Ahab

The Goodness of God

“I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.” – Lule 4:25,26 God is faithful and longsuffering; He never lets anyone’s wrong choices go unchallenged and He always provides ample opportunity to change course. This was certainly the case for Ahab, to whom He sent the prophet Elijah to confront his wickedness and remind him of another way. Since the king refused to listen to his counsel, the Lord brought a horrible drought on the land of Israel that lasted for three and a half years. During that time, there wasn’t even a drop of rain! As you can imagine, the consequences of this were disastrous

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Loftiness Doesn’t Equal Leadership

“Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.” – 1 Kings 16:33 No conversation about Jezebel (who we looked at yesterday) would be complete without an examination of Ahab, her husband, who turned out to be one of Israel’s most wicked kings. Though he ascended to power in the land that the Lord gave to His people as a sign of covenant love, his pride and arrogance led him down a path of corruption that ultimately impacted everyone under his rule. In spite of being given the title of “king,” his foolishness in allowing his wife to influence an entire nation by willfully promoting the worship of Baal proved that he was not suited for the job. He had a place of position but a total lack of wisdom.

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Bumped and Bruised

“When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, ‘This is the king of Israel.’ So they turned to attack him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him.” – 2 Chronicles 18:31 Yesterday, we learned that Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, and Ahab, the King of Israel, banded together to attack the country of Ramoth-Gilead, despite knowing that it was dangerous. Because Ahab was full of pride, he refused to heed the words of the prophet Micaiah, who foretold that he would lose his life in the war. When the moment of conflict came, he dressed Jehoshaphat in his clothes to detract attention from himself, and his “friend” nearly died at the hands of the enemy. However, in the heat of the battle, Jehoshaphat cried desperately to the Lord, and he was saved. Because he took a humble stance, God had mercy on

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Deception Brings Destruction

“But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, ‘First seek the counsel of the Lord.’” – 2 Chronicles 18:4 Being a good leader means we may have to hear things that we don’t want to hear. This was certainly the case for Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, and Ahab, King of Israel. As we learned yesterday, their two kingdoms were separate; however, once Judah began to enjoy great prosperity, Jehoshaphat wanted to align himself with Israel for the sake of protecting his blessings. There’s strength in numbers, and he knew that if he had the support of his northern neighbor, he would stand a better chance should another nation move in and try to capture his wealth. Unfortunately, King Ahab was not very wise — he was full of himself, and he wanted to utilize the manpower he found in his alliance with Judah to attack the northern country of

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