Talk 13

0:00 Well, welcome again to 1 Kings. We've been working our way from the beginning. In fact, we went through 1 Samuel before over the last few years. If you're just coming in on it today, we've got to 1 Kings chapter 20. And if you have a copy of the Old Testament on your phone or iPad or a real Bible like this one, then please do hunt that up. We ended last week on a high note with the call of Elisha to leave life on the farm to follow the prophet Elijah and serve him as his apprentice before eventually succeeding him. But this week, it's a very different scene. Neither Elijah nor Elisha make an appearance, at least not by name.

0:59 There is an unnamed prophet in the passage. The focus, once again, is on Ahab, king over the 10 tribes. Remember how the kingdom had been divided after Solomon, and there were 10 tribes in one part and two in the other in Jerusalem. These 10, they had their headquarters in Samaria, and Ahab was their king. And the context is that of a conflict with the Arameans, or the Syrians, as they were called in those days, under the leadership of a certain Ben-Hadad. Now Ben-Hadad, that literally means son of Hadad, son of the storm god. So whether that was his actual name or simply a title, there are three of them we read of in the Old Testament, three different Ben-Hadads, so it may well have been a title. But the Aramaeans or Syrians had been a real thorn in Israel's side for a long time.

2:07 And now Ben Hadad was leading a coalition of 32 kings against Ahab. And they led siege to Samaria where Ahab had his court. So that's the context. And let's dive into 1 Kings chapter 20 and verse 1. And that's where we read, Now Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, mustered his entire army. Accompanied by 32 kings with their horses and chariots, he went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it. He sent messengers into the city to Ahab, king of Israel, saying, this is what Ben-Hadad says, your silver and gold are mine. The best of your wives and children are mine.

2:54 The king of Israel answered, just as you say, my lord the king, I and all I have are yours. The messengers came again and said, this is what Ben Hadad said. I sent to demand your silver and gold, your wives and your children, but about this time tomorrow, I'm going to send my officials to search your palace and the houses of your officials. They will seize everything you value and carry it away. The king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said to them, see how this man is looking for trouble. When he sent for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him. The elders and the people all answered, don't listen to him or agree to his demands. So he replied to Ben Haddad's messengers, tell my lord the king, your servant will do all you demanded the first time, but this demand I cannot meet.

3:54 And they left and took the answer back to Ben-Hadad. Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab. May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if enough dust remains in Samaria to give each of my men a handful. And the king of Israel answered, tell him, one who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off. Ben Hadad heard this message while he and the kings were drinking in their tents, and he ordered his men prepared to attack, so they prepared to attack the city. Meanwhile, a prophet came to Ahab, king of Israel, and announced, this is what the Lord says. So we'll pause the reading at that point, and we're going to dive into the story further as we go. One of the fun conversations that I have with people most weeks when we're doing Kings goes like this.

4:56 I read the story. What on earth are you going to say about it this week? So for all of those key wonderful people who do read the story in advance, congratulations. Please keep doing that. And let me give you a little clue or two as to how I approach these stories. I always come to these incidents with a basic why question. Why out of all that the historian might have told us, did he record this particular story? It's obviously not simply because it happened.

5:38 Yes, it happened, but lots of other things happened which he hasn't recorded. So why record this? What is particularly significant about this story that the historian felt, this fits with my theme? And of course, we have discovered over the months that we've been looking at Kings that one of the major themes started right at the beginning of 1 Kings we discover that David, King David, the great king, is old and cold, and he's not going to be around for long, despite every attempt to keep him alive. So what are they going to do? Not simply who's going to replace him, but the bigger question, how do we keep things going when David's no longer with us? How do we maintain what David was able to maintain? Because he led the nation, not just politically, but he led them in their worship of God.

6:32 He had a heart for God. so he led them spiritually and morally as well as politically how are they going to keep a vital relationship with God and when we think like that then it became obvious that we're in a very different context of course but we have the same basic question especially of course if we are followers of Jesus Christ because some of us remember when we first trusted Christ. Maybe it was when you were 11 as I was, or 18, or 4, or 36, or whenever it was. And the enthusiasm, and the desire, and the passion, all the things that you're involved in, and so on. But the energy can run out so quickly, can't it? The enthusiasm, the passion begins to weigh in a little bit over the years, and the pressures come, and life's more complicated, and things aren't maybe just as black and white as you used to, and so on and so forth. And it can sap your vitality and your spiritual health so that relationship with God really isn't the way it used to be. So that's one of the big questions that we're considering.

