Reflections on “OT Sidekicks: Ahab and Jezebel”; 1 Kings 21

The two stories from I Kings provide great material for a sermon.  My sermon did not quite reach the potential of the stories!  One more week of the OT Sidekick series. I have enjoyed the stories in this series.

 “OT Sidekicks:  Ahab and Jezebel”; 1 Kings 21;  November 19, 2023; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp

17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: ¹⁸Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules in Samaria; he is now in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. ¹⁹You shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: Have you killed, and also taken possession?’ You shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood.’

20 Ahab said to Elijah, ‘Have you found me, O my enemy?’ He answered, ‘I have found you. Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, ²¹I will bring disaster on you; I will consume you, and will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel; ²²and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin. ²³Also concerning Jezebel the Lord said, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the bounds of Jezreel.” ²⁴Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat; and anyone of his who dies in the open country the birds of the air shall eat.’

25 (Indeed, there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord, urged on by his wife Jezebel. ²⁶He acted most abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites.)

Introduction: Two more weeks of OT sidekicks, or minor characters, then we begin Advent.

Next week, we finish with the friends of Job.

This week, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel are the sidekicks, although hard to think of royalty as being minor characters.

But, they are sidekicks to the prophet Elijah as they are the foil for much of his dramatic action;

They are also sidekicks in the much bigger story unfolding in 1 and 2 Kings about Israel’s ongoing relationship with God and their waffling back and forth between faithfulness and unfaithfulness.

So a few thoughts on what we can learn from King Ahab and Jezebel.

Move 1:  First of all, we notice the justice issues in the story.

a.  or more pointedly,  we witness the injustice that plays out under King Ahab’s watch.

1.  Kings were supposed to have the best interests of their people in mind.

2. if we remember back when the Israelites clamored for a king, their desire was in part to be like the other nations around them, 

but also to have a person, a king to take care of them.

2.  Kings were supposed to lead the people to victory against the enemy - like King Saul.

kings were supposed to protect the people - like King David.

kings were supposed to lead them to prosperity - like King Solomon

kings were supposed to act as the liaison between God and the people - like King David did.

3. It would be expected of a king to have riches and power, 

but the trade-off was the king and queen were supposed to have the best interests of the people in the kingdom at heart.

b.  Not only did King Ahab and Queen Jezebel not care about the interests of the Israelite people, they perpetrated injustice and abused their power.

1. Case and point - their treatment of Naboth.

2.  King Ahab, who has his primary palace in Samaria,  also has a palace in Jezreel.

3.  Jezreel is lower altitude than Samaria, so it is probably the warmer, winter home for King Ahab.  

4. Two palaces - winter and summer palace, and Ahab wants more.

5.  He wants to garden next to his palace in Jezreel, so he needs the vineyard Naboth has next door.  

6. In fact, King Ahab makes what seems to be a fair offer:  he will either give Naboth another plot of land that is as good or better than this 

6. But Naboth cannot give him the vineyard because it is an ancestral inheritance, which means it is supposed to stay in the family. 

This practice was tied to the historic twelve tribes of Israel and the land each tribe had.

7.  Naboth probably does not want to sell,

and he should not sell his land to King Ahab.

8.  King Ahab is upset and depressed that he cannot add Naboth’s garden to his property;

9Queen Jezebel is angry and goes to work manipulating the situation until Naboth is killed and King Ahab can take over the property.

c.  What Ahab and Jezebel do to Naboth is a complete injustice.

1.  An abuse of their power;

2.  a manipulation of the religious rites - Jezebel uses the religious ritual, the fast, to perpetuate a sham and make a mockery of it. 

3. The treatment of Naboth is not a capitalistic venture where Ahab’s hard work and understanding of the market lead to his being able to purchase Naboth’s vineyard.  

4.  This story is about people in power doing what they want with those who do not have as much power.

Queen Jezebel exemplifies this abuse when she asks Ahab: “Do you not govern Israel?”

and the answer they give is, “Yes, we govern Israel, so we can do whatever we want to whomever we want because we have the power.”

