Day 175 – Ahab #4

Readings

  • 1 Kings 20
  • 1 Kings 21
  • 2 Kings 9:24-26

Prayer

Pray… that you will take advice well, and not sulk!

Day 175 – Ahab #4

Syria’s threats & Naboth’s vineyard

 

1 Kings 20 is rather tough going at points, but stick with it. 1 Kings 21 is perhaps a more useful focus for your notes today.

 

  • Today the focus moves away from Elijah and back to the king of Israel, Ahab. During this time, as we read in 1 Kings 20:1, the king of Aram (a neighbouring region) has got together with many other tribal leaders to attack Samaria. Samaria was the capital of Israel (the northern part, remember), so this was serious news.
  • How does the king, Ahab, react to the messengers from Ben-Hadad? Why do you think he was quick to agree to the demands of the attacking forces (look at 1 Kings 20:3-4)?
  • Does Ahab agree to the next set of demands in verses 5-9? How does Ben-Hadad respond to that?
  • Despite the fact that Ahab was an evil king himself, how does God deliver him and Israel in 1 Kings 20:13:34? How are the Israelite people described in verse 27, compared to the enemy? How many times do the Arameans attack Israel and how many of them were killed?
  • Why do you think God worked in this miraculous way for Ahab and his army? Was it because of Ahab’s faith?
  • In 1 Kings 20:43, Ahab returns home in a “sullen” mood. He sullen again at the start of the next story about Naboth’s vineyard too, isn’t he! Can you imagine an adult – a king even – sulking because he didn’t get his way about some land?!
  • Read the story of Naboth carefully. It’s an astonishing tale of the lengths that people can go to to satisfy their own hearts. Ahab has approached Naboth with what seems like a fair offer for his vineyard. Why was Naboth reluctant to sell the land to the king in 1 Kings 21:3? Do you think the king should have understood Naboth’s reasons, having so recently been shown the power of the God in the battle against the Arameans?
  • What evil act does Jezebel arrange so that her husband got the land he desired?
  • When Elijah hears about what has happened, what stark words does he bring to the royal couple, in the latter part of 1 Kings 21? How does he, and in turn God, respond? Check out the final reading for the culmination of God’s judgement.

 

 

You may have thought that these two passages don’t seem entirely fair. An evil king is saved from an attacking nation, even though God owed him nothing. The same king then demands (and, as events happened, received) land he wasn’t entitled to through the death of a good man, Naboth.

 

God even stops short of punishing Ahab – it’s his son who bears the punishment. Where’s the fairness in that?

 

Well… Ahab was, indeed, later killed in the way that the prophet said he would. And the rebellious people of Israel were, in the end, raided and taken away by the Assyrians. We’ll read about that later in the year. The punishments didn’t happen straight away though.

 

We have turned away from God in our lives too, haven’t we? And if God had the inclination to deal with us instantly and swiftly, He would be right and just in doing so. But He graciously hasn’t done that. Every moment that we have, where we can repent and turn back to Him, is a moment that we have by nothing other than His grace. That grace even extended to welcoming us back through the death of His Son.

 

God undoubtedly dealt with the poor Naboth appropriately, and he may well now be in glory. How amazing is it that through Jesus, we – sinful as we are – have been given that chance to join him!


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