1 Kings Chapter 21-22
Who Let the Dogs Out?
Our last few studies in the
book of 1st kings have been dominated by the actions of King Ahab
A)Remember wicked King of
B) Jezebel introduced Baal
worship into
1) Marked by wickedness
C) God gave Ahab & Jezebel many opportunities to
repent and turn to him –
1) In fact we saw God’s patience & grace yet again
in Ch.20 {to no avail
D) Ahab and Jezebel continue to disregard the Lord and
the ways of the Lord
1) Acting like spoiled self centered tyrants – picture
in Ch21
Summarize the Story:
A) There was a man in the kingdom named Naboth – owned
a vineyard – near the Palace
B) Ahab decided he wanted to buy it – Naboth doesn’t want
to sell – families inheritance
C) Ahab comes home all sad- Jezebel asks what is wrong
- ………
D) She takes matters into her
own hands – elaborate plan –
1) Naboth is accused of
Blasphemy against God and the King and is stoned – Ahab gets his vineyard
Pick up the story in v.17 Elijah – RD V.17-19
A) God sends Elijah to pronounce judgment on Ahab
Graphic
fashion – Dogs will lick his blood
20 So Ahab said to Elijah,” Have you
found me, O my enemy?"
This shows how hard Ahab’s heart had become – viewed
God’s man as his enemy!
Wait a
minute Ahab - Elijah is NOT your enemy; he is a great friend of yours because
he is speaking the truth to you.
Sometimes
we can view people as enemies when they are really the best friends that you
can have
And Elijah answered, "I have found
you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD:
B) Ahab was sold out to do evil!
RD V.21-29
In essence: “Because he has humbled himself, because
after
10 years of my seeking after him he is finally
responding to
me by humbly seeking Me, I will not bring evil in his
days”
but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.
That is NOT punishment,
it is PROPHECY
A) NOTE:
There are TWO things that move the heart of God in Scripture.
B) One is FAITH & the other is HUMILTY/BROKENESS
Likewise you younger people, submit
yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be
clothed with humility, for
"God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble."
For thus says the High and Lofty One
Who inhabits eternity, whose name is
Holy:
"I dwell in the high and holy place,
With him who has a contrite and humble
spirit,
To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite
ones.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
and He will lift you up.
So because Ahab shows a
measure of Humility God meets him w/ Grace – Prolongs the Judgment
Ch.22 RD V.1-4
Recall the battle in Ch.20 – the Syrian army had been
so depleted – Ben Hadad was not able to make war with
Previously, the King of
Apparently
Ramoth Gilead was a city that Ben-Hadad never
returned to
So King Ahab of
This made some sense, because Ramoth-Gilead was only 40 miles from
Now
Jehoshaphat was a godly King down in
A)He initiated reform and
renewal down in the Southern
B) Learn more about him in 2
Chron. – 3 things that marked his life.
1)
Jehoshaphat was a person with a passionate personal commitment to God. His
heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord.
2) Jehoshaphat was
committed to the centrality of the word of God. For that reason he
ordered his reign around the word of God.
3) Jehoshaphat was a
man determined to trust the Lord. His trust moved
him to pray and to act as God directed.
His
rallying point for the nation is found in 2 Chron 20:20
"Hear me, O
Judah and you inhabitants of
But if
Jehoshaphat had a flaw it was that he allowed himself to be unequally yoked
with Ahab
A)Made military sense and
economic sense – but not godly sense.
B) Jehoshaphat tries to bring
some godly influence into this alliance by proposing that they seek God before
going into battle. RD V 5-6
C) Jehoshaphat
sees thru this Charade – Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord here. RD V.7-8
Ahab responds there is this
one prophet – but I hate him because he never says anything good
A) That is how some people approach the word –
B) Tell me something good – Feel good message
1) Don’t want to hear about sin – want to hear things
that build up self esteem
C) Sign of the last days – Itching ears – tell us what
we want to hear!
D) Jehoshaphat
says bring him out – let's hear from Macyah
RD V.10-18
King Ahab and others at the
court found it hard to explain how one prophet could be right and 400 prophets
could be wrong.
So Micaiah explains the
message of the 400 prophets.
RD V.19-23
Now this gives us an
interesting insight into the heavenly scene and the ways of God
A)See there comes a time in God’s dealings with a man
that he meets them in their hardness
B) God had been giving Ahab ample
opportunity and to repent.
