1 Kings 20-22 - Dish Best Served Cold

Well, welcome back to the Bible Babels Podcast.

It has been a solid two weeks, really three weeks from today or something. Three weeks from today ish was our last episode. And we had Easter weekend, which is always a crazy time, a fun time.

We had just a ton of people in church on that day. And it was really great to be able to see some familiar faces that we hadn't seen in a while, see tons of new faces, and just really enjoyed Easter weekend. And then last week, we were...

Where were we, Carlos?

We were at a youth conference, a Thursday, Friday, Saturday thing. That's where we were last week, up in the... Up in the windiest part of the world.

It's true.

We found where all wind is made. And we almost got completely blown away. But we had an anchor.

A van?

We had a van.

We just stayed in the van, and the van kept us from flying away. No, in all seriousness, it was a great youth conference. Pastor Tyler Prater preached some great messages.

Very, very helpful, even for me. But really set for teens, hence youth conference. But just great applicable truths for anyone.

Talked about Moses and God's all sufficiency for our weaknesses. What he talked about. What are some other things he talked about?

Jacob.

Yeah, eat the beans and then Jacob wrestling with God.

Yep. So just some great, great truths that we were able to learn about and in a great time there. But today, we are finishing out First Kings.

It has been, what, 13, 14 weeks since we started in First Kings and with the two week sabbatical, we are now finishing up and looking forward to today's thing. We're going to hop right in and get started.

So in Chapter 20, well, I'll say this before we start. Chapters 20 through 22 are really all about God bringing judgment on Ahab. And it kind of comes in three different parts.

So you'd have, you know, maybe like in a play, you'd have the beginning of the play where it sets up whatever the problem is, the second part of the play where some of the tension plays out, and then the third part of the play where it's all

resolved. And you kind of get some of that here just in a microcosm. Obviously, we'd know from the previous couple of weeks that Ahab was not a good guy.

He had, he done tons of very wicked things, as well as just general idolatry, leaving the Lord, leading Israel away from the Lord. And in all of this, we've seen Ahab's wicked.

We've read the verses that talk about Ahab being worse than any king that was before him or after him, which is even more startling because it says that his dad was more wicked than any of the kings that were before him.

So Ahab is just the worst of the worst. And so in Chapter 20, Ahab is fighting against Syria. And if you'll remember, I believe it was last time we were talking about Elijah and he kind of nominated Elisha.

God told him, hey, go go make Elisha is going to be the next prophet after you. And so, what's that? Oh, he tells that to Elisha.

Hey, he's going to be the next prophet, but you're also going to anoint this king over Syria. And that particular king over Syria, the title would be Ben Hadad. There are several kings of Syria that have that name.

So, it could either be like Ben Hadad Junior or Ben Hadad the Third, or it could just be a nominal title like Pharaoh. So, Ben Hadad of Syria, he nominates him. I keep saying nominate.

That's not quite the right word. What would be the right word for that, Carlos?

Nominate.

All right, we're going to go with nominated for now. So, he nominates Ben Hadad, king over Syria, anoints him, sets him up, proclaims him king of Syria. But now Syria and Israel are fighting against each other.

And Syria in particular, they begin saying, oh, yeah, man, our gods, the gods of Syria are so much stronger than Israel's god, which is kind of funny because Israel has not been following god. They haven't been worshipping god.

They've been worshipping Balaam. They've been worshipping all of these other gods. But now Syria's talking smack about about the god of Israel, the one true god.

So because of this, god tells Ahab that he's going to fight for Israel and he's going to win because of what Syria has said. And god kind of gives Ahab and Israel some secrets of where Syria is going to be, where they're going to attack.

And so they defeat Syria several times. And Syria's finally like, man, we've heard that the country of Israel, we've heard that they're merciful. And so let's just surrender and maybe they won't kill us.

And so they go and do just that.

The only problem being that god had commanded because of the really pride and boastfulness and going against him, even though he had set up Ben-Hey-Dad, he had said, okay, you have to, to Ahab, you have to kill the king. You gotta do it.

But Ahab comes to a treaty with Ben-Hey-Dad and lets him go. So because of this, god tells Ahab that he and his family will suffer the fate that was supposed to be Ben-Hey-Dads.

So he says, okay, you were supposed to do this thing that would result in justice for wrongs that were done. You're supposed to kill Ben-Hey-Dad because of the wrongs that he's done.

But because you haven't, the punishment that was supposed to be Ben-Hey-Dads is now going to be your punishment. And it says that Ahab went back to his home. He was sullen.

