Stupid Kingsናሙና

King Ahab and Me

King Ahab’s sin becomes excessive and God confronts him through Elijah the prophet. He proclaims judgment over Ahab and his wife, Jezebel. We are then told (for a third time) that there is no one, NO ONE, who did evil like Ahab. 

Just when we are getting ready to fill our bowls with popcorn to see what disaster God will bring over Ahab, a deeply unsatisfying (for us) act takes place. In an unprecedented change of character, unlike all of the stupid kings before him, the worst of the worst kings humbles himself. He starts a fast and walks around in non-designer sackcloth. God sees, stops complete disaster from coming over Ahab, and holds it off until the next generation. 

Ahab’s repentance is a strange twist in the story. It stands as one of the finest portrayals of God’s kindness and grace to the undeserving. Although it did not all go “hunky-dory“ for Ahab (he still died prematurely by a random, perhaps divinely guided arrow during a war), for a time God held back his punishment. 

Lessons: 

The divine withholding of judgment demonstrates an awesome characteristic of God. At the hint of repentance, God is quick to show mercy, even to the vilest person.  

Our vision for justice can so often look like this: bad things should happen to bad people. We want retribution to happen severely and swiftly. The "hit and be hit back" justice system we desire, however, does not usually match the merciful character of God. Psalm 103:8 tells us that “the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”. In his love, God is patient for the wicked to turn to him. Justice comes, but not necessarily in our timeline. 

For us, this form of withheld justice can be frustrating and annoying. Roughly one hundred years after Ahab, another evil king declares a fast and puts on sackcloth on hearing God’s judgment over his kingdom: the King of Nineveh. Seeing this, God refrains from bringing disaster over Nineveh. Such graciousness and mercy so angered the prophet Jonah that he went into a death-wishing depression. 

The problem with our longing for immediate retribution over evil is that, if we are honest, we do not wish such quick judgment against ourselves when we fall into sin. It is not quite so annoying when God is merciful and slow to anger with us. The reality is that God is patient with our stupidity in the same way he is patient with so many stupid kings.

Jesus demonstrated such graciousness when he saw the little, corrupt man, Zacchaeus, up a tree. He did not drag Zacchaeus down and have him beaten for his sin. Rather, he told him he was coming to his house to stay. As a result, Zacchaeus changed his ways. God is kind and patient towards the wicked and immoral, and longs for the repentance of all; he is kind and patient towards us.

Prayer:

Lord, you are a merciful and gracious God. Thank you for your graciousness towards me. When I judgingly want others to suffer for their stupidity, remind me of your mercy towards my stupidity. You are so kind towards me. May you be praised through my life. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Limerick:

King Ahab surely did repent

So the story went

God refrained from judging

Much to our begrudging

We have no right to lament