00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:27 1 Kings Chapter 20: Ahab and Ben-Hadad's Conflict

01:57 Prophetic Interventions and Battles

04:39 Ahab's Mistake and Consequences

06:43 1 Kings Chapter 21: Naboth's Vineyard

08:55 Elijah's Prophecy and Ahab's Repentance

11:56 Lessons and Reflections

15:55 Conclusion and Sign-Off

It is June 28th, 2024.

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And you're listening to

the daily Bible podcast.

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Welcome back I'm pastor, rod.

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I am the associate pastor at

compass Bible church, north, Texas.

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And I'm filling in solo

until pastor PJ gets back.

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He'll be back on duty.

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No next Wednesday, whenever that is.

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So whatever date that is.

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I'm counting down, but that's when

he's back, I'm looking forward to it.

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I'm sure you are too.

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But until then we will carry on.

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In fact, we're going to carry on today

with first Kings chapters, 20 and 21.

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So not a whole lot of territory,

but there's a lot happening.

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So let's jump on in.

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First Kings chapter 20.

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Well, here in this chapter, A Hab

is still on the throne and what's

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about to happen is that Ben, Hey,

dad of Syria is going to invade.

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Some Marriott.

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Well, initially Ahab responds

favorably and says, you know what?

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Yes, we will be your vassal.

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We S we will also come to your leadership.

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What you say we will do.

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Except when Benny Ben, Hey dad

realizes how quickly they re roll over.

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He suggests even further restrictions

with greater resources taken.

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And at that point, a Hab responds

with L w with the elders.

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He says, guys, look, look

what he's trying to do.

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He's trying to create.

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He's trying to put me in

a position and put us in a

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position where we can't respond.

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We can't, we can't allow this.

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And so the elders in Samarria tell

Ahab, do not listen or consent.

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That's what he says in verse eight here.

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And so.

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He sends back a word to the king.

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That is Ben.

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Hey dad in Syria.

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And then bay then, Hey

dad responds with, Hey.

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Because he said, I'm bringing down

the fire, I'm coming with a thunder.

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And Ahab says something really funny.

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He essentially says in

the common vernacular.

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Don't count your chickens until them

eggs, hatch, something of that nature.

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That's what happens.

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And so now, Ben, Hey, dad

and Ahab are in a war.

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Verses 13 through about 25 here.

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Something surprising takes place.

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Uh, profit comes in near

to Ahab king of Israel.

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Now notice here, this is not Alijah.

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In the prior chapter in chapter

19 Alijah was the mentoring.

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The fact that he was alone,

that there's no one else.

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And God himself has to

correct a mistake, Elijah.

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There are other profits that

you don't even know about.

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I've kept several thousand.

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That have not yet bowed the need to bay.

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All.

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And so here you have one

of those people show up.

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He doesn't have a name,

but he does have a message.

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And he says, look, I'm going to give

Syria into your hand so that you

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shall know that I am the Lord and

important for you to know there that

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the you is a second person, plural.

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You all shall know that I am the Lord.

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And so Ahab gets a few more details

about how it's, uh, how it's supposed

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to unravel or how it's supposed to go.

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And then he continues to pursue the fight.

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As he pursues the fight with Ben.

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Hey dad.

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He defeats him surprising upset here, Ben.

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Hey, dad turns around.

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They pursue them.

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Uh, and it's all said and

done, at least for now.

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But then the prophet came near

again in verse 22 and said, Hey.

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Don't get too comfortable because

they're coming back in the spring.

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So.

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Recover prepare for the future and

get ready for the next onslaught.

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Well, exactly as he predicted

it in verses 26 and all the way

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through verse let's just call it 34.

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And they return in the spring.

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Now, part of the reason why , they return.

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Is that the servants of, or the

Kings council you can think of them.

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Of Ben, Hey, dad suggest to him the

reason why the Israelites won is because

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their God is the God of the mountains,

but our God is the God of the Plains.

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Now, remember they have chariots

and horses, which are going to be

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much more nimble on flat ground

as opposed to mountainous regions.

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And so they suspect, well, once we get

them on the planes will do much better.

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But notice here in verse 28,

another unnamed man of God

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comes near again, not Elijah.

