(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So we're continuing our series through the Kings, okay, and so obviously we already hit Saul, David, and Solomon. Those three kings were over all of Israel, and so 40 years in each one of those reigns, so those are pretty easy to remember, and then we had that split where we had Jeroboam son of Nebat that took the northern kingdom, and then we had Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, that took that southern kingdom of Judah, and so right now we've been going through that northern kingdom, so we got to get all of the trash out of the way first right now anyway, but obviously it is all of a lot of kings that did evil in the sight of the Lord. So just to recap, we had, like I said, Saul, David, and Solomon all reign, they each reign for 40 years. Then you have Jeroboam that reign for 22 years. Nadab his son reign for two years. Baasha reign for 24 years. Then Elah his son reign for two years. Remember those were kind of basically mirrored each other, right? Jeroboam sin to great sin, then all of his seed was gonna be cut off, and then that's why Nadab died young, only reign for two years. Same thing with Baasha and Elah his son. Then Zimrai reign for a whopping seven days. So Zimrai conspired against Elah, killed Elah, and then he was he ended up burning the house down over top of himself. So that's where Tirzah was taking out, and that's where Omri comes in. Omri reigns for 12 years, six years in Tirzah, and then they build the the new capital, so to speak, in Samaria, the mountain of Sheomer, right? And so Omri reigns for 12 years, and then Ahab, that's who we're getting to now, is Omri's son. So with this whole sermon is about King Ahab, okay? So he deserves a whole sermon. So we've been kind of, you know, combining some of these kings because, you know, there's not a lot that's said about a king that reigns for seven days, besides the fact that he burns a house over himself. So you got to combine some of these, but with Ahab, there's plenty to talk about, okay? So Ahab is obviously a very wicked king, but there's actually some very interesting things that you may have not really thought about with Ahab, as far as some things that he did. This battle, for example, I kind of went to 1 Kings chapter 20. It's not the first mention of Ahab, but it's an interesting story where God uses Ahab to take out the Syrians, and so we're gonna see plenty of stuff that's bad with Ahab, but in that story is one of the most, it's just a really cool saying that he says, and it's from Ahab. You're like, oh man, why does it gotta be Ahab that says it because it's such a cool phrase that he uses there. But go back to 1 Kings chapter 16 because I want you to see where Ahab starts out here, and you remember, at the end of Jeroboam's reign, Asa, king of Judah, begins the reign around that time that Jeroboam is basically coming to the end of his reign, and Asa is reigning while Ahab comes into his reign. So Asa reigns while Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Semirai, Omri, and Ahab are reigning. Obviously, Asa didn't begin when Jeroboam began, and he doesn't go all the way to the end of Ahab, but he's reigning through all those kings, and so that shows you, but Asa also reigns for 41 years, okay, so obviously he reigns a lot longer, and that's where I want to try to get that chart eventually if we can get something that looks good where you see that breakdown where you have those two lines of kings and you can kind of see who's reigning with who and all that. That'll just help you when you're reading through the kings and when you're reading through Chronicles of knowing who's reigning at that time on the other side of the spectrum. But in 1 Kings chapter 16 verse 24 it says, So Omri slept with his fathers and was buried in Semirai, and Ahab, his son, reigned in his stead. And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel. And Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Semirai twenty and two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil on the side of the Lord above all that were before him. And it came to pass as it as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son Nebat, that he took to wipe Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him. And he reared up and altered for Baal in the house of Baal which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. So yeah this is the Ahab we remember. This is the wicked king Ahab, right? Now like I said it says here if it were a light thing and remember the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, what was that? When he made the two calves, he put one in Dan and one in Bethel, and he said these be the eye gods of Israel that brought thee out of land of Egypt. And this is the great sin that Israel is going to be taken out for is that sin. It's basically saying that's kind of light compared to what Ahab does where he marries his Jezebel. And that's where you get that you know you don't want to name your daughter Jezebel you know because of this Jezebel. And it's interesting because even in the New Testament it says that thou suffers that woman Jezebel to teach and to serve authority right in Revelation. So it's like it doesn't matter what side of the spectrum you go to Jezebel is not a good woman okay whether it's in the Old Testament or New Testament. But all I have to say is that it mentions that he marries her because she's the one that provokes him and stirs up him to do all this stuff to Baal and worship Baal. And so you you already have all that stuff that he's you know those calves are there in the northern kingdom and they're still there and all that stuff. But also add on top of that that they have this altar to Baal and this grove that he makes right. And through the book of you know dealing with Ahab this is where you have the prophet Elijah okay. So the prophet Elijah is going on during Ahab's reign and that's why when you're looking through the chronicles you don't see Elijah and Elisha mentioned because the Kings the book of first and second Kings are primarily dealing with that northern kingdom that does mention obviously the kings of Judah a lot in there. But when you go to the chronicles it's pretty much just mentioning Judah and it's just briefly I'll mention like by the way you know Ahab was reigning or this was going on or this King was reigning in Israel a lot of times you don't see anything mentioned about those Kings of Israel. So you say why aren't we in second chronicles too because they're just not mentioned a lot in there. And so that's why you find Elijah mentioned in first Kings and then going into second Kings and then Elisha because they are the prophets that are in the northern kingdom. And then when you go to the the kings of Judah you'll see these other prophets that are down there. It comes down to this there's more than one prophet okay. And even during like Hezekiah's time there was Isaiah but then there was the minor prophet there's other prophets that were around at that time and so there wasn't just one prophet and sometimes the prophets were in the northern kingdom and then sometimes the prophets were in the southern kingdom. So you say why does that all matter? When you're reading these prophets you understand why they're talking about what they're talking about. You know and but Elijah is brought up and this is where Elijah comes on the scene in first Kings chapter 17 and so I just want you to see you know that how Ahab is integral in the stories with Elijah. So first we see that it's during Ahab's reign that Elijah prays for it not to reign for three and a half years. So in first Kings chapter 17 verse 1 there it says in Elijah