6/10/2013

WTF?

Naboth wasn’t harming anyone.
Ahab, the king, wanted Naboth’s land. He offered to pay well for it.
Naboth wouldn’t do what Ahab wanted.
Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, told Ahab to just take what he wanted. 
Jezebel hatched a scheme that ended with Naboth dead, and the field in Ahab’s possession.
Elijah got wind of the whole scene and he went to Ahab – threatening his total destruction.

Thus endeth this week’s Bible reading.from 1 Kings 21:1-21

And then after the reading, Ahab begged for forgiveness. He got it.  Destruction averted. At least for the time being.  The destruction was postponed until a future generation.

And Naboth was still dead.  Murdered. Ahab and Jezebel were in the clear.

It’s just so messed up.

1 comment:

Trans Dykes on Bikes for Christ said...

I preached on this once alongside 2 Samuel 11 & 12 (David and Bathsheeba). For me, this was about the sin (in these cases, covetousness) that precedes the actual crime.

In both cases, the ones who plotted death could argue they were not the ones who did the killing, but that's not much of an excuses. There's also other commandment-breaking: adultery (David), stealing (arguably Jezebel and, by proxy, Ahab), false witness (both stories). It's kind of a mess.

But in the story about David and Bathsheeba, there is a little retributive justice, but it's meted out as the death of David & Bathsheeba's son. So how is THAT fair? If this is about grace and forgiveness, why does the child end up dead? Or does that complicate where you're going with this?

:-)