Ahab

Today's passages paint a good picture of the character of King Ahab. In the first section, the battle between Israel and Aram was depicted, with Israel gaining victory as God had promised. In the next chapter, we learn that God was not pleased that Ahab had negotiated with Ben-Hadad to spare his life in return for a trade agreement. Though the Bible text does not spell it out, God must have given instructions regarding the battle with the Arameans that included the destruction of their king. Because Ahab decided to do it his way, God sent a prophet to inform him of his impending doom.

The circumstances of this report were very unusual and I really wish I had packed all of my fat resource books in my beach bag. There was nothing to be found on the internet about this strange account of one prophet asking another prophet to hit him, and that man being eaten by a lion because he would not strike the first prophet. Why would the prophet ask to be hit? Maybe he needed a black eye in order to wear the bandage that disguised him from the king until he was ready to reveal his identity. I suppose the point is not to question when God asks us to do something, even if it seems crazy. One of the things I say most frequently to my kids is "obey first and ask questions later". When I need for them to do something, I don't particularly want to waste time explaining why they should do it. Simply put, God asked the prophet to do something that he didn't think was a good idea (which I can understand), and he was immediately punished for disobedience. The last guy to be eaten by a lion was the young prophet who disobeyed God's instructions when he believed the lie of the older prophet. The key is to be able to discern the voice of God. One prophet did not act when God spoke and the other acted when He didn't. Both ended up dead.

The next story was Naboth 's vineyard, and it illustrated more about Jezebel, who was clearly the stronger personality of the royal pair. She was so disgusted that Ahab wasn't imposing his authority and demanding compliance from Naboth, that she took matters into her own hands and had Naboth killed. He allowed his wife to take control and was happy to stand aside. This was a apparently indicative of their relationship as a whole, given the words of 1Kings 21:25 "No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the Lord's sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife Jezebel".

Finally, in the account of Ahab and Jehoshaphat teaming up against Aram (they had formed an alliance through the marriage of their children), we see Ahab's petulance and immaturity. When Jehoshaphat asks that they inquire of a prophet of God before proceeding into battle, Ahab states that there is only one and he hates him because he never prophesies anything but trouble for him. Ahab surrounded himself with "yes men" and lacked the character to take criticism or dissent.

tomorrow's reading: 1 Kings 22:10-40, 51-53, 2Chron. 18:9-34, 19:1-11, 20:1-30