The Story of Elijah, chapter 9 – 09/15/2024

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us today,
Most all the hard things will come to us in time
For many of us it is always on our minds
Never forgotten

It seems more difficult to remember that
Most all the good things will come as well
Many here already
And we miss them
Take them for granted
Dismiss them.

This morning allow us to give thanks for all the good we have
Today we come as creatures in creation because that is who we are
And you our creator, maker of heaven and earth, and all that means
Thank you Lord for those moments of creaturely comforts of just being alive
Let us hold each one for a moment with reverence and gratitude.

For the warm sun on our faces
The cool breeze on our skin
We thank You
For the clouds and the fog, and the sun that streaks through them and the changing color of the sun in the evening as autumn approaches
We thank you
For the flowers we see, in every color, on our walks, or in our garden, or in a vase at home
We thank You
For the sound of the ocean with waves crashing and spray blowing, or the gentle quiet lapping at the pebbles on a beach, permeated with the smell of salt and sea
We thank you
For the song of birds everywhere, their flitting from place to place, their grace, their freedom
We thank you
For the howling of coyotes, the barking of seals, the cooing of owls and the lowing of cows
We thank you
For our pets who greet us, play with us, tease us, play with us, need us, and love us
We thank you
For our neighbors and their greetings and smiles and good words and unexpected kindness and welcomed affection
We thank you
And for the opportunity to be all that and more to our neighbors and build lasting bonds and grow as people and to journey further
We thank you
For our families and our friends, the strong ones, the ones who are sick and who are suffering, the bright ones, the ones who are making their way barely able to look up, the fortunate, the needy, and the difficult, and the ones filled with joy
We thank you
And for our place with our families and with our friends, every struggle, every laugh, every tear, every long talk, every story told, every confidence given, every smile, every hug, every kiss we thank you
For all of this and more, so much more
We thank you
We thank you
Amen

Morning talk: chuck smith, jr.

Now Naboth the Jezreelite
had a vineyard in Jezreel,
beside the palace of Ahab
king of Samaria 1 Kings 21:1

King Ahab left the battlefield, victorious over the Syrians, but he arrived home moody and sullen. In theory, there’s no reason for kings to be “moody and sullen.” If they are troubled, they have counselors. If they feel sad, they have jesters. If they need comfort, the priest is always on call. Having the luxuries afforded them by wealth and power, one imagines they could avoid ever being moody and sullen.
Ahab may have assumed he did a good thing, releasing the enemy king who had attacked Israel, and sending him back to Syria with a slap on the wrist. But as he was riding through his troops with them congratulating him, there was suddenly that miserable prophet standing in his way, telling him God did not want King Ben-hadad to go free, and Ahab would pay for that wrong he did in releasing him. That spoiled everything.
Soon after this discouraging episode, Ahab took his queen and together they went to their palace in Jezreel for rest and entertainment. One evening, strolling the palace grounds, the king paused at the section of his wall that bordered the property of his closest neighbor. He stood there a good awhile, looking over the vineyard that thrived in the luxuriant field. This had always been the favorite part of his walk. Gradually, a picture formed in his mind, followed by an idea, and then a plan. He had work to do, and that pleased him.

Rising early the next morning, Ahab’s brain was racing through the steps he had to take. In truth, his imagination was already far beyond the first steps–way past the negotiation and purchase stage. He was mentally dividing and redesigning the entire field, and deciding what he would plant in every square foot. The king was walking so fast, his attendants were having difficulty keeping up with him. He knocked, perhaps too loudly, on the door of Naboth his neighbor. The door had barely opened when Ahab asked Naboth’s wife, “Where’s your husband, now?” Controlling the shock she felt seeing the king up close, she managed to say, “Out there–somewhere,” pointing to the vineyard.
Ahab turned and began scanning the vineyard as he was already rushing into it. He finally discovered Naboth, crouching by a vine, pulling at weeds near its roots. “Naboth,” the king startled him. “Naboth, let’s strike a deal. I want your vineyard–after all, it’s right next to my home. I will trade you an even better vineyard for it; or if you prefer, I’ll buy it outright–top dollar. The decision is yours,” Ahab said, and then asked again, “Which do you want, a better vineyard or the money?” He was not really giving Naboth much of a choice.
Naboth had to restrain the anger from seeping into his voice. “God forbid!” he blurted out. “Yehovah will never allow me to give up or sell the inheritance of my fathers.” Ahab took a step back. He was not prepared for this response. In all of his dreaming and planning, the possibility Naboth could refuse him had not entered his mind. And even though Ahab was king, Naboth had the winning hand.

