Rev. Don Campbell
2 Kings 9-11
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, July 4, 2019
“THE ANNIHILATION OF THE HOUSE OF AHAB”
Some might have found today’s reading disturbing, and we surely should not be insensitive to the gruesomeness of some of the scenes: A woman is tossed from a balcony and her body eaten by dogs. Seventy sons of one man were beheaded and their heads were piled at the gates of the city. We must remember that all of this was from God: “Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the Lord has done what he said by his servant Elijah” (2 Kings 10:10).
We must go back to 1 Kings 21:20-24 for the word spoken through Elijah: “Ahab said to Elijah, ‘Have you found me, O my enemy?’ He answered, ‘I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring disaster upon you. I will utterly burn you up, and will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the anger to which you have provoked me, and because you have made Israel to sin.’ And of Jezebel the Lord also said, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the walls of Jezreel.’ Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat” (1 Kings 21:20-24).
In addition to carrying out God’s word regarding the annihilation of Ahab’s house, the temple of Baal was destroyed, and the high priest of the temple was killed (1 Kings 11:17-20). Baal’s temple and priesthood could not be destroyed so long as they were under the protection of the house of Ahab.
We have no way of knowing how many of God’s people were not seduced to worship Baal and lose their souls because his temple was destroyed, and his worshippers went underground. Over a century and a half later, the northern kingdom was carried into Assyrian captivity (2 Kings 17:9), but Baalism was restored in Judah by Manasseh (2 Kings 21).
CONNECTIONS
1. God gave Ahab and his house ample warning and plenty of time to repent. Destroying them was necessary just as destroying those inhabiting the promised land were destroyed in order to keep Israel from being seduced into total apostasy and destruction. However, we must remember that our times are not their times. The kingdom of heaven is not advanced nor protected by the sword. What kind of nation does Peter say we are (2 Peter 2:5).
2. With what kind of armament does Paul say we are to equip ourselves? (Ephesians 6:10-18)
