1 Kings 15 - 16

As I read of the disobedience and corruptness of the posterity of Jeroboam the only thing that came to mind was the warning of idolatry Moses gave to the children of Israel -

"...Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me..." (Old Testament Deuteronomy 5:9)

Jeroboam set up idols and began to worship them. As a result, the prophet Ahijah prophesied -

"...for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:
10 Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone." (Old Testament 1 Kings 14:9 - 10)

Jeroboam's son, Nadab -

"...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..." (Old Testament 1 Kings 15:26)

And after Baasha destroyed all the house of Jeroboam, through the prophet Jehu, the Lord tells him -

"...thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins..." (Old Testament 1 Kings 16:2)

And he is told -

"I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat." (Old Testament 1 Kings 16:3)

After Baasha's death, his son, Elah becomes king. And while is drunk, Zimri slays him and later slays -

"...all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends." (Old Testament 1 Kings 16:11)

And seven days later, Zimri is slain by the Omri, the captain of the armies of Irsael because he murdered the king and -

"...For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin." (Old Testament 1 Kings 16:19)

And becoming king -

"...Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that were before him." (Old Testament 1 Kings 16:25)

And after Omri's passing Ahab his son reigned in his stead -

"And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him." (Old Testament 1 Kings 16:30)

And -

"...as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
32 And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
33 And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." (Old Testament 1 Kings 16:31 - 33)

"When we save a boy, we probably are helping to save his future wife, his future children, his future grandchildren, and so on, generation after generation. It is said that the child is the father of a man. This means that a delinquent child grows into a delinquent parent who produces delinquent children, who grow into delinquent parents, and you are in a vicious cycle." (Elbert R. Curtis)