This sermon on 1 Kings 21 was given on a Zoom call at Kew Baptist Church, London. Please note that the audio picks up a few minutes into the introduction.
‘Thou art the man’. Those are the famous words used in the King James translation for Nathan’s confrontation with King David in 2 Samuel 11:7. After Bathsheba tells David that she is pregnant as a result of his unfaithfulness, David tries to hide his sin by orchestrating her husband’s death in battle. David must have thought he was to avoid detection until one day the prophet Nathan is sent by God to confront him. On entering the King’s court, Nathan makes no reference to the incident with Bathsheba, instead telling David of a rich man who instead of taking a lamb from his own large flock to eat at a feast, took the single lamb that belonged to and was beloved by his poor neighbour instead. Angered by hearing of such an action, David declares to Nathan: ‘As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die…’. To which Nathan responded: ‘Thou art the man.’ And so, David found himself condemned for his crime by his own verdict. When you read the last part of 1 Kings 20, as we did last week, you can’t help thinking that the circumstances there are very similar. A prophet is sent by God to the King of Israel to confront him over his sin. In telling a tale of an enemy soldier entrusted to his care, but who then escaped, the prophet leads King Ahab into condemning himself in the exact same way that David did. However, there is one difference between the two passages. The strategy of the prophet and the sentence of the king might be the same in both. But their results are entirely different. Whereas King David immediately confessed and repented of his sin, in 20:43 we are told that King Ahab ‘went to his house vexed and sullen…’. While David is sorry for his sin, it seems Ahab sulked about his. The prophet’s declaration to Ahab that he would be devoted to destruction as Ben-hadad should have been doesn’t cause Ahab to cry out for forgiveness and mercy, it just leaves him in a foul mood.
This is the mindset the author wants us to understand Ahab to be in when the events of 1 Kings 21 take place. In 21:2 he expressly states: ‘And after this…’, that is after the events of 1 Kings 20. It seems Ahab decides the best way to forget about God is to focus on his garden. That he could put the words of the prophet behind him by working on his plants. The story that unfolds is strikingly similar to that of David and Bathsheba, right down to the elaborate murder plot that allows Ahab to acquire what he desires. The passage divides up into three parts: the Deed that is Done (21:1-16), the Doom that is Deserved (21:17-26) and the Disaster that is Delayed (21:27-29).
1. THE DEED DONE (21:1-16) – There is no such thing as a small sin
Though Ahab was King of Israel with Samaria as his capital, these events took place around his palace in Jezreel. Only 20 miles from the city of Samaria, it seems that Ahab’s palace at Jezreel was to Samaria what Windsor Castle is to Buckingham Palace. A residence outside the city rush that allowed him to put his feet up and relax. Perhaps he used the palace at Jezreel for summer or winter holidays. No doubt it was a luxurious place to live. Ahab was a king after all. However, it appears there was one thing, at least in Ahab’s mind, that Jezreel was missing: a vegetable or herb garden. Now, it is was hardly the case that King Ahab needed this: he was a king, it is unlikely that he struggled to put vegetables on the table. However, it appears that whatever vegetable gardens he did have, were separated from the palace site. They weren’t as convenient as they could be. That is what Ahab seems to stress to Naboth in 21:2: ‘Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house…’. No doubt King Ahab thought that he was doing Naboth a favour, after all he does offer him a pretty good deal: Naboth could either have a better vineyard or the value of his vineyard in cash. He would lose no money, and might in fact end up even better off! And yet, Naboth refuses to negotiate with King Ahab, telling him in 21:3, ‘The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.’ Here we see the great contrast between Naboth and his king. Back in 1 Kings 20, Ahab failed to obey God’s word, and instead of destroying Ben-Hadad struck a deal with him. Here Naboth, determined to obey God’s word, refuses to strike a deal with Ahab, he will not negotiate. Naboth is not interested in commercial considerations, he is only interested in God’s clear command. He knew that under God’s law (e.g. Leviticus 25:23) an Israelite was not to sell the land allotted to his family. It was not their land to sell, it was God’s land that was only lent to them to steward. Naboth’s fathers had been given this specific patch of land when Israel entered Cannan, and along with inheriting the land, Naboth inherited the responsibility to care for and keep it for the generations to come. The site was not for sale. God forbade it.
