Turn in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 21. 1 Kings chapter 21. Last week in chapter 20 we noted that it was something of the beginning of the end for Ahab. Ahab released Ben-Hadad after two successful victories over the Syrians in battle. God handed Ben-Hadad over to Ahab and he let him go.
And so God sent an unnamed prophet, some suppose it's Micaiah, to prophesy to him that God would indeed kill Ahab. Notice in chapter 20 at verse 42, Then he said to him, Thus says the Lord, Because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people. So the king of Israel went to his house, sullen and displeased, and came to Samaria. So that was the first statement concerning his impending death.
Chapter 21, Ahab does not help his cause in his exercise of tyranny over this man Naboth. And certainly when we get to chapter 22, he once again rejects the word of God and dies in battle on the battlefield. So I'll begin reading in chapter 21 at verse one. And it came to pass, after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria.
So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my house. And for it I will give you a vineyard better than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money. But Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you.
So Ahab went into his house sullen and displeased because of the word which Naboth, the Jezreelite, had spoken to him. For he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would not eat no food. But Jezebel, his wife, came to him and said to him, Why is your spirit so sullen that you eat no food?
He said to her, Because I spoke to Naboth, the Jezreelite, and said to him, Give me your vineyard for money, or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give you my vineyard. And Jezebel, his wife, said to him, you now exercise authority over Israel. Arise, eat food, and let your heart be cheerful.
I will give you the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite. And she wrote letters in Ahab's name, sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling in the city with Naboth. She wrote in the letters saying, Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth with high honor among the people. And seat two men, scoundrels, before him to bear witness against him, saying, You have blasphemed God and the king.
Then take him out and stone him that he may die. So the men of his city, the elders and nobles who were inhabitants of his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them. They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth with high honor among the people. And two men, scoundrels, came in and sat before him.
And the scoundrels witnessed against him, against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth has blasphemed God and the king. Then they took him outside the city and stoned him with stones, so that he died. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth has been stoned and is dead. And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead.
So it was when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead that Ahab got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who lives in Samaria. There he is, in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. You shall speak to him, saying, Thus says the Lord.
Have you murdered and also taken possession? And you shall speak to him, saying, Thus says the Lord. In the place where dogs lick the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours. So Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, O my enemy?
And he answered, I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Besha, the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger and made Israel sin.
And concerning Jezebel, the Lord also spoke, saying, The dog shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. The dog shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field. But there was no one like Ahab who had sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.
So it was, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, See how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son I will bring the calamity on his house.
Amen.
Introduction: Two Sections of 1 Kings 21
Well, there are two broad sections in this particular chapter. In the first place, we have the murder of Naboth in verses 1 to 16. And then secondly, the condemnation of Ahab in verses 17 to 29. And as I said, the text or the narrative is building up ultimately to chapter 22 when Ahab meets his end.
He's a foolish king. He's a godless king. He's an idolatrous king. He has done and exceeded the wickedness of those who had gone before him, which is really saying something because there were a lot of wicked kings prior to Ahab.
But in the first place,
The Murder of Naboth
let's look at the murder of Naboth and note the desire of Ahab in verses 1 to 7.
Ahab's Desire and Naboth's Refusal
We notice that this man called Naboth in Jezreel has a particular vineyard. It's next to Ahab's palace there in Jezreel. Earlier in chapter 18, we learned that Ahab does have a residence in Jezreel. So he has this particular desire, and he makes this offer, and it is a generous offer.
It is a gracious offer that Ahab gives to Naboth. Notice in verse 2. So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my house, and for it I will give you a vineyard better than it. or if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money." That is a generous offer. He could have just went over and seized it or just told his wife Jezebel that he wanted it.
As it does play out later in the passage, she certainly does achieve this or gain this for him. But note the refusal by Naboth in verse 3. Naboth said to Ahab, the Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you. Now the fact that he invokes the name of God indicates that he does this under the auspices of God.
And I think the argument is very simple as to why Naboth refuses this even generous offer. It was God who promised the land to Abraham. It was God who delivered the land to the children of Israel by Joshua. And in Joshua, after they conquered the land, the land was then allotted tribally to the people in Israel.
It was a gift from God. It was an inheritance of the fathers, and that is what he alludes to. He says, the Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you. Now, there were certain instances where a person could sell his land, but it was very restricted to those who are in poverty, and then the design was that they would ultimately get it back.
Again, when God gifted the land to these particular tribes, it was a gift from the Lord. It was to be confined to that particular family or to that particular tribe. You can read about that in Leviticus chapter 25, verses 23 to 28, and then as well in Numbers 36, verses 7 and 9. So under certain circumstances, an Israelite might part with his land, but Naboth obviously is not in those particular circumstances.
And so he refuses, he doesn't do it rudely, he doesn't do it callously, he doesn't do it in an ungodly manner, but he does in fact do it with a degree of firmness. And I think Davis explains it well. He says that Naboth treasures God's land gift passed down via his ancestors more than making bucks or placating kings. Naboth is nasty, not nasty, but definite.