5.  When all is said and done, neighbor has turned against neighbor; 

the one in power has abused power; 

the king, who ought to be ensuring justice, acts unjustly.

c.  As we watch the story unfold, we are reminded of the responsibility people in power have.

1.  Consider where you find yourselves in life and the power and authority you have at work, at school, or in social groups.

2.  with that power and authority comes responsibility to others and for others.

King Ahab and Queen Jezebel remind us how the poor can be abused;

how does your life show how power can used responsibly?

move 2:  We also see in King Ahab the struggles to keep faith while being seduced to make other choices.

a. Frederick Buechner, the Christian writer, describes the relationship between King Ahab, Queen Jezebel, and the prophet Elijah.

1.  “Whereas just about everybody has a cross to bear, King A hab had two. One cross was the prophet Elijah. If, generally speaking, a prophet to a king was like ants at a picnic, Elijah was like a swarm of bees. The other cross was his foreign-born wife, Jezebel, who had gotten religion in a big way back in the old country and was forever trying to palm it off on the Israelites, who had a perfectly good one of their own. Unfortunately for Ahab, the two of them sometimes got to working on him at the same time, one from one side, the other from the other. A case in point was the Naboth affair.” (https://www.frederickbuechner.com/weeklysermonillustrations/2019/7/1/weekly-sermon-illustration-ahab-naboth-and-jezebel?rq=naboth)

2.  King Ahab continually has to make choices - follow the God of Israel, or give in to the temptation to chase the Baal gods that his wife has brought with her.

3.  In some ways, this whole affair with Naboth is about making that choice.

4. Did you notice that the prophetic pronouncement does not name the sin against Naboth, but Elijah says “You have sold yourself to evil in the eyes of YHWH.”          

(https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-11-3/commentary-on-1-kings-211-1011-1415-21a-2; Roger Nam, Candler School of Theology at Emory University)

5.  By unjustly taking Naboth’s rightful possession, Ahab (and Jezebel) disobeyed the command of God.

6. it is a matter of faith choices.

b.  King Ahab’s path to unfaithfulness is made by to of small steps along the way. 

1.    King Ahab had built a temple to Baal for his wife Jezebel) (Bernhard anderson, 272) 

3.  Ahab stands for a king who deeply fell to the temptations of Canaanite idolatry.

c.  it is interesting to note that Ahab seems to keep some of his connection to Yahweh. 

1.   he uses a form of Yahweh in each child’s name and still consulted the prophets of Israel (micaiah for instance), although Ahab calls Elijah a “troubler of Israel.”  

2.  Ahab is not dramatically turning away from God, but making room for Jezebel and her Baal worship. Tolerance turns bad.

d.  Frederick Buechner has a humorous way of describing Ahab’s dilemma:

Buechner describes a heavenly scene that reveals God’s mercy.  

somehow, Jezebel, Ahab and Elijah all eventually met up again in Paradise, 

Ahab looks around and sees Jezebel and Elijah and says to the heavenly authority:  if it weren't for the honor of the thing, he'd as soon take his chances in a warmer climate, and immediately put in for a transfer. https://www.frederickbuechner.com/weeklysermonillustrations/2019/7/1/weekly-sermon-illustration-ahab-naboth-and-jezebel?rq=naboth)

King Ahab reflects the challenge we face everyday in choosing whom we will follow.

Move 3:  final thought on communal responsibility

a.  Ahab and Jezebel reflect Israel - as the king and queen go, so goes Israel.

b.  We live in different times, of course.

1. No king.

2.  no mediator between us and God.

3. But it is not enough to say it’s only about “me and Jesus.” 

4. we are connected beyond ourselves.

4.   Part of discipleship means working to change all the structures that allow injustice to take place.

5.  The body of Christ is a community of people called to act in the world.

connections in all directions;

responsibility in all directions;

following Christ in all directions.

Conclusion:  Amen.

