Ahab I Kings 21:1-19
The party aboard ship was in full swing. Speeches were being made by the captain, the crew, and all the guests were really enjoying the week-long voyage. Sitting at the head table was a seventy-year-old man who was kind of embarrassed but he was doing his best to accept all the praise that was being poured on him.
Earlier that morning a young woman had somehow fallen overboard, and within seconds this elderly gentleman was in the cold, dark waters at her side. She was rescued and the elderly man became an instant hero. When the time finally came for him to speak, the stateroom fell into a hush as he rose from his chair. He went to the microphone and, in what was probably the shortest “hero’s” speech ever offered; he spoke these stirring words: “I just want to know one thing,” he said, “WHO PUSHED ME?”
“And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2 And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. 3 And Naboth said to Ahab, the Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my father’s unto thee.
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.
5 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? 6 And he said unto her, because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard.
7 And Jezebel his wife said unto him, dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. 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. 9 And she wrote in the letters, saying, proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: 10 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.
11 And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. 12 They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 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. 14 Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead.
15 And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead. 16 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
17 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.”
This morning we’re looking at Ahab and one writer said that Ahab is the fourth most talked about person in the Old Testament but I think he really meant king and the other three were David, Solomon and Hezekiah. So, Ahab was certainly talked about but he was the center of attention for all the wrong reasons.
There have been many devious and immoral couples throughout history, such as: Julius Caesar & Cleopatra, Louis the 16th & Marie Antoinette, Bonnie & Clyde and even our own Paul Bernardo and Karla Holmoka but in the Bible; it goes without saying that Ahab and Jezebel were without doubt the worst of the worst. I think either one of them would have been considered to be intrinsically evil; but together they compounded each other’s sense of wickedness. He enabled her idolatry and she was more than willing to kill to meet his wants and needs.
Now, just to see where Ahab fits into the history of Israel; we understand that Israel had had her best years when David had been king and after him his son Solomon reigned as the Bible says in wisdom and the strength of God for approximately 30-35 years but; in spite of being the wisest man who ever lived; Solomon accumulated about a thousand wives; and eventually through their influence he fell into spiritual apostasy. His days ended badly and his kingdom split in two.
Israel ended up with the southern kingdom which was ruled by Solomon’s descendants and the northern kingdom which suffered under a succession of extremely wicked men who were all described as those who ‘had done evil in the sight of the Lord.”
We see their history in I Kings chapter 16 where it says Elah began to reign but his reign only lasted for two years when one night as he was getting drunk Zimri who had been the captain of half his chariots came in and murdered him. Then Israel made Omri who was the captain of the army king and he led the rest of the people against Zimri. So, Zimri who only lasted seven days; went into the palace and set the whole place on fire committing suicide. I guess it was his way of saying, “If I can’t be king of this castle then no one is going to be king.”
Then we’re told Omri defeated Tibni and he became king and it describes him by saying, “But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him.” So, he died and just as the people said good riddance to him; Ahab came along and the scripture says; that Ahab was more wicked than any who came before him; and if that wasn’t bad enough; he took Jezebel to be his wife and she was even worse than he was.
The reason he married Jezebel was simply for political benefits. He wanted to solidify the alliance between Israel and Phoenicia because Phoenicia controlled the shipping routes on the Mediterranean Sea and he figured marrying her was the gateway to international trade. You see, Jezebel’s father was the king of the Sidonions and Sidonia was the main shipping port of Phoenicia and he was also the head of Baal worship. So, he was kind of like president and pope of the region.
The term "Baal" means "master" and it originally seems to have applied to a number of pagan gods, who were collectively known as the "Baalim" but over time the term Baal was associated with the chief Canaanite fertility god, and he was also associated with the god Melqart of Tyre and the Babylonian god Bel. Baal was often worshiped by child sacrifice and extremely explicit sexual rites, both of which would have been repulsive to any faithful Jew.
Jezebel was fanatical about her religion and its practices and she had no problem with Ahab’s plan to strengthen his country by marrying her because her goal was to seduce the Israelites away from the God Jehovah and convert them all to paganism. And as soon as she and Ahab were married, she went about setting up shrines to her gods in all the holy places with Ahab’s blessing.
