Oct 13, 2024
Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 16:29-33
Ahab was the seventh king of the northern kingdom of Israel. Much like the first king of Israel, Jeroboam, the name of Ahab became notorious as a standard of wickedness. Subsequent kings in Israel … and even Jehoram, a king of Judah in the south … were compared to Ahab in terms of his wickedness.
"Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him" (1 Kgs 16:29,30). Ahab's wife was Jezebel and she was completely given to the worship of Baal, the shameful deity of the Canaanites.
"Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him" (1 Kgs 16:33). This summary statement sets the stage for what happens in 1 Kings 20,21. Upon being besieged by the Syrians, God sends a prophet to tell Ahab that He would save Israel from them. It is pure divine grace. Ahab had not sought the Lord's help, but God spared Israel … twice … from the Syrian armies.
Upon Elijah's prophecy of the death of Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kgs 21:17-24), Ahab contritely humbled himself and God postponed widespread destruction in Israel until after Ahab's death (1 Kgs 21:28,29).
It is the prominent theme of the Bible … the wickedness of the human heart, on the one hand … and the merciful grace of God toward rebels, on the other hand. Of course, the apex of the display of God's mercy is the giving of His Son, that Jesus might bring us to God by His sacrifice for us.