AHAB AND JEZEBEL
1. Over Memorial Day weekend my family went to the cemetery in Millersburg.
2. As we were waiting for the band to play Teresa and I looked at some of the grave markers.
3. On the monuments we found a variety of inscriptions.
4. The various tributes to people remind me of a little statement in the book of First Kings.
IN
FIRST KINGS 16 WE ARE INTRODUCED TO KING AHAB.
IT IS SAID THAT AHAB REIGNED IN
1. Ahab was and evil man and a wicked king.
2. He
was so bad that God said he was the worst of any king that
3. This Bible says that this evil king got married.
4. The woman he married is described in verse 31 – READ.
A. Notice the word Ethbaal.
B. This word implies that Jezebel’s father was the high priest of Baalism.
C. This foreign king actively promoted false worship.
D. Sometimes children are like their parents; in other cases they are not.
E. Jezebel (the daughter of the Sidonian king) took after her father.
F. Her dad was involved with Baal worship (false religion) and this interested her too.
G. Through her influence Ahab become very attached to this false religion.
5. Listen
to 1 Kgs.
6. Ahab’s wife believed in and supported Baal worship.
7. She helped sustain more than 800 false prophets.
8. Jezebel was immersed in idolatry and false religion.
9. Since
she was queen it didn’t take long before her influence was felt in the nation
of
10. Moving back to 1 Kgs. 16, here is what verse 32 says – READ.
11. Ahab
and his wife both promoted Baal worship in
12. A wicked man was married to an evil woman. Jezebel was just as rotten as her husband.
A. Let’s look at some of the other things that scripture says about her.
B. 1 Kgs. 18:4 – READ.
C. This woman did not want to be associated with true prophets or the right religion.
D. She “cut off” the Lord’s prophets.
13. As the story continues we find that Elijah had contest with Jezebel’s false prophets.
14. The false prophets lost and Jezebel was not very happy.
15. 1 Kgs. 19:2-3 – READ.
16. THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT JEZEBEL WAS A WICKED WOMAN. SHE WAS INVOLVED IN PROMOTING WHAT WAS WRONG AND TRYING TO STOP WHAT WAS RIGHT. SHE WAS A WOMAN WHO RAN AT LEAST ONE PREACHER OUT OF TOWN.
A. In spite of all these terrible qualities Ahab
married her.
B. The wife that this man got was evil through and
through.
17. The place where we really get a close look at Jezebel is 1 Kgs. 21.
A. This is the chapter that tells about Naboth.
B. Naboth was a man who had a vineyard.
C. From what is said it sounds like it was a very nice vineyard.
D. This vineyard was right by the king’s home.
E. This vineyard was so nice that King Ahab wanted it.
F. He tried to buy it – 1 Kgs. 21:2 – READ.
18. Naboth refused to sell his vineyard.
19. In fact, it appears that Naboth was not allowed to sell this property.
20. Based upon. Lev. 25:23-24 it seems that Naboth had to keep this land.
21. Ahab’s offer was rejected so he decided to go home and pout.
A. 1 Kgs. 21:4 – READ.
B. Ahab, at least on this occasion, was guilty of sulking.
C. He didn’t get his way so he acted like a child.
D. He wanted something and the person who owned it said “no.”
22. Jezebel came into where Ahab was (verse 5) and asked him what was wrong.
23. Ahab complained that he couldn’t get what he wanted.
24. Jezebel told him to cheer up.
25. Verse 7 – READ.
26. Jezebel didn’t have much of a conscience.
27. This woman saw a man who stood in the way of what her husband wanted so she devised a plan.
28. Jezebel was so evil that she arranged to have Naboth killed (verse 10).
29. Naboth had committed no crime.
30. In fact, he was trying to abide by the Old Testament law.
31. Jezebel didn’t care. She was so wicked she was willing to have Naboth killed.
32. Her plan was carried out and Naboth died (verse 14).
33. Naboth’s death angered God.
34. Jehovah was so angry that He said that Jezebel would pay with her life – verse 23 – READ.
35. God prophesied that the dogs would eat Jezebel.
36. This prediction was fulfilled.
A. After Jezebel died her influence lived on.
B. She
had a daughter who married King Jehoram (this king reigned
in southern
C. The corruption that Jezebel brought to the north made it into the south through her daughter.
37. WHEN WE LOOK AT THIS STORY, AND WE THINK ABOUT IT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF MARRIAGE, WHAT DO WE FIND?
