Today's Scripture Reading (February 25, 2026): 1 Kings 21
Every time I read this story, I think to myself that King
Ahab is really just a child who never grew up. King Ahab's response to the
rejection he suffered over a vineyard is, "If I can't have it my way, I am
going to take my toys and go home. I am not going to work through my
disagreements. I want everything the way that I want it, or I am not going to
play the game."
Here is the reality. Ahab's life is a mess. The story of
Ahab is really the story of a King whose life is a mess and God's attempts to
get his attention. At no point does God give up on Ahab, and I don't know why,
because if I were God, I would have given up on him a long time ago.
Ahab's problem with God begins with his marriage. Have you
ever heard the phrase "unequally yoked?" Biblically, it is actually a
business term. The phrase means don't go into business with someone who isn't a
believer, because their goals won't be your goals. But in my grandparents' or
great-grandparents' generation, it began to be used to describe marriages in
which only one partner believed in God. The central concept was don't marry,
don't even date, someone who is not on the same spiritual path as you are,
because while you might think that you can fix them, what is more likely is
that they will drag you down spiritually to where they are. Here is the rule:
you can fix a dog, but you can't fix your spouse. Okay, maybe that belongs in a
different post.
Ahab was unequally yoked. He had married a woman named
Jezebel, who was the daughter of the King of Sidon. And Jezebel brought all of
her gods and her beliefs into the marriage. Ahab loved Jezebel and began to love
and worship her gods.
So God started trying to get Ahab's attention. His first
attempt was to send a prophet named Elijah into his life. Elijah literally
leaps off the pages at us. His introduction to Ahab and to us is as he marches
into Ahab's court and announces that there will be no rain until he (Elijah)
says there will be. And then Elijah disappears. A drought grips the Middle East,
and there is no rain. Ahab searches everywhere but cannot find Elijah.
Finally, three years and a little bit later, Elijah shows
back up and challenges Ahab to a duel on Mount Carmel. The concept behind the approaching
battle was that the prophets of Ba'al and Asherah would build an altar and ask
their gods to come and consume the sacrifice. Of course, neither Ba'al nor
Asherah responded to the challenge.
Then Elijah built his altar and placed his sacrifice on the
altar, drowned the whole thing in water, and then prayed for God to consume the
sacrifice. God did. Following this miracle, the false prophets of Ba'al and
Asherah were killed atop the mountain, leaving only Ahab and Elijah. There, the
two men waited until finally a small cloud, about the size of Elijah's fist,
appeared on the horizon.
My grandfather used to sing a song, and at the end of one
verse, he sang;
Oh
Ahab, grab your parasol,
We're
going to have a shower
My
didn't it rain, My didn't it rain
The
clouds grew dark
The
storm it broke
Ol'
Ahab found it was not a joke.
My
didn't it rain, My didn't it rain
He
brought no coat, so he got soaked.
My
didn't it rain.
But Ahab still didn't get it. He went home, sulked, and told
Jezebel what had happened. Jezebel put a price on Elijah's head, and Elijah got
depressed and ran away. Not a great day for the prophet or the king.
Then there was the incident with Ben-Hadad, and now the
incident with Naboth. And at each point, Ahab doesn't get his way, and he goes
and sulks in the corner. Jezebel is left with the task of using her power to
satisfy her husband's childish wants. Naboth's vineyard was just the latest
proof that a child sat on the throne of Israel.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 22
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