the Tishbite who was of the inhabitants of Gilead said unto Ahab as the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand thou shall there shall not be due nor reign these years but according to my word. And as we know this is where he prays you know earnestly that it should not rain by the space of three three and a half years or three years and six months it says in some places and so this is during Ahab's reign. Then you go to chapter 18 so chapter 17 at the beginning is basically saying I'm gonna pray that it doesn't rain for three for these years and it doesn't say how long yet but we know from the New Testament and all that stuff that it was three and a half but notice in first Kings chapter 18 and verse 1 it says and it came to pass after many days that the word of Lord came to Elijah in the third year. Well what does that mean? In the third year since he prayed for it not the rain. Okay so we're in the third year so that means that when this story takes place and this is the story of Mount Carmel when you read the end of the chapter we're gonna see is that rain comes so what are we dealing we're in the third year so we're basically halfway through you know we're past the third year and we're going into you know three years and six months right but notice it says go show thyself unto Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth and Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab and there was a sore famine in Samaria. So Elijah is not very popular with King Ahab obviously because he's praying that doesn't rain they've had famine because imagine if it doesn't rain for three years your crops aren't gonna do well unless you're by a river you know but even then if you're by a major river you know that could end up drying up pretty pretty bad there so by going down the line there this is where Elijah ends up slaying all the prophets of Baal. Now remember who brought in the prophets of Baal? Ahab and Jezebel really but Jezebel stirred up Ahab to bring in the prophets of Baal so it's really the the religion religion of Jezebel that's here but notice in verse 17 and there's a whole story you can read all these stories sake of time I'd be reading the whole last of first Kings if I went through every single portion of story dealing with Obadiah and how this is a different Obadiah than the book of Obadiah about how he ends up finding Elijah and shows them to Ahab and all this stuff but in verse 17 it says and it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab said unto him art thou he that trouble with Israel so notice Ahab's heart you know basically it's famine right now it's not raining it's technically because Elijah prayed for it right but he's saying art thou he that trouble with Israel in verse 18 and he answered I have not troubled Israel but thou and thy father's house and that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and thou hast followed Balaam now therefore or I'm sorry now therefore send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal 450 and the prophets of the groves 400 which eat at Jezebel's table so Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel and gather the prophets together unto Mount Carmel that's interesting Ahab is just like yes sir let's do this it's just interesting he's the king of Israel and you think you'd be like off with his head but obviously God was with Elijah and God told him to do that and so obviously Elijah was safe in doing this but anyway Ahab's the one that gets all these prophets together and they come to Mount Carmel and notice that there's 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the groves so remember that they made they they they worship Baal but then he also made a grove so there's 850 of these false prophets that are here at Mount Carmel and then we see that Elijah kills them all okay so basically you know the story right and I preached on this before dealing with how he says to the prophets of Baal you have your sacrifice whatever God answers by fire is the true God and they're cutting themselves crying out he's mocking them he's saying you know maybe he's sleeping you know cry out and he goes through this whole thing and then he dumps Elijah dumps water on his four barrels three times and then fills up the trough around it and then obviously God answers by fire and licks up all the water and even takes up the stones with it and so we know what happens there but obviously the people are like they say the Lord he is the God nice you know they basically the Lord he is the God the Lord he is the God in verse 40 there in chapter 18 it says and Elijah said unto them take the prophets of Baal let none not one of them escape and they took them and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slew them there he just killed all of a halves wife's prophets okay now you can say well that just says the prophets of Baal that's still 450 people let's say you cut out the prophets of the Grove I think they're all there okay he brought them all there why wouldn't he just take out the prophets of the Grove while he's at it but either way that's 450 prophets that he killed I think it's 850 then in verse 41 it says and Elijah said unto Ahab get thee up and eat and drink for there is a sound of abundance of rain so notice you never you know if you never really thought of the story that it's Elijah the prophet comes on the scene when Ahab starts raining he makes these groves and you know they're worshiping this Baal and he caused it not to rain for three years and six months and after he destroys all the prophets he's like all right it's time to rain yeah the showers of blessing are gonna come now that we got rid of all these false prophets so you kind of think about how like this is the cleansing that had to happen but it says that there's abundance of rain it says in verse 42 so Ahab went up to eat and to drink so notice how he's taking orders from Elijah I think of it I think of Herod you know like how he wanted to hear John the Baptist gladly and he feared the people and he you know he wanted to he actually wanted to hear John Baptist he ends up killing him but it wasn't by his own hand that he wanted to kill him right is because he was he was tricked into it so to speak by Herodias his daughter and you see the same thing a little bit here with King Ahab and the reason I mentioned this because there's gonna be some interesting things about Ahab to where you may wonder is this guy really a reprobate or is he just married to one you know is he just married to this really wicked there's no question that Jezebel is a wicked reprobate that is just you know basically a demonic person but the question is is Ahab that is he one that's without hope is he without conscience or is Ahab just being basically strung along by this wicked woman Jezebel and by his past of his dad because we know Omri was really wicked but Ahab did worse than his father it says that he was more wicked than all the kings before him right so and I said that about Omri but Ahab beat him so Ahab beat his own dad at his game there but notice as it keeps going on here I forget where I stopped reading it says in verse 42 that it says and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees and said to his servant go up now look toward the sea and he went up and looked and said there is nothing and he said go up go again seven times and it came to pass at the seventh time that he said behold there riseth a little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand and he said go up say unto Ahab prepare thy chariot and go get thee down that the rain stopped thee not and it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was a rain there was a there was a great