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And he says, look, because they have

said that they were going to win because

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, their God is the God of the valleys.

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I'm going to step in.

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And here you go again, and you

all shall know that I am the Lord.

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That's in verse 28.

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And so they prepare for battle and

God gives them a swift and decisive

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victory, 100,000 foot soldiers, and one

day that's how many the Israelites take

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out and then a wall in the city of.

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falls upon them taking out another 27,000.

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Now that.

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That kind of math , is interesting

because you wonder how big was this wall?

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Where was this wall?

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Was it multiple walls?

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How much was it to take out 27,000?

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And the simple answer is we don't know.

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I don't know what's happening

there except to say that God.

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Intervenes and causes 27,000 to fall.

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A hundred thousand from

the Israelite soldiers.

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Well, Ben, Hey, dad now

is hiding in the city.

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He's hiding in the city of APEC.

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He's surrounded by his advisors.

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And his advisor suggests, you know what.

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The Israelite Kings or merciful Kings.

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Why don't we try to see if we

can put you in as good graces.

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And so they sent out a messenger.

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And they said from the messenger from

Ben, Hey dad, please let me live.

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And Ahab says, does the king still live?

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He is my brother.

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What gives, what gives,

why is he saying this?

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Oh, we don't exactly know what's

motivating him, but we know this

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is the wrong thing for him to do.

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And so the servants capitalize on this

approach and they say, yes, this is Ben.

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Hey dad, your brother.

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And so they bring him out.

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He puts him in his chariots and

then they offer terms of peace, Ben,

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Hey dad says, Hey, look, I'll I'll

return the cities I took from you.

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You can set up shop in my town.

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We'll call things, even Stevens.

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And Ahab agrees.

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Verse 35 to the end of chapter 20.

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A certain man of the sons of the prophets.

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So yet you have another one unnamed

again, Elijah, you're not alone who comes

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and he comes with a bit of theatrical.

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He has someone punch him in the face,

beat him up a little bit, Scruff him up.

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And he does so in a clever

way to cause a habit.

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To render judgment against himself.

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This is reminiscent of what

Nathan does with David.

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When he says here's a story of a situation

where a man takes a Ulam of another man

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and David says, yeah, man shall pay.

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And then Nathan says, you are the man.

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Well, you have something like that

happening here in first Kings chapter 20.

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Where this unnamed man of the

sons of the prophets comes in

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and gives Ahab a scenario where he

renders judgment against himself.

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And then he says, basically,

Hey, because you let him go.

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You're going to pay for it with your life.

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This was a man that God had

devoted to destruction in verse 42.

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And because you didn't do that, you're

now going to pay with your life.

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Interestingly in verse 43.

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Ahab.

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Goes back to his house and

here's the words vexed in Solon.

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He goes back to some Marriott vexed.

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And Solon.

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Okay.

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Remember those words, because when

we jump into the next chapter, you're

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going to see those words, reappear.

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First Kings chapter 21, then.

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Neighbor is introduced.

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Nate.

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Nate bought the Jezreelite.

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He has a vineyard.

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In Jezreel beside the palace

of Ahab king of Samaria.

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So notice here where his

palace is perfectly situated.

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And so a Hab thanks.

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W what better way to improve my mood

than to have me a nice vegetable

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garden and what a better place then.

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, neighbor, the Jezreelite vineyard.

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And so he makes him an offer.

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He says, look, you can either trade up.

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I'll give you a better

one or you can cash in.

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I'll pay you good money for this.

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And he says, no way, not a chance.

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I'm not going to violate God.

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In this way now, whatever

reason was behind it.

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The reason Naboth offers is as

a matter of principle, look,

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this is the land of my father's.

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I can't give this away.

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Well, a hub isn't like that.

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And here we go again.

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Ahab went back to his house, vexed

and Solon, because of what Naboth

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the Jezreelite had said to him.

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Well soon enough Jessebelle his wife

sees him in this state and says,

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Hey, aren't you the king of Israel?

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Let's do something about this.

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In fact, she says, you know

what, don't even sweat.

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It.

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I'll take care of this for you.

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And so she hired some thugs, some goons.

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To set up a feast in honor of the Lord and

to bear false testimony against neighbor.

