2 Chronicles 12

Study Guide 37: 1 Kings 15-22; 2 Chronicles 11-28 KINGS AND PROPHETS IN ISRAEL Overview The first 50 years of the Divided Kingdom saw sporadic conflict between the North and the South. King Asa of Judah even used the temple gold to bribe Ben-Hadad of Syria to break a treaty with Israel and to attack the North. Within the Northern Kingdom, Baasha assassinated Nadab, and after killing Jeroboam’ s whole family, took the throne. While this fulfilled the words of a prophet against Jeroboam, Baasha also “ did evil in the eyes of the Lord” and followed all the practices which Jeroboam had instituted. After a 24-year reign, Baasha was succeeded by his son Elah. Just two years later he was killed by Zimri, one of his generals, and Baasha’ s whole family was destroyed in its turn. The text says that Zimri “ did not spare a single male” of Baasha’ s household, “ whether relative or friend” (1 Kings 16:11). But Zimri himself ruled only seven days. Then the army proclaimed another commander, Omri, ruler. Zimri retreated to the palace and burned it to the ground around him. After a brief civil war, Omri was established as king. Omri proved to be one of the strongest of Israel’ s rulers. But his son, Ahab, who was also a capable ruler, is infamous as one of Israel’ s most evil and selfish kings. Under Ahab the cult of Baal was reintroduced into Israel, and the royal family led a further moral and spiritual decline.

Commentary Israel was born in rebellion and nursed in apostasy. Yet there was worse to come. A series of assassinations in 886 b.c. led to the crowning of Omri, a ranking army officer. Capable and aggressive, Omri quickly stabilized the nation. He built and fortified Samaria as capital and so impressed the Assyrians that a hundred years later Israel was known by them as the “ land of Omri.” The Bible tells us little about Omri’ s reign (1 Kings 16:23-27), but archeology has added several important bits of information. An inscribed pillar, the Moabite Stone, found in 1898, reports that Omri conquered Moab and forced it to pay tribute to Israel. The marriage of his son Ahab to the Phoenician princess Jezebel indicates close relations with Phoenicia, a valuable trading ally for Israel. It is likely that much of the wealth of Samaria revealed by archeological expeditions has roots in the diplomacy and statecraft of Omri. Yet in Scripture the focus clearly is not on the political and economic affairs of God’ s people. The focus instead is placed on the religious and moral dimensions of life. And here Omri’ s key significance seems to have been that he fathered Ahab who was, without question, the most evil ruler to that point.

Ahab’ s Reign As a political and military leader, Ahab receives good marks. He was effective in defeating Israel’ s Syrian enemies. He joined in a coalition army which halted the invasion of a great Assyrian force under Shalmaneser III. And Ahab maintained the borders of his land. Assyrian records tell us that Ahab was able to contribute 2,000 chariots (the tanks of ancient warfare) to the coalition army, as well as some 10,000 foot soldiers. Economically, Israel also prospered. The Phoenician alliance meant that sea trade routes were open to landlocked Israel, and the great “ ivory house” Ahab built for himself (1 Kings 22:39) testifies to the land’ s prosperity. Yet that same Phoenician alliance opened the door to introduction of Baal worship in Israel. Ahab’ s marriage to Jezebel, a devotee of Baal, forced a direct confrontation. Jezebel was not satisfied with coexistence: she insisted that Baal worship replace any worship of Jehovah. She not only slaughtered the Hebrew prophets of Jehovah (1 Kings 18:4); she also imported hundreds of prophets of Baal to establish worship centers for this pagan deity. Baal-Malquart, commonly called simply Baal in this part of Scripture, was the expression of Baal worshiped in Tyre, Jezebel’ s home city. The term baal simply means “ owner” or “ lord.” In Canaan the baals were nature gods, regarded as owners of particular localities, and believed to control fertility. Thus good crops as well as the human birth rate demanded that a people remain on good terms with the local “ owner” deity. As Canaanite religion developed, it focused on the cycles of the year. And extreme cult activities were required to ensure the coming of the needed rains. A prominent feature of these rites was prostitution by both sexes (see Judges 2:17; Jeremiah 7:9; and Amos 2:7). At times the rites even involved child sacrifice (Jeremiah 19:5). These orgiastic religious practices are well documented in hymns and poems from the period, which show a deadening moral depravity associated with the religious worship. Jezebel and Ahab went about imposing this entire system on Israel, aggressively seeking to blot out the worship of Jehovah. Standing against complete apostasy, and thwarting the attempt of those in power, was the best known of the Old Testament’ s speaking prophets, Elijah. With others, Elijah continually confronted the king and his pagan consort, and called Israel to commitment to God.

