There is a line, by us unseen,
That crosses every path;
The hidden boundary between
God's patience and His wrath.
—Joseph Addison Alexander
One advantage of reading the Old Testament is that we quickly learn that wickedness has consequence—without having to experience it. That’s what Paul means in part when he writes, “These things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil…” (1 Corinthians 10:6). Here’s an example for those who would suborn false testimony against a righteous man or woman:
Consider the story of Ahab and Naboth’s vineyard. It happened like this...
Ahab’s army had caught a large Syrian contingent by surprise, besieged their camp while they were prematurely toasting their victory and put them to flight. In a second battle they drove them across the Jordan. Now the land could rest.
But not Ahab. His ego was so deflated by sin he needed a string of additional victories to compensate. He had to have something more: a little plot of ground that adjoined his estate, that belonged to his neighbor, Naboth the Jezreelite. “Avarice is the never–failing vice of fools,” Pope said.
“Ahab said to Naboth, ‘Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.’ But Naboth replied, ‘The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.’ So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, ‘I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.’ He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat” (1 Kings 21:1–4).
On the surface Ahab’s request seemed reasonable: He didn’t conscript the land as other Oriental kings might have done. He offered to buy it or swap for some better place.
Naboth, however, would not part with his ancestral inheritance. It was the law in Israel that everyone had perpetual right to a personal piece of ground and no one—not even the king—could force an Israelite to part with that asset. Naboth had no interest in selling.
Ahab stalked off to his chariot and went back to Jezreel where he went into a funk—“He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat.” Scheming, manipulating little man: making much of trifles and thinking only of himself. He knew his peevishness would bring the murderous Jezebel into play.
“His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, ‘Why are you so sullen? Why won't you eat?’ He answered her, ‘Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, “Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.” But he said, “I will not give you my vineyard.” Jezebel his wife said, ‘Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I'll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite’” (21:5–7).
“Is this any way for a king to act?” Jezebel sneered. “What are you—a man or a mouse? Squeak up! Get out of bed and go back to work. I’ll get you your dinky, little vineyard for you.”
And so she did. Jezebel was a woman of determination and means: “She wrote letters in Ahab's name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. In those letters she wrote: ‘Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels (sons of Belial—“thugs”) opposite him and have them testify that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.’ So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them” (21:8–10).
In a few more days the deed was done. The town fathers, who long before had sold out to Jezebel, trumped up charges of insurrection and blasphemy against Naboth, suborned the testimony of a couple of goons and with one stroke secured the judicial murder of this good man, his sons and heirs (2Kings 9:26).
“As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, ‘Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead’ [literally: ‘he has died’]. When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth's vineyard” (21:15,16). Naboth’s vineyard reverted to the crown.
“Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: ‘Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth's vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. Say to him, “This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?” Then say to him, “This is what the Lord says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth's blood, dogs will lick up your blood--yes, yours!’” Ahab said to Elijah, ‘So you have found me, my enemy!’ ‘I have found you,’ he answered, ‘because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin’” (21:17–22).
Five or six years had elapsed since the word of the Lord had come to Elijah. During this time he must have longed to hear it again. He had no audience and no opportunities for ministry that we’re aware of. God was preparing him for just this moment. His simple duty was to stand and wait, available to serve when God would put him to use.
Now when the time came he was ready. He arose and went to the vineyard of Naboth and looked for Ahab. It meant nothing to him that Ahab’s two officers Jehu and Bidkar rode in Ahab’s chariot with him (2 Kings 9:25). He didn’t consider Jezebel’s murderous threats. He went to find Ahab so he could deliver his message: “Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?” In the sight of heaven Ahab was responsible for the evil he had done and the evil he could have prevented.
“Ahab said to Elijah, ‘So you have found me, my enemy!’ ‘I have found you,’ he answered, ‘because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
God judges sin because he loathes what it does to us and to others. (There is no other motive in God, nothing deeper than his love for us.) He wants us loath sin too and be it’s executioner. If we don’t, he will!
Ahab listened to Elijah—at least on this occasion. “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.
Ahab’s turning, however, was remorse not repentance. Within a few months the event faded from his mind and he reverted to type, following Jezebel and her lies. The light that had flared at intervals went out and his soul sank into utter darkness. Soon after, he was killed.
Rejecting the godly counsel of Micaiah, the prophet, Ahab went into battle at Ramoth–Gilead against a vastly superior Syrian army. He went incognito, wearing the garb of a common soldier, trying to avert the prophet’s prediction that he would not return.
The prophet’s forecast found him out. “Someone drew his bow at random and hit the king between the sections of his armor… (1 Kings 22:34). His arrow, lofted into the air in a volley of random shots “happened” to pierce Ahab’s armor, in the tiny gap where the breastplate was joined to the skirt. “Lucky shot!” we say—one of those odd twists in life which pass under the category of chance, but which, when closely examined once again prove to be the hand of God.
“So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried him there. They washed the chariot in a pool in Samaria (where the prostitutes bathed) and the dogs licked up his blood” (22:37), as Elijah had predicted (1 Kings 21:19). Ahab met his well–deserved end on the killing fields of Ramoth–Gilead.
And then there was Jezebel who was ordered to her death by Jehu whom she was trying to seduce:
“Jezebel…painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window. As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, ‘Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?’ He looked up at the window and called out, ‘Who is on my side? Who?’ Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. ‘Throw her down!’ Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
Jehu went in and ate and drank. ‘Take care of that cursed woman,’ he said, ‘and bury her, for she was a king's daughter.’ But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands. They went back and told Jehu, who said, ‘This is the word of the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: “On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh. Jezebel's body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no-one will be able to say, ‘This is Jezebel.’” (2Kings 9:30-37).
Though the mills of God grind slowly
Yet they grind exceeding small.
Though with patience he stands waiting
With exactness grinds he all.
—Fredrick Von Logau
David Roper
Excerpted from Elijah, a Man Like Us
