Tag Archives: Ahab

Day 168 (June 17): Judgment for Judah during Jehoram’s reign, Ahaziah takes over Judah, Jehu anointed king of Israel, Jehu kills Joram and Ahaziah, Jezebel dies!, Jehu kills Ahab’s family, Jehu kills priests of Baal

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Welcome to BibleBum where we are exploring the entire Bible in one year to better learn how to follow God’s instructions and discover the purpose for our lives.  The BibleBum blog uses The One Year Chronological Bible, the New Living Translation version.  At the end of each day’s reading, Rob, a cultural history aficionado and seminary graduate, answers questions from Leigh An, the blogger host, about the daily scripture.  To start from the beginning, click on “Index” and select Day 1.

2 Chronicles 21:8-20

2 Kings 8:23-10:17

2 Chronicles 22:1-7

2 Kings 10:18-31

Questions & Observations

Q. (2 Chronicles 21:8): The Edomites were not a part of Israel or Judah, right?  Were they a vassal state also, like Moab?  They wanted freedom from paying tributes to Judah?

A. Yes.  Israel/Judah became powerful during David and Solomon’s reigns, and took on several vassal states.  But as the power decreased down the line, these servant peoples began to revolt against their ruling nation.

Q. (21:16): It seems ironic that God is waging a war against His Own people.  But, if we want to think deeper, He is actually trying to rid them of evil and reestablish himself.  He needs to show them who is king and who will provide for them.  Are the wicked kings too proud to admit someone is more powerful than them?  They shouldn’t, they are worshipping other idols.  I don’t understand if they are going to worship something, which they do, why deny God?  They know of His power, yet they belittle it.

A. In Israel, this whole mess began, as the end of the reading told us, with Jeroboam building the golden calves in order to prevent the people from worshipping God Himself.  Every king since then has followed suit, either by doing evil, or like Jehu, not correcting the original error of having set up idols.  Essentially, this is really an issue of control and power.  These kings are capable of controlling these other “gods” and using their “power” for their own purposes, but God will not be so easily manipulated.  The unwillingness to submit to the true God’s demands is at the heart of the corruption you have been seeing.

Q. (2 Kings 9:3): Why should this prophet have to run after anointing Jehu as king of Israel?  This scene is humorous.

A. He was telling the commander of a king’s army to commit treason against that king, and could not know for sure how he would react.  If the commander refused the order, he likely would have killed the prophet.

O. (9:13): We don’t see any deliberation here from Jehu about being anointed.  He took the task by the horns and ran with it.

Q. (9:19): Jehu is saying, “Follow me and you’ll see peace?”

A. He is stalling for time and not lying about his intent by saying he comes in peace when he really does not.

O. (9:30-37): The witch is dead!  And the people said, “AMEN!”

Q. (2 Chronicles 22:9): Jehu was Ahaziah’s uncle?

A. Nope.  Jehu was unrelated to Ahaziah.

O. (2 Kings 10:27): A toilet?  Now that’s some humor!

Q. (10:31): What, after all of that work for God he is going to follow Jeroboam?  I thought Jehu was going to be a really good king.

A. Relative to the other kings of Israel at the time, he was.  That’s why his family got to rule for the next three generations.

Day 164 (June 13): Micaiah alters Ahab’s plan, Ahab dies, Ahaziah takes over Israel, Jehoshaphat appoints judges, spirt takes over Israel to give them victory

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Welcome to BibleBum where we are exploring the entire Bible in one year to better learn how to follow God’s instructions and discover the purpose for our lives.  The BibleBum blog uses The One Year Chronological Bible, the New Living Translation version.  At the end of each day’s reading, Rob, a cultural history aficionado and seminary graduate, answers questions from Leigh An, the blogger host, about the daily scripture.  To start from the beginning, click on “Index” and select Day 1.