His refusal is couched in strong language, but one cannot say he is obnoxious. He had a perfect right to refuse Ahab's offer. He did so because his thinking was covenantal rather than pragmatic. Note that in his reply, Naboth identifies himself as a man subject to God and caring for God's law.
So Naboth is to be commended here for not wanting to part with his tribal allotment. He is to be commended for not wanting to sacrifice this vineyard even for the handsome or generous offer given by Ahab so that Ahab could extend his holdings and make a vegetable garden out of this particular piece of land. And so
Ahab's Sullenness and Jezebel's Plan
we see then the response of Ahab in the conversation with Jezebel. Remember back in chapter 20 when he gets this news in verse 42. He goes to his house sullen and displeased and he came to Samaria. Well the same thing is true in verse 4.
So Ahab went into his house sullen and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him. For he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my father's. And he laid down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food. So basically the text is telling us that he was pouting.
He wasn't able to get this particular vineyard. He wasn't able to engage in this new sort of vegetable garden to sustain and support. Well, I doubt it was to sustain and to support. It was probably a matter of convenience that happened to be next to his his summer home or his winter home or whatever it was there at Jezreel.
It was something that would have proved convenient and a blessing to him. He doesn't get it on principle and nevertheless he's sullen and displeased. We might also read that he was a bit rebellious. This did not make him happy and everybody would be able to tell.
Certainly Jezebel is able to tell because she says to him in verse 5, why is your spirit so sullen that you eat no food? Now this is good and commendable. A wife should care for her husband, should ask why he doesn't come down for dinner, should ask why he's refusing the pot roast. That's a, you know, a decent trait in an otherwise very unholy woman.
And certainly she runs with it in the opposite direction. But let's just commend her where, give her some credit where credit is due. Why is your spirit so sullen that you eat no food? Now note what she says in response.
Well, first, let's look at his response. He says, I spoke to Naboth, the Jezreelite, and said to him, give me your vineyard for money, or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it. He answered, I will not give you my vineyard. Now, he makes Naboth sound obstinate in his reply to Jezebel.
He doesn't mention anything about Naboth's appeal to the name of God and to the inheritance laws in Leviticus chapter 25. Now, there may be two reasons, one of two reasons why he does it this way. Because on the reading here in verse 6, he makes it sound like Naboth just said, I will not give you my vineyard. No reason, no argument, no rationale, I will not give you my vineyard.
Maybe he told Jezebel that to elicit the type of response that Jezebel actually engaged in. Or he may not have mentioned that because he knew good and well that Jezebel didn't care. about Israelite inheritance laws one bit. Whichever the case, he does change the response of Naboth as he replies to Jezebel. Now, her response in verse 7 is very telling.
Matthew Henry makes a good observation about Jezebel. He says, nothing but mischief is to be expected when Jezebel enters into the story. That cursed woman. Matthew Henry is absolutely right.
When Jezebel enters the scene, we cannot think for a moment that Ahab is going to just be content with the answer from Naboth and carry on as life was. But no, Jezebel essentially says, you need to pull up your big boy pants and get in there and take what you want. That's what she says. You now exercise authority over Israel.
Arise, eat food, and let your heart be cheerful. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. In other words, act like the king that you are. Remember that Jezebel hails from Phoenicia.
And her daddy was the king in Phoenicia. When her daddy, the king, wanted a parcel of land, I doubt he went home sullen and displeased after having been rejected with reference to that land. He probably just killed the inhabitants and took the land for himself. In fact, one commentator said she had been trained in the absolutistic traditions of the Phoenicia city states.
To her, Ahab seems a weakling. And he ought to seem a weakling to each and every one of us as well as the narrative unfolds. Now, he is ultimately held responsible. He is culpable.
Elijah the Tishbite comes to him and not to Jezebel with reference to the murder of Naboth. What happens under his command is ultimately his responsibility. He is a gutless king operating here, hiding behind his wife's skirts, ultimately, and that is the way the text reads, and that is the way we are to understand it. Now note her particular plan.
First of all, verses 8 to 10, she sends a letter. This letter carries with it royal authority. Notice, she wrote letters in Ahab's name, sealed them with his seal. So she wanders upstairs, goes into his home office, opens up his desk drawer, takes out his letterhead and his signet ring, drafts this letter and sends it to the elders and to the nobles of Jezreel.
Notice as well that this plan falls under a religious guise. It is going to be an unjust, wicked murder of a particular man, but it's going to have all the trappings of religion. It's going to have all the trappings of legal procedure. It is going to have all of that, at least outwardly, but inwardly it's a sham.
It's a means by which they can liquidate this particular man and steal his land. Notice. Verse 9, she wrote in the letter saying, proclaim a fast and seat Naboth with high honor among the people. Robert Alter explains, a common function of an ad hoc communal fast was to supplicate God, excuse me, when some ill had befallen the community because of an offense committed within the community.
