In this episode, we delve into the biblical story of Ahab, a notorious king of Israel, and his insatiable greed that led to a series of unfortunate events. We explore God’s perspective on centralized authority and how it aligns with the concept of freedom for His people. Through detailed storytelling, we observe how power corrupts and the implications of insisting on our own ways despite divine guidance.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
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Not everyone gets this, but let me have a run at it anyway. God does not care for centralized authority. Now, that’s not to say when you read the Bible that he hasn’t allowed it. And I realize when I say that, in one sense, if it happens, God allowed it, or it wouldn’t have happened, right? So saying that God allowed something at one level is pointless. But there’s another sense in which God seems to say… Well, okay, what you’re asking for is not the best thing for you, but I will let you do it, and I will work with you in it. In that sense, God occasionally does allow us to do things we’d really be better off not doing, because he looks at it and says, well, you’re going to have more pain if you go this way, but if you’ve got to go that way, I’ll see if I can help you with it. Now, a case in point is the occasion when Israel asked for a king. God didn’t like it. He had never wanted a king. He was their king. They were supposed to live with maximum freedom, a man ruling over his own household, the priesthood taking care of the tabernacle, but not running the affairs of the people. Total freedom. Well, after one too many wars that came their way, they began to whine about it. And they said, well, make us a king like all the nations around them. So when they insisted, God said, okay, I’ll let you do it. I’m not going to reject you out of hand because of it. But then he proceeded to tell Samuel to tell him, here’s what’s going to happen to you as you go down that line. There’s one thing that comes through to me in that story, and by the way, it’s discussed in the series of programs before this one on the book of Samuel. If you’d like to get that series, drop us a note, and we’ll tell you how you can get it. The one thing that comes through to me in the story is that God endorses and supports maximum freedom for a people, and that he recognizes that power corrupts. Consequently, when Israel came into the land, there was no king, no central government. The centricity of faith supplied the only central organizing principle for them. There was one priesthood, one tabernacle, one place of worship, but the civil government was entirely in the hands of the tribal elders. They had a lot of trouble, mainly because they didn’t stay close to God. But it was the freest they would ever be in all their history or ever could be. Okay, everything changed after they demanded a king. And we’re going to learn a thing or two about the dangers and the abuses of power and why God preferred a decentralized governance for Israel. In chapter 21 of 1 Kings, a man has come to the throne who is, according to the writer, the worst of all the kings of Israel. He is the worst of a bad lot, the bottom of the barrel. Now, he is reigning in Samaria. Samaria is a region called Jezreel. It came to pass after these things that Naboth, he was a Jezreelite, he had a vineyard that was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab the king of Samaria. Okay, Ahab opened his window. What did he see? Well, he saw a really nice vineyard that, well, belonged to somebody else. Anyhow, Ahab spoke to Naboth and said, Give me the vineyard that I can have it for a garden of herbs because it’s close to my house, and I’ll give you a better vineyard than that one. Or if it seems good to you, I’ll give you the worth of it in money. You know, he made him an offer. It’s a deal. I mean, that’s just fine. It’s a funny thing. I hadn’t realized or focused on this, but I don’t think Ahab was planning on doing any cooking with herbs in his garden of herbs. But my wife brought home some herbs that she’s going to plant in pots on our deck, and And I stuck my nose in that basket and I said, oh, I see. All of this aroma arising from these herbs seasonally coming in the window of your palace make things rather more pleasant. Especially since back in those days, I think palaces probably didn’t smell very good. Anyhow, he wanted a scented herb garden outside his window. Well, Naboth said to Ahab, no, no, I’m not going to do that. There’s no reason I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you. This thing has been in my generation for generation after generation. No, I want to keep it. Okay. Ahab came into his house heavy, displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him. For he had said, I’m not going to give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid down on his bed, turned away his face, and wouldn’t even eat. Now, you know, if you think pouting children are a problem, you haven’t seen anything until you have seen a royal pout. And now we have a king who sticks out his lower lip, gets into bed, rolls his face to the wall, won’t eat anything, and won’t