרֶ֙הָ֙ מִגְּבִירָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־עָשְׂתָ֥ה מִפְלֶ֖צֶת לָאֲשֵׁרָ֑ה וַיִּכְרֹ֤ת אָסָא֙ אֶת־מִפְלַצְתָּ֔הּ וַיִּשְׂרֹ֖ף בְּנַ֥חַל קִדְרֽוֹן׃

English:

He also deposed his mother Maacah from the rank of queen mother, because she had made an abominable thingdan abominable thing Exact meaning of Heb. uncertain. for [the goddess] Asherah. Asa cut down her abominable thing and burnt it in the Wadi Kidron.

Asa's most striking act of reform is deposing his own grandmother Maacah from the rank of גְבִירָה (queen mother) because she had made a מִפְלֶצֶת -- a 'horror' or abomination -- for the asherah. Rashi cites Avodah Zarah 44a that the word puns on מפליא ליצנותא -- 'extreme lewdness' -- and that Maacah had fashioned a phallic image with which she committed daily acts of ritual obscenity. Asa cuts the object down and burns it in the Kidron Valley, throwing the ash there because the residue of idolatrous worship is forbidden in benefit. The Kidron will become a recurring locus for the disposal of pagan objects in later reforms.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
וַיְסִרֶה מִגְּבִירָה. מִהְיוֹת גְּבִירָה. אֲשֶׁר עָשְׂתָה מִפְלֶצֶת. אָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ מַפְלִיא לֵיצָנוּתָא, כְּמִין זַכְרוּת עָשְׂתָה לָּהּ, וְהִיא הָיְתָה נִבְעֶלֶת לוֹ בְּכָל יוֹם.
He removed from her position of authority. From being queen. For she had made a fearful image. Our Rabbis stated [that מפלצת is a combination of] מפליא ליצונתא [=extreme lasciviousness]. She made for it a phallic symbol,1Alternatively, an image that casts fear and dread unto its worshipers.—Radak and she would copulate with it every day.2Maseches Avodah Zarah 44a.

פסוק י״ד · Verse 14

Hebrew:

וְהַבָּמ֖וֹת לֹא־סָ֑רוּ רַ֣ק לְבַב־אָסָ֗א הָיָ֥ה שָׁלֵ֛ם עִם־יְהֹוָ֖ה כׇּל־יָמָֽיו׃ {ס}        

English:

The shrines, indeed, were not abolished; however, Asa was wholehearted with the Eternal his God all his life.

One imperfection mars the reform: the bamot were not removed. Rashi distinguishes carefully: these were not Canaanite idolatrous shrines (Asa removed those) but private altars used for sacrifice to the God of Israel -- legitimate before the Temple was built, but now forbidden, with karet as the penalty. Asa removed every overtly idolatrous abomination but could not extirpate this entrenched popular folk-practice. The verse nonetheless concludes that 'Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days' -- the qualifier of his reign without negating his fundamental righteousness.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
וְהַבָּמוֹת לֹא סָרוּ. בָּמוֹת הַיָּחִיד, שֶׁהֻרְגְּלוּ לִקָּרֵב עֲלֵיהֶן לַשָּׁמַיִם מִשֶּׁחָרְבָה שִׁילֹה עַד שֶׁנִּבְנָה הַבַּיִת שֶׁהָיוּ הַבָּמוֹת מֻתָּרוֹת, לֹא סָרוּ עַתָּה, וְאַף עַל פִּי שֶׁנֶּאֶסְרוּ מִשֶּׁנִּבְנָה הַבַּיִת, וְהָיוּ עֲנוּשִׁים עָלֶיהָ כָּרֵת.
[However] the [private] altars he did not remove. The private altars upon which they had become accustomed to sacrifice to Heaven since Shiloh had been destroyed until the Beis [Hamikdosh] was built, when private altars were permissible, were not removed now, even though they were forbidden once the Beis [Hamikdosh] was built, and they were punished by premature death because of it.

פסוק ט״ו · Verse 15

Hebrew:

וַיָּבֵא֙ אֶת־קׇדְשֵׁ֣י אָבִ֔יו (וקדשו) [וְקׇדְשֵׁ֖י] בֵּ֣ית יְהֹוָ֑ה כֶּ֥סֶף וְזָהָ֖ב וְכֵלִֽים׃

English:

He brought into the House of GOD all the consecrated things of his father and his own consecrated thingsehis own consecrated things So kethib and 2 Chron. 15.18.—silver, gold, and utensils.

