Sermons
Bloody Judgment For A Wicked Pair
Series: Days of Elijah: God’s Righteous Mountain ManBLOODY JUDGMENT FOR A WICKED PAIR
Sermon Outline By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / March 25, 2018
There is a maxim that reads, “the wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.”
A more poetic rendition of this same idea states:
Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceedingly small.
Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.
The story of the great mountain-man prophet Elijah runs commensurate with the story of wicked King Ahab & Jezebel.
1Kgs.16:30 records, Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.
Five verses later 1Kgs.17:1 we are introduced to the prophet Elijah.
While their lives are interwoven, their deeds are diametrically opposed.
1Kgs.16:29 notes that King Ahab reigned over Israel in Samaria for 22 years.
The two decades that spanned his “kingship brought a mixed bag.
King Ahab was politically strong, but spiritually weak.
In the secular realm he was able to win the respect of both friend and foe.
In the religious realm, his syncretistic practices welcomed the worship of Baal and spelled doom for his house.
Whom one marries often tells the tale of their life, for good or evil.
Such was the case with King Ahab who married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians.
1Kgs.16:31b observes that as a result of his marriage, (King Ahab) went to serve Baal and worshiped him.
Our study this morning comes from 1Kgs.21, with vs. 25 providing of summary of Ahab’s life - - Surely there was
no one like Ahab who SOLD HIMSELF TO DO EVIL in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife incited him.
Last Sunday’s sermon closed with the end of chapter 19. Wedged between chapter 19 and chapter 21 is chapter 20.
1Kgs.21:1 begins - - Now it came about after these things…,
it will be helpful to our understanding of chapter 21 if we grasp the happenings of chapter 20.
Chapter 20 is a story of war - - in this instance it tells of a battle between King Ben-hadad and King Ahab.
Ben-hadad was the king of Aram.
While the Arameans (a.k.a., the Syrians) were most likely non-semitic,
during the time of the divided kingdom, Israel, Judah and Syria constituted a “quarrelsome triad”.
At one time Judah (the southern kingdom) and Syria teamed up against Israel (the northern kingdom). cf. 1Kg.15:18f
On another occasion, Israel joined forces with Syria against Judah. cf. 2Kgs.16:5
During this war between Syria (Aram) and Israel, God granted Israel victory.
Note 1Kgs.20:13 - - Thus says the Lord…I will deliver them into your hand…
What appears to be a good turn of events for King Ahab and Israel quickly goes south (or sour).
1Kgs.20 ends recording in vss.42-43 that one of God’s prophets said to King Ahab - -
Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I have devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go
for his life, and your people for his people. So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and vexed, and came to Samaria.
This text emphasizes the critical importance of doing things precisely the way the God directs.
Throughout the story of Ahab & Jezebel one can’t help but wonder:
Why does God put up with them? … Why doesn’t He swiftly bring them down? …
Why does God Almighty allow the two of them to continue to breathe His air?
We will attempt to answer this question at the end of this morning’s study
} Open your Bibles to 1Kgs.21:1-29 |
This story from chapter 21 has four main characters and a few minor ones plus God.
KING AHAB had returned from war to his summer palace in Jezreel and has decided that he wants Naboth’s vineyard.
It was located near the king’s palace and he determined it would be a handy location for a vegetable garden.
To Ahab’s credit, he offered to pay Naboth for the property or to give him an even better piece of ground in its place.
NABOTH, an Israelite who lived in Jezreel, owned this vineyard but he refused to surrender his property.
He wasn’t just being stubborn about the property, hes was honoring God’s command.
The Lord forbid me that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers. cf. Lev.25:23f; Num.36:7 and Ezk.46:18
Ahab returned to his palace once again sullen and vexed and laid down on his bed and refused to eat.
Ahab’s wife QUEEN JEZEBEL inquired as to why Ahab was in such a foul mood.
She listen to what she must have perceived to be a very weak response on Ahab’s part.
Then, in her ramroddish manner, she then said to the king, Do you now reign over Israel? i.e., Are you king or aren’t you?
I will get you the vineyard you desire. She then schemed to frame Naboth and have him stoned to death.
Using her husband’s signet/authority, she sent letters to the elders and to the nobles of Jezreel (vs.8).
Vs.9 gives details - - Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the people; and seat two worthless men
before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him.
This was a set-up job that likely involved bribery in persuading men to give false witness.
Sadly, perhaps providing a glimpse of the moral degradation of the times, the two worthless men
(not surprising) and the elders and nobles (unexpected?) agreed to take part in this sinister plot.
They did just what Jezebel told them to do and Naboth (and his sons/2Kgs.9:26) were stoned to death/murdered.
Jezebel informed Ahab and the king proceeded to happily take possession of his newly acquired vineyard.
Vss.17-19 records - - Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘Arise, go down to meet Ahab king
of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take possession. And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord,’ ‘Have you murdered, and also taken possession?’ And you shall speak
to him, saying, ‘In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth the dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.’
“Out of the blue” ELIJAH appears and when Ahab sees Elijah he offers a rhetorical question:
Have you found me, O my enemy?’ (vss.20-23).
Elijah answered, I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord.
Behold, I will bring evil upon you, and will utterly sweep you away, and will cut off from Ahab every male,
both bond and free in Israel; and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam…because of the
provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and because you have made Israel sin.
And of Jezebel also the Lord has spoken, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.’
The Hebrew word that is translated “sold yourself” conveys a habitual and constant trafficking in wickedness.
It can also mean to marry and may have been a piercing wordplay on Elijah’s part in light of Ahab’s marriage to Jezebel.
In light of all we’ve seen of King Ahab, chapter 21 ends in a way we do not anticipate.
Vs.27 notes that AHAB REPENTED: he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went about despondently.
While we might be skeptical as to his sincerity, in vs.28, God tells Elijah:
Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me,
I will not bring evil in his days, but I will bring the evil upon his house in his son’s days.
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At the end of chapter 22 King Ahab dies in battle (he is shot with an arrow in the joint of his armor while on his chariot).
1Kgs.22:37-38 - - So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. And they
washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood…according to the word of the Lord…
Ahaziah, King Ahab’s firstborn son, becomes king after him.
In 2Kgs.1 he dies and since he had no son, his brother Jehoram (Ahab’s second-born son) became king after him).
Finally in 2Kgs.9 we find the precise fulfillment of Elijah’s prophecy against Ahab (1Kgs.21:20-23).
Jehu fatally shot Joram (a.k.a. Jehoram) penetrating his heart with an arrow shot with all his strength.
Jehu has Joram’s body thrown into Naboth’s former vineyard, where the dogs licked his blood (2Kgs.9:25-26).
And then, finally, Jezebel, that wicked witch of the west is slain.
2Kgs.9:33f tells of her demise and it, too, was a bloody ignominious end.
She was thrown down from the palace wall and some of her blood was sprinkled on
the wall and the horses, and Jehu used the horses of his chariot to trample her to death.
2Kgs.9:35f / they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.
When they reported back to Jehu, he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by His servant Elijah
the Tishbite, saying, “In the property of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; and the corpse of
Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the property of Jezreel, so they cannot say, ‘This is Jezebel’.”
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Why did God put up with Ahab & Jezebel for as long as He did?
Perhaps it was that our God is patient (longsuffering) not willing that any should perish (2Pet.3:9).
Whatever the answer, we can be sure of this, “Vengeance is Mine says the Lord, I will repay.” cf. Rom.12:19
If there is any lesson that we can learn from this bloody mess surely it is this:
We must not trifle with God. We must not try God’s patience and goodness.
When we know that we have done wrong we must REPENT, swiftly and sincerely.
