1 and 2 Kings - Lesson 11

Dr. John Oswalt
1 & 2 Kings
th630-11
End of Ahab's Life
Lesson Transcript

We're looking, in this lecture, at 1 Kings 20, 21, and 22, the end of Ahab's life. Again, notice that his father only had 12 verses, whereas Ahab gets a lot of material. I think they are part of the Elijah/Elisha narrative that the narrator is picking up from another or other sources. They're also because of the extreme importance of this moment in Israel's life. Is Yahweh simply going to be abandoned? Of course, the answer is no, but how that develops is significant.

Chapter 20 and chapter 22 are dealing with war with Syria, between Ahab and Syria, and between the two is the story of Naboth's vineyard. We're going to want to ask why is that story between the other two? Now, it may be simply chronological. That these things happened, then the Naboth vineyard happened, then the end of the story. But I think it's also possible that this Naboth's vineyard account is here to say it wasn't Syria that Ahab had to deal with and brought him to the end of his life, it was his relation with Yahweh that had to be dealt with, and ultimately brings him to the end. We'll talk about that as we go.

In chapter 20, we see two attempts by the Syrians to destroy Ahab and conquer Israel. In both cases, Yahweh frustrates it. And this is, in my mind, so very, very significant. Now, let's talk about the international situation for a moment. This is about 850 BC, about 80 years after the decline of Solomon's empire. When Solomon's empire collapsed, it left a vacuum. The late Bronze Age, extending from roughly 1200 to 900 BC, was a time of terrific upheaval. The picture you see in the Book of Judges of the chaos that took place, all of the powers that had existed in the Middle Bronze Age have collapsed, there have been incursions from outside, everything has come apart. And out of that, Solomon's empire emerged.

When it collapsed, a vacuum resulted, and it was Assyria that began to fill the vacuum. Assyria was located on the upper Tigris River, where today, in Iran, the Kurdish people are located. It's interesting that the Kurds, who are a pretty warlike group, equate themselves with the Assyrians, and their neighbors agree with them. The Assyrians developed military technology to an extremely high degree. The whole organization of the army, heavy infantry, light infantry, cavalry, chariotry, engineering? Highly organized. And they then are expanding to take over the world. They have already conquered Babylon to their south, and they're now expanding both northward and westward. In 854, there was a battle between Assyria and a coalition of these small nations that stood in their way. These small nations, there were eight of them. None of them, by itself, would have been able to stand in the way of Assyria.

One of the small nations is Tyre and Sidon, or Phoenicia, or Lebanon. They are not so directly in the way. One that is directly in the way is Syria. Another is, of course, Israel. Again, directly in the way, on that great highway coming down from the Euphrates River. Another that is directly in the way are the Philistines. Judah is not directly in the way, as it's not on either the Highway of the Kings or the highway by the sea, but it's there and it's going to have to be dealt with. Another is Amon. Let's see, I'm not getting that in quite the right place here. Another is Moab... And another is Edom. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Good. There they are.

And so, in 854, a coalition of them, especially Syria and Israel, fought a battle up to the north against the Assyrians, and both sides claim victory. But it looks as though all the battle really did was to sort of slow the Assyrians down. After that battle, we find, then, Syria pretty clearly trying to expand itself, expand its resources, and probably doing so in expectation that they're going to have to fight against the Assyrians. And so particularly Israel is the one that they take on.

Ahab in this chapter seems to take a very passive position, in so many ways, and it's hard to quite understand that. In his relations with Jezebel, we can understand his passivity, and that may relate to what's going on. Whereas in military and political areas, he seems to have been much stronger and more decisive. But the Syrian king, Ben-Hadad, says, "Hey, I'm going to come. I'm going to go through your house. I'm going to take whatever I want, and that's the way it's going to be." And Ahab basically says, "Okay." Then Ben-Hadad, seeing an opportunity, says, "And I'm going to take anything I want." And Ahab says, "Oh, that's little too much."

And at that point, a prophet arrives. Now, is this Elijah? We don't know. The Bible simply says "a prophet". Elijah may have still been in hiding somewhere. He has anointed Elisha. Are they somewhere together? We don't know. But a prophet comes, and he says, this is in chapter 20, verse 13, "This is what the Lord says. Do you see this vast army? I will" I, "I will give it into your hand today, and then you will know that I am Yahweh." "I am the I am, and you will know it." In other words, what we have here is an incredible gift of grace. Yahweh, do you know who Ahab is? Ahab has turned his back on you. Ahab has worshiped Baal. Ahab has set up a Baalistic temple in his capital city! And we can imagine Yahweh saying, "Yes, I know. I know." But here is this offer of grace.