So she says, call a fast, assemble a fast, and then I want you to bring Naboth and seat him with high honor among the people. And then, seat two men. Again, this is under the guise of proper legal procedure. Never mind that they engage in a summary execution with no regard whatsoever for due process or cross-examination or the defendant being able to plead his particular case.
But nevertheless, on the surface, it's got this guise of religiosity. It's got this guise of judicial process. Seek two men, scoundrels, or literally sons of Belial, and then have them bear witness against him saying. Now this plan carries with it a very serious charge.
You have blasphemed God. and the king. So this is not only blasphemy, but it's treason against the crown. You see, it cannot go well for Naboth as this whole thing unfolds before his eyes. It is a kangaroo court, it is mock, it is horrible, and this is the sort of thing that is happening at the governmental level.
So you have blasphemed God and the king, then take him out and stone him that he may die. So that's her plan, that's the particular letter.
Execution of the Plan
Now note the execution of the plan, and note the culpability of these leaders in verse 11. So the men of his city, the elders and nobles who were inhabitants of his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them. Now, I think that this confirms what I mentioned earlier in chapter 19. Remember in chapter 19, in verse 4, Elijah under the boom tree.
Elijah there is distressed, he is sorrowful, he is depressed, and he asks God to kill him. He asks God to take him. And then we posited or hypothesized that one of the reasons why he might have been despondent in that particular situation is because he saw fire come down from heaven on Mount Carmel and consume the offering that Elijah had offered. And then on the heels of that, he saw God answer prayer with reference to ending the drought.
So two powerful displays of God Most High and the nation continued to rebel and reject God. This is what depressed Elijah. This is why in chapter 19, verses 10 and 14, he tells God specifically what his problem is. He says, essentially, the whole nation has gone astray from you.
They have rejected you. They've broken your covenant. They have, you know, despised your altars the whole time. whole thing. I think it just confirms it.
The people did not repent. She is able to appeal to these elders and nobles of this particular city, this city of Jezreel, and they're all too happy to just follow blindly what this wicked woman suggests or tells them to do. As well, we ought to appreciate the two forms of injustice that the text sets forth before us. There was a Roman politician and lawyer.
It's not just politicians in our day that are lawyers. They were politicians slash lawyers back in Cicero's day. He lived in about, you know, the last century BC. And he made this observation.
There are two kinds of injustice. The first is found in those who do an injury a la Jezebel and Ahab. The second in those who fail to protect another from injury when they can. You see, that is the culpability of these elders and these nobles.
This was a godless thing on the part of Jezebel. They should have balked at this. The fact that she tells them to call two scoundrels, two sons of Belial, to just assert that this man had committed blasphemy and treason against the crown and then take him out and stone him. This should make any leader of any city say, wait a minute, boss, what you're doing is wrong.
Cicero is right. There is the active propagation of evil and then there is the failure to act on the part of spineless people who stand by and do nothing. John Gill says that Jezebel should contrive so wicked a scheme and that there should be such sons of Belial among the common people to swear such falsehoods need not seem strange. He said, that's not surprising.
You'll always find sons of Belial in any body politic. He says, but that the elders and nobles of the city, the chief magistrates thereof, should be so sadly and universally depraved as to execute such a piece of villainy is really surprising. And then he makes this beautiful statement we're going to revisit at the end, because I think this passage sets this truth forth. He says, idolatry, when it prevails, takes away all sense of humanity and justice.
You know why abortion and euthanasia and sodomy and all manner of lawlessness flourish in our society? It is ultimately an idolatry problem. It is ultimately a reality that man has exchanged the true and living God, and he worships the creature. When we fail to render obedience to the first table of the law, the second table always, always follow suit.
If we will not fear God and honor God, we will victimize the helpless. We will steal from those who are poor. We will rape, pillage, and destroy. Because when there is no thought of God in the minds of man, all bets are off.
I think he's absolutely bang on. Idolatry, when it prevails, takes away all sense of humanity and justice. Davis comments on verse 11. He says, the text is telling us that injustice flourishes not only by wickedness, but by weakness.
You see, brethren, we may not be in the position to actively propagate the sorts of evils that go on in our generation, but if we passively stand by while all these things sort of go on, and we don't raise any voice of opposition or seek to intervene as we are able, then we are as guilty, maybe not as guilty as actually cutting someone's throat, but we are certainly guilty. He goes on to say, not merely from a lack of goodness, but by a lack of guts. And I think this passage is reminiscent of what we see in Judges 15. You remember the particular instance there.
The Philistines want to arrest, they want to seize Samson. And instead of Judah standing behind Samson, rallying alongside with him, and opposing the Philistines, the Judahites are giving up Samson to the Philistines. The Judahites actually say to Samson, don't you realize the sort of benefits we have under Philistine rule? Don't you understand the kind of blessing that we have under Philistine rule?
Judah was the tribe initially that went into the Promised Land and engaged in the conquest. By Judges 15, they are giving up the Savior of Israel to the hands of godless Philistines. It's the same sort of thing. It was the wretched Philistines that wanted to see Samson, but it was the wretched Judahites that gave him up into their hands.