He was, there's an old, did you ever listen to Patch the Pirate growing up?

I did not.

Okay. He's basically just kids, kids stories. There's a song that he wrote about this and it was called The Poochy Lip Disease.

Have you ever seen kids and they just stick out their lower lip and they're like, yes. Yeah, so it's that. So it's The Poochy Lip.

And they kind of jokingly said, this was what Ahab was doing. He went back to his house. But in chapter 21, what happens next is that Ahab wanted the vineyard of a man named Naboth.

And he offered him either a better vineyard than the one that Naboth currently had or the cash value of his vineyard. Obviously not cash, but you get the point. Which is a pretty good deal.

Like, hey, I will give you either money for this thing that you have, or I'll give you something better.

The benefit to Ahab of why he was offering this great deal was not just because he was so generous as a person, but because Naboth's vineyard was really close to some of the other vineyards and stuff that Ahab had.

And so it worked out well that all of his stuff could happen in one general location. The problem being that Naboth told him he couldn't sell his family's inheritance as it would go against God's law.

We've talked, I forget if it's been specifically in this podcast, much about the fact that so much of Israel's really property laws, all of those things that were set up by God were, hey, these families are going to live in these areas and they're

going to cultivate that for food. They're going to be able to sell and buy stuff from sale of the grain or the corn or the whatever you have. But it was really important that those families keep those plots of land that they were given.

They didn't sell them, they didn't trade for them. If you sold your land, you would get it back in seven years according to the Mosaic Law.

Ahab says, I'll give you something better than what you currently have, but Naboth here really says, okay, God has given me and my family this land, and I cannot give it up without going against God's command.

Makes me think of Psalm 16 where David says, along the same general lines, the lines are falling unto me in pleasant places, kind of going with the boundaries, the plot of land, what God has given me and my family, is enough.

And Ahab did not have that same mindset at all. Carlos, what are some ways that we can kind of be, the Bible word for this would be covet, of wanting other people's stuff? What are some ways that we can do that even today?

Because normally we're not like, hey, we don't have the same Israel laws, so when we go to buy a piece of property, it's not that we're trying to cheat people out of what God's given them. But what are ways that we can be covetous today?

We can be covetous in a way that's not only possessive things like money, status, but like relationships as well. You can be, say someone is successful and you could also be successful too, but you just want more and more. You want what they have.

It's like when you compare yourself to others and comparison is a big killer and even if you're a Christian or not a Christian, because when you keep comparing yourself to everyone around you, you're just never gonna be content.

So like, say Bryon over here has $20,000 and I have $19,000, and I was like, oh, I want Bryon's money because I don't have as much money as he does. It's just never gonna be what you want. You're always just gonna want more.

And when you keep having that spirit of jealousy or covetousness, you're just gonna end up like Joseph's brothers, you know.

Yep. Yeah, just always wanting what you don't have, specifically always wanting what others do have.

And instead of saying, hey, what God's given me is enough and God's given me everything that he wants me to have, it's God's given other people everything that he wants me to have or that he should want me to have.

Kind of like when was in Joshua, the tribe of Levi, everyone was getting land and they didn't get land, but they said their inheritance was the Lord. So like, that's pretty cool.

I thought maybe that, you know, they don't get land, but, you know, just like we get a relationship with the Lord. I thought that was a cool application of that.

Yeah, definitely.

And I think, especially in the age of social media, it can be so much easier to both be covetous and to excuse our covetousness, because we're like, oh, so and so posts a picture with a Lamborghini and me and 50,000 other people all liked it, not

just in appreciation of like, oh, that's a really cool car, that's a really cool picture, but sometimes we can be like, man, I really wish I had that car or I really wish I had, like you mentioned earlier, I wish I had these kinds of relationships or

these kinds of relationships with these important people like these other ones do, but just realizing that what God has given us is enough. It's really good. So this situation goes south really fast.

Ahab goes home and kind of whines about the situation, and like he literally just goes to his bed, and he's just sad. He's I have a one year old who has begun to want to try and throw fits, and we're like, no, we're not cool with that, bro.

And so Ahab is really starting to throw fit, and Jezebel goes, aren't you the king of Israel? She's like, chill out. I'm going to go take care of this.

So she sets up a kangaroo court. She sends the letters to a lot of the elders and officials and stuff in town says, man, we need to deal with Naboth. He cursed God and the king, and so he needs to be taken out.

