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It had been 70 years since Israel had any exposure to the temple in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) and to God. Eliyahu (Elijah) is starting from scratch with them. Eliyahu’s story is God’s message to Israel. It’s all tied together. Eliyahu’s interactions with Ahab and Yezebel (Jezebel) dominate the story but the purpose of these interactions were to teach the people of Israel about God.
We can see here how Israel has progressed in their knowledge of God and His law since Eliyahu started his ministry.
On Mt. Carmel, Eliyahu was out numbered and yet he was victorious because God was on his side. Ahab was later outnumbered when he fought Ben-Hadad yet God gave him that victory and all Israel was watching.
When Eliyahu first came to Israel, about three years before, there were only around 100 prophets of God living in Israel. Yezebel had ordered the execution of all of God’s prophets under her own authority.
However, this time, Yezebel couldn’t just say “off with his head” like she had with the prophets before. She had to put in more effort to get the people to concede to her will than before. She can’t even speak in her own name anymore. She had to bring about her will in a much more underhanded and sneaky way than in the past.
Even though Yezebel sent the order in Ahab’s name, the leaders knew full well that the order was in Yezebel’s name, not Ahab’s because after Naboth’s death, they reported it back to Yezebel, not Ahab. It seems the people are learning more about God even though the leadership still seem to want to ignore God.
Yezebel’s motive in doing this is for Naboth’s sake so Naboth’s death was totally on his head. Ahab was not committing any sin in asking to buy the land from Naboth. His sin was his covetousness and pouting. Yezebel has a Sidonian idea of royalty, which contradicts how the Torah tells a king to rule. The Torah limits the authority of the king but a Sidonian king or queen had no such limits.
Yezebel had to know a little Torah to be able to accomplish her scheme against Naboth. This conspiracy against Naboth did not happen in a legitimate court of law. She covers both basis by framing Naboth as a transgressor against both pagan law and Torah law by having unscrupulous men say that he blasphemed both the king and God.
In Sidon and other Ba’al worshipping countries, the king and Ba’al were synonymous so speaking out in a treasonous way against a king was blasphemy against Ba-al too.
Ahab’s family founded the city of Samaria so they owned everything there outright. But Jezreel as a city, goes back to the days of Joshua so Ahab did not own the city.
Many believe that the reason that Ahab was able to “inherit” Naboth’s vineyard was because Ahab and Naboth were actually family, such as first or second cousins. That would explanation why Naboth’s land was attached to Ahab’s palace in Yezreel (Jezreel) and why Ahab was the next in line to inherit Naboth’s vineyard. God says that Ahab sold himself. Any one of these sins were completely evil but Ahab did them all.
Ahab did not have a strong character. He was up for sale to the highest bidder on one way or another:
- Ahab sold himself to Ben-Hadad for money.
- Ahab sold himself to Yezebel for power. Everyone in Israel feared Yezebel.
- Ahab sold himself to Ba’al for worship of himself since in pagan culture the king and queen were the embodiment of the gods.
- Ahab sold himself to Naboth, in a sense, for property
God compares Ahab to Yeroboam (Jeroboam) the son of Nebat, and Baasha the son of Ahiyah (Ahijah). They had a similar character, similarly bad. It is because of Ahab’s dealings with Ben-Hadad, Yezebel, Ba’al and Naboth that God decides to wipe Ahab’s descendants off the face of the worth.
After Eliyahu tells Ahab’s of God’s curse on him, Ahab repented in sackcloth and ashes at least for a time. The curse did not change, but it was tempered so that Ahab wouldn’t have to witness it. God showed compassion on Ahab, even though Ahab did not show compassion on Naboth.
Although Ahab did repent he didn’t repent as far as David did because he didn’t have a heart after God like David did. Compared with David’s repentence, Ahab’s was incomplete. He still keep Yezebel as his wife, he still kept Ben-Hadad’s treaty and money, still kept worshiping Ba’al and still kept Naboth’s vineyard.
Speaker: Daniel Agee. Summary: Tammy.
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