She got him to build a house for Baal beside the palace in Samaria, as well as an “Ashtoreth,” which is, an idol of the fertility goddess and this was a place of gross immorality. Then she brought 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Ashtoreth from Phoenicia, housed them in the palace, and fed them from the royal budget. Their duties were to promote the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth throughout the nation.
So, not only did Ahab marry an idolater but then he actually helped her to promote this idolatry and he went as far as killing the prophets of the Lord.
So, she certainly wasn’t the kind of person who believed in any kind of open religion but felt that Judaism had to be eliminated in order for her own religion to thrive.
In 1 Kings 16:31-33 we have a description of how Ahab developed Baal worship. First, he went with Jezebel to serve Baal by setting up an altar in the center of Baal worship in Samaria. Then second, he made a grove which was a place of immorality and then third, it says he did more to provoke the Lord to anger than all the kings that were before him.
And in verse 34 it says that in his days there was a man by the name of Heil who built Jericho and he laid the foundation with the body of his firstborn and then he built the gates with the body of his youngest son. And when we read this, I think it’s difficult to actually describe or even comprehend the callous nature of these days because these people were pioneers and champions of evil. The rituals of the Baal and Asherah cults involved such disgusting practices, which included male and female prostitution and even the living sacrifice of children.
I Kings 16:30, 33 says that Ahab “did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him” and “he did more to provoke the Lord than did all the kings of Israel before him.” Now that’s not something anyone would want on their headstone.
So basically, what the Bible is saying is, Ahab was the worst of the worst. He was the Adolf Hitler, the Joseph Stalin and the Osama Bin Laden of his day. He was the worst king Israel had ever seen and yet, it reminds us of the saying, “Every nation gets the government it deserves.” Or as Albert Einstein once said, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” And there were plenty of Jewish people and religious leaders who sat by and not only watched; but even enabled these two to do whatever they wanted to do.
We know Ahab was Jewish by birth and not only married outside of his race and also outside of his faith when he married Jezebel. The only other believers alive then were Obadiah and those he kept hidden in a cave and the prophet Elijah. And from what the scripture implies; Ahab didn’t know Obadiah was a believer or about those in the cave and he hated Elijah but Elijah had been on the run from Jezebel for four to six years.
So Ahab had quite a history. He turned the nation from the worship of God to idolatry and immorality. He persecuted the prophets and established a couple of cults. And yet, during his life he actually witnessed a few miracles, such as the three and a half-year drought, the fire that came down from heaven and burned up Elijah’s offering and then the torrential rain that followed. And even though these miracles were the direct result of Elijah’s ministry; their message had no effect on Ahab whatsoever.
In the passage I read at the beginning we saw that Ahab was only concerned about his comfort. And in chapter 21, he’s in his winter palace which was about 20 miles north of his capital in Samaria; and here he’s both safe and secure but it seems as though he was bored and he was strolling around on his roof when he happened to look over and see his neighbor’s vineyard and came to the conclusion that this would be a great place for a vegetable garden.
I We’ll begin by looking at his request.
A In verse one, it says that Nahab’s vineyard was ‘hard by’ or ‘close to’ Ahab’s palace. In other words, it was right next store. And so, Ahab said to Naboth, “Let’s make a deal. I want your vineyard for a herb garden and if you’ll give it to me I’ll give you a better vineyard or you can have the equivalent value in cash.” And if this were you or I, we might not think this was a bad deal.
But, we might also wonder, what would it matter if Ahab’s garden was next door to the palace or even two miles down the road. It wasn’t like the king was going out to pick his own vegetables for supper. He had servants who did that kind of work. But listen, I think he was more concerned with the appearance of his palace than anything else.
B So, the king made his request but Naboth said no. Now we realize that he’s talking to the king and we’d wonder why on earth anyone would say no to the king. I mean, the king could have you killed on the spot.