rain and Ahab rode and went to Jezreel and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel and the reason I read the story is because you may not have really thought about who was king during that time you just kind of think when you think of the story you just think of Elijah taking out the prophets of Baal but Ahab is in this story and he's basically just going along with what Elijah is doing you don't see Ahab here basically saying no you know off with Elijah's head even though we know that he provoked the Lord to anger a lot right but I kind of view him as a Herod where he's there was still hope for Herod but when he killed John the Baptist is like that was the line and then Jesus didn't wouldn't even speak to him right so tell that Fox you know that I go do many wonderful works and then when he when he went to Herod when they sent him to Herod he wouldn't even speak to him so I believe Herod had a chance and then it was cut off and Ahab here I think still has a conscience you know he's dabbling in all this wickedness because of his wife Jezebel but this obviously makes Jezebel angry when all her prophets are killed so verse 1 of chapter 19 and I'm kind of just going through the story of Ahab through here I'm trying to give you the bridged version of it but in chapter 19 chapter 19 verse 1 there says they had told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah saying so let the gods do to me and more also if I make not thy life as the light of one of them by them tomorrow about this time notice who keeps trying to kill God's people it's not Ahab there's another place where we'll see where Jezebel is the one that's killing the Lord's prophets and so Ahab had a chance you know he could have taken out Elijah when he was there at the Mount Carmel obviously you probably fear the people because they're all for Elijah at that point but the real culprit here is Jezebel and that's what I kind of want to show you here is that when you're looking at Ahab Ahab was a bad guy okay I'm not saying Ahab was saved okay I'm not saying he got saved what I'm saying is that it was the woman Jezebel that was really provoking him to be really evil to be really bad and actually the people when you see people getting killed or wrongfully you know prophets being killed or as we'll see with Naboth and his vineyard it's Jezebel that does it okay and but in the story that I read you know what we read our scripture here and in chapter 20 this is actually an interesting story dealing with Ahab it's actually a story where Ahab's really kind of a hero and you say wow is King Ahab yeah but in this story we see Ben-Haddad the Syrian the king of Syria is trying to take out Israel and God is coming in and stepping in saying no I'm gonna take care of this but I want to first talk about Ben-Haddad is implacable and and he's insatiable okay notice the story here how it reads and you mean I don't know if you noticed it first of all Ahab's being a little weak at the beginning you know Ahab should have been like get off my you know get out of my house you know basically you're not having my wife you're not having my children but notice what it says here in verse 1 that says and Ben Ben-Haddad the king of Syria gathered all his hosts together and there were thirty and two kings with him and horses and chariots and he went up and besieged Samaria and warred against it he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city and said unto him thus saith Ben-Haddad thy silver and thy gold is mine thy wives and also thy children even the goodliest are mine and the king of Israel answered and said my lord o king according to thy saying I am thine and all that I have so notice how he's basically bending the knee to Ben Haddad but you got to think about this he has 32 kings with him this isn't just Syria he has 32 other kingdoms that are with him trying saying basically this is who's with me and well later on you know I'll show you that how many people they had behind them and it was a force to be reckoned with and how many they had and it was not much okay so you can imagine why Ahab would be like yeah whatever you want you know but notice that when when Ahab says yeah you can have it notice what Ben-Haddad says it says in verse 5 there says and the messenger came again and said thus speaketh Ben-Haddad saying although I have sent unto thee saying thou shalt deliver me thy silver and thy gold and thy wives and thy children yet I will send my servants unto thee tomorrow and about this time and they shall search thine house in the house of thy servants and it shall be that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes they shall put in their their hand and take it away so notice how it's basically like you give them a finger they take a hand give them a hand take an arm you ever heard that phrase basically they're not satisfied he'll never be satisfied that's what implacable means is that they are unpacifiable and insatiable is the same thing you know they can't be satiated can't be satisfied and so basically Ben hey dad it was it was when you give someone a quick yes they're gonna be like man I should ask for more that's the attitude right it's kind of like I know in business you kind of think this too you know like we'll give a fee out there and it'd be like yeah sure we're like man I should ask for more you know because you're like I thought that was a big fee it wasn't it wasn't as big you know they don't blink at it and when people don't blink at your fee you're kind of like man I should ask for more because they didn't even like even think a second thought of it and that's where Ben hey dad's like oh man I should ask for more we should get more out of this right and this is where he bring you know he tells his all the elders of Israel about what Ben hey dad says and they're like no what are you doing you know it's like he finally brings in all the men around him and they're basically like what are you doing don't listen to this guy you can imagine why when he has hundreds of thousands of troops that can come after him and you have not even ten thousand and you can imagine why you'd be like oh man I need to like you know basically bend the knee to what he says here but this is where a hat says one of the coolest quotes in the Bible in one of them okay I'm not gonna say the coolest quote but it's one of those quotes that I love and this is out of the mouth of King Ahab right in verse 8 there it says and all the elders and all the people said unto him harken not unto him nor consent wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben hey dad tell my lord the king all that thou did sent from for to thy servant at the first I will do but this thing I may not do and the messengers departed and brought him word again so you see these messengers are going back and forth kind of going back and forth with these messengers between each other back before the telephone right you didn't have a telephone where you just talk back and forth yet send messengers but it says in verse 10 there says Ben hey dad sent unto him and said the gods do so unto me and more also if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for hands full of all the people that follow me so he's basically saying that the people that follow me are like the dust of the earth that's basically what he's saying that it's like the dust the earth that's gonna come after you and notice what King Ahab says here and what's interesting about this is that throughout this passage it keeps saying the king of Israel the king of Israel and sometimes you'll be like where's Ahab and a lot of these stories it just says the king of Israel doesn't even say his name but it says here in verse 11 it