Tag Archive | 1-kings

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 180

Jun28
   Day 180—We are in the 6th month of Bible reading and continue with the history of Israel.

 Day 180 – 1 Kings 22, 2 Chronicles 18. (Both of these chapters tell of the end of King Ahab.)

Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, the southern kingdom, made a marriage pact with Ahab, king of Israel, the northern kingdom.

(Big mistake! 2 Kings 8:18 says that the son Jehoshaphat married off to Ahab’s daughter, “walked in the ways of Ahab, doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD.”)

In-laws now, Jehoshaphat visited Ahab and agreed to go to war with Syria with him. But first, the godly Jehoshaphat wanted to inquire of the LORD concerning the battle.  Ahab brought out his 400 prophets.

(These could have been the 400 prophets of Asherah that “ate at Jezebel’s table,” who were on Mt. Carmel when Elijah showed who was the REAL God by fire from heaven, but who escaped being killed when Elijah slaughtered the prophets of Baal. See 1 Kings 18:17-18 and 40.)

These 400 prophets all said Ahab should go to battle because he would be victorious. However, Jehoshaphat was suspicious of all the duplicate messages and asked if there was ANOTHER prophet. Ahab said there was, but he didn’t like Micaiah because that prophet always had terrible news for him. Nevertheless, the prophet of the LORD was brought, and he said that Ahab WOULD DIE in battle.

400 to 1?  Nope. Ahab wouldn’t listen to Micaiah and put him in jail “till I return safely.” Ha!

And off the two kings went to fight the Syrian despot. Just before entering the fray, Ahab told Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but YOU wear your robes.”

What?? Surely Jehoshaphat saw through that ploy!  But no, the southern king rode out in his royal chariot in his royal robes and crown. Then he wondered why all the enemy chariots and arrows were aimed at HIM!  “Help, LORD!” he cried, and God drew them away.

Then, a random soldier shot a random arrow in a random direction… and it struck the disguised King Ahab between his breastplate and his shoulder chainmail and mortally wounded him. As his chariot driver raced him out of the war zone, Ahab’s blood poured out on the chariot floor…until he died.

As Micaiah, the prophet of the LORD, said.

And as had been prophesied by Elijah, when the workers washed Ahab’s blood from the chariot by the pool of Samaria, dogs came and licked it up. (1 Kings 21:19)

..

AHAZIAH, son of Ahab, began to reign in Samaria in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat’s reign.  He reigned for TWO YEARS. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of this father and mother, Jezebel, who walked in the way of Jeroboam. Ahaziah served and worshiped Baal and provoked the LORD to anger in every way.

Jehoshaphat reigned for 25 years, walking in the way of his father, Asa, and doing what was right in the sight of the LORD. He died and was buried in the city of David. JEHORAM, his son (married to a daughter of Ahab), reigned in his place.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 179

Jun27

   Day 179—We are in the 6th month of Bible reading and continue in the History of Israel.

 Day 179 – 1 Kings 20 – 21. (More about King Ahab, Jezebel, and Elijah)

In 1 Kings 20, Ben-Hadad II, king of Syria, Israel’s enemy to the north-east, along with thirty-two of his chieftains, attacked the Northern kingdom’s capital city and demanded surrender.  King Ahab agreed to their taking tribute in general but refused to allow Ben-Hadad to ransack his palace.

There were “fighting words,” and the two nations prepared for war. Then, an unnamed prophet of God came to Ahab and told him Israel would succeed, but he was to attack immediately.  It was lunchtime, and Ben-Hadad was drinking himself drunk, as were his 32 chieftains. Ahab attacked, and all the Syrians ran away.

The prophet told Ahab they would return in the Spring, so prepare. He did, and although Israel’s army looked like two little flocks of goats, they fought the Syrian army and struck down 100K men! Twenty-seven thousand escaped to the city of Aphek, but a wall fell on them and killed them all.

Ben-Hadad got away, then dressed in sackcloth and begged for mercy from King Ahab.  INSTEAD OF KILLING HIM, as the LORD wanted, Ahab made friends with the defeated king and even sealed some business deals with him between Samaria and Damascus.  The prophet returned to Ahab and condemned his actions, saying that now Ahab and Israel would pay for it with their lives.

“And the king of Israel went to his house vexed and sullen.” 20:43

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1 Kings 21.  Still moping around the house, one day, King Ahab looked out his window at his neighbor’s beautiful vineyard. He coveted it for a veggie garden that would be so near his kitchen.

“Give me your vineyard…. and I will give you a better vineyard, or, if you like, I will give you its value in money.” the king said to neighbor Naboth.

“Nope. It’s my inheritance from my fathers.” (land allotted to tribes and families upon conquering the promised land), said Naboth (entirely in his right).

So Ahab went to bed, turned his face to the wall, and sulked.  He would not even eat!  What a spoiled brat!

Then, along comes the baby-spoiler, the queen herself.  Maybe patting his back, she says, “Why is your spirit so vexed that you don’t eat?”

“Because Naboth won’t give me his vineyard, sniff, sniff.”

“Aren’t you the KING? Get up and eat,” commanded the wicked Jezebel. “I’ll get that vineyard for you,”  

And she does, by falsely accusing Naboth of cursing God and King and condemning him to death by stoning. (She was devious and had a couple worthless men do the accusing.)  Regardless, she got the vineyard for Ahab.  Ahab was gleeful and immediately went outside to look over “his” vineyard.

Meanwhile, God had instructed Elijah to go to Ahab in the vineyard and give him this curse, “Thus says the LORD, ‘In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick YOUR own blood.'”

“You have found me, O my enemy,” said Ahab.

“I have found you because you do what is evil in the sight of the LORD.” He says, “Behold, I will bring disaster on you. I will utterly burn you up and will cut off from you, Ahab, every male in Israel….”   “And about Jezebel, the dogs shall eat Jezebel within the walls of Jezreel.”

Shock of all shocks!!! Ahab repents. He tears his clothes, puts on sackcloth, fasts, and mourns. Wow.

And Israel’s omnipotent, Almighty, and Holy God shows mercy to this wicked king.  “Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the disaster in his days, but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster to his house.’  Double-wow!

James 4:6b.  “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”