1) Even showed grace at the slightest display of
Humility – But Ahab continued to Rebel
C) Ahab continued to do his
own thing and ignore the word, Heart and will of God.
1) He continued to harden his heart and now God is
going to meet him in his hardness
D) Give Ahab what he wants – Life apart from God.
Recall in the book of Exodus
– Pharaoh –
A) God sent Moses – let my people go ……
Pharaoh hardened his heart –
B) SO God sent plagues – Pharaoh was softened – ok I
will let them go – just stop the plague
1) Once the Plague was gone –
out of the discomfort
Pharaoh would harden his
heart again
C) This goes on several times where we read that
Pharaoh hardened his heart over & over again
Here is what our English
Bibles don’t reveal but that the Hebrew text does with Pharaoh
A) Each time the phrase Pharaoh hardened his heart is used
– there is a stronger word used for hardened than the time before
B) Like saying – So and so was Mad - / next time
angry/ incensed / filled w/ wrath/
C) That is the picture we get
w/ Pharaoh – He hardened his heart
1) He stiffened his heart / He made it like Cement
D) Then we read in Exodus
that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart –
1) This is the idea – God says – look I see where this
is going – this guy is hopeless – speed up the process
E) That is what is happening here!
Micyah describes a heavenly
scene where there are Angelic beings around the throne – on his right and left.
A)Since the right hand was the place of favor, this may
indicate that God spoke to the combined host
of heaven, both faithful and fallen angelic beings.
B)Some people forget that
Satan and his fellow fallen angels have access to heaven (Job 1:6,
C) These passages show that
God can allow evil in His presence, though He can have no fellowship
with evil
1) And in Rev 20 we read that
there is a day when Satan and his cohorts will be forever banned from Heaven.
D) Right now they have access – Satan is the accuser
of the Brethren.
Now God wanted to bring judgment against
Ahab, so He asked this group of the host of heaven for a volunteer to lead Ahab into battle.
A) Apparently, one of the fallen angels volunteered for this
task.
B) Since Ahab wanted to be
deceived, God would give him what He wanted, using a willing fallen angel who
worked through willing unfaithful prophets.
C) QUESTION:
Why would the demons seek to see Ahab
wiped out?
1) Because Satan has NO other plan for man than to
destroy him.
RDV.
24-29
The
odd thing in all of this is that Jehoshaphat would still agree to go into
RD
V.30-39
Ahab remembered the prophecy: “The leader
will be killed” so he decided to NOT wear his leader clothes
A)You can
NOT outsmart God
B)First they
mistakenly went after Jehoshaphat,
C) Then some
UNKNOWN shoots a “RANDOM” arrow at NOBODY
and it found its way right in the place of vulnerability in Ahab’s armor.
D) The Prophecy of the Lord was fulfilled
So Ch.22 ends by mentioning
deaths of both Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Even though Jehoshaphat didn’t die at this
time.
A)The rest of the chapter reveals their Successors
B) Ahab – Ahaziah – very wicked
C) Jehoshaphat – Jehoram – also wicked 2 Chron 21
He followed the ways of the kings of
1) Married to
Ahab’s daughter
D) Further by product of Jehoshaphat’s unequally yoked
relationship with Ahab
E) 2 Chron 21 tells us that in an effort to secure his
power Jehoram had all his brothers killed.
This one mistake would have
wide spread ramifications for Jehoshaphat.
Before we go tonight – I want us to consider 3 of the
men in the story and their relationship to God’s word
1st Ahab: Ahab
shows us that we cannot outwit or outmaneuver the word of God.
A)He first tried to counterfeit the word by providing
400 false prophets who would supply an imitation of God’s word and give the
message he wanted to hear.
B) In the end God’s word against him was fulfilled.
2nd Micaiah:
Micaiah challenges us to stand for the word of God courageously, whatever the
cost.
A)He is a great example of a prophet who determined to
proclaim God’s truth fearlessly, even though his audience did not want to hear it.
3rd Jehoshaphat:
Jehoshaphat is a reminder to us that we must listen to God’s word first, not
second.
A) He was a king who loved the Lord but his pragmatism lured him into a compromising
relationship that did great damage to his nation
B) He fell into a trap of first making his decision
and then consulting God.
C) When he heard God’s word he was unwilling to admit
his mistake and to follow God’s direction.