7:43 And we're considering it through real life situations. What was going on in this particular nation that was supposed to be a nation in relationship with God, a nation under God, but things had gone badly arry. So we can learn basic lessons at the moral and spiritual level from their particular challenges and struggles. So I come back to my initial question. Why is this story here? What does it illustrate? What does it say in its particular way that we'll not find anywhere else? And I have to confess something now.

8:17 This is only the second time I have spoken on this story in my life. I'm ago. So I have my L plates on very much this morning as I kind of try and drive you through this story. So come with me. You're going to have to indulge me a little bit as I try to put this together. But this story has intrigued me from the beginning. The messages, the exchange of messages, These messages are really, at least I find them, intriguing. Ben Hadad's message to Ahab, your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine.

9:02 What an interesting message to send. I mean, that's it, at least that's all we're told. Imagine getting that over breakfast. You're sitting there thinking, what's he saying here? What's yours is mine, basically, is the statement. and then Ahab replies and his reply is even more intriguing because Ahab says just as you say my lord the king I and all I have are yours oh well really that's a strange way I agree with you what's mine is yours there's no distinction between mine and yours I mean basically we're all one and There's no distinction. So what's the fuss about? And no doubt Ahab was hoping to disarm Bethad in some way.

9:54 That's the way things are. So come on. But then came another message. I sent to demand your silver and gold. Well, he hadn't actually, but now he's ramping it up. Your wives and your children. But about this time tomorrow, I'm going to send my officials to search your palace and the houses of your official, and they will seize everything you value and carry it away. So it wasn't now a simple statement, what's yours is mine.

10:19 We understand that? That's great, wonderful. But now he's saying, listen, what's yours is mine. And you know what? I'm coming to get it because I want to have a bit of fun with it. There's no distinction between you and me. I'm just going to enjoy it. And please don't cling on to it, Ahab, because what's yours is mine, and there's no distinction.

10:39 So I'm more powerful at the minute than you are. I'm going to cherry pick what I want. Now I find this really a fascinating detail, maybe because I'm weird. Well, that's bits true, but maybe there's more to it. There's no distinction. If you don't give it up, I'm going to take it anyway. So it's not a threat to his life, to the city, to the territory necessary. He's just acting as if Ahab and his nation and what they owned had no separate identity.

11:13 That all he had was also Ben Haddad's. And if he decided he wanted to go in and enjoy it, well, he had the right to go in and enjoy it. Now, as we think about that, it's helpful then to reflect a bit on who these men were and where they came from. There's a little detail the historian has given it that might just have escaped our notice. It says that Ben-Hadad was king of Aram. And you say, well, so what? It might as well have been king of Warren Point for all. I'm worried about, you know, what is this Aram?

11:52 Ben-Hadad was an Aramean or Assyrian as they used to be called. But Ahab's ancestors also were Arameans. Abraham the father of the nation was an Aram man so what had happened to create the distinction between them in the first place well the new testament describes it in this simple way the god of glory appeared to Abraham that's what happened the god of glory appeared to Abraham and brought him out of Aram, brought him out of Mesopotamia with all its hideous idolatry and Abraham became a pilgrim and the friend of God. Or to use New Testament language, Abraham turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. So Abraham owed his entire identity to this conversion experience, if we want to call it that. And so did his family and the nation that came through Isaac and Jacob. They stood separate, distinct from the Arameans and all the other nations around.

13:17 They were separate and distinct because God's purpose was that they would be a protest movement, if you like, in history against the idolatry of the nations around, that they would be a living witness to the one true God that the way they lived, the way they worshipped, would demonstrate to the nations around the nature of the one true God. That was the idea. And then ultimately, through this nation, to bring Messiah in through whom to bless the entire world. So this wasn't God being parochial or having his favorites. This was God choosing a way in history to bring about blessing to the entire world. But to do that, he created this distinction by calling Abraham out to worship him and to know him and to become the friend of God. So now what we have is Ben-Hadad and Aramean saying to Ahab, the descendant of Abraham, what's yours is mine. There's no distinction anymore.

