First Kings Chapters 21-22 Chapter 21 21:1 “Now it came about after these things”: A period of peace had followed the battle of Aphek (20:26-34), and the following incident will illustrate the evil characters of Ahab and Jezebel. Ahab was really wanting to buy a garden spot near his winter palace in Jezreel. Currently this vineyard was owned by Naboth. “The vineyard was not required for the public welfare, but to satisfy a purely selfish personal whim” (Smith p. 526). 21:2-3 Ahab offered Naboth money or land in exchange, but Naboth refused. Naboth was a God-fearing Israelite (one of the seven thousand faithful), who in obedience to the Mosaic Law refused to sell his paternal inheritance (Leviticus 25:23-28; Numbers 36:7). 21:4 Ahab returned home sullen, and vexed, and pouted like a little child, which seems to have been a regular habit (1 Kings 20:43). “He was like a sulking child who could not get his own way” (Dilday p. 235). Ahab did not have any respect for God’s law, integrity or honor, rather like many people he operated on momentary desires. Yet, at least Ahab backs down and doesn’t take the land by force—but Jezebel has no such scruples. 21:5-7 “Do you now reign over Israel?”: Jezebel was shocked at Ahab’s response, but for a different reason than we are. In her mind a king and queen should get whatever they want, even if they have to murder their own subjects. She was used to a dictatorial leadership style. “She decided to take matters into her own hands and show Ahab how her strong father, King Ethbaal, would have handled such a matter in Tyre” (Dilday p. 235). 21:8-10 Jezebel commands the elders in Jezreel to stage a kangaroo court to find Naboth guilty of blaspheming God and the king. Since the former was punishable by death (Leviticus 24:16), they were to execute him. The fact that the elders carried out this plan demonstrates how much corruption existed in Israel and how much power Jezebel possessed. Jezebel is careful that everything looks legal. Be impressed that Jezebel knew enough of the Law to use it against God’s own people. the wicked often try to hide behind God’s law when it profits them. Even Jezebel knew that you could only get “worthless” people to falsely accuse a man
like Naboth, men who would say anything for a price. Even wicked people know that many of the people who are in league with them are losers. “Since the property of public criminals in the ancient East reverted to the crown, Ahab would have his vineyard” (Dilday p. 235). While Jezebel is doing all of his in Ahab’s name (using his official seal), Ahab does nothing to check his wife’s scheming or even to express disapproval of her deed. 21:11-13 Not a soul in the city of Jezreel stood up for Naboth, who was a good man. It looks like the common people feared Jezebel much more than they feared God. 21:14-16 “Arise, take possession of the vineyard”: “Once she hears Naboth is dead, Jezebel commands Ahab himself to ‘take possession’ of the murdered man’s land. He dutifully follows her orders, having seen how to be the kind of king Jezebel respects” (House p. 232). Ahab does not even pause and reflect upon the death of Naboth, he is so self-centered that all he can think about is his new little vineyard. Confrontation Ahab and Jezebel may have been moving swiftly, but so was God! Everybody else in Jezreel may have closed their eyes to justice, but God has seen everything. 21:17-18 Elijah is sent to confront Ahab and God tells Elijah exactly where Ahab is, “behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth”. 21:19 God tells Elijah exactly what to say to Ahab. As Ahab is joyfully inspecting his new vineyard, suddenly Elijah meets him and says, “Have you murdered, and also taken possession?” The prophecy in this verse was somewhat altered because of Ahab’s future repentance (27-29). Instead of dying some ignominious death and having the dogs lick up his blood in Jezreel, he died in battle and was honorably buried in Samaria, but the dogs did lick up his blood as it was washed from his chariot (1 Kings 22:38). The corpse of his son, Jehoram, was cast onto Naboth’s land, however (2 Kings 9:2526). 21:20 When Elijah approached Ahab in the vineyard, Ahab tried to make Elijah look like the bad guy. To Ahab, Elijah is no longer the “troubler of Israel” (18:17), rather he is now Ahab’s enemy. “This diversionary tactic— calling attention to other’s sins (or supposed sins) to detract attention from our own, is a common characteristic….the criminal faults the justice system; the hypocrite exposes the mote (Matthew 7:1-3), and the indolent blame the system (Luke 19:21-22)” (Winters p. 158).
