So You Will Know

Prayer

Worst King - but the Best God (1 Kings 20-22)

This morning we’re finishing up another book in our journey through the story of the Old Testament, 1 Kings - though it won’t feel much different when we start up in 2 Kings next week, as originally they were one book, split only because the ancient scrolls were too long. Quick recap as we come into the final chapters of 1 Kings - the people of Israel are divided into two nations, the northern kingdom, Israel, and the southern kingdom, Judah. We’ve been looking mainly at the northern kingdom under the reign of Ahab and his queen, Jezebel, and their efforts to move the people toward the worship of Baal, the Sidonian god. God has sent his prophet, Elijah to contend with them.

So as we make our way through the final chapters of 1 Kings, 20-22, we’ll be looking at three stories concerning Ahab, who, in spite of the resounding defeat of his prophets of Baal on the top of Mount Carmel, he still has not learned his lesson. But here’s the amazing thing - God continues to show himself to Ahab in surprising ways. We see that in 1 Kings 20, where we find that the king of Aram, Ben-Hadad, has mustered a massive army and besieged the city of Samaria, capitol of Israel.

Ben Hadad demands that Ahab give him tribute and as well as family members he can hold hostage in order to ensure that Ahab holds up his end of the bargain. Ahab acquiesces. But then Ben-Hadad changes the deal, demanding more. This time Ahab and his advisors decide they can’t give in and the two armies ready themselves for war.

Then we see this, 1 Kings 20:13, Meanwhile a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and announced, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do you see this vast army? I will give it into your hand today, and then you will know that I am the Lord.’” So the Lord God promises to give Ahab victory over Ben-Hadad and his massive army. As always, the Lord stays true to his word and Ahab’s soldiers route the Arameans.

Now the Arameans foolishly believe that the only reason they lost was that the god of Israel is a god of the hills, he only has power there. So if they fight the battle on the plains, then for sure they will win, especially since they have the advantage of lots of horses and chariots. So the next spring they muster up the army again to wage war against Ahab and the Israelites, who again, are sorely outnumbered.

And again, the Lord comes to the rescue, 1 Kings 20:28, The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Arameans think the Lord is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

Then we get this Jericho-like victory over the Arameans (remember the story when the Israelites conquered the city of Jericho?!) - here, the armies face off for seven days, then the battle begins. Like the Lord promised, the Israelites dominate the the Arameans, who escape to the walled city of Aphek - where the wall collapses on thousands of them. Ben-Hadad pleads with Ahab for his life, and instead of destroying this bloodthirsty king, Ahab makes a treaty with him and sets him free.

Because of this, the Lord sends a different prophet to Ahab, 1 Kings 20:42, He said to the king, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.’” Fascinating to see Ahab’s response, vs. 43, Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went to his palace in Samaria. Ahab pouts and goes home.

We get more pouting from Ahab in 1 Kings 21 where we learn that Ahab has his eyes on a vineyard that belongs to a man by the name of Naboth in the city of Jezreel, which sits about 25 miles north of Samaria. Ahab offers a fair price for the vineyard, but Naboth refuses to sell. This is his ancestral land, the land given to his family by the Lord according to the covenant of the Promised Land - so it’s been in his family for hundreds of years.

And how does Ahab respond to the rejected offer? 1 Kings 21:4, So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” He lay on his bed sulking and refusing to eat. So, essentially, Ahab throws himself a pity party of one.

Jezebel is disgusted with him - he’s the king, after all. She takes matters into her own hands, setting a plan in motion to have Naboth murdered, killed by his own city officials based on false accusations made by two scoundrels hired to do exactly that. So Ahab takes possession of the vineyard. There’s a bitter irony here of Ahab and Jezebel killing their own innocent citizens and yet letting a wicked king like Ben-Hadad go free.

This time the Lord sends Elijah to Ahab to tell him of the punishment that Ahab will suffer - he and his family will be destroyed. Not just will Ahab be put to death, but dogs will lick up his blood - which was considered a great humiliation. In addition, dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.

