with me in your Bibles to 1 Kings. We'll be dealing with a little bit in chapter 19 and then all of chapter 20. You do have an outline, and I recommend that you get it. And if nothing else, it'll help you follow along, kind of like when you go to a play at the theater, and you at least have the acts and the scenes, right? It kind of helps you through there. We're just saying that there's no God like Jehovah. And I will tell you that as I have been studying Ahab, Ahab doesn't impress me a whole lot, but God's interaction with Ahab has shocked me and baffled me and also encouraged me. And so I know that this is not going to be easy to go through this text and we're not even going to get through the story of Ahab today because the next chapter is going to do it again. And if you weren't here last week, you're missing out because last week actually began the whole story saying that God works in a little small whisper. And I think much of what we see today is God doing that work of a small whisper. That being said, the Bible gives a lot of attention to King Ahab. He is given more attention than any other of the previous kings of the Northern Kingdom. We won't finish the story of Ahab until 2 Kings 10. That is a lot of space devoted to a man who did more evil than any other king before him. Now the Bible is not morbidly interested in evil or evil men. but it is interested in how God handles them. And it is particularly interested when those evil men are members of his visible church. I believe that Ahab is given to us as an extended study case, working out God's interaction with his wayward children. Before we jump into God's interaction with Ahab, we have to tie up a couple loose ends with Elijah. We left Elijah on Mount Sinai, and in verses 15 to 18 of chapter 19, we see that Elijah was given a new mission. First mission, destroy the prophets of Baal, you know, have the big encounter, the new mission, consists of three tasks. First task, anoint a new king for Syria. Now Syria is the northeastern neighbor of Israel. Verse 15 says, and the Lord said to him, go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And what you need to understand is that Elijah never anoints Hazael. We're not even introduced to Hazael until 2 Kings 8. He is a soldier, a commander in the Syrian army. Elisha will eventually anoint him, but not Elijah. Second task. Elisha is supposed to anoint a new king to replace Ahab. Verse 16, And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel. Elijah doesn't accomplish that task either. Some unnamed prophet fulfills that task. The third task is the only one that he accomplishes. And that is that he is to anoint Elisha as his successor. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel-Meholah, you shall anoint to be a prophet in your place. Now, what is the point of these three tasks? These tasks actually fuel the whole next chapter. It's the only reason I brought them up again. Verse 17. of chapter 19, the one who escapes the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. In other words, God will use these three men, Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha, to bring the end of the line of Ahab. Just as God defeated the Lion of Jeroboam, Just as God took out the line of Basha, he is going to judge the line of Ahab. He judges evil, he never ignores evil. That's our God. Now, bringing wrath upon Ahab is the overarching theme of how we're moving forward. But bringing wrath on Ahab is not the only thing God is doing. In fact, as we read this story, and as we go from one chapter to the next chapter, we get the distinct impression that God is dragging his feet. Now there are plenty of other examples in scripture where someone is evil and God takes them out, just like that. Think of Ananias and Sapphira. Bam, gone. We have chapter after chapter after chapter of Ahab lingering. Also in verse 18 of chapter 19, God says, yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him. This 7,000 people are people that God has worked in. And they are continuing to worship Yahweh. We don't know who they are. They're never described. They're never pulled out on parade. But God says that He has this remnant. Because God has been working in these people with His still small whisper. Therefore, as we get to chapter 20, we have two expectations. One is that God is going to bring the end of Ahab and his line. That's one expectation. God's word says he's going to do it. He's going to do it. Second, God will save individuals in the most unlikely of places. That's important. This is what shocked me in this whole passage. I'm gonna skip over the actual calling of Elisha. We're gonna deal with that when we get to 2 Kings. They introduce Elisha, and then we don't really see him again for several chapters. So I'll deal with him when we get to there. Let's get into 1 Kings 20 verse one. And this is where you wanna have this out in front of you. This chapter, and I know, I have such sympathy for you guys, even just hearing it read, and I'm thinking to myself, man, this is a long chapter. It's hard to get the details of this. Hopefully, this is one of the most suspenseful dramas of the Old Testament. This is like powerful stuff. If you were watching a movie of this and seeing it happen, you'd be like, what's gonna happen next? And we read it and we're kind of like, yeah, okay, whatever. So it's my job to try to help you see it that way. Now. First scene, the Syrian army invades