“He says, 'I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut off from Ahab
every last male in Israel – slave or free. . . . you have aroused my anger and have caused Israel to sin.
1 Kings 21:21-22
God gave Ahab, king of Israel, this warning through the prophet Elijah. God was angry at Ahab because he and his wife, Jezebel, had murdered a man who would not sell them his vineyard.
King Ahab had noticed the vineyard and its location near the royal palace, and he decided that he wanted to buy it to use to grow vegetables. He went to Naboth, who owned it, and offered to buy it from him for a substantial amount. Naboth refused, and the king put up quite a protest. He stayed in his room all day and wouldn't eat. Basically, the king was pouting.
When Jezebel noticed his little tantrum, she asked him what was wrong. The king told her all about what had happened with Naboth, and she told him that she would get him the vineyard.
Jezebel, acting as Ahab, sent letters to different people of high standing in the city where Naboth lived. She told them to get some guys to accuse Naboth in front of everyone of cursing God and the king. Then the people would kill Naboth as a punishment. It was a wicked plan, but it worked; and once Naboth was out of the way, his vineyard was free for the taking.
Jezebel told her husband that he could now have Naboth's vineyard, so he went to claim it for his own. While he was there, however, the prophet Elijah arrived to deliver to Ahab the message from God that we read above.
This story is an example of God's final response to disobedience: punishment. And
not the same type of punishment we receive for not doing our chores or for disobeying our parents; that's called discipline. What's the punishment? When we lead a life of sin, God punishes us with, as
Romans 6:23 says, death. Therefore, since we all lead sinful lives, we will all die. However, if you continue reading verses 27-29, you see this:
“When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite:
“Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.”
1 Kings 21:27-29
God is merciful. He decreased Ahab's immediate discipline because He knew that Ahab was truly sorry. He didn't take Ahab's consequences away, though. Ahab's family was still going to be destroyed because of the king's actions, just not while he was alive. They would be destroyed during his son's lifetime. It was still a punishment, because Ahab's descendants were going to die, but at least the king wouldn't have to see it happen.
Now, I am not saying that Ahab's children were to be killed because of the king's actions. We read in the Bible that they were just as evil as the king and his wife. They sinned and earned the destruction promised to them.
But this story also shows us God's forgiveness. The dictionary definition of forgive is “to accept an apology, to get rid of a grudge, to cease to feel angry,” but forgiveness is so much more than that! For example, this definition says that forgive is “to accept an apology”; but you can forgive someone even if they aren't sorry. I once read a book called Some Gave All, by Ellen Caughey, about four missionary martyrs. One of them was Betty Olsen, a missionary to Vietnam.
Betty arrived in Vietnam from the United States as a nurse at a time when the Vietnamese people were violent toward Americans. After she had been living there for a while, she and several other missionaries were kidnapped by Vietnamese soldiers. After months in captivity, Betty fell ill and died. Before she died, however, she told a fellow captive that she had forgiven the soldiers who had treated her so horribly.
When I finished reading this story, I was bewildered as to how Betty was able to forgive such awful people for doing such terrible things to her. I would not have been able to do it. But Betty understood the true meaning of forgiveness. How? By remembering what God had done for her.
Humans are wicked. It is a part of us to be sinful. We naturally disobey God, and because of this disobedience, we are punished. As I said before, the punishment for disobeying God is death and then eternity in hell, where we will be in never-ending torment. God decreased Ahab's punishment right then, but the king still had to pay for all his other sins; so he went to hell. However, God is a compassionate God. He wanted us, His creations, to live in heaven, a place of never-ending joy, with Him; and He would go to extreme measures to allow us to do so. He sent His only Son, Jesus, to save us! Jesus was the only one who could redeem us, for He was the only one who had never disobeyed God. How was He to save us? By taking our punishment, by dying in our place! He died a horrible, unimaginably agonizing death, having been beaten, whipped, and nailed to a cross. He died for us. He didn't have to, but he loved us so much that He did.
Three days later, the Bible tells us that several women went to the tomb where His body had been laid. There was a huge stone that had been rolled in front of the entrance to the tomb to protect the body, but when the women arrived, this boulder had been pushed out of the way. Then they saw an angel (the angels?) who told them that Jesus had risen! Sure enough, Jesus' body was gone, and a few days later, He appeared to His followers, alive!
By dying and rising again, Jesus had taken the punishment for our sins and had defeated death! We can now, after this life, go to live with God in heaven for eternity, if only we repent of our sins and believe that Jesus has saved us. If you are not a Christian, pray that the Lord would forgive your sins and tell Him that you believe Jesus has saved you. I assure you – God always forgives.
Pray now that God would help you to forgive others instead of being bitter towards them. Bitterness makes us hard and unsympathetic, while forgiveness gives us joy and sets a good example for those around us. When you do wrong, tell God that you recognize your sin and ask Him to help you to not make the same mistake again. He will be happy to do so.
~*~
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