Perhaps Naboth’s obedience rubbed salt into the wounds that Ahab felt after his disobedience. Faced with Naboth’s faithfulness, Ahab goes back into his funk. 21:4 tells us he again did exactly what he had done when confronted with God’s word previously: he ‘went into his house vexed and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, for he had said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers."’ Like a child who goes into a tantrum because they don’t get the toy they wanted, we find Ahab lying on his bed, refusing to look at anybody or eat anything. Ahab’s reaction might have been childish, but there is nothing innocent about what takes place next. Jezebel, almost acting like Ahab’s mother, goes and gets the toy that caused his tantrum. She sweeps in and sets in motion the steps that will ultimately led to Naboth’s stoning. And not only his stoning, for we learn in 2 Kings 9:26, that his sons were stoned to death as well, no doubt to ensure the line of inheritance was no more. Naboth’s faithfulness sealed the fate of both himself and his family.
Friends, do you see the repulsiveness of sin here? A man and his sons stoned to death for the sake of a vegetable garden. Killed for convenience. The whole episode seems to escalate so quickly. Within the space of just a few verses we go from the king wanting something that is not his to Naboth and his sons being stoned to death: a fate that would leave them as unrecognisable heaps of broken bones and crushed skulls lying on a blood-soaked bit of ground. Which of us can argue that sin is not deadly when we see such a sight? That a desire for something that is not ours, is a small thing. That going into a huff when we do not get our own way isn’t a big deal. That getting angry is a little sin. Jesus himself, in Matthew 5, points out that the heart of murder is anger. ‘You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment…’ (5:21–22) What was it that resulted in the first murder? Abel beaten to death by his brother Cain, because Cain was angry at him. And it isn’t just anger, but it is coveting, desiring what is not yours, as well. Of all the Ten Commandments, it feels like the last one is the least important: ‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife… or anything that is your neighbour’s.’ (Exodus 20:17) And yet, here we see that there is no such thing as a small sin. For breaking the tenth commandment is often the first step in breaking all the others. It is because David desired Bathsheba, his neighbour’s wife, when he seen her bathing on the rooftop, that he broke the sixth commandment, murdering Uriah and the seventh commandment, adultery with Bathsheba. Here in 1 Kings 21, it is because Ahab coveted his neighbour’s property, that he too broke the sixth commandment, having Naboth murdered, along with the eighth, stealing his vineyard, and the ninth commandment, obtaining false witnesses to testify against him. Sin always seems small at the start, but you can be sure its consequences are not. Evil always escalates.
This year there appears to have been particularly bad forest fires in the US. So far there have been more than one hundred different fires, burning a total area of 33,000 km squared, which is approximately the same size as Wales and Northern Ireland combined. Almost 14,000 building have been destroyed and $3 billion spent on trying to suppress them. What is it that has caused such overwhelming destruction? What could result in areas the size of European countries being consumed in flames? Well of course there are some natural causes, with drought preparing the way and a lightning strike acting as the match. But relatively few forest fires have such a dramatic beginning. In fact, it is suggested that almost 85% of wildfires in the US are caused by humans. Holiday makers leaving the campsite without checking that the campfire is put out properly. Electric companies not ensuring that equipment and electricity lines in remote area are regularly checked for faults. Drivers who step out at the side of the road for a smoke, and flick their cigarette butt into the undergrowth before driving off. Any one of those seemingly small events can start a fire that will rage for months out of all control and cause immense damage. Friends, do you see that the same is true of sin? That within seemingly small sins there is a spark that can burn your whole world down. It only takes one small spark to start a forest fire. And when we turn to the Bible, we see that all the sin and suffering in this world came from a single small spark: a woman standing in a garden, gazing at a tree, desiring something God had forbidden her to have. The whole of creation fell that day because Eve coveted. That one seemingly small spark of sin burnt this world down, started a fire that continues to rage of all control. Friends, just as we must not play with fire, we must not play with sin. A lustful look at a woman, a jealous gaze at a garden, a disobedient desire for what is forbidden: those are the kind of sparks that ultimately see brave Uriah murdered in battle, faithful Naboth stoned to death with his sons and you and I, along with the rest of humanity, infected by sin. You might feel shocked that one human allegedly eating a bat on the other side of the world can bring the whole of humanity to a halt and cause in 1.3 million COVID deaths so far. However, remember that it was a single sin that consigned us all to corruption, billions upon billions of men and women infected and destined for death due to one act of disobedience. Do you see there is no such thing as a small sin? That there is enough poison in one drop to doom us all?
2. THE DOOM DESERVED (21:17-26) – There is no such thing as a secret sin
If in 21:1-16 we see that sin is like a bomb, a small package that with a single spark can cause such great chaos, in 21:17-26 we see that sin is like a boomerang. In the church Sarah grew up in and belonged to in Northern Ireland, they used to sing a song about just that at their evangelistic kids’ clubs during the summer. Why do they sing a song about how sin is like a boomerang? Because that is what Moses said in Numbers 32:23. No, there isn’t an actual reference to a boomerang in the Bible, but it is there Moses tells Israel: ‘behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.’ Just as a boomerang comes back to you, so does your sin. There is no way to escape from its consequences.