talk. But he had a wife. Her name was Jezebel. She came to him and said, What are you down about? Why is it you’re not eating anything? He said to her, Well, I spoke to Naboth about buying that vineyard out there for money. Or I said, If it please you, I’ll trade you a better vineyard for it. He said, I’m not going to give you my vineyard. Jezebel, his wife, said, Are you in charge around here or not? Get up. Eat bread. Let your heart be merry. I’ll give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So the woman went out. She wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and the nobles in his city. All those who dwelled there were Naboth-dwelled. She wrote in the letter saying, okay, proclaim a fast, set Naboth on high among the people, set two men, sons of Belial before him, to bear witness against him, saying, you blasphemed God and the king, and then carry him out and stone him that he may die. She issued orders under the king’s name, using the king’s seal, to take this poor guy out and have him killed judiciously. Because he wouldn’t let the king have his vineyard. You talk about little reasons for killing people. Well, the men of the city, the elders, the nobles who were the inhabitants of the city did what Jezebel said. You know, it would have been worth their life to not do what she said. They did what was written in the letters that she had sent them. They proclaimed a fast. They brought old Naboth in and set him up on the witness dock. And all there came in men and women and stood before him. And the men of Belial witnessed against him in the presence of all the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. And they carried the poor guy out of the city and stoned him with stones that he died. And you know, it’s hard for me to imagine what was going through this poor fellow’s mind as he sat there and listened to these liars and as they drug him bodily out of the city to stone him. When the deed was done, they sent letters to Jezebel saying, Naboth was stoned and is dead. And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard he was stoned and was dead, she went to Ahab and she said, Get up. Go take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money. Naboth is not alive. He’s dead. Perhaps you can see why the name Jezebel has entered our vocabulary for a certain time of scheming evil woman. In fact, if you pull down your trusty collegiate dictionary, you’ll find Jezebel, and the definition is an impudent, shameless, or morally unrestrained woman. And all that fit this woman to a T. Well, it came to pass. When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth to take possession of it. As Mel Brooks said in one of his movies, it’s good to be the king. I can do all these things. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah. This is bad news for Ahab. He said, get up, go down and meet Ahab, the king of Israel in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take possession. He’s standing right out there in the middle of it. I want you to walk in there. I want you to speak to him and tell him this. Thus saith the Lord, Have you killed and taken possession? Speak to him and say, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your blood, even yours. Well, when Elijah walked into the vineyard, Ahab saw him and said, Have you found me, O my enemy? He already had, of course, Elijah as an enemy, a man who stood firmly against him. But he was afraid of him. He couldn’t do anything to him. Even Jezebel had not succeeded. And he answered, I’ve found you because you have sold yourself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. I’m going to bring evil upon you. I’m going to take away your posterity. I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall and him that is shut up and left in Israel. Note the brutality of the language. Everybody’s going to die. Every man that’s old enough to stand up is going to die. He will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith you have provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin. Oh, and by the way, about Jezebel, the Lord said this, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dies of Ahab in the city, the dogs shall eat. Him that dies in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. Well, maybe it’s not so good to be the king after all. Not if there’s a God in Israel. Not if there’s a God who takes note of the things you do. You know, you might want to remember this curse. We’ll have occasion to see how it happened as time went by. Ahab, it turns out, was the absolute bottom of the barrel of Israelite kings, all of whom were bad. But after this prophecy is given, a funny thing happens. I’ll tell you what that is. But first, grab a pencil and a pad. We want to give you a phone number, an address, and some information.
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The Real Profits series is available in album form. If you would like to get in on this story from the beginning, write or call and ask for your free CD titled Real Profits. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. or call toll-free 1-888-BIBLE-44. That’s 1-888-242-5344. And tell us the call letters of this station.