The Prophets: Deuteronomy 18:9-22When, under Moses’ leadership, God’ s people were about to enter the land of Palestine, God gave implicit instructions about supernatural guidance. The Canaanite peoples practiced witchcraft, consulted spiritualists, and used other means of divining the future. All such sources of information were forbidden to God’ s people, who had His Word to live by. In this key passage of Scripture, the people of Israel were promised that when God wanted to communicate with them, He would raise up a prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15). These spokesmen for God would relay His Word to the people; the people were to listen and to obey. This promise of prophetic guidance included several tests by which a true prophet of the Lord was to be recognized. Recognizing prophets. Prophets whom God actually did send were marked off in several special ways.

1. The prophet was to be “ from among your own brothers” (Deuteronomy 18:15). No foreigner could speak to God’ s people in God’ s name; the Phoenician prophets of Baal were automatically ruled out.
2. The prophet would speak “ in the name of the Lord’ (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). Any prophet who claimed to have a supernatural message to communicate but delivered it as the message of another god was to be killed.
3. The prophet would predict events which invariably came true. Any self-proclaimed prophet whose message foretold a future event which did not happen could be safely ignored. Bible history shows us that this test is very significant. Often when prophets spoke of events far distant in time, they would include information about things that would happen soon. When these near events came to pass as the prophet foretold, the hearers could trust the prophet’ s word. Thus the prophets of God were authenticated by the reliability of their messages. In summary, then, the spokesmen whom God sent to His people would be Hebrews, they would announce their message as from the Lord, and their claim to be God’ s spokesmen would be authenticated by the fulfillment of their predictions. One additional test is given in Deuteronomy 13:1-18 — a test which warns against acceptance of the miraculous as sufficient proof of God’ s hand. The Bible says, “ If a prophet . . . appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, ‘ Let us follow other gods . . .’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet” (Deuteronomy 13:1-3). The point made here is clear. A prophet’ s message must be in harmony with the written Word (see Deuteronomy 13:3-5). If the prophet truly spoke for God, his message would be in full harmony with previous revelation. This is an important point for us to remember today, even as it was for Israel and for Judah. There are supernatural powers in conflict with God. A miraculous event or a fulfilled prediction is not in itself proof that God is behind the sign. The content of the message must always be measured against the teaching of the Word of God. Where the Word is in conflict with the messenger, the Word is to be given unquestioned precedence. False prophets. In actual fact, Israel did know counterfeit prophets, even as today we know counterfeit religious leaders. Some were men who prophesied in the name of an idol (see 1 Kings 18:1-46; Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 23:13). Other men pretended to be prophets to win the favor of rulers like Ahab, as in 1 Kings 22:1-53, when the false prophets were quick to give the king the message they knew he wanted to hear. Others very possibly spoke in God’ s name, but were sharing messages from a very different source. In times when prophetic activity was high — as in the days of Ahab and Jezebel — it might have been easy for confusion to grow over who the true and false prophets were. Yet, marked off by the tests we have seen, and authenticated as well by the work of God within the hearer, God’ s spokesmen were recognized. The message they shared was known to come from God. But all too often the message, like God Himself, was ignored. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Tell your group the following true story. “ Beth’ s mother has gone to a spiritualist and palm reader. The woman informs her that her husband is overweight, and will die within the year. Distraught, Beth’ s mom calls her daughter and asks what she should do.” Ask your group to discuss in pairs what Beth should tell her mother. After discussion read aloud Deuteronomy 18:9-13. God will not permit His people to seek guidance from any supernatural source other than Himself. God wants us to trust Him alone, and look to Him alone for direction. In Old Testament times that direction was provided through the prophets. Today we have the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit within us to show us God’ s way. We do not need, nor can we trust, any other source of information. NOTE: Beth shared this passage with her mom, a Christian. Her mother did not visit the palm reader again. And Beth’ s dad is still living, some two years after this event.

