Kingdom of Priests: A History of Old Testament Israel by Merrill Eugene H

Author:Merrill, Eugene H. [Merrill, Eugene H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781441217035
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2008-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Ahab of Israel

The Evil of Ahab

The impetus for Jehoshaphat’s various entanglements came from the northern kingdom, beginning with Ahab. Having succeeded Omri in 874, Ahab for the next twenty-two years presided over a kingdom that enjoyed a certain measure of prosperity and international influence—thanks to the energetic policies of his father—but that was also shot through with moral and spiritual decadence. As though the internal apostasy from Yahweh were not enough, Ahab married Jezebel, daughter of the Sidonian king, Ethbaal, and brought her Baal and Asherah worship into Samaria. For the first time, the cult of Yahweh was officially replaced by paganism and not allowed to coexist with it.[68]

The Ministry of Elijah

Rather than write his people off, however, Yahweh raised up one of the most fascinating and mysterious persons of all biblical history—Elijah the prophet—to confront them with their sin and with his judgment. Appearing suddenly one day to Ahab, the prophet announced that Israel must experience a few years of drought because of its defection from Yahweh and attachment to the Baals (1 Kings 17:1). Three years later (18:1) Elijah reappeared to confront the priests and prophets of Baal and Asherah at Mount Carmel, the site of a major Baal shrine. The contest totally discredited the pagan prophets and their gods. After these prophets had been slain, Elijah announced to Ahab that the drought was at an end. Baal, the alleged god of thunder, rain, and fertility, had been forced to retire in utter shame from before the face of Yahweh, the only true God, who had shown himself to be the source of life and blessing.[69]

Even this miraculous demonstration of Yahweh’s power did not bring Ahab to faith, however, and he and Jezebel forced Elijah to retreat to Horeb (Sinai). There the prophet met Yahweh face-to-face at the very site where Moses had met him six hundred years before. The meaning clearly is that the God of covenant promise was still there to meet his people and to bless them as they met the conditions of faith and obedience. The God of Carmel was the God of Horeb. And he was also the sovereign God of Israel and the nations. Evidence of his supremacy over all was his commission to Elijah: he was to return the way he came and anoint Elisha as his prophetic successor, Jehu as king of Israel, and Hazael as king of Damascus (19:15–16).

The chronology of the stories of Elijah is extremely difficult to reconstruct,[70] but the reference to Jehu and Hazael suggests that they were persons already known to Elijah. Jehu did not become king until 841, twelve years after Ahab’s death, and he reigned for twenty-eight years. It seems, then, that Elijah’s commission came late in Ahab’s life. We know also that it came at least four years before the king’s death. The basis for this assertion is that the commission was given before Ben-Hadad’s siege of Samaria, which in turn was four years before Ahab was slain in the Ramoth Gilead campaign of 853 (20:1, 26; 22:1).

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