We live in a world of competing voices, and in one sense since the Garden onward human beings have been given a choice, hear and heed the Word of the Creator or heed the voice of our own desires or the voice of Satan. Ahab is a man who is often confronted with competing voices and given the chance of who he will listen to. Now we see the Conclusion of First Kings – not a great climax, basically a report of the decline and folly of the kingdoms. At the end of this narrative Israel needs a better King and Prophet. And so do we! This Prophet-King is Jesus, and He is the Word of God made flesh.
There are four characters in this story: Naboth, Ahab, Jezebel, and Elijah. We read of Ahab’s coveting and sulking, and of Jezebel’s manipulation and destruction. We meet Naboth, the faithful Israelite who models obedience to us. Here is Naboth living just outside the palace of this evil king! He has a little vineyard that he cherishes, which had been in his family for years. We finally have a rejuvenated Elijah appearing before Ahab, reminding him that you can hide nothing from God’s sight, and your sin will surely find you out (Num 32:23). You might assume this story has little relevance for modern readers. However, that assumption would be incorrect. This is not a story about grapes; it is a story about the (in)justice of man and the justice of God. We read about what it is like to suffer injustice, what it costs to do justice for the sake of the oppressed, how much we long for God’s justice, and how we can be made right with God the judge.
We have read of Elijah’s mountain top experience at Mount Carmel, but now we see Elijah down in the valley under a broom tree. Before he was ministering to others, but now he is focused upon himself. Elijah confronted Ahab and the false prophets courageously, but here we find him running from a single lady cowardly. Previously, Elijah moved at God’s Word, but now we see him fleeing apart from God’s Word. In the previous chapters we see him praying for rain and fire, but now he we find praying for God to God to take his life. Elijah’s faith and prayer life have challenged us, but now Elijah’s spiritual collapse serves as a warning to us, and provides some wise counsel to us.
The main point for us to glean from this passage is to see and know that the Lord is God and that we are to follow Him as our Eternal King. He is the true, perfect, and powerful Sovereign who loves and leads his people with mercy and justice forever. We are not to be like Ahab and Israel following and worshiping substitutes and idols that are fake and futile and will fail.
If you are like me, you will admit that you could and should be spending more time in prayer. What most of us need is not this reminder, but inspiration. That is what we have in Elijah. Elijah’s example inspires me in the exercises of faith and prayer. In the Kings narrative, we find some wonderful examples of Elijah’s courage and his “insane” prayer life. Yes, Elijah prayed. Yes, we should have an insane prayer life like Elijah. But what saves us and sustains is that God visited us in Jesus! It is Jesus’ insane work, and his insane prayer life that brings us eternal hope and peace. May the life of Elijah inspire us to pray biblically and faithfully, and may his life point us to our great source of hope: the true and better prophet, the ultimate mediator; the King of Kings, Jesus.