Elijah The biblical report of Ahab’ s reign is intertwined with a fascinating portrait of the prophets who constantly confronted him. In teaching these passages you’ ll want to look at each exciting story in the biblical text itself. Here, we want to review the highlights and give background that may make the Bible report clearer. 1 Kings 17:1-24. Nothing is said in Scripture about Elijah’ s background, except that he was a settler in Gilead. We meet Elijah when he suddenly appeared to announce to Ahab, “ There will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1). This particular judgment is significant. The Baal worship Ahab and Jezebel promoted was a fertility faith. The worship of Baal was thought to guarantee rains and crops. Now Elijah challenged Baal in the name of Jehovah at the very point where Baal’ s strength was supposed to lie! It must have taken courage to go meet this wicked king who was a sworn enemy of the Lord and certainly capable of killing His prophets. But how much better to face our fears with trust in God than to run from them. LINK TO LIFE: CHILDREN Even children can find courage to face their fears when they trust God as Elijah did. After telling the Bible story, help boys and girls play a game of “ What would Elijah do?” Have ready pictures of boys and girls and adults, cut from a catalog or magazine and backed with cardboard. Have also a picture of a Bible character who looks like Elijah cut from your Sunday School materials. Before introducing the figures, ask the boys and girls to think of times when children might feel afraid. Situations may range from being in the dark to taking a test to waiting at a bus stop with bigger kids. It is important to work with situations that are real to your boys and girls, which they themselves suggest. When a number of situations have been listed, remind your class of how Elijah faced the evil King Ahab even though he must have been afraid too. Then act out the different situations the children described, with the figure of Elijah taking the role of the fearful child. In each situation, ask the children, “ What would Elijah do?” Try out different suggestions by having the figures act them out. Then replace the Elijah figure with the figure of a boy or girl, who puts into practice what the children have decided Elijah would do. God’ s care of Elijah. Among children’ s favorite stories about Elijah are those that emphasize God’ s care of the prophet. During the terrible drought that struck Israel, the prophet was protected and provided for by the Lord. At first he was fed by ravens near a brook named Kerith. When the brook dried up, the Lord sent Elijah to Zarephath, outside of Israel in territory controlled by Sidon. There he met a widow about to eat her last meal with her son. Elijah asked her to feed him first, and promised that her jar of flour and jug of oil would never be used up. Elijah lived with that widow and her son, eating that “ last meal” every day, until the time came to return to Israel. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT The story of Elijah illustrates both the meaning of the prayer Jesus taught His disciples, and of another teaching. The Lord’ s Prayer includes the words, “ Give us today our daily bread.” And Jesus taught us not to be worried about tomorrow, but to trust a Heavenly Father to whom we are important. Surely, Jesus said, God would provide both food and clothing to meet our basic needs (Matthew 6:28-34). Ask your group members to imagine that each has only one day’ s food in the house, and is not sure where the next day’ s will come from. Each is to imagine his or her feelings and thoughts in this situation. Then read the 1 Kings 17:1-24 story of God’ s care of Elijah. Work in teams to consider and list how Elijah’ s situation was similar and how it was different from their own imaginary situation with one day of food. When lists have been completed, compare. You want them to be sure to note that both they and Elijah have the same relationship with God. Introduce both the Lord’ s Prayer and the Matthew 6:1-34 passage for further insights. How much of our life on earth really must be lived by faith, for events truly are outside the realm of our control? 1 Kings 18:1-46. The severe, three-year drought did not convince Israel of Baal’ s impotence. Ahab, rather than seeing himself as responsible, blamed the prophet who, although searched for, had not been found. Now Elijah was commanded to engineer a direct confrontation. Ahab and Elijah met, and a test was agreed to. The people of Israel were invited to watch a supernatural contest between Elijah, the lone prophet of Jehovah, and some 450 prophets of Baal. They met on Mount Carmel, where Elijah challenged Israel: “ How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal is god, follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). After a whole day of futile prayer, the pagan prophets were unable to bring fire to their altar. But God answered Elijah’ s simple prayer immediately, and in a blazing holocaust, the Lord burned not only the offering laid out on a water-soaked altar but also the very stones of the altar itself! Convinced, the watching crowds killed the pagan prophets who had polluted God’ s people and His land. Following this indication of Israel’ s return to God, Elijah announced return of the rains. 1 Kings 19:1-21. Elijah had experienced a great triumph. But while Ahab may have been momentarily cowed, Jezebel was not. When she heard what had happened, and how Elijah had killed all her prophets, the evil queen swore that she would have Elijah’ s life “ by this time tomorrow.” Suddenly, inexplicably, Elijah was stricken with terror. In an all-consuming panic he forgot his faith and simply ran. Elijah’ s flight after victory shows us again the humanness of the prophets. Like us, their great triumphs were often followed by times of depression. Elijah’ s “ up” at Carmel was followed by a desperate “ down.” This passage is helpful in several ways. First, it helps us realize that the great people of the Bible truly were mortal, just as we are. We really can identify with them; they are not “ spiritual giants” so unlike us that we cannot learn from their lives. Second, this chapter shows us how gently God dealt with the depressed Elijah. God did not rebuke, but offered support and comfort. We need not be ashamed of our own times of depression, but can turn to the Lord who truly does understand and care. And third, in the model of God’ s care for Elijah, you and I learn how we can be helpful to friends or family who may also be depressed. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Ask your group members to take the role of professional counselors. A person who is deeply depressed comes to them. Have members divide into teams of five to brainstorm for two minutes on: What can we do to help? Let teams share their ideas. Then tell the story of Elijah, and of the depression he experienced after the great victory at Mount Carmel. Have the teams work together again to draw from 1 Kings 19:1-21 principles that suggest how God deals with depression, and how we might help people who are depressed. The teams should note that: God was not angry. Instead the Lord provided food to sustain Elijah while he ran (1 Kings 19:6-9). Then God spoke to Elijah in a “gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:12). God gave Elijah a simple task to do, and also reassured Elijah that there were also others who remained faithful to the Lord (1 Kings 19:15-16, 1 Kings 19:18). Finally God gave Elijah a companion, Elisha, who would be with him and would one day take on his prophetic ministry. From these facts your group members should be able to develop ideas on how to help people who, like Elijah, experience depression. Elijah’ s place in Scripture. C.E. DeVries, in the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia (Zondervan), summarizes the many references to Elijah in later Scriptures. Malachi 4:5 foretold that Elijah would appear again before the Day of the Lord; this prediction has both New Testament and future fulfillment (cf. Revelation 11:6). The annunciatory angel declared to Zechariah that his son, John the Baptist, would go “ before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17). Though John denied that he was Elijah (John 1:21), Jesus spoke of John as “ Elijah who was to come” (Matthew 11:14; Matthew 17:10-13). Elijah appeared as a participant in the scene of the Transfiguration, when he and Moses discussed with the Lord the “ departure” which Jesus was to accomplish at Jerusalem (Matthew 17:3; Mark 9:4; Luke 9:30-31). Paul, arguing for the principle of a remnant of Israel, referred to the 7,000 faithful worshipers in the time of Elijah (Romans 11:2-4). The two witnesses of Revelation 11:1-19 are not mentioned by name, but the powers ascribed to them are those of Moses and Elijah (Revelation 11:6). As we read the Old Testament stories about Elijah, it is helpful to realize that we are reading of a man whom the rest of Scripture marks out as particularly significant. Authenticating miracles. A number of miraculous signs served to authenticate Elijah as God’ s spokesman. The seven signs recorded in these Old Testament passages are:

