Sunday 7th July
Read Psalm 64
If you don’t have a bible at home you can find the readings on a website such as www.biblegateway.com or an app such as YouVersion
Do you ever wonder why it is that David seems to talk a lot about his enemies? Like this Psalm for instance which starts with, “Hear me, my God, as I voice my complaint; protect my life from the threat of the enemy” (v1). Perhaps you say, “what enemies do I have? how come David seems to have so many enemies?
The Old Testament is about God preparing the way for his Son to arrive, which means being born into this little people group, Israel. Is anyone against this? Yes, the Devil, the head of all evil. Stopping this arrival meant physically interfering with this populace and particularly the line through which the Saviour was to be born. However, through all the attempts to stop him, Jesus, God’s Son, arrived and completed the course set for him.
For us who believe, our struggles are usually not physical or against other people but internal, what used to be called “the world, the flesh and the devil”. That’s why Jesus taught us to pray, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”. David prayed against the real arrows that could kill him, we pray against the spiritual arrows that can harm us, disable us, and cripple our lives. We have to deal with our enemies in a different way but prayer is always our first line of defence.
READINGS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
Monday 1 Kings 1 Kings 20:1-22
In chapter 20 we see the start of what Elijah had prophesied in the previous chapter (19:15-18).
To clear up any confusion, Hazael was a high ranking officer in the army of Ben-hadad ll who murdered Ben-Hadad (2 Kings 8) but here Ben-hadad is still in charge of the armies of Aram (Syria) and with a number of his vassal kings he invaded Israel, besieging Samaria the capital. He wanted Ahab to surrender and hand over his silver and gold and wives and children. Ahab meekly agrees but Ben-hadad then ups his demands to enter and strip the city of whatever he wanted and this was too much for Ahab. As the extra demands would have affected all the officers and elders of the people they told him not to give in and so he sent a message of resistance to Ben-hadad telling him that one who puts on his armour should not boast like one who takes it off.
Battle commenced when Ben-hada and his men were drinking in their tents and so unprepared for Ahab’s attack. One of the prophets of God still alive in Israel despite Jezebel’s wicked assault on them came and told Ahab how he was to win the battle against Ben-hadad – it was to be through the junior officers. They made a head-on attack on Ben-hadad defeating the Arameans, sending them running. However the prophet of God told Ahab to strengthen his position for another attack would surely follow in the spring.
If we are to take a spiritual lesson away from this it is to be prepared at all times against the assaults of the Enemy and never to let our guard down.
Tuesday 1 Kings 20:23-34
The officials of Ben-hadad told him that the reason they were defeated by the Israelites was because their god was a god of the hills but if they battled them on the plains they would win. How foolish and lack in understanding of who it was who was the Lord of this people. They told him also that he should remove the allied kings from their posts and replace them with officer soldiers. Here they were blaming the minor kings who pitched in with Ben-hadad for their defeat.
Having listened to their complaints Ben-hadad did all they said and next spring he lined up on the plains with a very big army compared to the Israelites. Would it make any difference against the God of Israel? Not at all. The man of God came back to Ahab with a message from the Lord that he would deliver this vast army into his hands so that he (Ahab) would “know that I am the Lord”. The victory happened but in all these victories Ahab remained a stubborn and resistant king before the Lord.
When Ahab found that Ben-hadad was alive he summoned him and the two men made a treaty with each other both thinking it was for their own benefit but should not Ahab have consulted the Lord as David often had before moving forward?
Sometimes we may think we have got control of situations in our lives and we are able to manage the future ourselves. It is never a good idea to depart from praying to God. Believing people need always to bring their lives and all the issues before God for He alone has the answers.
