1 Kings 22 A lucky shot

1 Kings 22

Following the defeat by Ahab of Ben Hadad there is peace between Israel and Aram for 3 years.

In the third year it appears that Judah's king Jehoshaphat, paid a visit to Ahab the king of Israel.

Ahab wants to recover the town of Ramoth Gilead from the king of Aram who has apparently held it for some years and they have not done anything to re take the town, and Ahab requested the aid of King Jehoshaphat in the attempt.

In principle Jehoshaphat agreed, but asked to enquire of God before committing, so Ahab bought in his tame prophets - about 400 of them and asked them "Should I attack Ramoth in Gilead" 
The unanimous answer was "Yes, go."
Jehoshaphat asked if there was a prophet of God there, and Ahab reluctantly admits that there is Micaiah, but he never prophesies anything nice and has rather fallen out of favour as a result.

Some of the prophets had gone to rather extreme lengths, one of them had made a pair of horns out of iron and said that Ahab would gore the enemy with them until they are destroyed.

The messenger told Micaiah that all the other prophets are prophesying good things and encouraging the kings to attack, and why can he not do the same thing?

Micaiah tells the 2 kings of Israel and Judah dressed in their royal robes to go ahead and attack.
Ahab does not believe this and orders Micaiah to tell the truth.

Micaiah saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd and let all the leaderless men go home in peace.

It seems that Ahab is a tad smug when he told Jehoshaphat that Miciah never says anything good!

Micaiah also told a story of how God would entice Ahab into destruction - eventually one suggested that he could do it by placing a lying spirit in his prophets, a plan God approved of.

Ahab ordered Micaiah to be locked up until he returned from Ramoth Gilead. To which Micaiah replied "If you return then you can be sure that God did not speak through me".

Ahab persuaded Jehoshaphat to go into battle wearing his royal regalia while Ahab went in as an ordinary soldier in a chariot.

The King of Aram had given orders to his chariot units that they were to attack the king of Israel and nobody else, and when they saw a man in royal robes they attacked him.
Only when Jehoshaphat cried out did they realise their mistake and stopped pursuing him.
Ironically an archer at random fired an arrow and hit Ahab at a gap in his armour.
The battle raged all day and Ahab died in the evening causing despair in his troops who left the battlefield.

After bleeding in his chariot for several hours Ahab had made a mess, and they washed out the chariot of his blood at the pool reserved for prostitutes to bathe and dogs licked up the blood in the same place that Naboth had been murdered.

Ahab is recorded as a very evil king who was anti God.
He was succeeded by his son Ahaziah became king.

Jehoshaphat was the son of King Asa of Judah - he was recorded as a good king he followed God but he did not remove alternative worship sites from the land. He built a fleet of ships to trade. Ahab had asked to help man the ships and share the profits but Jehoshaphat refused. the ships were actually wrecked before the even set sail!
Jehoshaphat was king for 25 years before he died and was buried in Jerusalem.

Ahaziah in Israel lasted a whole 2 years as king and followed the example of his father and king Jeroboam 

I do like the irony in this chapter and the death of Ahab - he went disguised into battle while Jehoshaphat went to battle in royal regalia (which would surely make him a target) 
Ahab is killed anyway by an anonymous archer who may have been shooting generally into the lines, his shot was really a fluke.

1 Kings 21 Naboth's Vinyard

1 Kings 21 

It seems to me that Ahab, king of Israel and his wife, Jezebel are really quite unpleasant characters.

In this chapter Ahab decided that he wanted to buy the vinyard close to his palace that belonged to a guy called Naboth. Ahab wanted to plant vegetables there. 

Naboth refused to sell the land as it was part of his ancestral inheritance and it was not permitted for him to permanently sell the land under the law of Moses.


Ahab went home again in a strop (the New International Version of the Bible describes him as sullen and angry, refusing to eat because he was busy sulking) because Naboth would not sell him the land.

Jezebel asked Ahab why he is in a strop and he explained that Naboth would not sell him his land for a vegetable garden.
Jezebel told Ahab to pull himself together and this is no way for the king to act - she arranged for a high feast to be held with Naboth as a guest of honour, but she also paid some scoundrels to sit opposite him at the feast and accused Naboth of issuing a curse against God and the king and they took him out on the word of scoundrels and stoned him to death.

