Ahab and Jezebel were two of the most wicked rulers of
Israel. Their very names should
cause us to cringe. Their infamy
was leading the people of Israel away from God and the covenant between God and
the people to the pagan god of Baal.
One
of their most egregious acts of these two was described in 1 Kings. To obtain the property Ahab desired,
Jezebel conspired to have Naboth killed. Ahab got what he wanted at the cost of an innocent man’s
life.
Yet
consider this act at a spiritual level.
Ahab wanted something he could not have. Rather than praise God for the gifts given to another, or at
least to offer the Lord his temptation to covet, he became jealous. He and Jezebel then lied and had Naboth
killed. The result of Ahab’s sin
was literally death.
I
want to share with you a few verses from the book of James and compare it to
the passage we just heard: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’;
for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one; but each
person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives
birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death” (James 1:13-15).
Whenever
we sin, we follow the path of Ahab away from God. And these are often not the big sins of murder, theft or
adultery. We become angry with
someone—which is a normal human emotion—but then allow anger to give birth to
hatred, grudges or gossip. We are
tempted by the passions and rather than praying seek to indulge them.
The
goal of our lives is to not do as Ahab and Jezebel. Rather, we must cut temptations off at the pass before they can
grow and eventually lead to spiritual death. We can only do this with God’s grace—grace that neither Ahab
nor Jezebel sought in this passage.
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