Israel. In the past, Syria invaded Israel because the king of Judah, Asa, actually formed an alliance with her. But that's not what's going on now. It seems that this king is just acting on his own initiative. He is coming down and he wants to get some of the promised land for himself. He has a large army, he's got many allies, and he marches all the way to the capital of Samaria. There's some initial fighting that's taken place, and now there seems to be a little lull, maybe a little truce, and Ben-Hadad sends a messenger to intimidate Ahab. That's verses two and three. And you have to see this as a taunt. In other words, he's saying, you do not have any chance against me. Therefore, you should just give up now. That's what's happening. And then in verse four, Ahab's answer is, as you say, my lord, O king, I am yours and all that I have. Now, some take this as an admission of defeat. I do not think so. I see this as a sarcastic, in-your-face kind of answer. Sure, Ben-Hadad, take whatever you want, I'll just roll over and let you have it. Ben-Hadad obviously doesn't think it's real because he, as soon as he hears the word, he comes back even more harshly. And it gets more personal in verses five and six. See, typically, whenever you came up to a city and you asked their surrender, if they surrendered, the invading army would be very lenient. But if you fought, then you'd be wiped out. And that's exactly what happens in this second time. I will send my servants to you tomorrow at this time, and they shall search your house and the houses of your servants and lay hands on whatever pleases you and take it away. In other words, I'm not going to treat you with respect, Ahab. I'm going right to your house. Ahab knows that he's in for a battle. These taunts, you kind of, I don't watch WWF, whatever it is, you know, but you can kind of hear the taunts back and forth, right? Ahab tells, he takes a council of all of his nobles, and he says, look, see how this man is seeking trouble. And I think that's all about him telling his fellow nobles, I didn't pick this fight. He came to me. He's the aggressor because he knows that if he is the one that's brought this trouble on himself, the nobles might say, hey, we'll sacrifice you. But seeing that this Syrian king is the aggressor, the leadership says, OK, we're behind you. We'll fight. Don't give in. We're going to fight for you. He's then emboldened, and he gives a message back to the king of Syria, and it's so, just politically crafty stuff. If you had just gone with my first offer, it'd all be yours, but since you demanded this other stuff, we're gonna fight. You can kinda see this going back and forth. Then, Ben-Hadad takes the gloves off. He calls down a curse upon him. Notice Ben Haddad doesn't say, oh, bummer, man, I missed my chance. No, all along, they have been just tit for tat in this word game, knowing that they're going to come to a clash. Diplomacy has failed, and I don't think it was ever intended to succeed. Ahab then responds in verse 11, man, don't boast until you win the battle, basically. And he's basically saying, you may talk a good game, but I am going to make you eat your words, you Syrian scumbag. So the battle starts. As the curtains close on this scene, we are left wondering, why do we even care? Two pagan, one pagan king, one rebellious king, why do we care about this interaction? Now, I think the point of this whole interaction is to make very, very clear that these two men hate each other. That's the point. Second scene. into this they're just about ready to fight this battle in walks verse 13 a and I'll just read it and behold you know that's that's in there for a purpose you gotta pay attention to this stop a second what you're doing you think you know what's going on stop listen behold a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel and said thus says the Lord have you seen all this great multitude behold I will give it into your hand this day, and you shall know that I am the Lord." There's no God like Jehovah, what we just sang. And as a reader, you should be like, what? Are you kidding me? Why is God coming near to Ahab? Why is God giving Ahab victory over the Syrian army? you should be feeling the tension. Is this not the guy that God told Ahab is going to be crushed? But here it looks like God is on the side of Ahab. Hmm. You're supposed to go, hmm, this doesn't make sense. I'm seeing something about God that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Ahab himself is confused. Who's gonna win this battle? By whom, he says. And the reason why he asks by whom is because Ahab knows that he is not in a strong position. He does not have a large army. And he's saying, who's gonna do this fighting? Who's gonna win this battle? And the prophet says, well, the leaders who are behind you. No, he doesn't say that. I wanted to see if you're paying attention. The servants of the leaders will win this battle. Huh, you mean the common folk? That's who's gonna win it? And then he says to Ahab, you're supposed to strike first. You know, passivity's kind of been working for Ahab. He's, you know, they're coming at me. And he says, no, you gotta go out. And I don't really know the significance of the 232 servants of the governors. But I do think that we are told that the entire army consists of 7,000 people. And I do think whether or not those are the 7,000 that hadn't bowed the knee to Baal, I certainly think