Asa restores to the Temple the sacred items his father had consecrated (and apparently later reclaimed for himself, per Metzudat David), as well as his own consecrated silver, gold, and vessels. After Shishak's plunder in his grandfather's day, this is a deliberate act of restocking the depleted Temple treasury.

פסוק ט״ז · Verse 16

Hebrew:

וּמִלְחָמָ֨ה הָיְתָ֜ה בֵּ֣ין אָסָ֗א וּבֵ֛ין בַּעְשָׁ֥א מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל כׇּל־יְמֵיהֶֽם׃

English:

There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel all their days.

The narrative now turns to the political crisis of Asa's reign: continual war with Baasha, king of Israel. Metzudat David identifies Baasha as the successor of Nadab, whose assassination will be recounted at the end of the chapter -- a hint that Scripture is about to circle back chronologically.

פסוק י״ז · Verse 17

Hebrew:

וַיַּ֨עַל בַּעְשָׁ֤א מֶֽלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ עַל־יְהוּדָ֔ה וַיִּ֖בֶן אֶת־הָרָמָ֑ה לְבִלְתִּ֗י תֵּ֚ת יֹצֵ֣א וָבָ֔א לְאָסָ֖א מֶ֥לֶךְ יְהוּדָֽה׃

English:

King Baasha of Israel advanced against Judah, and he fortified Ramah to prevent anyone belonging to King Asa of Judah from going out or coming in.

Baasha launches an aggressive move against Judah: he fortifies Ramah, just six miles north of Jerusalem, with the explicit aim of cutting off all movement in and out of Asa's kingdom. Metzudat David envisions a high tower from which stones could be hurled at travelers passing toward the gates of Jerusalem -- a strangulation of Judah's commerce and pilgrimage traffic at the border.

פסוק י״ח · Verse 18

Hebrew:

וַיִּקַּ֣ח אָ֠סָ֠א אֶת־כׇּל־הַכֶּ֨סֶף וְהַזָּהָ֜ב הַנּוֹתָרִ֣ים ׀ בְּאוֹצְר֣וֹת בֵּית־יְהֹוָ֗ה וְאֶת־אֽוֹצְרוֹת֙ בֵּ֣ית (מלך) [הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ] וַֽיִּתְּנֵ֖ם בְּיַד־עֲבָדָ֑יו וַיִּשְׁלָחֵ֞ם הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ אָסָ֗א אֶל־בֶּן־הֲ֠דַ֠ד בֶּן־טַבְרִמֹּ֤ן בֶּן־חֶזְיוֹן֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ אֲרָ֔ם הַיֹּשֵׁ֥ב בְּדַמֶּ֖שֶׂק לֵאמֹֽר׃

English:

So Asa took all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the House of GOD as well as the treasuries of the royal palace, and he entrusted them to his officials. King Asa sent them to King Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon son of Hezion of Aram, who resided in Damascus, with this message:

Asa's response is to empty the treasuries of both the Temple and the palace of the silver and gold that had remained after Shishak's earlier plunder, sending it as a bribe to Ben-Hadad of Aram in Damascus. Metzudat David and Radak both note the phrase 'what remained' (הנותרים) presupposes the earlier Shishak invasion of chapter 14 -- a king who lacked the gold his grandfather had inherited is now liquidating even the residue of the Temple's wealth for a foreign alliance.

פסוק י״ט · Verse 19

Hebrew:

בְּרִית֙ בֵּינִ֣י וּבֵינֶ֔ךָ בֵּ֥ין אָבִ֖י וּבֵ֣ין אָבִ֑יךָ הִנֵּה֩ שָׁלַ֨חְתִּי לְךָ֥ שֹׁ֙חַד֙ כֶּ֣סֶף וְזָהָ֔ב לֵ֣ךְ הָפֵ֗רָה אֶת־בְּרִֽיתְךָ֙ אֶת־בַּעְשָׁ֣א מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְיַעֲלֶ֖ה מֵֽעָלָֽי׃

English:

“There is a pact between you and me, and between your father and my father. I herewith send you a gift of silver and gold: Go and break your pact with King Baasha of Israel, so that he may withdraw from me.”

Asa appeals to a prior pact between his father and Ben-Hadad's father, sending a 'bribe' of silver and gold to persuade Aram to break its alliance with Baasha so that Israel will withdraw from Asa's northern border. The strategy is purely pragmatic; it makes no appeal to God. The parallel account in II Chronicles 16 has the prophet Hanani condemn Asa explicitly for relying on Aram rather than on the Lord.