21:20 “Because you have sold yourself to do evil”: Elijah does not back down, he quickly reminds Ahab who was the real enemy. “Sold yourself” is the language of choice and freewill, Ahab had deliberately chosen evil instead of good. Ahab had completely surrendered himself to do what was evil (Romans 6:13,16). 21:22 The household’s of Jeroboam and Baasha were both exterminated! Because of his evil, Ahab will die and so will all his descendants. Like Jeroboam, Ahab had “made Israel sin”, that is, by condoning the calf worship and also by promoting the worship of Baal. God is especially harsh on people who cause others to sin, and even though Ahab had not actually killed Naboth himself—he was still responsible. God does condemn those who stand by and allow evil to go unchecked in a family or congregation. 21:23 Nor would Jezebel escape, the dogs will eat her, which implied the denial of even a decent burial. Remember, dogs in this culture were not cute household pets, rather they were scavengers. “In ancient Palestinian cities, dogs were not kept as house pets but ran wild in the streets as scavengers. Always hungry, they rapidly devoured anything edible” (Vos p. 130). 21:24 In addition none of his descendants would have a proper burial either. Ahab’s proposed vegetable garden is about to become his vineyard of blood. Jesus would later ask for what would a man would sell his soul (Matthew 16:26). Well, Ahab sold his soul for a mere piece of property! 21:25 The divine estimation of Ahab is clearly rendered: Ahab was the vilest of all the Israelite kings. In addition, he is condemned for allowing his evil wife to encourage him in things that were evil. God is not excusing Ahab or saying that Ahab could not help himself because he was married to such an evil woman. Rather, Ahab is being condemned for being a weak man and allowing an evil woman to dominate him. “The Naboth incident clearly reveals the social breakdown of Ahab’s kingdom and the extent to which Jezebel’s Phoenicianization had succeeded. Years of flirtation with pagan practices were taking their toll. The rights of individuals guaranteed in the Sinai covenant were being ignored. The king was no longer under the law, but was superior to it” (Smith pp. 528-529). God’s law is a good thing! When the law of God is followed, people are protected, we have rights and freedoms, and we can dwell in peace in safety, yet when God’s law is ignored, grace, mercy and freedom are also ignored.
Ahab Humbles Himself 21:27-29 Wow! You never know how people are going to react to the Word of God. Ahab, who had been so dominated by Jezebel, is actually convicted by what Elijah says. He actually manifested the outward signs of repentance. He rent his garments, put on sackcloth, fasted and even slept in his sackcloth. This was humbling for a man in Ahab’s position. At this point God is willing to postpone the judgment previous announced, which demonstrates the fact that God is patient and not willing for any to perish but for all (even people like Ahab) to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). 21:29 “But I will bring the evil upon his house in his son’s days”: “This is no example of the innocent suffering for the guilty. God knew in advance that the son would be worse than his father. Furthermore, the son would also have the option of repentance, by which still further reprieve could be granted. Judgment was deferred to give the house of Ahab another chance. How marvelous is the divine patience!” (Smith p. 529). Chapter 22 22:1 For a period of three years there was a truce between Israel and Aram (Syria). 22:2 At the end of this period, Jehosphaphat who had become king in Judah, visited Ahab. Jehosphaphat had succeeded Asa in Judah. In 2 Chronicles 18:1, we read that Jehoshaphat had made the terrible mistake of having his son Jehoram marry Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and thus he is allied to Ahab by marriage. This chapter and 2 Chronicles 18 record the same events. 22:3 The time period here is probably after the Battle of Qarqar (853 B.C.) in which Ahab had joined Syrian forces to fight Shalamaneser III of Assyria. After this battle Ahab had waited for Ben-Hadad to make good on the promise of restoring former Israelite cities (1 Kings 20:34). Ahab had waited for three years for the Syrian king to make good his promise to restore Ramoth Gilead (about thirty miles SE of the Sea of Galilee). This city was on the border of Israel and Syria, and occupied a prominent position on a very important caravan route. Ahab wants Jehosphaphat to join forces with him and attack the Syrians. 22:4-5 Jehosphaphat is willing but first wants to consult God and make sure that this is God’s will. Those Who Tickle Ears 22:6 Ahab’s 400 court prophets were all too eager to tell Ahab anything that he wanted to hear (2 Timothy 4:3), and all these men claim to speak for Jehovah.
