Ahab’s Misrule and Ultimate Defeat

The previous lesson (1 Kings 16:289-19:21) introduced us to Ahab’s reign (874-853 BC), including the well-known confrontation between the godly prophet Elijah and the priests of Baal, who Ahab had introduced into the kingdom of Israel at the prompting of his wife Jezebel.  Jezebel was a zealous Baal worshipper, as could be expected from one who was a princess of Zidon (a Phoenician kingdom) whose father, Ethbaal (“Baal is alive”), was himself named after the god Baal.  In the contest, the LORD shows His absolute power in contrast to the impotency of the prophets of Baal.  The destruction of the prophets of Baal, however, evoked the bitter enmity Jezebel against Elijah, prompting him to flee for his life.  One would have thought that the defeat of the prophets of Baal would have prompted Ahab to return to the LORD, but that was not the case.  In the chapters we will look at in this lesson, we will examine three notable benchmarks leading to the collapse of Ahab’s reign, and indeed, even to the ultimate destruction of the Omride dynasty.

I. Ahab’s Deliverance from Ben-Hadad (ch. 20)

The first of these episodes center around Ahab’s wars with the Aramean/Damascene king Ben-Hadad.  Ben-Hadad besieged Samaria with a large, allied force of 32 kings with the goal of reducing Israel to a tributary state.  Ben-Hadad was prepared to take whatever he wanted, whether silver or gold or Ahab’s wives or children.  Ahab indicated that he was ready to capitulate, when Ben-Hadad reiterated his demands, possibly to provoke a conflict with Israel and take it down a few notches.  At this point, Ahab consults the elders and the people and they exhort him to resist Ben-Hadad, who, while getting drunk among his commanders, decided to go ahead and take the city.

At this point an unnamed prophet (“Man of God”) comes to Ahab with a word from the LORD that the LORD will deliver the Syrians into Ahab’s hands to demonstrate that the LORD is the true God. 

¹³ And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. ¹⁴ And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou. (1 Kings 20:13-14)

Ahab initiates the battle with a hastily assembled force of 232 commanders and 7,000 fighters, and surprises the Arameans, who were getting drunk at midday and did not expect the Israelites to show any backbone.  The Arameans were routed and fled the field, including Ben-Hadad who fled by horse.  The prophet told Ahab that the Syrians would be back in the spring.

The Syrians did indeed return in the spring, assuming that their defeat was due to God being a god of the hills.  The goal the second time around would be to force a battle in the plain, assuming that God was not there and that the plain would allow them to use their chariots and horses to better advantage.  Before this battle as well, an unnamed “man of God” told Ahab that the LORD would give the Syrians over to them in this battle as well, so that everyone knew that God was a god of both the hills and the plains.

²⁸ And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 
(1 Kings 20:28)

And so it was.  Ben-Hadad sued for peace, promising to restore to Ahab cities which the Syrians had previously taken from Israel, and Ahab consented to codify that in a covenant.  This concession prompted a “son of the prophets” to confront Ahab.  This prophet asks an associate to strike him, and when the associate refuses, the prophet says that as soon as the associate departs, he will be attacked and killed by a lion (1 Kings 20:36).  The fact that it comes to pass validates the truthfulness of the prophet’s claims.  Another associate wounds the prophet and then prophet goes and puts ashes (or a bandage) on to disguise himself as he confronts Ahab.  The prophet confronts Ahab with a story: during the battle he was told to guard a prisoner and if the prisoner went missing, then he would lose his life.  Since the prisoner went missing, the prophet asked, what should the judgment be.  Ahab replied that the man pronounced his own judgment.  The man then revealed that he was a prophet and said,

⁴² And he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.

Ahab was not pleased.

So, what is the significance of all this?  God demonstrates His superiority over not only the situation, but also reasserts Himself over Israel.  God continues to reach out to His people, but His people need to be open to Him.  If Ahab had been spiritually attuned, it would have been an opening for the nation to put away its idols and return to the LORD.  That would have been true both for the nation and for Ahab.  Ahab, however, was spiritually deadened.  He accepted the victories from the LORD, did not give the LORD any credit, and then was prepared to return to business as usual.  Winston Churchill, in the last volume of his history of the Second World War, describes the them of that volume as “How the Great democracies triumphed, and so were able to resume the follies which had so nearly cost them their life.”  Ahab’s actions here could be described in a similar manner.  Ahab’s failure highlights his spiritual deadness, which will lead to his death and the destruction of his people.  Salvation, even national salvation, requires repentance.

