1 Kings 21.20α
| 21.20ויאמר אחאב אל אליהו | Achavα says to Eliyahu,β |
|---|---|
| המצאתני איבי | “You come to me, my foe?” |
So what has Elijah been doing throughout chapter 20? Well... certainly not getting closer to Ahab. Ahab greets him with, “You come to me, my foe?” The only reason Elijah would be an enemy of Ahab would be because Elijah, on behalf of God, was forced to counter him.
See, once Ahab had repented and decided to follow God back in chapter 18, he was obligated to align himself to God’s covenant. The king, under the Law, was not a god-king who could do as he pleased; he was an anointed representative of God, the real king. Ahab had to change his entire mindset from being the master of everything he saw to being the slave of the Master of everything. He couldn’t rule on a whim; he was obligated to rule righteously, following God’s commands. If you presented this scenario to other ancient Middle Eastern kings, they’d likely respond, “Well, that’s not being a king. He’s not a king anymore; he’s a vassal.” And they’d be exactly right.
Now, any king that’s been used to wielding absolute authority would quite naturally chafe at such a scenario. Ahab didn’t just chafe at it; he rebelled against God about it. He let the Benhadad of Syria go. And just now, he had a man killed for his land. These acts are not just whims that Ahab had; a person doesn’t just go from being a devout follower of God to a rebel and murderer. He works his way down by degrees. And each of these degrees required God’s prophets—including Elijah—to rebuke him along the way.
And in so doing, Elijah became Ahab’s foe. He was no longer Ahab’s guide in the way of God; he was the gadfly who showed up whenever Ahab had willfully violated the commands. Any awe that Ahab had held Elijah in, due to the contest at Karmel, was dissolved away by the endless rebuking, correcting, complaining, and outcry that Elijah was forced to regularly present on God’s behalf. Yes, getting an altar burned to the ground is an impressive miracle, and would definitely get people to repent and follow God, but as time goes on, people tend to turn their memories into mythology and ignore them when they should heed them.
Application. To be fair, there are some ministers who are gadflies; there are a lot of whiners among us Christians who never have anything positive to say. And there are some Christians who need a lot of correction, and unfortunately the people training them in God’s ways are lousy at encouragement. But each of us is obligated to weigh each bit of criticism we receive: Is there anything to it? Are we honestly trying to reform our behavior, or are we figuring, “Once saved, always saved,” and continuing in our rebellion against God, and disguising it as our freedom in Christ? Are we ignoring God’s rebuke by making an enemy of the messenger?—and, since that messenger is sent by the Holy Spirit, aren’t we making an enemy of the Spirit?
Serious stuff to think about, lest we wind up with the sort of judgment Elijah was forced to present to Ahab.
α. Ahab.
β. Elijah.