So the culpability of the elders and nobles is palpable in this passage.
The Murder Completed
Now note the execution of our plan in verses 12 to 14. It goes according to plan. In fact, if the chapter ended at verse 16, we would say we have the perfect rhyme. we would say that this was absolutely successful. As far as Jezebel was concerned, as far as Ahab was concerned, everybody won.
Everybody got what they wanted. Jezebel got to throw around her royal weight. Ahab ultimately got his new vegetable garden. Everybody prospered, of course, except for Naboth and the guilt of these men involved.
So they proclaim the fast, they seat Naboth down, and they have the sons of Belial. Notice in verse 13b, these guys don't miss a step. Naboth has blasphemed God and the king. Now then they took him outside the city and stoned him with stones so that he died.
Then they sent to Jezebel saying, Naboth has been stoned and is dead. So this was indeed the lawful penalty for blasphemy in Leviticus chapter 24 verses 14 to 16. If someone was found guilty of blasphemy, they would be executed, they would be stoned to death. But as we see obviously, there is no due process here.
You see, the Scriptures call specifically in Deuteronomy 17 and in Deuteronomy 19 for the presence of two or three witnesses. That doesn't mean you get two sons of Belial there to allege a charge and then you just proceed from there. Due process means hearing witness statements. Due process means examining the evidence.
Due process means letting the defendant have his day in court to defend himself. Perhaps if Naboth had been enabled to speak, he would have said, it's because of the inheritance laws. It's because of Leviticus 24. they would have never found him guilty of blasphemy against God and against the king. This was a mockery of justice.
And you also ought to know that it wasn't only Naboth, but all of his sons were executed as well. In 2 Kings 9, verse 26, it tells us it wasn't just Naboth, it was all of his sons. Why do you think Jezebel had a vested interest in slaying all of his sons? So there would be no heir for this particular land allotment.
The deed was done, and now the report goes back to Ahab. The good news for Ahab. Notice in verse 15, it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money, for Naboth is not alive but dead. See what a wretched, terrible thing.
Not only what she did, but the fact that this gutless wonder now goes and he takes this particular property. What a terrible human being. Ahab had everything coming to him that he got. And then verse 16, so it was, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.
Now there's some question as to why he would have been able to take this land. Certainly the heirs were gone. So in terms of Nabof passing the field or the land on to his sons, you certainly couldn't do that. Some suppose that because Nabof had been found guilty of a capital crime, then his land would be turned over to the crown.
Others suppose that Ahab and Naboth may have been kin. They may have been relatives. And there's some merit to that thought, because their land or their property was right next to each other in Jezreel. I maintain that it was an ungodly, unlawful confiscation of personal property.
When the Tishbite comes, he says, not only have you murdered, but you have taken possession. He stole the land. In the Trump campaign, I remember that whole time where there was that big question about eminent domain. I'm not picking on Trump here.
We all heard about eminent domain. Eminent domain is when the government can seize private property from a person as long as that will benefit the public. Again, a wretched concept in and of itself. But this isn't even that.
This wasn't a piece of land that was going to benefit the public. This was a piece of land that was going to benefit Ahab. Namely, it was going to provide him some more vegetables. So a case of eminent domain gone drastically wrong under the hand of this godless man.
House says, Ahab and his queen have added murder, stealing, and oppression to their already serious religious sins. You see, up to this point, Ahab has been an idolater. We have seen that, we have witnessed that, we have seen him bring the worship of Baal right into the political capital of the Northern Kingdom, specifically in Samaria. He has done terrible things all along the way, and now, as it were, he is adding to his resume to underscore just what a godless man he is.
But as I said, if we didn't have the rest of chapter 21, at this point it would appear to be an apparent success. It would appear to have been the perfect crime. You see, we live in a world governed by a sovereign God. We live in a world that does take notice of such things like eminent domain, who takes notice of such things like governmental tyranny, who takes notice of such things like oppression and wickedness.
The Condemnation of Ahab
And that brings us to consider the condemnation of Ahab in verses 17 to 29.
God's Response Through Elijah
Notice God's response, verse 17. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying..." Now, we need to remember that there wasn't a conscientious elder or noble in the city of Jezreel that went to his prayer closet and say, Lord, we engaged in a travesty of justice today. We sentenced to death a poor man by the name of Naboth on the testimony of two sons of Belial with no due process or no nothing of the sort. Nobody told God this.
God knows what's happening to His people. God knows the injustices that we face in this world. And God's time frame may differ from ours, but God's certain execution of justice and judgment is always sure. You see, we might say, why didn't God intervene earlier and spare Naboth from this particular death?
I don't know. God had purposed that on whatever date this was, Daboff was going to pass from this life into the next. And that may trouble us, and it may puzzle us, in terms of why didn't he act sooner? I can't answer why God doesn't act sooner, but I can affirm with the entirety of Scripture, He does act.
