The decisions of a king

Photo by Carlos N. Cuatzo Meza / Unsplash

Last year, I preached a sermon on 1 Kings 20-22.

Yeah, 3 chapters in one 20-minute sermon. And while it was difficult to cram everything in, they actually flowed well together. Each showed a decision King Ahab made, revealed how God worked in ordinary situations, and confronted the reader about how we make our decisions.

Seeing as I have this blog, I thought I'd turn this sermon into a mini blog series where I could dive a bit deeper into each chapter.

But first, a bit of background

Who was King Ahab?

In 1861, British Archeologists discovered the Kurkh Monoliths. Two large stones that describe the reigns of two Assyrian kings from around 852 and 879 BC. It's important as it mentions King Ahab, the ruler of the northern kingdom of Israel.

He was part of a coalition fighting against the Assyrians and was credited with contributing 2,000 chariots and 10,000 soldiers — more than any other king in the alliance. He was kind of a big deal!

So you might think the Bible, the history of the people of Israel and Judah, would say he was a great king. But it doesn't.

Instead, it says

"There was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in YHWH's sight." (1 Kings 21:25, WEB)

As we continue this short series, you'll see some of the reasons why the writers of the Bible levelled this charge against him.

But there are other figures in these stories, too.

Jezebel: Ahab's wife

Jezebel has become a term that means a woman who is evil and scheming because of the wife of Ahab.

She was a Phoenician princess from Sidon, a neighbouring kingdom. While this brought trade and influence for Israel, Jezebel also brought in worship of Baal and Asherah. But rather than introducing competing gods, she hunted down the prophets of YHWH, the true God.

Sometimes, Jezebel is made out to be the one who leads Ahab astray, and while we'll certainly see her put forward evil plans, Ahab makes his own decisions.

Elijah: the prophet of YHWH

If you're somewhat familiar with the Bible, then you'll remember this is the King who had several run-ins with the Prophet Elijah.

Elijah's name literally means My god is YHWH (El means God, Jah is for YHWH). By the time we're coming into 1 Kings, Elijah and Ahab have already had the showdown at Mount Carmel, where Elijah defeats the prophets of Baal and then flees into the wilderness when Jezebel orders the prophets of YHWH to be killed.

Elijah will show up in one of these stories (explicitly) but other, unnamed prophets of YHWH appear too

The three coming decisions

In the next posts, we'll see three situations Ahab faces and three decisions he makes. We'll see the different ways he responds to those decisions and how God reaches out to him each time.