1 Kings 22
September 28, 2010
2 Comments
Bible Passage: 1 Kings 22
Ahab is one of the most notorious kings of Israel and had led Israel astray in worshipping Baal. Finally, after all the devastations he brought onto Israel, God punished him. In this story, Ahab died by a random arrow and in spite of his intelligence of hiding his identity; he could not escape the judgment of God.
If Ahab could humble himself and listen to prophet Micaiah, he could have survived. Why did Ahab end up in this state and entail the wrath of God?
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
One of the problems of Ahab is that he has itching ears. He only wanted to hear the things he wants to hear. When Ahab decided to attack Ramoth Gilead, he wanted to hear people telling him that his idea was good and that they approve of it.
Ahab hated to hear prophet Micaiah because he prophesied things that were bad for him. Similarly with prophet Elijah, Ahab called prophet Elijah the ‘troublemaker of Israel’ but unfortunately what he meant was Elijah was a troublemaker to him. Ahab listened to the other prophets and loved to hear them because they prophesied good news about him and his decisions.
Another factor that have strengthened Ahab believe in the other prophets was their numbers. How could 400 prophets of God vs a prophet Micaiah be wrong? Coincidentally, there were about 450 prophets of Baal that were killed by prophet Elijah. In this case 400 plus prophets were wrong again!
Other than having this biasness of itching ears, the only person Ahab truly trusted and followed was his wife Jezebel. Ahab yearned and itched to hear whatever his wife said and in the process led Israel to sin greatly by worshipping Baal.
What can we learn from Ahab? Unfortunately, Ahab epitomizes a lot of people in this world. Their understanding of the Truth is darkened and their ears itched to hear pleasing things. It is very simple reason why some churches in Singapore can grow so rapidly. It is because the message they preached suited to the people’s itching ears. Wealth, health, worldly pleasure, worldly freedom, success and status are what most Singaporeans itch to have and hear and these churches have catered to their needs and undoubtedly their numbers show.
Other than wanting to hear pleasing things, itching ears will cause people to deviate from the Truth. We have to be very alert and careful in these last days and hold onto the Truth tightly. There will be many false prophets who can go in a round about and crafty way to ‘prove’ what we believe is false; sometimes the way they do that is pretty amazing. As believers of the True Church, we should be very careful and not let our hearts be persuaded by their glib tongue or persuasive preaching.
As a concluding verse,
“For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” (1 Thess 2:13)
May we be able to discern the word of God from the word of men and may the Truth effectively work in all of us.
Just for laughs,
In many ways, we are like Ahab. When we voice an opinion, we want support. When we draft up a plan, we want it to be executed accordingly. And when we get majority votes, we think we must be right! Detractors are deemed stubborn or inflexible. We may fail to acknowledge our thoughts and plans are flawed simply because most people see eye to eye with us. Their agreement is our “encouragement and we take comfort in it that we are doing the right thing”, (verse 13 records the messenger asking Micaiah to “let his word be like the word of one of them and speak encouragement”).
From the records of Ahab, he had not been prayerful and seldom seeks God’s guidance in all his ways. His inner circle of officials and his wife were his counsellors. Only when dire calamities befall him that he humbled himself before God (in the last part of chpt 21). However, 3 yrs of peace during his reign brought about his complacency again.
Do we find ourselves in the same vicious cycle as Ahab? Certainly not, Ahab worshipped idols. Well, maybe – but what about our attitudes? As we busy ourselves in God’s work, have we been constantly mindful to pray for His guidance that our plans are not wishy-washy, thoughtless, self-serving or robotic? Are we also guilty of being one of them who tends to go along with the flow when making decisions?
As I serve the Lord more, I sometimes find my experience being a stumbling block. Why? Because experience gives me confidence and its trappings are complacency and self-conceit. After awhile, many tasks are on auto-pilot and I pray about them less! Though I discharge my duties, but are they done with the heart? There is one nagging question – are they pleasing to God?
We hear and we admonish others to pray for God’s guiding hand and wisdom in all that we do. I must truly practice what I preach.
Based on what was recorded1 Kings 22:19-23, Micaiah had a very close relationship with the LORD that he was given privy to the event in heaven.
By a childish comparison, if Micaiah was considered an “ordinary” prophet compared to Elijah and Elisha, i really couldn’t imagine the depth of the relationship between Elijah and God or Elisha and God.
Moses?! God talked to mouth face to face!!!
1 Kings 22:22 …So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’
1 Kings 22:23 “Therefore look! The LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has declared disaster against you.”
In the face of such grave warning, Ahab did not turn back. How short-lived was Ahab’s remorse in 1 Kings 21:27.
By comparison again, we are now very very blessed to have the Holy Spirit to dwell in us to guard our hearts.
Let the Holy Spirit guard our mouths too that no word which we may later regret be utttered from it.