And he will visit with judgment those who trouble his people. This is the message of 2 Thessalonians 1. And Paul says it's right with God to repay with tribulation those who try the church. You see, the people of God have become spineless wimps as well.
Any concept of divine retribution makes us uneasy and uncomfortable. We don't like the thought of an old covenant God wiping out the masses. Somehow the new covenant God wiping out Ananias and Sapphira Doesn't seem to trouble us so much, but in the church today, all talk of divine retribution seems to have gone by the wayside. Brethren, 2 Thessalonians is for the church and it is for us to praise God for and to pray to God for His divine intervention against the wicked who indeed destroy His people.
So the Lord acts, the word of Yahweh comes to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Now he is told to go and reprove Ahab. Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who lives in Samaria. There he is, in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. You shall speak to him, saying, Thus says the Lord.
Have you murdered, and notice, and also taken possession? He seized this land. He confiscated this land. It was government overreach.
Again, we look at the sorts of things that are happening in our day. There is nothing new under the sun, brethren. If there were bakers back in that day, there would have been perhaps forced to bake cakes for homosexual people. I realize probably not, but the sorts of oppression that we see today, it has a long pedigree.
If we learn anything from this particular chapter, besides the fact that God will indeed visit with punishment those who trouble His church, realize that as long as the people of God desire to live godly in this world, they will suffer persecution. We will face manifold injustices. And it's a horrific thing. And I hear these stories, and it makes me just shudder to think what's happening in Canada and in the US when persons are not given the sorts of rights that ought to be afforded to citizens.
And yet, brethren, we see that very thing here. Naboth was railroaded from beginning to end. I mean, you can't miss that. But God comes and He speaks.
And then notice, there's a prophecy included here as well. In the place where dogs lick the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours. Ahab actually dies closer to Samaria, and some say, well, he didn't die where Naboth did, there at Jezreel. It may simply mean, as Naboth died near Jezreel, so Ahab is going to die near Samaria.
The point is, is that the dogs are going to lick up their blood. What does that indicate? They didn't even give Naboth a decent burial. I mean, that was adding insult to injury in Israel when you didn't give a proper burial.
We've already seen that in chapters, I think, 11 and 14, where men died, the sons of kings died, and they were not given a proper burial. They were basically food for the dogs and for the birds of the air. So they didn't even give this man a proper burial. And so the prophecy is, is that Ahab's gonna die and dogs are gonna lick up his blood.
The Word of the Prophet
Now note the word of the prophet in verses 20 to 26. I mean, if Ahab is anything, Ahab is tenacious. Notice in verse 20. So Ahab said to Elijah, have you found me?
Oh, my enemy. Remember in chapter 18, he calls Elijah the troubler of Israel. I'm sorry, in chapter, yeah, chapter 18, he calls Elijah the troubler of Israel. It isn't Elijah that's troubling Israel.
But listen to what this admission is. Have you found me, O my enemy? What's Elijah's job? Elijah's job is to speak forth the word of God.
And Ahab sees him as the enemy. Matthew Henry makes the observation, that man's condition is very miserable that has made the word of God his enemy. And his condition is very desperate that reckons the ministers of that word his enemies because they tell him the truth. You see, this says a whole lot more about Ahab than it does about Elijah.
Now note the word of the prophet in verses 20 to 26. He identifies, or rather, he tells him, I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. And this is a statement that shows that he has gone headlong into sin, abomination, wickedness and rebellion. He promises that there would indeed be calamity on Ahab and an end to his dynasty.
That's the language employed. Behold I will bring calamity on you I will take away your posterity and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free." It's an end of Ahab's dynasty. That's an end of his lineage. That's an end of his legacy that political leaders so often like to boast of.
This is very similar to what happened with Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and Besha, the son of Ahijah. This is what he says in verse 22. We go back to chapter 15 for Jeroboam, we go back to chapter 16 for Besha, we see not specifically their deaths, but the deaths of their sons, an end to their dynasty. You will no longer have seed or fruit of your loins on the throne.
And then as well, he says that there would indeed be an end for Jezebel. And this is one of those passages where we just amen the Lord, don't we? I mean, if you don't amen verses 23 and 24, you don't have a proper understanding of righteousness or justice. I mean, this woman is terrible.
She's an ungodly, horrible, horrible woman. Matthew Henry elsewhere said, unhappy princes those are, and hurry to pace towards their ruin, who have those about them that stir them up to acts of tyranny and teach them how to abuse their power. Unhappy is Ahab that he has this woman for a wife. And then note, there is a commentary, a bit here, a commentary by the narrator in verses 25 and 26.
It's almost as if to say, well, let me just remind you what we're dealing with in this man Ahab. Before you start getting all misty-eyed and thinking, well, this isn't really fair. I mean, he had a bit of a lapse in judgment. You know, overall, he's a pretty decent guy.
No, let's read verse 25. There was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. Now, let's just look back at verse 25.
He sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. incited him to do evil. Now, some might be led to consider, well, you know, it really wasn't his fault. I could hear that today, right? He was a victim.