And so they say to this prophet, "Who will lead this battle?" And he says, and there's quite a difference of opinion among the commentators and the Bible translators as exactly how this ought to be translated. The King James said, "The young men of the princes of the provinces." NIV says, "The junior officers of the provincial commanders." ESV says, "The servants of the commanders of the districts." However you translate it, I think the point is the army is to be led by unlikely people, people who are lower levels of command.

Again, this is so typical of God, as He did with Gideon. "No, no, you've got too many men here. When you win the battle, you'll say, "Oh well. We did it because we had a big enough army." No, no. Get rid of them. Keep cutting it down, so that it will be obvious I did this." I think it's the same thing that's happening here. These unlikely leaders are to lead the battle. They did. And it was a route. The Syrians ran away. But there's no indication that Ahab gave credit to Yahweh. Well, the Syrians, the next spring, said, "The reason why we lost is that Yahweh of theirs. He's the God of the hills. And we were silly enough to go into that hill country around Samaria. And so Yahweh was able to..." They understood who beat them! But there's no evidence that Ahab did.

So they gathered at Aphek, and it appears that Aphek is probably over here on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. So, this Syrian army came, and it is so huge, the scripture says this Israelite army looked like a couple of flocks of goats. Again, we've said it before, I'll say it again. God's weakness is stronger than any of our strength. So, one more time, the prophet says, this is in 20:28, "Because the Arameans think the Lord is a God of the hills and not a God of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know I am the Lord." And the Bible tells us it was even more of a route the second time. The Syrian army is defeated, and the few that escape go into the city of Aphek, and Ben-Hadad goes into the innermost room in the city to hide. Ben-Hadad does not come off at all well in this chapter. He's a braggart, he is a drunkard, he is, in the end, a coward.

Does Ahab give credit to Yahweh? Who won this battle, anyway? So Ben-Hadad's servants go to him and say, "These Israelite kings have a record of giving hesed." Isn't that interesting? The Syrians know something about Israel's theology. It also is a testimony to the incredible persistence of biblical culture. I think we see that in the United States. Truly biblical basis for our civilization probably was gone before the beginning of the Second World War. It was certainly gone by the end of the Second World War. But how persistent has been the impact of Christian faith through the succeeding decades?

In the middle '90s, I was in Russia, and met a young man. He said, "I've been to America." I said, "Oh, really?" He said, "Yes, I've been to Kansas City." I said, "Oh, good." He said, "You know what impresses me about Americans?" I said, "No?" He said, "They are so law-abiding." I thought to myself, "Oh, really?" But yes. Yes, in comparison to Russia. What's he thinking about? He's thinking about people who obey the law for free. Not because they're coerced, not because they have to, but because that's the right way to live. That's not the case in Russia. If you obey, you obey because you have to, because somebody will catch you, because you're coerced. Now, where does that attitude come from in America? Where has it come from? The Bible. No place else.

So we see here the way in which biblical faith has been shaping these kings' behavior, kings who've been worshiping idols, idols of Yahweh, and now idols of Baal, but still their behavior has been shaped. So, we know that Israelite kings are characterized by this unwarranted grace. "So, let's find out, maybe Ahab will let you go." Now, remember, to whom do the spoils of battle belong? The victor. Who has the right to say, "You can live"? The victor. So they come to Ahab, and say, "Ben-Hadad is still alive. Would you let him go?" And he says, "Is he still alive? Tell my brother to come right up here into my chariot. I have won the battle. And having won the battle, I will be generous." What didn't he do? He did not ask the victor in the battle what He wanted to do.

And that becomes very clear in the event which happens next. Ahab has allowed Ben-Hadad to go. Made a treaty with him. Ben-Hadad has given him concessions in the city of Damascus, concessions that the Israelite kings used to have, where you can set up your bazaars and sell things. Such a deal. Ahab's on his way home, he meets a guy. The guy says, "Oh, king, oh king, give me justice." The king says, "What's your problem?" He says, "Well, in the battle, we captured a fella. And my partner said, "Now, you watch over him, and keep him, and don't let him go, because after a battle, you could possibly ransom somebody, make some money."" And he said, again, the power of the narrative. "I was doing this and that, and the captive got away. And now my buddy says my life is forfeited for the life of the guy we let go. What are we going to do about that?" And the king says, "That's your problem."