22:7 Jehosphaphat is unimpressed, he evidently saw through the charade produced by these false prophets, and sought for some or even just one who would appear to proclaim God’s message, at whatever cost to themselves. 22:8 Ahab knew of such of prophet, but whined and complained that such a man never had told him what he wanted to hear (I wonder why?). Ahab’s self-consumed temperament emerges again. Note Ahab’s view of prophets. He thought that a prophet existed to give him encouragement in what he had already decided to do. Many people today have the same attitude, they think that it is the job of religious leaders to make them feel good and preach sermons which don’t require any change, but which only pat them on the back. The name of this prophet is “Micaiah”(mie KAY yah), the son of “Imlah” (IM luh). 22:9-12 While they are waiting for Micaiah, the false prophets are doing their best to please Ahab. Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah (kih NAY uh nuh), demonstrates that showmanship didn’t start with modern television evangelists. He takes iron horns that represent how the Israelite armies will gore the Syrians to death. While the two kings waited, they sat enthroned at the gate of Samaria; apparently there was a large threshing floor just outside the gate. “A similar place for such a throne with supports for a canopy over it has turned up in excavations at the gate of ancient Dan” (Vos p. 132). 22:13-14 Micaiah is immediately pressured to go along with what all the other prophets have said. The kings message urged Micaiah to “go along with the crowd, and don’t upset the boat”. Like any faithful servant of God, this man realizes that he can only speak what the Lord says to him—regardless of what people want to hear and regardless of whether or not it spoils the entire mood. 22:15 Evidently Ahab sensed sarcasm in Micaiah’s first reply. “Even Ahab recognized that Micaiah was mocking them all with biting irony and sarcasm. He was mimicking the baseless optimism of the smooth-talking court preachers of Samaria” (Dilday p. 244). 22:16 Ahab demands to hear the truth, which makes him look good before the king of Judah, but Ahab had never wanted to hear the truth prior to this. “Before he realized what he was saying, Ahab blurted out that what he wanted was the word of Yahweh. This was a tacit admission that what he had heard from the four hundred was not the word of the Lord” (Smith p. 531). 22:17-18 Micaiah’s first response is that he saw a vision of Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep which have no shepherd, and which must find their own way home. Ahab clearly understood that Micaiah was saying that Ahab (the leader/shepherd) of Israel would be killed in the battle. Once again Ahab is whining, “See, he never supports any of my
decisions!” The insinuation that Micaiah spoke out of malice brought forth a vigorous rebuttal from the prophet. 22:19-23 In his second vision, Micaiah described a heavenly scene in which the Lord and His hosts discussed the best way to get Ahab to Ramoth Gilead so that he might fall in battle. It was decided that false prophets, possessed by a lying spirit, would feed Ahab’s ego by assuring him of victory in the projected battle. God does plot against those who refuse to repent, and He allows men to believe a lie, if they don’t want to believe the truth (2 Thess. 2:10-12). God is not the author of falsehood or error, but He allows deception to occur. Ahab wished to be guided by false prophets. The justice of God permitted him to be so guided. There is some question concerning the “spirit” in this section. God does have communication with the devil (Job 1:6-12), and does allow the devil and his messengers to test His servants (Job 1:6-12; 2 Corinthians 12:1-5). He also allows evil to delude those who have manifested that they do not want the truth (2 Thess. 2:10-12). “God only allowed lying spirits to bolster what was already his (Ahab’s) hearts’ firm intent” (Winters p. 163). It does not appear to me that the “spirit” would be an angel, for that would involve an angelic being in falsehood, and we cannot link God with falsehood in this section, for God is warning Ahab in advance that this is exactly what is presently happening. He had announced before Ahab even goes into battle that a lying spirit has been placed in the mouths of his prophets! Therefore, God is giving Ahab one more chance to break from idolatry, dismiss the false prophets and turn to Him. 22:23-24 At this point Zedekiah tries to save face and do some damage control. He slapped Micaiah on the face, inquiring as to how the Spirit of the Lord had gone from himself to go to Micaiah. Micaiah had a prophecy for Zedekiah, also. Zedekiah would understand Micaiah’s prophecy fully in that day when he would hide himself from the enemy in an inner room (25). Apparently, Zedekiah is arguing that the lying spirit was the one who spoke through Micaiah. 22:26-27 Ahab has had enough of Micaiah and orders him thrown into prison and placed on a starvation diet of bread and water—until he safely returns. 22:28 Micaiah gets in the last word, if Ahab does safely return, then he has not spoken through Micaiah.. “He stakes his calling and reputation on the veracity of his comments” (House p. 238). 22:29 Despite Jehoshaphat’s insistence on hearing the Word of God, it appears that he had a greater loyalty to Ahab than to God.