I mean, it wasn't his fault. It was his terrible wife. She's the one that caused him to engage in this sort of sin. I mean, you give this text to a good lawyer and he's going to have Ahab, you know, walking.
He's going to have Ahab off the hook. He's going to have Ahab, you know, playing golf next week. Is that what the text indicates? He sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord because Jezebel, his wife, stirred him up.
I can do no better than quoting Davis here. He says, that Jezebel incited Ahab to evil does not lessen but aggravates Ahab's guilt. It makes it worse. He is the king in Israel and he is letting this wretch tell him what to do.
Davis goes on, I'll email him and tell him I called him Ahab tonight, he'll love that. For it shows he was not only wicked, but weak, not simply sinful, but spineless. That's what we're dealing with here. Yeah, he's a wretch in and of himself, but he allows himself to be incited by another wretch.
Ahab's Remorse and God's Mercy
But the chapter ends on a very high note. And the high note is seen in God. Note verse 27, so it was when Ahab heard those words that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about mourning. The king humbles himself at God's word here.
The indictment affected him. He got a bit misty-eyed at this particular point. The word penetrated that hard heart. Now, I don't believe he was repentant.
I think we probably describe this as remorse. Because notice what he doesn't do. He doesn't confess his sin. Now, I guess he could have done that, and the text doesn't record it for us, but based on what follows in the text, I don't think that is the case.
He doesn't get rid of the vegetable garden, and he certainly doesn't listen to the prophetic word in chapter 22. But nevertheless, there's a bit of remorse here. I mean, even this hard rock of a man, nevertheless, hears these words, tears his clothes, puts sackcloth on his body, he fasts, and he lays in sackcloth, and went about mourning. Now, as I said, the text ends on a high note, and that high note is the grace, mercy, kindness, and goodness of God.
Look at verse 28. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, See how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Isn't that amazing? Again, this is, you know, anthropopathic.
God's not learning. This is an improper predication. But it evidences to us or indicates something to us of God's gracious character and mercifulness and his goodness. As Davis says, it's almost like he pokes Elijah in the rib and says, did you see that?
Did you see that? He humbled himself. It's almost as if God, looking upon the mass of humanity, sees so little of these sorts of expressions that the faintest resemblance of one evokes his attention. Elijah, did you see what he did there?
Now, in the goodness and kindness of God, he doesn't suspend or he doesn't rather end the possibility of judgment, he does suspend it and he gives him something of a stay of execution. It says, because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son, I will bring the calamity on his Now, we'll see that in 2 Kings 9-10, when Jehu, that soldier of God Most High, goes about executing the household of Ahab. Ahab is going to die, but the dynasty will succeed him, at least for a time.
Again, this isn't repentance, this isn't God saying, Well, I'm not going to judge you anymore, but it is, in a sense, a stay of execution. And I think that's good news for sinners. Again, I think we could preach the grace of God from 1 Kings 21, verse 28. prone to look at that kind of repentance favorably? What does he do when a sinner actually casts himself upon the mercy of God through Jesus Christ?
Is he going to refuse him? Is he going to forsake him? Is he going to resist him? Is he going to say, no, I won't have you?
No, John 6, 37 goes right along with this passage. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. This is that God I will certainly not cast out, even when an Ahab who is still a wretch who has been underscored in verses 25 to 26 as the supreme wretch, even when this man tears his clothes and humbles himself before the Lord, God says to Elijah, did you see that? He actually showed some humility.
So if a sinner comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, do we have any reason to doubt that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to receive him? If the Lord Jesus Christ or God Most High is going to show some degree of favor to an Ahab, He's certainly going to show a degree of favor to those who come to Him through the Lord Christ Most High. Isn't that a beautiful thing that our God displays in this particular section?
Application: Four Lessons
Well, in conclusion, a few lessons, kind of a repeat, but it should hopefully drive it home. In the first place, the fact that God's people face injustice in this world.
God's People Face Injustice
You know, here's another place where we can really just adore and praise God for what our Savior went through on our behalf. Could Jesus identify with Naboth? Absolutely He could, because there were false witnesses brought up to testify against Jesus. Matthew chapter 26.
Christ really identifies with His people. He is like us in all points, attempted like us in all points, yet without sin. Christ knows what it's like to be a Naboth in this world. Christ knows what it's like to have the difficulties and the injustices.
Christ knows what it's like to face godless mobs who are crying out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. I mean, if anything, Naboth ought to lead us to the Lord Jesus Christ, this one who was turned over by two false witnesses and ultimately summarily executed. I mean, if anything, Naboth is just a bit of a glimpse of the horrors of what our Savior went through on our behalf. But the fact is, brothers and sisters, the moment we expect that everything's always going to go hunky-dory for us in this world, that's the moment we have forgotten the Word of God.
Perhaps we have unwittingly swallowed the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. Perhaps it's not the kind of a Benny Hinn or a Kenneth Copeland. Perhaps it's not quite that severe, but there might be that mindset in all of us, well, I'm a believer, why am I having any difficulty? I'm a believer.
