Ahab Becomes King of Israel
29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. 30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 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.
The judgment “Ahab did more evil…” is significant and must have been a heavy burden on the people. Remember that his father Omri had been given the same judgment, but Ahab out-Omried Omri. Our author will continue with Ahab’s story right into the final chapter of 1 Kings. Jeroboam’s evil idolatry might have been a soggy rain on Israel’s little gospel light, but Ahab brought Baal right into the capital city. Ahab’s evil was no soggy shower. It was a full-blown monsoon, with the devil behind it.
Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, was a princess of Sidon, one of the Syro-Phoenician city-states north of Israel on the coast north of Mount Carmel. She was a devout worshiper of Baal, the rain god of many Canaanite people. Marrying Jezebel got Phoenician trade (ships!) connected to Israel, and it probably seemed like a great idea. If papa Omri wasn’t behind the match, he was certainly proud of it. It was a move Solomon had made (1 Kings 11:1,5), but it was the same move that got ten tribes torn away. Solomon brought Baal outside Jerusalem’s walls, but it was Ahab who brought Baal into their living rooms.
Notice that Ahab also began to serve Baal, and to worship Baal. Just as we saw King Asa down in Judah cut down an Asherah pole and burn it, we now see Ahab set up an Asherah pole in the new city of Samaria. Asa was still king of Judah, and just as his reforms were turning Judah back to God, Ahab’s anti-reforms were turning Israel further away from the Lord.
Ahab made Baal worship an important, official religion, to please his wife. It’s not likely that they had too many fights about which Sunday School their kids would attend. Baal worship was not kind on children (2 Kings 17:16-17). Perhaps an example of this terror was on the author’s mind as he inserted this footnote:
34 In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken by Joshua son of Nun. (NIV)
When I was a boy in Confirmation Class, I remember Pastor Sturm telling us how sad he was when he would visit people in their homes and find Bibles with ring marks on the cover: People were using their Bibles as coasters. The pages inside were probably untouched; it was as if people were saying: “This is all the Bible is good for.” That’s probably not something they would actually say, but actions speak louder than words.
Why are we told about the Jericho redevelopment project? Ahab’s sin was like a fountain of evil. It spread out and “nurtured” evil and disregard for the word of God throughout the land. Our author sighs and tells us: “Some idiot even rebuilt Jericho, even though everyone knows that Joshua (Josh. 6:26) warned us all not to.”
Were the deaths of Hiel’s sons accidents that happened during the building, or did Hiel of Bethel do something horrifying to his own sons to appease Jezebel’s grotesque idol? Joshua’s prophecy that the oldest and youngest sons of the rebuilder would die was fulfilled either way.
How do we take the word of God? What’s the very worst curse we could possibly pull down on our heads? Sure: it’s eternal damnation in hell for us and everyone we know. What’s the solution? Jesus doesn’t allow any wiggle room. I am the way, he said, but he also added: No one comes to the Father except through me. Baal or Jesus? Do I try to fix my life on my own, or do I trust Jesus?
Our sinful nature is like a vast field of quicksand we’re trying to walk through during an earthquake, and we look up to notice the signs warning us that there are landmines between the sinkholes. And there’s nuclear fallout everywhere. And people are shooting at us. And we’ve drunk fast-acting poison. And we’re already bleeding to death. And we have leprosy, too. We need to realize just how bad our condition is because of the sin in our lives, and let the Gospel turn us to Christ, whose hand is already reaching out to us, who stands as the bulletproof shield and the antidote to everything sin has done to us.
The Lord promised Jeremiah:
In those days, at that time, search will be made for Israel’s guilt,
but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will
be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare. (Jeremiah 50:20)
Trust in Jesus, and only in Jesus. Jesus is life.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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