22:30 On the eve of the battle Ahab come up with what he thought was an ingenious plan to frustrate the dire predictions which had been made against him. Micaiah had seen Israel scattered as sheep having no master. To thwart this prediction, Ahab decided in effect to relinquish his role of leader of the host. He decided not to lead the army, in his royal robes, rather he would disguise himself as a lesser officer. I am amazed that Jehosphaphat went along with this plan! But when we make one compromise, we become dulled in our senses. Ahab’s character is that he willing hazarded Jehoshaphat’s life to save his own. 22:31 The Syrian king wanted Ahab dead, this was probably motivated by the following: 1. Anger against Ahab for breaking the treaty with Syria. 2. Recognition that if the king died or was captured, the army would cease to fight. 3. The desire to kill the king was only so the army might remain intact to join him in future warfare against Assyria. 22:32 Once the battle started the Syrian officers headed straight for Jehosphaphat and were convinced that they were pursuing Ahab. The Judean king panics and cries out, and the Syrian officers perceived that this wasn’t Ahab after all. 22:34-35 God is not mocked or fooled! A Syrian archer who was simply shooting at random happened to hit Ahab right in the joints of his armor. Perhaps between the breastplate and the abdomen and thigh armor. Ahab bravely stayed in the battle all day and gradually bleed to death. 22:36-40 When word spread through the army that Ahab was dead, the call went forth to retreat. Ahab was buried in Samaria, while at the city pool, where harlots customarily bathed, they washed the chariot of the king. Packs of scavenger dogs licked up the blood that had been flushed from the chariot. This fulfilled the word which God had spoken concerning him through Micaiah, and through Elijah as well. Smith notes, “By his arrogant disregard for the word of God spoken by Micaiah, Ahab brought back upon himself the penalty which Elijah had foreseen, but which had been set aside as a result of Ahab’s repentance (1 Kings 21:29)” (pp. 537-538). Among his other accomplishments, Ahab had constructed an ivory house, that is, a house with ivory inlays. Excavations at Samaria have turned up quantities of carved ivory decorations. Jehosphaphat of Judah 22:41-43 At thirty-five he began to reign in the year 872 B.C. As previously noted his alliance with Ahab had involved the marriage of Ahab’s daughter Athaliah to Jehosphaphat’s son Jehoram. From 2 Chronicles 17, we learn that Jehosphaphat was enormously wealthy (17:36), collected tribute from surrounding nations (17:10-11), and had a huge
and experienced army (17:1-2; 12-18). In spite of his unholy alliance with Ahab, Jehosphaphat was a good king. According to 2 Chron. 17:6 he removed the high places, but not according to 1 Kings 22:43 and 2 Chron. 20:33. “This must indicate either that he removed some of the more important ones but did not fully clear the country of them, or that he removed them once but the people restored them and he did not remove them a second time” (Vos pp. 134-135). He did remove the male cult prostitutes from the land (46). 22:47 Here the nation of Edom is mentioned for the first time since 1 Kings 11:14-17. Since David’s conquest of their territory years earlier, the Edomites had been denied the right to have a regular king. Jehosphaphat apparently reestablished this policy, ruling Edom through his appointed deputy. 22:48 His shipping ventures are not as successful as Solomon’s, but at least he tries to recapture some of the glory of his ancestor’s era. According to 2 Chron. 20:35-37, the reason he is not successful is that he enters the venture jointly with King Ahaziah, the son of Ahab. “Because Ahaziah was an apostate, God had sent a storm to destroy the fleet before it could sail. Evidently Jehosphaphat was wise enough to refuse a second trading proposal. 22:49-50 Jehosphaphat dies and is succeeded by his son Jehoram. Thiele concludes that the 25 year reign of Jehosphaphat includes a three year coregency with Asa (872-869) and a five-year coregency with Jehoram (853-848). 22:51-53 Ahaziah, the son of Ahab is just like his father and mother and will only reign for two years (853-852 B.C.).