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Now, this is interesting because

she's using a legal means

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to get to an illegal ends.

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The legal means is that it requires at

least two witnesses to level a charge

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against someone so that someone's

not put to death accidentally.

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At least that's the goal here.

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Well, in this case, Jezza bell has

connections to some ungodly fellows.

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She hires them says, I'll give

you a sufficient amount of money.

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You level a charge against this man.

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Say that he cursed God and king.

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And then you to confirm the

situation and then they kill him.

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And that's exactly what happens.

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She uses a lawful means for

an ungodly and unlawful ends.

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She uses the legal system to

essentially perform murder.

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And that's what happens.

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So once this takes place.

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Jessebelle receives word.

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She goes back to her husband and she

says arise, go and get your land.

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Go and take possession of it.

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Well, Ahab is having a

great time at this point.

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He's on cloud nine because he

got exactly what he wanted.

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Doesn't ask any questions.

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It seems, it seems like he's perfectly

okay with whatever just transpired.

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And he moves on with life, except God

doesn't move on from this in verses

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17, through the end of chapter 21,

Elijah jumps back in now, he was gone

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from this story for a little bit.

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We had a couple other people jump on in.

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But now he's tagged in.

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The tag team takes place.

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Word of the Lord came

to Elijah in verse 17.

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And he says, go down and

meet Ahab king of Israel.

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Who's in Samarria behold, he's

in the vineyard of neighbors.

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Where he has gone to take possession.

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That's exactly where he's at.

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He's in the place that he just stole.

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And then he tells him this.

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Have you killed and also take possession.

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And you shall say to him, thus says

the Lord in the place where dogs

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licked up the blood of neighbor.

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Shall dogs lick up your own blood.

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So in other words, the place where he

died is a place where you're going to die.

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Here's an interesting phrase.

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Verse 28.

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I have said to Elijah.

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Have you found me?

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Oh, my enemy.

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Now recall, I don't know if you remember

this a couple of chapters ago, chapter 18.

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Uh, when he was looking for him in.

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The time of the drought.

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Uh, and chapter 18, verse 17.

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Ahab saw Elijah a hub said to him,

Is it, you, you troubler of Israel.

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So in chapter 18, he's just a troubler

now in chapter 21, he's an enemy.

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But get this, even though he

directs his comment to Elijah.

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Notice who answers, it's not Elijah.

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It's God.

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He answered.

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I have found you because you

have sold yourself to do what is

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evil in the sight of the Lord.

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Behold, I will bring disaster

upon you that I is of course,

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coming from the Lord Yahweh.

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I will bring disaster upon you.

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I will utterly burn you up and

we'll cut off from Ahab, every

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male bond or free in Israel.

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And I will make your house like the

house of Jeroboam the son of ne bat.

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And like the house of Basha

the center of a hijab.

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So God renders judgment upon him for

the work that he does or the evil

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work that he does in particular.

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He says, not only that I'm going to cut

off your line, just like a different

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Jeroboam just like I did for Basha and

that's exactly what happens, but, but

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notice, notice something so fascinating.

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And the final few verses of chapter 21.

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Versus 25 to 29.

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Get this.

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Ahab repents.

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Now this isn't a full repentance.

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This isn't him turning his

life over to Yahweh and saying,

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I'm going to be faithful.

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But notice in verse 27, when Ahab heard

these words, he tore his clothes and put

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sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay

in sackcloth and went about dejectedly.

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Now this is different than

his being vexed in Solon.

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It's different language,

different response.

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And so God sees this and he tells

Alijah, he says, have you seen how

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Ahab has humbled himself before me?

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In other words, God's paying attention

and he tells Elijah to check this out.

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A Hab responds with repentance.

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And because of this.

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Because he has humbled himself.

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He says I will not bring

the disaster in his days.

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But in his son's days, I will

bring the disaster upon his house.

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So God loves to showcase

mercy where he sees humility.

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What incredible mercy that is.

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Now there are at least a few

lessons we can derive from this.

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I'll just offer a couple

of small points here.

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First of all, I want you to pay

attention to the fact that god is so

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eager to show kindness to the humble.

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God opposes the proud, but

he gives grace to the humble.