says and the king of Israel answered and said tell him let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as as he that putteth it off and it came to pass from Ben hey dad heard this message as he was drinking he and the kings in the pavilions that he said unto his servants set yourselves in array and they set themselves in array against the city so what is he saying there he's basically saying you haven't even began you haven't even got the fight yet don't boast as if you've already taken off your harness right don't you know let not him that take you know that take it or girdeth on his harness boast himself as him that take it off basically you're posting as if you already won this battle you haven't won it yet it's just a cool phrase you know and how he says it it's just basically like take that Ben hey dad and it makes him so angry like he's drinking himself drunk and he hears it oh you set yourselves in array go after him right he's basically just getting all his troops ready to go take out Israel and then God is going to deliver him out of this and notice that in verse 13 because the thing I want you to see here is that Ahab says this before God says he'll deliver him okay and so and you think about all right all right was the captain of the host that was his dad so I don't think Ahab was a weakling when it comes to battle and so in verse 13 there says and behold there came a prophet under here Ahab king of Israel saying thus saith the Lord hast thou seen all this great multitude behold I will deliver it into thine hand this day and thou shalt know that I am the Lord and Ahab said by whom so he's basing who's gonna fight right and he said thus saith the Lord even by the young men of the princes of the provinces then he said who shall order the battle and he said answered thou so he's basically saying you know who's gonna fight this battle he's like the young men of the princes of the provinces are gonna fight it and he's like who's gonna order the battle who's gonna who's gonna you know basically lead the charge he says you are and notice in verse 15 it tells you the number it says verse 15 it says then he numbered the young men of the provinces of the provinces and there were 232 232 that's less than Gideon Gideon had 300 obviously that was a low number compared to what he was going after but notice it says and after them he numbered all the people even all the children of Israel being 7,000 that's not a lot okay now I think he's talking about those that are going to battle I don't think he's just saying 7,000 people are in general because that wouldn't make any sense because he says to he says Elijah that I have left 7,000 have not bowed need the bail okay so I don't know if these 7,000 are those men but I'll say this that there there's more than 7,000 people in Israel okay but basically there's 7,000 that are gonna make up this army that's not a lot and if you think about like when the children Israel came out of the wilderness they had 600,000 men that were able for war 600,000 they had 600,000 before they were destroyed in the wilderness but then when they renumbered them again it was around 600,000 again 7,000 now I know that Judah is not in this number that the southern kingdom this is the northern kingdom but that's still Ephraim and Assi and like all those tribes in the north they had 7,000 but notice that God said is gonna be by the princes the young men of the princes of Providence provinces the provinces it's gonna be by them that he's gonna win this battle because that's what you do see it's really those 232 men are the one that take this battle and basically what happens I'll read it we've already read it but these 232 men go into this battle and they are slaying everyone as man and they're fleeing and that's where the 7,000 men come in to basically go after them so it's kind of like Gideon right or you know where they have the 300 or or where they have the 300 but then other people come in afterwards and same thing with a lot of stories in the Bible where you have those short number of people or that small number of people and then everybody's like oh let's go in after that but reading on here in verse 16 it says and they went at noon but Ben hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions and he and the Kings the thirty and two kings that helped him so Ben hadad is not taking this seriously but could you imagine what we're gonna see is that when they come the second time because this is the first time that Ben hadad comes after Israel they're gonna come a second time when they come the second time they kill a hundred thousand men of the Syrians that's how many they killed in battle in one day one day so just to give you an idea they at least have a hundred thousand men because when they come back the second time it says basically make the army horse for horse chariot for chariot man for man because they destroy them in this battle and so what it means here is that when they destroy them these 300 or these 232 men and these 7,000 men that are of Israel destroy a hundred thousand people at least in the second time but probably in the first time too so you imagine that when they said that they had an army that was as the sand of the sea you know they were they weren't lying it was a big army and so in verse 16 there it says I'm sorry I was reading uh yeah in verse 17 I'm sorry and the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first and Ben hadad sent out and they told him saying there are men come out of Samaria and he said whether they become out for peace take them alive or whether they become out for war take them alive so you imagine that he's not taking it seriously they're all drinking themselves drunk all these kings right they're not out in the battle but then they're saying you know if these men are coming out if they're coming out for peace take them alive and they come out for war take them alive it's basically like don't kill anybody just bring them back alive right it says in verse 19 it says so these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city in the army which followed them and they slew everyone his man and the Syrians fled and Israel pursued them and Ben hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with the horsemen and the king of Israel went out and smote the horses and chariots and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter so they won and God obviously is the one that brought the victory there but 300 or 232 people and if you want to really put it at 7,232 people right but honestly those young men are the ones that went out first and it wasn't it's in then they basically were fleeing at that point and then that's when the rest of the army came in and started taking out everybody so basically what happens here has been hey dad you know flees away and then you know all these kings are basically saying listen that God he's only the god of the hills it's because they're in the mountains of West Virginia I'm just kidding it's because they're in the mountains and that's because they they know how to fight and they're you know it's the god of the hills and it's like these these guys that have multiple gods there's like a god for everything right there's got a valley he's got the hills got at the trees you know and all that so basically they're saying they're they're they're saying it was only because it was in the hills and you know all that stuff so notice in verse 22 it says and the prophet came to the king of Israel and said unto him go strengthen thyself and mark and see what thou doest for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee will come up against thee so he faces saying he's coming back so strengthen yourself be ready