1 Kings 21.
IT was in Ahab that the iniquity of the kings of Israel reached its greatest degree; in his reign also, the ten tribed kingdom was most prosperous; after his death, the country grew weaker rapidly. God had met the daringly wicked Ahab and his consort Jezebel, who seems to have a worse character than himself, with the great prophet Elijah, but neither Elijah’s testimony, the three-year famine, or the remarkable display of divine power on Mount Carmel (chapter 18) moved the heart or conscience of this leader of Israel, for he had sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, as says verse 25. Utterly indifferent to the claims of a holy God, Ahab, with Jezebel’s help, now added a shocking crime to his many sins, as this chapter discloses.
Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard; Ahab wanted it. Naboth valued his little place, because it had been the possession of his forefathers, and would neither sell nor exchange it to please Ahab. The king was very angry at being refused, and in his displeasure went to bed, declining to eat. Jezebel then, learning what had happened, promised her husband the vineyard, and with the help of some men as evil of heart as herself who were prepared to bear false witness against Naboth, the vineyard owner was put to death under a fictious charge of having blasphemed God and the king.
Presently Ahab who lacked natural courage and daring, but was quite willing to profit by his wife’s misdeed, was on the way to take possession of the dead man’s property, and there the eyes of God rested upon him. Shall this bloody deed, coolly planned and executed with the authority of the king of Israel, pass unnoticed? Not so. The word of the Lord came to Elijah, telling him where to go to find Ahab, and the sentence, shortly to be executed, he was to deliver to him. He had killed and taken possession, but in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, they should lick Ahab’s blood (see chapter 22:38). All of Ahab’s seventy sons, his family, his great men, his kinsfolk and his priests were afterward put to death (2 Kings 10, verse 11) according to the word of God now delivered by Elijah (verse 22). And more shocking than the end of Ahab was to be the close of his wife’s life: the dogs would eat her, —and so they did (2 Kings 9:18- 3718So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again. 19Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. 20And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. 21And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. 22And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? 23And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. 24And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. 25Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him; 26Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the Lord; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the Lord. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the Lord. 27But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. 28And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David. 29And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah. 30And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window. 31And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? 32And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. 33And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot. 34And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's daughter. 35And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. 36Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: 37And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel. (2 Kings 9:18‑37)).
God may and He frequently does, permit the wicked to go on in their evil ways. sometimes for many a long year, but He has told us that judgment will fall. In 2 Peter 2:33And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2 Peter 2:3) is the word: “Whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not (or, for whom judgment of old is not idle), and their damnation (destruction) slumbereth not.”
Ahab might have repented of his sins, turning to God in full confession and seeking forgiveness, but of this, if it occurred at the last, we have not the slightest hint in the Word of God. He was alarmed frightened, at the prophecy of Elijah concerning himself and his family, and he humbled himself for a time, but that was all. God however took notice of his behavior, and delayed the full carrying out of the promised judgment. How merciful is our God!
Perhaps the reader has, like king Ahab, at times felt alarmed at the thought of the judgment of God, and again his conscience has gone to sleep, fear has vanished, and the old ways have been taken up again.
You may forget God, forget the offer of pardon, forget His great love, and the gift of His only begotten Son, but God will not forget you in the day of judgment. All that are in the graves shall hear the voice of His Son and shall come forth. (John 5:28, 2928Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:28‑29)); in that solemn day, even the sea will give up the dead that are in its depths. (Rev. 20:1313And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. (Revelation 20:13)).
ML 09/11/1927