פסוק כ׳ · Verse 20

Hebrew:

וַיִּשְׁמַ֨ע בֶּן־הֲדַ֜ד אֶל־הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ אָסָ֗א וַ֠יִּשְׁלַ֠ח אֶת־שָׂרֵ֨י הַחֲיָלִ֤ים אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ֙ עַל־עָרֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וַיַּךְ֙ אֶת־עִיּ֣וֹן וְאֶת־דָּ֔ן וְאֵ֖ת אָבֵ֣ל בֵּֽית־מַעֲכָ֑ה וְאֵת֙ כׇּל־כִּנְר֔וֹת עַ֖ל כׇּל־אֶ֥רֶץ נַפְתָּלִֽי׃

English:

Ben-hadad responded to King Asa’s request; he sent his army officers against the towns of Israel and captured Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, as well as all the land of Naphtali.

Ben-Hadad accepts the bribe and attacks the northern reaches of Israel -- Ijon, Dan, Abel-Beit-Maacah, all of Chinneroth (the entire Galilee, including the Kinneret region), and the whole territory of Naphtali. Radak observes that the Aramean assault devastates some of the most fertile land in the kingdom; the rabbinic tradition praises Chinneroth's produce extravagantly.

פסוק כ״א · Verse 21

Hebrew:

וַֽיְהִי֙ כִּשְׁמֹ֣עַ בַּעְשָׁ֔א וַיֶּחְדַּ֕ל מִבְּנ֖וֹת אֶת־הָרָמָ֑ה וַיֵּ֖שֶׁב בְּתִרְצָֽה׃

English:

When Baasha heard about it, he stopped fortifying Ramah and remained in Tirzah.

Baasha hears the news and immediately abandons the fortification of Ramah, retreating to his capital at Tirzah. Radak adds a striking note from the targum that reads בְתִרְצָה in light of the root meaning 'oppressed' (רצוץ) -- Baasha sat in Tirzah broken and afraid before the king of Aram, his northward war forcing him to abandon the southern campaign.

פסוק כ״ב · Verse 22

Hebrew:

וְהַמֶּ֨לֶךְ אָסָ֜א הִשְׁמִ֤יעַ אֶת־כׇּל־יְהוּדָה֙ אֵ֣ין נָקִ֔י וַיִּשְׂא֞וּ אֶת־אַבְנֵ֤י הָֽרָמָה֙ וְאֶת־עֵצֶ֔יהָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר בָּנָ֖ה בַּעְשָׁ֑א וַיִּ֤בֶן בָּם֙ הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ אָסָ֔א אֶת־גֶּ֥בַע בִּנְיָמִ֖ן וְאֶת־הַמִּצְפָּֽה׃

English:

Then King Asa mustered all Judah, with no exemptions; and they carried away the stones and timber with which Baasha had fortified Ramah. With these King Asa fortified Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

Asa exploits the moment to dismantle Ramah entirely: he conscripts all of Judah, אֵין נָקִי -- 'no man exempted.' Rashi, citing Sotah 10a, notes that the exemption-less call-up violated the Torah's law in Devarim 24:5 that a new bridegroom is free from military service for a year. More gravely, the conscription drafted even Torah scholars into corvée labor, and the Gemara reads this as the cause of Asa's later foot-illness. The stones of Ramah are repurposed to fortify Geba and Mizpah within Judah.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
אֵין נָקִי. אֲפִלּוּ חָתָן מֵחֶדְרוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר בּוֹ: נָקִי יִהְיֶה לְבֵיתוֹ שָׁנָה אֶחָת.
There will be no exceptions. Even a bridegroom from his chamber,3Not even Torah scholars were exempt and Asa was punished for this. See Maseches Sotah 10a. concerning whom it is stated, "he shall be free for his home one year."4Devarim 24:5.

פסוק כ״ג · Verse 23

Hebrew:

וְיֶ֣תֶר כׇּל־דִּבְרֵֽי־אָ֠סָ֠א וְכׇל־גְּב֨וּרָת֜וֹ וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֗ה וְהֶֽעָרִים֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בָּנָ֔ה הֲלֹא־הֵ֣מָּה כְתוּבִ֗ים עַל־סֵ֛פֶר דִּבְרֵ֥י הַיָּמִ֖ים לְמַלְכֵ֣י יְהוּדָ֑ה רַ֚ק לְעֵ֣ת זִקְנָת֔וֹ חָלָ֖ה אֶת־רַגְלָֽיו׃

English:

All the other events of Asa’s reign, and all his exploits, and all his actions, and the towns that he fortified, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah. However, in his old age he suffered from a foot ailment.

