Ben-Hadad attacks Samaria (capital of Israel, the Northern 10 tribes), not once, but twice.....the Lord allows victory through the Israeli army. Interesting that a prophet who is not named gives the word of the Lord and victory to Ahab. The victory is rather ironic, because it is so that Ahab will now that God is Lord.....as the King of Israel, he should have known that...but Jezebel got to him with her pagan gods.
A prophet then condemns Ahab....he has to disguise himself because Ahab tends to avoid prophets....Ahab made the mistake of entering into a treaty with a man whom God had marked to die...the prophet says, "This is what the Lird 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.
Now Naboth has a vineyard he has inherited and spoiled old King Ahab wants it....Levitical law says that he can keep his ancesteral land.....Ahab goes home to pout and Jezebel says she'll fix it for him.....she goes around the law, has him at a trial, has the witnessess lie, and gets him stoned....(the rocks not the drugs!) Now, Jezebel has the infamous title of the most evil woman in the Bible. The Bible uses her name as an example of people who completely reject God (Revelation 2: 20, 21)...word of this gets to Elijah and he prophesizes disaster for the royal family....Ahab humbles himself and God delays the divine punishment...God wants to be merciful! It is His nature......it is never too late to humble yourself.
Look what comes up from the depths of the sea.
After you read, feel free to make a comment or ask a question in the comment box. You can sign up as a follower on the right, or you can sign up by e-mail at the bottom if you would like to follow the whole year. You may also chose to simply read along and make no comments. Whatever you choose. If you fall behind, as most people will do, don't worry...the whole year is here and you can catch up at your own speed. I highly encourage you to stick with it, If you read the Bible, you are going to mine some real jewels and insights.
Please refresh me on who Ben hadad is and what kind of a person he is......
ReplyDeleteAnd Ahab is basically not a good guy and does bad things and his wife...Jezebel....is just a mean woman.....
Are Ahab and and Ben Hadad really brothers?
And how do we know God had Ben Hadad marked to die? I guess i'm not getting these two chapters....and who is the man of the sons of the prophets who akded a man to strike him and he didn't and got killed by a lion......was that man a prophet and was it Ahab he was waiting for..... and Ahab realized he did something against the Lord so now he too shall die.... woooo....lots of questions tonite and I am just in chapter 20...
Now to chapter 21...
now Jezebel does not sound like a christian woman but a spoiled brat who pitches a fit if she doesn't get her way....how mean to have someone stoned for not giving you what you want..... but my bible points out that even though Naboth lost his life for obeying God, while Jezebel got her way for disobeying, God promises to set all accounts right and this life is not all there is...
Another thing my Bible points out is how poor choices made of a mate leads to moral and physical ruin. Would Ahab have been a better king if he married a godly woman?
I guess Ahab humbled himself and began to want forgiveness for his actions because God gave him mercy.
I wonder if he will realized his ways and change or if this humbling experience is just temporary......and if he does try to change, what will he do with his mean old wife?
Ben Hadad is the King of Aram (Syria).....he is a foreign power that the Lord uses against Israel...he is pagan. God wanted the king to turn to Him and not look at foreign powers to save him. Ahab didn't turn to God...he turned to human means to solve the situation because he was proud and wanted to fix it himself.
ReplyDeleteAhab is a terrible King and has the 10 tribes of Israel.....God executes divine judgment because he doesn't follow God's ways....Ahab married pagan evil women Jezebel who influenced him with her foreign gods.
Ahab and Ben Hadad are not real brothers, in verse 33 they are just talking about being on the same side after the attack because since Israel defeated Aram, Ben Hadad wanted to live...Ahab will defeat Ben Hadad's attacks for the moment.
Now, in 1 Kings 20: 35, "one of the sons of the prophet" is the same person as in the verse 36, just plain "the prophet".
This prophet needs to be disguised like he was on the battlefield so that he can get to Ahab....Ahab has a reputation of not wanting to hear what the prophets had to say (unless they were his wife's prophets) because they always spoke against him and he didn't want to hear it...so he avoids God's prophets. yes, Ahab realizes that he did wrong, but is still unrepentant and doesn't know when he will die in in 20:43.
Chapter 20 is kind of confusing....let me know if you need more clarification...
You are right on with your observations of Chapter 21.....Ahab and Jezebel have had prophecy/ divine judgement against them....Ahab humbles himself because he is frightened-not repentant...divine judgement will still happen....remember when it was decreed that dogs would like up Jezebel's blood See 1 Kings :20-28...just wait!!!!!!