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The author of 1 Kings tells us that there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel, his wife, stirred up. He did very abominably in following idols according to all the things the Amorites did. These are the people the Lord drove out before the children of Israel. Well, it came to pass when Ahab heard what Elijah told him. He tore his clothes. He put sackcloth on his flesh. He fasted. He slept in sackcloth and went softly around the palace. Now, I can only imagine what kind of a man Ahab was around the house. And I have an idea there were some maids who got startled at how quietly this man slept up on him from time to time. Everything has changed. Well, the word of the Lord came to Elijah and said, Do you see how Ahab humbles himself before me? You see what he’s done? Because he’s done this, because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son’s days I will bring the evil upon his house. Behold the mercy and the compassion of God. Consider how much provocation it finally took before doom was pronounced, and consider how easily it all passed away when a man humbled himself and repented and turned around. You know, when you think about that for a while, I know there are people who sometimes feel that they’ve just gone too far, that God won’t hear me anymore, God’s written me off, I’m just a worm in his sight, and he doesn’t care about me. Well, look, if the worst king in Israel’s history could be forgiven, could have the curse pass away from him, surely you can too. You just have to repent. That’s all. Now, you may think that this was kind of hard on Ahab’s sons because the curse didn’t go away from them. It just was going to not come in his days. Well, it would not have come if they had repented like their daddy did. In Exodus 20, verse 5, in the commandment, it says this, You follow? That sounds terrible. Well, it’s not really, because the third and fourth generation, in the way this is put, are still hating God. So if Ahab’s sons could have gotten over that, if they could have turned to God with all their heart, the curse would have passed away from them the same way. 1 Kings 22 says, They continued three years without any war at all between Syria and Israel. That’s one of the times, and it must be a remarkable time in history. And sometimes kings have a hard time leaving well enough alone. This might have gone on, but it came to pass in the third year of this peace that Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel. Now, this is a really rare interaction or intersection between these two kingdoms. Normally, they don’t talk to each other. Now, what happens here is when Jehoshaphat shows up on the scene, Ahab says to himself, hey, if we can get together, we will have enough power to be able to overcome Syria and a couple of issues that have been hanging out there. The king of Israel said to his servants, do you know that Ramoth and Gilead is ours? And we’re sitting here on our hands and we’re not taking it out of the hand of the king of Syria. It belongs to us. He’s got it. Now, mind you, they’d had peace for three years. I presume the people living in Ramoth of Gilead were going about their business and having children and grandchildren and doing all the things that they normally did. But here’s a king who thinks, maybe I got a little more power here. Maybe I can take that village back. So he says to Jehoshaphat, will you go out with me to battle to Ramoth Gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Well, we’re brothers. I am as you are. My people are your people. My horses are your horses. And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, He’s a little thing here. He’s got a habit that’s carried all the way down from David, his father. He says, Inquire, I pray you, at the word of Jehovah today. Before we go do this thing, I mean, I never have, and I don’t want to do this. I want to know what God says. So the king of Israel gathered all the prophets together, about 400 men, and he said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And as one man they said, Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king. This is one of those cases, of course, where prophets tell a man, a king, what he wants to hear. Now, Jehoshaphat looked around these people and said, these aren’t God’s prophets. He said, isn’t there here a prophet of Jehovah besides that we could ask him? And the king of Israel said, well… There’s one man, his name is Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of Jehovah. But I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, oh, don’t say that. Now, this is incredible. But it really boils down to the problem, one of the fundamental things of human nature. We are not going to be happy just having people tell us the truth if the truth makes us uncomfortable, if the truth is bad, if the truth requires us to do something we don’t want to do. So who do we go ask? We go ask the people who will tell us what we want to hear. And the people who will tell us something else, we don’t want to hear it. Well, the king of Israel called an officer and said, Go get Micaiah, the son of Imlah. Bring him in here. The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, each sat on his throne, having put on their royal robes in an open place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria. And all these prophets were out there prophesying before them. Now, this must have been an incredible show. Zedekiah, the son of Keniah, made horns of iron, and he said, Thus saith the Lord, with these shall you push the Syrians until you have consumed them. Like I say, it must have been quite a show. Back when all this took place on Mount Carmel, when Isaiah bested all the prophets of Baal, they were putting on an absolute ballet, a dance, leaping and jumping around the altar. All the prophets saying, Go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the king’s hand. It was so regular, it was probably a song by this time. Well, the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah, he said, look, the words of the prophets declared good to the king with one mouth. Listen to me. Be like them and speak what is good. Micaiah probably looked at him like he was crazy. He said, as the Lord lives, what Jehovah says to me, that’s what I’m going to speak. I mean, you know, you really have to wonder why a person wants to be a prophet, per se. Maybe power, maybe money, but why they want to be a prophet if they’re not going to speak what God says. Because, you know, we’re not talking about just a Sunday morning sermon that we throw together. We’re talking about having the word of the Lord come down and talk and whisper in our ear and say, I want you to go tell them this. He says, whatever the king, you know, whatever God gives me is what I’m going to speak. Now, something odd happens here. He came into the king, and the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall we stay at home? And he answered, go and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. Well, that’s interesting. He did precisely, said exactly the same thing all the rest of these people had said. But the king said, how many times am I going to adjure you that you tell me nothing but what is true in the name of Jehovah? How many times do I have to tell you this? Well, I have my doubts as to how many times he’d ever told him to be truthful about this matter. But the fact is, I think the reason he knew… was because of the tone of voice and the sing-song way in which Micaiah said the same thing all the rest of these prophets had said. Well, having said, I want you, I’m adjuring you, it’s almost like the same thing as taking an oath in court, except that they kind of read it to you in those days instead of you repeating it. Now Micaiah has to tell the truth. Listen through this short break, and when I come back, I’ll tell you what Micaiah said to Ahab.
