TWO KINDS OF MEN
Light and dark, wet and dry, heads and tails cold and hot. These are things that are opposite of one another. In our lesson to today, we are going to examine two men from the O.T. that are completely opposite of one another and we can probably see ourselves in both of them to a degree. We are going to be looking at Job and Ahab. Hopefully, we look more like Job and less like Ahab. As we examine these men, if you find that you are more like Ahab, which we will look at tonight, it should help you see that you need to make some changes in your life because he is not a good example for to follow or to be like.
Job was an amazing man who stood out like the sun in the sky. He a great example of what dedicated servant of God looks like. In fact, notice what God Himself says about this faithful man.
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present
themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 And the LORD said to Satan,
"From where do you come?" So Satan answered the LORD and said,
"From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on
it." 8 Then the LORD
said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant
Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright
man, one who fears God and shuns evil?"
As 1 Pet. 5:8 says, Satan
was walking around like a lion, seeking whom he might devour, but apparently he
was having trouble finding a challenging prey, but God brings to his attention
His servant Job. Notice He points out four things about him. He is blameless,
upright, fears God, and shuns evil. Could you hope for a better description
from God than that? Think about how you are living your life right now. Would
God even come close to describing you with these words
or would be one of the many that Satan did not even see as challenge? Are you
shining light for Christ, or a light that is barely there because of sin in
your life?
I cannot say that I would
want to be tested as Job is about to be tested, but it would be a great honor
to have these 4 characteristics and to have God recognize that I had them
because it would mean that I living as I supposed to and I am honoring my
Creator. I hope each of in this room will always strive to have these 4
characteristics. Notice what happens next:
Job 1:9 So
Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 "Have You
not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has
on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have
increased in the land. 11
"But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all
that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!" 12 And the LORD said to Satan,
"Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand
on his person." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
Satan makes a valid
point. There are many people who have no problem being faithful to God as long
as the blessings continue. Job had a nice family, which included 7 sons and 3
daughters. He had plenty and had the respect of the people around him. Life was
grand. But take away the good times and bring on the misery and some of these
same people who would praise God, would end up cursing Him because of the
hardship they were enduring. Misery has a way separating those who are really
faithful to God from the ones who are not. Now keep in mind that Job has no
idea what is about to happen to him. He did not have a vote in what was about
to happen to him. Let’s see what damage Satan does:
Job 1:13 Now
there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking
wine in their oldest brother's house; 14 and a messenger came to
Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside
them, 15 "when the
Sabeans raided them and took them away -- indeed they have killed the
servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell
you!" 16 While he was
still speaking, another also came and said, "The fire of God fell from
heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone
have escaped to tell you!" 17
While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The
Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and
killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to
tell you!" 18 While he was
still speaking, another also came and said, "Your sons and daughters were
eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 19 "and suddenly a
great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the
house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have
escaped to tell you!"
This was no minor event.
If only the Sabeans had came and only killed some servants and took the donkeys
and oxen that would be one thing, but it was just beginning. Not only was there
an earthly force against him, Satan made it appear that God Himself was behind
it all. The servant assumed that the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed
the sheep and the other servants. Then the Chaldeans came and killed more
servants and took his camels. Then the final blow could also appear to come
from God because a might wind blew and caused a house to cave in on his 10
children and it killed them all.
Imagine yourself being in
his shoes. What would you have thought? Would your faith be broken after the
first raid? How about the second or third? What if just of just one of your
children was killed? Well, Job had all these things happen to him one after
another and he was left childless. Though the hedge of protection was removed
and kayos was allowed to enter in, notice what Job’s
response was.
Job 1:20 Then
Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and
worshiped. 21 And he said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked
shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be
the name of the LORD." 22 In
all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
Job was no doubt deeply
impacted by this horrible news and he showed his distress by tearing his robe
and shaving his head. However, he did not allow what happened to him to move
him away from God. Instead, he fell to the ground and worshiped God not knowing
why these horrible things were happening to him. He understood that God was in
control and just as God can give blessings, He can take them away or allow them
to be taken away.
One thing we can learn
from this that Job did not even know at this point is that just because
something bad happens in our life, it does not mean that God is the one that
made it happen. Just because a young child gets cancer or dies in car wreck
does not mean that God caused it to happen. However, like Job will find out,
God will be there for you and will help you through difficult moments like
these. So, don’t blame God when bad things happen to you. Instead, worship Him
realizing that He the only one that can bring you peace and help you overcome
whatever hardship you may go through.
Job is about to find out
that his troubles have just begun.
Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present
themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself
before the LORD. 2 And the
LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" So Satan answered the
LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back
and forth on it." 3 Then
the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My
servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and
upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his
integrity, although you incited Me against him, to
destroy him without cause." 4
So Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man
has he will give for his life. 5
"But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his
bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!" 6 And the LORD said to Satan,
"Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life."
Here we see a second
meeting with similar results. We have already read what Satan was allowed to do
to Job, which would be enough to break most Christians. God states that he did
not deserve such treatment. Though he went through such a difficult moment in
his life, we can see that he still has those 4 characteristic qualities in
tact, which is an amazing testament to the integrity of Job. How do the
problems that have come up in your life compare to what Job has went through so
far? If I was a betting man, I would be all in betting that all your problems
added together wound not match those of Job’s.
Job 2:7 So
Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils
from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took for himself a
potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the
ashes. 9 Then his wife
said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and
die!" 10 But he said to
her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept
good from God, and shall we not accept
adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his
lips.
Some people may not be
affected as much when something happens to those around them, but to rule
everything out, Satan makes Job suffer himself. The idea was if others misfortune
would not break him, his own suffering would. How would you handle this
punishment to your own body? How would handle your spouse coming up to you and
telling you to curse God and die? Something like this could break many
Christians that initially remained faithful.
What need to understand
is that Satan is like this. He is never satisfied with just one blow. No, he
will pour salt on your wound and jab it with stick to get his way, but we must
never give up on God no matter how dire the situation may be. Job shows us what
a faithful servant of God is all about and he rebukes his wife in an effort to
open her eyes to where she needs to be in her trust in God. He told her:
Shall we indeed accept good
from God, and shall we not accept adversity?"
Through all of this, Job
did not sin. He kept his faith in God in tact. Next, we read:
Job 2:11 Now
when Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him,
each one came from his own place -- Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite,
and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment
together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him. 12 And when they raised their eyes
from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and
each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. 13 So they sat down with him on
the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for
they saw that his grief was very great.
It is usually a good
thing when friends come along to help you during your time of trouble. Anybody
that has friends or brothers and sisters and Christ be their
for them during difficult times know exactly what I am talking about. As
we read, Job’s friends appear to have had good intentions of being there for
him, but anyone that has read the Book of Job knows these friends end up
accusing him and trying to figure out what great sin he has done that caused
him to go through such an ordeal.
Now Job has had his wife and
his friends turn on him, but overall Job still keeps his faith in God. Though
he waivered in his faith some, he never lost sight that God was in control.
Though Job had to endure much physical and mental pain, he made many profound
statements of his conviction to do that which is right. Let’s look at a few of
them.
Job 6:24 "
Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; Cause me to understand wherein I have
erred.
Job 9:32"For
He is not a man, as I am, That I may
answer Him, And that we should go to court together.
Job 13:15 Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will
defend my own ways before Him. 16
He also shall be my salvation, For a hypocrite
could not come before Him. 17
Listen carefully to my speech, And to my declaration with your ears. 18 See now, I have prepared my case,
I know that I shall be vindicated.
Job 23:10 But He
knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as
gold. 11 My foot has held
fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. 12 I have not departed from the
commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.
Based
of much of what Job says including these few statements I have read shows that
he believed that God was testing him. He no doubt searched his heart for
something he might have done that would have caused God to bring this wrath on
him, but he could think if anything. Instead of thinking there was no way that
he was guilty of any sin, his mentality was to ask God to teach him of what he
had done wrong that he was not aware of. Though we know he did nothing wrong
deserving his fate, Job did not.
We
would do good to have this humble approach before God to not think it
impossible for us to be wrong. There is certainly nothing wrong with believing
that you are innocent and defending yourself, but we must always have this
mentality that its possible that we missed something and we must be like Job
and trust in the Lord and not allow ourselves to depart from His commandments
no matter what.
As
I said, Job was digging deep into his own soul to see if his sin was hiding
there. I want to show you some verses where he starts going through a list of
sins that all begin with the word if.
Job 31:7 If my
step has turned from the way, Or my heart walked after my eyes, Or if any spot
adheres to my hands, 8 Then
let me sow, and another eat; Yes, let my harvest be rooted out. 9 "If my heart has been enticed
by a woman, Or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door, 10 Then let my wife
grind for another, And let others bow down over her. 11 For that would be wickedness;
Yes, it would be iniquity deserving of judgment. 12 For that would be a fire
that consumes to destruction, And would root
out all my increase. 13
"If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant When they
complained against me,
14 What then shall I do when God rises up? When He
punishes, how shall I answer Him? 15
Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One fashion us in the womb?