A. We find a husband who was dominated by his wife.
B. Jezebel was cruel, dominating, vicious, and ruthless.
C. She walked all over people, and one of these people was her husband.
D. The spirit of Jezebel is still in the world.
38. There are wives who want to boss their husbands.
39. There are men who cower before their mates.
40. We live in a time when some women bully their husbands.
41. When a wife wears the pants in the family something is wrong.
42. If Ahab would have stood up to his wife Naboth might not have been murdered.
43. He could have kept out the hundreds of false prophets that Jezebel fed.
44. If he would have been a real man he c/ have said, “I am not entitled to the V. so I will forget about it.”
45. From what is said it seems that Jezebel was intent on often being the boss.
46. Today we find cases where this is still true.
47. There are wives who want to run roughshod over husbands and children.
48. This is wrong.
49. There are even children who control their parents.
50. We live in a time when God’s order for the home has been rearranged.
51. Our culture says “there are many types of families.”
A. We are left with the impression that there is no single definition for what home life is to be like.
B. We live in a time when people think that anything goes.
C. This is not the Biblical view of life and marriage.
D. When we make known God’s plan for marriage and the home some laugh at it.
E. There are those who say that the plan in scripture is unrealistic.
F. It has been said that God’s plan is not how the “real world” operates.
G. I suspect these same kinds of things were said in Noah’s day.
H. Noah was considered to be an oddball; his way of life was not consistent with that early society.
I. Some parts of the New Testament are inconsistent with things that are part of our modern world.
52. In 1 Cor. 11:3 Paul said that there is a “head.”
53. This “head” is described as “man” (the male species).
54. Paul says that men are the “head of women.”
A. In the world we believe in a hierarchy.
B. People are all equal but not all occupy the same position (role).
C. God says that there is a hierarchy in the home.
D. This part of the gospel is not always a part that people want to hear.
E. Fulfilling certain roles is not the way that some families want to operate.
F. Husbands may want their wives to be the leader, or wives may actually be the leader in a home.
G. God has given the leadership role in the home to men.
H. If a family is made up of a husband and wife, that husband needs to fulfill his God-given duties.
I. In our time we find that some men like Ahab let their wives run roughshod over them.
55. In some homes the role of the husband and wife is reversed.
56. The relationship that children have in the home is also sometimes out of kilter.
57. There are homes where children seem to rule the roost.
58. Whatever the children want, mom and dad do.
59. The Bible provides us with a guide to get through life.
60. Part of this guide involves marriage and the home.
A. According to the New Testament God has given men the task of leadership.
B. This is true both in the church and in the home.
C. Men need to lead.
D. Leadership does not mean that men are bossy, domineering, and demanding.
E. It means that they are to be the leaders and protectors in the home.
F. In the church it is the men who have been given the job of leadership.
G. When men fail to live up to their responsibilities there are problems.
61. 50
years ago no preacher could have probably envisioned the kind of home lives we
see in
62. In our culture, in at least some places, anything goes.
63. God’s will is for the husband to take be the leader in the house.
A. The man is charged with helping to insure that food is on the table.
B. Males are responsible for seeing that the children receive spiritual training.
C. The man needs to make sure that all the family needs are met.
D. If there is a wife she works with her husband to make the household run as well as it can.
E. When children become part of the home they learn to obey (Eph. 6:1-3).
64. God’s plan for the family needs to be the one that we live by.
65. This is the best plan it is the only plan that is right.
66. Men who are weak and refuse to lead are not pleasing to God.
67. Women who try to rule the home and dominate their husbands are like Jezebel.
68. Children who do not obey are like Jezebel’s children.
69. God’s plan for the home works, and this is the one that we are obligated to follow.