The Days of Ahab

Class #5Ahab and

Jehoshaphat

Affinity

Ramoth Gilead

 “and out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the manslayer”

- Joshua 21:38

Naboth’s Death

• Innocent man murdered by the wicked

• Hated of his neighbours

• Elders of the city involved

• Wanted to remove his inheritance

• Two witnesses called

• But they are false witnesses

• Perpetrators divinely judged

Deuteronomy 19 – Cities of Refuge

10 - lest innocent blood be shed in your land

11 – if anyone hates his neighbor

12 – the elders of his city

14 – You shall not move your neighbor’s landmark

15 – Only on the evidence of two witnesses

16 – a malicious witness

21 – life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot

Naboth (innocent) is killed by Jezebel and Ahab

Naboth was Ahab's neighbour

Jezebel sent letters to the elders

Ahab wanted to move Naboth's inheritance

Jezebel called for two witnesses against Naboth

They were false witnesses

Jezebel was killed leaving only her head, hands and feet

“An abundance of sheep and oxen”

“And also their relatives, from as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, came bringing food on donkeys and on camels and on mules and on oxen, abundant provisions of flour, cakes of figs, clusters of raisins, and wine and oil, oxen and sheep, for there was joy in Israel. “ (1 Chronicles 12:40)

- unity in the days of David

“And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.” (2 Chronicles 5:6)

- unity in the days of Solomon

Don't Befriend Idolaters!

“If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known” (Deuteronomy 13:6)

* “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” (Jehoshaphat in 1 Kings 22:4)

* “There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited.” (1 Kings 21:25)

Jehoshaphat Obeys Deuteronomy

2 Chronicles 19:5-10 – sets up judges

“Judges and officers shall you make in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, throughout your tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. You shall not wrest judgment; you shall not respect persons, neither take a gift…” (Deut. 16:18-19)

Jehoshaphat Obeys Deuteronomy

2 Chronicles 19:5-10 – impartial judgment

“You shall not respect persons in judgment” (Deut. 1:17)

“…which regards not persons nor takes reward” (Deut. 10:17)

“If there arise a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood…” (Deut. 17:8)