16 "If I have kept the poor from their desire, Or
caused the eyes of the widow to fail, 17
Or eaten my morsel by myself, So that the fatherless could not eat of it 18 (But from my youth I reared him
as a father, And from my mother's womb I guided the widow); 19 If I have seen anyone perish
for lack of clothing, Or any poor man without covering; 20 If his heart has not blessed
me, And if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 21 If I have raised my hand
against the fatherless, When I saw I had help in the gate; 22 Then let my arm fall
from my shoulder, Let my arm be torn from the socket.
If you continue reading
this Chapter, Job lists many more sins and what he believes would be a fair
consequence to them. The point is this, we must be like job in that we are
aware of sin is and what it consequences are. Sometimes, we need to do some
deep soul searching to make sure that we are not guilty of sin or guilty of
things that we look down on others for. It is easy to become blind to your our
spiritual stench if you not careful.
In Chapter 29, Job also
starts thinking about the good that he had done. Let’s take a quick look at
small portion of what he said in:
Job 29:12 Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless
and the one who had no helper. 13
The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, And
I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. 15 I was eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame. 16 I was a father to the
poor, And I searched out the case that I did
not know.
I
think it good for us a Christians to think about some of the great things we
have done as servants of God because it can accomplish several things. First,
it can help us see what we have been doing for the Lord. If we have not been
doing much, it can motivate us to do more. Second, when we start reflecting on
what we have done in the Lord’s name it can be uplifting to know that we made
good use of our time for our master. Though we may be going through a difficult
moment, we can know that we have done some good for the
Also,
Job speaks of how powerful God is in verses like:
Job 26:12 He
stirs up the sea with His power, And by His understanding He breaks up the
storm. 13 By His Spirit He
adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 14 Indeed these are the
mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we
hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can
understand?"
Job 28:9 He puts
his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the roots. 10 He cuts out channels in the
rocks, And his eye sees every precious thing. 11 He dams up the streams from
trickling; What is hidden he brings
forth to light.
Toward the end of the
Book, God begins to speak and asks Job a bunch of questions that he cannot
answer. In this, Job is humbled and realizes that he had overstepped his way as
we read in:
Job 42:1 Then
Job answered the LORD and said: 2
"I know that You can do everything, And that no
purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. 3 You asked, 'Who is this
who hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not
understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 Listen, please, and let me
speak; You said, 'I will question you, and you shall answer
Yes, Job was faithful
overall, but we see here that he repented of some the things he had said, which
another great example for us to follow. We all have our moments and do not do
everything perfect. When the moment comes, we must be humble enough to set our
pride to the side and repent of what we did as we look to God Almighty. What an
awesome God we have that allows us to be forgiven of our iniquities.
Notice God’s response to
Job’s friends:
Job 42:7 And so
it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to
Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is aroused against you and your two
friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. 8 "Now therefore, take for
yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for
yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will
accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you
have not spoken of Me what is right, as My
servant Job has." 9
So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite
went and did as the LORD commanded them; for the LORD had accepted Job. 10 And the LORD restored Job's
losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much
as he had before. 11 Then all
his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances
before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him
and comforted him for all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him.
Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold. 12 Now the LORD blessed the latter
days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep,
six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female
donkeys. 13 He also had seven
sons and three daughters.
Job’s friends were not as
smart as they thought they were. They were put in their place like they were
trying to put Job in his place. Now, they have rely on
Job to pray for them and offer up a sacrifice for them so that they do not face
the wrath of God for their foolish behavior. Not only that, God restored Job
back with more than he had before and now his friends and family could see that
they wrong about Job and they all comforted him for what he had went through.
He was blessed with 10 more children and as the end of the Chapter says, he
went on to live a long life and see his children and
grandchildren of four generations.
Job is great example for
us all to follow. Yes, he struggled some with all that he went through, but
overall he was faithful to the Lord and the Lord blessed him for his
faithfulness. Every Christian would be better off if they had the kind of faith
and patience that Job had in the Lord. Whether we are blessed in this life or
in the hereafter, we should never allow anything to make us lose our goal of
serving of God and trusting in Him.
TWO KINDS OF MEN
Part 2
This morning we began looking at two kinds of men. The first man we examined was Job and the wonderful characteristics he had. Though not perfect, he is a great example of what a servant of God should be like. Hopefully, you found yourself being like him more so than you find yourself being the like the man we will be looking at tonight, which is King Ahab. We might all have a little bit of Ahab in us, but if you find that you are more like Ahab than Job, then you need to make some changes in your life.
