#GOFAMINTDailyDevotion Sun. 17/4/2016
17/4/2016 LESSON 7:
AHAB: A KING WHO WAS LED ASTRAY
Quarter’s Theme: PORTRAITS OF JEWISH KINGS
Unit 3 – Portraits Of The Kings Of Divided Kingdom (Lessons 5-12)
Suggested Hymns: G.H.B. 154, 165
Devotional Reading: 2 COR. 6:14-18
Topic For Adults
WHO YOUR FRIEND SHOULD BE
Topic For Youths
CHOOSE YOUR FRIEND
Topic For Intermediates
YOUR PRESENT DETERMINES YOUR FUTURE
Scripture Lesson
1 KGS. 14:9-10; 16:28-33; 21:17-25; 22:20-23, 34-40
(SOUL WINNERS CROWN COMPETITION MONTHS)
MEMORY VERSE
Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him (1 Kgs. 16:30) NKJV
DAILY DEVOTIONAL READING
Sun. 17/4/2016
Evil Generations
1 Kgs. 6:28-34
Omri was chosen to lead as king in Israel because he was a shrewd and capable leader, but he went his own way by following the example of Jeroboam in all the sins he had committed and led Israel to commit. He did not care about the nation’s spiritual condition, and he purposely led Israel farther from God in order to put more power in his own hand. Omri died before completing the city. So his son Ahab completed it, but he also did more evil by building the temple for the worship of Baal. In order to please his evil wife, Jezebel, he promoted idolatry and led the entire nation into sin.
Point of Emphasis: Be mindful of your today, there is a tomorrow.
Prayer Point: I refuse to inherit the evil seed of my past generation in Jesus’ name.
BACK GROUNDBACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
Ahab was one of the great kings in Israel who had negative indelible landmarks.
In fact, he was a major reference point in the acts of wickedness and corruption.
An English proverb says, two good heads are better than one. The wife of Ahab joined him to prove the woeful and tragic result of “two wicked and unregenerate heads”.
NOTE ON THE TEXTS
PART 1:FACTS ABOUT AHAB (1 KGS. 14:1-10; 16:28-30)
The name Ahab consists of two elements, the first element is the curious little word ah which probably means brother and the word ab which means father of or my father. For the meaning of the name Ahab, MOBSE Study Bible Name List reads father’s brother.
The name Ahab was assigned two times in the Bible, both times not very positive characters. The less known Ahab is a son of Kolaiah who falsely prophesied and behaved contemptibly and he was executed by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 29:21).
The famous Ahab is the one we are discussing as the wicked King of Isreal, son of Omri, husband of Jezebel.
Ahab was the seventh king in the land of Israel and reigned for twenty-two years (22 yrs) He married Jezebel and built a temple for Baal in Samaria(1 Kgs. 16: 31, 32) His Baal – worship practices caused a great famine in the land. He was allowed to defeat the Syrians on two occasions to prove a point. He tricked godly king Jehoshaphat (fourth king of Judah) into a two-fold compromise, matrimonial and military. His death, for his many sins, was predicted by three prophets (1 Kgs. 20:42, 21:19; 22: 17, 28) The death of Jezebel, his wife, was also predicted by Elijah. He experienced a brief fox-hole type conversion. (1 Kgs. 21:29) He was killed in a battle with Syria. He was more wicked than his father, Omri (1 Kings 21; 25, 26) Ahab was the son of Omri. Omri was the sixth king that reigned for twelve years.
PART 2: THE ERROR OF AHAB (1 KGS. 16:31-33; 21:17-25)
Despite the good intention God had for Ahab, he decided to walk himself into destruction. Although the generation he was coming from was a wicked one, with a wrong foundation, he added to it by marrying Jezebel, an evil wife. Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal was one of the most wicked and evil women that ever lived. She was part of Satan’s design to introduce idolatry. She came from the Phoenician city of Tyre, where her father had been a high priest and eventually king of the Zidonians.
Baal was the most popular Canaanite god, often made in the shape of a bull, representing strength and fertility and reflecting lust for power and sexual pleasure. Jezebel worshiped baal. In order to please her, Ahab built her a temple and an altar for Baal (1 Kgs. 16: 32) thus promoting idolatry and thereby leading the entire nation into sin.
Ahab did not limit his wickedness to marrying Jezebel the evil woman, but he also allowed rage to consume him which turned to hatred and led to the murder of Naboth, for refusing to sell his Vineyard to the king. Naboth’s refusal was as a result of upholding God’s law. It was considered a duty to keep ancestral land in the family.
Jezebel devised an evil scheme which terminated the life of Naboth. Thereafter, her husband, Ahab, had liberty to claim the Vineyard for himself. The result of any evil step taken is always disastrous. The result of Ahab’s killing Naboth was that dogs would lick his blood at the very place where they licked the blood of Naboth.
PART 3: THE END OF AHAB (1 KGS. 22:20-23, 34-40)
God hates all evil and will one day do away with it completely and forever (Rev. 20:10-15). God does not intend anyone to become or do evil. Those committed to evil, however, may be allowed by God to sin even more in order to hurry their deserved judgment (Exo 11:10). Ahab could not escape God’s judgment.
The king of Aram sent 32 of his best chariot commanders with the sole purpose of killing Ahab. Thinking he could escape, Ahab tried to disguise, but a random arrow struck him. Sometimes people try to escape reality by disguising themselves by changing jobs, moving to new locations, even changing spouses. But God sees and evaluates the motives of each person. Any attempted disguise is futility.
CONCLUSION
We have observed in our lesson today the rise and fall of king Ahab. Ahab exhibited ungodly characters, which God detested, to his own ruin. His wife, Jezebel, instead of helping him to check his wicked actions, and retrace his steps to God, she only aggravated the evil deeds of her husband.
As a result of this lesson, every child of God must be careful about choices we make on relationships in life. Evil association can corrupt good manners and lead to a tragic end.
QUESTIONS
- Mention two facts about Ahab
- What errors did Ahab commit according to our lesson today?
- What role(s) did his wife Jezebel play in his fall?
- What are the consequences of Ahab’s errors?
- What lesson can we learn from today’s lesson about the choice of relationships we make in life?