Author: Calleen Hough

Judgment

Israel’s miraculous defeat of the Syrian army (1 Kings 20:29) made it clear that God intended to eliminate the threat of a future attack from Ben-hadad. Ahab’s decision to form an alliance with the king of Syria may have been an attempt to accomplish God’s will in a different manner, but it did not guarantee that Ben-hadad would leave Israel alone.

While it is true that God is merciful, he judges those who choose to follow Satan. King Ahab was determined to maintain his secular lifestyle and was willing to align himself with one of Satan’s chief agents in order to do so. Ahab was more concerned with accumulating wealth than he was worshipping and serving God, so God punished him for his disobedience.

Even though he may not have been specifically instructed to kill Ben-hadad, it was obvious that God had delivered the king of Syria over to Ahab so that he could kill him. It was because Ben-hadad acknowledged his inferiority and subordination to Ahab by designating himself Ahab’s servant (1 Kings 20:32) that Ahab wanted to keep him alive. Ahab went so far as to refer to Ben-hadad as his brother, a sign that he intended to develop a close relationship with him.

After making a covenant with Ben-hadad, Ahab was visited by an unnamed prophet. “And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people” (1 Kings 20:42).  The Hebrew word translated appointed, cherem is derived from the word charam. “Charam is a religious word of great importance representing the devotion of some object to destruction or to a sacred use, not for the gratification of any selfish purpose” (2763).

Israel’s defeat of the Syrian army was meant to bring glory to God. Ahab could have sent a strong message to the surrounding nations by killing Ben-hadad. Instead, the covenant he formed with Ben-hadad let everyone know that Ahab’s relationship with Ben-hadad was more important to him than his relationship with God.

A divided heart

Following the Israelites’ declaration that “the LORD, he is God” and the slaughter of all the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:39-40), Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, attacked king Ahab’s capital city of Samaria. At the time, Israel’s army consisted of 7000 soldiers led by 232 “young men of the princes of the provinces” (1 Kings 20:15). The exact size of the Syrian army is unknown, but it says in 1 Kings 20:21 that the king of Israel “slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.”

The following year, the king of Syria decided to try again and came against the Israelites with an army the same size he had the previous year. It says in 1 Kings 20:27 that “the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.” On the seventh day of the battle, “the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day” (1 Kings 20:29).

King Ahab’s defeat of the Syrians was a miraculous deliverance by God designed to increase Ahab’s dependence on the LORD (1 Kings 20:28). Ahab demonstrated obedience during the first battle when he was instructed to fight rather than surrender to king Ben-hadad (1 Kings 20:14). During the second battle, Ahab’s courage increased and he was able to endure a six-day standoff in which the Syrian army flowed into the Jordan Valley and covered the land like locusts overtaking a vineyard.

In spite of God’s deliverance, Ahab’s heart remained divided. When he had the opportunity to capture and kill Ben-hadad, Ahab chose to make a covenant with his enemy (1 Kings 20:34). Ahab was not willing to stand alone. He was too wrapped up in the world around him to disassociate himself from his secular way of life. One of the chief signs that king Ahab could not stand on his own two feet was his treatment of Ben-hadad after God annihilated his army. At a time when Ahab should have cut himself off from the king of Syria, Ahab chose instead to become his business partner.

A still small voice

Jezebel’s reaction to the slaughter of the prophets of Baal showed she had a personal vendetta against Elijah. After Ahab told her that Elijah “had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, If I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time” (1 Kings 19:1-2).

It is possible that just as Elijah was God’s representative to the nation of Israel, Jezebel was Satan’s direct representative to God’s people. Her presence in Israel was an insult to God because she openly recruited Baal worshippers and encouraged disobedience to God. The name Ba’al means master or to be master, but the primary meaning of this Hebrew word is “possessor” (1167). I think it is likely that Jezebel was demon possessed and may even have been indwelt or possessed by the spirit of antichrist.

Regardless of Jezebel’s spiritual state, her death threat struck fear into Elijah’s heart. It says in 1 Kings 19:3 that when Elijah understood what Jezebel intended to do, “he arose, and went for his life.” Most likely Elijah was given a mental picture of the tortuous death Jezebel would inflict on him and he decided to get out of town as soon as possible. It says in 1 Kings 19:4 that he “went a days journey into the wilderness” to ensure no one could find him.

Elijah’s fear drove him straight into the hands of God. His journey into the wilderness ended at Horeb the mount of God where Elijah lodged in a cave waiting for instructions from the LORD. When the LORD finally came to him, he asked, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9). The question implied that Elijah had abandoned his post, running from Jezebel was obviously not a part of God’s  plan for his representative.