II. Ahab Seizes the Vineyard of Naboth (ch. 21)

The second episode in Ahab’s downfall surrounds the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, whose land abutted that of the king’s palace.  Ahab wanted to possess the vineyard and he offers Naboth a good deal, namely, either a better vineyard elsewhere or a fair price in cash for the vineyard.  Naboth refuses, as the land is his ancestral land.  Ahab reacts petulantly, and is rebuked by his wife Jezebel, who promises to get him the land.

Jezebel concocts a complicated scheme to get Ahab the land.  First, she elevates Naboth’s status, exercising royal authority in Ahab’s name to invite Israel’s elders and nobles to a gathering.  At the gathering, however, she has two disreputable individuals make the false charge that Naboth blasphemed God and king.  On the basis of those charges, Naboth is stoned to death.  Thus, having not only effectively killed Naboth but also discredited his reputation—which would prevent other members of Naboth’s family from making any claim to the land—it was then easy to seize Naboth’s land by force majeure.  Jezebel then presented the vineyard to her husband as a gift.

Word of what Jezebel has done reaches Elijah the Tishbite.  Elijah then confronts Ahab directly as Ahab goes to possess the land and pronounces the LORD’s judgement on him for what has been done to Naboth. 

¹⁹ And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. ²⁰ And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. ²¹ Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, ²² And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. ²³ And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. ²⁴ Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.

One side note to mention here.  Modern translations of v. 21 (e.g., ESV and NKJV) translate the verse as “will cut off Ahab from every male in Israel, both bond and free” but the translates the Hebrew literally.  The modern translations do not do justice to the text.  The idiom is indeed a vulgar one, but it semantically conveys the force of what is being said here.  One who “pisses against a wall” conveys the connotation of one void of any sense of propriety and decency.  Ahab is not only going to be cut off from the reputable in Israel, but even from disreputable and worthless individuals: that is how total the destruction of the Omride dynasty will be.  It will be utterly destroyed.  Indeed, the rest of the judgment reinforces this.  Even those that die in the city will be eaten by dogs and those that die in the countryside will be left for carrion.  They will not have the honor of even being buried.  Jezebel herself will be eaten by dogs.  In the ancient world, to be denied a decent burial was dishonoring and utterly shameful.  One need only think of Sophocles’ play Antigone, in which the heroine herself defies a royal edict to give her brother an honorable burial, even though it results in her own death.  Here in this text, in verses 22 and 25-26 this judgment on Ahab and his house is conjoined with the broader indictment of the idolatry and overall evil that Ahab fostered, often at the instigation of his wife.

Why did this incident trigger this judgment?  Naboth’s refusal to sell his land is not just a sentimental attachment to his family’s land.  All the land was understood as ultimately belonging to the LORD.  By holding onto his land, Naboth is not only honoring his ancestors, but God as well.  For Ahab and Jezebel to seize the land for their own purposes (“to grow herbs”) trivializes the land and the covenantal relationship that it embodies.  Moreover, Jezebel’s actions leading up to Naboth’s execution maintained the form of adherence to the Deuteronomic covenant, all the while subverting it.  This is not only greed, and ruthless murder, it is blasphemy against God and His covenant.

Upon hearing the pronouncement of judgment, Ahab actually repents in this instance, leaving the LORD to relent in bringing down the destruction of his house during the days of Ahab’s life, and reserving it to the next generation (1 Kings 21:27-29).  Why did God do this?  Even though Ahab’s repentance was only superficial, God demonstrates His justness in rewarding repentant behavior.   Ultimately God wants genuine repentance.  Nevertheless, as we shall see, Ahab, Jezebel and their families do ultimately die ignominious deaths.

Ahab is an idolater and a spiritual dullard.  In this episode we see him as both childish in his reaction to Naboth’s rebuff, and indulgent in his wife’s brazen, blasphemous ruthlessness.  Jezebel has a pragmatic mentality that the ends justifies the means.  We need to be careful about those who say we should be as ruthless as our enemies in order to gain power that we purport to use for good.  The reality is that such pragmatism compromises all moral credibility.

III. Ahab’s Effort to Capture Ramoth-Gilead (ch. 22)

The final episode in the decline and demise of Ahab centers around a joint Israel-Judah military effort to retake Ramoth-gilead.  Ramoth-gilead was originally founded as a Levitical city of refuge in the territory of Gad, on the east side of the Jordan River, but at some subsequent point came under Syrian control.  The city was fortified and was strategic in the control of north-south trade routes.  There was little military necessity for Israel to seize the city at the time, since it was at that point at peace with Syria.  Control of Ramoth-gilead would give Israel control of the lucrative north-south trade route; Judah, it should be noted, had little to gain from this directly, given the distance of the city from Judah proper.