Reflections on " “OT Sidekicks: the widow of Zarephath” 1 Kings 17

I am not sure I have ever preached this text, which is rather surprising since it is a wonderful couple of stories with so much in them.  Picking up on how Jesus used the story was an important point.  I had someone in a previous congregation I served who thought it was inappropriate to not include a New Testament (preferably gospel) lesson in a service.  I find it helpful, sometimes, to tell the story (or stories in this case) using both Scripture lessons, which means no New Testament lesson if the story is from the Old Testament.

 “OT Sidekicks:  the widow of Zarephath”; 1 Kings 17;  November 12, 2023; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp

17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸She then said to Elijah, ‘What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!’ ¹⁹But he said to her, ‘Give me your son.’ He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰He cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?’ ²¹Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ ²²The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. ²³Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, ‘See, your son is alive.’ ²⁴So the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.’

Introduction:   Elijah the Tishbite bursts onto the scene as a dramatic counterbalance to the sinful shenanigans of King Ahab and his wife Queen Jezebel.  

All around him Israel is following the lead of Ahab and Jezebel and choosing the gods of Baal instead of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

A drought has arrived in Israel that highlights the options - the Israelites can follow the Baal gods who are supposed to provide for fertility, which includes water for the crops

or they can follow Yahweh, the one God of Israel, and trust in God to provide for them.

Elijah arrives to highlight the choice.

Elijah’s work will lead to a dramatic battle between Elijah and the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel.

but first, Elijah is sent to a widow in Sidon, a widow who will feed Elijah in the midst of the drought.

the widow is a minor character, a sidekick to Elijah (we are not even told her name);

but a character from whom we have much to learn.

Move 1:  First of all, the widow reminds us that God’s authority and concern extend beyond Israel.

a.  Her presence in this story sets of a dramatic contrast:

King Ahab and Queen Jezebel - the leaders of Israel; the power brokers; the ones with all the resources

in contrast to a foreigner, a widow, who has little resources and whose place in life is outside of Israel.

1. As the drought plays out, the contrast grows - 

King Ahab and Queen Jezebel place their trust in Baal and turn to away from God.

Remember, Baal is the God of fertility and provides the rain for the crops.

So when Israel is in a drought, it calls into question the power of Baal.

2. The widow will find herself tied to Elijah, the man of God as she deals with the impact of the drought in her life.  (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/theperipateticpreacher/2016/05/avoid-the-magic-view-the-man-i-kings-178-24/; John Colbert, “Avoid the Magic, View the Man”).

At the end of the story, we can choose which option we want - the way of Ahab, Jezebel, and the Baal gods,

or the way of Elijah, turning back to God.

b. But before getting to the end of story, we discover the path the unnamed widow of Zarephath gives us.

1. Remember,  Zarephath is a commercial city in Phoenicia known for exporting wine, grain, and oil, but as the story begins, it is suffering from a drought.

2. Among this suffering and nearing the point of no food to eat, is the widow to whom Elijah is sent.

3.  she represents the marginalized people in the society.

4. the prophets have and will continually announce how the marginalized are treated speaks to whether the people are obeying and following God.

5.  And the widow she lives outside of Israel, a foreigner.

4.  by sending Elijah to this widow in Zarephath, God sends a two-fold message to all of Israel.

One, if Israel does not want the saving grace of God and would prefer to cast its lot with Ahab, Jezebel, and their gods of Baal, then God will go save those who will receive God.

two, Israel may not care about the marginalized foreigner, but God does.

6. a message so important that Jesus references it when he notes in a story in the Gospel of Luke that there were many widows in the time of Elijah, but Elijah was sent to Zarephath (Luke 4: 25-26).

the widow of Zarephath’s presence in the story speaks volumes about the God of Israel and God’s desires and intentions to seek out and care about all people.

Move 2:  we also learn from the widow about how to extend ourselves to others.

a.  Notice, the widow is not just waiting and watching, victimized by her situation.