In order to strengthen Elijah’s resolve, God paid him a personal visit:

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake;  but the LORD was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? (1 Kings 19:11-13)

When Elijah heard the voice of God, he should have realized that the LORD was everywhere and he knew everything, so he didn’t need an explanation from Elijah as to what was going on. The question was meant to provoke a confession. The LORD wanted Elijah to admit that he was afraid and had run away because he didn’t believe the LORD could protect him from Jezebel.

Elijah’s doubt is understandable. If you can imagine yourself having to go toe to toe with Satan, you can appreciate how Elijah must have felt about having a run in with Jezebel. The mighty prophet of God was only human and his fear a natural reaction to satanic forces directed at him because he took a stand for God. Elijah thought he was alone, but a still small voice reminded him that God had sovereign power over the people and nations and could destroy them in an instant if he chose to (1 Kings 19:17).

The true God

Elijah’s residency in the northern kingdom of Israel gave him an advantage in confronting the people because he knew what was going on there. Like king Ahab, the people were caught in the middle of two worship systems, one that honored the pagan god Baal and one that honored Jehovah; the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt and had given them the land of Canaan to dwell in.

Elijah challenged the people to make a choice based on whichever one they believed to be the true God. “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word” (1 Kings 18:21).

The message Elijah was trying to convey was that worshipping two gods was getting them nowhere. The people were hopping back and forth depending on their circumstances and were not committed to either deity. The reason the people couldn’t give Elijah a straight answer was because they were stuck. They weren’t sure if they were ready to walk away from God altogether and didn’t know if Baal could protect them the way the LORD had.

In order to prove to the people of Israel that Baal was no match for God, Elijah designed a test to demonstrate the superiority of the LORD. It involved the sacrifice of a bullock as a burnt offering without using any fire. Elijah’s instructions to the people were “call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: And the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered him and said, It is well spoken” (1 Kings 18:24).

Elijah’s contest was intended to show the people of Israel that their idols were inanimate objects with less than human capabilities. Baal could not see or hear them and he was unaware of the worship they performed to honor him (1 Kings 18:26). In stark contrast, God instituted the Israelite’s system of worship and made a covenant with them to guarantee the fulfillment of his promises to his people.

In order to emphasize God’s awareness and involvement in what was going on, Elijah drenched his bullock and the altar it was placed on with water before he prayed to the LORD to consume it with fire. It says in 1 Kings 18:33-35 that Elijah filled four barrels with water, poured it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood, then repeated the process two more times until more than 30 gallons of water ran round about the altar and filled a trench that Elijah dug to hold it. His extreme demonstration made it clear that it would be impossible for Elijah to light the fire for the sacrifice.

Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God. (1 Kings 18:39)

 

Gift of grace

Elijah, the prophet, arrived on the scene at a time when the northern kingdom of Israel and Judah were at opposite extremes in their obedience to God. In the north, king Ahab had formally instituted Baal worship (1 Kings 16:32), but in the south, Jehoshaphat had removed the high places and groves out of Judah (2 Chronicles 17:6) that were being used for pagan worship. The initiation of Elijah’s ministry was linked to the rebuilding of Jericho. “This violated God’s intentions that the ruins of Jericho (Josh 6:26) be a perpetual reminder that Israel had received the land of Canaan from God’s hand as a gift of grace” (note on 1 Kings 16:34).

Elijah’s first act was to confront king Ahab with the reality that God was alive and well and still in control of his kingdom. “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word” (1 Kings 17:1). The drought which lasted three and a half years (Luke 4:25) was a sign of God’s sovereignty over his creation and an indicator of the powerlessness of Baal and all other false gods to control nature.

Elijah’s primary credential as a man of God was his ability to perform miracles. Much like Moses, Elijah got the attention of the people by showing them there was no limit to God’s power. Even in the worst of circumstances, God was able to protect and sustain those whom he chose to and without his help, the Israelites would have perished. In order to make this clear, the LORD chose to sustain a widow who took care of Elijah during the famine. The widow and her son had no means of support and were about to die when Elijah arrived at their home (1 Kings 17:12). In spite of her lack of resources, the widow’s household, including Elijah, survived the famine (1 Kings 17:16).

The interesting thing about the widow who took Elijah into her home was she was not an Israelite. She was a citizen of the kingdom ruled by Jezebel’s father, Ethbaal of Tyre and Sidon (Luke 4:26). Jesus’ explanation of why this woman was helped makes it clear that it was not because God had compassion on her, but because she had faith, she was a believer (Luke 4:25-26). Her survival of the famine was a testimony of God’s grace to all believers.