(1)Elijah’ s word stops the rains.1 Kings 17:1 (2)Elijah’ s promise multiplies a widow’ s food.1 Kings 17:14 (3)Elijah’ s prayer restores the widow’ s son to life.1 Kings 17:21 (4)Elijah’ s prayer calls down fire on Mount Carmel.1 Kings 18:38 (5)Elijah’ s word restores rain to the land.1 Kings 18:41 (6)Elijah calls down fire on soldiers.2 Kings 1:12 (7)Elijah divides waters of the Jordan2Ki_2:81Ki_20:1-42. Elijah was not the only prophet who ministered in the days of Ahab. This chapter tells of an unnamed prophet who promised a terrified Ahab that God would deliver Israel from an overwhelming Aramean (Syrian) army under Ben-Hadad. God would act for Ahab, who refused to acknowledge Him, so that “ you will know that I am the Lord” (1 Kings 20:13). Ahab did follow the prophet’ s instructions, and Ben-Hadad was crushed. The next year the Syrian king returned, convinced that while the Lord might be in control in the hills and mountains, He was not in control of the plains. So the Arameans would fight on the plains. The prophet told Ahab that the Lord would again provide a victory and demonstrate His power to Israel’ s enemy. Again, a great victory was won. But with victory in his hand, Ahab reverted to type. Ahab released the captured Ben-Hadad, whom God had intended would die. The same prophet who had foretold the victories then told Ahab, “ It is your life for his life, your people for his people” (1 Kings 20:42). Rather than show any sign of repentance, Ahab was sullen and angry, and returned to his palace in Samaria. 1 Kings 21:1-29. Naboth owned a vineyard near the king’ s palace. Ahab wanted it for his own, and offered a fair exchange of land for the property. But Naboth would not sell. The reason for Naboth’ s action should be understood. When the Promised Land was settled in the days of Joshua, each tribe and family was given land. This land was to be theirs perpetually. The land was not to be permanently transferred to any other owner (cf. Leviticus 25:1-55). Naboth’ s refusal to sell was a courageous act of obedience to God. Knowing the evil ways of the king and queen, Naboth must have determined to resist only after facing reasonable fears! Ahab and Jezebel acted in character. Jezebel was given carte blanche by Ahab, and arranged to have Naboth falsely accused of cursing God and the king. When Naboth was executed, Ahab simply took possession of the field. Again Elijah was sent to confront the king, and met him when Ahab went to inspect the vineyard that now was his. There Elijah pronounced a terrible doom on Ahab and Jezebel. Frightened now, the guilty Ahab at last humbled himself and “ went around meekly.” As a result, the disaster foretold was delayed — for three years. 1 Kings 22:1-53. The last chapter of this Old Testament book tells of the death of Ahab. In partnership with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Ahab attacked the Arameans. His own prophets were supernaturally informed that Ahab would win. But the source of their information was a “ lying spirit” God permitted to deceive them. Micaiah, a prophet of Jehovah, announced the coalition’ s defeat and foretold the death of Ahab. In the battle Ahab was killed, and just as Elijah had foretold, his blood was licked from his chariot by wild dogs.

The End of the Dynasty: 2 Kings 1:1-10:17 If we look ahead, what do we see as the outcome of the spiritual battle that took place between Elijah and those devotees of Baal, Ahab, and Jezebel? Ahab’ s death did not put an end to Jezebel’ s efforts on behalf of Baal. The ruling family was still strong. But its days were limited. After Elijah had been transported to heaven (2 Kings 2:11-13), his successor, Elisha, took up the battle. Leading the “ sons of the prophets,” whom many identify as men studying for spiritual leadership, and others believe were committed followers of a prophet, Elisha, throughout his life, played a significant role in the political, military, and spiritual life of the land. God continued to aid His people in their ceaseless warfare with Syria, and finally, in accordance with Elijah’ s earlier prophecy, the entire family of Ahab was exterminated by Jehu, who also totally wiped out the worship of Baal.

Teaching Guide Prepare Read 1 Kings 17:1-24 through 1 Kings 22:1-53 rapidly, to get a sense of the interplay between the ruling family of Ahab and God’ s prophets.

Explore

1. Begin with a minilecture on the kings of Israel, focusing on the secular achievements of Omri and Ahab, and the Baal worship introduced from Phoenicia.
2. Or, have different members of your group read aloud 1 Kings 17-22. As they read, ask others to jot down their main impressions.

Expand

1. Review the marks of a true prophet (Deuteronomy 13:1-18 and Deuteronomy 18:1-22). Then have your group members examine Elijah’ s life to see how these marks were evident in his ministry. Discuss: “ How do we evaluate spiritual leaders or Christian counselors today?”
2. Focus on lessons to be learned from a study of Elijah’ s life. You might want to look at the way he faced difficulties, the way he trusted God for daily needs, or the way God dealt with him in times of depression. Check the “ link-to-life” suggestions in this unit for ideas.

Apply Assign each of your students one group or individual seen in these Old Testament chapters to identify with. If he or she were that person or group, living in the time of Elijah, and a witness to the events reported in 1 Kings, what might he or she have learned that could be applied to modern lives? Possible persons or groups for this identification activity: Elijah The widow People of Israel Ben-Hadad Ahab Prophets of Baal People of Judah Micaiah