And so they have this kangaroo court with a bunch of false witnesses that are like, oh, man, Naboth did this and said this. And so they go and they kill him by stoning him, which was a very, really shameful way to be killed.

Like, it wasn't a noble death, it was something humiliating to him and to his family. And so God, obviously, as just, is very upset with this situation.

He sends Elijah to Ahab with the message, dogs are going to lick up your blood from the same place that they licked up Naboth's blood, and they'll look up Jezebel's blood in Jezreel.

Anyone from Ahab's family that's like in one of the cities, the dogs are going to eat, and anyone from Ahab's family that is in the country, the birds are going to eat.

So he basically gives this very serious condemnation, which can seem harsh until you realize all of the things that Ahab and Jezebel had done. And then you go, yeah, they probably had that coming to them.

And dogs back in those days were not your friendly neighborhood pets, or even your faithful guard dogs. They were literally just street trash compactors.

So that's how you see dogs today.

That is how I have a biblical view of dogs, which is that they are nothing but trash compactors. And that's basically what God is telling them is like, hey, your family are going to die disreputable deaths.

You're not gonna die noble deaths, and you're not even going to be able to get proper burials because you're going to be basically discarded and unwanted. Ahab obviously is upset by this news.

I think it is somewhat important to realize here, he did believe that God was genuinely speaking, and his reaction kind of tells us how he felt about it, that Ahab then tore his clothes, he put sackcloth clothing on, he fasted, and because of that

like sorrow and really that repentance, God told Elijah that he would not bring that particular judgment against Ahab's household until after Ahab died. A lot of times, you'll see, especially in the ancient world, one of the things that would really

bring like huge judgment when kings wanted to judge people, like maybe someone had an uprising where they tried to, you know, have an insurrection against the king. They would then kill their family in front of them as like, this is all your fault

and this is like all of this could have been avoided had you not done whatever evil deed. And so that was a very common thing for kings to do. It was establishing authority.

It was showing the severity of punishment, but because of Ahab's repentance and fasting and putting on sackcloth and his renting of his clothes, God says, hey, I'm not going to bring the judgment on Ahab's household until after he's dead.

And then this happens in Chapter 22.

Ahab and King Jehoshaphat of Judah, who have not talked about in a very long time, because most of these chapters are all dealing with Israel, but Ahab of Israel, Jehoshaphat of Judah team up against the Syrians, and they're going to go into battle.

Jehoshaphat, however, asks for God's direction. He asks for a word of the Lord from one of the prophets, to which Ahab gets 400 prophets that are all like, yes, go fight, you're going to win.

And Jehoshaphat, to his credit, realizes, okay, none of these guys are real prophets. He was like, is there anyone that can like actually give us a word from the Lord?

And Ahab goes, there's one, Micaiah, but he never speaks anything good about me, only what's evil. And so they bring Micaiah in, and Micaiah mockingly says, he's like, oh, yeah, go, you're definitely gonna win.

And then Ahab's like, hey, you need to really tell us what the Lord says. And then Micaiah gives this story, and whether it's illustrative of the situation, or if this is actually how it happened, here's what Micaiah says.

He goes, okay, so the Lord is with some angels. And in the story, there are some demons that are also there by because of the lying spirit. And the Lord says, okay, how are we gonna trick Ahab into going into this battle so that he can die?

And one gives one suggestion, another gives another suggestion, and then the lying spirit says, hey, I'm gonna go and have all of these prophets tell him that he's going to win.

And Micaiah basically says, yeah, all of these other guys are lying to you. You're definitely going to die.

And then one of the other prophets, one of the 400 prophets comes and whacks Micaiah, and is like, hey, when did God's word leave me and come to you?

And Micaiah is like, hey, whatever, you know, whatever happens, that's going to be what really happens. And so they're going to go out to battle anyways. Ah, Ahab's like, hey, Jehoshaphat, um, you seem like a guy who is in charge.

Why don't you wear the kingly robes? And I'm going to wear normal people clothes. That way, you know, everyone will know, like, you're in charge.

Obviously, you don't want to do this because then you're the biggest target in the battle. Uh, but Jehoshaphat does it. And Ben-Hadad of Syria sets aside just this, this troop of people that are specifically only supposed to go after the king.

He says, don't worry about anyone else. Just go after the king. So, you have this troop that's just chasing after Jehoshaphat.

Jehoshaphat's going like the whole way. For whatever reason, for whatever reason, I picture Kermit when he's doing the whole running thing. He was going, I picture that in my mind for what happens here.

