The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 527

HOMILETICS. ".ers. 1-40.~ Tluf Death of Ahab and the Defeat of Israel. This chapter is almost entirely occupied with an account of the death of Ahab, and of the circumstances wl;-ich preceded an~ attended it. The earlier portion of the chapter, which con- tarns the prophesy~gs of t~e false prophets and th~ vision of Micaiah, is only recorded because of its ben.nug on fue death of the king, and the dispersion of his army. ~nd the p~omi1:1ence actiorde~ to Ahab's end onJ.y corresponds with the space assigned to h1S r~1gn. . That reign was so full of evil for Israel that it occupies a, fourth pa.rt of this eutu·e book. It was meet, therefore, that the death which avenged it should be recorded wifu proportionate detail. For the battle of Ramoth- Gilead was the final payment-so far as this world is concerned-for the sins of two and twenty years. Bat it is to be observed in the first place that Ahab's repentance (eh. xxi. 29), as the penitence begotten of fear often is, was but shortlived. Had it lasted, we had not read of this tragical death. How soon the king shook off his impressions we know not, but we do know that-thanks to tlie natural weakness of his cliaracter, still further enfeebleci by years of self-indulgence end submission to a stronger will than bis own; thanks to the evil genius (ell. x.xi. 25) ever at his side to stifle good resolves and to steel his lieu.rt against the true religion; thanks to the impious system to which he found himself committed, and the toils of which he found it impossible to break, this unliappy king steadily lapsed into his old sins. It " happened unto him according to the true proverb, " The dog is turned to his vomit again'' (2 Peter ii. 22) . .A.nd it is also to be considered here that Israel had gone hand in hand with him in his downward course. Had the king's career been one of steadily increasing demoralization? so had that of the people. The death of Naboth affords sufficient proof of this. The ready compliance of the elders, the alacrity with which they perpetrated that judicial murder, shows to what a moral depth the example of tlie court and the idolatry around them had plunged the holy nation. No ; king and queen had not sinned alone, and justice required they should not suffer a.lone. Nations and their rulers, as we have already seen, receive a reckoning in this life ; how much more the covenant people and the Lord's anointed'/ Placed as they were under a direct law of temporal punishments a.nd rewards, it would have been strange, indeed, if such a reign as this had gone unrecompeneed. Dut so far from that, they have already received part reckoning for their sin. The three years drought, the famine, the terrible Syrian invasions, have avenged a part of tlieir idolatries and immoralities; but there still remains a long score of guilt to be expiated in she.me and suffering and blood. And here it may be well to remind ourselves what were the sins which awaited a settlement under the walls of Ramoth-Gilead. They were five in number. (1) The calf-worship-the hereditary ein of the northern kingdom, the sin of Jeroboam; (2) the worship of Baal with the prostitution which accompanied it-the sin primarily of Jezebel and her Phoenician following, but shared in by almost the entire nation ; (3) the determined persecution of the prophets and the virtual pro- scription of the ancient faith; (4) the release of the Syrian king in disregard of God's will-the sin of Al1ab and his captains; and (5) the murder of Naboth in defiance of all law-the sin of the rulers and elders. It may be thought that the two last were peculiarly Allah's or J ezebel'e sine, and that the people had no part in them; but this is a mi.ataken view. No doubt he and his i.Dfa.mous oonsort had by fo.r the cH. xxn. 1-53.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS.