Anonymous Asks (358)

“Why is King Ahab so prominent in the Bible?”

Before we ask why Ahab figures so significantly in the annals of the kings of Israel, we had best determine exactly how prominent he really is.

With all or parts of eight chapters of Kings and Chronicles devoted to his reign, to my surprise (and perhaps yours) Ahab finishes a solid fifth among the kings of Israel and Judah in historical content, behind David (63), Saul (25), Solomon (19) and Hezekiah (11). No other king even comes close. Even Hezekiah only squeaks in ahead of him because the story of Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem is told thrice, in Kings, Chronicles and Isaiah.

So, yes, the reign of Ahab is indeed prominent in scripture, especially since he’s the only ruler of divided Israel and the only all-but-unmitigated evil king to finish in the top eight. Many of the later kings of Israel and Judah get less than a chapter to themselves. Some barely rate a verse or two.

Why is that exactly? How did one man draw so much attention in a mere 22 years? Let’s see what the scripture says about him.

1/ Ahab was the Worst of the Worst

The writer of 1 Kings says Ahab “did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him”, and again, “Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” A third time our narrator writes, “There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited.”

Ahab was world-class, all-time awful. No king of Israel who followed him is described in such blistering terms. Even when Israel went into Assyrian captivity, it was not because the sins of the kings in its final generations were especially egregious, but because of the unrepented sin of Jeroboam, Israel’s first king. So then, Ahab was quite literally the most wretched, godless ruler the northern branch of the divided kingdom ever produced.

When men stand out from the crowd as Ahab did, they draw the attention of both heaven and historians.

2/ Ahab Institutionalized Idolatry

Weak kings in Judah and Israel promoted, tolerated or failed to end idolatry, for which scriptures condemns them. Under other kings, Israel worshiped at the high places or at the temples of the golden calves of Jeroboam. Ahab was different. He institutionalized idolatry, building a temple to Baal right in the capital of Samaria. Moreover, his wife Jezebel, a Sidonian, did everything possible to stamp out the worship of YHWH in Israel, murdering his prophets and priests. A weak government that permits national apostasy is bad, but a government that demands it as policy is far, far worse.

3/ Ahab Inspired a Divine Council Meeting

We have a few other glimpses in scripture of discussions in heaven concerning events on earth, but the situation described in 1 Kings 22 is unique, I believe. There, God entertains a suggestion from one of the “host of heaven” in his divine council about how to convince Ahab to become a co-conspirator in the plot to end his own life. This “lying spirit” in the mouths of the false prophets enables Ahab to persuade himself that his plan to battle the Syrians at Ramoth-gilead will end favorably. Needless to say, it did not. It’s quite possible such discussions in heaven are common. Equally, the copious quantities of blood shed by Jezebel in her husband’s name may have called for justice more urgently than usual.

Either way, Ahab’s end was one of a kind, suited to his exceptional evil. This alone might explain his prominence in scripture.

4/ Ahab’s Adversary

As suggested, great evil demands a great response. Ahab’s most prominent adversary was Elijah, one of the greatest prophets in all the Old Testament. That so many chapters mention Ahab is probably due at least in part to the fact that God was doing spectacular, miraculous things during his reign through Elijah: three years of famine in Israel, fire from heaven to testify that YHWH is God, the massacre of Baal’s prophets, the on-the-spot incineration of Ahab’s troops sent to arrest Elijah, and the occasional minor-but-important miracle along the way. Why was Elijah so active and dynamic in his service for God? In the main, the answer is Ahab and his wife.

The Lessons of Ahab’s Reign

The NT writers do not mention Ahab explicitly, but Elijah’s name comes up thirty times, and many of these are teaching moments for believers. From James we learn the power of earnest prayer with Elijah as our example. The wickedness of Ahab provoked that exemplary earnestness before God. In Romans, Paul tells us that God always preserves to himself a faithful remnant, even in the worst of times, though his servants may believe they are all alone. Elijah wrongly believed this, and Ahab and Jezebel convinced him. In Luke, we learn that the spirit of the follower of Christ in our era and the spirit of Elijah were appropriate to different times and places. Ahab’s exceptional evil required strong medicine. And Revelation’s “Jezebel” is surely a not-so-subtle reference to Ahab’s notorious foreign wife. False teachers in the churches do their evil work in her murderous spirit today.

In short, the practical lessons of Ahab’s reign are many, and we do well to pay attention to them even today. Perhaps this is why such a wicked man is unusually prominent in the OT accounts.