They then sent a message to Jezebel and she and Ahab took possession of the land.
God sent Elijah to meet Ahab and Jezebel at Naboths vinyard and proclaim judgement "Have you not murdered a man and seized his property ?" Because of this dogs will lick up Ahab's blood in the same place as Naboth's blood had been spilled.

God will also wipe out the whole of Ahab's family, those who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, those in the country will be eaten by birds, nobody will have a decent burial. Jezebel herself would be eaten by dogs by the wall of Jezreel where she lived.

Ahab heard this and repented in sackcloth and ashes. God relented on his plan and he let Ahab die in peace the trouble came down on his son. 

1 Kings 20 Attack

1 Kings 20

At the last post God told Elijah to go and annoint Hazael as king of Aram - perhaps this is good as the current king, Ben Haldad attacked the capital of Israel - Samaria.

It would appear that Israel was under the protection of other, more powerful surrounding kings at this stage, and somehow Ahab managed to get on the wrong side of Ben Hadad.

Ben Hadad demanded the gold and silver in Ahab's city as well as the pick of his wives and daughters.
The king of Israel accepted these terms, so Ben Hadad upped the demand to everything that Ahab valued.

Ahab summoned the leaders of Israel to discuss the new terms and they advise to reject everything as he has gone too far - they were prepared to pay off Aram, but not at any cost it seems.

Ahab's messengers told Ben Hadad, that they would accept his first demand but not his second.

Ben-Hadad promised to reduce Samaria to a pile of rubble and give all his soldiers a handful as a souvenir.

Ahab responds by saying that boasts are far more appropriate after the battle than before.


Ahab actually wins the battle, and with the help of God's advice - at noon the junior officers attacked Ben Hadad, who was in his tent getting drunk with his mates.

Ahab was advised by improve his defences as Ben Hadad escaped and would come back and attack again next year.

The following year, Ben Hadad reasoned that they lost last time because the god of Israel was a hill and mountain god, and fighting them on the plains, they will win.

God told Israel that for this reason only, Israel will win because Ben-Hadad thinks that God is no use on the flat. For 6 days the two armies look at each other and on the 7th day Israel routed Aram.
Ben-Hadad flees the battle and eventually is persuaded to surrender and throw himself on the mercy of Ahab who made a peace treaty in return for the right to hold a market in Damascus and the return of all Israelite towns captured in the time of Ben-Hadad's father.

A messenger of God heard this deal and demanded of the closest soldier to hit him. The soldier refused and got attacked by a lion!
The next guy did hit him and the prophet then was able to give Ahab a message in the form of a parable.
The story goes that he was charged to guard a prisoner, if he escaped it would be his life for the life of the prisoner or a talent of silver (about 34 kg), but the prisoner escaped.
The king refused to have any sympathy.
The Prophet then removed the bandage from his face and the king recognised him, "Since you did not spare one who God has declared should die it is your life for his, and your people for his people"

This rather upset Ahab and he returned to Samaria in a huff!

1 Kings 19 "What are you doing here?"

1 Kings 19

At the end of my last post on the previous chapter we left king Ahab racing the prophet Elijah from mount Carmel to the city trying to stay ahead of the rain. (The first for several years as it happens, but that is another story) 

Ahab told his wife, the infamous Jezebel, that Elijah had killed the priests of Baal and in a dramatic demonstration shown that God is the real god.

Jezebel in outraged and issues a death sentence against Elijah with the oath "May the gods deal severely with me if I don't make Elijah like my priests" so Elijah does the sensible thing and runs for his life!

He left his servant in Beersheba in southern Judah and he himself went further south into the wilderness.

In despair and sheltering under a broom tree Elijah prayed to God that he has had enough and wants to die "Take my life, I am no better than my ancestors". He then fell asleep under the tree.

He is awakened by an angel with some bread and water and told to eat. This happened twice the second time "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you"

Having rested and regained his strength Elijah journeyed to Mount Horeb, which is another name for Sinai and is in the south of the Sinai peninsula.
Finding a cave, Elijah stays there overnight.