14:35 I don't respect that division that God placed there. Which yours is mine, and any time I want to take it, there is no distinction, Ahab. So the focus, then, is not so much on defeating Ahab. The focus, rather, is on assimilating Israel into the Arameans, removing the distinction, and all that witness to the living God. That's what we're dealing with here. So these messages are not little innocent threats being passed around by Terence. These messages are calling into question the basis of the existence of Israel as a separate nation.

15:27 Calling into question, was Abraham really called by God? Is Jehovah really the true and living God? Or in the end, are not all gods just the same? And therefore, you know, we're all going the same direction. There's no reason for any of these distinctions that divide this? What is the real difference, if any? And once I see these little details, that at least raises important questions for me as a Christian. Because we're not a nation, political nation under God like Israel were.

16:10 But as Christians, we are still distinct. We are different from the world around us because, as Paul said of the new believers in Thessalonica, as I've quoted, you turn to God from idols to serve the true and living God and wait for a son from heaven. That makes a massive distinction. That sets us apart in terms of our origin, in terms of our worship, in terms of our destination, in terms of how we live, in terms of our view of history. It sets us apart from any and every nation there is and all other people. That's how the church itself began, with a clear distinction. Not a distinction on racial grounds or political grounds, on national grounds, on grounds of gender or social status, but simply through faith in Jesus as Messiah, Son of God. That's what unites every single genuine believer in Jesus Christ into the body of Christ.

17:25 But just as happened with Abraham's family and nation, powerful forces, influences arise that seek to dismantle the difference, the distinction, to make out in the end that there is no real difference. You want to believe in Jesus, that's fine. We happen to believe in Gaia, and we believe in the storm God, and we believe in atomic energy, and we believe in whatever it is. It doesn't really matter. We're all going the same direction. So forget about evangelism. I mean, why would you?

18:09 Trying to persuade people to believe in Jesus. There's nothing unique about him. He's, yes, a great man and we admire him and so on, but it doesn't matter. You just pick and choose whatever works for you. The idea that Jesus is the truth and the only way to the Father, that's old-fashioned. So hold this thought, hold this idea, and let's plunge back into the story. At that precise moment, a prophet came to Ahab. This is what the Lord says.

18:45 And so we're waiting. What would we expect the Lord to say to Ahab at this point? Because the previous word from God to Elijah was about judgment that would fall on the house of Ahab and on all those who had bowed their knee to Baal. So was this the moment? Was the prophet going to say, you're done, Ahab, you're finished. You've gone too far. God is going to use the Syrians to wipe you out. This is judgment day.

19:16 Well, let's Listen, this is what the Lord says, verse 13. Do you see this vast army? And of course, you're referring here to the Syrian army. I will give it into your hand today. Why? Then you will know that I am the Lord. That's what this is about. And what amazing mercy and grace.

19:53 Ahab, as we saw in chapter 19, turned his back on that dramatic evidence that God gave in the sacrifice at Mount Carmel. He turned his back on that. We thought he was converted nearly, but then he turned his back on it. And yet here is God persisting with him in his grace, giving him another opportunity to experience and know that God is the Lord. And it was going to be clear, it wasn't going to be through superior numbers. You see this vast army, they didn't have a vast army. It wasn't going to be through superior tactics or skill. In fact, God deliberately told Ahab that it would be the junior officers who would lead the fighting as you look at the detail.

20:43 Now that little detail, just again, just fascinates me. Leave all the senior hard-bitten warriors to the side. Get the kids up. Let the kids lead this. What? What kind of tactics is that? As a famous football pundit say, you'll win nothing with kids. But some of you may not know what that's referring to, but that's okay.

21:05 Another century. Let the kids do it. So that's what happened. While Ben Hadad and his kings were getting drunk in their royal tent, in their complacency with their vast army, these young officers routed Ben Hadad's army. Ben Hadad instead managed to escape on horseback. But that wasn't to be the end of the story. The prophet again warned Ahab to stay vigilant and be prepared because the Arameans would be back. in the spring, once winter was over and armies can't march well and territories in the winter with risen rivers and bad weather and all of that.

