An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 63: The Rise and Fall of Ahab (not the Hermann Melville one) (1 Kings 16-22)

1 Kings 16-22
The Rise and Fall of Ahab (not the Hermann Melville one).

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT

For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

1 King s16

“Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

While Asa rules in Judah, a series of dynastic wars tear through Israel. Baasha dies, after Jehu the prophet predicts bad things for his house. Baasha’s son Elah reigns for two years until his captain of chariots, Zimri, gets drunk and assassinates him and all of the house of Baasha.

Zimri doesn’t get to rule for long though, only seven days before the people revolt under the leadership of Omri, who then has to fight again against Tibni and his followers, but Omri keeps the throne but continues to worship strange gods. When he dies, his son Ahab gets the throne, marrying Jezebel, a Zidonian princess, and raising up altars and sacred groves to Baal.

More histories, basically, and as before the book of the chronicles of kings is referenced for further details. I see Jezebel, whose name is a by-word for a wayward woman, makes her appearance so I wonder if she will do anything specific to warrant this.

1 Kings 17

“And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

This chapter turns from the clash of kings to a story about Elijah the prophet, who prophesies a drought in the kingdom of Ahab. God sends him to live by a brook, where ravens bring him food (a common mythological trope, and something that crops up a lot in later lives of saints, at least the hermit types). When the brook dries up, God sends Elijah to the house of a widow woman, where her meagre supplies of grain and oil are made to miraculously last the duration of the drought. The woman’s son gets sick, so Elijah “stretched himself on the child three times” and he revives. I’m sure the intent is innocent, but I can’t help think of the Dennis Potter play Brimstone and Treacle, where a strange young man who may be the Devil inveigles his way into the life of a couple with a brain-injured daughter, and cures her by raping her. It’s Dennis Potter; he liked shocking people.

1 Kings 18

“And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.”

Amongst Ahab’s retinue is Obadiah, who seems to be (perhaps secretly?) a true Yahweh worshipper, who has secretly hidden one hundred prophets from purges led by Jezebel. Ahab sends Obadiah out to look for water and forage, and he finds instead Elijah, who asks to be taken to Ahab. Obadiah is untrusting at first, thinking that Elijah will run away as soon as his back is turned, leaving him in trouble with the king, but Elijah comes before Ahab and offers and end to the drought.

He proposes a test between himself and the 450 priests of Baal to see whose god is real; each will set up a bullock for sacrifice but will light no fire, instead calling upon their god to do so. The Baal worshippers try and can get no fire going (and Elijah even taunts them a bit, basically saying “Maybe your god is asleep, you need to shout louder”). Then it’s Elijah’s turn, and he shows off a bit by soaking the wood in water as well, but then God makes the fire light, and the Baal priests all get thrown off a cliff. Eventually a tiny rain cloud, in the shape of a hand, is seen approaching over the sea (https://www.stocksy.com/628095)

1 Kings 19

“And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.”

Jezebel swears vengeance on Elijah, and he flees into the wilderness, where once again he is sustained by a mystical visitor (in this case, on juniper berries, a very Life of Brian moment). God brings about an earthquake, and a wind and a fire, and there’s a nice couple of verses where “God was not in the earthquake”, or the fire or wind, but a small, quiet voice after all the destruction speaks to Elijah; different from the burning clouds of Moses’ time.

God tells Elijah to anoint Hazael king of Syria, Jehu king of Israel and Elisha to be a prophet, and between them they will destroy the enemies of God; also that there are still 7000 loyal people in the land.

The chapter ends with Elijah meeting and anointing Elisha.

1 Kings 20

“And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.”

It would make most sense for this chapter to continue where the last left off, and include Elijah meeting Hazael and Jehu. But it doesn’t. Instead we get an account of the war between Benhadad of Syria and Ahab of Samaria.

Benhadad demands tribute from Ahab, and although Ahab offers it freely Benhadad decides he’s going to take it all anyway. Ahab defies him, and so the two sides prepare for war. Although the Syrians greatly outnumber the Israelites, an un-named prophet foretells success for Ahab and, mainly because the Syrian command gets drunk, the Syrians are defeated.