In 21:16 we are told that ‘as soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.’ The bad mood, the sulky mindset seems to have lifted immediately, for we are told ‘as soon as’ he heard he goes to get the garden. Perhaps his appetite suddenly appears, and he starts thinking about those vegetables again! He can’t wait to get his hands on it. To take hold of what he was told he could not have. You can almost imagine Ahab skipping on his way there, suddenly everything seems rosy again. Perhaps he gets there and starts looking around, planning out with his servants what seeds should be sown where. He is talking about how they are going to rip out Naboth’s vines and, as he turns a corner, who does he see standing in the middle of the path, but his old foe Elijah. You can almost feel the disappointment Ahab must have had when we blurted out his question in 21:20, ‘Have you found me, O my enemy?’ Ahab discovered that sin is a boomerang. As Moses predicted, it found him out.
How? How is it that we can be sure we will not be able to outrun our sin? Escape its consequences? Avoid its results? How is it that Ahab was caught? Did one of his servants overhear his conversation with Jezebel? Did someone spot Jezebel writing the sealed orders? Did one of the leaders of Jezreel let the cat out of the bag? How did Elijah hear of Ahab’s secret sin? Well just as with the covert crime of David, none of those things happened. Ultimately the great guarantee we have that no crime will go unpunished, that no sin can remain hidden, is because even if it is known or seen by no one else, God sees and knows. The prophet Nathan knew nothing of David sin with Bathsheba until the Lord appeared to him. The same is true of Elijah, he is sent by God to deliver a description of the doom that Ahab deserved. In 21:19, Elijah is told ‘you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: "In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood."’’ Like the good gardener he so wanted to be, Ahab is told he will reap what he sowed. Just has the broken body of Naboth had been left lying on the ground, for the dogs to come and lick up the blood, so will Ahab’s end be. Just as by signing the treaty with King Ben-hadad in chapter 20, Ahab had effectively signed his own death warrant, we see that by causing the death of Naboth, Ahab will have caused his own. And not only his own, but that of Jezebel and his family as well. As Elijah explains to him in 21:23-24, ‘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."’ Just as Naboth’s sons suffered the same fate as their father, so too will the sons of Ahab. Ahab cut off Naboth’s inheritance, no vineyard would be passed down his family line. Therefore, God cut off Ahab’s inheritance, the crown and the throne would not be passed down his family line. We see that not only does sin always find you out, but its punishment so perfectly fits the crime.
Ahab’s end is so gruesome, his doom is so dreadful, that the author appears to be concerned that his readers will doubt that it is truly deserved. Dogs lapping up the blood of a man’s wife and family doesn’t seem like something that you would wish on anyone, even the cruellest criminal. Does Ahab deserve such a dreadful death? In order to make sure that we understand that he does, the author inserts a summary statement in 21:25-56: ‘There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the people of Israel.’ This statement is a quick reminder from the author that Ahab, incited by his wife, was the most abominable king Israel ever had. I want you to notice two things about the author’s summary. Firstly, what is the great sin that the author singles out as very abominable? Not the murder of Naboth and his sons, which he has just spent the chapter telling us about, it is Ahab’s idolatry that is highlighted to us. His worship of Baal and Asherah, and his building of a temple to the same in Samaria. Here we see that the worst part of sin is the divine, not the human. The most outrageous thing about murder is not the killing of a human, but rebellion against God. We see that in David’s confession in Psalm 51:4, he may have committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered Uriah, but so great is the wrong that David has done to God he could say: ‘Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.’ David, Ahab, each of us, deserve to be doomed for defying our creator. For disobeying the one who gave us life. For rebelling against the king of heaven. Having dogs lap up our blood doesn’t even stretch the surface of the sentence we deserve for our crimes. As Spurgeon’s predecessor, James Smith, famously wrote, ‘everything short of Hell is a mercy’. Friends, the consequences of sin on earth may be catastrophic, but how can they be compared to the consequences of sin in eternity? Ahab’s end might be bad, his bloodied body left for the dogs to lick, but his eternity will be worse, forever suffering the terrible wrath of God poured out on him. And that is a doom he, that we, deserve.