The reign is summarized: Asa was fundamentally successful in everything he did -- 'all his might, all that he did, and the cities that he built' -- but in his old age he suffered from a disease of the feet. The terse ending hints at the moral dimension classical sources develop: the king who pressed talmidei chakhamim into labor lost the use of his own legs.

פסוק כ״ד · Verse 24

Hebrew:

וַיִּשְׁכַּ֤ב אָסָא֙ עִם־אֲבֹתָ֔יו וַיִּקָּבֵר֙ עִם־אֲבֹתָ֔יו בְּעִ֖יר דָּוִ֣ד אָבִ֑יו וַיִּמְלֹ֛ךְ יְהוֹשָׁפָ֥ט בְּנ֖וֹ תַּחְתָּֽיו׃ {פ}

English:

Asa rested with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of his forefather David. His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.

פסוק כ״ה · Verse 25

Hebrew:

וְנָדָ֣ב בֶּן־יָרׇבְעָ֗ם מָלַךְ֙ עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בִּשְׁנַ֣ת שְׁתַּ֔יִם לְאָסָ֖א מֶ֣לֶךְ יְהוּדָ֑ה וַיִּמְלֹ֥ךְ עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל שְׁנָתָֽיִם׃

English:

Nadab son of Jeroboam had become king over Israel in the second year of King Asa of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years.

The narrative now circles back chronologically to the north: Nadab, son of Jeroboam, became king of Israel in the second year of Asa and reigned just two years. Rashi and Metzudat David both clarify that 'two years' here means broken portions of two calendar years (the second and third of Asa), not a full two-year span.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
שְׁנָתַיִם. הַשְּׁנִיָּה וְהַשְּׁלִישִׁית לְאָסָא.
Two years. The second and the third [year] of Asa.

פסוק כ״ו · Verse 26

Hebrew:

וַיַּ֥עַשׂ הָרַ֖ע בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה וַיֵּ֙לֶךְ֙ בְּדֶ֣רֶךְ אָבִ֔יו וּ֨בְחַטָּאת֔וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֶחֱטִ֖יא אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

English:

He did what was displeasing to GOD; he continued in the ways of his father, in the sins that he caused Israel to commit.

פסוק כ״ז · Verse 27

Hebrew:

וַיִּקְשֹׁ֨ר עָלָ֜יו בַּעְשָׁ֤א בֶן־אֲחִיָּה֙ לְבֵ֣ית יִשָּׂשכָ֔ר וַיַּכֵּ֣הוּ בַעְשָׁ֔א בְּגִבְּת֖וֹן אֲשֶׁ֣ר לַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֑ים וְנָדָב֙ וְכׇל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל צָרִ֖ים עַֽל־גִּבְּתֽוֹן׃

English:

Then Baasha son of Ahijah, of the House of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.

Baasha son of Ahijah of the tribe of Issachar conspires against Nadab and strikes him down at the siege of Gibbethon, a Philistine city. The detail that 'all Israel' was besieging Gibbethon is striking: this Philistine stronghold appears to have remained unconquered since the days of Joshua, and the assassination takes place at a military camp far from the capital.

פסוק כ״ח · Verse 28

Hebrew:

וַיְמִתֵ֣הוּ בַעְשָׁ֔א בִּשְׁנַ֣ת שָׁלֹ֔שׁ לְאָסָ֖א מֶ֣לֶךְ יְהוּדָ֑ה וַיִּמְלֹ֖ךְ תַּחְתָּֽיו׃

English:

Baasha killed him in the third year of King Asa of Judah and became king in his stead.

Baasha kills Nadab in the third year of Asa and ascends the throne in his place. Metzudat David spells out the chronology: since Nadab began in Asa's second year and reigned (broken) two years, the assassination falls in Asa's third year, with both reigns sharing that calendar year.

פסוק כ״ט · Verse 29

Hebrew:

וַיְהִ֣י כְמׇלְכ֗וֹ הִכָּה֙ אֶת־כׇּל־בֵּ֣ית יָרׇבְעָ֔ם לֹא־הִשְׁאִ֧יר כׇּל־נְשָׁמָ֛ה לְיָרׇבְעָ֖ם עַד־הִשְׁמִד֑וֹ כִּדְבַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר דִּבֶּ֔ר בְּיַד־עַבְדּ֖וֹ אֲחִיָּ֥ה הַשִּׁילֹנִֽי׃

English:

As soon as he became king, he struck down all the House of Jeroboam; he did not spare a single soul belonging to Jeroboam until he destroyed it—in accordance with the word spoken through GOD’s servant Ahijah the Shilonite—

Baasha exterminates the entire house of Jeroboam, leaving no living soul belonging to that line -- the exact fulfillment of the prophecy Ahijah the Shilonite had delivered in chapter 14. The instrument of the prophecy is a usurper from a rival tribe, not a righteous reformer; the divine word is carried out, but by a man whose own house will eventually meet the same fate (chapter 16).