When Israel entered the land of Canaan, a great deal of care was given to locating where each of the twelve tribes would settle. The leaders of each tribe gathered in Shiloh at the entrance of God’s sacred Tent. There, Joshua divined God’s will for the division of the land and assigned each tribe their portion, which they then allowed each clan and family to claim their possession. Hundreds of years had passed from that time to the present, and still the portion of each family, with its defined boundary lines, was considered sacred. Ahab could not argue Naboth’s right to his property.
His spirit crushed, Ahab dragged himself away from the vineyard. Describing what happened next, we can hear the same exact phrase that we heard before, Ahab arrived home moody and sullen.

We could make a long list of pious individuals who believe it’s their job to discover and condemn the sins of everyone in the Bible–and everyone outside the Bible as well. Some of them have interpreted Ahab’s dejection as a moral failure. In their eyes, he was a sissy king who could not handle setbacks, but instantly fell into whiney self-pity in the face of disappointment. His morose feeling was “a lack of faith,” or “the sin of self-love,” or “the misery of the person who turns away from God.”
Perhaps they are right to find fault with Ahab’s grousing every time his path leads straight into a wall. But then again, there have been others who were righteous, yet also became moody and sullen at times.
“How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?” says the poet of Psalm 13.
“How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day? . . .
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death . . . .” (Ps. 13:1-3)
Some of God’s favorites resisted taking on the role he assigned them, or they felt oppressed by his will, or they accepted their task, but later wanted to resign. Others, like Ahab, went around moody and sullen, because they carried a great burden, had grown up in an insane home, or suffered unrelenting persecution.
King Ahab certainly had his faults, and reacting poorly to setbacks may have been one of them, but, even though God was clear regarding Ahab’s actual sins, he said nothing about his pathetic moods.

While Ahab made his way back to the palace, his conversation with Naboth was playing over and over in his head, “Naboth said, ‘I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.’” Once home, he went straight into his room and tossed himself on his bed. When his servants entered and asked what were his wishes, he turned his face away without answering them. He wanted nothing to eat, nothing to drink, nothing to do but lie there and sulk.
Concerned for his unhappiness, Queen Jezebel came to check on him. “Why haven’t you come to dinner? What makes you so miserable you won’t join us?” He looked up at her and told the story of his offer to Naboth, and how it was rejected. However, Ahab edited some of the details. He left out the part where Naboth mentioned the inheritance of his fathers. So it’s possible that Ahab’s version of the story caused Jezebel to assume that Naboth was just being peevish. It’s also possible, that being a foreigner in Israel, she was not aware of the sacredness of maintaining ownership of the land of one’s family.
“Is that all?” she asked, as if it were nothing. “You’re the king of Israel! Now start acting like a king. Get up. Go feast on something. Call for entertainment. I’ll get you Naboth’s vineyard. Cheer up; it is practically yours already.”

Jezebel hurried off to the chamber where the king’s official documents were written and stored. She called for a scribe, and with his help, she forged a legal decree in the name of her husband and then secured it with his personal seal. Jezebel had the document delivered to the leaders of Jezreel; all of them, of course, men who knew Naboth. Here is what was written in the letter they assumed came from the king:
“By royal decree, you are to proclaim a public fast. Make this announcement, ‘We must seek the will of God and learn why he has withheld his blessings from our land. If we do not discover the guilty party and rid ourselves of his sin, God will continue his punishment.’ Once the city has gathered, set Naboth in front of crowd. Hire two lowlifes to come forward and accuse Naboth of blasphemy, saying, ‘We have heard you curse both God and our king!’ Then drag Naboth outside the gate of the city, and stone him to death.”
Upon receiving these orders, that is what the leaders, the elders, and the men of the city did. They proclaimed a fast, brought Naboth forward, and two scum bags stepped forward and accused him of cursing God and the king. So the people took him outside the city gates, and there they executed him. Afterward, the leaders sent word back to the palace that Naboth had been stoned and was dead.
As soon as Jezebel received this message, she hurried back to Ahab. “Get up!” she said. “You can go now, and take possession of the vineyard you offered to buy, but that Naboth refused to sell to you. He’s no longer alive, so he can’t stand in your way. The vineyard is yours.”
Once the king learned that Naboth was dead, he immediately hurried back to the vineyard.