And the fellow whips off the bandage that he had around his head, and Ahab recognizes a prophet. I wonder if it was the very same prophet that had given him those good words? We don't know that, it's not said. But Ahab recognized him, and he said, "The Lord gave that man into your hands. He belonged to the Lord, and you let him go." Ahab did not learn the lesson. "I will give this great army into your hands, and you will know I am Yahweh." Ahab didn't learn it. Now, it's interesting that when the prophet said to David, "You're the man." David repented in grief and sorrow. In this case, when the prophet said, "You're the man." Ahab went home, sullen and angry. He didn't learn.

We come then to chapter 21. Again, we're seeing Ahab with some remnants of biblical faith and culture, and we're seeing a Jezebel who has no conception of biblical faith and culture. A man named Naboth owns some land right beside Ahab's palace, his summer palace in Jezreel. Jezreel was located looking just over the Jezreel Valley toward the Sea of Galilee, a better place to spend the summer than Samaria. So, Naboth has some property right there. And Ahab, again, he looks pretty good. He offers to buy the land. Or he says, "I'll give you land of equal value someplace else." Who can fight that? But Naboth says, "No, no, this is my ancestral land. I don't have the right to sell it. That goes all the way back to Joshua."

You see, Yahweh owns the land. All the land belongs to Yahweh, and Yahweh parcels it out to loyal servants. This is similar to the practice of feudalism in Europe in the Middle Ages. The land belongs to the king, the king allows a loyal servant to use the land, as long as the servant will agree to perhaps provide soldiers in the case of a battle, or something else. It's the same in the Bible. "This land I give to your family. It will stay in your family for all time, as long as you're faithful and loyal to me. But you cannot sell it to somebody else, it doesn't belong to you." Naboth says, "I'm sorry, I can't sell it."

And Ahab takes to his bed, sullen and angry. Yeah, there's a remnant of biblical... I said a moment ago, biblical faith, I think I'd rather say biblical culture. I don't think Ahab had much biblical faith. But, "Okay, yeah, all right, I admit it, that's the way it is. And if he doesn't want to sell, there's nothing I can do about it. I sure would like to have that plot of land. My kingly power is under the hand of Yahweh's superior power."

And Jezebel says, "What in the world is the matter with you?" He said, "Well, I wanted Naboth's land, and he won't sell it to me, and I can't get it." She said, "Aren't you the king? If you're king, if you are king, you can do whatever you want to. I'll get your land for you." Calls up a couple of elders. She says, "Look, throw a big dinner. Put Naboth in the middle of the table, as though you're going to honor him. And then get a couple of good-for-nothings who will come and who will testify that Naboth has cursed God and the King." At least she didn't say Yahweh. Totally cynical. Well, clearly those two elders know where the power is. They don't ask a question. They don't protest. They do it. And so Naboth is taken out and killed. And now his land is up for a sheriff's sale. And she says, "Go get your land."

Two radically different concepts of kingship. A king who holds his power under the power of God, under the power of Yahweh; and a king who is absolute in power. And Elijah, it is Elijah now, who comes out of somewhere, the troubler of Israel, shows up while Ahab is looking over his new plot of land, and says, "For this, you have lost the kingdom." It's not the Syrians who are Ahab's problem. It's not the Syrians with whom Ahab must come to terms. It's Yahweh. And over and over again in the Old Testament, you see that occurring. People thinking that it's Assyria they've got to come to terms with. We'll see that later with King Ahaz. Or somebody else they've got to come to terms with. No, it's Yahweh! It's Yahweh you've got to come to terms with. And if you do, then there's hope for you.

And so in chapter 21, we read the words, the words we've heard before, "Dogs will eat those," this is verse 24. "Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the vultures will feed on those who die in the country." The Jeroboam dynasty came to a tragic end, the Baasha dynasty came to a tragic end, and now the Omri dynasty is going to come to that same kind of tragic end. Now, look at these next words. "There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites," the Canaanites, "whom Yahweh drove out before Israel." I think about that. To what have I sold myself? To what have you sold yourself? A book was written in the 1980s called Amusing Ourselves to Death. Oh, America, America, have we sold ourselves to entertainment?

But look what happens next! Ahab, Ahab repents. Oh my goodness! "When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly." Oh my goodness. If an Ahab could repent, anybody can repent. "Then the Word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite. "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, though I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."" "Yeah, I'm going to keep my word, Ahab has taken Israel over the brink, and there's a price that has to be paid, but it's not going to happen to him." That's our God. That's our God.

