1 Kings 20:35-21:16

1 Kings 20:35-21:16

After the episode on Mount Carmel, it seemed as if all of Israel (and possibly even King Ahab) had turned back to God. But by the end of 1 Kings 20, it became obvious that Ahab had not changed. He continued to live in disobedience, and that became evident by the way in which he handled the situation with Ben-hadad. Instead of killing him along with the rest of the Syrians who had come up against Israel, Ahab decided to spare his life. But even more than that, Ahab made a covenant with Ben-hadad. As a result, God sent word to Ahab through another prophet about his own upcoming destruction. Because he chose to let Ben-hadad live and chose not to follow God’s commands, God promised that he would be punished. He would be killed in Ben-hadad’s stead.

Ahab’s problems continued and his true character was once again shown in 1 Kings 21 as he encountered Naboth. Naboth owned a vineyard that was close to the king’s palace, and Ahab wanted that vineyard for his own. So he asked Naboth to give it to him, and in return he was willing to pay a hefty price. To his credit, he did not want to take the vineyard away from Naboth without giving himself something of equal value in return. However, when Naboth politely refused to sell his vineyard to the king, Ahab went away sulking. He acted like a kid who did not get his way. To make matters worse, his wife, Jezebel, babied him, asking him why he was so upset. Once he told her the story, she reminded him that he was the king of Israel, telling him he could do whatever he wanted.

Again, we can give some credit to Ahab in that he did not retaliate and take the vineyard by force, but the fact that he was pouting and upset over something as small as vineyard shows what kind of man he was. That was not a situation worthy of the pity party he threw. However, it was Jezebel who was the real culprit in this story. After Naboth refused to give up the vineyard, she set up a conspiracy that would condemn Naboth of cursing God and the king. The penalty for such an offense was death. Since the people believed that Naboth had turned against God and King Ahab, he was stoned to death, and the vineyard was free for the taking.

After receiving word that Naboth was dead, Ahab went and took possession of the vineyard without question. But even in this instance you have to wonder what he was thinking. Jezebel told him that Naboth had been stoned to death, which probably means that Ahab also knew the offense that had been charged against Naboth. Even then, Ahab took the vineyard at the expense of Naboth. Although Ahab was not directly involved in the murder of Naboth, he most certainly played a role. If he had even slightly suspected foul play in the matter then he should have left the vineyard alone and not have taken it for himself. But in the end, he did, which indicted him just as much as Jezebel. You may say that in one sense he was guilty by association (association with Jezebel), but it was really much more than that.

The point is that Ahab had never really turned back to God, and in the end he was punished for his disobedience. His life had been characterized by deceit, murder, the worship of false idols, and so much more. He was guilty of leading Israel into unrighteousness. The lesson here is that Ahab is one of those kings that we should not try to emulate in our lives. If you remember, 1 Kings 16:30 told us that he was the worst king Israel had seen up to this point in their history, as he did more evil in the sight of the Lord than any king before him. So while we can learn from his mistakes, he is not a positive role model (like David was) for us to follow.

Matt