1 Kings 22:10-28

2 Chronicles 18:9-27

1 Kings 22:29-35

2 Chronicles 18:28-34

1 Kings 22:36-40

1 Kings 22:51-53

2 Chronicles 19:1-11

2 Chronicles 20:1-30

Questions & Observations

O. (1 Kings 22:10-28): What an interesting story.  King Ahab is in a hot spot!

Q. (1 Kings 22:29-35): I would think that after God spared Ahab with the Naboth debacle, he would have stopped his yo-yoing of following God.  He had to have known that Micaiah was speaking the truth.  He didn’t listen, and despite his efforts to not stand out as a king, a random arrow found him.  You can’t hide from God.

A. Ahab thought that he could be safe and be in control by disguising himself, but you are right, it was not the king of Aram that Ahab should have feared, but the King of Heaven.

O. What a beautiful story of God’s strength, love and loyalty.  Without Jehoshaphat acknowledging, praying and asking God for help, Judah would have been destroyed.  He moved all the people to praise God.  What a sight to see Judah marching out to face the enemies and the enemy camps start fighting amongst themselves.  How great is God.  I like what they were singing “Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!”

Day 163 (June 12): Ben-Hadad’s second attack, prophet condemns Ahab, Jezebel tricks Naboth, Jehoshaphat (Judah) and Ahab (Israel) join forces against Ramoth-gilead

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Welcome to BibleBum where we are exploring the entire Bible in one year to better learn how to follow God’s instructions and discover the purpose for our lives.  The BibleBum blog uses The One Year Chronological Bible, the New Living Translation version.  At the end of each day’s reading, Rob, a cultural history aficionado and seminary graduate, answers questions from Leigh An, the blogger host, about the daily scripture.  To start from the beginning, click on “Index” and select Day 1.

1 Kings 20:23-22:9

2 Chronicles 18:1-8

Questions & Observations

Q. (1 Kings 20:23-34): Did God have a purpose for the conflict between Ben-Hadad and Ahab?  Was this God’s planning or was it just two kings rivaling?  The Bible tel us that Ben-Hadad wanted Israel’s riches?

A. While on some level it is just rivaling kings, God is attempting to get Ahab’s attention by giving him military victory and foretelling this victory through these anonymous prophets.  It does work, to some degree.

Q. (20:35-43): This story is troubling.  Why would anyone, especially a prophet, tell someone to hit them and why would the guy do it. Then, the guys dies because he wouldn’t hit the man.  And in v. 42, is the prophet telling of Ahab sparing Ben-Hadad?  If so, that means Ahab must die?

A. Yes, this is an odd story.  The striking thing and the penalty for not doing it are indeed troubling.  But the larger story it the prophet disguising an injury to get close to the king.  When he is there, he uses a very similar technique to how Nathan tricked David back in 2 Samuel 12: he gets the king to inadvertently confess to his sin, and reveal the guilt he should have known about.  In this case, it was sparing the life of Ben-Hadad, which would have cost him his own life, but his later humility and repentance spares him this fate.  His sin still cost him his dynasty, however.

Q. (21:8-10, 25): I don’t think there is any woman in the Bible more evil than Jezebel!  Where did she come from anyway?  From v. 25, we can see the meaning in the nickname “Jezebel.”  Ahab seems to struggle between his faith for God and being swayed by Jezebel.

A. She was the daughter of a foreign king — we don’t know exactly where, the guess is what is now known as Tyre — who was given to Ahab to seal an alliance between the king and Ahab’s father Omri.  That’s about all we know, other then she was apparently quite a powerful influence on her husband.

Q. (21:17-24): Getting eaten by dogs is mentioned several times here.  That’s just a major insult?

A. Dogs were unclean animals in this era, and packs of wild dogs roamed outside of cities, scavenging and eating things that didn’t get properly buried or processed like bodies.  To be eaten by dogs would mean that you did not receive a proper burial, which as we mentioned was a major deal at the time.

Q. (21:28-29): Good for Ahab that he humbled himself and God spared him.  But, his descendants still get the punishment?  Will they have a chance to redeem themselves too?