21:53 So once the spring came, he'd be back and that's precisely what happened. But this time we are given the most interesting insight into the way the Syrians, the Arameans fought in verses 23 and 25, which we'll look at in a moment. It comes in the context of an attempted analysis on the part of the Syrian officials of how they had managed to lose the first battle. Now, we can imagine the consternation. This is as if, you know, the Irish rugby team, with all their skill and power, were taking on the Isle of Man in a rugby international. You know, No offense to the Isle of Man, but not noted for their rugby. And they're all their stars out, and this is going to be wee bunks. And the Isle of Man whip the Irish team.

22:53 So they're all gathering afterwards. What went wrong? How do you explain it? This is crazy. We had superior tactics, superior fighters, vastly superior forces, and we still lost to a bunch of kids. So imagine the consternation. So in the middle of this, they came up with an explanation. The officials of King of Aram advised him, their gods, that is Israel's gods, because Assyrians thought everybody were like them, he just had gods.

23:30 There's no distinction. You see everybody thought the same. They all had gods for this, that, and the other. So they thought their gods, the Israelites, their gods of the hills. That's why they were too strong for us. We were playing on their home patch in the hills. Their gods are strong. But if we fight them on the plains, surely we will be stronger than they.

23:54 So do this. Remove all the kings from their commands. Get real soldiers involved here and not these guys. And replace them with other officers. Raise an army like the one you lost. horse for horse, chariot for chariot, so that we can fight Israel on the plains. Then surely we will be stronger than they. And he agreed with them.

24:19 They acted accordingly. That was their worldview. Why did we lose? Well, the answer is obvious. The gods of Ahab and the tribes of Israel are gods of the hills. That's why they won. And that answer, of course, informed a change of tactics. next time what we need to do is make sure we fight them on the plains because our gods are stronger on the plains.

24:45 Get them there and we will annihilate them. That's how they thought. They couldn't get it out of their heads that the God of Israel was any different from all the other gods. Now I know today, 21st century, it probably sounds a bit silly, but that's how idolatry thinks. And once you get rid of the supreme personal creator God of the Bible, you have to believe something. An alternative has to take its place. In their case, it was lots of different gods of relative strengths and weaknesses. In our case, it's all sorts of things.

25:28 Well, it might be Mother Earth that we worship, or it might be some tree in a field in Ireland, or it might be all kinds of stuff, or it might be the positive and negative physical forces, or it might be AI, or it could be anything. Money, luck, chance, love, whatever. All sorts of substitutes for the living God. But the problem is that you have to make sure you choose the right ones. And they thought they made a mistake because they're gods, they're gods of the hills. We had gods of the plains, and that was no good to us in the hills, so no wonder we lost. See, that was the problem, that way of thing. You word spread betting was first invented.

26:08 You had to spread your bets. One God wasn't enough. You need to have a whole lot. Because the same God that would give you fortune and love may not be the same God that is going to give you money. And the same God who gives you money may not be the one who looks after your family. And the same God who does that may not be the one who gives your crops, wonderful crops this year, and it makes sure there's fertility amongst your cows and all the rest of it. So what you had to do is have a whole number of gods, and every god had his own priest and priestesses, and they had their own temple, and every god had his own rituals and sacrifices. You had to make sure you brought the right sacrifice, because the thing you had to do was try to get the god on your side, so the god would smile at you, lady, look, it could be you, and then you'd be okay.

26:56 It's a real slavery, isn't it, to nonsense, because as we saw in Mount Carmel, None of the gods can speak because they don't exist. But the things they represent exist. And I easily people substitute those things for the true and living God. So that's what was going on. But the God, the true God is not a God of the hills or a God of the plains. He isn't some small local deity. He's not the God of a special tree or a river or a lake, Nor is he just a God of the Jews or a God of the Gentiles. He isn't a God of the gaps in our understanding of the universe who disappears when we understand more about how certain things work.

27:41 He is the true and living God. He's the God of the whole show. The God, incidentally, represented in the house of God, the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, with all the gold and the beautiful artistry representing life. He is the living God. And to demonstrate that to Ahab, God granted him yet another remarkable victory. Listen to how the historian records it in verse 27. The Israelites camped opposite them like two small flocks of goats. I love that.