The next bit I'm afraid I cannot read without thinking of a line from the old radio show - The Goons, written by Spike Milligan - I'll explain the link which may not be entirely obvious.

In the Bible God (or the word of the Lord) came to Elijah while he was in the cave and asked "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
Elijah responds that he has been zealous for God, the Israelites tear down the alters to God and rejected the covenant and murdered all the prophets that God has sent and he is the last one standing and they are trying to kill him too.

In the Goon show there is a character called "Eccles" a bit of a simple chap played by Spike Milligan. When Neddie Seagoon (Played by Harry Secombe) finds him in an unexpected place demands "What are you doing here, Eccles?" 
To which the reply is "Everybody's got to be somewhere" 

Elijah is told to stand in the mouth of the cave as God is about to pass by in person.
First there was a tremendous and powerful wind 
Second there was an earthquake 
Third there was a fire 
God was not in any of these things that insurance companies like to term "Acts of God" 
Finally, in the aftermath of the destruction there is a very quiet whisper, and that is God.
Again God asked "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
Having heard Elijah's complaint, God gives Elijah some very specific instructions and told Elijah that he has actually got 7000 fellow countrymen and women that have not worshipped other gods and he really is not alone.

Elijah obeyed and he annointed Hazael as king over Aram and also Jehu as king over Israel to overthrow Ahab and destroy the wicked family line.
Elijah also called Elisha to be prophet 

There are some quite interesting points in this chapter - 
Elijah obviously needed some time out of the public eye and safe from the threat of Jezebel, rest, food and drink were what he needed to start with. Elijah went without further food and water for 40 days by the way - one of only 3 people in the Bible recorded as fasting for 40 days. 

Many critics of faith and religion will point to  natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and bush fires out of control and say "Where is your God in this situation?" 
Guess what - the bible tells us that God is not in the earthquake, winds, volcanic eruptions and other devastating natural disasters. I believe that God IS present in the aftermath where the aid agencies go in to make things better as quickly as possible. 
Unfortunately it seems that to live on a planet that supports such wonderful life, disaster and death simply cannot be avoided for without them the planet would surely be uninhabitable 

1 Kings 18 Showdown

1 Kings 18

Some time later, about 3 years into the drought, Elijah is told to return to Israel and confront king Ahab again, after this rain would come back.

The famine by this stage was severe in the land and Ahab had split from his palace administrator Obadiah, to try and find some pasture for the royal horses otherwise they would have to be slaughtered

Obadiah was a good man who had hidden 100 prophets of God while the queen, Jezebel, was trying to eradicate all worship of God.

Elijah met Obadiah on the road and told him to go and fetch Ahab. 
Obadiah went a bit nuts, "Are you trying to kill me? You will disappear while I'm gone and then Ahab will have my guts for garters." (that was a paraphrase by the way) 

Ahab greeted Elijah with a typically warm greeting "So you are here, you troubler of Israel?"
Elijah's riposte is equally warm "It is you and your family that cause more trouble than me!"

Elijah arranged for a show down on Mount Carmel witnessed by the ordinary people - a kind of, I don't think scientific is the right word, demonstration.
The test was that the true God should step forward and prove to the people Baal and Asherah were on one side with 400 priests and prophets and God was on the other side with a lone Elijah.

The challenge was build your alter, put wood on it and slaughter a sacrifice for burning but not set fire to it.
In a spirit of generosity, Elijah suggests that the priests of Baal get on with it as there were so many of them.
The priests of Baal started to chant, dance and call on Baal to set fire to the burned offering.
They did this for about 3 hours, from morning to noon. Around noon, Elijah started to get a bit bored and started winding them up.
"Surely Baal is a god, he must be able to hear you, shout louder, perhaps he is on holiday, or business trip?"
"Perhaps he is on the loo and deep in thought or asleep?"
The priests of Baal went a bit mental and started to cut themselves and shout louder, but no fire, not even a lightening bolt or any response from Baal.

