There once was this king–Ahab–who had a wife–Jezebel. Together they were…not so great. Ahab was king of Israel and Jezebel wanted nothing to do with Israel’s God, Jehovah. She had her own god that she served: Baal. Ahab was swayed to love Baal more than God and so God sent the prophet Elijah to set things right.

As a result, Elijah took out 450 false prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18), which royally ticked off Jezebel.

Meanwhile there was this other guy, named Naboth. He was a simple man with a little bit of land and a vineyard to his name.

One day (1 Kings 21) King Ahab came to see Naboth, whose land was adjacent to the land on which the king’s palace sat. Ahab asked Naboth if he would be willing to part with his land. The king wanted to turn the vineyard into a garden. To his credit, Ahab offered Naboth an even better vineyard and if that didn’t satisfy him, he would throw in a nice sum of money.

But Naboth wasn’t interested in selling. The land he owned was his father’s before him, and his father’s before him. It was a family matter and Naboth wouldn’t budge.

Ahab returns to his palace, all sad and sulking. He wouldn’t even eat dinner he was pouting so bad. Instead he just curled up on his bed like a baby who didn’t get his way.

Jezebel comes in and asks what’s the matter. When Ahab tells her, Jezebel promises that she will get the land for him that he seeks. What will she do? Will she offer more money? Will she offer more land?

Nope. She forged the king’s name and bribed a couple people to bear false witness against Naboth, saying that he blasphemed against God and the king. As a result Naboth was stoned and killed.

God then moves to action.

The Lord sends Elijah to Ahab to promise that the Lord would bring vengeance against him for what he allowed to happened to Naboth. Ahab showed sorrow over his actions, and as a result God promised to delay his punishment so that it would be felt by Ahab’s son who would reign after him.

Is there a lesson to learn? Yes there is:

Don’t marry a crazy woman who worships other gods!

 

The End.