Revival

By the time Jehoshaphat replaced his father Asa as king of Judah, the kingdom of Israel had already been in existence for more than 150 years. Much of what David had established in the way of worship had deteriorated into false religion and idolatry. Like his father Asa, Jehoshaphat focused on reform and he appeared determined to keep Israel’s faith alive.

It says in 2 Chronicles 17:3-4 “the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; but sought to the LORD God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.” Like David, Jehoshaphat led by example. Before he did anything to change the people, Jehoshaphat made sure his own house was in order.

Jehoshaphat understood that the key to his success was living consistently with God’s word, obeying his commandments. Jehoshaphat did not try to fake it. He actually read God’s word and then he sent the Levites out “and they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the LORD with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people” (2 Chronicles 17:9).

As a result of Jehoshaphat’s effort, the nations surrounding Judah saw a change taking place “and the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat” (2 Chronicles 17:10). Jehoshaphat managed to revive his kingdom to the point where no one dared to take him on because they knew God was on his side.

A double life

After Jeroboam and then Baasha reigned over the northern kingdom of Israel, there was a steady decline in the moral character of the nation’s kings. Beginning with Omri and then later his son Ahab, established Samaria as an alternate royal city or capital of Israel. Ahab had a foreign wife named Jezebel who influenced him to worship and serve the god Baal. It says in 1 Kings 16:32-33 that Ahab “reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.”

The primary offense of Ahab was that he established a house of worship for Baal, aka Satan. Even though the gods of the Canaanites were never linked to Satan, the Israelites knew that rebellion against God meant cooperation with his enemy, the devil. I think it is safe to assume that Ahab was under the influence of Satan and his marriage to Jezebel opened the door for him to become an instrument of destruction against God’s kingdom both in the physical and spiritual realms. Ahab’s evil actions were intentional. He knew what he was doing was wrong and he did it anyway.

In light of Ahab’s wicked behavior, it seems surprising that his son’s names reflected a relationship with God. Ahab’s oldest son’s name, Ahaziah meant “The LORD grasps” and the younger son’s name, Jehoram meant “The LORD is exalted.” The reason Ahab gave his sons these names is unknown, but it could be an indication that Ahab was leading a double life. Although he openly worshipped Baal, Ahab’s heart may have belonged to God. That could explain why he remained in power for 20 years in spite of his evil practices.

Ahab did not choose to marry Jezebel. The marriage was arranged by his father Omri in order to seal an alliance with Ethbaal, the ruler of Tyre and Sidon. It is likely Ahab agreed to the marriage to please his father and he probably built the house of worship for Baal to honor his father’s intentions in the alliance with Ethbaal. As much as Ahab was responsible for his evil actions, he was also following in the footsteps of his father as Solomon had done with his father David. Ahab was surrounded by wicked men that had been rebelling against God for decades. Ahab’s greatest crime may have been that he wanted to have it both ways, to worship God and Satan, so that all his bases would be covered.

Division

The divided kingdom of Israel represents the two areas of a believer’s life that can also sometimes get divided, the secular and the sacred. The area of a believer’s life referred to as the secular involves things like a job or the work we do, our family or the community in which we live, and careers that affect the choices we make. The sacred area of our lives clearly belong to God and involve such things as going to church or a synagogue, reading the Bible, and prayer. The way God dealt with the divided kingdom of Israel demonstrates his sovereignty over all areas of our lives.

Judah, the southern part of the kingdom, remained under the control of king David’s descendants. Judah correlates to the sacred area of our lives. The temple that existed within Judah’s borders made it possible for the people to connect with God and worship him as he prescribed in the Mosaic Law. The rest of Israel was governed by kings appointed by God to make sure the nation continued to exist until God’s plan for his people was accomplished. Secular activities are necessary to sustain life. Otherwise, God could have wiped out the rest of Israel and left Judah on its own.

Even though God sustained the entire nation of Israel, he did not protect the northern kingdom of Israel in the same way he did Judah. When God brought judgment on king Jeroboam for his idolatry, God destroyed his entire household. Not one descendant of Jeroboam was left when Baasha took over as king (1 Kings 15:29). The extermination of Jeroboam and his descendants conveyed the message that God would not tolerate pagan worship. What he wanted his people to understand was that they could shut him out of their everyday lives, but he was still their God and would discipline them as he saw fit.