Around the same time that Ahab received word of Naboth’s death, someone else was receiving a word regarding the King and Queen. The word of Yehovah came to the prophet Elijah. “Get up,” God told him, “and go down to confront Ahab king of Israel. You will see him standing in the vineyard of Naboth, that he has entered and taken over its ownership. When you reach him, say to him, “Hear the word of Yehovah! In the same place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick up your blood as well.” The meaning of this message was obvious. Like Naboth, Ahab was going to die a miserable and dishonorable death.
When Elijah entered the vineyard, Ahab looked up and recognizing the prophet, he asked, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” The question dripped with irony. If Elijah were Ahab’s enemy, it was the king’s doing, not the prophet’s. Besides, Elijah was not the one Ahab had to fear, it was Yehovah who opposed him.
Elijah answered him, “I have found you, and the reason is because you’ve sold out–sold out to do nothing but evil in the sight of Yehovah. God tells you to look away from this vineyard to the disaster that coming for you, to consume you and cut off your posterity from every person in Israel. Yehovah says, ‘I am going to erase your house and dynasty the way I erased Jeroboam’s, the first king of Israel; and the way I erased the dynasty of Baasha, who was king prior to your father Omri. I will do this because you have sinned and spread your sin throughout Israel. Regarding Jezebel, your wife, dogs will eat her body, not outside the gates of the city, but within the walls of Jezreel. Anyone in your family that dies within a city, dogs will eat, and anyone who dies in the open countryside, the birds of the sky will eat.’”
If we are stunned by this message from God, then we are feeling the terror it was meant to provoke. Until now, Ahab had not taken his or his wife’s offenses against Yehovah seriously enough to turn from the other gods and their idols, and begin walking in the ways of the God of Israel. Now, without a shred of compassion, they had murdered one of their own subjects in order to take ownership of his land.
Ahab’s final brief biography reads like this:
“There had never been someone who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of Yehovah like Ahab, whose wrongdoing was incited by his wife Jezebel. His actions were heinous in devotion to pagan deities and their idols. He became as evil as the people who had lived in the land previously, and whom God had removed before Israel arrived.”

When King Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes from his body and wrapped himself in sackcloth. He fasted from all foods, and went about his life in a deep depression.
Once again, the word of Yehovah came to Elijah, and it is impossible to hear what God had to say without being amazed. God asked Elijah, “Have you see this? Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me, and how he has shown respect for my word? Because he has taken my word to heart and humbled himself before me, I will delay my punishment, so that he will not see the worst of it. I will not bring the complete disaster during his lifetime, but will unleash it on his heirs after he is gone.”

Although Ahab failed at being a decent king, it is Jezebel’s name that is remembered for its wicked connotations. For better or worse, the name of Jezebel has been so overused and subjected to so many different forms of insidious behavior, that it is currently more useful in comedy than tragedy. A few years ago, a group of Christian leaders began warning believers that some women could be possessed by the spirit of Jezebel. That sort of teaching is embarrassing for its complete silliness (although I know a few husbands who wanted to believe it could be true). Nonsense like this may shield us from the real danger that lurks in this story, and therefore it could fail to provide the serious warning that we need for such a time as this present hour.
When Jezebel told Ahab to “act like a king,” her concept of what that meant was foreign to the role of the kings of Israel according to God’s specifications. In fact, Jezebel’s model king was what could be applied to all the worst leaders of history and the world today.
When David–Israel’s model king–was chosen, the characteristic that qualified him was he was a man after God’s own heart. The devotion he showed his sheep as a shepherd–willing to risk his life for the runt of the flock–mirrored God’s heart for his people.
There have been many people who have either been thrown into leadership positions or finagled their way into leadership, who don’t belong there. Some of them are simply inept. They have no vision, or no integrity, or no skill in motivating or guiding followers. Others have talents that are useful in other departments, but not in the leader’s role. For example, it is a disaster for followers when their leader is a bean-counter. That is because the focus of the accountant is on money and math and analysis down to the fractions of a penny, rather than on human persons, who will always be the chief concern of every true and decent leader. Among the worst leaders, are not those who fail to serve people, but those who actually damage their followers. These are frequently the men and women who want to lead for what they get for themselves from it–perhaps wealth, attention, or the power of control.
God has provided plenty of instructions for leaders, and you don’t need to attend a conference to learn them. For instance, God told the prophet Ezekiel,
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them” (Eze. 34:2-4)

We cannot always find a job working under the perfect boss or manager. In fact, I hear more terrible stories about bad managers than I do wise and helpful managers. However, we do have the freedom to choose our spiritual leaders and we can at least cast a vote for political leaders. I look for the most compassionate and understanding leader. I look for people who do care for the strays and the lost; those who fall through the cracks of society. But that’s just me.
If I were to give you any advice this morning, based on this chapter of Elijah’s story, it would be this: The one who brings us the truth is not our enemy. Ahab assumed Elijah was his enemy, because he brought him information he did not want to hear or believe. Of course, truth can be delivered in an unloving and criticizing way, but it is still better than being told lies. So . . .

Don’t follow the person who always asks for more from you
Follow the one who inspires you to be more
Don’t follow the person who says they love you
Follow the person who shows you they love you.
Follow the person who follows Jesus.