The second thing to notice here in this summary statement is the author underscoring the fact that there is no such thing as a secret sin. He writes in 21:25, ‘‘There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab…’. Evil in God’s sight is a common phrase within the Old Testament, it is used to indicate that conduct falls short of God’s standard, that when he looks at it, he sees it for the evil that it is. However, its inclusion both here, and in David’s confession of sin in Psalm 51 (‘Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight’) is a reminder to us of the most basic truth at its heart: that there is no secret sin. That God sees all. As Proverbs 15:3 puts it, ‘The eyes of the LORD are in every place…’. Or as the author of Hebrews explains in 4:13: ‘no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.’ David may have kept his adultery with Bathsheba out of public knowledge. Ahab may have managed to have Naboth murder without much fuss. But there is no such thing as a secret sin. Both were in the sight of the Lord. Ahab will have to give an account of his actions. And on that day, we, along with Ahab, will all deserve to be doomed for what we have done, for nothing is secret, God sees all.
3. THE DISASTER DELAYED (21:27-29)
Talk about a twist at the end! As if the story about Naboth isn’t bad enough, the author underlines just how much Ahab deserves his doom in 21:25-26 by explaining he is the evillest king Israel ever had. Then, out of nowhere, he writes in 21:27: ‘And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly.’ At the end of 1 Kings 20, when a prophet declared his doom, all Ahab did was descend into a huff and run sulking off to Samaria. But when he hears these words, instead of huffing, he humbles himself! Perhaps the fact that it is Elijah who declares his doom helps drives the reality home to Ahab. He was after all the prophet that Ahab watched as he prayed fire and rain from heaven. Who ran before his chariot on the way to the gates of Jezreel, perhaps only a stone’s throw from where the two of them now stood in Naboth’s vineyard. However, as someone put it, what is clear is that God’s word has the power to humble even the most hard hearted of kings. We see that the authority of God’s word is able to bring even the proudest to their knees.
However, if Ahab’s reaction is surprising, how much more surprising is God’s reaction! The author tells us in 21:29 how the Lord spoke to Elijah saying, ‘Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster upon his house."’ As we said last week, when we witnessed wave after wave of God’s grace to Ahab in his battles with Ben-hadad, the most perplexing things about God’s plan is his grace. If in 1 Kings 20 we see the unpredictable plan of God, here in 1 Kings 21 we have the unforeseeable mercy of God. In 1 Kings 20 there is talk of how the kings of Israel were famous for their mercy. In the death of Naboth, we have seen nothing that would justify such a reputation. However, surely with mercy like this the God of Israel deserves that kind of reputation. A God who is famous for his mercy. Who shows mercy when I suspect none of us would. Which of us would look on the actions of Ahab and see anything other than a king who does too little too late? Who seems sorrier about the punishment than he is about the crime. Who may be remorseful, but certainly isn’t repentant. There is no cry to God for forgiveness, no questioning Elijah about what to do next, no confession of Naboth’s murder. I’m sure all of us would want to see some clear proof before we postponed any punishment. It will take more than a few antics to fool us! And yet the God who sees all, who knows the shallowness of Ahab’s sorrow, who understands the deepest darkest parts of Ahab’s heart, shows him mercy. As John Woodhouse alludes to, God is so eager to show mercy, that he delays the doom Ahab deserves at the first hint of him humbling himself.
However, it is important that we see that this is only a disaster delayed. It is a postponement, not a cancellation. It is only a measure of mercy. The day would soon come when Ahab’s house will be destroyed, his family food for the dogs. And yet, the fact that God delays this disaster in response to a hint of humility leaves you wondering what would have happened if Ahab had truly repented. What would God have done if King Ahab had cried out like King David did in Psalm 51:1-2? ‘Have mercy on me, O God…according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.’ Surely God would have done for Ahab what he did for David, poured out his measureless mercy and blotted out all his transgressions! Certainly, God would have done for Ahab what he does for all who come to him for forgiveness. God’s mercy extends even to the evillest of kings.
Throughout I have drawn countless comparisons between King Ahab and King David. However, there is another comparison that I can’t help pointing out before I close. For in Naboth we have a man who is plotted against because of his faithfulness to God. One who is innocent of all charges, yet accused by false witnesses. Someone it is alleged has blasphemed against God and the political power of his day. He was taken outside the city walls and publicly executed for a crime he did not commit. How can we look at the story of Naboth of Jezreel and not seen in it pointers to the story of Jesus of Nazareth? The one who made the mercy shown to David, the mercy shown to each of us, possible. For as we learnt in Titus 3:5-6, ‘he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour…’. For all of us who trust in Christ, despite the deeds that we have done, and the doom that we deserve, in God’s mercy we don’t experience a disaster that is delayed, but a punishment that is paid, a sentence that is spent. By the mercy of God, through the death of Jesus, we will never experience the doom that we deserve. Yes, we can be certain that our sin will find us out, but we can also be confident that in Christ God’s mercy has found us as well. O our sins may be many, but his mercy is more! Surely such a God deserves to be famous for his unforeseeable mercy, not just for his measure of mercy to Ahab, but his measureless mercy to us.
ALEXANDER ARRELL