he's coming back and then it goes into this in verse 23 it says and the servants of the king of Syria said unto him their gods are gods of the hills therefore they were stronger than we but let us fight against them in the plain and surely we shall be stronger than they so they're basically saying oh you know it's just their gods is the guy the hills not of the plain and and God obviously is gonna take him out for that so in a lot of this is where God's getting the glory right Elijah comes in and purifies that nation a little bit by taking out all those false prophets and then in this he's saying why is God doing this it says that you may know that I am the Lord so there there's a reason why God is winning this battle it's not because of a heads righteousness you know it's not because I want to I want to help a have is because he wants Israel to get back on track he wants Israel to come back to God and he's showing obviously that if you win against hundreds of thousands of troops with 232 people it was God and that's why Gideon that's why he brought it down to 300 is it because per adventure they say it's by our own hand that we won this battle with 300 against a million or whatever it was you know it wasn't because of the numbers of man or because of their skill in battle okay but in verse 26 there it says it came to pass at the return of the year that Ben Hadad numbered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel and the children of Israel were numbered and were all present and went against them and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids but the Syrians filled the country and there came a man of God and spake unto the king of Israel and said thus saith the Lord because the Syrians have said the Lord is God of the hills but he is not God of the valleys therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand and you shall know that I am the Lord so basically saying God's gonna do it again what he did before and notice that it likens the children of Israel to like two little flocks of kids and the kids are baby goats right you know that's not the technical term right a kid is obviously what it's it's basically a you know a little baby goat so they saying it's like two little flocks of little baby goats is what Israel looks like and then it says that the Syrians filled the country so that's what you're looking at that's your dichotomy of a battle there and God is saying I'm gonna take him out and I don't have this in my notes but I want you to see that when they take them out because obviously Israel wins this battle it says in verse 29 it says and they pitched one over against the other seven days and it was so that in the seventh day the battle was joined and the children visual slew of the Syrians and hundred thousand footmen in one day so a hundred thousand footmen in one day and then it says but the rest fled to affect into the city and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left think about that right it's like out of the firing or out of the frying pan into the fire so to speak right if you escape that slaughter of a hundred thousand men and footmen you go back to a fact you're playing back to a fact of wall falls on you right so it's just interesting stuff I don't know if you ever noticed that in the story that this wall falls on two hundred or twenty seven thousand men so a hundred and twenty seven thousand men die in this battle at least because it says in one day a hundred thousand men die it doesn't mean that they were going against them for seven days okay so I don't know what the total number was but that's a lot and I don't think Israel grew from the next year their army grew that much and actually it's very clear that it wasn't that big right and now that all sounds good that's a victory Ahab right like man you applaud Ahab you know he's like you know let not him that girdeth on his harness boasts himself to him that taking it off you know and you're just like ah go Ahab you know that doesn't end well because he doesn't end up taking out Ben-Hadad and he basically saves Ben-Hadad the king of Syria alive when he should have destroyed him in verse 32 there it says so they girded sackcloth on their loins and I'm kind of skipping ahead here but basically they're coming to Ahab wanting to be saved right from being being put to death and put ropes on their heads and came to the king of Israel and said thy servant Ben-Hadad said I pray thee let me live and he said is he yet alive he is my brother you're like what are you doing Ahab like this guy wanted to take out your whole country he wanted to take your wives your sons he wanted to take everything that you have and he was trying to completely annihilate you and you're like you're my brother now listen technically down the line Laban the Syrian you know they are related you know if you go that far back but why are you saying this to a godless nation of Syria saying you're my brother it reminds me of Lot hey do not so wickedly my brethren right he says that to the the people of Lot that are trying to commit sodomy against the two angels and then you have the same thing in Judges 19 he's saying it's a bunch of sodomites saying you know do not so wickedly my brethren you know why are you calling your brother and why are you saving this man alive and God condemns him for this so at the end of the chapter there in verse 42 it says he said unto him thus saith the Lord because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction therefore thy life shall go for his life and I people for his people and the king of Israel went it to I'm sorry and the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased and came to Samaria now the reason that I say like I said I think he has a conscience so I don't think that Ahab's past feeling or he's basically a Pharaoh that's been hardened to the point where there's no hope for him because he's he's heavy and displeased you know basically he has a conscience about what's going on here he realizes that he did wrong and he's not happy about the condemnation that's coming down on him but obviously it's kind of like Saul remember Saul didn't take out all the Amalekites he left the king alive and he the kingdom was taken away from him because of that okay so it's it's kind of history repeating itself a little bit there but then we get into Naboth the Jezreelite so in chapter 21 now I'm kind of just going through a tour de force from chapter 16 to the end of the book here of what's going on with Ahab and the good the bad the ugly right and this is a famous story dealing with how Ahab wanted that vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite I always want to call him Nabal that's a different person but but Naboth the Jezreelite is a man that has a vineyard and this is where Ahab starts kicking and screaming like a little boy if you ever read this story you're just like he's pouting he's pouting he's like stomping his feet he's like I wanted the vineyard you didn't want to give it to me you know that's what I read this is what I get out of it but again what we'll see here is that Ahab's not the one that pulls the trigger and does anything really evil here it's Jezebel so in verse 1 there it says and it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria and Ahab spake unto Naboth saying give me thy vineyard that I may have it for a garden of herbs because it is near unto my house and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than than it or if it seemed good to thee I will give thee the worth of it in money and Naboth said unto Ahab the Lord forbid at me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee and Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him and he