28:21 That's just brilliant. While the Arameans covered the countryside. In other words, you've got two little flocks of goats and then the vast number of sheep that spread to the horizon. That's the kind of image that has been conjured up here. And the man of God came up and told the king of Israel, this is what the Lord says, because the Arameans think the Lord is a God of the hills and not a God of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands and you will know that I am the Lord. again this is what this is about unique distinctive god of gods the god of glory that's the issue and i just love the description to make it clear that it was the lord it wouldn't be their superior skill or tactics certainly not their numbers this would be demonstrably of the lord now you would think. By now Ahab had got the message that God had now brought to him at least three times.

29:29 The evidence that he alone is God. You'd think that this time he would respond by putting his faith in the real God and follow him and obey him, but you would be wrong. The battle is over. Ben Hadad, his army routed. All that was left was for Ben Hadad and the others to try to find some way to escape with their lives. So we read in verse 31 and 32 that Ben Hadad's officials said to him, look, we have heard that the kings of Israel are merciful. So let us go to the kings of Israel with sackcloth around our waist and ropes around their head. Perhaps he will spare your life.

30:05 So wearing sackcloth around their waist and ropes around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, your servant Ben Hadad says, please let me live. It was a tactic. It didn't mean any of it, wearing sackcloth to demonstrate that you were truly sorry and repentant, and putting the rope around your neck to say, okay, if you want to pull the rope and that's it. Didn't mean any of that. It was a ploy. It was a tactic. It was shrewd and clever, because they had perceived that Ahab was weak. And they were chancing everything because they had nothing to lose.

30:42 In the end, Ahab will do a deal. and he won't obey God. And that's what happens. And it's just brilliant in the way it's told. Verse 32. When the messengers come to Ahab, the king answered, is he still alive? Referring to Ben-Hadad. And now notice, he is my brother.

31:10 Oh, wow. He wasn't his brother. he is my brother gosh and of course the officials took this as a good sign they were quick to pick up this door as the historian points out yes yes yes your brother your brother ben hadad he's still alive there's hope go and get him the king said and when ben hadad came out ahab brought him up into his chariot i will return the cities my father took from your father ben hadad offered and you may set up your own market areas in Damascus as my father did in Samaria. And Ahab said, on the basis of a treaty, I will set you free. So he made a treaty with him and let him go. So what do you think? Would you have let him go?

32:02 Was it the right thing to do? His defiance of God, the thousands dead and injured as a result, and as we learn later specific directions from God that judgment was to be exercised upon him but instead Ahab says look come on jump into my Rolls Royce let's do a quick land and trade deal here turn captured cities and you know I'll open up the markets to tariff free trade for Ahab fantastic, perhaps a beer together, and Ben had us free to go. Wow, that's how it's done. Where did this come from, that they have? Well, it wasn't out of fear, because he was in the strongest possible position, thanks to what God had done. But we notice there's no attempt to ascertain what the Lord wanted him to do. I suspect he already knew that all too well.

33:03 The striking thing to me is Ahab calling Ben-Hadad his brother. And that's repeated, yes, your brother. Here was the man who had just now threatened to assimilate all that Ahab had, completely obliterate his separate identity and all that of the 10 tries. And now Ahab calls him his brother, denying any difference, any distinction, denying therefore that whole long line of history when God called Abraham out of Aram to serve the true and living God. Now just we scrub out that history, Ahab, Ben Hadad, we're brothers. Let's forget the distinctions between us and the differences. Denying the basic identity of the nation in relationship with God as far as I was concerned. There's no difference.

34:03 Ben had no difference. It's mine is yours. Yours is mine. Nothing to fight about. We're just the same. We just forget our distinctiveness and sort out a way of trading. Well, Ahab didn't have long to wait to find out what God thought of his response, because God sent his prophet once more. And the chapter ends this way.

34:25 The prophet said to the king, this is what the Lord says. You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore, it is your life for his life. Your people for his people. Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went to his palace in Samaria. Now, as I said at the start, we're in a different setting. We're not part of a geographical and political nation that has been called by God to be a special witness in the world. Ireland is not Israel.