Why is there ever any trouble? I'm a believer. Why am I ever sorrowful? Brethren, oftentimes it's because you're a believer that you're having those trials, and you're having those sorrows, and you're having those difficulties.
What did we learn with King David of Israel? Remember when he is anointed in 1 Samuel chapter 16. What happens on the heels of that? His troubles begin.
When the spirit comes upon David, that's when his life got difficult. When he was tending, I mean, yeah, he had to kill bears and lions. I can't imagine, you know, that was a fun thing. But what's worse, a bear, a lion, or a human being that's got that bear or lion sort of ferocity?
I take my chances with bears and lions sometimes and with people. And I like to carry bear spray around town, not because I'm afraid of bears, but because I'm afraid of crackheads that want to cut my throat. Those are the people that really scare me. It ain't the bears.
They don't wake up in the morning saying, how do I ruin people's lives? I guess maybe they do. But you see, the injustices that we face are oftentimes associated with the fact that we're believers. Have we unwittingly swallowed the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel?
Consider David's greater son. When does his troubles begin? After the Spirit comes upon him. What happens?
At his baptism, the triune God is present at the Jordan River. The father says, this is my beloved son. in whom I am well pleased." He affirms his love and his delight in the Son. The Spirit descends upon him like a dove. And then the very next scene, what happens?
The Spirit drives him out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Why do we think we're going to have it easy in this world? I mean, really, it may not be of the Benny Hintz variety or Smile and Joel Osteen variety, but have we sucked down this false gospel that everything's going to be hunky-dory for us on our Christian walk? We're never going to have problems, we're never going to face injustice, we're never going to have any opposition.
I submit that if those things never happen to you, you're probably not living godly in Christ Jesus. Try being a faithful Christian in the workplace. Try being a faithful Christian in society. Try being a faithful Christian neighbor.
Try being a faithful brother in a context where there are unfaithful people that hate and despise God. If we're not suffering to some degree or other, now I'm not saying go out and yell that everybody's going to hell and repent or perish so people throw things at you and do, you know, I'm not saying that. But brethren, this passage teaches us the people of God are going to face injustice in this world.
Governments May Administer Injustice
Secondly, the fact is that governments may administer injustice. Governments may, and we see it happening. I mean, look at what happens in this passage. You talk about government overreach, the unlawful confiscation of private property.
Obviously, the unlawful murder of the owner of said private property, the unlawful rejection of due process, and of course the unlawful arrogance of tyranny and oppression of God's people. Davis again makes this observation, I think it's fitting, I think it's appropriate, and I think we ought to take heed. Ordinarily we are to submit to government, always we should beware of it. Always, we should beware of it.
Again, submit, honor, pay your taxes, do what Paul says in Romans 13, but guard your back. I mean, brethren, I could voice my concerns on a whole host of things about government. Let's just keep our minds focused upon Ahab's government.
God Intervenes in the Affairs of Men
Thirdly, the fact that God intervenes in the affairs of men. This is conspicuously obvious as well. Perfect crime as far as Ahab is concerned. And then the tishbite shows up.
I mean, what a killjoy that must have been, right? What a bummer! I mean, he might've had his gardener out there, you know, doing the lines. Okay, I want my beets there.
I want my peas there. I want my beans there. And then the Tishbite comes and says, hey, guess what? God saw what you did.
I mean, this couldn't have been a happy occasion for Ahab. Not that I care about his happiness. The Lord renders justice on those who oppose him and his people. And I do want to just read 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, a passage that the people of God ought to be familiar with in every age of the church.
But unfortunately, in our age, again, I don't think we're very comfortable with the vengeance and the judgment and the justice of God. But Paul encouraged the church in Thessalonica, 2 Thessalonians 1. for, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer, since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you. You know, you see this when persons say, well, what about in the Old Testament where God told Israel to go in and utterly destroy those Canaanites? How do we respond to that?
We don't typically say the Canaanites had it coming. They were wretched, godless, wicked people that engaged in brutality, murder, and rape. They deserved the vengeance of God. I guarantee you we don't answer the question that way.
We dance around it. We try to pretend that, you know, well, it really, you know, it doesn't mean that. And God, look, brethren, they had it coming to them. The grim reality is that God raised up not-so-righteous Israel to go in and destroy the less-than-righteous Canaanites.
But you know what else? When Israel apes the Canaanites, what does God do? He raises up the Assyrians to destroy them. When Judah apes the Israelites before and the Canaanites before, he raises up Babylon and sends them in to destroy.
God's not capricious. He's not arbitrary. He's not picking on innocent people. He is judging wicked, godless people, and that is characteristic of the divine nature.
That's how we ought to answer the question. Persons say, well, that sounds like genocide. Well, when a whole race violates the law of God, and the Lord brings judgment to bear upon them, it's His call. He's a just God, it's righteous with Him.
