December 13, 2021
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Reading along with us in 1 Kings? Here’s today’s reading:
1 Kings 20 (NIV)
Ben-Hadad Attacks Samaria
1 Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram mustered his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it. 2 He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, saying, “This is what Ben-Hadad says: 3 ‘Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine.’ ”
4 The king of Israel answered, “Just as you say, my lord the king. I and all I have are yours.”.......Continue Reading
Pastor is always saying that God can bring about His glory through us or in spite of us and using the likes of Ahab to show Israel that He is the one true God made me think of this.
The people of Israel constantly fall back on idols and false gods, even blaming their loss on fighting on the wrong god’s land, and God continuously proves Himself to be God despite their constant disbelief and disobedience.
1Kings 20
1 Kings 20
God uses Ahab to demonstrate that He is the Lord. Even when the Lord delivers on His promise and gives specific instructions, Ahab does what he thinks is best.
Ben Hadad, king of Aram, expresses a lot of bravado in approaching Ahab king of Israel, resolving because he is stronger, he can boss Ahab around. Now because Ahab has been disobedient and has no relationship with God, he gives in to Ben Hadad’s demands. It is actually the elders of Israel that encourage Ahab to defy the enemy’s orders. This is what happens when we are apart from God, we cannot stand against our enemies and we will have to rely on others for courage.
But in the midst of all this, God has decided in spite of Ahab’s disobedience to give Ahab victory and teach this foreign king a lesson that God is still Israel’s protector. A prophet of God gives Ahab the message and gives directions for the battle. And against the odds and a larger army, Ahab wins. It is reminiscent of the ways God would overcome Israel’s enemies and what the enemy had didn’t matter because God was greater. God is trying to show Ahab this truth even in his state of disobedience. It is such an expression of grace to Israel and Ahab. But God is orchestrating His plan here. Remember He has told Elijah to anoint someone else king over Aram as well as someone else king over Israel. So as usual, it is what God is doing that matters, not what these kings are doing.
But in their attempt to figure it all out, the Arameans surmise that they lost because they were fighting Israel’s God in the mountains and He has more power there, so they have to draw battle lines in the plains. When people are outside of God and have to figure out things on their own, they come up with a lot of crazy ideas about what makes things work. God loves to dispel foolish thoughts like this and show that you cannot put him in a box and limit His power anywhere. So God grants the Israelites victory once again. But He desires for this boastful king of Aram to be killed. Ahab, the one disobedient to God, is subject to the vagaries of his opinions (which have been particularly weak in this chapter) and he makes a treaty with this arrogant king. So in spite of the grace God extends to Ahab and the victory He grants, Ahab returns to his independent ways. God, through his prophet, tells Ahab that his life will be given because he didn’t follow God’s will and kill the arrogant king. God’s will be done!