for he had said I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers and he laid him down upon his bed and turned away his face and would not eat bread I don't know I just laugh at this okay this is hilarious to me right basically he didn't get what he wanted he goes and just pouts and won't eat and he's just laying in his bed right and you know you can understand why Naboth didn't want to give it there's certain things that are not worth the money right certain things that have been handed down you can think of like what's the word for things that are given in a family an heirloom right a family heirloom is something that's like handed down it's like a ring or something that's like given down from grandfather to grandfather and you're like I don't care how much money you give me I'm not gonna give it away this has been my family for years so it's not like this vineyard was just that nice it's just the fact that this guy it was given to him by his father it's been handed down from generation to generation he's like I just don't want to give it up I don't care if you give me a better one and so Ahab goes home and pouts okay so this is where his wife comes in so at this point did Ahab really do anything wrong he didn't go over and say and say you know I'm gonna I'm gonna declare eminent domain I'm the king that place is mine and I'm gonna give you whatever I think is it's worth that's our government okay actually our government's worse than King Ahab when it comes to eminent domain and property rights here Jezebel was is really what what our government's kind of like right you know well if you're not gonna give it I'm gonna kill you and we're gonna suicide you because you know something about the Clintons or something by the way I had nothing I don't know nothing about the Clintons I'm just putting that out there you know so if you find a gunshot wound and I'm alone somewhere it was not me anyway it's funny but it's true right you know what's going on in the world but but all that say is that Jezebel right here is the one that really kicks this up and she's the one that's nefarious on this now that doesn't mean that Ahab's not gonna get blamed for it because you know you're responsible for your wife and man if you want to have you know the authority and you're the you're the boss at home that means that everything that your wife does is on you so you got to take the good with the bad right so if you're gonna be the man in the house you're gonna wear the pants then you better be able to take all the stuff that goes with it and so anyway all that say is that he's gonna suffer for the consequences of what his wife does and in verse 5 there says but Jezebel his wife came to him and said unto him why is thy spirit so sad that thou eatest no bread and he said unto her because I spake unto Naboth the Jesuit and said unto him give me thy vineyard for money or else if it please thee I will give thee another vineyard for it and he answered I will not give thee my vineyard so he's just pouting I just imagined him kicking his feet you know like you won't give me my vineyard I want the vineyard it's next to my house and then it says in verse 7 says and Jezebel his wife said unto him dost thou not now or dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel arise and eat bread and let thine heart be married I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jesuit life so she basically pats him on the head gives him a little bit of warm milk and tells him that you know you know take a little nap I'll take care of this and so you know Ahab has nothing to do technically with Naboth being killed and I'm not gonna go through the whole story but you know what happens right she says go find two sons of Belial well let me ask you this how do you know they're sons of Belial right well from judges chapter 19 you know they're a bunch of sodomites and she knows that sons of Belial are a bunch of liars that bear false witness so she basically says go find two sons of Belial and say bring you know this Naboth up and then have them lie and say that he blasphemed against God so that they stone him to death okay so basically she's gonna have Naboth killed what she does though she sends out letters with the seal of Ahab so basically when the people get this letter they think it's Ahab that's writing it that makes sense it's basically and she basically is doing this in the name of Ahab and so basically what happens is that you know they end up killing Naboth and then Naboth you know basically Ahab just goes into the vineyard he's basically like oh great he wakes up from his little nap from his little warm milk and cod liver oil that he was given after you know his little pout session and he's like oh you know Naboth's dead all right I'm gonna go take my vineyard now and so he just acts like a little kid here and then maybe that's not the way you read it but that's the way I read it he's just like a little child here wanting his vineyard but I feel like I missed a spot here yeah no actually I'm just trying to skip through some of this stuff because it just take too long to get through it all but in verse 17 there Ahab's gonna be condemned for this and you know it's rightfully so it's kind of like David David didn't actually kill Uriah right the sword of Ammon did remember they had Uriah he says put him out to the heat of the battle and then move everybody back well you suicided him is what you did and so basically and who was who was blamed for the death of Uriah was it Joab because he was the one that was leading that charge and gave the order now it was King David he said you thou has killed Uriah with the sword of Ammon so Ahab is going to be taking the taking the blame for this and verse 17 it says in the word of Lord came to Elijah despite saying arise go down to meet Ahab king of Israel which is in Samaria behold he is in the vineyard of Naboth whither he has gone down to possess it so he's basically he's already in his vineyard right and it says in verse verse 19 and thou shalt speak unto him saying thus saith the Lord hast thou killed and also taken possession and thou shalt speak unto him saying thus saith the Lord in the place where dogs lick the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood even thine and so notice that he's basically saying where Naboth was and where the dogs licked his blood they're gonna lick your blood and notice what it says in verse 20 says Ahab said to Elijah hast thou found me o mine enemy and he answered I have found me because thou hast sold thyself to work evil inside Lord so notice that in verse 17 to 8 19 this is God telling Elijah what to tell him right so when we see verse 20 Ahab hasn't received the condemnation yet I want you to see that because we're gonna see that Ahab is actually gonna humble himself and ask you know basically you know he's gonna humble himself before the Lord so but at this point he hasn't heard that condemnation so he's basically saying Elijah comes in he's like here's my enemy you know Elijah but notice what it says in verse 21 it says behold I will bring evil upon me and will take away that posterity and will cut off from Ahab him that pisses against the wall and him that is shut up and left in Israel and will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin and of Jezebel also also spake the Lord saying the dog shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dog shall eat and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat so he's getting the same condemnation that Jeroboam got and Baasha got notice that it even says that right you're gonna be like the house of Jeroboam and like the house of Baasha what happened to both those houses they were completely