that it represents that God in his remnant will win the victory for Ahab. Scene three, verse 16. They go out, they fight the battle, and what happens? Victory! just as the prophet of the Lord said. Ahab strikes the Syrians a great blow, and so what should everyone conclude? This is where you stop and you say, okay, the prophet just came, you're gonna win a big battle, you're gonna do this by the Lord's strength. He wins the battle, so what should he conclude? Yahweh, you are my God, I am so sorry for following Baal, I repent of that, I'm gonna trust in you, that's what he should do. Ahab does not do that. There's a blindness that remains over his eyes. So then the next question, what should God do? Well, justice demands that he destroy Ahab immediately. But that's not what happens. Verse 22, Then the prophet came near to the king of Israel, and said to him, Come, strengthen yourself, and consider well what you have to do, for in the spring the king of Syria will come up against you again. And I'm just like, Are you kidding me? The prophet came near to Ahab again? Now, you could make an argument that coming near is to come near to judge, because God does do that at times, but that is not the implication in this passage. He is coming near in mercy. The prophet tells Ahab that the job is not done. He's going to come back the next spring and you're going to have to fight this battle all over again. Scene five, in verse 23. We move to the Syrian camp. So we've done with Ahab for a minute, we'll come back to him. We're over an hour into the Syrian camp, and we're getting into the inner workings of the Syrian camp. And I just wanna like, how do we even know what went on in the Syrian camp? Except that God is sovereign, he knows all things. Maybe there was a Syrian that turned to the Lord, I don't know. Somehow we have the inner workings of what happened in the Syrian camp. And their thinking is, verse 23, the only reason we lost the battle is because we fought those Dagnabin Israelites in the hills. And their gods are gods of the hills. If we get those guys on the plane away from their gods, with the strength of their gods, then we'll win. So what they're basically saying is that Yahweh is just a local, limited god. Boy, they got a lot to learn, don't they? So what happens? Now, we can't, it actually says their gods are the gods of the hills, but we can't fault them for not recognizing that Israel served one god, because as they came through the country, there's altars to Baal, there's Asherah poles, they see all this stuff, so I don't fault them for thinking there's more than one god, but they need to learn that Yahweh is much more than a local god. All right. The next spring comes. This large Syrian army comes against the city of Aphek. By the way, Aphek is on the plain. And the Israelite army looks like two little flocks in comparison to this great army. Ahab is facing the same threat that he had the year before. It's very likely that Ahab did not take any heeding of the warning that the prophet gave him. Oh my goodness. Has any of us ever been warned of something and we're just too stubborn to hear the warning? Okay, this is Ahab. Oh yeah, you told me they're coming against me, I don't believe it. Well, there they are again. And again, he's in the same situation. Notice, Ahab does not seek the Lord's help. But in a way that confuses me and yet fills me with awe, the Lord seeks Ahab. Scene 6, verse 28. And a man of God came near. and said to the king of Israel, Thus says the Lord, because the Syrians have said, The Lord is a God of the hills, but not a God of the valleys. Therefore, I will give this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Victory again. He's going to crush these guys. He's going to teach the enemy a lesson. But it's teaching the enemy a lesson is not really designed to teach them a lesson as much as it is designed to teach Ahab a lesson and you and I a lesson. See, God is using the openly false attitude of the Syrians to confront the secretly false attitude of his own people. So I want you to ask yourself this question. Do you have limited thoughts of your unlimited God? Do you think of God as only a God of the hills? In other words, he can't really win the victory in some places. We're going to get to salvation. So I want you to be thinking about who do you think that God can't save? There's something else in this in this prophet coming to him that it's so easy to miss, but you can't miss it. He says, therefore, I will give all this great multitude into your hand. That keyword, all, is very important. When the prophet says all, he is telling Ahab in a subtle way, but it's clear that he is commanded to entirely wipe out Ben-Hadad and his army. You think, you're just reading into the text. It'll become clear, trust me. We often cringe when God commands complete destruction. I get it. But every time he commands complete destruction, and there's a lot of times he doesn't do that, but in some cases he does, whenever he does it, it is a symbolic representation of the final judgment. Understand that all who are not in Christ will be judged, period. There's an all. And so God gives a few places, like Sodom and Gomorrah, like the flood when he just gets Noah out, where he wipes out everyone else. Deuteronomy 7 actually commands this when God's people enter the promised land. Listen to this. When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves, Guys, there's just