After a year, the Syrians try again. They reason that the god(s) of the Israelites are hill gods, and so by fighting in the plain the gods will not help them. Doesn’t work, and the Syrians are defeated again. They flee to a city, and apparently a wall collapses and kills 27000 Syrians (or, perhaps, 7020 depending on how you want to read “twenty and seven thousand”). Benhadad’s advisors tell him to put on sackcloth and a rope around his head, and surrender to Ahab. Ahab accepts his surrender and sends Benhadad away under oath, which gets him into trouble for God for not being ruthless enough.

This last point is passed on by some mad prophet (it’s not clear if it’s the same one as earlier, again he is unnamed) who keeps asking people to hit him. If they don’t, they get eaten by a lion. Why he wants to do this I don’t know. I’m not sure he does.

1 Kings 21

“And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.”

I’ve always taken “Jezebel” to refer to a woman who was a bit tarty, so to speak, but she’s more of a scheming, Lady Macbeth kind of figure. In this chapter, Ahab wants to buy the vineyard of Naboth, but Naboth doesn’t want to sell, claiming that it is against the law of God to give away his inheritance.

Jezebel gets some catspaws to falsely testify that Naboth is a blasphemer, and Naboth is stoned to death, allowing Ahab to take his land. Unfortunately for Ahab and Jezebel, Elijah turns up and denounces them, saying that dogs will eat their corpses. Rather than have him killed, Ahab puts on sackcloth and repents, for which God decides to suspend punishment until the next generation, which seems pretty unfair on Ahab’s son(s).

1 Kings 22

“And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramothgilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.”

The first part of this chapter concerns Ahab of Israel/Samaria and Jehoshaphat of Judah making an alliance to take Ramoth-Gilead back from the Syrians. They consult prophets as to whether they should or not, and the prophets all say “yes”, except for one, Micaiah, whom Ahab dislikes because he has always prophesied against him. Why not Elijah? Is this an alternate version that’s been inserted? Micaiah has never been mentioned before.

Anyway, Micaiah says “yes”, Ahab says “now tell the truth” and Micaiah says “you’re going to die if you fight the Syrians”. Micaiah says that God has sent a lying spirit to speak at the mouths of the other prophets, because He wants Ahab to get killed in battle. Ahab imprisons Micaiah (and feeds him the “bread of affliction”, nice turn of phrase) and goes to fight anyway, but not before persuading Jehoshaphat to put on his clothing (has he not read the Iliad?). The Syrians chase Jehoshaphat before they realise that he is not Ahab (because he runs like a wimp), but Ahab is killed accidentally by a random archer, and dogs lap up his blood from the chariot where he dies, as Elijah said. Does Ahab’s corpse seem to beckon his men to their doom? Not this Ahab.

The chapter then ends with some more brief dynastic notes (except a brief hint at Ahab’s “ivory house”). Ahab’s son Ahaziah takes rule of Samaria but continues in Baal worship and angers God, whilst Jehoshaphat continues to rule Judah, with a mix of Yahweh and Baal worship (so, better but still enough to anger God), with some brief notes on homophobic attacks and salvage rights. He dies eventually, and his son Jehoram takes the throne.

And that’s where First Kings ends, kind of in the middle of things. It’s been quite fun with all the dynastic struggles and infamy going on, pretty similar to endless mediaeval power struggles, and probably a very good argument against inherited monarchy as any kind of stable governing system, especially if coupled to a theocracy as well. What these chapters don’t address as how mightily pissed off the common folk must be with the constant upheaval and warfare (those armies of tens of thousands aren’t just going to pass your vineyards, olive groves and herds of cattle and not nick everything they can find), all for the vanity of a handful of power-hungry idiots. Plus all those public works that David and Solomon have built have been stripped and sold to finance this. Ah well, I’ll see if there is any moral lesson to be had in Second Kings.