Paul says, it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you. I don't know that we embrace that reality as well. Salvation and redemption and all those sorts of things that we love to speak of always and necessarily include an opposite. In other words, there is destruction involved in salvation.
In other words, when God saves Israel time and time again throughout the Old Testament, what does that usually mean? It means he destroys their enemies. The two go hand in hand. Salvation and judgment cannot be bifurcated or polarized.
Where there is the one, there is necessarily going to be the other. Where does our salvation lie? Ultimately in the judgment of God upon his own dear son. You see, when we get to the New Jerusalem, we see various statements in chapters 21 and 22 about those outside the city of God.
And we say, well, you know, that just seems a little bit unfair. No, it's a blessed reality. I want to know, when I'm in the New Jerusalem, all the riffraffs on the outside. Don't you?
Don't you want to know that they're not going to get over the gates? Don't you want to know that they're not going to come and rape you? Don't you want to know they're not going to come and manufacture drugs and sell them on the fair city streets of the New Jerusalem? That exclusion of the wicked is one of the blessed aspects of heaven.
They'll not be there anymore. That's a good thing. That's why in chapter 19 of Revelation, after the fall of Babylon in chapter 18, what do the saints in heaven do? They cry, Alleluia to the Lord God Most High for his judgments because the whore has fallen.
You see, judgment is good. Righteousness is good. Justice is good. The church somehow feebly and spinelessly wants to apologize for God's actions.
He never calls on us to apologize for his actions. He calls upon us to set forth the truth of his word. in all of its accuracy. As well,
Idolatry Produces Social Evil
fourthly, we got four minutes, don't freak out. The fact that idolatry leads to manifold social ills. The rejection of the first table is always followed by a rejection of the second table of the law. Again, Chapter 1 in the Book of Romans, prior to all of the wickedness, all of the homosexuality, all of the lawlessness that is detailed there by the Apostle, the chief or arch sin is, although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, nor were their hearts thankful.
You see, when we exclude God from a society, then this is what we get. And everybody wants to say, well, where is God when bad things happen? It's like we just want God to make sure life goes well. That's all God is for, isn't it?
Wasn't that the cry on September 11th? Where was God on September 11th? Who cared on September 10th? Who cares now?
But as long as we need protection, then God is our friend. That's like the genie in the bottle. That's the holy horseshoe. That's the four-leaf clover.
That's Baal. Manipulating him to provide us with health, wealth, and prosperity. God will not have it. As Gil said, idolatry, when it prevails, takes away all sense of humanity and justice.
Proven says, abandonment of God, Exodus 21-6. inevitably leads to abandonment of righteousness. We see the reality of this in 1 Kings 21. In this society, given over to idol worship, covetousness leads on to false testimony, murder, and theft. You see that?
First table offenses, second table offenses. That's not accidental. When we reject God, we'll ultimately brutalize man. That's the problem in abortion.
That's the problem in euthanasia. It's a God problem. It's because men hate God. They'll murder babies.
It's because men hate God. They'll murder old people. It's because men hate God. They'll murder that little boy, that 10-month-old in London, England.
That's the reason it's idolatry. So yes, we need to preach against the social ills, but we need to set forth Christ and Him crucified. He's the answer to the problems that face us in every generation. That's the culturally relevant solution.
You'll hear that sometimes. Well, we can't reach our culture unless we address these particular issues. What more culturally relevant doctrine is there than Christ and Him crucified? You preach that, God blesses it, it fixes things.
It really does.
God Is a Merciful God
And then the fact that God is indeed a merciful God. I just want to end with two quotes by Gil and Matthew Henry with reference to verse 29, that C, Ahab has humbled himself before me moment. Gil said this was not a pardon, only a reprieve. The sentence pronounced on him and his family was not taken off nor countermanded, only the execution of it prolonged.
It is promised that the destruction of his family should not be in his lifetime, but after his death in his son's days. Otherwise, he himself died a violent death and the dogs licked his blood as were foretold. And he says this, however, this may be an encouragement to those who are truly humbled for their sins and really repent of them, that they shall receive forgiveness at the hand of God, since he showed so much regard to an outward humiliation and repentance. If you're trying to lead somebody to the Savior, you would do worse to go to 1 Kings 21, 29 and say, look, this is a God of mercy.
I mean, He suspended judgment on Ahab for a time over that. Imagine if you actually come to Jesus. And then Matthew Henry says, this encourages all those that truly repent and unfaintedly believe the Holy Gospel. If a pretending partial penitent shall go to his house reprieved, doubtless a sincere penitent shall go to his house justified.
Praise God, the gospel is in 1 Kings 21, 29.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word and for what it teaches us. So many wonderful lessons in a dark and bleak chapter, but it's also a gracious and a merciful chapter. And I thank you that you grant us grace.
And so much of our repentance is a sham, and so much of it is shabby at best. And nevertheless, you receive us, and you are merciful to us, and you are kind to us. How we thank you that you have not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our transgressions. How we thank you that there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.
And may texts like these always call us to repentance and faith, and call us to a humility before our God. Go with us now, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.