like a twisted evil in my heart. When I said all those names so quick, I was just thinking, is she able to do this or not? Sorry. And when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. That is what's driving the rest of this passage. God wanted Ahab to treat Ben-Hadad like Joshua treated Jericho. And in fact, once you recognize this, you will see how much this is connected to Jericho. Look at verse 29. They encamped opposite one another seven days. And on the seventh day the battle was joined. Anything happen like that around Jericho? And the people of Israel struck down a hundred thousand foot soldiers in one day. Great wiping them out. They don't get everyone. The people go back into the city of Aphek. And look at verse 30. The rest fled into the city of Aphek and The wall fell upon 27,000 who were left. Well, that reminds you of Jericho, does it not? So what are we to conclude? Ben-Hadad doesn't have an army. He may have a little small guard around him, but he is now at the mercy of Ahab. Now, you gotta slow down. If you catch this, you're just like, whoa. I have no idea how the followers around Ahab came to this conclusion, but somehow they think that the kings of Israel are merciful. I don't understand how they figured that out, but that's their hope. They ought to have been thinking about how to find mercy from Yahweh. That's who they should have been seeking help from. They had said that the Yahweh was only a God of the hills. They got licked on the plains. They should have said, oh, we need to repent and turn to Yahweh. Instead, we'll go seek mercy from the king. And what happens next is like dominoes, and it's shocking every step of the way. He said, after he hears these guys, please let me live. Does he still live? He is my brother? Are you kidding me? These are the guys that they just said is a scumbag. He's been coming at him for two years, said he's gonna wipe out his family. He is my brother? Ahab has been told that he is supposed to destroy this man. The way that he won the victory is like, oh, the wall fell down. Jericho, every Israelite would have known about Jericho. Nope. He is my brother. Now the men, they lap this right up. Yeah, that's right, your brother. He's your brother. And I can just hear, and this is dating myself, in the Lord of the Rings, you can just hear Smeagol, right? He's going to throttle their throats, and then when the sword comes on his throat, I'm your friend, you know? It's just like a complete reversal. And you're supposed to feel that. You're gonna be like, you were just trying to kill us, and now, oh, we're brothers. Ahab brings him right up into the chariot with him. This would have been a sign of honor. This is like spitting in the face of Yahweh. Then in verse 34, Ben-Hadad is determining the terms of the covenant. He's an absolutely defeated foe, and he's telling Ahab what the terms are gonna be? I don't know about you, but as I'm starting to figure this out, my head's getting whiplash. I'm getting even more angry at Ahab. And then he says he made a covenant with him. Did not Deuteronomy tell you that you were not supposed to make a covenant with this guy? Ahab would rather make a covenant with his worst enemy. Then bow his heart to Yahweh. Then Hadad heads home. Ahab begins his journey back to Samaria, and then it really begins to baffle you, because then we're changing seats completely. They're on their journey, it's like that scene goes down, and then you're in this scene with the sons of the prophets, and God gives a word to one of the prophets, tell another prophet to strike you. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm just gonna use Danny and I as an example here. You know, Danny says, Mike, I heard a word from God, beat me up. What am I gonna say? Listen, if God wants me to beat you up, he can talk to me about it. Right, so I don't have a whole lot of, I'm not really mad at this first prophet that he doesn't beat him up. And I'm not going to go into it, but the fact that God actually takes this prophet out and kills him, I don't think is a judgment like this guy is judged. I just think he's a part of making the story. So anyway, you can ask me about that later. He goes to the next prophet. And whether or not the next prophet just saw that one get struck down and he's like, I ain't going to have that happen to me. Or he might have just said, hey, this is my chance. I get to beat somebody up and not get in trouble for it. I don't know. Whatever. Doesn't tell us. But he does. He strikes him, beats him up. And that's fine, it gets going along. And then he wraps up his face, so you can't see him. He looks disheveled, he's beaten up. And he goes and places himself along the road that he knows that Ahab will be coming. And so, sure enough, Ahab comes. And I think the reason why he disguises himself is because this prophet was known to Ahab. We don't know who he is, but Ahab knew him, and it was disguised him so that he doesn't recognize who he is. So then he tells him this wonderful story, and he says, I'm a servant, or I'm a soldier from the battle, and I don't know what to do about this. I was given this prisoner. uh... to watch over to be a guard over this this prisoner and and i don't know what i was doing i was just doing this and that and just kinda behold he was gone and it's kinda like well what should happen to me uh... now first off this is crazy if you think he did something wrong you don't go tell the