So then we come to the last episode in the story; Ben-Hadad, whom Ahab so generously and foolishly let go. And by the way, I mentioned this in an earlier instance. What was Ahab's fault? He did not ask God what to do about this. Ben-Hadad shows up and says, "Please have mercy on me." And Ahab, the victor, says, "Why, sure." Well, we say having mercy was a good thing. Mm-hmm. But that Ben-Hadad that Ahab let go now is on the attack again. And he gives his soldiers specific directions; find Ahab and kill him. Would God have been cruel and nasty in saying to Ahab, "Kill Ben-Hadad"? Well, Ahab might have survived. But no, the one to whom he was so generous repays it with the command, "Find Ahab and kill him."

Now, in this story, again, chapter 22 is such a wonderful, wonderful narration, Ahab says to Jehoshaphat, "Say, let's go out and beat up the Syrians." And Jehoshaphat says, "Great idea! Yeah, I'm with you. Got any prophets?" Ahab says, "I have hundreds of prophets." And so the prophets come. And the prophets are prophesying in the name of Yahweh. "Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?" Now, Ramoth Gilead was on the Kings' Highway. About here. Very important intersection. Another road came off through the Jezreel Valley up to the coast. So, control of Ramoth Gilead was very, very important. ""Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead?" "Go," they answered, "for Yahweh will give it into the king's hand."" Excuse me, it says "the Lord". It's not Yahweh here, it's "the Lord will..." Later on, they're going to be talking specifically in Yahweh's name. But at this point, they say, the Lord, the master, the sovereign will give it into your hand.

Jehoshaphat says, "Don't you have any prophet of the Lord?" Now, as I've said to you before, I don't think Jehoshaphat was very bright. We'll have reason to say more about that in a moment. But he had a spiritual sensitivity. He recognized there was something not quite right about these prophets. Ahab says, "Oh, well, yeah, I've got one. But he never says anything good about me." I've said to students across the years, "Do you know the difference between a true prophet and a false prophet? True prophets don't say anything good about you." They're calling you to account. They're calling you to straighten up, to do better. It's the false prophets who say, "Oh, you're fine. Everything's lovely. Peace. Peace." Maybe that's what did, in fact, catch Jehoshaphat's eye and mind. "These guys are so totally, totally positive toward this... I wonder."

So, the king called him. There they are, sitting on the threshing floor, the flat plaza out in front of the gate. Chapter 22, verse 10, "Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones... And all the prophets prophesying before them. Zedekiah, son of Kenaanah," a Canaanite, maybe? "Had made iron horns, and he declared, "This is what Yahweh says. "With these, you will gore the Arameans till they are destroyed."" All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. "Attack Ramoth Gilead and be victorious," they said, "For Yahweh will give it into the king's hand."" No question here, they are now clearly prophesying in the name of Yahweh.

Well, a fellow who went to get this one prophet who doesn't say good things about Ahab, Micaiah, that man said to Micaiah, "Hey, hey, all the prophets are saying good things about the king. You better do too." Micaiah says, "I'll say what the Lord says." So he goes, and he says, "Oh, great king, go forward in your power and win this great battle. The Lord will give it into the king's hand." And Ahab says, "How many times do I have to tell you? Say what you came to say." I think he understands sarcasm. And Micaiah says, "I saw Israel scattered on the hills without a shepherd." Jesus will echo those words many years later.

And Ahab says to Jehoshaphat, "See what I saw? See what I said?" One of those false prophets says, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. Why does the Lord say one thing to us, and another thing to you?" And Micaiah says, "Because the Lord permitted a false spirit to come and infect you." Wow. Wow. Does God allow us to be sent on a false road? Oh, yes. If we're determined to go on the false road, He'll help us down the road. So Ahab says, "Put him in jail, and when I come back, we'll deal with him." Because yes, if Ahab comes back, then Micaiah was a false prophet, and they can kill him. Of course, Ahab didn't come back alive.

So they go to battle, and this is where I just can hardly believe it. Ahab says, "Now, Jehoshaphat, you put on your royal robes, the robes of a king, and I'm going to just wear the robes of a common soldier." And Jehoshaphat says, "Gee, that's a good idea." So, the Syrian soldiers, who have been told, "kill the king", take off after Jehoshaphat, and then it says, "Jehoshaphat cried out". I don't know what that means, but the Syrians all said, "Oh, it's Jehoshaphat, let him go." And an arrow, that one of the Syrian soldiers shot into the air, found the gap in Ahab's armor. And Ahab propped himself up in the chariot all day while he slowly bled to death. And at the end of the day, when he did die, the Israelite soldiers understood it's over, and fled. "I saw the house of Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep without a shepherd."

So, Ahab comes to his end. Not because of Syria, but because of Yahweh. And so it will be for us. It is not, it is not the effects of the world that will bring us to our appointed end. It will be what did you do with Jesus Christ? What did you do with God and His covenant, and His covenant Lord?