So, Jehoshaphat's going, the battle's not going well. I believe they lose the battle that day. But, an archer at some point in the battle's just like, I guess I'll just shoot an arrow.

There's a ton of people. Maybe I'll hit someone. He shoots it.

It gets Ahab. And Ahab's like, oh no, don't let me get captured or dishonored or whatever by the Syrians.

And so, he gets in a chariot and they go back and he ends up dying in the chariot as they get to really right by Naboth's vineyard, right where Naboth was stoned. Just like God had promised of, hey, this is going to happen to you.

And the Bible makes it clear. And the dogs came and licked up his blood just like God had said that it wasn't some sort of noble burial. But these unclean animals were defiling it.

In all of this, like it's a very sensational story. This is something that you would see, you know, in not sci-fi, but like a fantasy, like a fantasy book or show or movie. Like it's, it's sensational.

There's all sorts of crazy things that are happening. But in all of it, we see that God is just.

And just like all of the, all of the infants that were killed during Ahab and Jezebel's reign because of their worship of false gods, just as Ahab and Jezebel had killed so many prophets of the Lord that there were only, you know, there were a

hundred that, was it Obadiah? I'm gonna call him Obadiah. Whatever.

Yeah.

Yeah. That Obadiah had hidden in a cave and was feeding, that Elijah had to run for his life, that there was justice that happened.

And it was violent when it did happen, but, you know, the words of Jesus, they live by the sword, will die by the sword. And this is really a picture of God's justice, of there is a punishment for sin. The wages, the earnings of sin really is death.

And this is shown very, very clearly in the life of Ahab. Do you have any other thoughts kind of on this passage or on the general thing of justice?

Kind of like when stuff like this happens in the Bible, if you try to put yourself in the shoes of the children of Israel or people just that are there in that time, why would God be allowing, keep allowing these kinds of kings and rulers to this to

happen? Well, first of all, because Israel is dumb and they keep messing up and messing up, so no matter if they have a good ruler or a bad one, they're just going to keep doing what they've been doing.

And then second of all, even today, I mean, we're not getting killed and like all that stuff. Like, you know, the last year, right? COVID and all that and all these restrictions on churches.

That's mostly the worst part for Christians is, you know, churches that are forcing them to close. I think like Canada, you know, they can't even meet stuff like that. Then people would ask like, why would God be allowing this to happen?

Well, and then you forget about all these other scriptures, that all these promises that God has for his children, and we have to focus on the bad.

But we know that in the, you know, according to scripture that all things work together for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. And all these things that we forget when we focus on the negative. And God always has a plan.

So, you know, just trust him. Just like, it's not, it's not bad to ask like why, but, you know, don't just keep asking why. Just find out for yourself, you know, what good can come out of a pandemic and all that.

And you'll just, if you just really see, like, it just trusts him. God is working tremendously, I feel like over the last year, especially in the hearts of people that have been stuck at home.

They can't go out and do much, and churches are open, and they're reaching out to them in a time where they feel scared and all this other stuff. So, there's some things that God allows to happen that need to happen.

So, maybe you could reach someone that you've never had an opportunity to reach, and if you were able to reach that one person, then it was totally worth everything that you've had to go through in your personal life or with whatever the government

is doing.

Yeah, definitely.

And just the reminder that justice will come. That there's not going to be the final victory of the wicked. And that's kind of a constant theme through the Psalms that we see, that they go, man, the wicked seem to be prospering, Ahab and Jezebel.

It looks like they've been winning. They've killed prophets of the Lord. They're worshipping these false gods.

They're doing all of these unjust things. They kill anyone that crosses them or tells them no to anything. But God comes in and says, no, I'm still just, even if I have allowed a season of testing, of pruning, of all of this.

And I think of even the last episode with all of the people that saw the fire fall from heaven, that they got to see God work in a unique and an incredible way, that they would never have been able to see if there hadn't been the famine and if there

hadn't been some of Ahab and Jezebel's thing, but they were able to very clearly see He is God, all of these other gods are nothing. They're fake, they're fraud. And so I think that's super important to notice as well.

Well, we will be letting you know on social media this next week. We might even take a poll, actually. That might be that might be kind of fun on on what our next section of Bible Bibles will be.

We could go right into Second Kings. We could go to Acts. We could go to Judges.

We could go to Joshua. So we'll we'll take a poll and then whatever Carlos says will we'll do. But looking forward to to being back with you again next week.

Thank you so much for tuning in to Bible Bibles. Have a good one. This is Bryon.

Carlos.

Thanks for joining us. Peace.