Reading: 2 Kings 20-22, Psalm 100
Oh, Ahab. We left the King of Israel fleeing the confrontation of Elijah with the Prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, which resulted in his wife, Jezebel, attempting to put Elijah to death. Very effective King, Ahab.
Now we return to his “reign” and find he has been wholly subjugated by the king of Syria. The king of Syria has taken Ahab’s wives and children captive (excepting Jezebel, apparently), asked Ahab to send him all the royal treasure, and is now sending his officers to raid whatever is left. This is finally enough to get Ahab to resist, and he musters the army of Israel. Which is 7000 men.
7000. Not long ago we read of an army of Israel in the hundreds of thousands. The nation is clearly degenerating. Ahab received word from a prophet of the God of Israel that he will gain victory over the Syrian army of 180000. They score a miraculous victory.
The Ahab goes and smites the Syrians and regains…. Oh, wait. He doesn’t. He makes peace with the king of Syria in exchange for economic advantages. The guy who threatened to raid Ahab’s closets for the last valuable things in Israel. Go Ahab. God is not amused. A prophet condemns Ahab for his small mindedness and disobedience. So Ahab repents and… Oh wait, he doesn’t. He goes home and pouts.
While engaging in the very important pouting, Ahab gets hung up on a vinyard owned by Naboth and complains to his wife, our hero Jezebel. Jezebel calls him out for being a loser of a king. Ineffective and weak. He has rejected the God of Israel, but has also failed to be a decent king by the standards of the nations around them.
Jezebel has had enough. She takes charge and gets the vinyard for him. And then Ahab stops her and …. Nope. He doesn’t. He lets her do whatever she wants and is happy to get his vinyard. God sends the message of judgment: he is done with Ahab’s house. Now Ahab repents. No, really, he does. God accepts his repentance, too. Pay attention to that. God accepts the repentance even of someone like Ahab. Now, he does not eliminate the consequences of Ahab’s sin. But he does allow for Ahab to die before it all gets carried out.
We now turn to the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat. Ahab goes to get his help against his old “friends” in Syria. Jehoshaphat insists on the consultation of a prophet of the God of Israel. We get another fun scene with true and false prophecy. In this case, it is very clear which prophecy is true, though it is a bizarre scene where the attitude of even the faithful prophet is deeply ironic and sarcastic.
Ahab tries a disguise. To avoid the judgment of God. This guy is really with it. Guess what? It doesn’t work. Ahab basically tries to get Jehoshaphat killed, but gets tagged by a Syrian Archer anyway.
The story of Ahab is the story of the total collapse of the kingship. Authority to speak for the God of Israel has passed to the Prophets, who speak covenant judgment. And even they are incredulous at the behavior of the kings.
The kings of Judah, at this point, are doing slightly better. The Prophets have accused the northern kingdom and pronounced them guilt. They have not yet turned to Judah in this way. Not yet.