פסוק ל׳ · Verse 30

Hebrew:

עַל־חַטֹּ֤אות יָֽרׇבְעָם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר חָטָ֔א וַאֲשֶׁ֥ר הֶחֱטִ֖יא אֶת־יִשְׂרָ��ֵ֑ל בְּכַעְס֕וֹ אֲשֶׁ֣ר הִכְעִ֔יס אֶת־יְהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

English:

because of the sins that Jeroboam committed and that he caused Israel to commit, thereby provoking the anger of the ETERNAL, the God of Israel.

The reason for the divine sentence is restated: the sins Jeroboam committed himself and the sins by which he led Israel to sin -- the golden calves of Dan and Bethel, the priesthood drawn from non-Levites, the alternative festival. Metzudat David draws out the indictment's most pointed phrase, בְּכַעְסוֹ -- Jeroboam knew his Master and deliberately set out to provoke Him, transforming what could have been ignorance into open rebellion.

פסוק ל״א · Verse 31

Hebrew:

וְיֶ֛תֶר דִּבְרֵ֥י נָדָ֖ב וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֑ה הֲלֹא־הֵ֣ם כְּתוּבִ֗ים עַל־סֵ֛פֶר דִּבְרֵ֥י הַיָּמִ֖ים לְמַלְכֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

English:

The other events of Nadab’s reign and all his actions are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

The chapter pauses to note that further details of Nadab's reign are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Israel. Metzudat David, however, reads the comment ahead to verse 32 about the war between Asa and Baasha: even though Baasha had performed God's will by destroying Jeroboam's house, Asa rightly refused to credit him for it -- Baasha himself was a sinner, and the assassination conferred no merit on him.

פסוק ל״ב · Verse 32

Hebrew:

וּמִלְחָמָ֨ה הָיְתָ֜ה בֵּ֣ין אָסָ֗א וּבֵ֛ין בַּעְשָׁ֥א מֶֽלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל כׇּל־יְמֵיהֶֽם׃ {פ}

English:

There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel all their days.

פסוק ל״ג · Verse 33

Hebrew:

בִּשְׁנַ֣ת שָׁלֹ֔שׁ לְאָסָ֖א מֶ֣לֶךְ יְהוּדָ֑ה מָ֠לַ֠ךְ בַּעְשָׁ֨א בֶן־אֲחִיָּ֤ה עַל־כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ בְּתִרְצָ֔ה עֶשְׂרִ֥ים וְאַרְבַּ֖ע שָׁנָֽה׃

English:

In the third year of King Asa of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king in Tirzah over all Israel—for twenty-four years.

Baasha's full reign is dated and summarized: from the third year of Asa, he reigned twenty-four years over all Israel from Tirzah. Radak's lengthy comment wrestles with a famous chronological problem: II Chronicles 16 places Baasha's fortification of Ramah in Asa's thirty-sixth year, but Baasha only reigned twenty-four years total, dying in Asa's twenty-seventh. Radak resolves it by distinguishing two systems of counting: 'in the days of Asa' versus 'in the years of Asa's wars' -- with the dating in this book reflecting the years of Asa's military activity rather than his full reign.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
בִּשְׁנַת שָׁלשׁ לְאָסָא מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה מָלַךְ בַּעְשָׁא. שָׁנָה הַשְּׁלִישִׁית לְאָסָא, נִמְנֵית לְנָדָב וּלְבַּעְשָׁא.
It was during the third year of Asa king of Yeudah, Bashah son of Achiyoh became king. The third year of Asa is counted for Nodov and Bashah.5The in year in which Basha killed Nodov was during the third year of Asa's [above v. 28] reign, and it is counted for both kings.

פסוק ל״ד · Verse 34

Hebrew:

וַיַּ֥עַשׂ הָרַ֖ע בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה וַיֵּ֙לֶךְ֙ בְּדֶ֣רֶךְ יָרׇבְעָ֔ם וּ֨בְחַטָּאת֔וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֶחֱטִ֖יא אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ {ס}        

English:

He did what was displeasing to GOD; he followed the ways of Jeroboam and the sins that he caused Israel to commit.

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