JUDGMENT AT JEZREEL
I KINGS 21:1-4
Int. In the land of Israel lies a broad valley, that separates the mountains of Galilee, to the north from those of Samaria to the south. It has been given many names over the
Years.
1. Valley of Esdraelon
2. Valley of Jezreel
3. Valley of Armageddon
4. Valley of Megido
It has been the place of many battles
1. In Judges 4 Barak
2. In judges 7 Gideon
3. There Saul visited the Witch of Endor, and the died 1 Sam. ch. 28, 31
4. King Josiah was killed here by Pharoah-Necho, 2 Ki. 23:29
5. A battle with the Turks was fought in 1917
6. The Israeli army defeated the Iraqi troops in 1948
7. It will be be the place of the Battle of Armageddon Rev: 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
a. One story that occurred here is the focus of our attention today
b. It is the story of Naboth the Jezreelite and wicked Ahab and Jezebel.
c. Note with me 4 things: The King and he FarmerThe King, the Queen
the King and the Prophet, the King, the Queen and God
I. THE KING AND THE FARMER
1. Almost all had bowed to Baal 1 Ki. 19:18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
2. Naboth owned a parcel of ground, next door to Ahab’s house 1 ki. 21:1-3
3. He was faithful in tending and cultivating the soil
4. Ahab wanted to buy Naboth’s vineyard, however he refused to sell to him.Lev.25:23 tells us why. The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. Num. 36:7 So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 1 Sam 15:22 22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
5. He had spiritual stubborness 1 Ki. 21:4 And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
6. Big Bad Ahab - Like a spoiled child
II. THE KING AND THE QUEEN.
1. A weak man dominered by a strong woman
2. The whole matter may have been resolved had Jezebel left it alone.
3. She is a cunning instrument in the hand of Satan. Who if Jezebel? The answer is found in 1 Ki. 16:31 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him
a. In coming to the palace, she brings Baal worship with her.
b. She had persecuted the true prophets of God. 1Ki. 18:4,13 4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water. 13 13 Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD’S prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
c. She even buckled the knees of Elijah 1 Ki. 19:4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. She is seen as the personification of evil An evil woman in the Church of Thiatiira is called Jezebel.Rev. 2:20-23
20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great to your works.
tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according
d. She executed autocratic executive power, The right of an individual is second place to a monarch..
e. Let us try Jezebel in the Court of Divine Justice. We call the Word of God to testify. 1 Ki. 21:8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth. FORGERY
f. HYPOCRICY 21;9 And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: PROCLAIM A FAST, ACT RELIGIOUS
g. PERJURY 21:10 0 And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die. NOTE: The character of the witnesses. We will get another drug pusher to say you sold him drugs.
h. Truth had become a valueless commodity.
i. MURDER 1 Ki. 21:13 And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died. 2 Ki.9:26 Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD. If a man died and there was no heirs, the property reverted to the state.The whole incident is covered with the veneer of legality.
III. THE KING AND THE PROPHET
a. Where is God? Will He allow this to take place? The perfect crime is not so perfect. Prov. 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
b. The prophet found out, How? 1 ki. 21:17-19 And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
18 Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.
19 And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.
20 And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD.
c. He pronounced Judgment.
1. 1Ki. 21:21 Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,
2. v. 22 And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.
3. V. 23 And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
4. V. 24 Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.
5. V.27-29 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
28 And the word of the LORD came to ElijahtheTishbite, saying,
29 Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house. 2 Ki. 9:24-26
6. Judgment was simply postponed to a later date.
7.
III. THE KING AND GOD.
1. War with Syria, was the method of bringing about Divine Justice.
2. AHAB rode off to battle not like a knight in shining armor but disguised 2ki. 22:30 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle.,
34 And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.
34 And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.
35 And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot.
36 And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own country. 37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. 37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria.
38 And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armour; according unto the word of the LORD which he spake.
3. BUT WHAT ABOUT JEZEBEL?
4. The wheels of justice sometimes grind slow, but they grind fine. God is not in a hurry.
2 Ki. 9:33-36 33 And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot.
34 And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king’s daughter.
35 And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.
36 Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:
5. The perfect crime was not so perfect
The Psalmist sain in Ps. 73:17-18Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
Hos. 8:7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
Gal. 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Sermon By: Jim Meadows