Wednesday 1 Kings 20:35-43
Here is a strange tale, what are we to make of it? One of the prophets – on the word of the Lord – says to a fellow, “strike me with your weapon”. We don’t know the reason for his desire to be wounded but it will appear as part of an acted out word to Ahab. The fact that his companion refuses and then dies as the result of a lion attack and is given as a judgement of God for his disobedience seems uncommonly weird. If lesson is to be taken it might be that distasteful things are no reason to turn away from the guiding hand of God. The assisted killing of Saul was judged but here the invited act does not seem to be for the death of the prophet
After this initial request the prophet found someone else who would do what he said and when wounded he disguised himself and approached the king. Obviously, his wounding was part of his message to Ahab and it allowed him to gain access to the king with his story of how it had supposedly happened. God had decided that the judgement on Ben-hadad for his assaults on Israel should be death but through an altered scheme Ahab disobeyed God and the prophet’s message is that his life would be forfeit for that disobedience.
Chapter 20 closes with the words ‘sullen and angry’ about Ahab and chapter 21 starts with Ahab in the same frame of mind (v4). Transferring property from one family to another was not allowed in ancient Israel for the reason that each family’s inheritance was God given. Ahab however wanted to have a vineyard close to his palace for a vegetable garden but it belonged to Naboth who refused to give or sell it and this is what left Ahab feeling sullen and angry. We ought to ponder what things are apt to make us feel that way in our lives – and take warning from Ahab.
Jezebel, his wife, had no Jewish qualms about such a transference and she told him if he was king he should just take what he wants. Her plan was to falsely accuse Naboth of treason against God and King and have him executed. For that she needed the acquiescence of the elders of Naboth’s city but they agreed. How dangerous it is to bow to authority when it requires wrong actions.
Elijah appears again in the story of Ahab and tells him of God’s judgement on him and his house because of his disobedience – as the writer says, “there was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord” (v25). The conclusion however tells of a deferred judgement on him because of his penitence but that his family and line would come to an end under God’s judgement.
In chapter 22 we have an interesting story about the role of prophets in the kingdoms. There being peace between Israel and Judah for three years, Ahab thought he might be able to get support from Judah for a campaign against Aram to regain Ramoth-Gilead. Jehoshaphat who was the King of Judah at this time agreed to meet him and, hearing of the situation with Aram, he was ready to give support to Ahab but wanted to know what the Lord thought and asked for a good prophet. Prophets were ten a penny then, obviously doing well for themselves particularly if they agreed with Ahab. There was one prophet he didn’t like called Micaiah, the reason being that he always seemed to prophesy bad things about him.
Ah, the danger always lurks around when we only want to hear what gives us the good life. Are we prepared to hear things that go against us? The vision of Micaiah of the people scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd did not please Ahab and so he sent him away to be imprisoned with only bread and water until he came back victorious.
Micaiah then gives a picture of God sitting on his throne and asking who would entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and the one whose suggestion is accepted is the one who suggests lying prophets. If we are to be faithful to the Lord we must avoid putting ourselves into dangerous positions available to be tempted into wrongdoing.
Micaiah is faithful to the end. A great example.
Sly Ahab suggested to Jehoshaphat that when they go into battle with the king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead he wears his royal robes whilst Ahab himself was going to be attired in ordinary wear so as to be in disguise. Lacking any wisdom, Jehoshaphat didn’t pick up on what would happen in the battle and of course he became the target of the king of Aram’s warriors. It was only when his identity was seen that the warriors turned away.
Ahab’s ruse didn’t work out because he got struck by an arrow fired randomly at the ordinary troops. His ignominious death, propped up in a chariot, his blood flowing onto the floor, fitted the description of the prophet with his chariot being washed out at the end of the day amidst dogs licking up his blood. The writer tells of the pool of Samaria being a place where the prostitutes bathed.
The writer informs his readers that they can read more about Ahab in the annals of the kings of Israel but he is not going to say any more because it is obvious that the this man’s life was a tale of evil ending in God’s judgement. Some things are worth remembering but others will disintegrate. Shelley’s poem “Ozymandius” based on the statuary remains of the Pharoah Ramases ll, tells the same story of worldly fate
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