Surprisingly, Ahab repents. He tears his clothes, puts on sackcloth and fasts. Now, this repentance doesn’t last. But because of it, the Lord tells Elijah that the disaster he planned to bring on Ahab’s family will not happen during his lifetime, but in his son’s.

This brings us to the final chapter of 1 Kings, 22, Ahab’s death. The story begins with Ahab inviting Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to join him in going to fight against the Arameans because there is a town that belonged to Israel that he wants back. This is the first time we see Israel and Judah fighting together - up until this point there had only been battles between them.

But before Jehoshaphat will go to war, he wants them to inquire of the Lord. So Ahab gathers together his four hundred prophets to inquire of the Lord, who all give a resounding yes, the Lord will give Ramon Gilead into their hands. But Jehoshaphat is a faithful follower of the Lord, and wants a prophet who is faithful to the Lord to inquire of him.

Reluctantly Ahab summons a prophet by the name of Micaiah - in his words, “I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad.” So these 400 hundreds keep going on about how great a victory God will give Ahab, and initially Micaiah agrees with him. I love this little part - Ahab is suspicious that Micaiah is not being straightforward with him, he makes him swear to tell him nothing but the truth.

So Micaiah tells him the truth, telling him that it will not go well for Ahab, in fact if he does to battle he will die. Micaiah shares with him how the word of the Lord came to him - this is quite a strange story, 1 Kings 22:19-22, Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’ “One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ “‘By what means?’ the Lord asked. “‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said. “‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’

So the Lord is sending a deceiving spirit in order to entice Ahab to his death. Think about this for a moment - Micaiah is explaining all this to Ahab, telling him exactly what’s happening (that the Lord is using Ahab’s own prophets to entice him to his death in battle). Ahab’s response is to throw Micaiah in prison and go to war anyway.

Now Ahab goes in disguise but a random shot by an arrow wounds him. Propped up in his chariot, he bleeds to death. And as Elijah had prophesied, when they wash Ahab’s chariot, his blood flows into the streets and dogs licks it up. This brings us to the end of 1 Kings, where we get a few quick notes on the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, and learn that Ahab’s kingdom passes onto his son, Ahaziah.

So You Will Know

Some wild stories, you end up just shaking your head. Ahab and Jezebel are quite the characters, truly terrible rulers. You can see why they are described as they are in 1 Kings 21:25-26, There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. 26 He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the Lord drove out before Israel. But that makes what we want to look at - or rather - who we want to look at this morning all the more amazing. In all these things the Lord does, there’s one driving motivation - as he himself says, so you will know that I am the Lord. God wants Ahab - and us to know his patience, his mercy, his faithfulness, his sovereignty, his heart for his people. It’s truly amazing.

That’s the heart he wanted Ahab and Jezebel to know. Consider all the lengths he went to in order to reveal himself to them. Consider what we knew about them before these chapters - they tried to replace the worship of the Lord with the worship of Baal, destroying altars, killing the Lord’s prophets, ignoring the word of the Lord to them through Elijah.

Even after the Lord revealed himself in power, sending fire to consume Elijah’s offering after Ahab & Jezebel’s own prophets failed so miserably, then sending rain after three and a half years of drought, they still did not repent! Their hearts were as hard as ever - to the point where they wanted to kill Elijah.

And yet, what do we see God doing in 1 Kings 20, as Ahab faces destruction from Ben-Hadad, his massive army about to lay seige to Samaria?! The Lord continues to give Ahab a chance to know him as he promises to give the victory into his hands. Remember the last thing the Lord said through his prophet to Ahab, “and then you will know that I am the Lord.”

And again, as the two armies meet on the plains of Aphek for their second battle, and again, Israel is massively outnumbered, the Lord promises Ahab victory, he is going to fight for him so that he will know that he, and he alone, is the Lord.

But Ahab doesn’t know, he refuses to know because he is opposed to the Lord. That’s clearly evident when he refuses to kill Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, whom God had given into his hands. The second prophet tells him the Lord is not pleased, that he is going to punish Ahab - and how does Ahab respond, he gets sullen and angry!