1.  When Elijah meets her, she has been out collecting wood for a fire so she can cook what little food she has.

2.  In fact, when Elijah asks for food and drink, she tells him that she has gathered the sticks to go and cook her last meal.  (https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-32-2/commentary-on-1-kings-178-16-6; Steed Davidson, Executive Director, Society of Biblical Literature)

3. She may be near the end of her rope, but she is clinging to it, trying to survive.

b.  In her dire straits, she still offers hospitality to Elijah.

1.  She is willing to share her last meal she is cooking with Elijah, trusting that he will in fact take care of her.

2. This, of course, is in contrast to Ahab and Jezebel who have chosen to cast their lot with Baal, rather than trusting in the God of Israel.

c.  Let’s stop here and imagine the widow’s willingness to welcome Elijah into her home and share her meager resources with him.

1.  It is one thing to share out of abundance, but she is sharing out of scarcity.

2. I had a chemistry teacher in high school. 

 I don’t remember her name or much chemistry, but I remember a lesson she shared with the class one day.

We were talking about how to handle ourselves when dealing with adversity, 

when things are not going our way, 

when it seemed the world was against us.

when you were all wrapped in yourself and your problems

she commented that in her life experience, that’s exactly when you ought to reach out to someone else, 

extend yourself to someone in need,

open yourself up to more than your own issues.

2. The widow of Zarephath does not need to share her very limited resources;  in fact, she ought to retrench and keep it all for herself and her son.

3. But she extends herself to Elijah, offers to share what little she has with him, and discovers that Elijah introduces her to the one who can and will provide for her.

4. We who too often see limitations and obstacles can learn from the widow of Zarephath about opening ourselves up to new possibilities.

Move 3:  We also notice how the widow turns to Elijah in her time of need.

a.  the first story of dealing with limited resources gives way to another life-or-death story, but this time it involves the widow’s son, who she believes has died.

1.  too often, readers of this story get bogged down in whether Elijah resurrected the widow’s son and brought hm back to life or whether he was merely resuscitated.

2.  Sometimes, we get bogged down in the details we miss the point.

3. Do not miss this point:  the widow turns to Elijah in her critical time of need.

b.  As she turns to him, she seems to be angry, or distraught, full of accusations.

1.  “What have you against me, O man of God?” You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!’

2. Of course, even her accusation carries with the affirmation that Elijah is a man of God.

3.  her frustration sounds to me a bit like Martha in the gospel of John, who races to meet Jesus after her brother Lazarus died and greets him with these words: "if you have been here, my brother would not have died.”

4.  the widow speaks for all of us who find ourselves scared,

or frustrated with life’s circumstances

or feel helpless at what is happening in our lives or our world

5. we struggle when we do not know what to do 

or cannot find ways to change the trajectory of our lives or our world.

6. we pray for peace and then hear stories of wars in the Ukraine and the Middle East

we ask for an end to gun violence and it erupts unexpectedly in places for no seeming rhyme or reason

we feel our lives out of control, unable to find the path forward for ourselves

we watch as difficult medical journeys unfold for ourselves or our loved ones.

6. We recognize in the widow of Zarephath our own frustrations and helplessness.

b. She offers a powerful reminder to us when she turns to the man of God who has wandered into her life.

1.  Where do we turn as we face the challenges in our lives?

2. it is so easy to only trust in what we can do, 

or what our resources can by or manage

to think we are left to our own devices.

2.  In doing so, we forget the example of the widow of Zarephath who discovers the God of life, 

discovers the God of healing, 

discover the God of unimagined possibilities.

And chooses to turn to  God.

Conclusion:  At the end of the story, Elijah will go to Israel.  he has more adventures to come taking on Ahah, Jezebel, and the priests of the Baal gods.

But I am left thinking about the widow and her son back in Zarephath.

and her jar of meal.

I know it’s not exactly the same, but I grew up opening the refrigerator and seeing a jar of sour read dough starter sitting on the top shelf.

Every day it was there, speaking to the possibilities of biscuits yet cooked, 

dough yet divided and shared.

Every day, the widow of Zarephath sees her jar of meal and her jug of oil and sees the God of Israel to whom she turns.

What do you see?

Amen.