Wednesday, April 6, 2011

1 Kings 21-22, 2 Kings 1

Ahab was among the most evil of all of the kings of Israel.  His evil influence will taint Israel's leadership for generations and will affect Judah as well.  The story of Naboth and his vineyard is an illustration of his evil and of the evil in his wife Jezebel.  Naboth refuses to sell his vineyard to Ahab because to do so would be to sell the land that was his family inheritance.  It could well have been his family's allotment from the time when Joshua assigned land to the tribes in the days when Israel first entered into the land of milk and honey.  The year of the Jubilee was designed for such occasions which would have meant that the land would have reverted back to Naboth's heirs sometime in the next 50 years but there is no indication that Israel ever practice the Jubilee as God intended. 

When Naboth refused Ahab, the king went home pouting and sulking.  Jezebel learned the reason for his pouting and put together a plan that would bring the land to the king.  Her plan required a layering of evil.  The king initiated the evil with his desire for something that was not his.  Jezebel was evil for putting the plan together that would cause the death of Naboth.  The witnesses that falsely accused Naboth were evil with their lies and deceit (remember that under Mosaic law it took two witnesses to accuse someone of wrongdoing).  The elders of Jezreel were spinelessly evil to go along with Jezebel's evil plan and to encourage and allow the stoning of an innocent man.

God calls Ahab's hand in the shedding of this innocent blood and sends Elijah to tell him that one day dogs would lick his blood in the very same place that they had lapped up the innocent blood of Naboth.  He also prophesied the awful death of the evil queen Jezebel.  Both of these prophecies come true, but because Ahab repented of his sin (wearing sack cloth and ashes) God withheld a part of his sentence on Ahab and his heirs until after his death.

When Ahab is killed in battle while fighting against the Syrians with Jehosaphat and the Judeans we see the fulfillment of the 1st part of the prophecy as dogs lick up the blood of Ahab that has spilled into the floor of the chariot he was in.

Jehosaphat is the son of Asa and was a good king following in the footsteps of his father.  This reminds us of the importance of a Godly model for our children to learn from and to imitate.  Pray that we would be good mentors for our children and our children's children that they would walk faithfully in service to our Lord that their days might be blessed by Almighty God.

In the New Testament Paul speaks of the importance to be equally yoked in marriage.  This is a difficult thing for us to understand.  We think that we can positively influence our spouse and we can, but it is possible for the reverse to occur as well.  Look at the example in Judah's case.  Asa was a righteous king who tried to serve God.  His son, Jehosaphat followed in his father's footsteps and example.  Jehosaphat's son was Jehoram.  Jehosaphat seeks to strengthen the alliance between Israel and Judah and allows a marriage between the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and Jahoram.  Great political strategy but very bad spiritual strategy.  He reintroduces Idol worship in Judah and that is bad, bad, BAD!!!  2 kings that follow will follow in the foot steps of Jahoram.  They will all do evil in the eyes of the Lord and all of this finds its roots in Ahab!  They learned from a very evil example.

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