“Ahab Exposed”

1 Kings 22

6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.

7 And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might enquire of him?

8 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

1) These 400 prophets thought that they were working for God and speaking in His Name, but they were prophets of lies. Examine yourselves lest you presume that you are on God’s side and working in His vineyard, yet you are working against God and His work.

2) King Ahab sold himself over to do evil and his wife encouraged him in wickedness.

If you sell something which belonged to you then you have lost ownership of that possession. So too if you sell yourself over to sin, you are a slave. Sin becomes your master.

We read:

2 Kings 17

17 And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.

If you let your child be initiated in any occult practice, you are selling yourself to do evil in God’s sight.

3) Queen Jezebel is the symbol of wickedness in the Bible. Even in Rev 2:20 we read, “Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.”

King Ahab couldn’t serve God although he was an Israelite, because he was totally under the influence of his pagan wife.

It is extremely dangerous for a Christian young man to marry an unbelieving girl. She will turn your heart from God and you will lose what you have received from God.

4) King Ahab was a selfish man because he was raised as a spoiled child. His parents gave him what he wanted and did not rebuke him.

He coveted Naboth’s beautiful vineyard and asked him for it. When Naboth refused to give the vineyard to him he threw a fit like a little child and sulked until his wife came to comfort him and gave him evil advise. He listened to her, had Naboth killed and took his vineyard to himself. But God saw it all and fulfilled His word, so that the dogs licked Ahab’s blood as his chariot was cleaned.

Parents who don’t discipline their children prepare them for ruin.

5) After king Ahab was dead, queen Jezebel still remained alive. She was an immoral woman and like a witch. When she heard that Jehu was coming to Jezreel she ran upstairs to her room, and made herself up hoping to bewitch and snare him with her makeup.

Those women are daughters of Jezebel who make themselves up to snare men with their beauty.

However Jehu did not fall under her spell and called out that those who were on his side should throw her down. Then he rode over her with his chariot and the horses trod on her.

Once again God fulfilled his Word, for only after Jehu had eaten did he remember that she hasn’t been buried. And when they went to bury her they only found the skull and bones left; the rest had been eaten by the dogs as God had spoken concerning her (1Ki 21:23).

6) King Ahab hoped to escape God’s judgement by putting on the gear of a normal soldier. But God directed the arrow of a normal soldier to pierce his armour and would him mortally.

However before he died he still experienced the fulfillment of God’s Word (v17), “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd”.

When they washed the blood from his chariot, the dogs licked his blood too, as the Lord had spoken.

May Ahab and Jezebel be a lesson to us, that unless the Lord rules our life we will go to the greatest excess of evil.