AP

1 Kings 16:30-31  Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.  He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him.

It is interesting that the name ‘Jezebel’ has come into our language as a term for a very wicked woman. I doubt if anyone names their daughter ‘Jezebel’ these days (my humble apologies if I am mistaken and your name IS Jezebel, or you know someone of that name – I’m sure you are very nice people!).

A quarter of a century before the events recorded in today’s verse, Jeroboam had rebelled and led ten of the Twelve Tribes away from the house of David to form the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the history of this branch of God’s chosen people was all ‘downhill’ from that point on. Jeroboam’s original grievance with the enthroned son of Solomon might well have been legitimate (because of Rehoboam’s unreasonable demands) but the very foundation of Jereboam’s new kingdom was all wrong. It was based on human wisdom rather than on God’s clear revelation of himself and his will.

For a start, he made the same mistake that Aaron had been so severely admonished for when he set up the idol of the Golden Calf in the wilderness (Exodus 32), and then proceeded to disregard the LORD’s commandments and to encourage the worship of the fertility gods and idols of Canaan. Ahab was the seventh successor to Jeroboam in 25 years and there was no stable dynasty throughout that whole time (just as Ahijah the prophet had predicted – 1 Kings 14:10).  Each king was worse than the one before, and Ahab was arguably the worst of them all.

If we have a foundational worldview that doesn’t take seriously God’s self-revelation in ALL of his Word, his Creation and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, we are on the same slippery-slide as Israel. We see this happening in nations today and, sadly, we see it in our own nation with people being censured, discredited and falsely accused for expressing beliefs consistent with the teaching of God’s Word.  While ever the Lordship of Christ is denied or resisted there will be chaos.
– Bruce Christian