A. Oh, that would be no fun to tell you.  You’ll see.

Q. (22:6-7): Here Ahab summoned 400 prophets and asked them if he should go into battle.  They said, “The LORD will give the king victory.”  But then, Jehoshaphat asked if there was a prophet of the Lord there.  But weren’t the 400 prophets that he already asked God’s prophets because they answered with the Lord’s name?

A. They were not prophets of God, even if they used His name.  They were some sort of pagan religious officials, but they understood that using God’s name would make their message well received.  They are basically “yes” men.  So you can probably see why Jehoshaphat asked for a “second” opinion as it were.

Q. (2 Chronicles 18:1-8): This account sure starts out more picturesque than the 1 Kings 22 version.  It’s nice to see Judah and Israel bonding together!  Will this continue?

A. To a certain extent, but in a few chapters, it won’t matter anyway.  Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading along.  We’ll keep going on tomorrow and the next day for more Bible knowledge to give us guidance in our own lives!

 

Day 162 (June 11): God Elijah and widow save one another, King Ahab and Elijah face off, Elijah flees to Mount Sinai, God isn’t done with Elijah, Ben-Hadad attacks Ahab, Ahab defeats Ben-Hadad

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Welcome to BibleBum where we are exploring the entire Bible in one year to better learn how to follow God’s instructions and discover the purpose for our lives.  The BibleBum blog uses The One Year Chronological Bible, the New Living Translation version.  At the end of each day’s reading, Rob, a cultural history aficionado and seminary graduate, answers questions from Leigh An, the blogger host, about the daily scripture.  To start from the beginning, click on “Index” and select Day 1.

1 Kings 17:8-20:22

Questions & Observations

O. (1 Kings 17:8-24): I have heard this story many times.  It’s a classic.  Through God bringing the boy back to life, God shows his love for man, his devotion and that man can trust in him and lean on him.  The way God weaved Elijah’s life into the widow and her boy’s life is very neat.  I was on a walk with my girls the other day.  Six or seven houses down we saw an elderly man using a walker and taking his trash out — not an easy task.  We stopped and helped him.  He told us about the medical issues he’s had lately, which have caused him to lose 20 pounds that he didn’t have to lose.  My daughter was wearing a shirt that says “God loves you a lot.”  He read it and affirmed the saying.  He said he was looking to God — I think for the first time — with all of his medical issues.  In the last couple days I have read Bible stories to both of my daughters: the good Samaritan and one where Jesus says that by helping others, we help Him.  So, my daughters and I agreed that we should knock on our elderly neighbor’s door and ask if he needs help.  We’ll give him our phone number and maybe even ask if we can knock every day to see if he’s all right and give him something.  There are those who need served everywhere!  Our church has a great prison ministry that I plan to help with soon.

Q. (1 Kings 18:1-40): The Bible is going through the kings so fast that it’s hard to keep them straight in my head.  Our last reading talked about Jehoshaphat.  He was king of Judah.  Now we have King Ahab.  He was king in Samaria?  Samaria was a part of Israel?

A. Samaria is where the kings of Israel established their throne and “base of operations,” since Jerusalem was in Judah and they needed somewhere else to be located.  Samaria will figure prominently in the rest of our story, including the NT (think Good Samaritan).  The location is in a hilly region in what is today known as the West Bank, near the edge of the border between Israel and Syria.

Q. (18:16): Did Ahab greet Elijah so coldly because he blamed God — and Elijah was a prophet of God — for the drought?

A. Yes, especially since at the beginning of 1 Kings 17, Elijah told Ahab that God was not going to allow any rain.  Ahab surely held Elijah responsible for what had happened.

Q. I would like to discuss prophets.  How did prophets get chosen?  We learn in this reading where Elijah was the only prophet left in his time.   Did there used to be lots of prophets?  We read in June 9th reading where one prophet sought out another.  And in 1 Kings 18:19, we read about the idol Baal’s prophets, who were a prophet by name alone, right?  There God was false, so they have to be false too?

