King Baasha (Israel)

Baasha son of Ahijah, of the tribe of Issachar, seized the throne of the northern kingdom by killing King Nadab, Jeroboam's son, while Israel's army was besieging the Philistine town of Gibbethon. He then wiped out the entire house of Jeroboam, which 1 Kings 15 presents as the fulfillment of the prophet Ahijah's curse, and reigned 24 years from Tirzah. He fought a long border war with Asa of Judah and fortified Ramah, just north of Jerusalem, to choke off Judah's roads, until Asa paid Ben-hadad of Aram with Temple treasure to raid Israel's north (Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah and Naphtali). Baasha abandoned the project, and Asa reused its stones to build Geba and Mizpah.

Though he had toppled Jeroboam's line, Baasha kept Jeroboam's golden calves at Dan and Bethel. The prophet Jehu son of Hanani told him, "I raised you up from the dust," and foretold that his house would end like Jeroboam's, a prophecy fulfilled when his son Elah was murdered. Tirzah, his capital, is identified with Tell el-Far'ah (North) near Nablus, excavated by Roland de Vaux.