The chapter begins with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, paying call upon Ahab, the king of Israel.  Ahab presents his plan for a joint war on Ramoth-gilead, and Jehoshaphat suggests that they consult the LORD about this plan.  Ahab brings together 400 prophets, who all say that the Lord will bless this plan with success.  Jehoshaphat then asks specifically if there is a prophet of YHWH who could speak to this.  Ahab acknowledges there is one, Micaiah, but is dismissive of him because “he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil” (1 Kings 22:8).  Jehoshaphat’s response of “Let not the king say so” has an almost naïve tone.

Micaiah is brought to the court, and the messenger bringing him coaches him to speak good of Ahab’s plan.  Micaiah responds plainly by saying he will speak whatever the LORD gives him.  When he into the presence of the king, however, he—probably sarcastically—says, “Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king” (1 Kings 22:15).  In an effort to play to Jehoshaphat’s sensibilities, Ahab says, “How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD” (1 Kings 22:16).  The irony, of course, is that Ahab is really indifferent to the Word of the LORD and that is why he hates Micaiah.  Ahab’s response, however, gives Micaiah the opening he was probably looking for to really speak God’s truth.

And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace. ¹⁸ And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil? ¹⁹ And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. ²⁰ And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. ²¹ And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. ²² And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. ²³ Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.

For his brazenness, Micaiah is slapped and rebuked by one of Ahab’s court prophets.  Ahab, for his part, orders Micaiah to be thrown in prison and treated harshly until Ahab returns from battle.  Micaiah retorts, “If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me” and then continues by saying, “Hearken, O people, every one of you” (1 Kings 22:28).

Despite Micaiah’s warning, Ahab and Jehoshaphat went up against Ramoth-gilead.  Ahab told Jehoshaphat that he would disguise himself, but Jehoshaphat could wear the royal robes.  In the assault, the King of Syria gave orders that his army was to only go after the king of Israel, and the Syrians initially mistook Jehoshaphat for Ahab because he was wearing royal robes.  Ahab’s deceit did not protect him though: an arrow shot at random penetrated the gaps of his armor, mortally killing him.  With his death, the soldiers scattered, and dogs did lick Ahab’s blood from his chariot.  Micaiah’s prophecy came to pass.  In the end, Ahab’s life was characterized by idolatry, spiritual deadness, unbelief, and arrogant presumptuousness against God.  Such character took an evil situation in Israel and made it far, far worse.  As we will see in subsequent chapters, the rest of God’s judgment on the Omride dynasty would come to pass as well.

IV. Jehoshaphat’s Reign (1 Kings 22:41-50)

One question that leaps out from these chapters is, why did Jehoshaphat go along with this and ally himself with Ahab?  Jehoshaphat was one of the godly kings of Israel.  Consider this characterization of his reign:

⁴¹ And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. ⁴² Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. ⁴³ And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places. ⁴⁴ And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. ⁴⁵Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he shewed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ⁴⁶ And the remnant of ^*the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land. ⁴⁷ There was then no king in Edom: a deputy was king. ⁴⁸ Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber. ⁴⁹ Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not. ⁵⁰ And ^*Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.
(1 Kings 22:41-50)

Worse, as we will see in subsequent chapters, Jehoshaphat had his son marry a daughter of Ahab.  So, again, why did Jehoshaphat do this? 

A few things may help flesh out the rationale.  First, Ahab may have calculated that reconciliation with Judah would both eliminate a potential threat to his south at the time when he was being pressed by the Syrians from the north.  Second, it was a way for both countries to recapture some of the influence that they had under the unified reign of Solomon.  Ahab’s marriage to Jezebel extended Israel’s influence northward, toward the economic powerhouses of Tyre and Sidon.  Control of Ramoth-gilead would give Israel control of major trade routes.  For Judah, support for the Ramoth-gilead offensive was perhaps the price for enlisting Israel’s support for creating a merchant fleet at Ezion-geber that could trade for gold from Ophir as well as goods elsewhere (1 Kings 22:48-49 cf. 2 Chron. 20:36-37), although that literally fell apart as the ships broke.  Third, in the way that Jehoshaphat interacts with Ahab there is a sense that, despite the division of the country and their many differences, they were still kin.  That helped to undergird peace overtures between the two, especially on Judah’s part.  And, lastly, on Jehoshaphat’s part, there probably was a willingness to be content with externalism in religious reform and pragmatism in the face of the evil in the north.  Jehoshaphat could not legitimately claim ignorance about the idolatry that was plaguing the northern kingdom, especially given what he probably heard from refugees and what he saw in Ahab’s court.  But he minimized it.

The question that exists for us today is how are we like Jehoshaphat in our personal lives, in the life of the church and in the life of our nation?