Corrupt Leaders
In the Book of Kings, the leaders exhibit narcissistic behaviors. They demand subservience. They commit idolatry and murder. They disobey sexual laws.
OVERVIEW
10. Have slaves
12. Ostentatious displays of wealth
13. Reject truth
15. Use deception
16. Assassinate their way to the top
1. ACCUSE OTHER PEOPLE
1 Kings 18:17. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
1 Kings 21:20. Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the LORD’s sight.
2. COMMIT IDOLATRY
1 Kings 3:3. Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, except that he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
1 Kings 11:5. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
3. COMMIT NEPOTISM
1 Kings 4:11. Ben Abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath, Solomon’s daughter, as wife);
1 Kings 4:15. Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife);
4. CORRUPT IN THEIR DEALINGS
1 Kings 16:25. Omri did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and dealt wickedly above all who were before him.
1 Kings 21:25. But there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
5. CORRUPT THE PEOPLE
1 Kings 12:28. So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and behold your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
1 Kings 13:33. After this thing, Jeroboam didn’t turn from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people. Whoever wanted to, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places.
1 Kings 16:2. Because I exalted you out of the dust and made you prince over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins,
6. COWARDLY IN COMBAT
1 Kings 20:4. The king of Israel answered, “It is according to your saying, my lord, O king. I am yours, and all that I have.”
1 Kings 22:30. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into the battle, but you put on your robes.” The king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle.
7. DEMAND SUBSERVIENCE
1 Kings 1:16. Bathsheba bowed and showed respect to the king. The king said, “What would you like?”
1 Kings 1:23. They told the king, saying, “Behold, Nathan the prophet!” When he had come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.
1 Kings 21:4. Ahab came into his house sullen and angry because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him, for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He laid himself down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
1 Kings 22:27. Say, ‘The king says, “Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.” ’ ”
8. DISOBEY MARRIAGE LAWS
1 Kings 3:1. Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into David’s city until he had finished building his own house, the LORD’s house, and the wall around Jerusalem.
1 Kings 11:1. Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites,
1 Kings 16:31. As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.
9. DIVIDE THE PEOPLE
1 Kings 16:21. Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri.
10. HAVE SLAVES
1 Kings 4:6. Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.
1 Kings 5:13. King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
1 Kings 9:15. This is the reason of the forced labor which king Solomon conscripted: to build the LORD’s house, his own house, Millo, Jerusalem’s wall, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
1 Kings 9:21. their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able utterly to destroy—of them Solomon raised a levy of bondservants to this day.
11. ORDER PEOPLE KILLED
1 Kings 2:6. Do therefore according to your wisdom, and don’t let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
1 Kings 2:9. Now therefore don’t hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood.
1 Kings 2:25. King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.
1 Kings 2:34. Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.
1 Kings 2:46. So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
12. OSTENTATIOUS DISPLAYS OF WEALTH
1 Kings 10:18. Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold.
13. REJECT TRUTH
1 Kings 13:4. When the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” His hand, which he put out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to himself.
1 Kings 22:8. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” Jehoshaphat said, “Don’t let the king say so.”
1 Kings 22:18. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”
14. REJECT WISE COUNSEL
1 Kings 12:8. But he abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.
1 Kings 12:13. The king answered the people roughly, and abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him,
15. USE DECEPTION
1 Kings 14:2. Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that you won’t be recognized as Jeroboam’s wife. Go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said that I would be king over this people.
16. ASSASSINATE THEIR WAY TO THE TOP
In the Book of Kings, evil is the norm. Leaders do evil things, and nobody complains. Power-hungry people conspire and murder their way to the top.
Baasha assassinates king Nadab of Israel:
1 Kings 15:27. Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha struck him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon.
Zimri assassinates king Elah of Israel:
1 Kings 16:10. and Zimri went in and struck him and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.
Jehu assassinates king Joram of Israel:
2 Kings 9:24. Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and struck Joram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.
Jehu assassinates king Ahaziah of Judah:
2 Kings 9:27. But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Jehu followed after him, and said, “Strike him also in the chariot!” They struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo, and died there.
King Jehoash is assassinated by his own palace staff:
2 Kings 12:20. His servants arose and made a conspiracy, and struck Joash at the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla.
Shallum assassinates Zechariah king of Israel:
2 Kings 15:10. Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and struck him before the people and killed him, and reigned in his place.
Menahem assassinates Shallum king of Judah:
2 Kings 15:14. Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, came to Samaria, struck Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, killed him, and reigned in his place.
Pekah assassinates Pekahiah king of Israel:
2 Kings 15:25. Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him and attacked him in Samaria, in the fortress of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites. He killed him, and reigned in his place.
Hoshea assassinates Pekah king of Israel:
2 Kings 15:30. Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, attacked him, killed him, and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
SEE ALSO
Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. In the kings of the Old Testament, we see powerful examples that power corrupts. That absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Evil kings who were assassinated by their own staff. Four kings in the Old Testament were assassinated by their own staff. It was because those kings were truly horrible people.
Kings of Judah who did what was Right in the LORD’s eyes. Of the 20 kings of Judah, most were bad guys. Only four did what was right in the LORD’s eyes.
Corrupt Leaders. In the Book of Kings, the leaders exhibit narcissistic behaviors. They demand subservience. They commit idolatry and murder. They disobey sexual laws.
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.