The House of Baasha or Baasha dynasty was a reigning dynasty of the Kingdom of Israel. They are depicted in the first of the

Books of Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...

. Their estimated reign is placed in the 10th century BCE.Chase (2010), p. 221-222

Reign

This dynasty was reportedly the second dynasty of the Kingdom of Israel, succeeding the

House of Jeroboam The House of Jeroboam or Jeroboam dynasty was a reigning dynasty of the Kingdom of Israel. They are depicted in the first of the Books of Kings. Their estimated reign is placed in the 10th century BCE. Chase (2010), p. 221 The house is named aft ...

. The eponymous dynasty founder was

Baasha of Israel Baasha ( he, , ''Baʿšāʾ'') was the third king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel. He was the son of Ahijah of the Tribe of Issachar. Baasha's story is told in . Reign Baasha became king of Israel in the third year of Asa, king ...

, son of Ahijah and member of the

Tribe of Issachar According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Issachar () was one of the twelve tribes of Israel and one of the ten lost tribes. In Jewish tradition, the descendants of Issachar were seen as being dominated by religious scholars and influential in ...

. He rose to the throne as a usurper, after assassinating his predecessor

Nadab of Israel Nadab ( he, נָדָב ''Nāḏāḇ'') was the second king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel. He was the son and successor of Jeroboam. Reign Nadab became king of Israel in the second year of Asa, King of Judah, and reigned for two ...

. Baasha also killed all known descendants of the House of Jeroboam. He reportedly reigned for 24 years, and was succeeded by his son Elah. Elah reigned for 2 years, and was eventually assassinated by his successor Zimri. Zimri had served Elah, as the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of his

chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...

s. Elah was reportedly ambushed and killed while in a drunken stupor. Zimri reportedly managed to kill Elah's entire family and Elah's friends, following the orders of the

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

Jehu ) as depicted on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III , succession = King of Northern Israel , reign = c. 841–814 BCE , coronation = Ramoth-Gilead, Israel , birth_date = c. 882 BCE , death_date = c. 814 BCE , burial_place = ...

. Zimri had an ephemeral reign of 7 days. His reign was not widely recognized, and his opponents elected

Omri Omri ( ; he, , ''‘Omrī''; akk, 𒄷𒌝𒊑𒄿 ''Ḫûmrî'' 'ḫu-um-ri-i'' fl. 9th century BC) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the sixth king of Israel. He was a successful military campaigner who extended the northern kingdom of ...

as a rival king. Omri besieged Zimri's house, and Zimri committed suicide by setting his own palace on fire. The House of Baasha was then succeeded by a new dynasty, the

Omrides The Omrides, Omrids or House of Omri ( he, , translit=Bēt ʿOmrī; akk, 𒂍𒄷𒌝𒊑𒄿, translit=bīt-Ḫûmrî) were a ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) founded by King Omri. According to the Bible, the Omride rulers of ...

Analysis

The Kingdom of Israel survived for about two centuries. During this period, the

mention 9 occasions where the throne of the kingdom was captured by

usurper A usurper is an illegitimate or controversial claimant to power, often but not always in a monarchy. In other words, one who takes the power of a country, city, or established region for oneself, without any formal or legal right to claim it as ...

s. Among these 9 usurpers, only

and

managed to establish relatively stable and long-lived dynasties. Both the House of Jeroboam and the House of Baasha were only represented by two generations of kings, while 4 of the usurpers were succeeded by someone not related to them.Ishida (1977), p. 171-174 The

Deuteronomist The Deuteronomist, abbreviated as either Dtr or simply D, may refer either to the source document underlying the core chapters (12–26) of the Book of Deuteronomy, or to the broader "school" that produced all of Deuteronomy as well as the Deutero ...

redactor of the Books of Kings considered the kings Nadab and Elah as legitimate heirs to the throne, as each of them succeeded their father on the throne. The language of the Deuteronomist instead stigmatizes each usurper, for the

conspiracies A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

which elevated them to the throne. The dynastic principle of succession seems to have been clearly understood. This explains why the usurpers had to eliminate the heirs of the previous dynasties, in an effort to solidify their own hold on the throne. Baasha seems to have orchestrated his

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

at a time when the House of Jeroboam was relatively weak, following unsuccessful wars against

Shishak Shishak, Shishaq or Susac (, Tiberian: , ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, an Egyptian pharaoh who sacked Jerusalem in the 10th century BCE. He is usually identified with the pharaoh Shoshenq I.Troy Leiland Sagrillo. 2015.Shoshenq I and bib ...

and Abijah of Judah, and territorial losses. The fall of the House of Baasha seems to have been a consequence of their own military weakness, as it followed lost unsuccessful wars against

Asa of Judah Asa (; el, Ασά; la, Asa) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the third king of the Kingdom of Judah and the fifth king of the Davidic line, House of David. The Hebrew Bible gives the period of his reign between 40–41 years. His reign is da ...

and

Ben-Hadad I Ben-Hadad I ( he, בן הדד, translit=bn hdd; arc, בר הדד, translit=br hdd), son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion, was king of Aram-Damascus between 885 BC and 865 BC. Ben-Hadad I was reportedly a contemporary of kings Baasha of the ...

. In the narrative of the Books of Kings, new and inexperienced monarchs often had to face prospective usurpers in the early years of their reign. The successful usurpations represent cases where the legitimate king could not survive this power struggle. The short reigns of both Nadab and Elah are among these cases in the narrative. Most of the usurpers in the narrative of the Kings of Israel were depicted as military men. Zimri was a commander of the chariots, Omri and Jehu were both army commanders, and

Pekah Pekah (, ''Peqaḥ''; akk, 𒉺𒅗𒄩 ''Paqaḫa'' 'pa-qa-ḫa'' la, Phacee) was the eighteenth and penultimate king of Israel. He was a captain in the army of king Pekahiah of Israel, whom he killed to become king. Pekah was the son of Rem ...

was another king's aide-de-camp. The military background of Baasha is not explicit in the text, though he reportedly killed Nadab within the king's own military camp. Which would indicate that Baasha was a soldier or officer in Nadab's army. These usurpers of military background were evidently able to mobilize military forces in support of their respective coups. Their perceived competence as war-leaders was likely their main qualification for the position of king, as leadership during war was among the main duties of an Israelite king.

Reign

Analysis

References

Further reading

See also