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God is willing and able to

showcase mercy and kindness to any.

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Who are willing to lay down their arms.

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And humble themselves before the Lord.

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Uh, whether that's you or someone, you

know, Never lose hope for that person.

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Uh, and if it's you, maybe your

heart is hard before the Lord.

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Maybe it's time for you to lay down

your arms and say, Lord, forgive me.

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I'm sorry for what I've done.

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God is eager.

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To show kindness and mercy to

those who seek him with humility.

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Now going back here.

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Going back to the first chapter.

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We looked at this looking at first.

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Kings chapter 20.

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I want you to notice that

God is the God of everywhere.

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The Syrians thought God surely

could not defeat us in the Plains.

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But God had no problem conquering

them in the Plains or in the mountains

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or anywhere else in the world.

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They might be, God is

not a localized deity.

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He is.

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God.

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Everything he's got of the universe.

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He's got everywhere and every time

and everything, there's no place

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where God can not exert his power.

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Now here's where I think there's

some parallel to us today.

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Sometimes we, , we like

to do things and get it.

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Cause we're physical creatures.

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We'd like to pray in the place where we

think it's going to have the most power.

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You know, we'd like to pray why,

which is not a bad thing per walking

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around your neighborhood and saying,

Lord, I want to take dominion over

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this place for your name sake.

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I want my neighbors to

come to know that's great.

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Fantastic.

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Uh, and if you are about that,

then I would not discourage

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you, but let me encourage you

to think about it this way, too.

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Your prayers are just as effective.

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In your, in the quiet of

your, of your prayer closet.

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Your prayers are just as effective in the

central time zone or an Eastern time zone.

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If you're praying for

the Pacific time zone.

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Your prayers are not limited.

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To a time and a place because God is

not limited to a time and a place.

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Your prayers can be effective no

matter what time or place that

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you're in, no matter who you're

praying for or where they are.

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God is not a God of the Plains.

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He's not a God of the mountains.

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God has a God of the everywhere.

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Make sure that your prayers reflect that.

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One final thing here in chapter 21.

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I mentioned it kind of briefly, but notice

that a Hab is judged for Jesse Bell's sin.

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Ahab.

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Is.

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Willingly ignorant of

whatever she's doing.

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Doesn't ask any questions.

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It seems he's okay with

whatever she's doing.

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He just knows that he has

neighborhoods vineyard.

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And yet God holds them accountable.

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Why.

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Well, I could think of two reasons.

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Number one.

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Ahab probably knew what she was up to.

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He knows his wife.

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Not the first time he met her, probably

had a decent idea what she was up to.

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And so he's complicit at least in

not stopping her from doing the

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wicked things that she was doing.

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But secondly, and perhaps

more importantly, Ahab.

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Was supposed to lead his wife.

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Much like Adam was supposed

to lead his wife Eve.

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And so God holds Adam accountable

in the same way that he holds Ahab

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accountable for not doing right.

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By his wife.

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That that principle of leadership

is still in effect today.

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And Ephesians chapter five husbands

are called to lead their wives.

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Um, but I think that principle

also filters into almost every

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other aspect of our society.

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Again, as the leader

goes, so go, the people.

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As the husband goes, so goes.

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The wife.

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So it goes to the family

as the pastor goes.

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So it goes to church.

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I bring this up to remind you, number one,

if you are a leader, the responsibility

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and the burden is high and it's

heavy, never take that for granted.

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Number two.

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Please pray for your leaders.

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For those who are in

a place of leadership.

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No, that is that Jesus said, strike the

shepherd and the sheep will scatter.

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Please pray for your leaders, pray

for your political leaders, certainly,

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but pray for your spiritual leaders,

pray for your leaders in your home.

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Husbands.

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I pray for your wives.

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I know they're not your leaders,

but you get the idea why it's

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pray for your husband's children.

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Pray for your parents.

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Pray for your pastors.

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Pray for people in leadership positions.

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That's what Paul calls us to do.

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That's what I'm encouraging

you to do today.

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Okay.

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First Kings chapters, 20 and 21.

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I hope some things in

there were helpful for you.

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I look forward to doing this again

with you tomorrow for another

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edition of the daily Bible podcast.