Pouts like a child, who doesn’t get his way. Love this description given by the ministry, the Spoken Gospel, “Ahab only sees God as opposition to his ambitions.” In spite of all the good, all the mercy, the Lord has shown him, he continues to defy the Lord, to not know him.

That continues with the story of Naboth and his vineyard. Ahab doesn’t get what he wants, so he pouts - a lot. Jezebel, when she doesn’t get what she wants just goes and takes it by whatever means necessary, even the murder of an innocent citizen.

Even here, when Ahab finally shows repentance - the Lord relents, he even remarks on it to Elijah, 1 Kings 21:28-29, Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29 “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.” First indication of any humility and immediately the Lord receives it and responds mercifully. Considering everything Ahab has done, that’s amazing.

Even as we think the third story, Ahab’s death, it’s remarkable to see that through Micaiah, the Lord tells Ahab exactly what he’s doing - sending a lying spirit to entice him to his death. The Lord is not hiding from him what he’s about to do. It gives Ahab a chance to respond in faith, to listen to the Lord and spare his life.

This would be the moment Ahab should say, maybe I won’t go to war. I’ll sit this one out. Nope, he goes right on ahead, thinking that throwing Micaiah in prison and disguising himself so no one knows he is the king of Israel will save him from what the Lord has told him will come to be. When the Bible uses the word “fool” or “foolish”, that’s exactly what that means - when we refuse to know the Lord as Lord, that’s foolishness.

Foolishness in the Bible has a moral connotation to it - listen to this from Psalm 14:1-3, The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. 3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

In my devotional time I’ve been going through the Old Testament, chapter by chapter - I can’t tell you how often that phrase keeps showing up - God tells one of his prophets he’s going to do something, and that prophet is to tell the people so that they “will know that I am the Lord.” God wants us to know him - know him for who he is, He is the Lord!

My hope is that we will not be so foolish as Ahab. That we will not have unbelieving hearts that keep us from knowing God, seeking after him. That even here in these stories we can know the Lord, we can see the truth, beauty and the goodness of God. That we will, as God hoped for Ahab, know that he is the Lord.

That our hearts would be amazed at God’s graciousness even to his enemies - the worst of his enemies. Ahab and Jezebel could not have been more opposed to the Lord - and yet, he showed them mercy, giving them victory in battle that they had no chance to win - not once, but twice. And even when the Lord has decided its time for Ahab to die and is enticing him to the battle and to his death, his prophet tells him exactly what’s going on - Ahab could have taken seriously the word of the Lord and saved his life. That, too, was an act of grace.

God is always acting so that we will know that he is the Lord. In these stories with Ahab we see a picture of what God did for us through Jesus Christ, the Gospel - the Gospel is God being for us through his Son even when we were opposed to him - “while we were yet sinners” as Romans 5 puts it. God sent his Son as one of us, to be with us, walk among us, so that we might know who God is through the Son. And not just by being here with us, the Son willingly laid down his life for us, so that we may know that he is the Lord. Know his heart for us. Know his love. To experience the fullness of his grace and mercy. As the Spoken Gospel puts it, “Jesus death and resurrection are proof to an unbelieving heart that he is the Lord.”

So my hope is, that instead of being fools, of living like practical atheists, we would continuously seek to know the Lord. If you think about it, this is an amazing thought - if God is truly eternal, all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful, we can never stop knowing him - there will always be more to the depth of who God, his love, his wisdom, his glory, that we can discover. The wonders of who God is will never cease. Reason we engage in spiritual practices is to keep seeking Jesus, to keep growing in knowing the Lord.

Disciplines to know the Lord in two ways - to know him with our minds and our hearts - CS Lewis’ analogy of the map of the coast - and the beach itself.

Discipline of Study - regular reading / study of the Scriptures, small groups, so many great books! Course on the Holy Spirit, reading book by Tish Harrison Warren (brushing teeth). Disciplines that help us be quiet before the Lord, to reflect, meditate, to know Jesus - Sabbath in particular (stop, rest, delight, contemplate).