The wars that took place between Asa and Baasha king of Israel (1 Kings 15:32) are similar to the internal conflict that a believer experiences when the secular and sacred areas of their lives get disconnected. The man that goes to church every Sunday and has an ongoing affair with his secretary will not sleep peacefully at night unless he is a psychopath. Guilt will eventually cause him to quit going to church or stop having the affair.

A clear pathway

Solomon said, “Where there is not vision, the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he” (Proverbs 29:18). If you relate it to driving, this proverb makes a lot of sense. Obviously, we can’t drive blindfolded. If we did, we would end up in an accident pretty quickly. When we obey the traffic laws, we avoid getting tickets and usually arrive at our destination on time.

The Bible often compares life to a journey and heaven as the destination we want to arrive at. In this context, vision can be thought of as a clear view of the spiritual realm in which God exists. When we ignore or don’t pay attention to spiritual things, we ultimately end up in the wrong place, hell.

God’s laws are meant to be signposts that point us in the right direction. Sin is sometimes referred to as missing the mark. Another way to think of it is making a wrong turn or missing your exit on the freeway. Sin keeps us from reaching our destination. Therefore, we are much better off if we do what God tells us to.

Aside from reaching our final destination, heaven, our life’s journey includes lessons or pit stops along the way that refresh and restore us so that we don’t get worn out from our travels. Having a vision or road map helps us to not miss the exit when the next gas station is 100 miles away and our gas tank is almost empty. This is what I believe Solomon meant when he said, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). He wasn’t talking about ending up in hell. He was referring to a loss of time or lack of progress. In essence, your life being put on hold.

Keeping God’s law is not so much about what we do as it is about what God does. When we obey God, He protects us and keeps us from harm. The word translated keepeth in the phrase “keepeth the law” (Proverbs 29:18) is shamar. Shamar means to hedge about or guard. “The word also means ‘to keep’ in the sense of ‘watching over’ or giving attention to (8104). As we pay attention to God’s traffic signals, He keeps us away from detours and makes sure we don’t end up in a ditch.

Faith

A constant in Israel’s history after they entered the Promised Land was that they achieved military victories when they relied on the LORD and were defeated when they did not. After the kingdom was divided, the LORD began to protect Judah when they fought against the rest of the nation of Israel. It says in 2 Chronicles 13:18, “Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers.”

Even though Judah had less military strength, they were able to live securely and were blessed by God. Through the prophet Azariah, God delivered a message to Asa, saying, “The LORD is with you, while you be with him; and if you seek him, he will be found of you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you” (2 Chronicles 15:2). The words with, seek, and found, as well as forsake, have to do with location. They convey the idea of traveling together, what we refer to today as walking with the Lord.

The notion that God could or should be found, implied that he was not restricted to the temple as most people thought. The Hebrew word translated found in 2 Chronicles 15:2 is mâtsâ’ (maw – tsaw´). “Matsa’ refers to ‘finding’ someone or something that is lost or misplaced, or ‘finding’ where it is” (4672). Properly translated, matsa’ means to come forth, to appear or exist. God wanted to live among his people and be a part of their everyday lives. In order for that to be possible, the people had to pay attention to what was going on in the spiritual realm. They had to seek God with their heart so that they could get their spiritual eyes on him.

The problem was that the people had no faith. The material world was constantly vying for the Israelites attention. When Asa, king of Judah got a message from the LORD, he listened and obeyed, but when it came to asking for help, Asa relied on the wealth of resources around him. In particular, the alliances Solomon formed with the nations surrounding Israel became a stumbling block to Asa. Toward the end of Asa’s reign, when Israel came up against Judah, instead of seeking the LORD, Asa asked the king of Syria for help.

A prophet in the Old Testament was sometimes referred to as a “seer” (2 Chronicles 16:7). The term seer literally means to see (7200), so the question then is, what did they see? Although it is likely a seer had dreams and visions, messages from God in pictorial form, it is possible that a seer was someone who could perceive the spiritual realm and was aware of God’s activity. In 2 Chronicles 16:7-9 is recorded a message delivered to Asa by Hanani the seer. Hanani does not say, thus says the LORD and there is no indication that the LORD sent Hanani to Asa to deliver a message. It could be that Hanani was merely communicating to Asa what he had seen, what he was aware of with regards to Asa’s relationship with the LORD.

After Asa received the message, it says in 2 Chronicles 16:10, “Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing.” Asa had not committed a sin. His heart was perfect toward the LORD. The only thing Hanani pointed out to Asa was that he had acted foolishly by relying on the king of Syria instead of God. I believe the reason Asa went into a rage was because he had been found out. Hanani told Asa what was in his heart. Asa had lost his faith.