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Lesson 8 1 Kings 20:22 – 21:29 Syrian War; Naboth’s Vineyard

Elijah Flees  After the challenge on Mt Carmel…  Jezebel threatens to kill Elijah By the next day  Elijah flees to Beersheba  Leaves his servant  Goes to Mt Horeb (Sinai)  Down in self-pity  God appears to him in still small voice REVIEW

God’s Lesson for Elijah  “GO” … there is work to be done Anoint Hazael as king of Syria Anoint Jehu as king of Israel Anoint Elisha to take your place  Finds Elisha  Elisha follows Elijah REVIEW

Syrians Attack Ahab  Jehoshaphat, a good king, is ruling in Judah  Ben-hadad is king of Syria Damascus  Ben-hadad threatens to ‘annihilate’ Israel  God promises to give Ahab victory over Syria “so that you may know that I am the Lord” REVIEW

Lessons  God’s power  Demonstrated in a great and strong wind  Demonstrated in an earthquake and fire  God can work in many different ways  He can work through me  I must be willing Luke 2:49 And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" Colossians 1:9 …pray for you…that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will… 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. REVIEW

Lessons  Faith and courage at Mt Carmel  Did not convince the people They did not turn from Baal  God is patient with Elijah  God will be patient with us  Keep building our faith  Get up and GO!! James 1:25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. “Increase MY Faith” “It is time to build in the church of our Lord, It is time to consider our ways… REVIEW

Lessons  I’ve worked hard; it has done no good  I’m doing personal work, teaching but no one will respond  I look around and I see so many not working as hard as I am  God has many working keep doing my part  My job is to keep doing my part Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. REVIEW

Summary  I am willing  Get up and GO  Keep doing my part 1 Corinthians 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. REVIEW

Lesson 8 1 Kings 20:22 – 21:29 Syrian War; Naboth’s Vineyard

Syrians Come Again  God warned Ahab Syrians will come again in the spring  Syria is trying to figure out why they lost to an inferior Israelite army

Israel Is Victorious  Ahab follows the prophet’s instructions  232 young officers(?) out front  7,000 soldiers behind them  Ben-hadad and kings are drunk  “take them alive”  Each Israelite kills the first Syrian he sees  Israel has a great victory REVIEW

Syrians Come Again  God warned Ahab Syrians will come again in the spring  Syria is trying to figure out why they lost to an inferior Israelite army  ‘Israelite god is a god of the hills’  We must fight them in the plains  Prepare an exact size army again

Syrians Come Again  Spring came; Ben-hadad was ready  Plain near Aphek

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Syrians Come Again  Spring came; Ben-hadad was ready  Plain near Aphek East of Sea of Galilee ??  Again, Israel greatly outnumbered  Prophet came to Ahab God will give you the victory Show Syria God is not just a god of the hills

Syrians Come Again  After seven days the battle began  God gave Israel a decisive victory 100,000 fell in one day**  Some Syrians fled into Aphek  Wall fell on 27,000 of them  Ben-hadad hides in a room in the inner city

A Treaty  Ben-hadad’s men go to Ahab  Please let Ben-hadad live  Ahab acts like Ben-hadad is his friend/brother Bring him out! Invites Ben-hadad into his chariot  Ben-hadad offers concessions  Ahab sets him free

Ahab Is Rebuked  Prophet is chosen to take message to Ahab  He tells another prophet to ‘wound me’  The second prophet refuses  He is killed by a lion Message was from God God must be obeyed Remind you of a previous event?

Ahab Is Rebuked  Prophet finds another to wound him  He then disguises himself as a wounded soldier and waits for Ahab to pass

Ahab Is Rebuked  1 Kings 20:38 Then the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road, and disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes. (NKJV)  38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face. (KJV)

Ahab Is Rebuked  It does not immediately appear how putting ashes upon his face could disguise him. It is only the corner of the letter which makes the difference; only the shoulder of the former is square, the latter round. That bandage, not dust, was the original reading, seems pretty evident from its remains in two of the oldest versions, the Septuagint and the Chaldee

Ahab Is Rebuked  Prophet finds another to wound him  He then disguises himself as a wounded soldier and waits for Ahab to pass  Tells Ahab I was guarding a captive I got busy and let him escape I have to give my life or pay money

Ahab Is Rebuked  Prophet ‘wanted Ahab to pardon him’  Ahab said you have already pronounced the sentence on yourself DEATH for letting a captive escape  The prophet reveals himself and tells Ahab that is his sentence For letting Ben-hadad go

Ahab’s Reaction  Ahab had displeased God  He should have humbled himself and asked forgiveness  Instead he went to his palace angry Palace in Jezreel Capital in Samaria

Naboth’s Vineyard  Jehoshaphat is still king in Judah  Naboth had a vineyard near the palace of Ahab  Ahab wanted the vineyard  He offered to swap with Naboth or pay him for it  Naboth refused It had been in his family a long time Naboth’s right to refuse

Naboth’s Vineyard  Ahab went home angry and pouting  Jezebel saw him and was surprised Why didn’t you just take it Was this not what king’s do?  Cheer up! I’ll get it for you  She sends letter to city leaders  Proclaim a feast (fast?) Any of us ever do this??

Naboth’s Vineyard  Put Naboth in a prominent place  Have scoundrels say he cursed God and the king  Then stone him to death  The elders did as she asked  Jezebel goes in to Ahab and tells him to go take possession of the vineyard Naboth is dead

God’s Reaction  God is very angry with Ahab and Jezebel  God sends Elijah to Ahab  ‘as the dogs have licked Naboth’s blood, so will they lick your blood’  He told Ahab his family would be destroyed Like Jeroboam Like Baasha

God’s Reaction  Dogs will also lick Jezebel’s blood by the walls of Jezreel  Anyone dying in the city dogs will eat  Anyone dying in the country birds will eat

Ahab Is Wicked sold himself to do wickedness Jezebel his wife stirred him up  1 Kings 21:25-26 But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.

Ahab’s Reaction  This message got to Ahab  He put on sackcloth, tore his clothes, and fasted  He was meek, grieving the message  God showed mercy  The judgment would not happen until the days of Ahab’s sons  Remember this prophecy

Lessons  God is not just a god of the hills or of the valleys Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Isaiah 40:22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things… Job 31:4 Does He not see my ways, And count all my steps? Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good. Acts 17:24 "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth…

Lessons sold himself to do wickedness  1 Kings 21:25-26 But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. Sold as a slave… John 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. Proverbs 5:22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin. Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

Ahab Is Wicked Jezebel his wife stirred him up  1 Kings 21:25-26 But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. Proverbs 12:4 An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, But she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones. She will injure her husband’s character, ruin his circumstances, prevent the proper care of his family, lead him into temptation, drive him into bad company and excess, or perhaps shorten his days by the inward anguish that she occasions.

Lessons  God must be obeyed obeying obey 1 Samuel 15:22 … in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. obey God Acts 5:29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men. obedience of Christ 2 Corinthians 10:5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. do not obey 2 Thessalonians 1:8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. do not obey 1 Peter 4:17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Lessons  God is longsuffering Even with the most sinful  Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?  The reason for God’s longsuffering Wanting us to repent longsuffering Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 "keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, longsuffering 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. longsuffering 2Pe 3:15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation…

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