They carried on with this all day and as the sun set Elijah called the people- he built an alter using 12 uncut stones, he laid the wood on it and arranged the sacrifice, and dug a trench around it.
He then asked for 4 large jars of water to be bought and poured over the whole offering. he then ordered the action repeated 2 more times.
Given that they are at the top of a mountain, and into 3 years without rain - I suspect that this act would have been quite difficult. Having said that, God would now have a bit more effort with the fire.

Elijah prayed a simple prayer to God, that he would show his power in Israel.
Fire from God came down and burned the sacrifice, wood, stones and evaporated all the water.
At this Israel believed in God and at Elijah's command killed all 400 priests of Baal 

To Ahab, Elijah urged him to eat and drink something as he could hear the sound of rain in the distance.
Elijah continued in prayer and asked his servant to see what he saw in the sky, 6 times he said nothing, the 7th time he saw a cloud as big as a man's fist.
Eliah told Ahab to get into his chariot and ride for his city otherwise he would be bogged down, God gave Elijah power and he outran Ahab and his chariot back to town

This chapter has some really great drama and special effects worthy of an Indiana Jones ending!

1 Kings 17 Elijah

1 Kings 17

We saw at the end of the last chapter that Ahab was a particularly nasty king who did not just ignore the ways of God but positively is hostile to God.

Against Ahab and the moral degeneration God raised up a new breed of messenger, the prophets, starting with Elijah.
Elijah started his mission be announcing a prolonged drought on the land of Israel. He is then told to make himself scarce in the Kerith ravine where there is water to drink. God arranges that Elijah is fed morning and evening by ravens bringing him food.

Eventually since no rain or dew has fallen the brook ran dry and Elijah is told to head to Zarephath in Sidon where he meets a widow who is gathering sticks to make a fire.
Elijah asked her for some food and she explained patiently that she lived with her son and all they had to eat was a small amount of flour and olive oil and no chance of any more food to come, so this was going to be her and her son's last meal and they would starve to death very soon.
Elijah told her that if she shares her last meal with him she and her son would not starve.
Elijah winds up lodging with the widow an her son and the small amount of flour and oil never ran out and they lived.

Some time later the widow's son became seriously ill and stopped breathing. The widow asked him "what do you have against me man of God?, did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?"


Elijah asked for the sons body and prayed to God "Lord my God have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with by causing her son to die?" He laid the body on the bed and stretched himself over the boy and prayed 3 times "Lord my God, let this boys life return to him".

The boy's life was returned and he came around. Elijah re-united him with his mother.

1 Kings 16 Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab - kings for a bit

1 Kings 16

Baasha was king of Israel in Tirzah for 24 years, but he followed the example of Jeroboam, and God sent a message that his family would be wiped out. Having gone to the trouble of raising up a king, the king basically ignoring God was not appreciated!

Elah, son of Baasha became the next king and he managed to rule for 2 years, until he was assassinated by 

Zimri - one of Elah's palace officials assassinated the king as he was getting drunk at the house of a friend of his Arza the palace administrator. Once on the throne he wiped out Baasha and Elah's entire family and all their friends.
Zimri was king for all of a week, yes only a week, though they are still recorded in the annals of the kings of Israel apparently.
Zimri died when the army led by Omri laid siege to Tirzah and he burned the palace down around him.
I'm impressed, the shortest monarch reign in England was 9 days and that was Lady Jane Grey in 1554!

Omri managed to come out on top of the power struggle following Zimri's death and he became the next king and reigned for 12 years.
The Bible is quite scathing about his character - he followed completely the example of Jeroboam and made God angry by doing the same wrong things that Jeroboam had done.

Omri's son, Ahab followed him as king and set new standards in not obeying the law of God. during his 22 year rule he considered it trivial that he committed the sins that Jeroboam had committed, he married Jezebel (a name that is still not popular to this day) daughter of the king of Sidon.
He built temples to Baal and Asherah poles , generally doing more to outrage God than anybody before him.

During Ahab's reign a guy called Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. His firstborn son Abiram died as he was clearing the foundations and his youngest son Segub died as he was setting the final touches and hanging the gates to the city.
This had been foretold by Joshua when the city was destroyed.

Things seem to have got very bad spiritually in Israel, in the next chapter we meet another great character in the Bible - the prophet Elijah.