A. Ok, let’s clear a few things up: this era of Israel’s history corresponds with a large number of prophets chosen by God to bring His message.  There’s good reason: the people need to repent of their sins, especially idolatry as in this story, which is the job of a prophet (of God anyway, more on Baal’s prophets in a second).  If you speak to a Rabbi about “the prophets,” he will likely mention the Jewish thinking that this era is the so-called era of the prophets: figures such as Elijah and Elisha (our next prophet), as well as many other important figures such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel (Jews are divided on whether Daniel is a prophet, but we’ll ignore that for now).  There is no rhyme or reason to “how” they are selected other than to say God chose them — there is no selection process that we are privy too.  God speaks to the prophet Jeremiah (in Jer 1) of the man being set apart from birth for God’s purposes.  It’s a really cool passage.  Prophets come from all walks of life: Isaiah is a royal official, Ezekiel and Jeremiah are priests, Amos is a shepherd, we have no idea about Elijah (there’s an element of mystery about him that resonates with people), and as far as we can tell, Elisha worked the land as a farmer.  Remember our saying: God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.  As to the “other” prophets in this story, we don’t know exactly what they did, but the suspicion is that they could have just as easily been called priests.  They were likely the facilitators of the pagan worship of Baal.

O. (18:26): This is proof that Baal is nonexistent!

O. (18:27): I like to see humor in the Bible!

Q. (18:46): Wow, Elijah got super powers from God.  Why would Elijah run ahead of Ahab’s chariot?

A. To be in the city when Ahab got to tell his wife, Jezebel, the bad news about her prophets.

Q. (19:1): I didn’t think we read anything about Elijah killing the prophets of Baal.  And, I always thought Jezebel was a big character in the Bible.  Will we read more about her?  Why did she have authority?

A. 18:40 tells the tale: Elijah has the prophets of Baal, and presumably Asherah, killed.  Jezebel will be around for a few more chapters, and it appears she has authority by controlling her husband.

Q. (19:6): It seems that a lot of folks in the Bible got by on bread and water.  Here, Elijah did twice: once with the widow and here when he is fleeing Jezebel.  How can they get by on bread and water?  I am concerned about my girls getting all four food groups to keep their mind and body properly fed … according to today’s standards.  I know in the Bible it says not to worry about what you eat because God will provide. I don’t think he would provide French fries and ice cream though.  Does the Bible say anything about eating nutritiously or are we really supposed to not worry about it?  I think this verse just means that God will give us food.  We won’t go hungry.  But I am curious about the nutrition aspect.

A. The Bible writers would have had almost no concept of “overeating” because almost everyone, except the uber rich, lived from day to day on whatever they could find to survive.  The Bible is not a dietary book — in the sense that we understand dieting anyway — it has bigger fish to fry.  Nutritional information and intelligent eating are modern concepts that wouldn’t have made any sense in that day, so God doesn’t bother including that information.

You surely can survive on bread and water — though surviving might be the right word for it!  As it relates to Elijah’s two adventures: in the first one, they probably traded bread for other things to eat or drink — like meat or wine, which was safer to drink than water in that day — and in the other, the bread and water were for ensuring that he survived the long journey, it said nothing about being his “every meal”.

Q. (19:8): Why did Elijah think he needed to go to Mount Sinai?  He traveled for 40 days and nights.  How is the number representing completion here — something that we’ve talked about?

A. Apparently the reputation of Sinai as being the mountain of God carried down the generations.  It appeared to be a place where Elijah felt he would be safe, and frankly, where he could hide.  God, of course, still had work to do with Elijah, so He sent him back to work.

Q. (20:3-4): Why did Ahab agree to give up the silver, gold, women and children?

A. Probably he was attempting to appease the king of Aram by giving in to his demands.  It is only when the King got greedy that Ahab showed some spine and fought back.

Hope you are having a great summer!  We’ll keep blogging throughout.