1 Kings 21.5-7:
| 21.5ותבא אליו איזבל אשתו | His wife Itzevelα comes to him. |
|---|---|
| ותדבר אליו | She speaks to him: |
| מה זה רוחך סרה | “Why is your spirit rebellious? |
| ואינך אכל לחם׃ | Won’t you eat bread?” |
| 21.6וידבר אליה | He speaks to her: |
| כי אדבר | “Because I speak |
| אל נבות היזרעאלי | to Navoth the Yitzre’eli.β |
| ואמר לו | I say, ‘Look: |
| תנה לי את כרמך בכסף | Give me your gardenγ for silver, |
| או אם חפץ אתה | or if you’d rather, |
| אתנה לך כרם תחתיו | I give you another garden instead.’ |
| ויאמר לא אתן לך את כרמי׃ | He says, ‘I won’t give you my garden.’ ” |
| 21.7ותאמר אליו איזבל אשתו | His wife Itzevel says to him, |
| אתה עתה תעשה מלוכה על ישראל | “For once, rule over Isra’el.δ |
| קום אכל לחם | Rise. Eat bread. |
| ויטב לבך | Let your heart be well. |
| אני אתן לך את כרם | I give you the garden |
| נבות היזרעאלי׃ | of Navoth the Yitzre’eli.” |
Jezebel was from Tsidon, and there’s a significant difference between the Tsidoni kings and the Israeli kings. The Tsidoni kings were—like the Pharaoh of Egypt and the Benhadad of Syria—sons of Ba’al. They were sons of a god, and considered gods themselves. The Israeli kings, on the other hand, were not gods but Messiahs—anointed by God to rule over His people. They were subordinate to God. They ruled only under His good pleasure.
That’s a pretty huge difference. If you’re a god, you get to make the rules. If you’re a servant of God, you have to follow His rules. In these other cultures, there were one set of rules for the god-king, one set of rules for the nobles, one set of rules for the commoners, and one set of rules for the slaves. However in Israel, under the Torah, there was one set of rules for everyone. Kings, nobles, commoners, slaves—unequal in society, but equal under God. Which means if the king wants something, he doesn’t necessarily get it. He’s not allowed to steal, and he’s not allowed to covet it if he can’t get it.
Jezebel followed no such laws. She was a Ba’alist through and through. If her husband wanted a plot of land, and his subject wouldn’t comply, her attitude was, “For once, rule over Israel.” In other words: Be a king, dammit, not some vassal for the invisible sky-God. Take your rightful position!
Except Ahab was already in his rightful position. He was Israel’s Messiah, God’s anointed representative, expected to be an example for his people, required to serve them, and forbidden to do anything that God forbade. Once he allowed Jezebel to run Israel like she’d seen her father run Tsidon, he seized power that was not his to control.
Many commentators, who are already quick to critique Ahab, complain that he allowed his wife to take over—but not because she was wrong and because she was a pagan; they complain because she was a woman. They jump to Paul’s statement against women usurping authority from men (1Ti 2.12) and say that applies here; but Jezebel doesn’t usurp Ahab’s power; he gave it to her. He was totally justified in delegating his wife to act under his authority. What he did wrong was to give his power to someone who would willfully misuse it for evil. For that he—and she—should be condemned.
Application. Power corrupts. Those of us who are put into leadership should not just be aware of this; we should have checks and balances in our lives to make sure that when power corrupts, we can’t just run amok. Because when the powerful are in the mood to sin, we encounter lots of sympathetic characters who will only encourage us to abuse that power. Sometimes they’re even our closest friends, or spouses. The way to hedge against this is to carefully choose our companions in advance—far in advance, when we’re strong and best able to resist temptation—because when the temptation comes, we don’t need people who will unquestioningly support us, or even enable us in our sin. We need people who will say, “Absolutely not.”
However much Ahab cared for Jezebel, he should have used that time when he was wholeheartedly following God to remove her from any influence in his life. Notice the results of what happened because he didn’t do that.
α. Jezebel.
β. Naboth of Jezreel.
γ. Usu. “vineyard.” Grapes were typically grown in gardens.
δ. Lit. “now, you make a kingdom of Israel.”