We might think he was arrogant. Maybe he could have been saying to himself I don’t care who you are, this is my land and you’re not getting it. Or maybe he had a rebellious attitude and thought, “I’ll turn this vineyard into a dump before you get your hands on it.” Or maybe he was a rich guy who was content with what he had and that fact that others wanted it made it all the more valuable and he thought he’d say no with the hopes of getting a better offer.
But listen, Naboth didn’t have a bad attitude, he seems to be a nice guy and said, “The Lord forbid me, that I should give the inheritance of my father’s unto thee.” And what he was saying was, “I couldn’t do this even if I wanted to because the Lord forbids me from doing it. This land was given to me as an inheritance which I got from my fathers.” So, as far as he was concerned the land was part of his social and spiritual heritage. He had received it as an inheritance which was part of the division of land that God gave to the Jews when they came into the Promised Land and the law forbade him from ever selling it; and in essence his refusal was simply his being obedient to God.
In Leviticus 25:23 we’re told the land shall not be sold forever. The land belonged to God and the Jewish people were simply His tenants. They could rent the land or even lease it but it always had to return in the year of Jubilee. Numbers 36:7 tells us the land was their spiritual heritage. So, it was more than just farm land.
In succeeding generations the children might ask how the family came to own this land and the parents were to show them from the word of God how God had given it to them and protected and provided for His people. So, this land was not only part of their spiritual heritage but it was part and parcel of who they were. And basically Naboth was saying, according to the law of God, it’s not that I wouldn’t sell it to you but I can’t. So, he was only doing what God told him to do.
Now, you have to keep in mind that as I said, Ahab was a Jew and so; none of this was new to him. He knew all about the laws of God and the responsibility that the Jewish people had to keep the land in their family but Ahab thought Naboth had the same attitude about God that he had; and all he had to do was to make him a good offer and he’d jump at the chance to either get more land or be able to retire and live on the cash but when he said no, Ahab couldn’t understand his refusal.
The fact was, Naboth’s refusal was based on the fact that he was obedient to the very law Ahab had spent his life in disobedience to and this caused Ahab real problems. I mean, how could he explain to Jezebel that he wanted land but couldn’t get it because the God he didn’t believe in had given it to Naboth? I mean, he couldn’t say, “He won’t sell me his land because he’s a better man than I am.” And yet that was the very reason why he wouldn’t sell it.
C So, rather than accepting Naboth’s explanation Ahab reacted in anger and rather than demonstrating his anger through his temper it says he sulked. He went to bed and put his face to the wall like a big baby.
Have you ever known people who react like that? Someone exposes their sinful attitude and they’re mad as a hatter. It’s a childish reaction that some people never seem to grow out of.
The first year I was in Bible College I went to Word of Life Bible Institute in New York and during the summer I volunteered to work in the kitchen. Since I had some experience in food service and managing people they put me in charge of the kitchen and dining room staff and there were forty-two kids working there. They had very little experience but a lot of enthusiasm and they were quick learners.
Most of the people who came to Word of Life were Christians and for the most part they were a pleasure to serve. There were a few non-Christians and many of them were saved during the week as they attended the meetings.
There were a few who were a problem but they were very few. One lady I remember really had a bad attitude. We had a young girl who was her waitress and this girl really had a bad complexion. She went to take the order for this table and this lady who was with four or five of her friends said, “Ooh, what’s wrong with your face? It looks awful.”
Well, needless to say, the young girl was very upset and when she came back into the kitchen she was crying. One of the other girls explained to me what had happened and I told the one who was upset to take a break and I’d handle the situation.
So, I called one of the other girls over and explained what happened and then I told her to go out and take the order for this table; and if this lady asked for anything that wasn’t on the menu she was to say, “The chef said, you can only have what’s available according to the menu.”
So, she went out and sure enough this lady didn’t want anything that was on the menu. She said all she wanted was a plain cheese sandwich. The waitress came back with the order and I said, “No, absolutely not.” And she laughed and said, “This woman is going to go berserk.” I said, “Let her. She can either eat what’s on the menu or she can do without.” So, the waitress went back out and said, “The chef said, you can have what’s on the menu or you will have to do without.” Well this lady got so mad; she stood up and stormed out of the room.