king uh... you hide from him but he does and what does Ahab say he falls right into the trap he says Well, you gave it. You should either die or you should be put into slavery. A talent of gold or silver is like more money than you can pay in a lifetime. So either you're going to die or you can be put into slavery for this. And that's what he judges him at. Now, think about the contrast to this. He has just given the guy who has fought him a covenant. And he gives one of his own soldiers because he lost one other guy, one other servant, one other prisoner, lost him. He tells him he needs to be put to death. Can we say we don't like Ahab? Can we say he really ticks me off? Soon as he says it, the guy rips off the bandages. And this is like a Nathan confronting David kind of scene. You are the man. God gave into your hand Ben-Hadad. And you've let him go. And this is where it says in verse 42, because you have let go out of your hand, the man whom I had devoted to destruction. You're going to be judged for that. How do you think they have response? I'm so sorry, forgive me. Nope. Verse 43 says he is vexed and sullen. Now when I have read vexed and sullen in years past, I've always thought like he's sad and dejected. Poor pitiful Ahab. Not even close. The first word for vexed is like, is like hardened rebellion. Stubborn refusal to humble yourself. resentful that God would confront him. The second word carries the meaning of fuming anger. There is a raging storm in the heart of Ahab. And whether he voices it right now or not, he is flat out angry. He's not just depressed. He may have been depressed, but he's shaking his fist at God. He hates the God who is. Why? God has been good to him. I'm going to tell you what I think why. It's not clear in the text, but I think overall, looking at his behavior, he wants to be the ruler of his own destiny. If he wants to make a covenant with Ben-Hadad, then so be it. He ought to be able to make that covenant. God shouldn't tell him what he needs to do. If he wants to bring a quick judgment on an unknown soldier, then he's king by golly. Who is his God to tell him how to live his life? Does that ever sound familiar to you and people either in the church or outside of the church? I'll live my life the way I want to be. Ain't nobody gonna tell me what I'm gonna do. You as Christians are supposed to guard yourself against such an attitude. Hebrews 12, 15 says, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble. And by it, many became defiled. Believe me, when God rules your life in a way that you don't want, it is easy to get bitter towards him. But I think we're supposed to see something more than bitterness. You see, this is what shocked me. God is continuing to send prophet after prophet after prophet to a man who is openly stubborn and rebellious. Now that tells you something about God. When you sing, there is no God like Jehovah, this puts actual some, you know, oomph to that. Not just words. This whole passage, this whole chapter is about Ahab, you are going to know that I am the Lord. We don't know the end of Ahab's story yet. But we do know that God is not just a god of the hills. Can you at least Open your heart enough to say, God could change Ahab if he wants to. I know a guy who once proclaimed faith in Jesus Christ. He is now transitioning to become a woman, or so he thinks. I spoke with his distraught father. He was asking for counsel. I basically said to him, I don't care what your son says. Calls himself a woman, wants to have a different name. He is your son. Never agree with him. I said, but also continue to pursue him. Continue to love him because God is not finished with him yet. And I told him that he's going through surgery and hormonal treatment and all kinds of stuff. He will be scarred forever. He will no longer look like the same man that he once was. And if God does bring him to repentance and faith, many people will still reject him on both sides of the equation. And I said, you want to be there, to be there to love him. and to embrace him when God brings him back to yourself. I hope that we as a church would be that. Or do we just say, oh, they're done. Write them off. Whatever the sin is, write them off. See, our God is not just a God of the hills. He is a God of the plains. I will tell you that even though I encouraged that man with those words, I still doubt God's ability to save. God is greater than you think. And you should think to yourself, who is it that I think he cannot save? Now, the point is that you still have to be broken and brought to repentance and faith to be saved. I get that. But who do you think that God cannot do that with? Because God's bigger than your understanding. He doesn't just save the people that are almost there, but just need that little extra step. He'll take the person who is completely stubborn and rebellious, vexed and sullen and say, oh, I can humble you if I want to. Your God is not a limited God. And we must all, all of us, do not assume that you already know the Lord. I mean, you do because you're trusting in him and he is your God. But do not assume that you know the greatness of your God yet. We won't fully know that greatness until we see all the number that he has saved throughout all history on the Judgment Day. But just even now, we see little glimpses of how God has saved the unthinkable and brought them to himself. That's what we're supposed to get from this passage. Amen.