taken out and what's gonna happen with this is that Jehu the son of Nimshai is gonna be anointed to be king over Israel and he's gonna take out all of Ahab's house so Ahab's gonna die I'm gonna show you where he dies not by Jehu but all of Ahab's house all of his posterity that's his seed his generations that come after him are all gonna be completely annihilated by Jehu and this that's the story which I haven't got a spoiler alert but they're gonna throw Jezebel down the wall and the dogs are gonna eat her remember they go in and they start eating you're like well we need a barrier she's a king's daughter they go out there and all they find is her skull and the palms of her hands and we'll get to that story when we get a little further when we get to Jehu okay but just to give you a little enticement and when you're like I need to be here for Jehu's story right but notice in verse 25 this is what's interesting about Ahab because I want you to see that he's not just this one-dimensional like evil outages destroy God's people what we see actually is that it's Jezebel that's after God's people she's trying to kill all the prophets Obadiah hides a lot of them from Jezebel and then Jezebel's the one that's trying to kill Elijah and then Jezebel's the one that takes out Naboth notices Jezebel in all this that doesn't mean that Ahab's getting out of it he's getting condemnation for it but notice that it wasn't Ahab that was doing all this that's when you get down to verse 25 verse 25 it says but there was none like unto Ahab which said which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord whom Jezebel his wife stirred up now there's a summing up of who Ahab is he sold himself to do to work wickedness in the sight of Lord and Jezebel is the one that stirred it up out of him basically the won't hit this woman was his downfall this woman was the one that destroyed him and caused him to do all this wickedness this happened to Solomon at the end of his life Solomon had a bunch of strange wives and they turned his heart from the Lord to make all these groves and all these altars to these false gods and Jezebel is one of the most wicked women in the Bible when it comes to this verse 26 it says and he did very abominably and following idols according to all things as did the Amorites whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel so in verse 25 through 26 kind of given a sum up of who Ahab is but notice in verse 27 this is after he hears this condemnation that's given to him after Naboth was killed and and God's saying basically all your house is gonna be taken out verse 27 and it came to pass when Ahab heard those words that he rent his clothes and put its sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly so he he was you know weeping and you know he was remorseful I'm not saying he got saved here okay I'm not saying this is like where he believed in the Lord on the Lord and got saved or anything like that but what I'm saying is that you know what this shows me is that he's not without conscience and a lot of this stuff is because his wife Jezebel was stirring him up to do it and notice what it says in verse 28 it says in the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying seest thou how Ahab humbles himself before me because he humbles himself before me I will not bring the evil in his days but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house so he's basically saying okay because he humbles himself all this stuff that I'm pronouncing against him is gonna happen in his son's day about you know so he's not gonna see it right he's not gonna see is all his posterity taken out it's kind of like Zedekiah I was saying you know before before I put out your eyes Zedekiah you're gonna see all your sons die before your face so that's kind of the idea he's he's letting him die before that happens okay so that's his mercy that he gives them there and you say well is Ahab you know is he a hater of God you know and all that stuff I don't know okay what I'm saying here because Judas repented okay I'm just being honest with you Judas who was a devil the son of perdition repented and went and said I betrayed the innocent blood so is it possible for some reprobate that hates God like Judas to basically but here's thing what is the remorse for you know I think Judas was remorseful because of you know his position there's probably nefarious reasons of why he was remorseful right because people could be remorseful because they got caught you know it's like oh I'm sorry because I got caught you know are they really sorry because they did it or because of the consequences that come with it and you can say maybe that's the case with Ahab and here's my reason why it could be that maybe he is just you know a hater of God and God's just kind of showing mercy here but it's because in Second Chronicles 19 2 when it says shouldest thou love them or shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord he's talking about how he helped out Israel and it was Ahab that he helped out now you could say well maybe it's because Jezebel is the one of the really wearing the pants in that family and you know Jezebel is kind of the lead to all this stuff that's going on and that's who's hating the Lord it doesn't say that Ahab hated the Lord but that's where I would maybe say well I'm not a hundred percent sure but to me when I look at him humbling himself I see Manasseh in this picture too when we get to the king Manasseh who was a very wicked King he actually sacrificed his own son he humbles himself to God okay and all I'm saying is that Ahab there's a little more to Ahab than maybe you thought you think of King Ahab you think of this wicked King that was against Elijah and you know and all these things about King Ahab but when you really read it who's really the big bad guy you see here Jezebel and Ahab's getting strung along by this woman and basically it's his downfall and he's having suffered consequences for allowing it to happen but Ahab dies and so I want you to see this is how he ends here basically there's this battle with Ramoth Gilead so this is where Jehoshaphat he brings in Jehoshaphat so there's Ramoth Gilead is kind of in the north and the Syrians had taken it out and all this stuff so after he wins all these battles with Syria he's like basically I want Ramoth Gilead back and he brings in Jehoshaphat says hey you know come with me and this is where Jehoshaphat says you know I'm as you are my people as I people you know we're brethren and that's where he gets rebuked later on saying you know shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them to hate the Lord therefore wrath is upon thee from before the Lord so remember Jehu the son of Hanani the prophet comes to Jehoshaphat and rebukes him for going to help the king of Israel okay so he shouldn't have done it but this story this is the story with Micaiah right you remember the prophets like go up you'll get it you know God's gonna you know give you that land or give you that you know basically you're gonna win the battle is it and then Jehoshaphat's there and he's saying is there not anyone it was like 400 of these guys it's like there's no one else because you can see that Jehoshaphat saw right through these false prophets that they're just giving King Ahab lip service they're just the the yes men right like whatever you want to do we're for it you know we're gonna say God's with you on that he says there's no one else and that's where it like well there's Micaiah but I hate him because he never prophesized good concerning me and so there's that whole story so if you want to see that story you know you're gonna have to read it your own time he's around the time