“But the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He will be at Naboth’s vineyard in Jezreel, claiming it for himself. Give him this message: ‘This is what the Lord says: Wasn’t it enough that you killed Naboth? Must you rob him, too? Because you have done this, dogs will lick your blood at the very place where they licked the blood of Naboth!’” “So, my enemy, you have found me!” Ahab exclaimed to Elijah. “Yes,” Elijah answered, “I have come because you have sold yourself to what is evil in the Lord’s sight. So now the Lord says, ‘I will bring disaster on you and consume you. I will destroy every one of your male descendants, slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel! I am going to destroy your family as I did the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat and the family of Baasha son of Ahijah, for you have made me very angry and have led Israel into sin.’ “And regarding Jezebel, the Lord says, ‘Dogs will eat Jezebel’s body at the plot of land in Jezreel.’ “The members of Ahab’s family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures.” (No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the Lord’s sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife Jezebel. His worst outrage was worshiping idols just as the Amorites had done—the people whom the Lord had driven out from the land ahead of the Israelites.) But when Ahab heard this message, he tore his clothing, dressed in burlap, and fasted. He even slept in burlap and went about in deep mourning. Then another message from the Lord came to Elijah: “Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has done this, I will not do what I promised during his lifetime. It will happen to his sons; I will destroy his dynasty.””
1 Kings 21:17-29 NLT
Our God is a god of mercy. He wishes for this over destruction. Yet he is a god of justice and order. Both of these things ring true in this story. While reading this, we must understand that Ahab exists in a line of evil kings. Starting with Omri, they have gotten successively worse, apexing with Ahab. Yet, we see that God is still willing to grant him a stay of execution. We must remember what this stay actually means entails. Firstly it has all of his descendants wiped out, while he remains. Lastly, it has his evil wife, of which he had developed a codependency, being killed by dogs at her home. While Ahab would receive this mercy, he would also be brought to trial daily as he had to live through the extreme guilt and shame that he brought into Israel. We should note that he almost seemed to be welcoming this outcome from Elijah, engaging him directly as a guilty party. We ought to remember that our sins, maybe forgiven and mercy may be shown, but their is always a price to pay for the things we have done. Sooner or later, the wrath of God finds us.
JOSH McGARY. COM 