And do you know what the best part was. She had already paid for her food and there was nowhere else to eat. She had to wait until supper. She was the victim of her own bad attitude.
And that’s what Ahab was like. I mean, here he was, not just a grown man but the king, and he’s lying with his face to the wall sulking; because he can’t get what he wants.
II And then we see Jezebel’s reaction to the situation
a She says, “Why is your spirit so sullen that you eat no food?” She says, “What’s your problem?” And when he explains the situation from his perspective she says, “Cheer up, eat some supper. I’ll give you the vineyard.”
b Then Jezebel – listen carefully- uses the law of God to take the land from Naboth. It’s interesting that she knew enough of the particular applications of the law to deal with this situation and how often do we see non-Christians do this today? If you do something wrong or even appeared to have, a non-Christian will say, “Hey doesn’t the Bible say you aren’t supposed to do that?” They always know what the Bible says as it applies to us but never as it applies to them.
It’s interesting that Naboth had said that he couldn’t sell his land because of what the word of God said and yet Jezebel would take the same word of God and twist it around to kill Naboth and then steal his land.
Look at how she does it. It says, she sent a letter to the nobles and these men would have been the elders or the spiritual leaders of Israel. These were the very men who had been entrusted by God to care for the spiritual needs of the people. She told them to proclaim a fast which was a day of humiliation for when someone sinned against God or even against the king.
She said to give Naboth a seat of high honor at the fast and at a feast this would be a good thing but at a fast it could also be a seat of dishonor. One didn’t really know why they were there until they were either rewarded or punished.
And then the scripture says two worthless fellows or as the scripture calls them, sons of Belial. The word worthless means they were either rebellious, idolatrous or immoral drunkards. Any way you look at it these guys were the worst people in any society. They’re the kind of bums that hang around the street corner looking for a way to make some easy money so they can go get drunk.
It says there were two of them and this was the number that was needed to establish a legal charge according to Deuteronomy 17:6. By their testimony Naboth was charged with blasphemy and according to Leviticus 24:16 this was a crime deserving of death by stoning.
It’s hard to imagine that anybody would take this whole thing seriously. I mean, a couple of drunks were testifying that Naboth blasphemed God and the king and these were men who obviously didn’t even believe in God or care what anybody said what about Him.
And then according to II Kings 9:26 we’re also told that Naboth’s sons would die for their father’s sin which meant there would be no one left to inherit the land and according to the law the property of slain criminals was forfeited to the crown.
So, Naboth and his family were dead, Ahab got his property and as far as he was concerned, he got away with murder and there was no blood on his hands.
So, Naboth died and no one seemed to notice but listen, God did. As the scripture says, “He touched the apple of God’s eye,” which is another way of saying he poked his finger in God’s eye. Has anybody ever poked their finger in your eye? No one has to tell you how to react because no matter who does it or why, we always react in shock and anger and our reaction isn’t selfish it’s just that our eye is the most sensitive part of our body.
And God said Ahab poked his finger in God’s eye when he touched those who were trying to be obedient to the word of God. And I think we can say that this was the place, where Ahab passed the point of no return and God would require payment for his sin and He sent Elijah to announce His impending judgement.
III Elijah’s rebuke.
A I’m sure they hadn’t even buried the bodies of Naboth and his family when Ahab went over to see how he was going to arrange his garden. He was probably planning where he’d plant the parsley and tomatoes when Elijah poked his head through the bushes. And it must have been a shock to see Elijah because he had dropped out of public for about four to six years and now he came back to confront Ahab with his sin.
And once again he’s a man without fear. He enters the vineyard no doubt conscious of the fact that Ahab’s chariot was always followed by two ruthless men and he didn’t seem to care that even Jezebel might be around. He came to confront Ahab and didn’t care who heard him or how they reacted.
Elijah just asked him a simple question. “Hast thou killed and also taken possession?” And then we have the pronouncement of judgement. “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.” Elijah said, “Someday the dogs are going to lick your blood.” Now normally if someone said something like that; you could write it off but keep in mind that Elijah had a track record. He had prophesied about the drought, the rain and the fire and everything happened exactly as he said it would and we notice that Ahab doesn’t argue with him.
As a matter of fact it almost seems as though Ahab repented of his sin but if you took the time to read on you’d see that it didn’t last because before long he was right back to his old ways again.
It seems strange to say but twenty years went by and nothing happened. For twenty years he probably thought he had gotten away with murder and stealing the land. I mean, twenty years is a long time. And no doubt, Jezebel probably made fun of him during those twenty years and she’d say, “Go ahead and eat your salad, God’s not going to bother you.”
But, I think for the next twenty years every time Ahab heard a dog bark the hair would stand up on the back of his neck because he knew from experience; that the word of God was sure and it would surely come to pass. Listen, twenty years is a long time to live with the guilt and penalty of sin hanging over your head.
I’m sure there were times when he would forget all about it but deep in his heart he always knew that someday the day would come because there’s always a payday, someday.
And we are told that Elijah’s words did come to pass and Ahab’s end happened this way. God had given him the victory over the Syrians but then Ahab let Ben-Hadad go free and he was someone he was supposed to kill and then later when he was in a battle; one of Ben-Hadad’s men shot him in the back according to I Kings 22 and he died. They took his chariot back to the pool of Samaria to have it cleaned and there it says the dogs licked his blood.
Jezebel on the other hand was thrown out of the upper window at the command of Jehu and her body was eaten by dogs. And then Jehu killed their son Joran and his body was cast onto Naboth’s vineyard.
We don’t read about any great funeral services or burnings for Ahab, Jezebel or the rest of their family. I think the people of Israel were just glad to see them go. These were people who had reaped what they had sown. Like many unbelievers they simply clung to their sin but now they’re paying for it and they will be paying for it for the rest of eternity.
Listen, if you are forgiven, you are forgiven everything. All of your sin whether it’s past, present or even future. Keep in mind that all of your sin was future to the cross of Calvary. So, over two thousand years before you were ever born or before you had ever sinned Jesus died for your sin. So, there’s nothing you could ever do that would either shock God or cause Him to refuse to forgive you because He knows about everything you’ve ever done before you ever did it.
On the other hand, if you are not forgiven then every sin you’ve ever committed will one day be punished. Let’s say there’s a man in the nursing home and he’s ninety-four years old. He’s a nice, easy-going old guy who doesn’t remember much past breakfast this morning but he’s said in the past that he’s not saved and has no interest in salvation. He may not remember much but the Bible says he’s going to be held accountable for every sin he’s ever committed; even the sins he can’t remember because God never forgets. Listen, we are either totally forgiven or we’re totally accountable.
There are people who have committed crimes like robbery or even murder and they got away with it. There are even those who have committed crimes in wartime and some of them fled the country and lived out their lives in comfort and luxury. They got away with the worst crimes ever but listen, God knows all about their sin and someday they’ll have to pay for their sin.
As the poet Longfellow said,
Though the mills of God grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceedingly small;
Though with patience He stands waiting
With exactness grinds He all.
And whether it happens immediately or takes twenty years like it did with Ahab there is nothing that escapes the all-seeing eye of God.
So listen, either Jesus paid the price for your sin or you’re going to end up paying for it yourself. It’s up to you to receive His offer of forgiveness.
Charles Spurgeon used to tell the story of a duke who boarded a galley ship and he went below to talk with the criminals who were manning the oars. He asked several of them what their offenses were and almost every man claimed he was innocent. He blamed someone else or accused the judge of taking a bribe.
One broken man said, “Sir, I deserve to be here. I stole some money. There is no one is at fault but me. I’m guilty.” Upon hearing this, the duke shouted, “You scoundrel! What are you doing here with all these honest men? Get out of their company at once!”
The duke ordered the prisoner be released and he was set free, while the rest were left to labor at the oars. Listen, the key to his freedom was his admission of sin and that’s also true in salvation. Until a person is willing to admit, “I am a sinner in need of salvation,” he cannot experience the freedom God offers.
So, where are you at today? Are you saved and know it or are you wondering; what’s going to happen to me on the day I die?