for it but that's where Micaiah comes in and says basically hey there's gonna you know I saw the Lord you know with all the hosts around them and you know I saw Israel with no a sheep having no Shepherd you know that prophesies that Ahab is gonna be killed in this battle and that's what happens okay and so Ahab is gonna be wounded and actually die and I just want to kind of get to that point if you want to read the story of that battle and Jehoshaphat and all that that's going on you can read that you know in your own time but we might get to that story you know when we get to Jehoshaphat when we get to the kings of Judah but in verse 34 there in first Kings chapter 22 verse 34 it says and a certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness wherefore he said unto the driver of his harness turn thine hand and carry me out of the host for I am wounded I can't remember if I said which chapters 22 22 in verse 35 there and the battle increased that day and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians and died at even and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot okay so there's where the prophecy is gonna come true so basically he's in battle he gets hit with a bow or with that with an arrow right and he's like take me away from the battle and he's bleeding and that bloods in the chariot right and it goes on it says and there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the Sun saying every man to his city and every man to his own country so that's where the sheep having no shepherd they're all going back to their homes that's what was prophesied by Micaiah and so the king is so Ahab dies there in that chariot and it says in verse 37 so the king died and was brought to Samaria and they buried the king in Samaria notice this in verse 38 and one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria and the dogs licked up his blood and they washed his armor according unto the word of the Lord which he spake and so there's where that prophecies remember what did it say about Ahab the dogs are gonna lick the blood where they lick the blood of Naboth and where do they kill him right same place so basically what happened was they buried the king and then they go wash the chariot and all that bloods coming off the chariot and the dogs are licking up that blood and so there's where the prophecy came true that they were gonna lick up his blood in the same spot where they licked up the blood of Naboth and verse 39 there says now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did in the ivory house which he made and all the cities that he built are they not written in the book of the chronicles of kings of Israel so Ahab slept with his fathers and Aaziah his son reigned in his stead and so you know like I said you know what what's interesting sometimes when you get to the end here where it's like you know the rest of the acts of such and such a king is it gives you like this little nugget of like oh by the way he built this ivory house right I always like this little nuggets and it's kind of like a little information and they'll give you like little things like he did this or he did that but you know you know that he built an ivory house now but all I have to say is that King Ahab's an interesting character like I said you know by and large he did evil on the side of the Lord he provoked the Lord more than any other kings before him so I'm not saying that Ahab's a good guy okay I'm not get don't get that across there what I'm saying is there's a little more Ahab than what you maybe thought that he actually fought this great battle against the Syrians twice and won with God's help obviously but you know he was he's basically a man of war there where he fought that battle so that's kind of a cool little story where they had there but then even after that whole thing when they bought he repented he humbled himself and and I'm not so like I said I'm not saying he got saved there but it makes me wonder whether he's like this wicked reprobate that maybe you thought he was it's kind of like Nebuchadnezzar when you look at Nebuchadnezzar you're thinking King Nebuchadnezzar he is the poster child of the Antichrist it's like yes he is in a sense that he looks like him but he also humbled himself in Daniel chapter 4 and was giving praise to the God of heaven I think Nebuchadnezzar is in heaven right now but you may not think that on the surface when you're looking at it until you look a little deeper same with Manasseh Manasseh killed his own son but you when you look at his prayer that he prayed to God you wonder did he get saved there you know you and I'm just throwing it out because a lot of times you don't really know for sure you know David was a man after God's own heart you know that he's gonna be in house floor forever I mean there's certain people you know are in heaven but some of these kings you it makes you wonder you know if they got if they got right because here's the thing can a saved person do wicked things of course we still had the flesh so you know Solomon did some really crazy things at the end of his life but would you say Solomon's not saved right I don't think anybody would say Solomon's not saved and he had like all these altars to other gods and all this other stuff I'm not condoning any of that but what I'm saying is that you know sometimes when you're reading through these Kings sometimes you just need to maybe step back and take out those preconceived ideas because sometimes when you're reading through to your thing well he killed Naboth and he was trying to kill all the prophets like wait a minute did he do it or was it Jezebel and you kind of see that he was actually really just this weak man that was behind a woman right so I'm not a fan of a have I want you to get that a not a fan a habit what I'm saying is that sometimes you may have to step back and really read into and say okay well what what was causing all this and so so anyway I hope that helps out like I said just a recap with the Kings we have Saul David Solomon that reigned over all of Israel each of them for 40 years then we had that split and that northern kingdom of Israel that took most of the tribes with them Jeroboam son Nebat that made Israel the sin that we keep hearing over and over again he rained for 22 years his son Nadab rained for two years then Beyasha had him killed you know and then 24 years Beyasha rain then Elah rained for two years his son and then Zimrai takes him out Zimrai burns the house down over him and he only rains for seven days Amrai the captain of the host takes over for 12 years and then Ahab his son rains for 22 years so that's where we're at right now so try to remember these try to go through these remember this order because one of the reasons why I'm doing this and going through this is to help you remember these kings because I'm just gonna be honest with you when you get past Jeroboam and Rehoboam it gets a little foggy on who or who's after who and where you're at in those lines so hopefully this helps you remember that so that's that what the word prayer day heavenly father will we thank you for today thank you for the souls that were saved and just pray that you'd be with us as we go out throughout this week with our jobs and and just pray that you would bless the fellowship that we have and we thank you for obviously eternal life and Lord knowing that we're saved and we just pray that you would help us to understand these passages and to glean everything we can and Lord even with these bad examples of these kings Lord we can learn from their bad example of what not to do and Lord just pray that you would help us to use it for your glory and we love you in Jesus Christ name