34:55 There's no such thing as a Christian country. Our identity now is found not in race or skin color, nation, gender, but in Christ along with every believer in Jesus worldwide. But we still have to face the same issue at an individual and a corporate level. Is there any distinction? is there a difference? And we're dealing not simply with the revelation of the God of glory to Abraham. We're dealing with the revelation of the God of glory in Jesus. As John records it, we have seen his glory, glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

35:40 That's what we're dealing with here. the God of glory now coming in person. That's what we're dealing with. Does that make a difference? Or is it just as if that never happened? Is there a difference between Jesus and other religion and religious leaders? Because if there isn't, it means that we need to do what Ahab did, deny the revelation completely and forget our Christianity. In the first century, very few people would have objected if the Christians had simply been content to be good neighbors, to love others, to display kindness and to do good, which are all in themselves good and vital aspects of what it is to be a Christian.

36:25 If only they hadn't insisted on speaking in the name of Jesus, whom the nation had crucified. If only they hadn't insisted on Christianity's supernaturalism as demonstrated supremely in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. If only they hadn't insisted like Peter did, that there is no other name in all of human history whereby we must be saved, that Jesus alone is Savior and Messiah, Son of God. Few would have objected if the Christians had stopped evangelizing, stopped preaching Christ and simply devoted themselves to good works and humanitarian causes. But the cost would have been denying that the God of glory had indeed come in the flesh. The cost would have been to deny the uniqueness of Jesus. The cost would have been to deny the meaning of his birth and in particular his death on a cross. The cost would have been denying the implications of the resurrection.

37:32 The cost would have been ignoring the distinction created by the coming of the Spirit. The cost would have been to ignore the fact that the true King is going to come once again to this earth. That's the cost. That's what's at stake. The pressure is on to deny or at least set aside that historic revelation that distinguishes us from others and not to talk about Jesus as a unique savior because it's only going to offend people. Because after all, we're all brothers. The pressure is on and it is difficult. And let's, as we finish, just remind ourselves of Peter's words to those who dared to live out this difference in the first century.

38:22 Do not be frightened, but in your heart revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better if it is God's will to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. for Christ also suffered. Ahab had not set God apart as Lord in his heart. And that's what makes the difference. The difference between me, you as a believer, and those around you is simply this.

39:08 You have a Lord, they don't. And that makes all the difference. So set him apart as Lord. Follow him, obey him. Ahab's mercy towards Ben Hadad had nothing to do with repentance and forgiveness. It had to do with pragmatism. It has nothing to do with gentleness and respect. And he certainly didn't have a clear conscience because we read that he went back to the palace sullen and angry.

39:38 And I find that again fascinating. Where his sullenness and anger will lead, we will discover next week as we move on in a half story. But his psychology is really interesting. It's highlighted by the historian and fascinating perhaps to compare to our own because his sullenness and anger was because God said something he didn't like. God put his finger on something wrong in his thinking and in his actions, and he did not like that? How do we respond when we suddenly discover that God is saying things that we aren't? Or God is putting his finger in things in us that we don't like? Oh, but God, I mean, I just want everybody to be friends and all brothers and sisters and no distinction and all get on and to be liked and to be accepted.

40:38 That's the pressure, isn't it? That's the challenge. last week I left you with three words from Elisha's call this week I'm leaving you with three words from the Christians call in the New Testament and here they come on the screen turn, serve and wait the Christians in Thessalonica turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait these are the actions of those who have set Jesus apart as Lord in their lives. We march to a different drum. The drumbeat does not come from this world, this culture, or any culture. The gospel challenges all cultures. Do not be fooled.

41:26 This current culture is not progressive in the true sense of the word. It is regressive. It is rapidly heading back to where it came from, independence of God. We march to a different drumbeat, And the drumbeat is not from any political party, any nation, any race on earth. It is the drumbeat of the kingdom of God. We're called to set apart Jesus as Lord in our life. The alternative, and we'll talk about this next week. Like Ahab, rather than obey God and save his life, He went for the pragmatic, on the ground, clever deal and lost his life in the process.

42:16 Let's pray. Father, thank you for such powerful writing, powerful storytelling, the vivid imagery. Sometimes we feel like a little flock of goats with vast crowds out there. But thank you that you are the true and living God. so give us the strength we pray and the resilience and the determination to set apart Jesus as Lord in our hearts not simply in our minds but in our hearts so that whatever he says we're going to go with it whether we like it or not we're not going to be sullen and angry and grumpy like Ahab but rather accept you as Lord and make you Lord turn to God from idols to serve the living God and to wait because one day it will be the return of the king. We look forward to it in Jesus' name.

43:18 Amen. Amen.