One of the great benefits of looking at the good and the bad in the Bible is that it can help us see what those qualities will bring us and show us which qualities will help us be better servants of the Lord.
Before we look at Ahab himself, I want to talk about the
background leading up to his reign. Ahab was one of the kings of the Northern
kingdom usually called
Jeroboam was a wicked man by his own right and he has been labeled
as the man that caused
He presented a doctrine of convenience and convinced his
people that it was too much of a burden to go all the way back to
There are certainly many Jeroboams out there today because many men and women have had no problem convincing people that it ok to worship God however they want to. They allow them to worship and go through similar motions as described as true worship in the N.T., so people have tendency to accept a doctrine of convenience of over the doctrine of truth, but we must understand that God will not accept cheap imitations of His way and by God’s standard, you and that group of people will be labeled as sinners. While a doctrine of convenience is easy and popular, it will not get you into heaven.
Every king of the
1 Kings 16:25 Omri
did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all who were before
him. 26 For he walked in all
the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he had made
Israel sin, provoking the LORD God of
Omri did more evil than
those before him, so it should not surprise us that Ahab would also be an evil
king.
1 Kings 16:30 Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD,
more than all who were before him.
31 And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing
for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the
Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. 32 Then he set up an altar for
Baal in the
This king was bad enough
on his own, but when he married Jezebel this was like adding gasoline to a
fire.
1 Kings 21:25 But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do
wickedness in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up.
This is the most wicked woman you read about in Scripture. Notice what
Adam Clarke said about her:
He took to wife Jezebel - This was the head and chief of his offending; he took to wife, not only a heathen, but one whose hostility to the true religion was well known, and carried to the utmost extent.
1. She was the idolatrous daughter of an idolatrous king;
2. She practiced it openly;
3. She not only countenanced it in others, but protected it, and gave its partisans honors and rewards;
4. She used every means to persecute the true religion;
5. She was hideously cruel, and put to death the prophets and priests of God;
6. And all this she did with the most zealous perseverance and relentless cruelty.
Notwithstanding Ahab had built a temple, and made an altar for Baal, and set up the worship of Asherah, the Sidonian Venus, which we, 1 Kings 16:33, have transformed into a grove; yet so well known was the hostility of Jezebel to all good, that his marrying her was esteemed the highest pitch of vice, and an act the most provoking to God, and destructive to the prosperity of the kingdom.
I have heard it said that
behind every great man is a great woman, well the opposite would be true in the
case because Jezebel was rotten to the core, which made Ahab and Jezebel the
dynamic duo of evil. Whether husbands want to admit or not, their wives have a
great influence on them and this teaches us the important of having a mate that
is going to help us become better than we are than worse.
As Adam Clarke pointed
out Jezebel had a mission of killing God’s prophets as we read in:
1 Kings 18:4 For so
it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah had
taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them
with bread and water.)
It was a risky time to be
a prophet of the Lord during that time, but Elijah was willing to take a stand
for the cause of God in one of greatest showdowns in the O.T. I know many of
you know this story by heart, but how could a study on Ahab be complete without
at least reading part of the famous event.
1 Kings 18:17 Then it
happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, "Is that you,
O troubler of
You have to admire the
faith the Elijah had at this point because Jezebel with the consent of Ahab had
already killed many of the prophets. Now he comes before Ahab and rebukes him
to his face and points out how he troubled their kingdom by not listening or
obeying God’s commands. It does not matter if you are king or one a lowly
position, if you are practicing evil you should be rebuked. This would have
been quite the gathering with these false prophets facing off against Elijah
with a crowd of people looking on.
It is implied that Ahab
was so confident in his false gods he had embraced with his wife that he
actually thought these false prophets would be up for the challenge.
21
And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter
between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal,
follow him." But the people answered him not a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people,
"I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four
hundred and fifty men. 23
"Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for
themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under
it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but
put no fire under it. 24
"Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of
the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God." So all the people
answered and said, "It is well spoken." 25 Now Elijah said to the prophets
of Baal, "Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for
you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under
it." 26 So they took
the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the
name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, "O Baal, hear us!"
But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the
altar which they had made. 27
And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, "Cry aloud, for
he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a
journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened." 28 So they cried aloud, and cut
themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed
out on them. 29 And when
midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening
sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid
attention.
This should have been
enough to open the eyes of Ahab and to the people that the false God they had
all been embracing was a fake, but if not what happened next should have.