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For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only. And request the program titled, Kings number 13. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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Ahab now will have nothing to complain of because he says to Micaiah, I want you to tell me the truth. And Micaiah said, I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, These have no master. Let them return every man to his house in peace. And the king of Israel, Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, Didn’t I tell you he would prophesy no good concerning me but evil? And he said, Now hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne. Micaiah is carrying on. And this is one of the truly fascinating prophecies in the Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And one said on this manner, another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said, how? I will go forth and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, you will persuade him and you will win. Go ahead, do it. What a story. Why in the world someone hasn’t done a movie through this is beyond me. Gary Gibbons, who is the engineer who does this program with me and I, we like to sit here and say, okay, who gets to play this part in the movie we’d like to make? This is really strong stuff. I guess what you’ve got here in the spirit that comes before God’s throne is something like Golub or what was his name? Smeagol in the Lord of the Rings, this slimy little creature. So I’ll go and I’ll deceive him. And God says, well, Okay. The answer being, you know, if you will listen, if this is what you want to hear, God will let you hear it. So you need to be careful, as they tell us in the New Testament, and try the spirits. Okay. But this also was a real slap in the face to all the prophets who were there, because Micaiah has just said, Behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these, your prophets, and the Lord has spoken evil concerning you. He probably did this with a great sweep of the hand. I am still thinking of who I want to play this part. Well, having seen this, Zedekiah, the other prophet, went near and slapped him on the face and said, Which way did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you? And Micaiah answered, Behold, you’ll see in that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself. Well, the king of Israel said, take him away. Carry him back to Ammon, the governor of the city, to Joash, the king’s son. And say, thus saith the king, put this fellow in the prison and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction until I come in peace. And Micaiah said, if you return at all in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. And he said, listen, O you people, every one of you Poor Micaiah. We don’t know whether anybody ever let him out or not, because we do know Ahab did not return. So the king of Israel and the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-Gilead to battle. And Ahab got a clue. He got a big idea. He said to Jehoshaphat, look, I will disguise myself and enter into the battle. You go ahead and put on your royal robes. I don’t know what kind of a fool Jehoshaphat was, but he listened to this. He said, I’m going to take off my robes. You put yours on. And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle like he was an ordinary soldier. The king of Syria commanded his 32 captains that had rule over his chariot, saying, don’t fight with small, don’t fight with great, fight only with the king of Israel. Don’t worry about all these people. You look for and you go after the chariot that’s got Ahab in it. It came to pass when the captains of the chariot saw Jehoshaphat, they said, oh, that must be the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out. And they came to realize that’s not Ahab. They turned back, and the captains did, and a certain man drew a bow at a venture. He just fired an arrow into the air, and it smote the king of Israel between the joints of his harness. Now you think about this. If it had hit him somewhere else, it would have bounced off. But it hit him in that little joint where it could go through, and the guy just fired an arrow in the air at a venture. He said to the driver of his chariot, Turn around and get me out of here. I am wounded. And the battle increased that day. The king was held up in his chariot against the Syrians and died that evening. And blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot. There went out a proclamation to the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, every man to his own country. So the king died, and they took him home, and they washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria. And the dogs licked up his blood.
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when they washed his armor, exactly like Micaiah said. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-877-7000. 888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
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Christian Educational Ministries is happy to announce a new full-color Born to Win monthly newsletter with articles and free offers from Ronald L. Dart. Call us today at 1-888-BIBLE44 to sign up or visit us at borntowin.net.