1 Kings 18:30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to
me." So all the people came near to him. And he
repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones,
according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of
the LORD had come, saying, "
This was awesome miracle
from God and it led to gruesome blood bath of all these prophets being killed,
but it showed without doubt who the real only God was. If this wasn’t enough,
God showed His power again to Ahab as we read:
1 Kings 18:41 Then
Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound
of abundance of rain." 42
So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then
he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, 43 and said to his servant,
"Go up now, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked, and said,
"There is nothing." And seven times he said, "Go
again." 44 Then it came
to pass the seventh time, that he said, "There is a cloud, as small
as a man's hand, rising out of the sea!" So he said, "Go up, say to
Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot, and go down before
the rain stops you.' "
45 Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became
black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and
went to Jezreel. 46 Then the
hand of the LORD came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of
Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
There had been a great
drought, but Elijah shows that God was going to make it rain and it did. If you
had any sense about you and you saw the miracles happen before you eyes you
would think that you it would be enough to make you changed man, but those who
live for evil have had their senses dull. No matter how much evidence you
produce for them, they will still cling to their evil ways. Ahab was no
different. Instead of heeding what he saw, he just went and told his wife what
happened and she immediately tried to find Elijah so she could kill him.
Sometimes Christians can
have this same kind of mentality. Even though they can clearly see that
something they are doing or something they approve of is clearly condemned in
the Bible, they ignore it and go about their business. It does not have to be
something like idol worship or murder it can be something subtle. We are really
good at convincing ourselves that something is ok as long as it does not seem
to harm anyone, but this is wrong. Instead of making judgment based on what we
feel is right or what feel is not harming anyone, we
need to be asking the serious question what does God’s Word say. Whether it
seems harmless or not if God does not approve of it then we must not approve of
it or practice it.
The O.T. has much to say
about this evil king and his evil wife, but I would like to look at more famous
incident that shows another character flaw of Ahab.
1 Kings 21:1 And
it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a
vineyard which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of
Samaria. 2 So Ahab spoke to
Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard, that I
may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my
house; and for it I will give you a vineyard better than it. Or, if it
seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money." 3 But Naboth said to Ahab,
"The LORD forbid that I should give the
inheritance of my fathers to you!" 4
So Ahab went into his house sullen and displeased because of the word which
Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, "I will not give
you the inheritance of my fathers." And he lay down on his bed, and turned
away his face, and would eat no food.
Ahab was greedy and
selfish and when he did not get his way, he threw a pity part for himself. Ahab
did not care about the history of the vineyard or what it would mean for Naboth
to sell it, all he could think about was himself.
There are many today that
have this same mentality. They do not care about anyone else except themselves.
If things are not going according to their plan they will throw their own pity
party of some of the stupidest stuff. People like this in only interested in
serving themselves and there is no way they can serve God in a pleasing manner
because it always about them. So, if you see that you have the character flaw,
you need to get rid of it because it will drag you down to the pits of hell.
Jezebel did nothing but
further feed Ahab desire to get what was not his.
1 Kings 21:5 But
Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, "Why is your spirit so
sullen that you eat no food?" 6
He said to her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to
him, 'Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give
you another vineyard for it.' And he answered, 'I will not give you my
vineyard.' " 7
Then Jezebel his wife said to him, "You now exercise authority over
Ahab did not ask any
questions about how his wife would do this for him because he did not care. All
he cared about was getting the vineyard he did not deserve.
1 Kings 21:15 And it
came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, that
Jezebel said to Ahab, "Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth
the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not
alive, but dead." 16 So
it was, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab got up and went down to
take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.
In my mind, I can see
Ahab running to the vineyard he wanted so badly with big a smile on his face
even though came at the price of death. This is sad indeed, but there are
people today that think this same way. They do not care how they reach their
goal or gain a possession as long at their desire is met. This is really sad
when it happens in the church and is not all that uncommon. I have heard many
stories of what Christians have done get their way in a congregation. It did
not matter if they split the church and caused people much misery and pain as
long as they got their way.
If we find ourselves
having these kinds of thoughts, then we definitely need to change our ways.
None of the things that Ahab or his evil wife did went unnoticed by God, and
they got their just rewards. Ahab was killed in battle and Jezebel was thrown
down from a wall and eaten by dogs.
We can definitely see a
big difference between Job and Ahab. As I said in the beginning, I hope that
you look more like Job than Ahab. However, if you find yourself be more like
Ahab you still have time to change your ways, and I would suggest that you do
it quickly because you never know if today is your last day.
I hope the lesson over
Job has encouraged you to be more faithful to the Lord no matter what you might
go through in this life, and I hope that the lesson of Ahab has taught you what
the consequence of living the evil way can do and horrible a person it will
make you. Let us never cease to learn from the good and the bad from the Bible.